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You might find something faster if you measured the plate and the recess around it then went to an industrial supply house with the information. There's bound to be an O-ring that would do the job, at a fraction of the price of buying a part from Whale.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Marcus,
Genco in Toronto has lots of the stuff, as does our conveniently located club chandlery, so it hasn't disappeared from the market.
The instructions say to put it on the non-skid areas with a "medium-bristle brush". Is that what you use?
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
The Industrial 505 is listed as intended for hard surfaces including plastics. Gelcoat is not mentioned specifically, but as it's plastic, I had no qualms. Doing the boat used about a third of the bottle. And that's the whole boat -- seeing the results on the hull, and knowing that I wouldn't be able to use the stuff once the hull is waxed I went ahead and cleaned the whole deck, which I'm glad to have done.
I had expected to use much more, and so bought a 4-litre container in addition to the litre spray bottle. That was only $12, and I expect to find other uses, so I don't mind having the extra. Cleaning the bilge and under the engine is an obvious option, but only with a bucket under the pump through-hull - I wouldn't want to put that stuff in the lake.
Gloves are definitely a good idea, as are either safety glasses or tight-wrapping sunglasses to keep the stuff out of your eyes.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Couldn't find Zep Purple at the local Home Despot, but Zep Industrial 505 performs as advertised and more. Removed marks that I thought were permanent stains/discolourations. The whole process was astonishingly quick. Wet the area, spray, rub with the scrubby side of a Scotch scrubby-sponge, rub again with the sponge side, rinse off, move along. Astonishing stuff. Thank you, Alan.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Does anyone happen to know a good way of de-waxing a hull? My tarp leaves a waxy deposit on the gelcoat that has to be removed before I can apply hull wax.
Rather than using varsol or paint thinner, I thought I might use a mild solution of TSP (trisodium phosphate), a chemical normally used to de-grease walls prior to painting. This will remove the wax but I'm not sure of its impact on gelcoat. Meguiars Wax says it's probably okay (but do a test area) and Aurora Marine (waxes and cleaners) feel that the environmental impact might be excessive.
Any thoughts on the matter?
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
One of the outhauls shown in Black Arts is mine. One of the most annoying parts of arranging it was positioning the component blocks within the boom so they are less likely to foul themselves on the rivets and screws that inevitably protrude into the boom. I imagine that would be more difficult with double blocks because their width makes them so much more likely to catch something within. The other caveat is that double-block tackles tend to twist if the ends aren't prevented from doing so (why double-braid should do this is a mystery to me, as unlike laid rope, it should have no twist to it - just the natural obduracy of the cosmos, perhaps?). That adds tremendous friction to the system. The virtue of the bullet-block system I adopted is that it's less likely to foul (I think) and there is less tendency for the lines to twist.
Over the years my system has for some reason gained friction so it no longer provides the finger-tip ease it had when new. I'm going to try to reduce that by replacing the internal 3/8" dacron line with a much finer diameter Spectra line, as these tend to run through blocks much more readily and there will be less material to drag against the internal walls. I hope this will ease operation.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Look back about two years for messages from John McCormick in London Ont. He was then parting out a Mk II. He may still have a boom.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
I've noticed that many people who complain of propwalk tend to apply reverse power quite gingerly. This means the prop is generating "walk" yet there is little sternway to generate directional stability. From watching single-screw powerboats, I've learned to hammer the throttle in reverse. It doesn't take much reverse motion before a powerboat's small rudder starts to work, while a rudder the size of a 27's takes charge at a snail's pace.
I've found that I can get out of my slip with negligible sideways movement by seriously goosing the throttle as soon as the engine's in gear, to somewhere between 1500 and 2000 rpm. The boat quickly starts to move and the rudder, which is a powerful directional element, immediately starts to bite. Once the boat starts to move smartly (approx halfway out of the slip), I back off to 1200 or thereabouts. Alternatively, if I want to turn counter to the direction of propwalk, I'll really hammer the throttle for speed and then go into neutral for the turn, so there is negligible propwalk. Once you've got the boat where you want it (or as far through your turn as the wind will let you go), a good shot of throttle, with the rudder simultaneously set for the direction you want to go, will throw the stern around to the desired heading.
