Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi Henk
yes this is quite possible. What you need to do (when the boat comes out of the water for the winter) – drill a couple of 1” holes in the keels (one at the front and one at the back of the keel you think is the problem) to let the water drain out over the winter. Lift all the seat tops and floorboards up and put a dehumidifier in the cabin and leave till next year. When the water has stopped dripping out of the keel, fill the holes with an appropriate filler. If you can put another layer on inside too this would be good. If this is all painted and you can’t get rid of all the paint layers then it is not worth doing this as the fibreglass will not stick to a painted surface. Also, inspect all the keels for any gel coat cracks where water could ingress and grind them back and refill them. Best of luck. Chris Nixon
If it’s what you think it is, there is no easy way of tackling this.
Our son, who is a yacht surveyor, advises: From the limited photo and description it looks as though the mast will have to come off to relieve the pressure from the compression post. The compression post will have to have to come out. The compression post support block, which is bonded to the hull, will have to be ground back to reveal the extent of the moisture damage to the wooden inner support of the compression block. This will then have to be cleaned away and dried which should reveal the view of the internal crack. This crack, both internally and externally, can then be repaired and a new wooden mast support block bonded into place. The mast support can then be re-fitted and the mast stepped once again. Again, this advice is given without doing a visual inspection and with limited knowledge of the area in question.
Chris Nixon – Technical Officer
A way of solving such a problem in the future (water ingress from the anchor locker) is to create a drainage outlet through the hull from the anchor locker.
Peter,
Calor Gas is phasing out the smaller bottles this year. You need to seek advice from a ‘marine gas fitter’, or try to accommodate the larger bottles in a new gas locker.
Chris
Hi Peter.
We have only ever used mooring ropes (doubled up) in such a situation. You need to seek advice on what the locals do.
Chris
The heat exchanger should be full. Have you replaced the pressure caps on the heat exchanger? Have you checked/replaced impellers? Are the inlet filters all clean? Is all clear where the water is injected into the exhaust pipes? Is there plenty of water coming out of the exhausts? Have you checked the thermostats in the engines?
If all this is okay and water is coming through nicely, it could be leaking cylinder head gaskets or as the engines are 40 years oldish, the engines could just be clogged up or simply worn out.
Chris – Technical Officer
Hi Edward,
I have been the Macwester Membership Secretary since 2010, and there has never been a ‘Mistral’ on my records or inherited database. Sorry that I cannot give you any good news. Hopefully some other member might remember her.
Linda Nixon
As our boats are nearly 50 years old I doubt you will be able to replace with new.
If you take the window to a window supplier, they may be able to fix it using a material they have available.
Or a car repairers that do older type cars, including window replacements.
Also, try looking at the website of Walker Rubber in Norwich.
Chris – Technical Officer
Hi there.#
Re: the sail size of your Macwester genoa, the foot of the sail is 18′ 6″.
The luff you will have to measure for yourself because foils are made individually. The way to this is get a long tape measure or a piece of string, tie it to the uphaul, haul it up and then mark the bottom. Take the measurement if you have used a tape, or measure the piece of string/cord. The sailmakers will work the leech out themselves.
Unfortunately, we have all the sail measurements for your type of Mac, but genoa sail measurements are not given on the documents in our archives.
Chris Nixon
Technical Officer – Macwester Owners Association
The only way you can check it properly is to take the nut off, ease the string out with a screwdriver, and measure it. It will probably be a quarter or three/eights.
Hi David
The Association holds lots of articles and drawings. Now that you have become a member you can access these.
We have the original line drawing of the Rowan Crown so will take it to a printers a get it copied for you.
Linda
Commodore
So sorry for the delay in my response.
Looking at the drawings and hand written information from Macwester files, the original mast was 29′ 7″
Linda – Commodore
