Adrian
It'll be good to meet you you in person...
Come a little early and we'll take you for a sail.
bertinol
151 2012-07-11 13:08:32
Re: Contessa 26 Outreach. (20 replies, posted in Lake Ontario Contessa 26 Association)
152 2012-07-10 07:13:13
Re: Contessa 26 Outreach. (20 replies, posted in Lake Ontario Contessa 26 Association)
I'll be there at 7 pm Thursday. I'll tie my boat up to the NYC wall next to the clubhouse so people can inspect my boat and give me pertinent advice on how to make it even better!
Perhaps other Contessa owners can sail over for a lilttle get-together, followed by dinner upstairs and a lovely, peaceful sail home after dark.
Oliver
153 2012-06-07 06:02:52
Re: Trucking vs. Trailer (7 replies, posted in General Questions/Comments)
Just make sure the ramp is long enough and deep enough - about five feet, depending on the height of the trailer. It would be very embarrassing if the end of the trailer went off the end of the ramp into deep water or thick mud. It would be even more embarrassing if you launched the pickup truck along with the boat!
I've raised masts using an A-frame. It can be done but a 30-foot mast is a little too exciting for me. Perhaps you can throw a line over a handy tree branch and use it to step the mast.
154 2012-05-25 08:39:45
Re: Trucking vs. Trailer (7 replies, posted in General Questions/Comments)
Chris
I recently moved a Contessa from Georgian Bay to Toronto using a hired hydraulic trailer, a Ford 550 double axle pickup and my steel cradle. I was given three quotes by truckers -- $800 "but not for three weeks because I'm too busy"; $950 "next week" or $1,100.
I chose the middle guy and I'm glad I did after watching the 5,500 pound Contessa crawling up steep hills and careening down the Hwy 427 and Gardiner expressway, trying to change lanes with monster trucks in all directions.
The charges sound excessive, but the reality is that those hydraulic trailers cost about $100k. That means the trucker gets $100 for a day's labour; $200 goes to diesel fuel and about $700!!! goes to pay off the bank loan on the trailer. Even then, he has to do 150 trips just to pay off the trailer. And you thought boats were expensive.
I thought of buying a trailer for $1,000, but it didn't look safe, the brakes were dodgy, I had no means of pulling such a heavy trailer and I had nowhere to store the trailer for the summer months. Plus a trailer requires a crane at each end to lift the boat into the water (at a cost of $150-$250 a lift) and a mechanism for stepping the mast.
I would have looked for a better trailer if I had intended to do a lot of moving, but there were too many complications so I let that idea pass.
cheers
155 2012-04-27 14:15:53
Re: Repowering (12 replies, posted in Repairs/Modifications/Upgrades)
I enquired at the boat show. A Beta Marine (a Kubota in disguise) 10 hp diesel costs around $5k to buy with another $5k to $7k to install. So you're looking at $10k to $12k, plus HST. When I asked why installation costs so much, they say that there's usually a lot of fiddling with the angles and prop shaft and stuffing box and propeller and on and on... all at $100 an hour.
So, pls tell me I'm wrong, that you can do it all for $5k tops!
The alternative, of course, is to hang an outboard off the back of the boat. But that's not for me.....
156 2012-04-26 04:59:40
Re: Worn out rudder pintles (3 replies, posted in Repairs/Modifications/Upgrades)
Hello there:
He found that the pintle is held in by a small pin.
He drifts out the pin and then the pintle.
Then he machines a new pintle out of stainless steel and drifts it back in.
It's a very neat job, stronger than the original and doesn't involve any fibreglass work.
Even better, he doesn't have to touch the structure of the rudder.
157 2012-04-24 11:42:02
Topic: stepping mast (1 replies, posted in Wanted)
I'll soon be stepping the mast on my new (to me) Contessa.
Being of nervous disposition when dealing with 30 foot long sticks sitting straight up in the air, I'd sure love a chance to watch somebody do their own boat first.
So if anybody would like an audience, pls do email me and I'll come along and watch.
I'll even help!
I'm in downtown Toronto, so anywhere within 30 or so miles will be more than appreciated.
Thanks in advance
158 2012-04-24 11:34:36
Topic: Worn out rudder pintles (3 replies, posted in Repairs/Modifications/Upgrades)
A friendly machinist has found a very good way to repair worn out rudder pintles for less cost and less hassle than buying new parts and bolting them on.
