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One more thing that I didn't make clear above is that:
One would think that the system would be designed so that mainsheet car could be locked in a specific location and held utterly captive by the sliding stops, but whenever one stop is locked on the rail and the car is pushed up against it, the other stop (I held the car still while I used the one stop I have) can only be locked about an inch and a half away from the car so that it can bang around some. Thanks again for anyone who comments. Brian
Does anyone recognize the brand of the pinstop that you see on my traveler and know where I might buy another one like it? It has no markings.
The traveler car for the mainsheet has "IYE England" stamped on it. But as you can see from the attached photo, it doesn't look like my traveler car and the one pinstop I have were made to work together (because of the beveled mating surface on the traveler car and the vertical mating surface on the pinstop).
If I could find another pinstop like the one I have, I could file the beveled edge on the traveler car until both pinstops are able to engage when each is up against the traveler car, holding it in position firmly.
Once again, if anyone knows where I might get another pinstop like the one I already have, I'd very much appreciate knowing where.
Thanks much,
Brian
Hello mhall,
Thank you very much. That is exactly what I needed to know.
Best Wishes,
Brian Nold
briannold@maxedoutvoyages.com
maxedoutvoyages.com
Here is some more photos that might be helpful. The Traveler rail width measures 31 1/2 mm.
Hello everyone,
As I was going through the rigging on my Contessa, I noticed that there seems to be a problem with my mainsheet traveler. As you can see from the attached photo, I have a car but only one (moveable and locking) stop block.
I'm not really sure how this traveler arrangement is supposed to work, but it appears that you hold the traveler car in a specific place by moving (a pair?) of stop blocks as close as possible to the car wherever you have it positioned.
Perhaps I am also missing some sort of stops at each end of the traveler that keep the moveable stop blocks from sliding off and going overboard.
Does anyone recognize this traveler arrangement I have and can help me figure out what I'm missing?
Thanks much,
Brian
Hello everyone,
I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with Triton Sails in Toronto (Mississauga)?
Are the sails good quality and what about the customer service?
Thanks,
Brian
If anyone has any photos to post of their dzus fasteners on their cockpit floor panels............this would be very helpful.
Best wishes, Brian
After some more research online, I'm guessing that the best design of dzus fastener for our contessa's cockpit floor panels would be the type that simply fits through a hole in the floor panel and grabs a spring that is riveted to the underside of the flange that the floor panels rest on. They look like a clean, simple design but the only apparent disadvantage seems to be that the dzus fastener would not be held captive and could easily fall out and drop in the bilge or overboard, etc. I did see some split rings that aircraft spruce was selling with no explanation as to their use -- I wonder if those rings are used to hold the dzus fasteners captive on the floor panel?
fyi -- my 1971 Contessa has cockpit floor panels that are about 3/16" thick. the seal would compress to about 1/16" and then the flange that the panel sits on varies a lot in thickness anywhere from about 3/16" thick to about 3/8" thick. I'm planning on using a trim router with a rabbiting bit to machine the thickness of the flange on the underside to an even thickness all the way around for a quality install because the depth tolerances for the dzus fasteners are pretty tight. I'll probably machine the flange to about the same as the door panels (3/16"). Cheers
Sounds like dzus fasteners are the way to go. It seems like there are several different designs (some rivet the female part down to the lip where the panel sits and some just have a clip that rivets down etc.) I would like to go ahead and get some dzus fasteners but I'm still confused about which design is best for this cockpit access hatch application.
Is there anyone who might be able to post a photo of their dzus fastener installation or maybe a detailed explanation about how the male part of the dzus fastener mounts to the access panel and how the female part mounts to the lip of the access hole would suffice?
Many thanks for all the help solving this problem!
Hello everyone,
I'm trying to figure out how to get my cockpit floor panels secured.
When I look at past postings regarding this issue, I've seen the floor anchors made by PYI suggested a few times.
Although they seem like a great design, it appears to me that they would not work because the minimum thickness of the floor panel needs to be 1/2" and my floor panels are about 3/16" thick.
Does anyone know what fasteners would work or have any suggestions about how to get this job done right?
Thanks much, Brian
The Contessa 26 has a displacement of 5400 lbs.
Does anyone know if that is the weight of a fully loaded boat (normal displacement) or the light displacement (just the boat empty with no people, gear, or stores aboard)?
