hello and hope you can help!!

[kernowboat]

hey guys!....glad I found this forum, looks like ts packed with help....hopefully someone on here will be able to help me...I have my first sailing boat moored up on the Fal in Cornwall, and I have a few questions about how to carry out some maintainance on it!

Oh, and also to see if anyone might know the make and model, as I cant seem to find a makers mark anywhere!!

As you can possibly see from pics, the runners that hold in the sliding hatch are on their way out!....in fact, since this pic, the wooded parts - the runners with this profile ] have snapped completely! im really not sure how to tackle makin and fitting some new ones, and wonder if anyone may have had to do this, and could possibly share some of their experience! cheers for now!

 

[Forbsie]

Welcome to the mad house.

Just to get this back up to the top, are the runners wood or steel. If wood, I would imagine you could route out a groove in a strip of teak or similar, bed them in on mastic and screw from below.

 

[VicS]

Yes i agree route a slot in some new strips of hardwood. Maybe possible to make the new ones a bit heavier/ robust than the old ones.

A long shot but you might be able to find some plastic channel that would fit the bill but you'd have to be sure it is UV resistant. Wood again would be my choice.

Sorry dont recognise the boat. Thought I did at first but not in my book. What length and beam? Any recognisable insignia on the main sail

 

[kernowboatman]

Thanks for your replies so far guys!...never even used or own a router!...I'm a complete beginner!...I would like to learn though, especially as it will help me maintain my boat!!...Could I get ready slotted pieces of wood?...kinda on a budget as well!...my partner is happy to help, and even our two year old will help a bit as well, I'm sure! I think the length of the boat is around 21ft, and as you can see its pretty beamy!...there have been suggestions that it could be a pearson, but I cant find one the same!...it has a keel that you wind up with a handle just outside the companionway hatch in the cockpit. It did also have an inboard I think, but it now has a well for an outboard.

I think the screws that hold the rails on have been glassed over on the inside...really dont know where to start!!...I dont suppose, by any chance, there is anyone in the Malpas area that could take a look at some point is there? I know its a long shot, but thought I would ask anyway!! Cheers!

 

[ianat182]

Perhaps an alternative in aluminium might fit the bill.Try search for www.spaaluminium.com/site/catalogue

They stock in 4ft lengths channel to dimension 1/2"x 1/2" x 1/8" their ref ch012/28 or several other dimensions.Depends really on the type of slider you have on the hatch as to which would be suitable. I tried googling' Channel section-aluminium' so stainless may also come up with something for you and probably better if there is sliding friction,(as the aluminium probably wouldn't be anodised, and turn black if greased/oiled.) and also more expensive.

Boat looks quite roomy so not likely to set speed records, but with the bilge keels and centreboard she ought to perform well enough as a safe cruiser, and gives you plenty of options for anchoring.
Don't know her designer or type though.

ianat182

 

[oldharry]

Nicde little boat, which I recognise but cant place - yet. Will have a hunt round some old books.

The hatch slider looks to be timber, and if you are not confident about (or dont have access to) a router, it will be very simple to screw and glue new ones once you have got it all off. If they are as rotten as you say, try breaking some of the wood off just to see how it is fastened.

Replacing the easy way: Find out where you can get some strips of hardwood locally. Teak ideal, but any good quality hardwood will be OK. You could use the hardwood strip supplied by B&Q/Homebase but they may not last so well, and is not the best stuff around.

Get two strips of roughly the same dimensions as the top and bottom halves of your old runner, then a third strip which matches the thickness of the runner slot. Simply sandwich them together with a good exterior grade glue - and voila! Hatch runners! Get some Sikaflex from the chandlery to bed the new runners down on the deck or it will leak EVERY time it rains! Use gloves, and TRY not get it everywhere - its dreadful stuff for 'spreading' all over you, all over the boat and everywhere you do not want it. Clean up BEFORE it sets, because you never will get it off otherwise! A well wetted finger is sometimes the best way to get a good smooth finish. Practice a bit on scrap first.

If it is easier, you could assemble your runners in situ on the boat. Put the bottom strip in place with its Sikalfex seal, screw down using stainless self tapping screws of sutiable size/length. Glue and screw the spacer strip in place. Put the hatch in place, then glue and screw the top strip down to hold it there. The difficulty will be getting it all clean and tidy, because it looks quite difficult to get at from the outside.

