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Hee....heee!  Welcome to my world, Peter and I'm doing it with a two bladed prop!  I would have thought that a three blader would've given you more control but alas...I'm starboard to the dock so the prop walk in reverse jumps my stern to port and no matter if I'm hard over with the rudder to convince Tessa  to go starboard to prevent a collision with the adjacent boat, it takes up to 5 painful seconds before the boat actually tracks in reverse so what I've learned to do is to loop my stern line around the last cleat (not too tightly as the bow will have a tendency to to to port!) on the dock and back to the boat where I  run it back to the stern cleat temporarily.  At this point, I have only two lines connecting the boat to the dock which are my forward spring and my stern line and I have the engine running in neutral to prepare to reverse out of my dock.  I then release the forward spring and have the stern line in my hand for control and I gently put the transmission in reverse at the slowest possible engine speed without stalling.  What happens is what usually happens.  The stern kicks off to port but I'm controlling the stern with the stern line around a dock cleat returning to the boat and I'm slowly paying out as the boat moves to the general direction of reverse but maintaining some tension on the line as to counter the prop walk.  Eventually, the prop does it's job and actually tracks in reverse and at this point, with a snap of the wrist, I free the stern line from the dock cleat and as I can now control the boat with the rudder.  The secret here is to go as slow as possible so that you do have time to correct anything that may go awry such as the bow going too far off to port because I'm pulling excessively on my control stern line.  This, by the way, is easily corrected when you shift the boat in reverse and the stern pops to port, the bow, of course counters to starboard or just simply go forward and steer the boat accordingly while you hang on to the control stern line and start again.  For the reverse situation when you're starboard to dock, just reverse the control stern line set up and use the piling between the two docks or use a boat hook to push off your stern as prop walk occurs until the boat is ready to track in reverse, then, use your rudder.  Hope this helps.  You don't know how embarassed I was as I took out my wife and 2-1/2 year old for the very first time and this horror show happened.  Never again.

Thanks for the knotty advice Virago Deb. ;-)

José

What seems to be the problem with your engine?  What kind and year is it?  Maybe we can help.

José

Hey underdog,

Farymann engines are reliable engines but like stefan and Shannon say, it really depends on how it was maintained.  It also depends if you're sailing on salt water or fresh water.  For the salt water effects on water jackets, see Shannon's post above but it's rarely necessary to re-power if you're sailing on fresh water unless it's been used recklessly or just worn out.  I think the engines are good for 16,000 hours + if I'm not mistaken. I have a K-30 Farymann which is 30 years old and I just had her partially re-built and she's just working flawlessly.  Like Shannon said, it will outlast the boat if maintained properly.  Watch out for bad diesel mechanics who just want to take your money for minor repairs or sell you a new engine.  They're not all bad but like in other businesses, they do exist.  Your safety zone is this forum and before you agree to any repair whatsoever, talk to your fellow Contessans who have been there before.  It can literally save you thousands, upon thousands of dollars.  Good luck  on your purchase!

José

Thanks for the update, seeadler.

Hey Alan T

Let me know a couple of days prior to you coming.  We could meet up and maybe even go for a sail on Tessa and have  a couple of cold ones afterwards.  Cheers!

José

Hi Alan T

I would take the extra 40 minutes and see this one.  I've seen that one at Port Credit which is where I purchased Tessa and the one at Harbour West beats it hands down but then again, it's totally up to you.  Just remember that it's a 1980 as opposed to 1973.  Something to think about anyway.

José

Hi Kristin,

Great solution with the silicone, Turtle wax, etc. but more importantly, make sure that you've uncleated your boomvang before raising the mainsail.  You'd be surprised at how many times people forget to do this or to release the topping lift after the main has been raised.  Hope you're having a great season!   How did you do in your first regatta?

Best regards,

José

Hey Group!

Why doesn't somebody just e-mail Jeremy Rogers @ mail@jeremyrogers.co.uk who happens to be the original designer/builder of our beloved yacht.  I'm sure he's got a couple of blueprints he doesn't mind e-mailing to those who are interested.  I heard he's  a super nice guy.  He might even be nice enough to give us a PDF of the entire blueprint for the Contessa in its entirety.  Some details may have changed but the hull and I'm sure the rudder specs are pretty much the same.  Just a thought.

