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You're lucky, Cassia. We had them on a boat I raced on in the eighties and they were intermittent within two years, then functions just sort of fell off the table permanently.
Perhaps we had a bad unit - Hinckley 'burns in' new instruments before installation, running them continually for a month (which is only appropriate at their price point).
Or it could have been a bad installation. An electronics tech once told me that instruments don't fail, installations fail. This is one of the finer examples of talking rather than walking the talk I've ever seen, since his installation on at least one boat featured wires through the bilge, household wire and Marr twist connectors. Fortunately, he didn't support any of the wire properly, which made it easier for the owner to rip out.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Signet still exists, so you probably could have the thing fixed. However, most electronics seem to have a definite "best before" date and this unit may be as old as the boat. By fixing it, you may just be climbing onto a treadmill. Do you need wind speed and angle or are they just nice-to-have? You may be better off removing this unit and replacing it with the instrumentation that matches your sailing needs.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
What you are seeing is an extreme version of a perennial problem called the C&C smile (and you can find out more about it by using the Search function to look for the word "smile".
It's not clear from your description what's causing the gap. Is the keel hanging down at the front with a continuous wedge-shaped gap from fore to aft, wide at the fore and narrow aft? Or is it an irregular gap with an opening at the forward end, but a reasonably close joint at the aft end? With better information (or better yet, photos - see this page for instructions), you can more effectively bring to bear the considerable expertise and experience in this Forum on your problem.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
I got my replacements from Genco in Toronto. Friends on Kat's Paw are happy with Rigging Shoppe. It may also be worth your while to contact a US discounter like Defender Industries as when we were discussing hoses, someone came up with a whole-boat replacement cost that was quite low.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
PS Bear those dates in mind when comparing prices - the price of raw metal has skyrocketed and that may have provided an opportunity for an across-the-board price increase.
In 1999 a forestay cost C$90; the bulk of the cost is in the terminals, so uppers would probably be approximately the same. In 2003, a set of lowers cost C$400.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Please let us know how you make out - who you contact for the material, where you get the applicator, perceived difficulty of doing the job, etc.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
One of the initial reasons i bought a 27 was because a very savvy sailor I knew remembered so happily a cruise he had made from Lake Ontario down to Barbados on a 27 in the 70's. That's just one of many superb and joyful cruises made on simple, small sailboats. Yes, some privations (limited fresh water, constrained space) but a lot fewer hassles (waiting for expensively airlifted parts for your generator). How big was Eric Hiscock's Wanderer? Dream, plan, go.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
PS There are stories of someone taking a 27 across the Atlantic, but they are unsubstantiated and there's none of the circumstantial detail that makes such a story interesting. The magazines never publish stories like that any more - it's all "how I cruised to paradise/hell/Arctic/Antarctic in my custom 52 and fixed my watermaker."
I was super-careful in grinding away the old methacrylate glue, but inevitably there were some divots where I went through into the gelcoat or even into the glass (the stuff is incredibly hard, and I wore out a couple of those spiral-cut grinding drums in the process). The methacrylate that I used to replace the windows seemed to take these in stride. If you're using the Sikkens material (or anyone else's for that matter) and you're concerned, you might call their tech support line and ask what they think.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Ask the transporting company what they can do for you - a Mk V is light enough that many truck cranes can launch her if the operator knows what he is doing. Ring up Port Credit Marina and see what they will do for you and at what cost (of course mast stepping is available). Also phone Hamilton Harbour Marina and ask them what they can do for you and at what cost. Hamilton is a long day's sail away, but waiting a month to launch at a union boatyard (Outer Harbour) is absurd. Bronte Harbour (Metro Marine) is also a possibility if they still have a lift there. Again, if they can launch, they probably can step (if they can launch but can't step, there's a bridge in Oakville that's perfect for stepping masts).