As someone else said - welcome to the madhouse! I will go and dig out the books for a bit more info on your boat. I know its there somwhere!

 

[Eygthene]

Kernowboat, I think I have seen some hardwood channels at MacSalvors in Pool, in a rack with lots of other hardwood mouldings. They had aluminium sections there as well.

Don't recognise the boat, are you in Restronguet creek? We have a mooring at Mylor.

John

 

[Dan the man]

thinking out aloud, so ignore this, but your boat looks a little like a dauntless. It is not an original dauntless, these were wooden, shallower centre keel with a plate. it is the tumble-home towards the transom that makes me think this. The stem has a more pronounced rake than a dauntless, but hints at it. The cabin top looks similar, but slightly lower, the windows in the front of the cabin and the hatch also make me think od a dauntless. The length fits too.

I am sure she is not a dauntless, but did someone once modify that design and make one in grp? maybe.

Dauntless, Finesse and SeaKing are fabulous boats of their time, I do like them, and I think your boat is very pretty.

The other solution to the hatch problem, if you dont have a router is to get the wood machined using a circular saw. I got round the problem of a lack of a router while at art school by doing just this. Im sure a wood yard or a boat yard can do this. Increase dimension, that should stop the breaking.

My only word of advice is, DONT sacrifice the quality and strenght to satisfy the budget. Im too on a budget, like everyone I guess to some degree, but I am a great believer in prioritising and doing the important jobs well and fore go the new curtains or gortex sailing gloves, gardening ones are fine!!! eg.

I hope you have loads of fun doing her up and sailing...I have heard this said, the two most happiest days of a boat owners life is when she/he buys their boat and when they sell it!

Any more pics?

 

[Dan the man]

http://www.dauntless-association.org.uk/

Just to add to your confusion. I looked on this website in the dauntless brochure, they made a motor boat, looks similar, but I think the number of planks differs, yours look narrower.
I dont know....is there a prize for positive identification?!!!

 

[MoodySabre]

Dan - I can see the old SeaKing boatshed from my house and there are quite a few of them round here - my friend has one. This query boat has a much fuller hull and not half so attractive (no offence to owner).

 

[kernowboatman]

ali sounds like a good idea, no shaping needed on my part!...theres a company not too far from me that sells it, reckon that might be the way forward! It is quite a bulky boat, but when I motored it from its original mooring to its berth now (about 12 miles upriver) it handled really well...even with the keel stuck in its box - another job that needs doing!! I was thinking of doing the boards that slide together that the hatch pulls over once I finish the runners though!

 

[Dan the man]

Oh yeah, those old boats were lovely ships....link to the bav bashing perhaps post....built by the traditional proportions.

I am sure it is not one of the boats I suggested, but there are some similar characterisitcs, in my eye....Im intrigued, and she is not even my pride and joy.

Anyone think Dauntless would have a market today, post recession?

 

[kernowboatman]

do you thin you might know the model that she is then Dan?...I'm desperate to know to see if theres an owners club and to make sure I keep the same features as I sort her out!

oh, really basic question coming up - what's the best thing to use to give her a quick wash down and make the white bits white, and the wodden bits - wooden!! Want her to look pretty on her berth!! cheers!!

 

[webcraft]

Nicde little boat, which I recognise but cant place - yet. Will have a hunt round some old books.

The hatch slider looks to be timber, and if you are not confident about (or dont have access to) a router, it will be very simple to screw and glue new ones once you have got it all off. If they are as rotten as you say, try breaking some of the wood off just to see how it is fastened.

Replacing the easy way: Find out where you can get some strips of hardwood locally. Teak ideal, but any good quality hardwood will be OK. You could use the hardwood strip supplied by B&Q/Homebase but they may not last so well, and is not the best stuff around.

Get two strips of roughly the same dimensions as the top and bottom halves of your old runner, then a third strip which matches the thickness of the runner slot. Simply sandwich them together with a good exterior grade glue - and voila! Hatch runners! Get some Sikaflex from the chandlery to bed the new runners down on the deck or it will leak EVERY time it rains! Use gloves, and TRY not get it everywhere - its dreadful stuff for 'spreading' all over you, all over the boat and everywhere you do not want it. Clean up BEFORE it sets, because you never will get it off otherwise! A well wetted finger is sometimes the best way to get a good smooth finish. Practice a bit on scrap first.

If it is easier, you could assemble your runners in situ on the boat. Put the bottom strip in place with its Sikalfex seal, screw down using stainless self tapping screws of sutiable size/length. Glue and screw the spacer strip in place. Put the hatch in place, then glue and screw the top strip down to hold it there. The difficulty will be getting it all clean and tidy, because it looks quite difficult to get at from the outside.

As someone else said - welcome to the madhouse! I will go and dig out the books for a bit more info on your boat. I know its there somwhere!

Could you use marine ply and do the same thing with it?

- W

 

[VicS]

Y-10 is the hull cleaner you'll find in chandlers. Based on oxalic acid and blooming expensive.

Some folks around here make up a substitute by thickening a saturated oxalic acid solution with wallpaper paste (don't let it dry or you'll be asking how to clean the wallpaper paste off)

Cillit Bang Grime and Lime worth a try but strongly acidic and should be kept of metal fittings, and the wood I should think.
Give it a polish when its clean to seal the surface. But you'll learn boats are for sailing not cleaning and polishing!

Decking cleaner perhaps on the wood or pay stacks of dosh for a marine teak restorer .. several available.

 

[lenseman]

Plunging Routers

Thanks for your replies so far guys!...never even used or own a router!...I'm a complete beginner!...

If you are thinking of using a router, be very aware that they can be very unpredictable in untrained hands.

On start up, they have quite a kick (motor torque) and whilst cutting grooves, they can also walk and cut into the wood that you want to keep.

The off-load spindle speed can be up to 30,000 rpm (Elu) and the very first time I used mine back in the 70's, I switched it off and as the spindle was running down (like a jet engine), I casually placed it on my work-mate and it calmly cut a ½-mm x 10mm wide groove in the wooden top for a distance of about 6 inches before it finally stopped rotating. It always reminds me how dangerous they can be.

If you place the blade on the area you are going to cut a groove and then switch on, the 'kick' can make it walk all over your woodwork and cause damage - BEWARE!!

 

[Dan the man]

I have no idea, it was in the list of boats in the original brochure section on that link. Sorry I dont know how to link properly on this site.

It was a motor boat I looked at, but it is not a dauntless, from what I am seeing. Could be a derivitive perhaps?

Ensearch hull cleaner is good, all over boat wash gets grime off, diluted or used neat on harsh stains. its new to the shelves, was a commercial product used by licensed applicators. its good.

Scouring pad and soapy water, ot teak cleaner, assuming the wood is teak, works well. very well indeed.

Anympore suggestions of make, im excited...yes, bored too, recovering from NYE, still!

 

[kernowboatman]

ok guys...confession time!!! - completelymissed a load of replies!! - from the suggestion of using metal strips, at which point i went on a mad hunt for some in the garage - right up until dans last post, hence me asking if Dan thought he knew what odel it was!! sorry about that!!

thanks for all the wonderful replies so far, it does look like a dauntless deosnt it?! the nearest i came to finding the model was looking at the pearson range - it does look quite close to some of those too! - the prize for finding the correct model is the satisfaction of getting it right!

John, thanks for reply, I am up along malpas road berthed on the mud there at the moment, hopefully I will be able to afford/come up on the waiting lists for a mooring further down the river as time moves on!! Would be good to meet you at some point if you like! cheers!

 

[Dan the man]

I went on a site that claimed to have a good proportion of the pearson range on their database...I couldnt see one. Im intrigued....

have you not had a boat before? its very exciting buying and doing up. I am on to my 6th in about 8 years. My favourite was a swift 18 for sailing, but my new boat, a newbridge venturer 22 mkii I am very pleased with, nicknamed the party boat, due to her large sociable cockpit.

 

[kernowboatman]

here you go...a few more...on a side note, it has the same lifting keel design as a catalina 22, although doesnt seem to be same boat! http://www.catalina22.org/manuals/mnl87/hb38.gif

hope these help!