Thanks
Hello Everyone!
I just wanted to say thanks to Adrian and everyone else who took the time to comment on my many posts and help me solve some of my Contessa problems during my complete re-fit!
This forum has been a huge help and I am very grateful.
About the only problem that remains is trying to figure out how to re-plumb the deck drains (my last post).
The Timmissartok Foundation has recently told me that they will provide a grant to help me with my Solo Around The World project in my Contessa as well as promote my journey on their website. I'm very excited about that. And I'll be down in Panama this Feb/Mar, waiting for the right time to launch for the Marquesas, so if anyone is down there, make sure and look me up.
Cheers and best wishes to all,
Brian
Here's the other photo showing the difference in size between a marine grade marelon 1 1/4" plumbing fitting that measures 1250 thousandths and a Lowes 1 1/4" landscaping fitting that measures 1404 thousandths.
I went ahead and bought a pair of marelon 1 1/4" flush deck drains to mount on the deck. Now all I need are the fittings to get these two 1 1/4" hoses connected to the 1 1/2" through-hull fitting on the transom (see photo). West Marine sells a 1 1/2" nylon tee but I can't find a couple of adapters that would thread into the tee and have a 1 1/4" hose barb on the other end.
I did finally find these type of fittings at the local Lowes (gray plastic fitting in photo) but the 1 1/4" hose barb on these measures 1 inch and 404 thousandths!!
This has been a very frustrating project because what should have been an easy task has been made next to impossible by not being able to find the plumbing fittings I need.
Has anyone else figured out how to plumb out their side deck drains?
Thanks, Brian
I should have also said that the outside diameter of the plastic tee you see pictured is different than the outside diameter of the copper pipe which is causing a problem getting a section of hose to fit properly on both. This is problem that started this project.
Hello Everyone,
My 1971 Contessa has a bronze 1 1/2" (i.d.) thru-hull fitting on the transom. This was plumbed to the side deck scupper drains with a (home and garden) tee, some reducers and two 3/4" (i.d.) hoses. The side deck scupper drains are original and are a short section of copper plumbing pipe that was glassed in and flush with the deck.
Does anyone know how to get these drains plumbed out correctly? I'm having a hard time finding the fittings that seem like they would work well for this job.
Thanks,
Brian
Also meant to say that the not only is the strobe extremely valuable for safety, it also used very low power consumption!
B
Hello Merrill,
Yes, that is correct. I will use the 360 degree white light at the top of the mast (also the anchor light) for the stern light/steaming light in combination with a red/green nav light on the bow when motoring and the tri-color nav light at the top of the mast (same fixture -- OGM with strobe) only when sailing. This is perfectly legal and explained clearly in the federal regulations pamphlet put out by the coast guard on boat lighting. The reason I am doing this is because I want to avoid a white stern light on the transom that is putting out light that will reflect off of the Monitor windvane, etc, and blinding/annoying me.
In regards to what Seeadler said about a photodiode to make the anchor light turn on and off automatically.........I bought this feature as well on my OGM tri-color/anchor/strobe light fixture. The strobe is another feature that I realized was going to be extremely valuable due to its awesome ability to make you seen by other boats in poor visibility conditions when you heave to and go get some sleep, etc. (like Larry Pardey talks about in his book about cruising the orient).
Thanks everyone for your great comments! B
My complete re-fit is on schedule and I'll be launching the boat in St. Louis MO in November for the "big trip."
Christopher,
That is very interesting about the falling prices of HF email service. I'm going to have to look into that.
I'll keep you posted. Brian
Hello Christopher,
I'm not familiar with a service called globe wireless.
An HF ground plane is a bunch of copper tape that is place in the hull and coupled to the SSB radio's (or ham HF radio) negative RF conductor. It is conducts to the water through inductance and does not need a physical electrical connection. Pretty cool, huh! I'm still unclear as to what products there are for building this ground plane, though, and how the copper tape is all connected together in a way that won't corrode, etc. Cheers, B
I was going to have a circuit for each spreader light (4 conductors) as well as an OGM tri color anchor strobe (3 conductors). (I don't have a dedicated steaming light........I'm using the anchor light for that)
Does anyone know what electrical fitting I would use that would mount just forward of mast on deck?
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