Sacrilege?

Sailing on a beautiful summer's day, with the warm wind blowing through the cockpit...there is nothing on earth as wonderful.

Sailing on a wintery day, with ice-cold rain and sea spray running through your hair, down your back and into the waistband of your shorts...not so good.

I am also faced with the reality that my young family need to be protected from the extreme NZ sun, as we sit pretty much directly under "that hole in the ozone" that we have all known about for years.

As a result, I have been investigating the installation of a bimini to compliment my dodger.

But...will a bimini protect me from a cold wind off the beam?  Will a bimini allow me to mount my instruments overhead and allow me to mount solar panels on top?  I believe from my research that the answer is no.

So then some sort of hardtop is required.  There are certainly a few examples of hard-top bimini installations out there, most of them being the products of Genco Marine.

I very much like what was done here:

Unfortunately, the cost of importing something as unweildy as this from Canada to New Zealand makes it a bit of a non-starter.

I began to wonder if I couldn't come up with a home-grown solution.  I have been playing with some photographs to come up with a possible concept.

I have always admired the lines of the Fisher motorsailers, with their enclosed wheelhouses:

I try to imagine that wheelhouse extending back to the stern, as would be required on a Nonsuch. 

I have also found inspiration in the design of the Chesapeake Marine Design Oysta 28:

There is a Nonsuch owner out there who has built this timber dodger on his boat:



Thank you to the owner in advance...



...and I've been playing with those lines, brought back to the stern:



A bodge-job with Microsoft Paint, and way too long...but you get the idea. The entire thing could be white, instead of varnished timber, for a very contemporary-look



Now imagine this overall profile, but with the forward sloping forward section or "Portugese Bridge".  There are clearly issues of access and sight lines, which could be resolved before final dimensions are set, but in concept, imagine having a warm dry cockpit with windows that could be opened in the summer, a couple of hatches on the roof, solar panels, and fitting on the ceiling for a remote VHF, plotter and instruments?

I'm actually convinced that the cockpit could then be far more useable year round, be it in the blinding sun or the cold and wet.  It would add tremendous safety for the kids as well.

Of course you either love it or absolutely hate it, and it would be criminal to ruin the lines of the Nonsuch, but perhaps if the wheelhouse roof curvature matched that of the cabin exactly, it might actually really work?

Cabin sole re-finishing

From the start, I began to suspect that the very clever and beautiful cabin dining table would prove more of an obstacle than anything else, and I was right.  

The table is large enough to serve everyone seated on the starboard side, and when unfolded it does the same for the port side diners...the problem is when you add up the number of times you eat with a large group of people, and compare that to the number of times you wrench your back trying to access the lockers behind this bloody table, or wish that you had still more floor space for the kids to play...you realize the table must go.

So...a couple of weeks ago I did just this, I pulled the table off the boat.  No real drama, it's not as heavy as it looks.

But like all small projects, it grew in size and complexity.  I noticed that the teak & holly cabin sole was discolored where the table legs sat for 26 years, and that the cabin sole in general was rather dull.

I knew that I wanted to make some changes to the plumbing and clean up the under-floor wiring, so I removed all of the sole panels.

I took the panels home and washed them.  I then sanded them lightly and carefully with 180 and then 240 grit with a random orbital sander.

I applied 3 coats of Cabots CFP Water-Based Flooring Polyurethane (formulated for skid-resistance when dry),

and was extremely-happy with the end result.

The space down below now is remarkable, the measurement between the base of the port and starboard settees is actually just over 1.5m, which can be better appreciated if you pull it on a tape measure...this on a 30' boat!

Tank Monitor Installation

Hello again,

Kiss Kiss has three water tanks (port and starboard cabin, and bow), a small holding tank above the head, and a factory fuel tank (modified and renovated in an earlier post).

I wanted to know the fuel level, and the water level in the two cabin water tanks.  The bow tank, due to my insecurities over having that much mass at the bow, has been taken offline.

The port water tank is factory original, with an electronic level sender installed.  The starboard tank is a poly replacement for the original holding tank, and does not have a sender.  Because the two tanks are linked when both valves are opened midships, they will self-level...therefore only one sender is required (and some math during calibration).

The fuel tank also has an electronic sender.

I have a BEP multi-tank monitor which will keep track of 3 tanks simultaneously once properly calibrated.

