This one could be fun

[Slacko]

Buying boats online from a few random shots of something that looks fast and wet is fine, right?

Anyway, I'm going on a 9 hour round trip roadie to Napier this weekend to pick up a one of kind 8 metre plywood centreboard racing yacht.
It may or may not fit in the sportsboat rules, but doesn't appear to be registered as one so is probably easier to race it as a keelboat.
That will make her 9 metres, as the bowsprit and transon hung rudder are measured for keelboat racing, unlike sportsboats.
I think it will still need new registration with yachting NZ.
I've made a 67 item compliance list of things that will need to be checked or fitted for the Cat 5 racing safety regulation.
It is self certifying, so just needs to be worked through.
Starting with the potentially expensive dealbreakers. No point doing all the small stuff if I trip over on the key tests.
First test is the righting moment pulldown test. She needs to bounce back from the masthead being dunked in the tide at the dock, sideways fully rigged (no sails up).
It has a large looking lead bulb at 2 metres draft, so I'm reasonably confident of righting moment.
Not capsizing from flooding hatches will be more interesting.

Anyway, photos. We all love the photo's
Well, I can't log in to my Flickr account, so I'll have to get creative.
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Let me know if these are visible.
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She's never gonna win a beauty contest, but that wasn't the point by the look.

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This and some other cockpit photo's is the one that got me interested.
The name on the side is slightly different to a plaque inside, neither of which come up in Yachting NZ register.
This gives me license to change the name I think.
Badonkadonk is taken!

I can halve the crew requirements from my other yacht Haumuri down to 4, and the general response to photo's from sailor buddies is "I'm in".
The trailer is not for sale, but I can use it to get her home.
I've got a mooring to use and she has fresh antifoul, so the pressure to sort a trailer is off. I would prefer to use a trailer long term due to the centreboard.

Anyway, What can go wrong!

[johngsandusky]

I can see the pics.
I hope it works out for you.

[Garret]

It'll all work out perfectly & you won't have to do any work on the boat for years.





Good luck - I hope she works out for you!

[Breakaway]

Adventure awaits!

Let us know how things turn out.

Kevin

[Hugh MacD]

Looks like way too much fun!

[AndanteEd]

She certainly looks to be a slippery thing. I'd imagine she'll be a real blast in a blow.

From the logo and the windows it appears that she has a cut down mainsail from an Etchells 22? Then again, the sail has reef points so perhaps not?

I only mention it as my (plastic) boat currently has sails scrounged off an Olson 30, a SJ35, an Etchells 22, another Beneteau plus some random spinnakers from who knows where. It's easier to enjoy the "race it hard and put it away wet" philosophy when you know that replacements are a mere eBay click away...!

[Slacko]

Garrett, we can hold our breath on that thought, probably about as long as it will last.

It does look like a mishmash of sails, with the etchells mainsail number being adopted onto the hull.
I'm interested to see what assymetrics it has. They are harder to get used.
The top speed achieved by the previous owner was 27 knots so yeah, slippery!

[JimConlin]

Looks like great fun.
I hope there’s some flotation in the stern.

[Stiletto]

Is she from a known designer?

[John B]

27 knots!.
Off to the bike shop for helmets then.......

[Mike1902]

I see that it has been removed from it's spot...I assume you now have a new project?

[Slacko]

If by "flotation in the stern" you mean 20 litre plastic drums under the deck, then yes I saw some lashed under there.
The tiller is about 2 metres long, so the crew obviously need to stay in the middle of the boat to keep the stern up too.

Apparently designed and built to the hull stage by an apprentice boat builder, he was a fan of NZ designer John Spencer apparently, so that explains the plywood and chines.
Chines are all the rage again!
She was then finished by the first owner and raced for 20 years in Opua.

I've only had a cursory look at this stage, but she seems dry and solid, but needing a birthday.
It was a slow trip home with a stop halfway to repair the starboard side trailer upright that she was leaning on. The weld had cracked and was opening up.
I fitted a eye bolt to the upright and stropped it to the centreline, with no more movement after that.
Tomorrow is sorting out the nest of rigging and try to get the mast up.
If we manage that, I'll go into the water and sail around to the mooring in Clyde Quay I have lined up.

I bought a helmet after getting a concussion and deciding to race a Paper Tiger about the same time, so I'm ready to go.
Some of the Haumuri crew are gonna get a fright with this thing too, it looks proper stupid fast!

