Recent content by seumask

Good point about the tiller pilot, I had forgotten! We did have one of those, actually a rather good one from raymarine with a separate brain and sensor , the equivalent to today's Raymarine Evolution Tiller pilot system. That was capable of sailing the boat down wind in F5...

We had both a Medina (1st yacht ,1 year only) and then the Hunter Delta for around 10 years. Definitely go for a Delta over a Medina. We had a young family and the space on the Delta was much better and she was an exceedingly good sailboat. We did many 2 week holidays in her down...

Hi ours was moored on the Hayling Island sailing club moorings next to the harbour mouth on the most westerly of the mooring lines running to the north which dried at low tide. Our boat was " Bluebell" and has been at Mengham for many years where it was moored a bit further into the Harbour...

As an alternative you may find it is simpler to construct your own wooden mast and wrap it in carbon fiber cloth. A good friend did exactly that for a Heavy long keel 32ft wooden boat last year that he converted from Gaff rig to Junk rig. He did that because he is good...

I suspect your only going to motor if your in a rush and there is not enough wind! We still sail up the river Beaulieu in our now fixed 2M keel, until the wind disappears keeping an eye on the depth, only occasionally at Springs low tide are we careful or reluctant to go across the...

There are plenty of boats sailing in the Poole -> Solent areas with drafts greater than 2.1m and as you say not a good idea to sail with the keel dangling and not locked down. So I recon your sailing area is a little more restricted but you have a very useful get out of jail...

We had a good friend with the lift keel 27.7 around 2010 and having a smaller lift keel Hunter Delta 25 at the time I was very interested in the design and went on the boat a few times. I recall that it has most of its righting moment in a lead bulb at the end of the keel that can...

on our smaller SO 37 , the Webasto heater is fitted in the aft end of the Port side Cockpit locker, the aft 1/3 of the locker, all hot air ducting runs down and forward from there through the spaces behind the panels etc., fitted at commissioning of the boat. the Exhaust exits...

I too had wondered what has happened and I am thinking of now buying a selection of Stainless steel fittings for a Bimini from Baseline Marine in Lee on Solent instead. https://www.baselinemarine.com/

I have had good results with the offerings from Profabrics. Last boat went 8 years before I sold it after making new windows from the heavy duty clear PVC. Current boat on Year 4 and no obvious issues with the replacements I put in with their window material. Window - Marine

Thankyou to all the contributors on this thread. Lots to work on there and I think I have a clear way forward. More postings when I get my pipes bent!

So I guess the top corners probably only need to be bent to around 82-85 degrees before the crown arch is applied bringing the legs parallel

Definitely going to talk to some local fabricators to work out if I cant get one of them to do the bends or wether I can do it. Any suggestions, I'm between Portsmouth and Chichester. I already have a length of pipe from a previous project that would allow me to try out bends!

I was planning to make the Bimini demountable and break into pieces that can be stored using sections of 22mm pipe as inserts so I may be able to get round the problem of long legs scraping the floor when using the bending machine.

My winter project is to make a 3 Bar Bimini for our SO 37. I'm confident I can do all the canvas work but I would much appreciate the forums input to making the Arches. I am planning to use 25mm 1.5mm wall polished stainless steel and in particular need advice on how...