Installation required running 12v to the extremely low-draw senders, fusing and grounding them, then running the sender leads to the control unit, which I switched and fused and installed adjacent my chartplotter at the navigation table.  I have not calibrated the units yet, because the instructions insist that you calculate the fuel/water volume, divide into 5 parts, then empty the tank, fill in 5 equal amounts while calibrating (a bit of a pain).

I am thinking whether the same couldn't be acheived by pulling the sender out of the tank, measuring the long sensor rod and dividing it into 5 parts with a marker, then dipping it down into the full tank mark-mark...not sure this makes sense with a non-rectangular/non-flat tank...geometry....



Hatch seal replacement

Good day,

We had a tremendous amount of rain recently, with upwards of 3 inches of water flooding down the deck.  The scuppers weren't keeping up, and I noticed that the forward deck hatch (all original Atkins & Hoyle) were leaking.

When the sun came out I inspected the gaskets, which are round EPDM, set into a groove cast into the aluminium hatches.  They were all original, and very dry and brittle.

I contacted Atkins & Hoyle and discovered that while they can supply them (Parts Dept), they were VERY expensive:

Prices are as follows:

505C - $32.50 ea.

XR100 - $45.00 ea.

XR90 - $37.00 ea.

Glue for install $29.95 ea. (will need two tubes)

I got a rough quote from UPS, around $275.00 to ship (about 1-week delivery). I estimated a box 14"x10"x8", if you have some other friends at the marina or something I would be easy enough to fit more material in the box without causing shipping to go up that much. This may allow you to split shipping with another boater. 

As the kids say these days....OMG!  The total bill approached $600.

I found a manufacturer in New Zealand that stocked identical items (Rubbermark Industries) and purchased everything I needed for less than $100NZD.

I picked a fine weather week, and started by removing all of the portlights (there are 7...sorry...you know this).

They are held to the frames by stainless steel hex bolts with 4mm heads.  They are of course corroded into the frames, and needed some WD40 to break free.  One of them sheared, but I can replace the seal in place in a pinch.

Here's what I did:

I removed the old seal, it came away very easily, but on some of the portlights there was a bead of rubber sealant left behind.  The best way to get this off is to simply rub it with your finger.  In all but one case this caused the whole lot to peel up.  The problem child required some time with a scotchbrite wheel at the end of a drill.

Old seal

Close-up of old seal

Once clean of adhesive, I wiped the channel out with paint thinner.  I took a roll of the proper sized gasket (there are two sizes, the portlights take 1/2" or 3/8", the larger hatches take 5/8", and laid it down into the groove.  You must used soft-faced clamps when turning the corners and make sure not to pull and stretch the gasket when measuring (you want the gasket completely un-loaded and resting in the groove).  When you get the length right, cut it straight with a razor.

Pull the gasket back out and wipe it with paint thinner (or similar).  Lay a bead of silicon at the invert (bottom) of the channel about 1/4" wide.  Press the gasket back in and clamp it very lightly in place with soft faced clamps (I have 10 of the pistol-grip clamps made by Irwin)

When the silicon "kicks" and is a bit firm, remove the clamps, wipe the gasket carefully with thinner if any silicon has oozed up too far, and put the old gasket on top of the new gasket (because you've been insanely-careful, you won't have silicon everywhere and this will be possible).  Then place a small bit of plywood on top of this...then, like turning a cake over (call the missus), turn the hole thing upside down onto your workbench.  Put some weight on top evenly over the portlight face (another sheet of plywood and a brick), and now you have an evenly distributed force pressing the new seal into the channel and the silicon.  Leave it like this for a day.

Why put the old gasket on top?  Because if you look at the portlights you will notice that the gasket is not proud all the way around...if you just turned it over on the workbench it would rest on the aluminium, not the rubber.

Once everything had fully cured, I polished the lexan with PlastX and cleaned the frame of all grime.

I reinstalled the portlights with new 316 stainless hex-head bolts, adjusted the lever-arm dogs to suit (the black lever-arm dogs are adjsuted inward as the gaskets begin to compress and age...you MUST back them out with new gasket or you will never get them closed).  Back off the 12mm nut and use a hex key to back the bolts out of the frame).

The finished product doesn't photgraph well, but the clarity is great, and the seal is PERFECT!