[Slacko]

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Ready to leave Napier

[Slacko]

I got home in one piece, taking it easy
This morning I took everything off and checked what I had.
There was a broken turnbuckle on the mast rigging diamond that I a spare for and replaced.
I screwed the mast base back down with some bigger screws and Sika 291.
Then we rigged a tackle and hoisted the mast.
With an outboard on the back we got her lifted off the trailer with the club travel lift.
The keel dropped down with some persuasion, so we dropped her in the tide.
It was getting late with breeze on with lots of jobs still to do, so we motored around to Clyde Quay.
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Successful weekend!

[Mike1902]

This is what happens when a Hartley 16 takes steroids.
Looking forward to the sailing performance report.

[Slacko]

We were doing 8 knots GPS at 1/2 throttle with a 15 hp, so pretty slippery!
There was water sitting under the sole boards, which need replacing as they were rotten under the battery.
There is a keel stringer down there that is also pretty punky, but that is all I have found. The bilge has luckily been glassed so no damage there.
The entire forepeak bunk is a buoyancy tank, so I need to put a waterproof hatch in there, so I can inspect it.

[Slacko]

I spent a couple of hours after dinner each night during the week sorting out the running rigging.
I needed to change worn out blocks and lines, luckily I have an assortment of bits and bobs that got it done without spending any money other than some dyneema for the vang cascade.
It doesn't have a traveller due to the tiller being so long to get the helmsman away from the stern.
It's been raced for a couple of decades so I'm going to run lots of vang to control the leech, and use the sheet only to control the boom position.
We will see about that.
The outboard bracket was cracked and held together with a couple of bolts.
I removed the bolts, cleaned up the mating surfaces, glued it up with epoxy and called it good.

We went out for our first race in Fridays Rum race at RPNYC.
Leaving the marina the bracket broke again, but beside the glueline! The bolts held again so we puttered out a bit further and got the sails up. For the first time by the way.
The jib lead wasn't quite right which was quickly sorted, but the top batten in the main was only half there. Too close to the start to do anything about it, so we hit the line.
The race went well in 2-5 knots (perfect), we rounded mid fleet and hoisted the masthead gennaker for the ride home.
We held position and finished respectably with no more incidents.
She is quick in the light and points high, so looking forward to more of the same.

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It was a great evening for a sail.

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These are the sole board after I cut the both in half where there was a support floor underneath to remove the rotten back ends where the battery had sat.
I got some 9mm ply and made a couple of new bits.
The original ones were a pain to remove, jamming on everything. The new ones dropped in no problem, so I will paint them all and move to the next trick.
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[Slacko]

A few shots of the interior, showing the generally ok condition.

The quarter berths - generous due to the wide beam at this point.
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I spotted in this one a battery isolator hanging down. I hadn't seen that, and will mount it somewhere suitable!
The hatch is sitting on the berth under the isolator. It's pretty sad, but salvageable.

End of one of the quarterberths
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The bow area, again pretty tidy.
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I paid $1500 for the boat by the way!

[timo4352]

This looks like tons of fun.
I'll be along for the ride from here.

[AndanteEd]

I paid $1500 for the boat by the way!

That's an amazing bargain Slacko.. Well done, certainly worth the long drive to go and pick her up.

Thanks for sharing the adventure so far, please do keep it coming.

BTW - how was the boat's handicap worked out? She's perhaps not the easiest of boats to assess the likely performance of.

I only mention the handicapping as we recently had "Maiden", a late 1970s Whitbread round-the-world racer visit our club and take part on one of our mid week pursuit races.

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Assuming her to be a heavy old thing better suited to big seas in the open ocean than to a short inshore, light wind, round-the-cans jolly, I was perhaps a little cautious in my assessment of her likely performance against our club's slightly more prosaic fleet of cruiser-racers.

I understood she would be faster, but my goodness, I didn't realise quite how much faster she would be. Whilst there were a few comments in the bar afterwards, I think we got away with excuse that we'd created a great opportunity for the rest of the fleet to see her in action (as she, um, lapped them)...

Your mid-fleet finish seems to infer a good job was done by sailors and handicappers alike. Well done all.

