Jack,
Good to hear that your boat made it through that monsoon, DRY! You must have done everything right. Searunners have SO many openings. We only got water in Delphys a few times over the last 14 years. There was the time we were beating hard to
weather, really fast, into square waves & 40 knts of
wind... Our Beckson mushroom vents on the
cabin top leak like a sieve when they go under a wave that poops the entire boat! (WAY over the top of the dodger)
Funny thing... This never happens if I FALL OFF in a gale. "Learn slow, remember long".
Then there was the time our PSS
shaft seal, had it's rotor slide up the shaft, letting in a LOT of water. Both a Monomaran, And a
catamaran would've been in big trouble. We caught it just before the engine got water in it. Having a dusty dry
bilge, (normally), our
bilge pumps had no automatic function at the time. Since then, we put a doughnut zinc on the shaft, inside the boat, just on the forward side of the rotor. This makes it impossable for the rotor to slip forward again. We also added float switches to the bilge pumps. Then, seperate first alert bilge water alarms, to both cabins & the amas.
Then there was the time that we were away in one of those huge rains, & our SS cover Nicro 24 hr Mushroom vent, let water past the openings & into the fan, which slung it everywhere. With 4 of these on the boat, and after several
replacements, I found that the factory just doesn't seal them well. I took the last batch apart, & silicone caulked the cover to the guts, all cracks & openings except the bottom weep holes, and also caulked the wire openings. (really thoroughly) Then used silicone plumbers grease on the
battery compartment "O rings", and the plastic cylinder that slides into the
deck trim ring. Other than change the "Radio Shack"
batteries... It's been 10 years on these 4, with no problems & no
leaks. (on really dificult
electrical connections like this, I use "Jet Lube" copper powder loaded, "electrically conductive" grease) It keeps the moisture out of the connection, while maxamizing conductivity. Great for house
Battery cabels too! On battery
cables, When I follow the connect up with solvent
washing off the excess "jet lube", then
paint with 5 coats of "Liquid Lectric Tape", the connection is perfect, & 100% waterproof for the life of the
batteries. (10 years?) I have removed old connections like this many years later, & found the battery post as shiney as day one. In fact, having made an electrically complex boat, (forgive me Jim & John), I have found that by making all connections crimped & soldered & heat shrunk, then connected with this level of care, and the wire fastened every 4" or so... only the batteries, or the device on the other end can fail. It makes it easy to figure out when they crap out. By having mechanical redundancy, and not relying on these things too much... Well, "so far so good".
I checked out that info about the above CC35
project. Really nice job! I love my SR 34, and having more room &
storage, it is the better boat for us. Before I knew that however, I almost went with the CC35. For a "couple" who want to
cruise for months on end, rather than years, this is the perfect cruising trimaran! And, to my eye, one of the most asthetically pleasing boats ever designed.
Some thoughts on boat projects in general that I can pass along... The boat needs to be kept out of the sun, not just the rain. If it's in a building, it needs to have a roof & walls that are at least 50% opaque. This varies with the time exposed. Was it 3 months or 5 years? UV damaded
epoxy looks like it. It is more yellow, no longer clear, and when rapped with a round piece of
wood just hard enough to dent the surface of the plywood, it doesn't crack. (lots of luck getting permission to do that!) To prevent
condensation from dripping from the ceiling of your boat building, when it's cold & damp out, completely seal the floor with 6 mil poly. The ground is where most of that moisture comes from. Also... UV is an ongoing problem. For this reason it is best to use opaque "Grey" primer under a White LP
paint job. (with no bare spots) This blocks 100% of the sun rather than 50%, like White primer under white paint does. It makes the boat's interrior much cooler in the tropics too. (I did experiments on comparative samples) This
concept also applies to protective
canvas. Green or dark Blue Sunbrella, block MUCH more of the UVs than Toast, Beige, or White. Color choice can double the life of your sails!
One important thing to apply in boat projects, is stick within the
concept of the design, or call for a
designer consultation about the changes you have in mind. (This is regarding the things that change the stresses, weight,
safety factors, or balance of the sailplan.) When we started our
project, I had just recently been out on a guys SR 34, that had a Gougeon Bros Wing
mast. The boat went from headsail driven to
mainsail driven. The
Mast was way forward of the designed location. (not where the strength & stiffness is) It had a loose triangular rig that flopped around at
anchor, and the wing mast did not self feather. It wanted to sail at
anchor, & in a
hurricane... Anyway, the boat actually was beautiful, & sailed great. It just wasn't a better cruising boat! I talked to John Marples about a more perfected version of this, with a smaller wing, on our project. After he explained all of the reasoning why it was a bad idea, it all made sense to me. He sugested a Taller version of our standard SR34 rig, rigged as a
cutter, but sailed as a
sloop. I drew it to scale & sent it to him to double check everything. (like spreader location, etc.) The boat & rig are designed together to compliment each other. Our
helm is perfectly balanced at all times. In the case of the CC35 project
for sale, it could be that these folks did this change along with John? OR, perhaps they had sailed on a CC35 that was
Mainsail driven, with the same ball & socket pivoting mast. With a large roach main, I assume the mast is in a different location to balance the sail plan?
Anyway, if it balances perfectly, it may be an improvement, but if not, the
rudder drag would eat up any advantages from a slicker rig. That rig is great on a beach cat... IF they really did their homework on this, it looks like they really put in the love, & care, & expertiese, to make something special. It may be 2 years & $20,00 from a complete sail away cruising home, but it sure looks like it was built well. If John surveys the boat, & passes these issues, their asking
price of $50,000 is not an unreasonable amount of
money. It is hard to describe how much
work this really is... My hat's off to them.
BTW... The way to test for good glue joints on a project boat, is to chip off an
epoxy goober or run out of a stringer or frame glue joint, in about a dozen concealed locations. The glue goober should come off with a thin piece of
wood still attached, NOT clean. This tells if the connecting surfaces were prepped properly before glue up... There I go, rattling on about boat projects again. Hope this is of use to some one. Mark
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