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David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
See Black Arts >> Hull Identification Number.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Gord,
I'm shocked at you – buy teak plugs??!! Real men cut their own teak plugs from the scrap left over from making their own handrails or what-have-you (which in turn, are made from trees the real man has journeyed to Thailand to select, cut down and transport home on his own vessel, made with his own hands, axe and chainsaw).
Aside from that, cutting the plugs from the scrap gives you a better colour match. Plus, the decision to buy a new plug cutter gives you an excuse to visit Lee Valley or Atlas Machinery for a hour of happy browsing.
I set plugs with varnish, which satisfies both the compatibility and removability requirements. The last time I did any plugging (new cabin sole), I had great results with a Lee Valley "flush-cutting" saw – it is fast, eliminated the chipping you sometimes get when using a chisel and minimized the sanding.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
If I understand you correctly, you have
<ul><li>the chute halyard on a block on the standard masthead crane;
<li>the chute halyard led into the mast at some point below the masthead sheaves and exiting somewhere lower down where the mast-man can get at it;
<li>something that resembles a boom bail reaching out from the mast, above the furling swivel, over which the halyard runs, that keeps the halyard away from the furler. </ul>
Izzat right? Sounds like a good idea. Don't perchance have a photo, do you?
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Try Noah's (see the Links page). Fantastic selection, good prices.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
I'm not surprised - that's an awfully big step down. At the same time, 3/8" hose seems a bit dinky. Two options:
1. Replace the barbed male ends on the strainer and on the engine with a size that is readily available, then resize the hose accordingly. Since the reduction is not so dramatic, you may have more luck finding the fittings.
2. Find a step-down fitting that will reduce the outlet on the strainer from 1" to 1/2" or something on that order - finding a fitting that combines a 1/2" thread and a 3/8" barb should be relatively easy.
Also, take a close look at other plastic hose fittings, particularly those below the waterline. Plastic gets brittle with age and similar fittings may be looking for an opportunity to blind-side you. Replace them all and reduce your risk of a disaster.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
I know the feeling of having a 3-blade. The boat feels out of balance and hobbled.
I have a Flexofold 2-blade that I've had for 2 years now. It works well in both directions, opens and closes smartly, and was competitively priced. The only caveat that I would offer is that it, as with all geared folders, probably generates a fair bit of drag compared to the old Martec style. Because it requires room for the blade gearing, the hub is almost twice the diameter of my old Martec and the folded blades are about 3/4" apart, so there's probably a fair bit of turbulence between them. If I raced the boat seriously, I'd be concerned; but I don't, so I'm not.
However, if I did race the boat seriously, I'd consider a Martec (again). They do get sloppy over time as the pivot holes wear (but a machine shop can fix that), they have negligible reverse thrust (but you get used to that) and one blade does hang down if you're careless (but you paint a line on the prop shaft and right before every race, someone goes below to make sure the line faces up and the blades will fold). On the absolute plus side, they have the smallest cross-section, hence least drag of any prop save a 2-bladed Max and they never fail to fold, while Max-props very occasionally decide not to feather. If I cruised more, I'd carefully weigh the $1,000 premium of a Max-prop.
Ralph Ainslie of Hyperion bought a Max-prop when he switched to a diesel (see his comments in Black Arts) – perhaps he will tell us how that's worked for him.
As to when to stop spending money – when you've got the boat that's exactly right for you, be it gold-plater or floating slum, you go into maintenance mode.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
My ST40 instruments included a very short SeaTalk cable suitable for joining two units side by side. This may not be the definitive answer you're looking for but it's a straw in the wind, something to hang your hat on, you pick your metaphor.
If you're not getting any joy from the customer support site, call the Canadian distributor's tech guys. They have been quite responsive any time I've spoken to them.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Two recommendations were given to me: 1. a restrainer and 2. a strop between the head of the sail and the swivel, the strop to be just long enough that the swivel is just below full hoist with maximum tension on the luff. The latter does the trick so the restrainer has not been needed.