[Slacko]

Before the race I met the sailing secretary who had this conundrum. I suggested that traditionally when a new boatentered it's first rum race the handicap was what it took to win. Things have changed a little. The handicap was still set after the race though.

[AndanteEd]

Before the race I met the sailing secretary who had this conundrum.

The top speed achieved by the previous owner was 27 knots so yeah, slippery!

I suspect the sailing secretary's conundrum won't be going away anytime soon...!

[Slacko]

I've been working away on all the little things to get the ready for more serious racing.
Mounting fire extinguishers, installing the battery isolator and bilge pump wiring.
The sole boards are now complete as per the following montage.

The borders have been painted with some Altex single pack, then masked off for antiskid.
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Action shot of second coat of anti skid going on. I use the Resene water based product.
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Drying in the sun. It cracks me up that this is the sum total of interior sole.
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The big white patch is where the batteries sit. I've got 2 x 17 Amp/hr AGM batteries that will fit in the box that I just sanded and gave a coat of varnish to.
There is a little step on top of the box to get inside.
The hole is for the top of the bilge pump that will protrude about 10 mm. I can build a little raised section over it if it bothers me or gets in the way.
Once I have the sole boards in, I can mount the pump and hose which will exit out the side notch (hopefully!).

[Mike1902]

Nice little tidy up there Slacko. This boat will be "flash as".

[Slacko]

I'm trying not to go down that path, she's never going to be a looker!
The outboard mount is going to be a bit flash though with a chunk of 200 x 50 White Oak I dug out of my offcuts shelves to clamp onto.
I've got a week of enforced home detention in front of me, so not much happening probably.

[Slacko]

I've been tinkering away in the evenings and weekends.
She still looks the same, needing a water blast and scrub, original name on the side.
I've been concentrating on things that make her sail properly.
Such as;
getting the correct number and length of mainsail battens,
welded up a gooseneck bolt with reefing horns on,
installed reefing line for leech
Installed, wired up and plumbed an automatic bilge pump and switch,
installed solar panel and batteries,
changed the blocks and layout of the mainsheet (probably 3 times), finally happy for now,
fitted tweakers to the jib sheet blocks to control the jib shape,
replaced the jib halyard jammer,
replaced the vang deck cleats,
replaced the mast attachment for the vang

All of rigging was from my box of random fittings.
I had to buy some of the blocks and dyneema for the traveller that I am currently working on.

I've rebuilt the outboard bracket twice now, but it completely exploded heading out to the racecourse on Saturday.
The timber is just too flimsy to support the outboard I'm using.
It went for a swim, skidding along behind us on the end of the safety chain.
It was quickly recovered and stuck in the cabin.
After returning to the boat harbour and picking up the mooring under sail, we got it in the shed and got to work.

The whole thing was sprayed down with WD40, especially the electrics to drive out the moisture.
It has a coat of oil over most of it, so was pretty well protected anyway.
The plugs were pulled out, and a squirt of diesel went into each bore and the carburettor.
The start cord was pulled over a few times, then the plugs were put back in.
It was then tried, and it started straight away. The leg wasn't in a bucket of water, so we let it stop to protect the impeller.
I then took it home, repeated all of the above and ran it up to temperature for about 15 minutes.
I repeated that every couple of hours all the next day, and decided it was going to be ok.
I've got a pair of new spark plugs as they don't look great.
It did get water in the cylinders as the plugs were wet when removed the first time, but hopefully the diesel injection and getting it running quickly will save from any lasting damage.
I've read that the electrics are the problem longer term.
I had already bought a second hand 3 Hp motor that is the correct size for the boat during the week before, but I wasn't ready to use it.
I've splashed out on a rise/fall engine mount now, which will get fitting in time for racing on Saturday.

The chain from the outboard to the outboard mount is what stopped the motor being lost, but I'm thinking attaching the kill cord to the mount as well would have stopped it before it sucked in any water.
The outboard is too far away from the tiller (see photo in first post) to be able to attach the kill switch to me so that isn't feasible, and there was 5 people onboard at the time.

As far as the race went, we were 3rd over the finish line in a fleet of 10 boats, while still learning the boat and some conservative option taking.
Well, conservative other than the port start crossing the entire fleet across the startline

[Slacko]

I replaced the spark plugs in the outboard and it started 3rd pull. Long may that continue!

