Mahe 36: Hull

[Seastream]

I'm going to be hauled shortly for some work. Clearly the lifting straps need be placed fore and aft of the keels, not on them. Are the lift points indicated on the hull or is there a blueprint available to give an idea as to placement?

[robert sailor]

I'm sure your lift operator will be able to do the job for you but its best that you are there to ensure that things get done right. Just forward of the keel and between the keel and the drive shaft are the normal lift locations. Inspect for speedo and any other protrusion that might get broken if a strap comes in contact with it. When your done and on the hard put some zip ties in the rub rail to remind you of the proper location for the straps the next time.

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by Seastream

I'm going to be hauled shortly for some work. Clearly the lifting straps need be placed fore and aft of the keels, not on them. Are the lift points indicated on the hull or is there a blueprint available to give an idea as to placement?

I'm on my boat now, so I'll give you the actual measurements of my lift markings. I will provide the actual Fountaine Pajot diagrams next week.

Take a tape measure and measure from the forward cleat 9 feet back and mark the toe rail and down the side of the boat with a long vertical piece of painters tape.

Measure from the back of the stern cleat 10 feet forward and mark the toe rail and down the side of the boat with painters tape.

Make sure they drop the straps deep before sliding them under the boat as they tend to drag on the keel.

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by Seastream

I'm going to be hauled shortly for some work. Clearly the lifting straps need be placed fore and aft of the keels, not on them. Are the lift points indicated on the hull or is there a blueprint available to give an idea as to placement?

Here is the FP Mahe 36 Lifting Points.

[Seastream]

So, this is the "other" half of hull #91. I have a question for the forum: our Mahe had a total bottom peel because of osmotic blisters last fall. We now have blisters above the waterline. I understand that FP most likely will not cover any repairs. How difficult would it be for me to make repairs? The largest blister is about the size of a pencil eraser, they seem to be clustered on the starboard hull (forward portion) and on the stern. Thanks! Doris

[Cotemar]

Seastream,
Maybe this may help.
How To Repair Gelcoat Blisters.

[hooray]

I would like to know if anyone has found blisters/osmosis on the hull of their new Fountaine Pajot boats ie less than 5 years old and still under warranty.

I would like to know how you deal with this problem.

[Crak]

My new Athena developed osmosis when less than 3 years old and still under warranty.
My local boat yard wrote me a report which I sent to Fountaine Pajot.
Fountaine Pajot contacted my local boat yard and organised for my boat to be repaired free of charge.
Eight years on there is no signs of osmosis returning………yet !!

Craig

[DtM]

I will send you a PM.

[rabbi]

Hi there,

quick question:
Has someone managed to route cables or hoses into the sail locker / bow compartment on the starboard side?
I am thinking about where to place my watermaker and this would be the ideal spot but I though I'd ask first if anyone has done this.

I'm not at the boat at the moment but if my memory serves me well the laminated floor above the sealed floatation chamber is fairly high, so drilling a hole at floor level will end up in the back panel of the shower. Or not?

Cheers
rabbi

[Edmund]

Correct. You would ruin the front wall of the shower.
I think you need to do some measuring, to see if it is possible to get in between the lower sides of the showercompartment and the hull, (were there is space, on both sides) and into the front sail locker, without puncturing neither the flotation chamber nor the shower walls.

[rabbi]

Hi Edmund,

Thanks for taking the time to answer. Today I arrived back at the boat and just checked if this fits. The bottom of the sail locker is just the same level as the lower side panels in the shower. there is no way to route any cables without drilling into the flotation chamber below the sail locker.
So the watermaker needs a new location. Maybe in the lower locker in the starboard companionway or behind the fridge... i will see tomorrow, today I am finalizing the installation of the Eberspächer air heater.
Cheers
Rabbi

[rabbi]

Originally Posted by Jef & Marin, Netherlands

There are many possible causes of water in the Mahé, except for the rubbing rail things mentioned. We have some experience......
First step is to taste the water!

Sweet water in the bilge:
- Shower water leaks behind the plastic door under the wash basin in the heads.
- Water around the wash basin flows under the cover for the holding tank and drops down there
- The caulking around the hoses of the heads can be leaking. When you clean the heads with the shower, as is our custom, water flowed down the outside of the hoses.
- The seal under the kitchen wash basin can be loose or shifted.
- We have had a bad O-ring in the bathroom. This is between the bathroom tap body and the connection hose. Like with other water-system leaks, the water pump will run at unexpected moments. We got a lot of water in the hull! The hot water O-ring was broken, snapped; I replace it with a Viton (fluorine rubber) O-ring, this one can handle higher temperatures; I suspected the broken O-ring was due to the hot water temperature
- Last one: condensation water runs down on the inside of the hull into the bilge, thanks to our lovely North-European climate.

