Recent content by steve_l

Maybe PBO forum would be a better place for this kind of enquiry...?

An alternative solution - make/buy/rent a suitable cradle, use it to transport the boat on a flatbed hiab lorry, then lift the cradle & boat off together into the appropriate place when you arrive. That was my solution when I had to move my similar boat some years ago. The cradle is still used...

The Finnish Sea Scouts guide is the one to get. Pandroid's site looks useful too. You don't need to be in a harbour or marina overnight. Just find an empty piece of shoreline and moor bows to with a kedge off the stern. As long as you're not in front of someone's summer cottage you should be...

One further comment/observation... All the ball valves that I have seen burst have done so from the "open" end, ie the end that the innards are assembled from. So that would be the rhs of the Marelon valve in Vyv's pic above. The "closed" cast end seems to stay intact and maintains the seal...

Oops, yes, you are right. The "4" comes from the max density of water at +4C. Seems my brain is playing tricks with me tonight, or maybe it's just old age creeping up on me :)

Correct, mine were metal (marine brass - not subject to de-zincification) and boat was ashore. Lowest temperature maybe about -30C but certainly at least -15C for extended periods. But anyway, when water freezes it needs 4% more volume. Even a small amount must expand and if there isn't space...

With the boat in the water, unless the river freezes they should be ok left closed. However, if there's a chance that the water will freeze and the valves are closed, they could burst. This was a lesson I learnt after my first winter here with the boat. Had to lift the boat out again very...

Nice, but far too elegant and complicated for me :)

A little while ago, someone posted about a problem with their furler line jamming in the gap between the drum and the cover and I promised to take a pic of my solution next time I was on the boat. Unfortunately I didn't get to the boat as soon as I had hoped but now eventually here's the pic...

This is basically how we do ours. Done every year for winter lift-out. The sails and boom are removed at the berth, then it takes about 10-15 mins at the mast derrick. Everyone in the club does the same so it's quite routine. Also means that the rigging gets checked every year.

I had a similar problem on the same kind of roller drum. Cured it by using a twisted shackle (one with the curve of the shackle at 90 deg to the pin) as a furling line guide, mounted to the curved plate by it's pin. It allows the line to find it's own place on the drum and prevents it from going...

Army surplus body bags... wonder how many times they've been used...?

This is my winter boat covering regime... Mast unstepped and supported on cradles on boat. Genoa roller is still attached at the mast head and is strapped to the mast in several places to support it. Mast ends and roller covered and old folded tarp laid on top to protect the cover from the...

This is what I did a few years ago. Boat was built in the early 70's and had numerous star cracks in the gelcoat. Just ground them out as described, down to the laminate (which appeared undamaged) then filled and sanded smooth. I then overpainted the whole underhull with epoxy primer. been...

If it's a ball-valve type seacock and it freezes when closed, the trapped water expands (ice is 4% more volume than water) and fractures the valve body, meaning that it literally splits open. I have two just like that in my "disasters" collection from my first winter here... This next bit is...