The original shed was too low to get the Ballad under, so I raised the side walls from pallet height to about 72". This put a wider part of the shed at boat deck level, and gave more headroom when working on the decks. It was long overdue, as the original pallet base and walls, sitting on the ground, were rapidly turning into compost!
New boat shed walls under old arches.
Next on the program was to get trailer and boat together. This required hiring a local crane to do the job. Having 4-wheel drive and 4-wheel steering certainly helped it negotiate the driveway.
As you can see by the picture below, Bennath's hull is now free of all the old bottom paint, and since the photo was taken she has lost the blue beltline stripe as well.
Naked hull.
Time to start the layout for new bulkhead panels. As I could not get 15mm plywood I used 3/4" instead ... a little heavier maybe, but one has to go with what's available.
Maximizing wood use.
One bulkhead was too large to get through the hatch, so it had to be cut in two. The new one was also made in two pieces, with a joint 12" in from the inboard edge. This allows the part that bolts to the hull flange to remain in one piece. The two will have to be joined inside the boat.
Main bulkhead joint with joiner strip. (Final strip used was plywood as the grain of the solid wood strip lacked strength.)
It's a relief to stop taking things off the boat and start some serious rebuilding work. One of the first jobs, after removing all the debris from the old ceilings, was to "de-glue" the hull sides. In places the old adhesive peeled off in sheets, partly due to the moist conditions in the boat. But most of it put up a good fight, and it took an assorted arsenal of tools to persuade it to let go.
Tool Arsenal
My main tools were a razor blade scraper, a wire brush, an old 1/2" chisel, gloves, and a kneeling pad. I found that if I kept the razor blade wet when scraping the glue did not re-stick to the fiberglass. Another useful tool was an abrasive pad, also kept wet. Even after it was all removed (two days work) little bits of rubbery glue were everywhere, trying their best to re-adhere to anything they came in contact with!
Wire Brush in Action
Working inside the bare hull was interesting: everything dropped immediately headed for the bilge, and unless I kept a grip on something I was apt to slide bilgeward also!
Most of the gear I removed was in decent shape. The winches, although dirty with debris, are in good working condition and should be fine after a good cleaning and lubrication.
The rescue of a 1976 Albin Ballad 30' sailboat.
Next step was to see just what I'd bought home. This involved emptying the contents of the boat, and stripping out the interior and mechanical systems. It's really fortunate the boat didn't fit in the shed, as I needed the covered space to store everything!
The rescue of a 1976 Albin Ballad 30' sailboat.
Deciding to rescue a boat is one thing, but the reality of getting it home, where it can be worked on, is a whole different story!
After phoning several different boat movers to get a feel for what I was in for, I settled on Keel Hauling, a local company that had a smaller sized rig that might make it up my driveway. I liked owner Cam McLean's "can do" attitude, and his no BS approach to the project, so we arranged to do the deed on the following Saturday. As the boat was located on Gabriola Island this meant a ferry ride was part of the operation.
Cameron McLean and his rig
On arrival at the site we discovered the boat was sitting too low to be loaded easily, and we spent several hours jacking and blocking things until the trailer could be slid underneath.
It seems I have become a two-boat owner again. While searching Craigslist the other day for boats for sale in this area an unbelievably 'cheap' boat showed up. Worse still, it was a make and model I have lusted after for a couple of years, an Albin Ballad. She's a 29' 11" cruiser/racer with fin keel and skeg-hung rudder with, in my eyes, drop-dead beautiful lines.
After initial inquiries, it turned out the boat had belonged to a sailor who had passed away a couple of years ago, and the boat had sat in the woods for five years. Yikes!! Before that she had been raced successfully in Vancouver, and had also made a return trip to Hawaii.
Still, I had to see her or I wouldn't sleep at night for wondering if she really was a real bargain. Arrangements were made to view, and we drove up to Nanaimo, caught the ferry across to Gabriola Island, and followed the directions that we'd been given.
Lo and behold, there she was parked on a muddy track, listing a bit to Starboard, covered with dead leaves and branches, and supported by many props, some looking pretty rotten.
The Black Fly and my Eastport Pram share the same mast, boom, and sail. Originally for the Eastport Pram, the rig is a copy of the popular Sabot rig, which I much prefer to CLC's standing-lug design.