Salt water in the bilge:
- Waves slamming the bridgedeck might get pushed into the hoses of the bilge pump. I installed one way valves there. To my regret this did not solve the problem, there was another cause.
- Waves hitting the hole in the anchor locker for the anchor chain will enter into the anchor locker, and spray will get into the water tank area. From there it will flow down into the bilge.
- The O-ring on the depth/speed sensor can leak. I put something called Magic Lube on both seals, this is a kind of teflon vaseline.
- The clips on the head seawater hose were never re-tightened after we bought the ship. We came aboard the ship once, after a month or so, and there was 10 cm of brownish water (river, not salty) in the starboard hull. It had not yet reached the floorboards, to our luck.

Water into the engine room: taste whether it's sweet or seawater!
- High temperature of the boiler (calorifier) will lead to water being pushed out through the safety vent.
- The hose ties, that were tight when the ship was new, were never re-tightened. Seawater or drinking water.
- Water (seawater or when washing the ship) gets around the seal of the engine hatches. Sit inside, close the hatch, and see whether you see light from outside. Let somebody spray the hatch, and look what enters. Improve the seal.
- The seal on the small winterizing cap on the grey plastic exhaust box tends to leak
- The seawater seal on the seawater pump of the engine can start to leak.

Water in the bows:
This one I heard from Fountaine Pajot, we didn't have it but it happened on some ships.
Where the deck and hull meet at the front, on the inside of the hull, there is the point where the horizontal joint under the trampoline meets the vertical caulked joint which runs over the bow.
At that point caulking has in some cases been done insufficiently. Check from the inside with a torch, you might see salt water traces in that case.

I think we have had most of these at some moment. Just check it often, and play detective: did it rain? Did you have a rough sea? Did you wash the ship? Always try to find it, do not accept ANY water in the ship.
First step would be to check all hose clips, it's the cheapest step in excluding causes.

Keep you bilges dry, so the labels on your wine bottles do not detach!
Oh yes, when you dry the bilge, water might stay behind in the aft part of the bilge which you can not reach it. As soon as you sail, that water might flow forward, leading you to think the problem is not solved, while it actually is!

I always wanted to add one more potential cause to this:

When we bought our Mahe I found rain water in one bilge or the other. After my first good clean of the cockpit the water in the bilge tasted like soap which helped trace the leak.

The cockpit sole consists of two fibreglass layers (cockpit floor and bridgedeck bottom) glued together.
At the cockpit drains the sealant between these two layers had failed. Since all water in the cockpit goes through these drains a lot of water can get into the boat.

That area is flat so the water can flow to one side or the other and even under the salon before it runs down into the bilge.

Fix: Unscrew the drain covers (top and bottom), remove the old / failed sealant, clean and seal with some good sealant, and reinstall the covers again using some sealant.
Don't forget the appropriate primer to ensure a good bond.


Problem solved, and we have never had any water in the bilge since.

[Edmund]

Anyone who have acces to a Mahe on land? I'm designing a wagon for my Mahe, and I need the CC measure between the keels, and the length and width of the keel footprint. Anyone who can help?

[nepomuk1978]

Hi everyone, not sure if this thread is still active. I'm having the same problem, that there are decent amounts of water coming through the rubrails on my Mahe 36. I have now taken off the rubrails and found that the caulking below the rubrails needs to be replaced. Will use a MS sealant for this. HOWEVER. The glue that was applied between the deck and the hull to glue these together also seems to have shrunk and I'm unsure how well this is now holding. There are bolts every 80cm or so. Does anyone have any experience on whether it would be worthwhile adding additional bolts to strengthen the bond. I'm concerned that this might result in additional stress on the deck or hull, leading to cracks. I would appreciate any thoughts or recommendations on this. Thanks so much and regards. Aljoscha

Originally Posted by Cotemar

Seal the top off your rub rail outside with Marine silicon.

I used clear Boat Life (Lifeseal) on stanchions and rubrails
It's coming though the screws holding the rub rail and hull joint.

These pictures are from when I was helping another owner fix his rubrail water leak. The rubrail comes off very easy for visual inspection and re-sealing.
Can also be done from a dingy when in the water