A handful of silly questions

[Jacket]

Can I have some advice on the following questions:

i) I'm looking to buy some new mooring lines for my boat. Unfortunately I've no idea how long my existing warps are. As I'm awful at estimating lengths etc, and always end up ordering far more of things than I need, can anyone recomend good lengths?

The boats 24 foot, and I normally sail in the Baltic, so really need two longer lines to go to the stern posts in the danish box moorings, and two shorter bow lines.

ii) What sort of paint's best for painting interior glass fibre?

iii) My boats a Westerly, and the foam backing on the headlining has broken down. I'm considering replacing the headlining on the hull sides with carpeting. What sort of carpets best? Is there special stuff for this sort of application, or is it just normal carpet, of the sort used on office floors? Can the carpet go directly onto the hull sides, or should a layer of foam insulation of some sort be used? Finally, what sort of glue's best for this application?

iv) My boat has a reasonable amount of teak on deck, in the form of hand rails, tiller etc. This is varnished. However, as Going out to my boat to work on it means jumping on a plane, I'm trying to cut maintenance down to a minimum. If I just strip off the varnish and leave the wood bare, will this be OK, or will the varnish have broken down the oils in the teak that preserve it, or something similar? Is it worth using any of these teak oils and the like you see advertised?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[pandroid]

Normal rules for mooring lines is 1 x LOA. We use 10m on an 11m boat, but keep a double length rope for some (long) boxes. You can always join two together.

Teak is better left unvarnished, but it does benefit from a regular wash (just water). We use a light rub with a scotchpad and soap in the spring to get the mildew off. The problem with oils is that they leach out with rain, which then drains down the boat, and is unsightly and a bigger problem to get off. Doesnt seem to do much either way for the teak. On a previous boat, we did the same as you and got bored with the varnish. Never noticed any problem.

 

[FlyingSpud]

If you are a member of the Westerly owners Association, you may well be advised to post any questions such as this on their discussion list, you can get to this at
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.westerly-owners.co.uk/html/discussion_list.html>http://www.westerly-owners.co.uk/html/discussion_list.html</A>

 

[tr7v8]

As regards mooring lines go to the Jimmy Green web site as that gives some recommendation as to mooring rope length, I went 1.5 times LOA and they're fine.
Headlining I asked a qusetion several weeks before Xmas and go many helpful answers, suggest a search for Headlinings.

Jim
-------------

 

[Avocet]

I carpeted the sides of my hull with a polypropylene carpet that was supposed to be water and rot proof. It was very cheap and has shown no signs of rot or any kind of deterioration despite getting pretty wet on a number of occasions. The downside is that it's more like a pan scourer than a carpet! I used contact adhesive ("Evo-stick" or similar) but the trick is to use the aerosol type NOT the sort in a tin. The best stuff I've found for painting interior GRP is Danboline.