Occasionally, we have tangles with the spi halyard, but that only happens when it has been eased. It also helps to minimize protrusions from shackle pins, either by using shackles that have screw-head pins, or by taping everything over. The less to snag the halyard the better.
Furling is easier with middling tension on the luff and the backstay eased.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
The rubber hose lies between the length of the spreader and its bracket, but the inboard end of the spreader still bears against the inside of the bracket. Moreover, the spreaders are retained by a stainless machine screw that makes contact with the bracket and the spreader, so there's definitely a connection. I don't think, however, that a galvanic couple is too serious that high above the deck; acid rain would be more of a worry than salt water.
On another note, I think it improbable that would have occurred to C&C's designers. Most of them were fresh-water sailors and they didn't have the personal experience of warm salt water that makes people obsessive about corrosion. For what it's worth, I once heard an electrical engineer criticize the standard centreboard setup, saying, "if they'd designed a battery any better than that, they'd all be working for Energizer today."
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
The bridges on the 400 aren't that high. You'll probably be happier if you take the stick down.
(By water*, I've heard of people doing the trip as a delivery in 4-5 days from Trenton, but they say it's exhausting. You still have to take the mast down.)
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
* Friends of the Trent Severn Waterway: ; http://www.ftsw.com/
Parks Canada: http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/on/trentsevern/index_e.asp
Ironic that something designed to keep the Americans out should now bring them in droves.
There won't be a conduit in an original mast unless a previous owner installed one. There's a thread called, "Clanging inside Mast", with a number of suggestions for accomplishing the same ends as are achieved by a conduit.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
A followup on Bob Wilson, past owner of Legacy and driving force in the Association and initiator of this web site. This fall, Bob bought the C&C 99, Trumpeter, that won the 2004 Key West series and went back to do it again.
"Key West was great, we won! It was a tough week - before the start on day 2, a Cape Fear 38 lost control of his boat and damaged my boat to the tune of around $15,000.00. However with lots of duct tape and the ability of the crew to work past the damage, we came out on top by a single point."
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Actually, I don't think you are disturbing the seal because the bedding compound that provides the seal is applied where the lead meets the glass, not at the nuts.
I reefed my keel bolts up on the water because there seemed to be more of the stuff than absolutely required in the bilge. I recall I got a quarter- to a half-turn. Much less water came in subsequently.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
My apologies for mis-representing you, Bruce. I remember the discussion about stoves here in the Forum, but I could have sworn you told me you'd run through the same mental exercise re: heaters when we talked about upgrading your A/C power on the weekend when you visited RCYC.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
My boat had a Force 10 on it when I bought it, but I took it off and sold it. It was balky, plus it took up a lot of space, not of itself, but you can't get too close to one of those things, so you end up with a fair bit of no-go space in the cabin.
Since then, I've not had need of a heater, but Scalliwag's owner, Bruce Peever, looked at the issue and decided that 95% of probable use was at the dock, so a mini-electric would be easier, cheaper and safer (I have the original version of the "West Marine Cabin Heater", made halfway up Georgian Bay of all places and loaded with safety features). For the other 5%, there's always the flowerpot-over-the-stove-burner trick, which I used on my old boat and which works quite well at anchor. Flowerpots are not as romantic as a Dickinson, but a lot easier and cheaper to install.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
A Danish company used to make these systems (I used one on a Goman 30 built in the early 80's) and they were really nice, even though the Danish one wasn't ball-bearing.
Harken recommends using a continuous line and that's probably a good idea, because I remember the one irritation of the system I used being the need to ensure that you kept the tails balanced. That means that you can't remove the line to clean it, but that's a small price to pay for a two-speed mainsheet.
