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 Post subject: Hull 141, sailing out after many years in Horta, Azores
PostPosted: 18 Jul 2011 17:31 
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Rail Meat

Joined: 02 Feb 2010 17:43
Posts: 3
Hi, I believe I posted a message as I had just bought her last year but do not find the post now.

Her name was initially "Impetuous", then she was named "Chiriqui", and finally I have (in spite of knowing the hazards) renamed her again, she is Akeela now. Home port Stockholm.

I happily joined the association and bought the book, great!

I live in Sweden and Akeela was moored in the Marina in Horta, Azores, since many years. As I had spent some time with her, going through what I would need to do, the list seemed never ending. I ended up spending last summer and this spring on changing and installing, equipping and fixing, and most of this was only functional or required for safety, I have to revert later to the more cosmetic issues, when I get to that level.

So Akeela has a new navigation system and VHF&HF radios, she has a reinforcement of the port aft chainplate and some wood from the bulkhead changed, where the chainplate is attached. She has a few pieces of sole changed due to extensive rot, and all chainplate deck openings re-caulked for the leaks. Hatches re-sealed too, and the only remaining minor leak is the mast collar. The portlights were old plastic, broken and as transparent as milk, so I had the help of Art at Tartan to procure 8 nicer ones in SS. Took some time to replace, since I am not used to taking up holes in boats, and I did not touch the one in the cockpit since it seemed intact plus not really intended for panoramic views anyway. I finally found a steel ladder to hang on the pushpit aft. Gas bottles in a box with drain got new copper tubing with turn off valve manual and solenoid, new electric head, new pressure pump, electric ignition to the stove, salt water galley pump restored, ... I think the list can go on until everyone is fed up ...

Concern is that when I filled the diesel tank completely full, some diesel, say like a shotglass quantity came out under the nav table, and since this was never repeated, even in rough sea, I think this is the tank's airing vent that is somehow malfunctioning. Will have to look that one up as well.

I changed the wires in the rigging to Dyform and most running rigging also, mostly Dyneema. Got an inner (removeable) forestay installed, including reinforcement under foredeck "for that special occasion..." And a storm jib.

A new mainsail is there now, the old one held the fort to England but would not take us longer, and I suppose that I will be in the market for a gennaker or a spinnaker soon.

Presently I have to fix the CB that stuck in the DOWN position minus a few degrees, after a light grounding in a muddy area, and the kick gave up in a gybe; the padeye which was fixed to the mast initially was not strong enough. - Time to look at that whole thing anyway, including a preventer, which I prefer to have from the boom end. I am considering a boom brake as well. My wallet is cringing when I write this.

Akeela has a "behind the mast furling system" which I had to reconstruct on free hand, since all its ball bearing balls (rusty like old medieval cannon balls) came spraying out on deck when I took out the main sail for the first time. The Italian manufacturer did not respond to my requests for a drawing or other specifications and only insisted I buy a new more modern one (yes sure, of course...) It was an old system but even with the new sail it works well at this moment.

Re head sail, the 150 Genoa had a tendency to become like an hour glass unless the tension was rigorously kept between the roller furler line and the sheets. Had to repair that sail after a little blow on the Atlantic, where this problem came to a head. Should have had the smaller sail there anyway, myself to blame!

Akeela's winches and cleats did not have backing plates either, and I have replaced a number of them. There are people who are talking about there possibly being reinforcements built into the deck construction, but I am not convinced. Will later crawl all areas again, and place more backing plates until all strain points are covered. Will also get an electric windlass - the manual one is a bit heavy and slow.

It seems that practically all issues you mention in this forum are relevant to Akeela too. Being hull 141 and being built 1978, with a Westerbeke 40 from the same year, she is doing great, and she goes wonderfully in the sea - while all the time I realize more things I wish to do and have to do and ... yes you know.