This month's Wooden Boat has an insert on handling single-screw power vessels (which is basically what we have, with additions). It has a raft of ideas that look to be worth trying out to see how they work on 27's (I've only skimmed it). The rest of the issue looks like a washout, so I'll probably read it thoroughly when next I do our grocery shopping.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Merriman's argument was that bronze is more ductile - I think that's the right word - anyway, less brittle than most of the stainless steel at that time, so it would deform before it failed, which might give you some warning that the fitting was overloaded. If they operate freely, they're well within their working tolerances.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
All of this stuff is good quality gear. Wichard is benchmark quality (and the Harken shackles, if original, would have been made by Wichard for Harken) as is the Nicro Fico (now owned by Ronstan). Schaefer was used as C&C OEM equipment - it's really tough but heavy and of course the blocks are all solid-pin rather than ball-bearing; Schaefer gear gets tired, but I've never seen a broken piece. Merriman disappeared during the late seventies because they stuck to chrome-plated bronze (for defensible reasons) when the market wanted stainless steel, but their quality was never in question.
One cannot be definitive without seeing the pieces, but I would suggest that, short of picking up the boat, all of this gear is more than adequate to any use you might put it to.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
This is akin to the terrible dilemma faced by people whose stairways only go up. Many find that the problem can be solved by painting down-arrows on one side, or for the well-heeled, fitting custom carpets patterned with down-arrows on the proper side. In your case, you might try turning the block around so the ratchet arrow points in the appropriate direction. This is simple enough that a 12-year-old boy can do it. Of course this may entail putting up with a 12-year-old boy, but the operation is not time-consuming, so you can quickly kick the little brute off your boat before your tolerance expires.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Harken's site includes generalized block-sizing recommendations here:
http://www.harken.com/rigtips/spinnaker.php
Ronstan probably has something similar, but their site isn't responding, so I can't give you a link.
The recommended ratchet turning block for the stern is the 2625, with a max. working load (lb) of 500 and a breaking load (lb) of 2000. Sounds like you can save the money you would have spent replacing these blocks.
"Amateurs always overbuild." - George Cassian (one of the original "C's" in C&C)
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
I'd never use a Barton block in a critical application (they used to sell them in Canadian Tire, fer crissakes), but this application strikes me as non-critical and the block I pointed to in the earlier link is way over-size for the application. Also, the current lineup seems to have been significantly improved over the rubbish of yesteryear. Not Harken quality not Ronstan, but adequate to this job if you'd like to save a few dollars.
As to Tal's tripping hazard remark, yeah,I agree - that's not a deck, it's an obstacle course, begging for someone to measure his length at the most inopportune time.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
The Barton web site (linked above) has a page that lists distributors and there is a Canadian distributor. They'll have much better info than I can give you.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Barton makes a block with integral cam cleat that's probably quite a bit less expensive than Harken or Ronstan. http://www.bartonmarine.com/products-size-2-blocks.asp Something like this doesn't need to be ball-bearing.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
No, it won't pull both sides down together unless you do that deliberately. You pull in and lock the guy side with its cam cleat, then reach over and flick the new sheet side out of its cam cleat. Incidentally, it's not necessary for this to be a continuous line if you don't want that - making it continuous is a way of keeping the lines tidy and as I mentioned, it means you can take hold of and set a line without necessarily having to go to that side.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Stéphane,
The Harken setup is very similar to the one I described, with the difference that the Harken setup has cleats for the line on the coachroof whereas the setup I described uses blocks with integral cam cleats mounted on the rail (fewer holes to drill). Also, the tweaker control line in the Harken rig appears to be individual lines for each tweaker, where my friends' setup uses a single tweaker line with the blocks on either end.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
I'll second what Dean says about using guy blocks forward to limit oscillation. Do both sides if it's really squirrelly out (John Rousmaniere's book, Fastnet Force 10, has a nice shot of the boat he sailed that race on, showing her shortly after the start with a chicken chute and both the sheet and guy strapped down well forward - if I remember rightly he claimed that they just motored on, at least in the early stages, while others were wiping out around them).
One of the boats at our club has small blocks with cam cleats mounted on the rail both sides (similar to the "Cam cleat size 2 blocks" on this page. A continuous line runs from a block on one side that's just big enough for the sheet/guy, through the rail block and over the coach-roof to the other side. It's quick and easy to pull the guy down to the rail, and because the line is continuous, you can release the sheet, if you forget during a gybe, without someone going back to the old side. The deflection is low, so you can use a relatively low-strength block.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
>And while SA is certainly an entertaining website and forum, it's not for the faint of heart.
[Chuck Lanning made this remark apropos a remark in another thread about Web sites that have lost their original information-sharing purpose. I'm starting another thread because a discussion of SA isn't directly related to the original thread, and there are bound to be other thoughts on the matter.]
SA is a curious case, inasmuch as its forum manages to be both an exchange of information and arguably the most annoying example of the braying of idiots in Web sailing sites (arguably only because some of the cruising sites, while less shrill, manage to bring together at least as many blowhards and opinionated ignoramuses).
The real problem with SA, though, is what it has done to a lot of other yachting journalism. Just as every seventies journalist without a clue wanted to be 'gonzo' -- a clumsy imitation of Hunter S. Thompson's humour and venom without the underlying intelligence and the genuine anger about the contemporary political situation, a distressing number of yachting writers want to be SA clones. In practice, this usually means being gratuitously rude about anything you don't find fantastic; regattas are slagged for allowing boats that won't do 20 kt., for not being Newport or Key West or because the locals don't tug their forelocks at sailing rock stars (forgetting that fame in sailing could be an adjunct to the Witness Protection Program). Sailing World has got a bad case of this, and in consequence I no longer subscribe -- I long ago quit reading their boat tests/puff pieces and I can read Dick Rose's rules column before going to the checkout at the supermarket.
If I want attitude, I'll talk to teenagers; when I read sailing mags, I want news about sailing. SA has made it more difficult to separate the two.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
The four top boats in our club (Mk III's and a IV) use (in alphabetical order):
Bay Sails Haarstick
Evolution
Sobstad
Performance
All are laminate sails with the exception of Towser's Dacron #2 and main (selected for the greater resistance to damage in the case of the #2 and the malleability of Dacron in the case of the main). As to construction, they all use what are in effect their makers' signature methods, which are probably more accurately learned from the makers' web sites rather than my memory. Again, I won't quote prices from memory or general discussion, but my sense is that they're all in a very small ballpark.
Significantly, three of these use locally made sails. The Sobstad suit was almost 2 years late because of turmoil in the east Asian loft where they were to be made, followed by turmoil in the loft to which the order was transferred. The owner loves those sails but I expect he'll be looking for a local loft after that experience.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
As to finding someone to help you diagnose your problems, why not ask here? Getting answers is what the Forum is for. Also, this is why you are asked for a home port or club in your profile, so that geographically sensitive questions can be intelligently answered.
How much of the galley sole is structural? I have no idea; that's why I suggested calling in a pro (but deal with the keel issue first). I will say that having looked over various boats under repair, the area in boats that is meant to be hidden is best left hidden. You think the sole isn't attractive? Wait until you see what's under it. Again, you risk opening a Pandora's box if you start chipping away at bits and pieces without understanding clearly what you are getting into and how to get out of it without compromising your sailing time and your boat's value.
The best solution to the bare-sole problem I've seen was aboard a Mk II whose owners had laid down a short length of oriental carpet. It looked nice and could be taken up any time the going got rough or when they wanted to clean it.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV