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Thanks David – we survived without much damage as the storm went to the west of us and just west of Block Island. We got the remnants of Ida last night – New Bedford got 6 1/2 inches of rain – torrential! Unfortunately, our boat did not come with a boarding ladder so just using the clip on west marine type right now – definitely not the best.
I have a used Fairclough cover and frame for sale. This is a 2-piece cover and 1 inch galvanized metal frame. Not sure how old it is. The canvas and openings etc are in good shape but there are some repairs needed for a few tears and worn spots. The frame is fine and replacement ribs can be made from 1 inch conduit from home depot. I’ve used it both in and out of water with mast up and mast out. I have a 1979 sloop – no opening for a mizzen. Located on Cape Cod. $2,000 OBO. Thanks, Ben
I would be interested in seeing Miss Kathleen’s hard dodger photos but the link to Google Plus is no longer active. Does anyone have them?
Welcome Neil,
Sounds like you jumped in to the deep end of the pool! I am interested in what you did with the overhead. Do you have any photos? I am just embarking on that project and considering 1/4 inch thick vinyl bead board to give a bright, easily cleanable, water proof surface. Also, wondering if you saw the recent posts on the propane system. The original installations were sketchy and deserve a close look for safety.
Thanks,
BenHi Ryan – just wondering if you would be willing to tell us the cost of the main sail? If not I totally understand. I have a sloop so mine is likely a little larger. Is yours fully battened?
Thanks for sharing and I hope the recovery goes well. Last spring I completely revamped my propane system. I found the original installation to be less than ideal. There were numerous couplers in the original hard tubing, a second solenoid valve in the dish cupboard behind the stove top, and a poor control switch location behind the stove. I replaced it all with a single run of flexible propane hose with chafe protection at all bulkheads. I added a propane sniffer below the stove and a relocated the control panel to the nav station. I also checked the overboard tubing from the propane locker. I also took the opportunity to add a cabin heater and grill connection in the propane locker with individual gas valves. The cabin heater is mounted on the forward salon bulkhead, also with a full run flexible hose down the port side and inside the cabinets. I still need to add the sniffer below the heater. I took my aluminum tanks to be inspected and refilled, which was done with no problem. I’m a little concerned with age of these bottles – 1980’s I think – but they passed inspection. Any thoughts on the life expectancy for these tanks?? Be well and stay safe.
Ben Frothingham on Papaya, Woods Hole, MA.Hi Eduardo,
I live in Falmouth, MA and have hull #81. I’m not sure when or where you are looking at the boat, but if you want an extra set of eyes we can talk. Of course you have found an excellent resource right here on this site.
Cheers,
BenUpdate: I got the port tank out today with only minor breakage of wood pieces and trim that hold it in. On a whim, I called Florida Marine Tank (FMT) and amazingly they still had the drawing (pencil on velum) from 1977 – and the woman I spoke with, Daniela, actually got it in her hand in just minutes – WOW! Unfortunately, they do not work in polyethylene but they will replicate the tanks in aluminum ($1,020 per tank) or stainless (double that). I will likely just take the tanks to a company in Maine (Triple M Plastics) that will recreate them in poly for closer to $850 per tank. Expensive still but preferable to aluminum in my mind.
As for the bow tank, I think I’m going to convert that into the chain locker. The boat sits bow down anyway so not filling that tank with water will help. I received the Plastimo bladder tanks today and they seem reasonably rugged. I’m thinking I might just install them in the cockpit lockers, which will still leave plenty of room for fenders and tons of stuff since the lockers are enormous. When heading off on longer trips the bladders will hold 104 gallons on top of the 120 gallons in the settee tanks – should be plenty. Any reactions to this plan?
Also, at the risk of putting you to sleep, it’s been a big year for Papaya and since I’m semi-retired I’ve spent the last 2 months replacing the autopilot, speed, depth, wind instrument, rewired mast (including coax for the VHF), cleaned up a bunch of shoddy wiring (under the cockpit floor was the worst place to work), replaced the pedestal guard, added a Raymarine Axiom 9 chartplotter and the autopilot control to a navpod at the helm, rebuilt the entire poorly constructed (and dangerous in my opinion) propane system, freed up all of the seacocks and replaced or reinstalled as needed, installed a Dickinson propane cabin heater, replace the stuffing box with a PSS dripless shaft seal, replaced the cutlass bearing (learned some good tricks here), had the shaft machined and re-threaded and installed an autostream feathering prop, and finally tackled disassembly, cleaning, and re-packing the rudder stuffing box (old packing looked original – who knows) with the rudder in place – that is a no-fun job but I will be very pleased to get rid of that leak. This has all probably been a couple of hundred hours but satisfying in itself. I’ll be tying up some loose ends on these projects and then painting the bottom and waxing the topsides – launch date in Mattapoisett, MA is June 18 or 19. The boat is currently at Triad if anyone wants to see any of the above.
Best to all and cheers!
