Bought a Never splashed Colvic Countess 33 on eBay, Looking for infos

[Skylark]

We advised QHM and the Coast Guard that I was going into Gosport without lights and a broken forestay but needed no assistance........
.............They were really nice and both very surprised we were not declaring a mayday and a major incident.

Mayday is "grave and imminent danger to vessel or life". Begs a general question to you Solent sailors, do you call a Pan Pan when you're low on milk?

I watched the video with interest, thanks for posting it, Greg. Good to see you both enjoyed the season sailing. Not wanting to be a killjoy but I'm glad that you, eventually, covered your boat while grinding/wire brushing the keel. I've been at the receiving end of having grinding debris land on my non-slip decking. It burns into the GRP, then rusts and is a buggar to remove. Thanks for being considerate to other boat yard users.

 

[chrishscorp]

Mayday is "grave and imminent danger to vessel or life". Begs a general question to you Solent sailors, do you call a Pan Pan when you're low on milk?

No not for milk, Beer and ice yes

I watched the video with interest, thanks for posting it, Greg. Good to see you both enjoyed the season sailing. Not wanting to be a killjoy but I'm glad that you, eventually, covered your boat while grinding/wire brushing the keel. I've been at the receiving end of having grinding debris land on my non-slip decking. It burns into the GRP, then rusts and is a buggar to remove. Thanks for being considerate to other boat yard users.

Sheeting up :encouragement:

 

[GregOddity]

Good post



My best wishes on your project as well Greg- good luck and keep us posted

Thank you, I’ll try my best at keep answering and posting at what stage we’re on.

 

[GregOddity]

Mayday is "grave and imminent danger to vessel or life". Begs a general question to you Solent sailors, do you call a Pan Pan when you're low on milk?

I watched the video with interest, thanks for posting it, Greg. Good to see you both enjoyed the season sailing. Not wanting to be a killjoy but I'm glad that you, eventually, covered your boat while grinding/wire brushing the keel. I've been at the receiving end of having grinding debris land on my non-slip decking. It burns into the GRP, then rusts and is a buggar to remove. Thanks for being considerate to other boat yard users.

I do try, sometimes it seems I’m the only one trying ‘cause I did find my own boat covered in rust from some fellow sailor not so considerate. Its murder to remove. especially on the non slip.
About the Mayday’s and Pan Pans in the Solent… You see around here it’s a spectator sport to have the VHF on 16 on any given weekend. Maydays for engine failures in a sailboat are a must and I must admit I truly admire the Coasties patience and British sense of humour in the way the handle all those calls. Both the Coast Guard and the QHM were genuinely surprised we were not declaring anything and you could tell how puzzled they were. That speaks volumes for all they get to hear.
This summer while at the helm of a J95 we changed course when we saw something in the water and a sailboat aiming for it, all crew on deck with ready for action deploying everything they had for a MOB and… an active Distress call on radio and active EPIRB. Coast guard on 16 directing vessels .. to a MOB exercise. It seems someone said “and if something happens press here and here” which someone duly did for a MOB exercise.

 

[GregOddity]

Sheeting up :encouragement:

hehe no NOT for milk. Only for beer or Ice indeed

 

[GregOddity]

Happy New Year everyone! Fair winds and following seas.


Well it’s been kinda cold to work with fiberglass, so I went Heavy Metal for a replacement skeg until I get myself organised to fabricate a proper fiberglass skeg. Made in Mild steel.

As I did this at night on a deadline to get the boat on the water for Christmas I could not use power tools to cut the metal so it was by hand and using my TIG machine as a plasma cutter to cut the plate, weird shaped welds but hey.. in the end the guy went away and left us under the crane.

This is something I have been wanting to do for some time. I hate the way everyone wants to sell you a specific bracket for the top of your mast and it all ends up not working and looking like a Christmas tree. Plastic bits with self-tapping screws or windex wires that keep attracting seagulls to land on them.
This is my attempt at ridding myself of all that. The windex arms are made of 316 stainless 3mm rod with reflective tape and a nut that takes the windex pointer. Of course, they will still come and chew the plastic but at least it will survive longer then last time that the very next day was twisted by a seagull landing on it. Lights are in a little bracket with two nuts and screws and wind instrument mounted on a stainless 12mm rod

 

[GregOddity]

Masthead

Well I have to admit she’s starting to feel like a dependable sailboat. Changing all the wiring and installing proper lights does make a difference. When we bought her, she only had a little puny anchor light on the mast head that looked beyond flimsy and we managed to turn on one single time, then the bulb went and the wire burned. We installed tinned wiring and steaming and deck flood lights with cruising and anchor on the mast head.
Bracket fitted and mast almost ready to go up. Still a couple of little things to take care of.

 

[GregOddity]

Oddity

And that’s the wheel for Oddity fresh of a Bavaria C51 that upgraded to composite wheels the very same day they took delivery. eBay can be a wonderful place sometimes. Were slowly gathering all we need to get oddity floating. So far, we got :
Radar
Inverters
AIS (receiving and transmitter)
Radio
Generator
Led Nav lights
And a few other bits and bobs that we’ve been hunting high and low

 

[GregOddity]

Weeping Keels problem.

Weeping Keels
This is an interesting problem. Keels keep weeping. I’m guessing it has to do with the fact that cast iron is a bit “spongy” like on the inside and if water does manage to get in it will of course try to get out. Sadly it does mess up all the paint work and I’m at a bit of a loss on how to resolve it.
Heat? Vacuum ? or ignore it and just red oxide the all thing? Anyone ?

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

Re: Weeping Keels problem.