I cut some plywood spacers for the transom, so the outboard can clear the scoop.
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Mount sitting on the spacers.
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I've glued them together, shaved the edges off and am now hot coating with an epoxy sealer.
I'll get 4 coats on tonight.
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Lots of coach bolts will be employed to spread the load around.
I'm thinking I'll varnish the plywood pad once it is mounted.

The bench paint effect is getting to look pretty cool. Jackson Pollock anyone!

[Slacko]

It's been awhile.
The outboard bracket has been successful. The outboard on the other hand has been playing up.
It has only run on one cylinder since the dunking (probably related).
There was no spark so the following path was taken.
-Swapped coils - no change
-Scoured internet for solutions - usual sketchy results
The outboard has 3 electronic components, 2 of which have only 2 wires each that got to the 3rd (the CDI box)
-After measuring the stator and trigger as per sketchy results from the internet, I felt they were OK so purchased a new CDI box - Ouch!
-No change
Further online searching made me decide the fault was the trigger (Equivalent to the Top dead centre sensor on modern cars)- not quite as painful price.
-No change
Check all the connections and coils again just in case. Nothing obvious.
-Purchase the stator (equivalent to generator). Back to ouch price!
Finally running on 2 cylinders and back to health.
To me this was the least likely cause of 1 cylinder not sparking, but there you go.
This part came with the faultfinding procedure sheet in the box, which may have helped get to it sooner but could help in the future. The test procedure wan't too different to the advice I found online.
Now I am stuck with the non-faulty parts as the supplier rightfully won't accept electronic parts back that have been opened.
After sitting on the engine stand in the garage, there is a small pool of scungy oil sitting under the prop. So now I have to do the oil seals on the gearbox.
I've always disliked outboards by the way!

On a happier note I purchased a nice new 80% jib, Norths 3di raw carbon at 1/2 price as it was built incorrectly for another customer.
It fits perfectly and we won the race first time out with it, Woop!
The winter series starts in a couple of weeks, so happy days.

[Slacko]

Photo's from last weekend.
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Shiny black sail, mmmm!
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[Andrew Donald]

I didn’t think NZ boats had reefing fitted

[AndanteEd]

On a happier note I purchased a nice new 80% jib, Norths 3di raw carbon at 1/2 price as it was built incorrectly for another customer. It fits perfectly and we won the race first time out with it, Woop!

Nice one! Here's hoping North also stuff up making a 3di raw carbon mainsail for someone that coincidentally just happens to fit...

The boat looks great under sail.

Good luck with the winter series. My season's just winding down here so please keep the racing updates coming.

[Larks]

Dunno how I missed this one Slacko but nice buy mate!! She looks like a bucket load of fun at a good price.

And congratulations on the win, sweet!!

[Slacko]

We did a 3 day regatta over the Matariki long weekend a few weeks ago.
We had good upwind performance, pointing high and fast enough to stay with the fleet.
Previously, we were struggling for pointing ability, but I got a bit more forestay tension on and some new jib cars that run across the boat not fore and aft.
Setting them a bit wider lit the boat up, so happy days.
We were struggling with performance off the wind which was surprising looking at the hull form.
Asymmetric kites are fast, but we sail a lot further than boats with symmetrical kites if we are trying to go dead downwind.
I've purchased a second hand Young 88 no2 symmetrical kite which seems to be the right size, so this will give us more options.
Last weekend we had a winter series race, which started well with a kite run that ended up too square for the boats running Spinnakers. It was nice to make big gains with the gennaker up!

It was a bit puffy at times!

Confusingly, our windward performance was rubbish which we tried all sorts to get back without success.
It was only when I was getting the outboard set up to get back into the marina, I noticed that the rudder control line had slipped.
This meant that the rudder wasn't straight up and down, causing the loss of pointing ability.
We had a great time anyway, and looking forward to this coming weekends race.

[Slacko]

I managed to get caught by Covid since racing, so am stuck at home for a week isolating.
Fortuitously, I had brought the cabin hatch home for repair.
I've been working on that once I got over the first couple of day feeling meh.
As found

[Slacko]

I thought it was just the sides that were rotten, but the corner of one of the 2 sections had rot in it.
I cut it back to the inside support and found a slightly rough piece of 6mm ply to replace it with.


I sanded the fibreglass of the old lid back so I could blend the new glass into it.


Curing in front of the fire with new surround pieces clamped in place. Luxury!