The Mast: is made from 1 1/2" 065 aluminum tubing. I cut mine in half to allow it to be stored in the forward cabin of the Vega. It's joined with a 12" piece of 1" aluminum pipe (1.3" OD, 0.125 wall thickness). The pipe is a loose fit in the mast tube, so a few wraps of electricl tape were used to fatten up the pipe to a nice friction fit. There is also a 36" length of tube, same size as the boom tube, inserted into the base of the mast to stiffen the lower section .... with more good old electrical tape!
The Boom: is made from 1 1/4" 065 aluminum tubing, with a laminated plywood jaw on the end that fits around the mast.
Like a lot of boat owners I have an electric bilge pump with an automatic float switch lurking in the depths of the bilge, to insure against accidental sinking when the boat is unattended. Coupled to two deep cycle golf cart batteries, which are connected to two solar panels, that little pump should keep working until the cows come home.
However, I often feel concern over the fact that if my fuel tank leaks and floods the bilge with Diesel the float switch will come on and merrily pump 33 liters of fuel overboard into the marina. Having seen what a cupful of fuel does in the water, I shudder to think of a whole tank full!
A little research turned up a float switch that is operated by having two electrodes that complete a circuit when immersed in a conductive solution (salt water) but will not activate when submerged in Diesel oil. Water Witch is one of these. I like the way it straps right to the pump, as shown in the picture below.
The one downside I see is that pure rainwater (does such a thing exist?) will not activate the contacts. But as I have a conventional stuffing box and there is always a dram of salt water in the bilge I don't see this as a problem.
I think this would be a worthy upgrade ... one of those little things you never see or think about while on the boat, yet providing peace of mind when the boat is unattended. Needless to say, before I make a final purchase, the usual research will be done to make sure this product is a "best choice" for my application.
July 2011.
I have installed this switch and it works well .... very simple and effective. Contrary to some reports it does respond to fresh water as well as salt water.
Every couple of years I haul my boat to re-apply a coat of nasty toxic ablative antifouling paint. I use a full face respirator, disposable suit, gloves ... the whole works ... in an attempt to minimize my exposure to this stuff. In the back of my mind I always wish there was a better way to protect the bottom; one that does not leave a cloud of toxins floating in the water each time I sponge off the hull.
The latest issue of Good Old Boat Magazine published a letter from Robin Benjamin, who claims a paint called COPPERCOAT is the solution to this problem.The author had his Pacific Seacraft Dana coated with it and swears by the stuff in this Blog .
I've been thinking about hauling my boat home again to re-paint the deck and cockpit areas, as the gel coat has worn thin in places. It would also be a good time to strip and re-paint the bottom, again, this time with COPPERCOAT. The extra expense would be more than offset by the longevity of the product.
I must be getting old ... this kind of job used to take me a couple of hours at most. This one took a couple of days!!
While attempting to move my stern light from the pushpit to the upright tube on the Navik vane (it was being blocked by the vane) I managed to terminally destroy the light housing. In days gone by I'd cobbled it together with epoxy and liquid electrical tape, but I finally had to let it go. Besides, the lens was in two pieces and leaked salt water all over the electricl connections.
After much searching, I came up with a reasonable replacement, made by Perko. My only beef with the design:
Who on earth uses #4 screws to attach anything ? !!
A couple of years ago I installed an AIS receiver in Sin Tacha, and, connected to my GPS and laptop running Memory Map Navigator, it provides real-time position information on ferry and large shipping traffic. My position is also on my screen, and each target has a 15 minute position vector indicating where it will be at that time. If any of these vectors cross mine, an alarm rings to warn of a possible collision.
As I frequently cross the busy traffic lanes along Juan de Fuca and Haro Straights, I find this little device provides valuable information, allowing me to navigate away from danger involving large ships, towboats, and ferries. Even larger pleasure boats are now using AIS transponders to broadcast their positions. My unit is a receiver only, and does not advise other ships where I am.
This year's Rendezvous was at Port Browning Marina, on North Pender Island in the Canadian Gulf Islands. The venue has undergone some great improvements since our last rendezvous there in 2005, including new washroom and shower facilities.
OK, the blog is called MOSTLY About Boats, but every now and then I like to throw in a project that may be of general interest.