When I needed a large lump of cast iron weighed to the nearest gram by the NPL they suggested that it should come straight from the foundry because once cooled water would account for 1% of its mass. Gettind rid of that will be extremely difficult, and I can't see anything being effective if the keels stay on the boat.

Ideally I'd get it needle gunned or blasted and follow that with MG Duffs Zinga paint immediately (as per their instructions). I'd then speak to them about what you put between that and your antifoul.

 

[GregOddity]

Re: Weeping Keels problem.

When I needed a large lump of cast iron weighed to the nearest gram by the NPL they suggested that it should come straight from the foundry because once cooled water would account for 1% of its mass. Gettind rid of that will be extremely difficult, and I can't see anything being effective if the keels stay on the boat.

Ideally I'd get it needle gunned or blasted and follow that with MG Duffs Zinga paint immediately (as per their instructions). I'd then speak to them about what you put between that and your antifoul.

I’ve had problems with humidity before in cast iron parts that needed welding as the water trapped inside can create real problems, but those were parts for precision machinery. Never had to deal with such a high content of water in a cast iron part, in this case the keels. The boat has been in the water for most of its life so water has truly found its way to the smallest crevice.
I grinded both to bare metal again… but only as an intermediary solution. We want to bring her out again on the end of march to deal with the outboard well and close the hole on the hull and deal with the keels in a more permanent way.
Thanks for the suggestion. I’m going to look it up.

I’ve used Red Oxide from Hammerite for the time being. But I’d like to stop that weeping or deal with it to minimise the effect its having on any paints or resins.

 

[Graham_Wright]

Re: Weeping Keels problem.

I must have missed something! Why are you manufacturing a skeg? Did the original snap off?

 

[PaulRainbow]

Re: Weeping Keels problem.

I must have missed something! Why are you manufacturing a skeg? Did the original snap off?

The thread has become a confused mess of posts about two different boats.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Re: Weeping Keels problem.

I’ve had problems with humidity before in cast iron parts that needed welding as the water trapped inside can create real problems, but those were parts for precision machinery.

When welding cast, it has to be pre-heated and then slowly cooled. If that's done correctly, no moisture issues.

 

[GregOddity]

Re: Weeping Keels problem.

I must have missed something! Why are you manufacturing a skeg? Did the original snap off?

The original skeg started failing, water found its way along the thread into the insides of the skeg and galvanic corrosion killed the bolts. The skeg started vibrating and we took on quiet a lot of water. Because we wanted to keep on sailing, we took Selkie out of the water and started working on a new skeg but as we had a short time window, I made the skeg out of mild steel.
I'm actually very happy with the fact I did not try to tighten the skeg as I wanted to do. I think it would have snapped clean of taking our rudder and living us with the bolt holes as water features.

 

[GregOddity]

Re: Weeping Keels problem.

When welding cast, it has to be pre-heated and then slowly cooled. If that's done correctly, no moisture issues.

On small parts that’s not a problem. Having said that how do you heat up the keels and not damage the GRP? It would mean having to remove both keels and heat treat them then treat the surface before reapplying the keels. It’s something I intend to do at some stage but not just now. The plan is to get Selkie ready and out of the way of working on Oddity.
Plans do change and Selkie has been a lot of fun and good training for my wife and Phil. We just need to sort her out so we can use it as a base and be able to sail it at the same time we're doing Oddity.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Re: Weeping Keels problem.

On small parts that’s not a problem. Having said that how do you heat up the keels and not damage the GRP?

I was talking about welding cast, not your keel.

 

[GregOddity]

Re: Weeping Keels problem.

That was where the instruments were going to be. The sides of Selkie on the cockpit are really not very good for visibility. Right now, we're more inclined to a bracket that can move towards the door and folds back inside. This would have the advantage of also being possible to install a tablet bracket which would not be in the way of the lines. So same bracket could carry the instruments and Tablet and possibly even the radio as it would give us access to the AIS on the radio as well. (and easier to call the pub to order the beer in advance). We will have to move the compass anyway as the mounting of it was a resounding failure in every possible way with the plastic screws on the other side twisted in every direction and the all thing a rather unsightly contraption on the inside.

 

[GregOddity]

Re: Weeping Keels problem.

I was talking about welding cast, not your keel.

Ha no you misread my intentions. I actually tried on a small section to heat the keel but not an easy thing to achieve. My question was exploratory as I am looking for a solution. Not shooting you down.

I am considering vacuum to see if it would remove some of the water.

 

[sailor211]

Re: Weeping Keels problem.

Weeping Keels
This is an interesting problem. Keels keep weeping. I’m guessing it has to do with the fact that cast iron is a bit “spongy” like on the inside and if water does manage to get in it will of course try to get out. Sadly it does mess up all the paint work and I’m at a bit of a loss on how to resolve it.
Heat? Vacuum ? or ignore it and just red oxide the all thing? Anyone ?

When I was working on my Westely I researched what people did to prevent reoccurance of rust, and proceded as follows.
As I had plenty of time and has some concerns that there was a salt content in my keel which had patches of rust for 10 years. I took the keel back to bear metal and washed it a few times over a month., not worring about the rust that formed. I then used an rust convertor from PORS from FROST restoration . You do need rust to convert. I brushed it on and kept it wet for 30 mins minimum. It turned the keel rust black and then there was no rust for a couple of months with no other treatment.

It worked better than anything else i have tred and better than teh boat next to me who was patch repairing.
The final treatment was to redo the rust then paint eith a fleixble epoxy tank paint from Reactive Resins who are unfortunatly not trading.