BenHey Paul, plastic is good!! Any idea who made them? Mine had a tag that could be seen from the access panel under the settee cushion. Thx, Ben
Hi Rich
Well, the coupling came off nicely with the tool and happily the shaft slid all the way out with the prop in place and now resides in the back of the car. Do you have any specs on the cutlass bearing. My measurements show 6 inches long and 2 1/16th inch OD. This was measured in place so would love to confirm the size before getting a new one.
this is a good article on replacing the bearing https://marinehowto.com/replacing-a-cutlass-bearing-sleeve-bearing/I also measured the stern tube once I had the stuffing box assembly out. It doesn’t seem particularly round, at least on the inboard end – approximately 2 1/2 to 2 5/8 inches OD depending on how you measure it. I’m strongly considering the PSS dripless shaft seal and their measurement for stern tube sizes vary by 1/4 inch so I will likely go with the 2 1/2 and hope for a little flexibility.
So the running gear is noisy when freewheeling under sail. With the Velvetdrive there is no way to lock the shaft without some sort of Shaft Lok. Hard to say if it’s particularly noisy when motoring given the noise of the engine. After I disconnected the coupling, I rotated the other shaft back and forth and don’t hear or feel any grinding, clunking or other raspy sounds. So, not sure why it’s noisy when freewheeling. Maybe it’s the transmission – hard to say. I’m resisting the temptation to replace the V-drive right now with the new prop, autopilot, chartplotter, other instruments, etc…sort of maxing out the budget this year.
As for temperature, I haven’t measured the temp of the RV20 when running hard, but while warm to the touch I can lay my hand on it so it isn’t all that hot. Also, I’ve seen posts from other owners that have run this way for years with no obvious issue.
Also, thanks for the tip on getting the prop to feather. Gary at Martec suggested that as well. I have had a max prop on a previous boat and really liked the feathering feature.
Cheers, BenGents, Thanks very much for replies. I spoke with Gary at Martec and he came up with borderline between 19 and 20 inch. We went with 20 inch X 11 and ordered it this week. He was talking about a pitch of 10 inches in reverse. FYI, they no longer make the Autostream S-1 to fit a 1.5 inch shaft – the largest is 1 3/8 inch – reportedly for structural integrity of the prop. I spoke with Scandia Prop in Fairhaven and they saw no problem stepping the shaft down at the end and rethreading it – They ask that I bring them the shaft and both props and they can sleeve the old one to match the new shaft diameter. I think their charges will end up being under $300. I also bought a puller that will fit the approximately 3 inch bolt pattern of the coupling. expensive but the right tool for the job and all of that – I’ll bet Rich made his own… https://skiboatpartsonline.com/Coupling-Puller-Tool?search=puller
Rich, my engine is the same as yours – the Yanmar 4JH3-TE with a 1:1 ratio Borg Warner Velvetdrive and then the ancient RV-20 with the 2.05:1 ratio. The old prop, now to be sleeved and kept for a spare, is a fixed 20X11. It started life as a 20X13 but I assume it was repitched when the PO went to higher revving Yanmar. I think I was getting around 3200 – 3400 rpm out of it at WOT, but didn’t really think to write down the max rpm. She scoots along at well over 7kts under full power, especially nice since our mooring is in Woods Hole.
As for the V=Drive, the water jacket was plugged up when I first bought the boat in NC in 2016. On the trip north she ran hot (because the V-drive cooling was in line with the engine raw water circuit) and a yard in the Solomons cleared it out. After they cleaned it out and restored water flow I immediately started getting milky oil from ingress of water to the V-drive gear box (I suspect they put some holes in the bottom of the water jacket using a screw driver to chip out the crud). So, I did what many others have done and eliminated the water cooling and changed the oil.
The main reason I am changing the prop, besides a little xtra speed under sail, is the damn noise dragging all that running gear around. I’m wondering if the V-drive is noisy from bad bearings or such, or the drive train just makes a racket? Did the RV-26 change that for you?
Thanks everyone for taking time to respond – very helpful.
Hi David – do you know if 1/4″ works on the rudder stuffing box as well? Also, how many layers? Did you stagger the cuts? Thanks
Thanks Rich – we are using the same Yanmar engine but I still have the old RV-20 v-drive. Martec suggests a 20 inch in 3-bladed feathering S-1 version – but all I told them was the engine, V-drive, and boat type – not sure how exhaustive their analysis was. you said you might go a little bigger than the 18.5X12 so maybe 20 is ok. This is a left handed prop, right?
Also, it would require the shaft threads to be modified from the existing 1-1/8″-7 thread to 1″- 8 thread – sounds like a job for a machine shop… Thoughts?
Mike – I totally get this comment. Mine is also on the port-side cabin top. It is not easy to reach the main sheet from behind the helm. I have not yet tried to move mine as I’m usually with someone, or I set the autopilot and go forward. The primary winches could also stand a move aft to make them more accessible from the helm. Send photos if you change it up.
