Search options (Page 11 of 15)

The tank that I took out of my boat was a 5 gallon cruise-a-day tank, full of diesel and had sat for 7 years.  It was so thin in some spots I didn't dare breathe on it when taking it out.  It was sitting on the plywood shelf in the port locker, not even strapped down or anything.  Went halfway around the world like that.  I'm going to reinstall a similar setup, but I'm going to use a 3 gallon plastic tank, strap it down and vent it.  I'm not going to install a deck fill, cause the less holes the better.  If I ever get a jag of bad fuel, it's not an ordeal to remove and clean the tank.....

not a bad idea, but it's a bit illegal..........

Thats how I was leaning.... I was thinking of doing them myself but I do actually want to get this thing in the water somtime this year...

If you can get about 3400 rpm out of the engine, then you've got the right prop.  When you wind her up, does it sound like you're driving your car around and you've upshifted too early?  Sans tach, thats about the only way to describe.  If you're underpitched, it'd be like driving around in first doing about 50 miles an hour.

If you're getting, or convinced you're getting, full revs out of your engine then maybe it's time calibrate your knotlog...  They're not known for being the most accurate of devices....

13" does seem big to me.....  The prop on mine was a 11x13" 3 blader, which to me seems overpitched, I'm probably going to replace with a two blade 12x9  or so.  Don't really know how she performed under power before, and don't really care.  If it was practical to cruise Lake Ontario without an engine, well, I'd have more room for beers.......

Mark - did you do the topsides?  Gelcoat or paint?  I'm going to do a two tone grey and off white (grey for the non skid) but still not sure whether to paint the whole thing, or gelcote the non skid and paint the shiny parts....

Was your boat ever listed on yachtworld?  Looking at the pictures, the location of the heater jogged my memory....  I think I've seen that picture before...  Cheers

One semi serious, major to me, issue:  Atomic 4.  Means a huge engine taking up a pile of space in an otherwise cavernous interior.  Oh yeah, and the deep bilges will love that gas.....  The Platonic 4 has a place in Paceships and C&C's and such, but I'd seriously be considering another choice of auxiliary for a Contessa.

I'd be closing my eyes every time I hit the starter switch.  Like that'd make a difference......

I'm going to shove mine a few or more inches forward - as it was you had to be a contortionist to check the oil.  Or lift a floor panel......  I think that even 6 or 8 inches further forward would help as far as weight distribition goes, but the 1gms aren't really all that heavy.....

What did you do for steps?  I didn't really like the setup that was in my boat, and it won't work with the engine forward...

Some of the JJT boats were balsa cored, which in my opinion is better suited to injection.  Seems that Taylor used whatever they had when building these things.  Not one is exactly the same.  I got a plywood deck, and it was wet.  Not so lucky.  You probably got lucky and the previous owner actually rebedded the fittings (thru deck, etc) now and again.

The only problem in using the injection method on the fore or side decks of a JJT boat is the coring material.  If its wet, and if its plywood it will most likely be wet, then you have next to no chance at getting a decent bond.  Once you step on the repaired deck, you'll hear crackling at some point in time.  I tapped out the voids in the decking (fore and side decks, and cabintop) and realized that the foredeck was pretty much one big void.  Once I removed the plywood, I realized that attempting to inject the foredeck would be pretty much useless, as the wood was soaked and in some points the void (which had never delaminated, but was never actually laminated) was in the .060-.1" range.  Wow.  If you look at my pictures, you can see some of the back decks, lookin up thru that ugly hole in the transom.  image 19.  The little blobs, now ground off, is the resin that is supposed to hold the coring to the underside of the deck.  The rest of the yellowish fiberglass area was a 'void'  The whole foredeck was like that, and if I had to guess I'd generously say that only about 25% of the plywood was actually bonded to the bottom of the deck. 

I've had great sucess so far, however, in injecting the cabintop decking.  It's dry, and there is about 3/16 of glass outside of a thin core of something that I'm not sure enough to say what it is yet.  Looks like doorskin maybe, but could be pressboard or who knows what else.   Whatever the case, it takes epoxy, doesn't leak inside, and taps real nice now.  No hollow "thunk".  Just a "thud"

I'd be up for it - motivation to get my butt in gear to finish the boat for this season.  It'd have to be later in the season... Augustish

no bulkheads in yet.... still an open concept 26.....  hopefully see the water sometime mid-late summer this year.  hard to stay motivated esp in this weather....

on the list of things to do once the boat is in the water is to make a 'tabernacle' mast step.  bruce bingham has a detailed instructions on how to use one in the sailor's sketchbook.  great book....  don't even know if you can still get it...  cheers