random 26X thoughts and photos

[Starscream]

In response to some other threads talking about the mast height: This is what happens when a lock operator says you have 38 feet of clearance under a bridge. Yes, you fit, and a windex won't go doingggg by about a foot (my estimate). Some elderly people walking by on the lock walls panicked and tried to wave me off. Perspective freaks you out a bit.



Here's a sort-of rare view of an X from 37 feet. In response to other threads talking about sailing with bimini up: yes it's possible. Mainsheet goes down between the two sections, and the backstay goes through the rear section (Cdn flag mounted on backstay), and the boom clears the front section. See photo below as well.


All I can say is WTF? That's a three-storey floating condo, not a boat. You can see my three boys probably with the same look of WTF on their faces. Well at least I can feel smug that he spent more gas money going through the lock than I did on my entire trip.

I noticed on my heavily laden and ballasted boat that the cockpit drain hole is below the waterline when people are standing in the back, and depending on wave action the self-draining cockpit reversed itself and water actually came up into the drain pit. I had a sudden fear about some sort of fitting inside the boat coming loose and the cabin filling with water. Does anyone know if this is a grounded fear? What connects the inlet and the discharge of the drain? I hope it is cast into the fiberglass...

[Tomfoolery]

I have pictures of that connection, but not on this machine. I'll post them tomorrow if you can wait.

[Whipsyjac]

Starscream,

If you're talking about the engine well drain....it's a plastic hose but it seems to have an enormous amount of 5200 on both ends where it connects to fibreglass. Pretty much the same setup as the sink drains. I'm trying to think why your stern is so low then I remembered you just got a 90hp! About 100lbs heavier at the transom than my itty bitty 50.

Have you moved your house batteries to the v berth? I have 2 6volt batts under the V berth that would easily offset the extra 100lbs of motor at the transom.

You made good use of the opportunity to photograph your boat, I don't have many pics of my boat on the water...just a couple at anchor, none underway....probably deserves to be cleaned up a bit before I take her pic anyway.

Willy

[RGF]

Who made your dodger, Starscream? Thnx

[Starscream]

Dodger was purchased already on the boat in 2007 from Dowsar in Hamilton. I am not sure where it came from...the PO brought the boat to Hamilton from Calgary, so it might be a Dowsar enclosure or it might have already been on the boat. The wide dodger does a good job of spray protection, but it's a real pain to get up to the cabin-top. Need to be nimble or go through the front hatch. Also the dodger height is just perfectly wrong for someone who is 6' tall: when steering you either have to crouch to look under it or stand on tip-toes to look over it.

My boat has always been butt-heavy, even with the 50. I have two big batteries under the little seat aft of the galley, and even though I see the logic of putting them up front I don't think I am going to embark on that task any time soon. My flush-water and black-water tanks are up under the foreward seat of the table so that might help a bit when I fill them, or that might just make it worse. I think I will get myself down in the stern-berth to inspect that drain connection asap. I have had a pressure-washer up that hole many times thinking that it was cast into the fiberglass...oops. I have to do a search of some previous threads: I think there was some info on a kind of super-tape that could have stopped the Titanic from sinking. Maybe I could wrap the drain connection in something like that to reinforce it. ?

[Tomfoolery]

I had forgotten that it was already uploaded to photobucket. Here it is:



This pic was taken from the starboard side, facing aft (of course ). The white curb at the bottom is what that blue carpeted panel screws into. Be careful with it, as it's just cardboard or something like that, and flimsy.

Those stubs, while a long way from a real high-integrity through-hull, seem to be glassed in pretty well. The hose, on the other hand, has a big dip in it, and it collects debris and clogs on a regular basis. Nothing shooting a hose stream into can't clear, but it's poor nonetheless. I was going to replace the hose with a new one, and keep it straight, but the list of work needed was long and time was short, and it works as-is, so I'll take care of it next spring.

The Aquarius 7.0 I used to have had a cockpit drain with hose to a similar transom drain, though that was a real through-hull. The hose had cracked and I didn't know it, and the through-hull was so low to the water that if the boat had loaded with just a little more water from rain, it would have started taking on lake water, and ended up on the bottom.

Moral is a) the through-hull shouldn't be under water in the first place, if it doesn't have to be (raw water intake for head or engine does, of course), and b) make sure the hose and clamps are in good condition. Mine was assembled with plain nylon hose and single clamps at each connection, with a pvc elbow. Not something the ABYC would recommend, but at least it's above the water line. The Aquarius had white, corrugated (but unreinforced) plastic hose - even worse.

[Divecoz]

I have added 3 thru-hulls and they all have shut off valves. Long story no time , but II was recently on a boat 35 miles out when we realized a hose had failed and without the shut off we would have sunk. Each To His Own..

[Starscream]

Yikes that looks really flimsy. Now I am really worried. I can't remember any reported incidences of failure, but that looks like a disaster waiting to happen. I have to figure out a way to reinforce that.

I guess I know where I should mount the new bilge pump I just bought. Right by that fixture.