We live in a home we built ourselves back in the early 80's. Our focus was on energy efficiency, using superior insulation, passive solar gain, solar assisted water heating, and a wood stove for warmth and hot water in the winter. (Our stove, an RSF HF-65, is a massive piece of ingeniously designed welded steel plate, complete with an electric thermostat damper control, 1" stainless steel water coil, and a catalytic combustor unit to reduce emissions.) We have reaped the benefit of these methods for the last 27 years.
(Please click on any picture for a full-sized version) (*dodger = eu sprayhood)
I've spent many happy hours in my basement sweat shop doing upholstery work, sail making, and canvas work on an old Pfaff 438 sewing machine. This machine does straight stitch and zig-zag, but has no walking foot, a feature that would be nice to have. But it will sew easily through 7 layers of heavy Dacron, and just as easily through 2 layers of light weight spinnaker cloth.
Several years ago I bought a Lancer 25. I'd never had a boat with a dodger, so thought it might be a good project to tackle. I've seen a few nice looking boats spoiled by ugly canvas work, so my aim was to combine grace with function, and finish with something that added to the boat's beauty, rather than detracting from it.
Armed with Don Casey's book, Canvas Work & Sail Repair, I studied the rudiments of dodger construction, and also built the tubing bender described in the book.
Like most new things I make, trial runs preceded the actual cutting of bought materials. The frame was mocked up from brazed together old electrical conduit, and inexpensive plastic hardware used to attach it to the boat.
Radar has been on my 'wants' list for quite a while, but I managed to procrastinate until last week, when I finally got down to some serious research on the Internet.
After making a list of what I would need it for, I came to the conclusion that a low power (1.5 to 2kW) unit with a LCD display would be just fine. After much reading I narrowed my choice down to a JRC 1000 MKII , a reasonably priced entry level model that would do all I needed it to.
The radome is only 12" in diameter, which makes it a nice compact size for mast mounting. (Being tall, I'm not happy with a radome on a pole behind me in the cockpit, beaming microwaves over, or maybe through, my head).
Unfortunately, this model seems to be no longer available :-( .... so it was back to the drawing board!
My next candidate was the Furuno 1623 . The radome was 3" bigger (15") but I thought I could live with that, and it got a good review by Practical Sailor magazine, always a positive sign.
While chatting with a dock mate the subject of radar came up, and he asked if I had heard of the new broadband units. I hadn't, but it sounded interesting, so off I went to spend more time searching the 'net for information.
It appears that Navico (sold under the Simrad, Lowrance, and Northstar labels) has developed a technology, already in use in the aircraft industry, that gives amazing results at closer ranges, which is exactly the area I am usually concerned with.
The unit has many desirable features, such as:
Instant on (no warm up).
Less radiation than a cell phone (mount the radome anywhere).
Targets visible within 10' of the boat.
Sea clutter rejection is up to 5 times better than normal radar.
Crystal clear image, making it easy to interpret the display (less of a learning curve).
After watching several videos, I've decided that "Broadband Radar" was the reason I was procrastinating. The technology has evolved to a more useful and user-friendly stage. Now all I have to do is find the right unit for the right price, which may mean another years wait, and ... more research :-)
Today we loaded the 'Fly' on the car, stuffed the rig and sail in the back, and headed down to the marina for the first sail. Pedder Bay is pretty sheltered, and there's always a good breeze blowing, either into or out of the Bay.
Unloading was really easy. The thing only weighs about 30 lbs and was easy to move from the car roof to the dock. With gear loaded in the dinghy I rowed around to where my boat is moored, and installed the mast, boom, sail, and rudder in an adjoining empty slip.
The following procedure is one I used to lower and raise the mast on my Albin Vega 27. Although the mast is only 30' long, it's quite a heavy piece of gear, and could cause damage and injury if it fell out of control.
I have recounted from memory of what I did two years ago. There may be some gaps, and there may be some changes needed for different boats. I found a slip clear of other boats and had an able helper.
Inspiration for my "A" frame comes from the Alberg 30 group post on the same subject.
Although I didn't take pictures the two times I used the frame, I thought I'd share my design with others who might be interested.
The material for the "A" frame is from a Chain Link Fence supplier, and is 1 7/8" 14 gauge pipe. The nice thing about the fencing material is that each size will fit inside the next larger one, making it easy to sleeve pieces together. Also, it's galvanized for longevity.
I bought two 20' sections and cut them in half, sleeving them together with the next size smaller as inserts. Having them in two pieces made them a lot easier to transport.