Call Frazer Torode at Torode Precision in Brampton, Ont. 905 450 1844. He's very reliable, very capable and knows boats.
He's also very good at making all sorts of weird and wonderful one-offs for boats.
And no, I don't get a commission!
159 2012-03-29 04:53:34
Topic: Contessa history (re-post) (0 replies, posted in General Questions/Comments)
Re: Contessa history
I've seen so many different accounts of the Contessa history that I decided to chat with the source, Jeremy and Fiona Rogers, who built the first Contessa in Lymington, Dorset. They built about 400 Contessa 26s in the 10 years from 1966 to 1976, before selling the moulds.
By the way, Practical Boat Owner (Feb. 2012) has a profile of David Sadler, who designed the Contessa 26 and 32 with Jeremy Rogers. Among other fascinating details, it pointed out that Sadler's full-time job at the time was designing Chieftain tanks for the British army. Perhaps that explains why the Contessa 26 is so solid!
Fiona Rogers sent me the following summary in an attempt to correct some of the misinformation that has been floating around.
From: Fiona Rogers <fiona.rogers@jeremyrogers.co.uk
There are quite a few inaccuracies (in some published accounts), especially about the disposal of the Contessa 26 moulds in 1977, when we decided to sell them to Chris Carrington, who ran a small yard in Lymington; he then sold the moulds to Maclan Marine in Exeter, Devon, but they did not continue building for long.
Our decision to sell the moulds was due to the fact that these little boats were too labour intensive to be profitable at a time when we were building a range of more modern and larger performance cruiser-racing yachts designed by Doug Peterson.
The Canadian Contessa 26 moulds were shipped out to (Toronto-based) JJ Taylors in 1972/3; a year later we sold them a set of Contessa 32 moulds. This purchase by JJ Taylors was not as a result of our company ceasing trading. We were very profitable throughout the 1970s. Our company folded in 1982, when the bank made a policy decision regarding its boatbuilding customers to call in all overdraft facilities; this came at a time when we had a full order book and were tooling up to build the Australian America's Cup contender (which we then never built).
The company was sold by the receivers for a fraction of its value, but the new owners failed to keep it going. We started up again from scratch early in 1985, and we now restore and provide advice and spares for all the Contessa range of yachts as well as building a few bespoke Contessa 32s.
Jeremy and Fiona Rogers
January, 2012
160 2012-02-05 06:37:13
Topic: Dzus screws for engine cover (4 replies, posted in Wanted)
Does anybody know where I can source the Dzus quarter-turn screws that are used to hold down the engine cover? I gather that Dzus has been bought by an American company and it cancelled production of the size I need.
As far as I can make out, the head is inscribed with
DZUS
S-F
A 15-90 but the writing is hard to decipher.
(NB: I later discovered it is really AJ5-90)
The shaft is one inch long.
The top section is 9/16 inch long by 1/4 inch diameter.
The bottom section is 7/16 inch long with a diameter of 5/16 inch.
The usual Dzus quarter-turn mechanism is at the bottom.
The head is wide with a slight dome. I'm not fussy about the head.
They were used in a 1975 Contessa 26.
thank you
bertinol
161 2012-02-02 06:13:18
Re: A proposal for a Contessa Association (5 replies, posted in Lake Ontario Contessa 26 Association)
I am a new Contessa 26 owner at the National Yacht Club in Toronto.
The Contessa Corner does an excellent job airing the views and suggestions of the members. I would like to meet other Contessa owners, race against them, sail with them to interesting venues in the Toronto area and spend time with them on the water.
bertinol
163 2012-01-25 07:03:24
Topic: Contessa logo (4 replies, posted in General Questions/Comments)
Naive question from a new Contessa owner....
The British Contessas seem to use a linked "co" logo on their mainsail, but the JJ Taylor boats, like mine, use a "coronet" logo.
I'm curious. How come?
thanks.
164 2012-01-17 06:06:57
Re: 2012 Toronto Boat Show (7 replies, posted in General Questions/Comments)
I guess the word has got out.
Fogh Marine has bought out Mason's, who is retiring after 34 years.
No changes expected; both stores wil continue under their own names.
cheers, Oliver Bertin