New Member - Sea King 24

DownWest

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Hope your talking about the Petter and not my Sea King!
I like the Sea King, but that Petter is old and not worth the fitting. They were designed for truck refridgeration units and not as a boat auxilary. I used to come across them as gensets, not great either. Spares now are a headache.
 

DoubleEnder

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Small, quiet, light inboard.... Dolphin? I never had one but I know of one or two in use. Petrol, but you will probably survive. I have never really understood why people are relaxed about petrol in a jerrycan for the outboard, but run screaming at the thought of an inboard.
But there is very little that I do understand, really
 

Tranona

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Most marine petrol engines do not have sealed fuel systems. The ST P55 that the OP has for example needs the carb flooding with the overflow (hopefully) going into a gauze covered tray. Ours always stank of petrol and if you forgot to turn it off leaked into the bilge. After a long run we used to lift the floorboards to ventilate the boat. Later engines like the Vire and newer Dolphins did have self priming carbs so less prone to leak, but being 2 strokes required petroil mixes, and still stank. Also because of their age the electrics were primitive. Having said that a later Dolphin with a gearbox is a lovely quiet smooth engine. i have a soft spot for the Albin/Volvo C12 4 stroke petrol, but magnetos and dynastarts are a black art.

For all its faults the Yanmar GM10 is a revelation after a petrol engine mainly because it starts and stops when you want it to, not when it feels like it!
 

Silverfox58

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Again, some great feedback. Nobody has tried to convert this good “ internal combustion matters” supporter to solar panels on the ample coach roof and a Tesla battery’s in the wine cellar. Wait till we start on Sails. On the Petter, was the distributor for these in the Middle East, they would turn up all over the desert, powering water pumps, AC Units, and even Bedouin Camps TV’s so they could watch Baywatch! Thanks again, quite a welcome to the forum, you seem like a good bunch.
 

Keith 66

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Anyone who has had an RCA Dolphin will know that it was smooth powerful & reliable, the direct reversing electrics though old fashioned were reliable & worked. Several club members i know went over to the gearbox versions & later regreted it!
I had one in an Anderson 22 & it was like having a tiny turbine under the deck. Great engines.
 
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There was a Dauntless/Sea King-friendly Association in the SE. It's sort of gone quiet but the founder/members are still around. I had one of their contact details if it is helpful. Sadly, most of the old Essex boys who built these boats are into retirement or the grave now. When GRP came along, most of them gave up and went off to build houses where they could make more money, more easily. I'd hard to find anyone to work on one now.

What's your own hands on experience?

Excuse the idiot question but how do the bilges/cockpit work on these? They are not self-bailing. If you get a lot of water into the cockpit, does it find its way into the cabin too? I mean, they're basically built like a barrel & don't seem to have anywhere to catch it.

I've fancied one but was always concerned about this aspect. That and not having any bridge deck. I have no experience with such boats.

Whereas GRP is built on the basis of being able to ditch water, is the idea that as they are made from wood, they will still float even in full of water?
 
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Cockpit covers were de rigueur in the days this was designed, they did not envisage you shipping green water over the bow.
That you. However did the vikings manage? They must have had boat slaves manning the ox leather bilge buckets all the way across.

Talking of Nordic, I never sailed a Folkboat either. There seems to be pay off between a nice position, low in the water, & having to sit there pumping away madly all night long in a storm. Do you sail with a cockpit cover on?

I did see one Folkboat that had had its cockpit entirely covered over (not the famous Jester), but a young lad who was sailing it across the Atlantic. It was literally level with the gunwale. I am not sure how he sailed it. I mean, I know in fine weather he just "sat on the floor". Whereas it might have dealt with green ones, I'd have been equally concerned at being swept off.
 

penfold

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People sailing across oceans either went in ignorance or raised cockpit floors, reduced volume with lockers and fitted self drainers. I don't think many Seakings have crossed oceans.
 
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Sorry for the dummy's question, but how do these boats sail? (Please don't say by the wind in their sails).

I've never sailed that type boat but I am interested. Their hull looks like it has the same profile as an old rowing to me. It's a big beam sandwich between steel plates, with another plate that drops down when some ballast is require, yes?

I'd guess first priority in the design was for being to be able to drag it up a beach, or sink it in soft mud. It's for gunkholing on the Thames, right?

How does that fit on rocky coast around the Forth? I'm guess you get a little more weather up there too.

I've been around the old Fifeshire fishing villagers as a kid. I'm sure they're all changed now. There used to be a bit of indigenous boat building of their own too. Pittenweem, Anstruther, St Monans (?). Some were super pretty but closely but, heavy stone harbours out of necessity, I'd guess.
 

