1

(1 replies, posted in Technical)

2

(1 replies, posted in General Questions/Comments)

I believe best practice would be to *REPLACE* existing joint fastening rivets if glassing up the joint without grinding out and structurally taping it.  You don't know how badly corroded the existing rivets are and as Epoxy or polyester resin isn't as resilient as sealant, and salt water aluminium corrosion invariably expands many times the volume of the parent metal, if you seal up existing active corrosion, the forces generated can split the joint.

J Rogers (UK) boats have an upturned flange that is purely resin bonded - no rivets at all, with the joint capped by the toe rail and usually no rubbing strip whatsoever.   IMHO a preferable method of construction, but if the joint does partially fail, we tend to have trouble with the encapsulated wooden stringer  the edge of the deck sits on.

The problem with that is being sure you have a bulletproof structural joint between the hull and the deck without the rivets or screws.  You don't want the deck peeling up from the hull due to shock loading on the genny cars and inadequate bonding.

There is no quick fix, no easy fix - the job needs doing right.

You wont be able to get screws to hold reliably in sealant so will have to glass up all the holes and redrill them if you go down that road. 

Through bolting will work but unless the hole is in good tight condition, even a light bump on the rubbing strip will be likely to break the bond between the sealant and the bolt thread and start a leak.  If the strip gets a severe ding or catches on something, you are likely to get a lot of damage round the bolt holes

Personally, I'd get aluminium closed end pop rivets with an aluminium mandrel (don't mix metals due to corrosion) and install each with a dab of sealant.  If the hole is slightly enlarged and there is inside access, a close fitting stainless washer can be used on the inside, but badly wallowed out holes will need glassing up and redrilling.  The mandrel holes in all rivet heads must be plugged or carefully filled with sealant to minimise corrosion which would weaken the body of the rivet. Make sure you use countersunk head rivets and that the head ends up slightly below the rubbing strip surface so a ding that compresses the sealant slightly doesn't force the rivet in, breaking the bond between it and the hole sides and starting a leak.

Aluminium is not an easy metal to adhesively bond due to the oxide layer that rapidly forms on freshly cut surfaces. If you rebed the whole rubbing strip, you will need to sand the back of it to clean metal, then after cleaning and degreasing, lightly sand the surface and IMMEDIATELY smear with a very thin coat of sealant to get a good bond.  Once that's done, you have as long as that coat remains even slightly tacky to get it bedded in place with additional sealant.  Another approach is to sand through a puddle of G4 pond sealer  (to exclude atmospheric oxygen) then wipe off leaving a trace behind as a primer.  Its polyurethane based so polyurethane sealants bond well to it while its still tacky. If you let it dry past that you will need to sand it off and start over.

6

(3 replies, posted in Non-Contessa Chatter)

Preallocated moorings or first come first served?

If they are preallocated, then let the user choose the length subject to an overall length limit (of boat + strop from stemhead).   What suits a Co26 owner wont suit anyone with high topsides and if the strop is too short it can get very difficult to pick up in a blow, possibly leading to an out of control boat in the mooring field.  Short strops *will* need pickup lines and buoys

If they are first come first served, consider long strops without eyes so they can be cleated off to suit, with a whipping on to indicate the max length from buoy to stemhead that *MUST* always be inboard.

7

(27 replies, posted in Technical)

Small drogues can make a significant difference!

We once spent a week stormbound in Braye harbour, Alderney.  A bucket rigged from the end of the spinnaker pole to just break the surface as we rolled made the difference between rolling our guts out all night and being just about stable enough to make tea in the morning.

A local Co26 on a mooring further in near the Lifeboat mooring was actually rolling her gunwales under a fair bit of the time.  We chafed though three bucket lanyards that week and spent so much of the daytime in the Braye Harbour hotel, they gave us residents privileges!

8

(27 replies, posted in Technical)

The thread on the pintle should start just before it emerges from the gudgeon.  95% of the bearing surface should be unthreaded.   Using a thread as a bearing surface is no better than using a file!

My gooseneck pin inserts from below the boom and has a shackle through its retaining hole that holds two Wichard safety snap hooks with their spring gates removed that serve in place of a ramshorn hook.  I think any ramshorn hook should really have a threaded lower end long enough to use a pair of locknuts because you certainly don't want the situation you described.

