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Ya beat me to it!

I was going to mention the turtlepac link, but the boats.com link was one I hadn't seen. Damned Google. Let me know if you come across any others, as I'm getting set for another overseas jaunt, so have had to curtail research over the last few weeks. With a bit of luck, my next duty station will have internet access......

Cheers,

Pete

That's a question that I have spent the last couple of months trying to get a handle on. There doesn't seem to be a lot of info out there on the web, so I have had to rely on the few descriptions of similar mods done to other boats, not always of the same beefy scantlings or displacement as the Contessa.

Briefly, I'm setting up Renaissance for single-handed offshore work, so I need only a pilot berth, head, galley, nav station, and space for spares and stores for 4 months at a time. The route that makes the most sense to me is as follows. Beef up the inside of the bow with an extra 3/4 inch of mat and epoxy, tapered out well into the eyes. Some extra glasswork, a deck-plate, and bronze through-hulls makes the anchor well self-draining and accessible, and allows the area directly beneath to be glassed in as a small flotation tank. Immediately aft, for about 3 feet, the old v-berth storage area is glassed in as flotation, and a bulkead erected above, right across the bows. This has a tight-fitting access door, behind which is installed an inflatable flotation tank (these are available commercially) that is fabricated to fill the space. Continuing aft, the head is placed on the centreline against this bulkhead, with the house batteries installed as low as possible on either side; above is open-shelved for sail and light stores stowage. While this does reduce the interior volume by quite a bit, as well as the perception of space below-decks,  it utilises one of the two least-accessible areas in the vessel. Aft of the head, all is much the same as in the traditional accommodation plan, until you arrive at the aft (companionway) bulkhead.

Since Renaissance never had an inboard intalled (at the request of the first owner, who really knew her stuff), I have all that lovely (and nearly useless) space under the cockpit in which to fit another custom-fabricated inflatable tank. This stops just short of the cockpit drains aft, and the lazarette is glassed in to form a watertight bulkhead. A bit more glasswork under the cockpit benches (to reduce their capacity) provides further flotation. I am still debating whether to raise the cockpit sole by 6 inches or so. I consider its' volume too large for an offshore boat, and that should also solve the problem of cockpit drainage when heavily loaded and pressed.

In a narrow, deep hull like this, it is very difficult to achieve the level of positive flotation that will assure adequate freeboard to permit pumping-out in any kind of sea. My reasoning is that IF she will stay afloat, and IF I can survive whatever caused her to fill in the first place, I will have a semi-submarine that should be able to make a knot or two in the direction needed to get her patched up and sailing again. Far better than placing faith in a survival raft that could drift for decades before sinking, with no way to alter course.

I'll post again in a day or two with at least one supplier of inflatable tanks. In the meantime, good luck with the search.

Pete

Et, au moins, 1 anglo qui peut debrouiller.......

Hey Stefan,

Not sure how (or even why) they numbered sails in the 70's, but Renaissance came with a 150% genoa numbered (you guessed it!) 79. Her other sails all bear the number 7, though the hull number is 223. Was there a Contessa swap meet operating at some point on Lake Ontario?

Pete

Thanks Jose (sorry, no accents on this laptop......),

I fired them off a request for a quote. Hope I won't need CPR when the answer comes back.

Thanks for the welcome! It's a great site, and it has played a decisive role in my choice of a Contessa. Can't wait to get back home and get started!

Pete