If you do it yourselves, don't involve too many people. Hordes of people will start issuing contradictory instructions that make a dog's breakfast of the situation. Three people max. Tell everyone else that they should get a coffee while you sort out the lines. When they get back, the three of you should have the job done. Tell them, you're sorry but you were in the groove.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
EDIT: Somehow got it in my head that you had a Mk V, but my Mk IV was launched by a truck crane for about $200 when I bought it.
Are you doing this yourself from a mast jack? Or are riggers doing this for you? If the latter, they will figure it out. If the former, what's the situation? Can you get help at the time from someone who has done it before? Give us a sense of the source of your nervousness.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Most books on marine engines include information on alignment. It's not hard, in the sense that it doesn't involve any skull-busting concepts, but it's fiddly and exacting, while putting you through contortions that only a Cirque du Soleil performer can reasonably manage. I've done it on three different boat and I would happily strangle the designers of two of them - slowly, with an oil-filter wrench. Here's a concise description of the process (an excerpt from "Marine Diesel Engines" by Nigel Calder, a very good writer). Google for "engine alignment boat marine" and you'll get lots of hits if you want more.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
A spare screw, and one of these locking screwdrivers.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Have you considered leaving the lower battery where it is and relocating the lighter of the two to a shelf aft of the bulkhead? From a weight perspective, it's not ideal, but it is convenient and you might not have to buy new cables.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
> Remember to apply extra layers if you are going to be sanding it smooth for a racing finish.
If you roll-and-tip Interprotect, it can come out as a very smooth finish. Mine did, anyway (I have to give credit to a fortunate turn in the weather). I rolled and tipped six coats, wet on green per instructions, so no inter-coat sanding was called for. The final coat was quite slick. The only sanding I did was little more than a dusting, to give some tooth for anti-fouling adhesion. Just as well, because it's a bitch to sand.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Re: the tube rising within the mast, it's elegant but risky. If while positioning the mast over the tube, you make a little slip, there's a possibility of compromising the seal between the step and the tube, which means a leak into the interior. And you can't fix it without unstepping the mast. There's also a question of where you run this tube to. On the Mks I to IV, the centre of the step is right over the area of the bulkhead and support timber. Cutting any of that material away is not something I'd care to do.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
>This propeller is an inch bigger in its diameter than fixed one that was previously on the boat. Folding propeller hub is bigger than fixed and in my assessment I have actually replace size to size.
I'm with you on the importance of acknowledging the hub size; blade length and pitch are the important variables (the additional leverage of having a larger hub and thus having any given blade 1/2" farther from the shaft is too hard to visualize). Plus, given the way blades are shaped, only the outer half has any significance, so in my mind, Towser's new 14" dia prop is only 1" dia larger than our original 12" dia prop (pitch is very different, and that to my thinking is where the real difference lies).
Look forward to hearing about you and Marcus drag-racing on flat and rough water at a range of revs for the props page in Black Arts.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
I used one of these Aqua-Signal on-deck connectors. The first one lasted about 7 years (in fresh water). Probably would have lasted longer if I'd put a bit of waterproof grease on the connecting pins.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
There's something called a Cruise-Air (or something like that) that's actually supposed to fit on a hatch, but I don't really know much about it (as you surmise, a/c isn't a priority with us). But it might have been what you saw on the Beneteau.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Last summer, I saw a C&C 25 moored at Hanlan's Point in Toronto with a room air conditioner balanced on the foredeck. The owner had constructed ducting of cardboard held together with -- naturally -- duct tape. I'm not recommending this (even though I was deeply impressed); I'm just putting it out as a point on the cost/functionality/overall practicality continuum.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Lano-Cote is mostly just anhydrous lanolin, the principal ingredient in many ointments, which you can buy at a large pharmacy for much less than Lano-Cote. Apparently it can run out in the sun and make a mess. An alternative is Tef-Gel, which was mentioned, and it apparently is relatively immune to run-out.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
The curve of the deck anywhere that you're likely to locate organizers considerably exceeds the organizer's ability to bend (don't know about Spinlock, but I suspect that their bendability equals that of mine: zero). Therefore one side of the hardwood or Starboard base has to conform to that curvature while the upper side provides a flat mounting surface. You could mould something from epoxy directly to the deck to do this, but like Marcus, I chose Starboard, with its lower-side curvature shaped by a router, as a good-looking and low-maintenance option.
