Search found 50 matches

by Ian Malcolm
Fri Sep 12, 2014 3:14 am
Forum: Boat maintenance, repair and restoration
Topic: Why do I wash the boat down?
Replies: 4
Views: 4611

Re: Why do I wash the boat down?

I wouldn't bother too much with the exterior, but you want to get the salt off the deck to keep it looking decent and avoid abrasion, washing the salt out of the interior is essential if you want it to dry out properly, and washing down metal spars and fittings is just common sense.
by Ian Malcolm
Fri Sep 12, 2014 3:07 am
Forum: Boat maintenance, repair and restoration
Topic: Brass screws in a Brass keel band?
Replies: 5
Views: 5332

Re: Brass screws in a Brass keel band?

Don't be penny wise and pound foolish. When I re-did my Alb keelband, the amount of trouble I had with rotten brass screws was beyond belief. I was doing well if I could shift 2/3 of them in one piece at anything up to 10 minutes per screw. If you intend to keep the boat + ever sail on salt or brack...
by Ian Malcolm
Fri Aug 29, 2014 10:02 am
Forum: Boat maintenance, repair and restoration
Topic: Introduction and vintage International 14 query.
Replies: 25
Views: 17048

Re: Introduction and vintage International 14 query.

Fireflys are nice boats but are a touch cramped and twitchy when compared to Uffa's larger designs. Albacores are not intended for single handed sailing but it is quite practical to do so if you either use a Firefly main or have a reefing main. I was a smallish 15 year old the first time I soloed an...
by Ian Malcolm
Sat Aug 23, 2014 5:21 pm
Forum: Boat maintenance, repair and restoration
Topic: Introduction and vintage International 14 query.
Replies: 25
Views: 17048

Re: Introduction and vintage International 14 query.

Looks interesting, but high performance traditionally built racing dinghies from the immediately post war austerity era are not for the unwary. Fitted tanks on a closely ribbed hull are a maintenance nightmare and those obviously only provide enough buoyancy to keep the hull awash. so totally imprac...
by Ian Malcolm
Tue Aug 05, 2014 10:53 am
Forum: Boat maintenance, repair and restoration
Topic: glues for cold moulding
Replies: 8
Views: 5948

Re: glues for cold moulding

If you are using Epoxy, it is simple enough to mix by weight. Get the resin and hardener densities from your epoxy suppliers and make a spreadsheet that tabulates the component weights and total weight for 5ml increments of total volume. Print it and laminate it! Put a digital scale that can read to...
by Ian Malcolm
Fri Aug 01, 2014 1:10 pm
Forum: Boat maintenance, repair and restoration
Topic: 'Sibrwds' Mast
Replies: 2
Views: 3481

Re: 'Sibrwds' Mast

The mast will probably flex a fair bit if it isn't a ruddy telegraph pole. Most twopack and other hard paints and even conventional varnish are likely to crack as the wood bends. That's why they used to have a special grade of varnish for spars which remained more flexible. Unfortunately as so few p...
by Ian Malcolm
Fri Aug 01, 2014 12:53 pm
Forum: Boat maintenance, repair and restoration
Topic: Launching trolleys and varnished boats
Replies: 6
Views: 5448

Re: Launching trolleys and varnished boats

You don't want anything that can trap grit or moisture. The spiky doormat will wear your varnish but not as badly as anything solid that could trap grit and gouge the varnish as the hull slides over it or denser foams or textiles that once loaded with grit act as fairly aggressive sanding pads. If p...
by Ian Malcolm
Tue Jul 08, 2014 1:17 am
Forum: Boat maintenance, repair and restoration
Topic: Brass mast step plate?
Replies: 19
Views: 15493

Re: Brass mast step plate?

A chunk of greenheart + a shim washer on the mast foot cut from a P.E.T bottle to reduce abrasion would be nearly as good as a solid Tufnol block. You *could* alternatively face a wood that hard and durable with the 1/8" Tufnol you have been offered. Don't let it in, go edge to edge with glue a...
by Ian Malcolm
Mon Jul 07, 2014 12:51 am
Forum: Boat maintenance, repair and restoration
Topic: Brass mast step plate?
Replies: 19
Views: 15493

Re: Brass mast step plate?

Actually, the sticker shock isn't that bad. Lets compare the price of that 25 x 300 x 300 mm hunk of Whale brand Tufnol with the Pinnel & Bax High Density Mast Step for all Masts (ENTMS) http://pinbax.com/index.asp?selection=detailed&uid=36467 which would be the modern day equivalent. Hunk'a...
by Ian Malcolm
Sun Jul 06, 2014 4:31 pm
Forum: Boat maintenance, repair and restoration
Topic: Brass mast step plate?
Replies: 19
Views: 15493

Re: Brass mast step plate?

A generous offer, but unfortunately I believe 1/8" would be a bit on the thin side for the O.P's application. There's not a lot of margin for wear and gouges from stepping the mast + the step's top plate is exposed to static side loads of up to 70% of the kicker tension and dynamic loads of at ...
by Ian Malcolm
Sat Jul 05, 2014 8:55 pm
Forum: Boat maintenance, repair and restoration
Topic: Brass mast step plate?
Replies: 19
Views: 15493

Re: Brass mast step plate?

You don't want any water traps so certainly don't want to let it in the top of a Sapele block. Sapele is quite difficult to work without grain tearout and may be only moderately durable against rot. A thin plate let in will flex and bruise the wood under it so water will get in. You will get dark st...
by Ian Malcolm
Sat Jul 05, 2014 4:07 pm
Forum: Boat maintenance, repair and restoration
Topic: Brass mast step plate?
Replies: 19
Views: 15493

Re: Brass mast step plate?

Actually, the Tufnol dingy fitting timeline goes right back to the early '50s. It was the high-tech composite of its day and a fair bit of the early supply would have been surplus ex-WWII aviation industry. It should fit right in with your boat's character. Its strong and extremely durable so as lon...
by Ian Malcolm
Fri Jul 04, 2014 9:44 pm
Forum: Boat maintenance, repair and restoration
Topic: Brass mast step plate?
Replies: 19
Views: 15493

Re: Brass mast step plate?

Categorically *HELL* *NO*!!!! Aluminium alloy +copper alloy + dirty water/damp = *massive* electrolytic corrosion problem unless they are electrically insulated from each other. The problem is so bad that even painting an outboard, outdrive or saildrive leg with a copper oxide based antifouling usua...
by Ian Malcolm
Mon Jun 02, 2014 2:42 pm
Forum: Boat maintenance, repair and restoration
Topic: hardwood screwhead cover plugs
Replies: 6
Views: 4753

Re: hardwood screwhead cover plugs

If the plug cutter set has cutters for straight as well as tapered plugs, you will be very happy the first time you have to repair a really badly <expletive>ed up screw hole. As long as there is enough wood round the hole for strength (i.e.don't do this to thin ribs, stringers etc.) you can cut a lo...
by Ian Malcolm
Fri May 23, 2014 5:37 pm
Forum: Boat maintenance, repair and restoration
Topic: Early alloy masts
Replies: 13
Views: 7609

Re: Early alloy masts

I plated over a hole in a mid-60's aluminium boom (on a CO26 yacht) about five years ago using ordinary aluminium sheet. the repair patch was bedded on a 50/50 mix of white Sikaflex and Duralac (to avoid poltice corrosion) and I thinned the residual mix and painted the patch with a thin coat of it f...