I had always wondered why Harken didn't do a knock-off. I've since learned that the inventor went to Harken first and they turned him down. Twenty years later, they change their minds.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Later edit: Why did they change their minds? Because obviously the patent has expired. An identical system is now available from Ronstan (who also now have a product similar to Harken's windward sheeting car). The sheeting system can be found at http://www.ronstan.com/marine/ as catalogue no. RF72700.
I'm not in the market for your sail, but I would appreciate hearing what you thought of Haarstick sails.
Happy new year, btw.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
I have exactly the opening you describe (sorry the picture is blurred), with a wire gate to close off the stern. You may be able to see in the picture that the ladder is positioned so the bottom rung is just above the gate wire. If you attach a towable safety line to the foot of the ladder and under the wire, it is possible to pop the ladder outside the wire while in the water (see Clare's earlier note about towing a safety line).
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
I'll echo everything said earlier, plus throw in a photo of the solution that every C&C seems to have: a ladder hinged just below the top of the transom (just below Towser's name, just above Capilano's here), with rubber-footed stand-off legs that bear against the lower edge of the transom when the ladder is down. The only variation is the addition of a further two steps hinged to the bottom of the ladder for those looking for the luxury touch.
The photo is a composite of a photo of my own 27, plus that of another boat that uses a similar solution. Not a 27, obviously, but both were taken for another purpose and while individually they have drawbacks, together they provide a reasonable illustration of the general concept and of its application on a 27.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
When reading the following, bear in mind that either choice will be far superior to the brass through-hulls and gate valves fitted on most production recreational vessels. The key problem with brass is that it loses its zinc over time and becomes quite brittle, even in fresh water. For this reason, if you're thinking of replacing the gate valves, you will do well to replace the whole assembly.
Bronze seacocks are heavy, costly (about 2x to 3x the price of Marelon, which is one of the reasons that even upper-level builders have gone to Marelon now), can corrode and require more maintenance than Marelon. They are tougher than Marelon.
Marelon is lighter, less expensive and requires less maintenance. They can be broken, both the handle and the body (though breaking the body takes some work).
If you're going to get the full safety benefit of a seacock, you need not a ball valve that screws on to the end of a through-hull, but an integrated assembly in which the through-hull screws through the hull into a cock body that is itself held in place by machine screws. You can see the difference by looking at the pictures of ball valves and seacocks provided on the Forespar site mentioned in the earlier post.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
I took a tailpiece off an above-water through-hull; it had some sort of pipe dope on the through-hull/tailpiece joint that had hardened into cement. I got it apart by heating the tailpiece with a heat gun, fortunately without loosening the through-hull. I was able to hold the through-hull with a pair of pliers that had hard plastic faces on the gripping surface, so I didn't wreck the threads.
If you go this route, cover everything nearby with aluminum foil to protect it from the heat.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
The early-70's C&C 36 Invader/Frigate designs used this system as did Hinterhoeller's Niagara 35. It does keep the cockpit unencumbered, but when installed without a vang, it's a pain to sail with in variable winds because there's no way to achieve the effect of dropping the traveller in a puff; release one tackle and the boom skies on you, which is not what you want. Fine-tuning the mainsail setting is a bore too.
You can get around these limitations simply by having a powerful vang as well. Effectively, you then have a vang-sheeting setup, which should be fine in most conditions.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Yes, well, with a wheel system that relied on wooden sheaves and control lines braided from oxhide or the flaxen hair of captured and ravished lovelies, and all of it operated by guys so strong that they could step a 50-foot wooden mast with one hand while pillaging an English village with the other, Lief would want an emergency tiller in case his solid-narwhal-horn binnacle was ripped out of the deck by a little friendly horseplay.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Whatever repair is done, it's likely to involve epoxy, so why don't you visit the Gougeon Brothers site and see if there is any information there. The Gougeons, who make West System epoxy, even offer a telephone number to call to talk with one of their applications people. I would do that before anything else (and certainly before anyone starts to "dig out" anything).
Please report back to us on what was suggested and how it turns out.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