Rub protection shouldn't enter into consideration. If anything, you want to keep the organizer as close to the deck as possible. At its thinnest point, the base is probably is less than 1/8"; if the organizer is properly sited, your lines should have a clean run from the aft end of the coachroof to the organizer and from there to the mast.
Incidentally, Starboard (polyethylene) takes some mental adjustment to work with for someone who is, like me, primarily oriented toward wood. You can cut it with a saw (preferably a very sharp circular saw), a router or a plane, but you have to hit the final shape with those tools. Filing and sanding just make it unattractively fuzzy.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Towser's headliner looked like Swiss cheese when we got her because of the plethora of holes in the headliner (all of them were capped with plug inserts, but it was a mess nonetheless). And, of course, I was going to make more holes with my new hardware (deck organizers, line stoppers and cam cleats). The deck organizers were easy as there were no other holes nearby (the previous owner had slted his organizers for a 90-degree turn, which created unnecessary load and friction). I drilled holes from the outside through the liner, then drilled back up into those holes with a hole saw to make appropriate holes for plastic plug inserts (3/4" or 7/8" - can't remember exactly). The washers just fit these holes and seem to be adequate as there is no apparent movement (the line turn is now just 45 degrees so the load isn't high).
In the Swiss-cheesey areas over the galley, I covered the worst areas with white plexiglass that I formed to shape using a cardboard template; the plexi was softened for bending in the oven (ensure wife will be away during the entire operation to minimize outraged objections that greet first essays in plexi-bending - subsequent forays, once wife is assured that oven will not be coated with melted plastic, are friction-free).
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Why don't you ask Martec for a quote or an estimate? Better than guesstimates from us. Then - compare that with an estimate from your local prop shop. Most of the procedures that any prop shop will do are transferrable to folding props so they understand what's necessary.
Please let us know what you find out if you go this route.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Some fairly major vibration has damaged the filler around your p-bracket, but I wouldn't bother replacing the prop without some compelling reason. It is possible that the prop has damage that's not immediately apparent, but fixing it will probably be much less costly than replacing it. Can you get it off and to a prop shop without too much hassle? They will be able to check pitch, blade straightness, etc. and balance (seldom done on sailboat props, but should be).
You didn't say definitely that the p-bracket is secure on the hull (except for the filler) and but you did say the cutless bearing is tight to the shaft so I'll assume the p-bracket is secure. That really leaves alignment as the most likely culprit, so I'd check that after the hull has had a few days to regain its in-water shape.
Finally, if none of these produces a solution, I'd pull the shaft on next haulout and have a machine shop check it for trueness - but I'll wager that you've got an alignment problem.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
My experience with an A4 is that they are very smooth. If there's irksome vibration, something is loose or something is mis-aligned. One way you can set a baseline for yourself about vibration is to disconnect the coupling and run the engine at various speeds, imprinting that level in your bones, as it were. Then you could just do the coupling up again and try the same thing. But at that point, you might as well check the alignment. Chances are, you'll find some adjustment necessary. One other thing I learned when my new diesel was installed was to make sure everything was tight (like, real tight, and set equally so with a torque wrench). I aligned my engine to what I thought was a satisfactory degree, then asked a mechanic to check my work because there still was considerable vibration. He told me my alignment was fine, but everything was far too loose. I will see if I can get some target numbers.
Edit: From mechanic friend: "For the coupler bolts 20 to 25 foot pounds. For the engine mount bolts 50 to 60 pounds or as tight as you can!!! Best to get a cheap open end wrench from Crappy Tire and bend/cut the wrench to get at the lower mount nuts for adjusting the alignment, I think it is 1 3/8" , but better check to be sure."
Other things to check in addition to things discussed previously:
- shaft straight? (Unfortunately it has to be pulled for an accurate check.)
- prop not bent, not nicked or otherwise damaged.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV