benjenbav
Well-Known Member
Looks good. No excuse now for not whipping up a gourmet meal. 
Corvette 32 - A tale of one owner’s upgrade
- Thread starter superheat6k
- Start date
rafiki_
Well-Known Member
Great job Trevor. Looks fantastic!
Saintlysimon
Active Member
Super thread enjoyed reading through it. Thanks
paul salliss
Well-Known Member
Good luck to you Trevor. As I have said consistently I do love a Corvette always been one of my favourites.
oGaryo
Well-Known Member
Looks great Trev, the hard work has paid off
Kawasaki
Well-Known Member
Yes, great thread Trev, watching with interest
Would Love a Corvette, just my cup of tea.
Would Love a Corvette, just my cup of tea.
No Regrets
Well-Known Member
I wasn't impressed with Semco. It promised everything and gave feckall. This was inside the boat, not outside. My valeter echoes my sentiments. I'll stick to oiling it....
superheat6k
Well-Known Member
I have found out that Semco is really a temporary coat to keep the moisture out of the teak, and I doubt it is suitable for interior work. My requirement is to stop the deck being damaged by the Winter frosts and if the Semco does that well and keeps the teak looking like new even throughout the Summer season. OK its £100 for sufficient for two coats, and requires stripping off every 2nd season, but that makes the £9 - 10k deck replacement stay a long way off, and as this was costed in as a significant part of a 5 year spend plan when i bought the boat, this is small beer, and I am very happy with my deck, and will keep up with Wessex two pack plus Semco.
rafiki_
Well-Known Member
Me too Trevor
superheat6k
Well-Known Member
I haven't added much to the thread for quite a while, so I had a few hours on the train today so have written up progress since Spring of last year for an add on to the Corvette Motorboat Association website. For those interested here you go.
Due to a 15000 word limit I have had to break this down, so will add this Winter's list soon.
Spring 2016
Poop deck tent & Bimini
The Corvette benefits from a raised deck above the aft cabin, we refer to as the ‘Poop’, also partially sheltered by the higher flybridge forward above the main cabin. The area is also fully enclosed on three sides, with dodgers wrapped right around the rails. This deck area can comfortably sit four with a decent size deck table and is the ideal spot for lunches at anchor, or just to relax with a good book and glass of wine when in harbour.
However, I had a particular issue with storage of the expensive teak deck furniture. I acquired these as an extra when I bought Boadicea, and when I later found out their value at Southampton Boatshow I decided it wasn’t such a great idea to leave this lot out for low life's to steal. However, moving these in and out of the cabin was becoming a chore.
I also had a niggling secondary concern that the deck has a minor depression in the middle allowing rainwater to puddle, which would not be good for the teak deck longer term. Having considered what to do about this issue I then thought that the resolution for both issues would be to make an awning that would form a deck tent right across the poop, this would allow me to enclose the area, safely storing the furniture out of sight and also preventing the rain water gathering.
Bimini
I had seen other Corvettes with collapsible bimini tops providing a decent sun shelter to the already enclosed deck area. So what if I could make the deck awning not only a tent, but also a bimini shelter ?
Support Frame
The deck area is oblong, but otherwise remarkably close to a typical garden gazebo in size. I found a supplier of gazebo fittings made of nylon which consist of a top cross piece where four support poles meet at a shallow angle, and then matching 4 way corner pieces. However, garden gazebos are designed as square structures rather than oblong. So this required some ‘adjustment’ with my hot air gun and Dremel, adjusting the angles to suit the oblong. I then used plastic drain pipe for the frame, although these proved too flexible and have now been replaced with stainless tubes.
Mounting the frame
The top of the rail is a flat piece of teak. To this I mounted four 20mm ID guardrail stanchion bases, into which the 4 way gazebo corner pieces exactly insert. I also used stainless tubes of the same OD to fit the stanchion bases, all 20 mm diameter for the upright legs used the the bimini is raised. These have telescopic inserts and machined nylon reducing end pieces, these engage inside the 4 way corner pieces when the bimini frame is elevated. The telescopic inserts allow the bimini height to be adjusted. The poles forming the apex are also of the same 20mm stainless, but the edge horizontals are still using 20mm white drain pipe.
Awning cover
I was fortunate to have my elder daughter doing her Maths GCSE so she helped me with the trigonometry required to work out the precise shape of the triangles that form the pyramid shaped top. I used heavy duty canvas fabric from Point North with denim machine needles and heavy thread also from Point North. Having only a few months previously remade the cabin upholstery my sewing machine skills are well established, indeed I am now the expected adjuster of skiers ad trousers in our household. I made the awning with a small side skirt to clip over the frame edge, with an elasticated rope passing through brass eyelets punched around the base. The inner seams are lined with velcro strips so the seams can be firmly attached to the apex frame poles. Since I fitted the awning it has survived several heavy storms (in the down ‘shed top’ position).
Guylines
I found out after the bimini was left up when a squall passed over that guy lines are essential. My younger daughter nearly took off whilst she was helping me try to restrain the thing - it does make a very big kite !
The suppliers I used were www.gazebos.co.uk for the corner fittings
www.pointnorth.co.uk for the canvas & thread, plus eyelets
www.seascrew.co.uk for the stainless poles and stanchion bases.
Re-naming
When I bought Boadicea her name was Coolavin II. Not sure where it originated from but it wasn’t staying. I felt naming her after a proper Naval Corvette would be fitting, and then found a 19th Century Bacchante Class Corvette was called HMS Boadicea. Had to be because Boadicea was the boat I sailed on the 1991 Fastnet Race for Britannia Sailing (of BBC’s ‘In at the deep end’ fame).
Renaming a boat requires attention to certain customs and traditions importantly removing any items bearing the boats former name/s, then offering miserations to the Gods of the four winds and of course King Neptune, besides a good reason for a pontoon party.
Boadicea was duly renamed in April 2016.
Trim Tab pump control
My trim tabs were not operating properly - only one would operate, and this turned out to be a burnt out solenoid. The original pump was a Volvo Penta item, but I could not find OE parts, but did manage to find a supplier of a 12v DC solenoid coil that had similar stem diameter and was powerful enough to open the valve.
Taking this apart showed the actual internal function to be remarkably simple for the Trim tabs Boadicea has. To go down the pump operates and the solenoid for either the port or stbd tab is opened. To raise the solenoid only is opened the tab raises on its internal return spring torsion.
AIS Transponder
I wanted an AIS engine to provide AIS positional data on my plotter screen an older Raymarine C120, which is a nice display but lacks more recent refinements, e.g. it requires a separate GPS to provide its basic positional data. However, this is sited in the Cabin with no nav-aids on the flybridge, so having a second plotter was clearly a priority. But with mostly south coast and occasional cross channel voyages I didn’t need an ocean going set of electronics, and simply wanted a cost effective improvement.
The C120 already has radar, which in reality will be used 3 or 4 times each season, so didn’t justify the cost to replace, besides it works perfectly well. The C120 will display AIS data if provided, but the limiting factor is the single data input port.
I had seen on the PBO forum lots of discussion about the Chinese Matsutec transponders, which provided a basic GPS function as well, so I delved into these more closely and found they actually offer a full chart plotter with AIS Transponder function.
Why haven’t established names cottoned onto this idea ?
Anyway they are very good value and easily bought direct from their maker Huayang Electronics. A bit fiddly to set up, but once established the unit has so far been very reliable. I went for the smaller HP-628A, and instead should have gone for the larger 8” screen version.
I also provided a separate VHF antenna.
The Matsutec provides both GPS and AIS signals to the C120 plotter, making the old Garmin GPSMap 232 redundant, although for now I have left this providing the position data to the VHF DSC function.
Cooling system flush
I decided to flush out the fresh side cooling systems of both engines, and the gunk that came out was awful. I ran several bottles of holts speed flush for a few hours and then triple flushed with fresh water before re-filling with 50:50 Mono Ethylene Glycol based (non OAT) antifreeze to which I added some Fleetguard CF4 anti cavitation compound. Cummins own the Fleetguard brand so no problems with using their own product for this function. MEG suppliers suggest a 2 year life, but if it is still clean and clear after two years it is staying in.
Engine breakdown - Oh No
Travelling up into Poole Harbour on the first proper voyage out of the season my stbd engine overheated. Turned out to be a knackered drive shaft on the alternator, allowing the drive pulley to become loose which in turn threw the drive belt. This in turn meant the fresh water circulating pump stopped and the engine overheated briefly. I wasn't overly concerned because the alarm sounded before any engine damage could have occurred.
Having carefully considered Cummins kind invitation to pay some ridiculous sum for a new alternator, I found a decent new unit that both fitted and was sensibly priced from an EBAY seller in Plymouth. Lost a few days of our trip out, but hey ho, I got to know my engines that bit better.
See you on the water.
Due to a 15000 word limit I have had to break this down, so will add this Winter's list soon.
Spring 2016
Poop deck tent & Bimini
The Corvette benefits from a raised deck above the aft cabin, we refer to as the ‘Poop’, also partially sheltered by the higher flybridge forward above the main cabin. The area is also fully enclosed on three sides, with dodgers wrapped right around the rails. This deck area can comfortably sit four with a decent size deck table and is the ideal spot for lunches at anchor, or just to relax with a good book and glass of wine when in harbour.
However, I had a particular issue with storage of the expensive teak deck furniture. I acquired these as an extra when I bought Boadicea, and when I later found out their value at Southampton Boatshow I decided it wasn’t such a great idea to leave this lot out for low life's to steal. However, moving these in and out of the cabin was becoming a chore.
I also had a niggling secondary concern that the deck has a minor depression in the middle allowing rainwater to puddle, which would not be good for the teak deck longer term. Having considered what to do about this issue I then thought that the resolution for both issues would be to make an awning that would form a deck tent right across the poop, this would allow me to enclose the area, safely storing the furniture out of sight and also preventing the rain water gathering.
Bimini
I had seen other Corvettes with collapsible bimini tops providing a decent sun shelter to the already enclosed deck area. So what if I could make the deck awning not only a tent, but also a bimini shelter ?
Support Frame
The deck area is oblong, but otherwise remarkably close to a typical garden gazebo in size. I found a supplier of gazebo fittings made of nylon which consist of a top cross piece where four support poles meet at a shallow angle, and then matching 4 way corner pieces. However, garden gazebos are designed as square structures rather than oblong. So this required some ‘adjustment’ with my hot air gun and Dremel, adjusting the angles to suit the oblong. I then used plastic drain pipe for the frame, although these proved too flexible and have now been replaced with stainless tubes.
Mounting the frame
The top of the rail is a flat piece of teak. To this I mounted four 20mm ID guardrail stanchion bases, into which the 4 way gazebo corner pieces exactly insert. I also used stainless tubes of the same OD to fit the stanchion bases, all 20 mm diameter for the upright legs used the the bimini is raised. These have telescopic inserts and machined nylon reducing end pieces, these engage inside the 4 way corner pieces when the bimini frame is elevated. The telescopic inserts allow the bimini height to be adjusted. The poles forming the apex are also of the same 20mm stainless, but the edge horizontals are still using 20mm white drain pipe.
Awning cover
I was fortunate to have my elder daughter doing her Maths GCSE so she helped me with the trigonometry required to work out the precise shape of the triangles that form the pyramid shaped top. I used heavy duty canvas fabric from Point North with denim machine needles and heavy thread also from Point North. Having only a few months previously remade the cabin upholstery my sewing machine skills are well established, indeed I am now the expected adjuster of skiers ad trousers in our household. I made the awning with a small side skirt to clip over the frame edge, with an elasticated rope passing through brass eyelets punched around the base. The inner seams are lined with velcro strips so the seams can be firmly attached to the apex frame poles. Since I fitted the awning it has survived several heavy storms (in the down ‘shed top’ position).
Guylines
I found out after the bimini was left up when a squall passed over that guy lines are essential. My younger daughter nearly took off whilst she was helping me try to restrain the thing - it does make a very big kite !
The suppliers I used were www.gazebos.co.uk for the corner fittings
www.pointnorth.co.uk for the canvas & thread, plus eyelets
www.seascrew.co.uk for the stainless poles and stanchion bases.
Re-naming
When I bought Boadicea her name was Coolavin II. Not sure where it originated from but it wasn’t staying. I felt naming her after a proper Naval Corvette would be fitting, and then found a 19th Century Bacchante Class Corvette was called HMS Boadicea. Had to be because Boadicea was the boat I sailed on the 1991 Fastnet Race for Britannia Sailing (of BBC’s ‘In at the deep end’ fame).
Renaming a boat requires attention to certain customs and traditions importantly removing any items bearing the boats former name/s, then offering miserations to the Gods of the four winds and of course King Neptune, besides a good reason for a pontoon party.
Boadicea was duly renamed in April 2016.
Trim Tab pump control
My trim tabs were not operating properly - only one would operate, and this turned out to be a burnt out solenoid. The original pump was a Volvo Penta item, but I could not find OE parts, but did manage to find a supplier of a 12v DC solenoid coil that had similar stem diameter and was powerful enough to open the valve.
Taking this apart showed the actual internal function to be remarkably simple for the Trim tabs Boadicea has. To go down the pump operates and the solenoid for either the port or stbd tab is opened. To raise the solenoid only is opened the tab raises on its internal return spring torsion.
AIS Transponder
I wanted an AIS engine to provide AIS positional data on my plotter screen an older Raymarine C120, which is a nice display but lacks more recent refinements, e.g. it requires a separate GPS to provide its basic positional data. However, this is sited in the Cabin with no nav-aids on the flybridge, so having a second plotter was clearly a priority. But with mostly south coast and occasional cross channel voyages I didn’t need an ocean going set of electronics, and simply wanted a cost effective improvement.
The C120 already has radar, which in reality will be used 3 or 4 times each season, so didn’t justify the cost to replace, besides it works perfectly well. The C120 will display AIS data if provided, but the limiting factor is the single data input port.
I had seen on the PBO forum lots of discussion about the Chinese Matsutec transponders, which provided a basic GPS function as well, so I delved into these more closely and found they actually offer a full chart plotter with AIS Transponder function.
Why haven’t established names cottoned onto this idea ?
Anyway they are very good value and easily bought direct from their maker Huayang Electronics. A bit fiddly to set up, but once established the unit has so far been very reliable. I went for the smaller HP-628A, and instead should have gone for the larger 8” screen version.
I also provided a separate VHF antenna.
The Matsutec provides both GPS and AIS signals to the C120 plotter, making the old Garmin GPSMap 232 redundant, although for now I have left this providing the position data to the VHF DSC function.
Cooling system flush
I decided to flush out the fresh side cooling systems of both engines, and the gunk that came out was awful. I ran several bottles of holts speed flush for a few hours and then triple flushed with fresh water before re-filling with 50:50 Mono Ethylene Glycol based (non OAT) antifreeze to which I added some Fleetguard CF4 anti cavitation compound. Cummins own the Fleetguard brand so no problems with using their own product for this function. MEG suppliers suggest a 2 year life, but if it is still clean and clear after two years it is staying in.
Engine breakdown - Oh No
Travelling up into Poole Harbour on the first proper voyage out of the season my stbd engine overheated. Turned out to be a knackered drive shaft on the alternator, allowing the drive pulley to become loose which in turn threw the drive belt. This in turn meant the fresh water circulating pump stopped and the engine overheated briefly. I wasn't overly concerned because the alarm sounded before any engine damage could have occurred.
Having carefully considered Cummins kind invitation to pay some ridiculous sum for a new alternator, I found a decent new unit that both fitted and was sensibly priced from an EBAY seller in Plymouth. Lost a few days of our trip out, but hey ho, I got to know my engines that bit better.
See you on the water.
benjenbav
Well-Known Member
Really like the deck awning.
Re alternator: surely one of the best points of the Cummins B series is you can use truck peripherals so should've been easy to get a recon. unit - EDIT: as, indeed, you did
Re alternator: surely one of the best points of the Cummins B series is you can use truck peripherals so should've been easy to get a recon. unit - EDIT: as, indeed, you did
Last edited:
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