Silverfox58

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Thanks for that boatiebert, first Ive got to see if she will float, we can see how she sails then. You’ve put the Heabie Jeabies up me about the Rocky Forth as I know she is designed for the soft southern estuaries. I believe that the Sea Kings linage started with a conversion of a naval clinker launch, a deck, coachroof and mast was put on and you had a cheap sail boat for the masses. The Sea King evolved from there into a charming roomy comfortable sail boat but wont win any races. I hope to moor her at Cramond, at the mouth of the River Almond where a shallow draft is required and explore the Forth but longer term Loch Ness and the Caledonian Canal through to the West is a sort of plan. There’s a lot of wittling, sanding and varnishing to be done before she splash’s in the Union Canal at the end of the road. No great rush, hopefully this time next year.
 
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How does the keel box (?) work on the like of them? How does it make a keel a good seal? GRP I can understand, even ply built, but old clinker, plank built boats, I never understood why they didn't leak out of a clearly bit join under the waterline where significant sideway forces must wiggle it about over time?

Yup, in the SE you're far more likely to die in quicksands than be bounced into matchsticks.
 

DownWest

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Bit of reading for you:
Chapell's 'Boatbuilding' or Greg Rössel's 'The boatbuilder's Apprentice'. Both cover most aspects of trad wood construction.
 

Keith 66

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The centreboard case on a Seaking is quite large, depending on if the boat has an outside ballast keel or not with a slot in it there will be a row of bolts each side holding the ballast on, they are relatively thin & by now will likely be heavily corroded. The case is mahogany & is likely to be severely degraded below the waterline inside. The yard used a cheap mix of putty grease & red lead as a sealant & by now this will be as hard as china. I quoted about 5k to replace one 20 years ago but thankfully didnt get the job! Owner shot the whole lot full of squirty builders foam to stop the leaks.
 
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Thanks. That's kind of what I was expecting. No disrepect to this boat as I don't know it, but that whole genre of Essex boats have a reputation for build built down to a price. Not a fault with the design, but more for their target audience. In general, people local are surprised so many of them are still sailing &, in the area, it's hard to find anyone to work on them. Not because of them, but because of a lack of skillbase or workers.

It's a shame. I don't know if I am being unrealistic, or over-sentimental, at the loss of trade skills in this country. We're a different nation to, say, the Japanese who could still build you an identical 400 year old temple or castle if you still wanted one.

We'll be stuck with throwaway plastic Chinese jobs in the near future. Correct me if I am wrong.
There’s a lot of wittling, sanding and varnishing to be done before she splash’s in the Union Canal at the end of the road. No great rush, hopefully this time next year.
Where does the Union Canal join the sea these days?

I remember reading that of that great sailing eccentric, Sven Yrvind, sailing a Vega from Sweden across the Atlantic via that canal. I had no idea it cut Scotland in half.

May be the SNP should widen it, & use it as a moat? Shuffle all the sassenachs south of it.
 
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penfold

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The Union goes between Edinburgh and Falkirk via the Wheel where it joins the Forth & Clyde; the F&C goes between Bowling and Grangemouth.
 

Thejollysailor

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Hello fellow sea-king owner.. I
View attachment 113781New Member - Sea King 24

I’m a new member and have just become the owner of a Sea King 24, SB Pisces.

This is my first foray into boat ownership, my sailing friends were initially very derisory of my decision to take a punt on a wooden boat, sitting in the original yard where it was built in Leigh on Sea. She hasn’t been in the water for a while, has had some Essex mud in her bilge but apart from a few holes seems in pretty good shape. Since her arrival home near Edinburgh all my sceptical friends now approve and share my fondness for her. Surprising amount of space, big cockpit, lots of nice mahogany and brass fittings, lots of character.

Plenty to do, learn along the way and hopefully she will float eventually. I’ve started repairing the stern decking and transom post from some old oak stable doors and frames that I had in my garden. An early version of blue Treadmaster like covering has protected the top side pretty well, there is some rot but a lot of it is like new. Some of the copper rivets look like they were fitted yesterday. Problem areas are where the vinyl has been penetrated with fixings. It’s got a Stuart Turner P55M that I will take out and see if I can get it going but not optimistic. Below the waterline the planking looks pretty good and nothing soft inside or outside so far. The iron centre board is pretty seized in place so that needs some investigation. I am not sure if I can see daylight through some of the planking. A lot of the rigging hardware has been plundered which is a nuisance but she has a good mast, bowsprit and some sails.

I’ve restored a few old cars, can sharpen a chisel but am going to need all your help and advice to see the restoration of Pisces through to a successful splash in a reasonable time.
Have a seaking 27 I've restored 😊😊⛵⛵
 

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