9

(2 replies, posted in Site Support/Comments)

Not uncommon on many forums.   If you have written a long reply, its always a good idea to select all and ctrl-C (copy) before hitting the submit button.  If its complex with a lot of images etc. you may also want to open another tab or window and check you are still logged in before submitting.

10

(27 replies, posted in Technical)

I've found a bungee loop from the rudder head to one of the stern cleats helps reduce thumping a lot when the tiller is lashed.  If it gets rough enough for it to become ineffective, then there's enough other noise that the thumping is not notably annoying.

I know there's a little slop in my top pintle/gudgeon but the middle gudgeon was replaced a few years back and bored to fit and the heel fitting and pin were both replaced at the same time.

You may be on to something about vertical movement.  My rudder is solid wood and is buoyant.  When not underway the rudder will float to one side or the other  putting the tiller hard over if I dp not lash it.  When on the hard, it self centers due to gravity.

As the rudder is heavy and the waterline area of it is quite small, it cannot accelerate upwards as fast as the stern of the boat can as a wave comes past.  If the motion of the boat is quick enough to overcome friction between the pintles and the gudgeons - thump!

11

(2 replies, posted in General Questions/Comments)

If you've also got a round "dustbin lid" hatch for the stern locker she probably is an English import.

I'm glad it went well, but *PLEASE* don't do it that way again.
Apart from the need to work far too close to being under the load while jacking,  extending the support pads like that is extremely unsafe as if the pad is not exactly square to the screw shaft, once extended with the blocks it vastly increases the risk of a support buckling. Because you are actually rocking against the support as you jack the keel the risk of failure is even higher

Also it really isn't a great idea to jack against the hollow section of the keel aft of the ballast.

If I had to do that, I'd jack the whole trailer with multiple heavy duty bottle jacks and cribbing, then block up both ends of the keel, and add eight shores tied together with bolted on planks to form an improvised cradle, then back off the pads and lower the trailer till I had enough clearance. 

The shores would be three a side + one at the bow and one bearing on the top of the aperture for the propeller at the stern.

Use Duralac on *every* fastening going into an aluminium spar.   Use insulating gaskets under *every* stainless fitting  you have to remove or replace.

Its much better for the spreader and the socket to have some flexible packing between them as it reduces point loading, corrosion and fatigue.

My spreaders that have nearly identical sockets had badly degraded rubber liners in the sockets and rather more space to wobble than yours. I replaced them with collars cut from sanitation hose (which was the best match in thickness and resilience to the remains of the old liner) that was a press fit on the spreader end. I liberally smeared the spreader end with Duralac to prevent poultice corrosion before assembly.   It looks like your spreaders could benefit from some collars cut from bicycle inner tube as the gap you need to take up is quite a bit smaller.  *DONT* forget the Duralac!

14

(27 replies, posted in Technical)

The stainless washers are pretty much essential to stop the split pin gouging up the gudgeon casting, eventually leading to the split pin catching and failing leading to possible loss of the rudder. 

If the boat pitches sharply with the helm hard over, the force on those split pins could be pretty high unless there is something else stopping the pintles coming out of the gudgeons.   

Also, due to the dissimilar metals, a bonding strap from the gudgeon to a LOCAL anode is likely to be required to prevent electrolysis damage.

I'm lucky as I have a very early J Rogers boat with a solid mahogany rudder so the pintles have external mounting straps and I have small anodes fitted to the straps.  Also my pintles have threaded ends with a castellated nut and split pin so the rudder is far more positively secured than yours is.

15

(6 replies, posted in Sails & Rigging)

Its a tradeoff. 

Traditional reefing: Ramshorn hook or similar at gooseneck, reefing lines led to jammers on boom at gooseneck, reef points to tidy up the foot.  Its low friction, simple and cheap, but you need a competent helm and crew + the crew must be reasonably fit.  Can be <expletive> scary if you've left it a bit too late in worsening conditions. If any lines are led aft, its a PITA that may need extra cockpit crew. 