José

Hey Shannon,

They call themselves marine diesel mechanics!  It's like the mechanics that were dealing with my Farymann.  They were so dead set against any hope of the K-30 starting again that they almost made me believe that it was true.  Was this mechanic hired by the buyer? If so then it might be wise to get the ones that re-built the engine to give it a go just to shame these guys who are probably trying to drive the price down.  Don't budge with the price.  These engines last forever and it's probably something they're omitting to do.  Could you clarify the issue with the de-compression lever and something about compression problems?  Also what's with all the water squirting everywhere?  It sounds like they're making a mess out of everything.

With regards to Tessa's engine, my brother in law who's a brilliant millwright was good enough to look at my problem before he had to go to Texas for an assignment and he had one of his suppliers to lightly hone the cylinder as it had rusted lightly and re-condition the head, valves and re-seat the valves as they were just a mess of rust which of course was the cause for the compression problem.  The only thing that I had to get from Germany was an original set of piston rings as mine were at least 20 years old. The piston was in immaculate shape.  Rob, my brother in law then set a couple of hours for me on July 1st and put everything together.  Wouldn't you know it, it started on the first try and it's been flawless ever since.  EntecWest played a pivotal role in giving sage advice (Thanks, Shannon!) and they scoffed at the mechanics who told me to re-power Tessa.  Even the guys at Farymann in Germany warned me to treat the newly re-built engine as a brand new engine.  When I asked both EntecWest and Farymann Germany as to the K-30's life expectancy, the replies were almost identical.  The engine, they said, will outlast your boat.

By the way, the figures for re-powering Tessa was quoted at around $ 8,000.00-$ 10,000 as opposed to $ 2,500.00 if the original mechanics were to re-build Tessa (no guarantees, by the way!).  The actual figures are as follows:

Honing & Re-conditioning + re-seating the valves-------------------------------$   40.00
Brand Spanking New Piston Rings from Mario Diefenbach----------------------$ 190.00
Single Handing Tessa from Port Credit to Hamilton---------------------------PRICELESS

Now if I can only learn to back her up out of my slip without losing my dignity, I'd be happier! ;-)

José

What year was your boat built, Stefan?  I'm just curious if there is a common year(s)  when Contessas were badly built and I was just curious what kind of sailing you were going to do after you've finished your reconstruction?  Would you be going off shore for an extended period of time?  Again, just curious.

José

p.s. I finally got the engine going on Tessa.  Bristol Marine in Port Credit quoted $2000.00 for a partial re-build or a re-powering at $ 8000.00 plus so my brother in law who's an amazing millwright just laughed and took on the project.  To make a long story short, he honed the cylinder as it had rusted, re-conditioned the head, valves as they were both caked in rust and re-seated the valves and we acquired brand new piston rings (piston was in immaculate shape!)  for the 30 year old Farymann K-30 all the way from Germany.  Last Sunday, we gathered up all the elements and assembled them and crossed our fingers.  On the first try, she fired and she purred like a brand new engine.  No dark smoke, misses or sputtering.  I'll post a more detailed accounting in hopes of helping others out there with a similar problem.  Oh and the best thing is that the whole re-build with parts came to a whopping $ 240.00 with the lion's share of the expenses going to the piston rings which came to $ 190.00 (Yikes!!!).  This set, however, should last another 30 years.  Everything else is in Bristol shape.  For those who have Farymann engines like a K-30 or K-34, Shannon is right about Entec West.  Their (Dave, actually) advice was pivotal in getting her going and I recommend them without any hesitation for advice.  Ciao for now.

José

Hi Shannon,

That totally sucks!  I was really batting for you on this one, Shannon.  I was hoping that the listing would run out but I guess Rhiannon is far too beautiful a vessel not to be purchased by somebody who loves Contessas as much as we all do and she's about as good as they come at any price.    I hope that he'll take care of her as well as you did but I also secretly hope that the deal falls through somehow.  It ain't over till it's over but if it's final then just forge ahead to the next one after all, you have made Rhiannon what she is today and you can do that again with your next one.  One day at a time.

José