sticking heads door continued

[baggypipes]

the boat in question is a colvic countess bilge keel. a 2002 survey stated there were 'stress cracks prt & stb sides of the mast poss due to spotting? the doors were sticking then.
on our viewing there is no evidence of cracks or repair so any may have been done professionaly, we have no way of telling that. however the doors are still sticking & cannot be shut as they bind on the top. the current owner said it was ok untill the mast was refitted & the rigging tighted also he said it wasn't like that before. its been suggested we have a structure survey & of course we will, the sale is through a broker we really fancy this boat but dont want to get cought out. is there anything we can look for as evidence prior to getting a survey thanks

 

[Thistle]

I don't know the boat but from your description it sounds as though she has a deck-stepped mast which is causing deformation of the deck when the rigging is tightened. I'd be having a close look at the ends of the mast support post for any evidence of rot and for any deformation of the deck and hull at the ends of the post caused by overtightening of the rigging. £0.02

 

[charles_reed]

In your position I'd probably walk away from it.

A surveyor would probably say the same - but only a close, informed inspection and some pretty serious digging (literally) would confirm that.

 

[damo]

Why not loosen the rigging a little and see if the door frame relaxes? That may answer it one way or another - it may only take a mm or two to bind a door in its frame. The same thing happened on my boat, but after no further movement for several years I don't worry about it (the glassed-in arches I put in may have something to do with that though - and they look better than square frames IMO /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif )

AFAIK the Countess is a good sturdy boat, so the solution may be to trim the doors /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Refueler]

[ QUOTE ]
Why not loosen the rigging a little and see if the door frame relaxes? That may answer it one way or another - it may only take a mm or two to bind a door in its frame. The same thing happened on my boat, but after no further movement for several years I don't worry about it (the glassed-in arches I put in may have something to do with that though - and they look better than square frames IMO /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif )

AFAIK the Countess is a good sturdy boat, so the solution may be to trim the doors /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

The Countess is indeed a sturdy boat and unusual to find serious trouble in this area.
But it is also to be remembered that most Colvics were home completed with many different sources of rigs. Some were over-rigged .... but luckily very few.

I would suggest a slight slacking - just a turn or two on all stays to see what thern happens. On my boat a similar construction to Colvic Sailor - the amount of overtightening is small to lock the bog door in place. I did trim the bog door in early days of boat ownership as Damo suggests ... later I came to conclusion that boat didn't need the Guitar like tension and this eased the problem.

You may be able to add a vertical brace allied to the bulkhead that carries the bog door and supports the mast base. But ideally it should be under the mast or you can localise stresses more.
Some boats have extra transverse bracing in form of GRP or wood beam. This is usually difficult to see if it's working or not unless seriously cracked / deformed.

If you have a LED / Laser measurement meter - this can be used to determine change of distance bilge floor to underdeck when rig altered ... physical tape is really not so convenient or as accurate.

Quick test ... "Flick" the stays .. do they TWANG like Bert Weedons Guitar ? This is likely overtightened. Or do the 'TWONK' like an old tarts garter ? If so then overtightening is unlikely and maybe a deck fault.

To inspect actual structure of deck is not easy with headlinings, bulkheads, paint etc. all hiding it. Careful inspection with good strong light is needed with mast lightly rigged and then tensioned up ... to see if any changes and where. It is sometimes possible to see a slight gap open up at edge of underdeck backing pad at mast point. This then indicates a weak structure.

 

[steve28]

I was looking at a boat recently that had this sort of trouble, i could make the problem more evident to the other people watching by pulling the rigging inwards towards the mast, this in turn showed up movement on the deck where the tabernacle was.
steve

 

[Honey]

I recently purchased a boat with exactly this problem! Thanks to the survey the final price ended up at one third of the original asking price. So argue your case forcefully.
I am now removing the mast and with the headlining removed will jack up the deck so that the floor below the compression post can be replaced. The problem was caused by the shower draining into the bilge and soaking into the floor .