Propeller Advice Needed

[touellette]

Re: Propeller Advice Needed

Old Sailor:<br />No I did not sail my boat home from Wiarton up Georgian bay into lake Huron to Sarnia and the St Clair river then Lake St Clair into the Detroit River and Home , Couldn't find any one willing to spend a week or more to sail with and me a beginer didn't want to risk sailing on a lee shore alone , to bad I had my heart set on doing it but haven't given up the idea , for when I have a couple of years under my belt guess what I'm going to do , as far as hull speed ? well so long as I'm sailing who cares , started a seamanship sail class at night school , next comes a Marine Radio class and navigation . Hey great Pic looks like you were having a ball good looking boat<br />Tom

 

[touellette]

Re: Propeller Advice Needed

Old Sailor :<br />I another question , I have noticed that my rudder does not extend into the water as deep as most other boats , what ia your view on fixing an extension ?? or perhaps building a new one ? also would one apply a sealer to the deck and cabin ?

 

[ED21]

Re: Propeller Advice Needed

Is your boat a shoal draft or centerboard? If so, you don't want the rudder below the deepest part of boat, unless it can kick up. I would sail it before making any design changes. <br />Generally wood gets varnished or painted, except teak on a deck gets oiled/sealed to keep its nonskid properties & protect it. As many opinions about how & with what as their are sailors that have teak. Fiberglass gets cleaned & maybe waxed. Wet fiberglass decks can get mighty slippery.<br />I wouldn't worry about backing up w/ an outboard, 99.9% of the time you are going forward. Take your time when docking & when you need reverse give the motor plenty of gas. The momentum generated by the boat has to be overcome before you can slow, stop or reverse. Only horsepower can do that. Remember also when the boat isn't moving you have no control, but the wind can still push you around.<br />P.S. Since you are new to sailing, read a lot, take a sailing course & try to crew on a boat at a local yacht club's weekly race . You'll be amazed how quickly your skills will progress.

 

[Columbia]

Re: Propeller Advice Needed

Toulette: What is your keel configuration? What is the draft? Fixed, centerboard? I would first assume that your boat is built as designed and I wouldn't mess with it. Ed gave excellent advice. Why do you want to seal the deck and cabin? What material are they? Fiberglass only needs buff and wax..but not on the nonskid part of the deck or cabin. Wood needs, as Ed said, paint or varnish or oil. It needs more info to be any more explicit.

 

[touellette]

Re: Propeller Advice Needed

Old Sailor;<br />The Boat is glass except the gunnel which is wood , its a swing Keel drawing 2.5 feet uo and 5.5 feet lowered the rudder does not extend past the bottom of the hull it would not contact bottom before the bottom with the swing keel in the up position if I were to extend by 8 - 10 inches

 

[Columbia]

Re: Propeller Advice Needed

To reiterate, fiberglass only wants waxing, no other sealing is needed and you want the nonskid part of the deck to stay that way, no wax. Golly, that rudder thing is tricky. If your boat draws 2.5' board up and you could extend the rudder 8-10" before it cleared the bottom then it sounds like your rudder is only in the water 20-22" or so. Is this right? Could there be a kickup feature for the rudder? What is the distance of your rudder from its front (right at the back of the transom) to back? Is it kicked up? That is, if you pushed on the aft end of the rudder does it pivot down into the water more? I stay with my statement that the rudder is likely as designed and should not be altered. If you can post a picture or a lines drawing showing the rudder it would help.

 

[ED21]

Re: Propeller Advice Needed

I have to agree w/ OS, probably not a good idea to fool around w/ the original design, unless you are knowledgable. I bet there are lots of things on an older boat that may be in need of upgrading. Winches, sails, halyards, sheets, a decade or more of bottom paint, through hulls, electric system, sheet leads, traveller, etc. I'm guessing you'll have plenty to do. Don't let the chores keep you from sailing & enjoying.<br />BTW I did add a skeg aft on my 19' Mariner after sailing it a few years. The tail end moved around a lot off the wind. The skeg was the cure & made it behave & track a lot better. So changes can be made.

 

[touellette]

Re: Propeller Advice Needed

Yes I will put my effort's into general maint , tracing the plumbing and elect , although only when its calm wouldn't want to waste any water time , It's going to be a long wait until April for looking out my window I can see the water and boats in storage , some ice in the slip this morning but still a few boats in , looking at installing a solar battery charging system <br />Tom