So this early Summer I brought her to Sweden. Arrived only about ten days ago. Azores to England was OK, two weeks, with a few days of harder winds and a few days without any wind at all. The engine decided to spew out all the oil in the bilge after a few days so there was "a little concern", like no electricity for our fancy equipment etc, but a good lesson for everyone - always have back-up stuff, like handheld GPS, or a sextant if you are equipped with a great sense of balance. In addition we had an increasing leak which was less welcome, along with the primary electric bilge pump stopping to pump. Luckily we had a secondary one, and a solar panel that gave us the electricity to run navlights and bilge pump. Well arrived in England, Falmouth, we could conclude that the engine was very repairable, we even had the spare part in the boat it turned out (another lesson learned: don't consider every failure fatal) and we got the rest of the systems going pretty quickly, except the engine controls that feel like pulling on some gym equipment - very very stiff. But the leak... We found that the rudder had worked its pintle loose, (the sea was indeed a bit rough at times, 4 - 5 m or so following) - I could unscrew the nuts with my fingers... Fastening them firmly did not reduce the leak, though. It kept seeping in. We ended up taking her up and opening the skeg enough to take the whole metal piece out, reseating it, mainly with Sikaflex and then sealing it all up again. Sikaflex also on the inside, new thicker bolts that do not have much play in the holes. (Ouch this mixture of imperial and millimeter threads and measures...)

After that, this leak was eliminated, and we could go about the task of going through and crossing the English Channel. the bilge pump worked again after cleaning the membranes, bilge was washed over and over in order to make sure there was nothing that could escape through the filters and clog the pumps or contaminate our nice oceans.

We choose the Kiel Canal. We also paid a few quick marina visits on the way, and arrived in the Archipelago of Stockholm about one month and a few days after start, active sailing days slightly less than a month. I enclose a picture of her in her new environment.

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I am now reading and rereading all the interesting stories of stuck CBs and will attempt to un-stick mine in a week. Probably a slightly more benign problem than the difficult ones you have described, but mine is surely stuck, one person broke a winch handle trying to get it up, and I am happy that it was the handle, and not something more vulnerable that broke ... But that means that the pennant is really squeezed in there.

I will attempt to make a coherent account of what happens with my CB in case anyone is interested and I thank other Tartan owners for their very thoughtful and interesting comments on these pretty big issues - to a new owner.

Johan


 
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 Post subject: Re: Hull 141, sailing out after many years in Horta, Azores
PostPosted: 19 Jul 2011 08:28 
Offline
Skipper

Joined: 21 Oct 2006 15:36
Posts: 268
Johan-

Great post!!! I enjoyed reading every word of it. It was exciting to see one of our cherished T37Cs moored in Stockholm.

Welcome to the this site, and congratulations on your ownership of hull 141.

Many of us have had issues with our centerboard, and you're right - most of the problems with solutions have been posted on this site. Feel free to ask any of us, via this site, or back channel via email if you'd like additional guidance. Normally, the problems aren't real serious. The most probable causes for a stuck down board are obstructions (e.g. barnacles) on the board and/or inside the ceterboard trunck, or centerboard swelling generally caused by corrosion of the embeded aluminum threaded backing plate used on the pennant padeye. I had the second issue, which was relatively easy to fix with the board removed

By the way, if English is not your native language, which I assume it isn't, your English is terrific!!

Jim Voelxen
Odyssey, #191

_________________
Jim Voelxen
Odyssey #191
Home Port: Osterville, MA


 
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 Post subject: Re: Hull 141, sailing out after many years in Horta, Azores
PostPosted: 20 Jul 2011 08:59 
Offline
Skipper

Joined: 27 Oct 2006 10:32
Posts: 827
Johan,
Sounds like you have committed on restoring your Tartan to its full glory! There are many projects and maintenence issues to deal with, but there are few boats worthy of the upgrades and the T-37 is one Cheers
Do you have any long-range plans for travel? If you ever come State-side, I'm sure many of us would love to visit and swap stories....

Cheers,
Tom


 
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