[Seapup]

Yikes that looks really flimsy. Now I am really worried. I can't remember any reported incidences of failure, but that looks like a disaster waiting to happen. I have to figure out a way to reinforce that.

I guess I know where I should mount the new bilge pump I just bought. Right by that fixture.

There are only 3 through hulls in the X and the two sinks are above water. One of the safety features of the boat IMO is the lack of through hulls. Bill that sells them mentioned plugging the transom through hull since it serves little purpose. With it plugged I can see no use for an electric bilge pump. KISS and a hand pump or sponge for rain leaks.

In response to some other threads talking about the mast height: This is what happens when a lock operator says you have 38 feet of clearance under a bridge. Yes, you fit, and a windex won't go doingggg by about a foot (my estimate). Some elderly people walking by on the lock walls panicked and tried to wave me off. Perspective freaks you out a bit.

I know what you mean by the perspective For the X you need 33' if nothing is above the mast, 28' mast and 5' water to mast. There is a 35' MLW bridge between my marina and sailing. The average tide is 3' and a 3kn current on ebb and flow, so once lined up you are committed. 1-3 hours each side of high tide I cant fit under and have waited it out many times to get up to 33'.

[Starscream]

Yup. Based on that experience I wouldn't try anything under 36' clearance. The mast would make it but the aerial would take a beating. I think my Aerial is right at 36' above the water. Wouldn't be a hard thing to measure with the mast down

I think plugging the transom drain hole makes sense for peace of mind: I am pretty sure the cockpit would drain out the back anyway. Just have to figure out what to do with, or how to avoid, standing water in the drain recess. Maybe a removable plug for storage...one more thing to forget about removing before sailing.

Can you thread fiberglass to get a threaded plug in there from the outside?

[Tomfoolery]

Carry a couple of wooden plugs, a mallet, and a face mask for diving. Advice boats hear often, especially for through-hulls below the water line. But they should be real through-hulls, with real ball valves to close securely. When I had a boat with below water line through-hulls, I kept them all closed, all the time, unless I was on the boat and using it. Just paranoid, I guess.

I've never heard of a failure of that transom well drain. Doesn't mean it can't happen, but it's (supposed to be) above the water line. And yes, if it's plugged, the well just fills but everything continues to drain otherwise. My boat does that on a regular basis, when the hose clogs.

If it bothers you, put a real through-hull in there instead, with a ball valve, and better tubing. You could also replace the drain in the well.

[Whipsyjac]

Starscream, moving batts is not a big deal...I guess I could take pics and add to the mod section.

To keep it simple I made a a battery support out of ply. Used Pl premium to mount it (sticks amazingly to the fibreglass.). Cut down some cheap plastic battery boxes and mounted them on the ply wood. And the big money saver was buying jumper cables and cutting the end off for my heavy gauge leads to the perko switch. I got new connectors and shrink tube at Canadian Tire to make my connections corrosion resistant.

I've got to finish my gallery mod now so I can work on port starboard trim as we had a 2+ inch list on our labor day trip and I had to switch berths with one of my kids who wasn't sleeping well because of it. The list was hardly noticeable on the starboard aft berth but I had to admit it was annoying in the port side of the vee berth..

[DaveC426913]

And yes, if it's plugged, the well just fills but everything continues to drain otherwise. My boat does that on a regular basis, when the hose clogs.

I've solved this problem.

Get a sheet of plastic canvas from Michael's https://www.google.ca/search?&tbm=isch& ... tic+canvas.
Cut a rectangle about 6" x 3".
Curl it into a 6" tall tube, and wrap a couple of large (1" - 1.25") ring dings (or cheap keyrings) around it to keep its shape.
Stuff it into the drain hole - but only far enough that it will stick there. You want much protruding out the top as possible (>4").

Now any junk that falls into the well doesn't go down the drain and get stuck. The taller the tube, the more water can fill the well before it reaches the top of the tube.

A few times a season I scoop out the flotsam from the well, but meanwhile, my well never clogs anymore.

[DaveB]

You are correct, any below water truhull fittings has to have a bronze truhull fitting, This is a ball valve and not Gatevalve fitting.
Even the sink drains require the thruhull Ball valve.
Sailing to windward, your sink valve outlet is under water, best to have a shutoff valve at the hull.
Dave

I have added 3 thru-hulls and they all have shut off valves. Long story no time , but II was recently on a boat 35 miles out when we realized a hose had failed and without the shut off we would have sunk. Each To His Own..

[Divecoz]

In Reference to Toms Photo: One Option IMHO to consider is remove hose and cut that nipple off... drill out the existing hole to accept a real Thru-hull and add and ball valve. My Ball Valves are SS and I sprayed and saturated them to Holy help and back with Corrosion X before I installed them.
WHEN and IF you want to drill any hole through the hull anywhere!! I use 2 magnets ! 1 inside and 1 outside using 2 people.. when those magnet line up they "stick together" NOW you can go outside and see if that where you want that hole and on the inside you can see if its a good location to have a valve.. Takes 100% of the OMG guessing out of a critical location determination.