Single line reefing - needs *ALL* lines led aft, including topping lift, kicker and lasyjacks.   Needs a stackpack or similar to control the loose flap of sail.  High friction, complex and expensive, but if you are singlehanding inshore or your crew is less physically able, you may not be able to cope without it.

I simply have two lines that clip on either side of the boom on the eyes the first reefing line goes through (which are next to the clew) and go outside all to stanchion bases either side forward of the shrouds then aft to cockpit cleats.   They are long enough that the weather one can be left in place for use after the next (intentional) gybe.

17

(4 replies, posted in General Questions/Comments)

Sliding hatches are great - till they leak!
If you have one with a hatch garage that has small drainholes, you soon learn to carry a pack of pipecleaners for cleaning them out.

Our keyhole hatch and hump is actually quite a bit stronger and far more resistant to damage if the deck is swept by a breaking wave.

Oh yes, distractions.   That's why I always let the shackle on the horse down to leeward and cleat it off there when on a medium long downwind leg.  If I do have a brainf**t and gybe unexpectedly,  it keeps the mainsheet clear of me, my crew and the tiller. If its a very long leg, its preventer time as well.

I certainly don't want anyone to suffer the type of injury I heard on the VHF once.  Apparently the boat making the MAYDAY's foredeck crew had managed to get a loop of spinny sheet round their neck then the sail had filled.   The coastguard were arranging a helicopter medivac so presumably the casualty still had signs of life.   I don't know the final outcome, but I'd bet it cant have been good . . .

That's why you *NEVER* stay in the danger zone on the lee side of the mainsheet and traveller car for a second longer than you have to and always check the car is secure before entering the zone.  Downwind, always check with the helm before entering the zone on the windward side of the mainsheet etc. unless a preventer is rigged.

Its reasonable for a fresh and fully competent crew to be expected to remember and respect the danger zones, but if you have less experienced crew, or they are tired, and the skipper isn't an absolute disciplinarian who'd cuss out his own mother for dawdling in the danger zone, you are pushing the odds every time.

I'm just glad you learnt the lesson without serious permanent disablement.

Yes, that's about how I thought it would affect your cockpit usage from my experience on other types of boat with a similar setup to yours. 

Do you have pin stops for safety on the traveller as well as control tackles on the car?  If the control tackle comes free under load and there is anyone in the way of the car, a serious injury is likely.

The horse is straight.   (well at least straightish - there are a few slight kinks from nearly 50 years of use and a few accidental heavy weather gybes)

To fit a track, I'd have to rebuild the whole thing with a rectangular tube as I believe drilling the round tube to mount a track would weaken it too much but as the existing setup works well enough and I dont really want to spend approx £1000 to do it right. it isn't a priority.  I have considered fitting a roller car that will run on the existing tube, but the coxcombed shackle is extremely robust and rarely gives any trouble, unless you leave the mainsheet slack with the tackle centered, which tends to result in the bottom mainsheet block fouling the tiller.

If you move the mainsheet forward you will need more parts in the mainsheet tackle to maintain the same mechanical advantage. This will vastly increase friction and make life awkward in light winds.  Also, you may need a stronger boom due to the increased point loading.

The lower the traveller is, the less effective it is.  A full width mid-cockpit traveller makes much of the seating an unsafe area downwind.  A part width traveller mounted low down, although safer so long as it is well clear of the companionway, is so ineffective as to be fairly pointless.

My setup is old-skool with a tubular horse running right across the stern deck over the tiller just aft of the cockpit combing.   A big bow shackle holding the bottom mainsheet block runs on the horse with two 3:1 tackles to each end of the horse to control it.  The shackle is covered in coxcombing done in Kevlar cord and impregnated with Teflon grease to keep the sliding friction down.

23

(9 replies, posted in Repairs/Modifications/Upgrades)

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(9 replies, posted in Repairs/Modifications/Upgrades)

25

(9 replies, posted in Repairs/Modifications/Upgrades)

N.B. an ohmmeter *WONT* check LED lights.   They typically wont start passing significant current till they have 8 or 9V across them.   If you have any LED lights, you need to test them with a 12V supply + a 21W car bulb or a 3A circuit breaker in series to limit the current if there is a short circuit, and actually look up the mast to see if they are on.