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  • in reply to: Replace plywood bottom #19422
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    Glad it went so well.

    She looks to have been well worth saving;   and as an added bonus you will have expanded your own skill set and will have more confidence for any future repairs.

     

    Oliver

    in reply to: Replace plywood bottom #19397
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    We live and learn;   I am happy to stand corrected.

     

    Oliver

    in reply to: Replace plywood bottom #19393
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    T-shaped piece of wood:  so idea.   Sorry.

    Cam cleat;  these can usually be stripped and cleaned,  but to the best of my knowledge the individual parts are not normally marketed.    However the cost of replacing the complete fitting with new is not exhorbitant.

    “Back in the day”  –  i.e. c. 1970,  when I had Barton cam cleats for the genoa sheets (rather larger than your ones) the plastic jaws were softer than I hope modern ones are,  and in seriously competitive racing the teeth wore out quite frequently.   But in those days the manufacturer did market replacement jaws,  and I used to get through about two sets per season.  However I am sure that those days are long gone.

     

    Oliver

    in reply to: Rubbing Strakes / Gunwales replacement – Help #19369
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

     I am not known for my sound financial decisions, I own a land rover,

    Too true;   but if you need to be able to tow a couple of tons on any surface,  including beaches,  muddy harbour bottoms,  and slippery slipways,  as well as on roads,  there are few vehicles better.    I own a trailer-sailer yacht,  therefore I drive a Land Rover.

     

    Oliver

    in reply to: Rubbing Strakes / Gunwales replacement – Help #19367
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    Around 15 years ago I was in my erstwhile local chandler,  and happened to comment that I was spending more on chandlery than I had paid for the boat.   That is not an unusual occurrence,  at least in my life,  but I liked his reply;  “Welcome to the world of sailing!”

    One low-cost option if you feel the value of the boat is only very little might be to use cheap timber (preferably hardwood) from your local DIY store,  protect it as best you can,  and regard it as sacrificial.   Replace it again when necessary.

    Rubber or plastic D-fender seems also to be expensive.

     

    Oliver

    in reply to: Replace plywood bottom #19365
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    It has been said that one of the fastest methods of all to remove water from inside a boat involves a frightened man with a bucket …

     

    Oliver

    in reply to: Rubbing Strakes / Gunwales replacement – Help #19363
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    I am tacitly assuming that strict compliance with Class Rules is not an issue for a boat of this age.   However if you intend to compete in Championships or major Open Meetings then you need to check against the Rules (available on this site,  in the Members’ Area).

    On that basis:

    If you decide to replace with wood it will potentially look great,   but it will require ongoing maintenance.   That would be my own choice,  and I would willingly accept the burden of maintenance,  but that is not necessarily everyone’s choice.

    Robbins of Bristol http://www.robbins.co.uk are the headline suppliers of marine timbers,  with a very wide range available,  and they will supply by carrier to anywhere within the UK.    You may perhaps be lucky enough to have a local supplier,  either in the form of a timber merchant dealing with marine hardwoods or in the form of a boatbuilder,   but that is a matter of where you happen to live,  and your own local knowledge.

    Rubber or plastic D-shaped fendering strip is an alternative option (but may not necessarily be compliant with the Class Rules,  not least for reasons of dimensions).    It will never look as good,  but it will require less maintenance,  and it is arguably more functional because it is less vulnerable to impact.    A quick internet search brings up a number of suppliers:

    http://rubber-fenders.co.uk

    https://www.polymax.co.uk/rubber-fenders/d-fenders/standard-d-fenders

    https://uk.search.yahoo.com/search?n=10&ei=UTF-8&va_vt=any&vo_vt=any&ve_vt=any&vp_vt=any&vst=0&vf=all&vm=i&fl=0&fr=yfp-t-s&p=”D-shaped+fender”&vs=

    Hope this helps,

     

    Oliver

    in reply to: Replace plywood bottom #19359
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    Once you are ready,  you don’t need to necessarily capsize in order to test the system.

    Choose a day when there is a decent wind,  around force 4.   (Anything less,  and you have no right to be inadvertently capsized anyway).

    Choose favourable conditions,  and/or ask your club safety boat to stand by.

    Then sit stationary in the water,  open the transom flaps,  and allow her to flood.

    Then sheet in on a beam or broad reach,  and attempt to sail her dry.

    Either it will work,  or it won’t.   But at least you will know.  And if you choose suitable conditions and/or have a safety boat standing by you will not be at any risk.

    With generous reserve buoyancy I would hope,  and cautiously expect,  that it would work;   but it would be good to know for sure.

     

    Oliver

     

    in reply to: Replace plywood bottom #19336
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    My limited experience of capsizing series 1 boats back in the sixties is that after a capsize you can expect them to come up half full of water.   Transom scuppers were introduced to deal with this problem.   Most of my personal experience was with a boat with buoyancy bags throughout,  including the bow,  and one thing that I learned from a deliberate experiment in flooding the boat is that you need the maximum possible bow bouyancy to enable the transom scuppers to do their job.   If you have just the minimum bow buoyancy permitted,  as I had when I tried this experiment,  when you come to sheet in to attempt to sail her dry there is a real rik that she will instead simply submarine.

    However if you have the maximum possible reserve bouyancy,  including a bult-in bow tank and the largest possible side and quarters buoyancy bags,   that is a very different situation,  and I am prepared to accept that the transom scuppers may well then work well.   You have the benefit of at least the built-in bow tank,  and I would recommend that you fit the largest buoyancy bags that will physically fit under the side benches and in the quarters.

    In my case,  in the sixties,  having cut the transom scuppers I never then used them for real.   In the light of my experiment I did fit the largest bow bag that I could get into the space,  and I carried a plastic bucket;   following a capsize I would then use the bucket to bail about half the water out before using the self-bailers to sail her dry.     When I later had another series 1 boat early in the Millenium,  which did have a bow tank plus seriously large buoyancy bags,  the opportunity to see how well the transom scuppers worked never arose.

     

    Oliver

    in reply to: Boat NR #19334
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    Congratulations;   you seem to have acquired a seriously early vintage boat,  together with full provenance and a lot of records.

    In these circumstances it is highly likely that the number 100 on the mainsail will indeed be the number of the boat, but you still need to confirm the number on the hull.   This should be found carved into the hog,  abaft the centreboard case,  and you will probably need to lift a floorboard to see it.

     

    Oliver

    in reply to: Update on Spark #19327
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    Very well done,  and well deserved.

     

    Oliver

    in reply to: Update on Spark #19301
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    Well done;   looking good.

     

    Oliver

    in reply to: Update on Spark #19268
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    Well done;   enjoy!

    But I hadn’t known that you were borrowing my car for the photo-shoot!  …

     

    Oliver

    in reply to: Replace plywood bottom #19240
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    Port self-bailer looks further forward than starboard one;   that imbalance is bound to slow you down at least 3%  …

    (Only kidding.)

    Very well done so far.

     

    Oliver

    in reply to: Update on Spark #19214
    Oliver Shaw
    Moderator

    Looking good.

    But no rubbing beads? …

    I am a little concerned about the lack of rubbing beads,  because they are important protection.   And if using wood,  you will presumably want to varnish them at the same time as varnishing the decks.

     

    Oliver

Viewing 15 posts - 301 through 315 (of 708 total)