Indholdsfortegnelse for July 2015 i Practical Boat Owner

with the editor Cheeki Rafiki. It’s not a name many of us are likely to forget; like Ouzo, there is an element of ‘there but for the grace of God go I’ about the story. The Bénéteau First 40.7 design became a benchmark for performance production yachts in this size, and with so many bought by corporate charter fleets most sailors will have seen them up close on the water, if not sailed one. I tested a 40.7 in June 2007 against the then-new X-41OD when writing an article for Yachting World. The X-41 was, to be honest, the better racing boat, but the Bénéteau offered a few cruising comforts which could be quickly reinstalled after a day’s racing to adapt her for moderately comfortable, fast cruising. It was a…

Semi-professional racing sailor Will Robinson: ‘Whilst at university I had arranged to crew on the delivery of Hooligan V from Plymouth to Southampton. Shortly after coming on watch the boat suddenly heeled over more than usual, the mast touched the water and was inverted in about 10 seconds. ‘I could sense the boat was capsizing so quickly unclipped my harness, jumped into the water and swam clear. We were in the water about 15 minutes, the other crew who luckily had knives were trying to cut the liferaft transom lashing. My lifejacket had failed to inflate as the cord was around the bottle. Finally the liferaft appeared, floating away. I left the boat and brought the liferaft back, inflating it. The water was about 10°, and by this time the…

A new Golden Globe Race is set to start on June 14, 2018; the same day that Sir Robin Knox-Johnston set out on his epic voyage 50 years before. Sir Robin and his famous yacht Suhaili will be star guests at the start of the event at Falmouth, Cornwall. The 2018 Golden Globe Race was announced on April 22, and already 26 solo sailors have made a commitment to enter and sail solo non-stop around the world via the five Great Capes and return to Falmouth. Hundreds more from just about every continent bar Antarctica have asked for information. Entrants are restricted to using the same type of yachts and equipment that were available to Sir Robin in that first race. Don McIntyre, the Australian race founder said: ‘The idea…

■ Crick Boat Show, 23-25 May, at Crick Marina on the Grand Union Canal, www.crickboatshow.com ■ Anstruther Harbour Festival, 29 to 31 May, www.anstrutherharbourfestival.co.uk ■ Northern Boat Show, 5-7 June, inaugural event at the Albert and Salthouse Docks, Liverpool, coinciding with the International Mersey River Festival, www.northernboatshow.co.uk ■ Beale Park Boat Show, 5-7 June, Beale Park, near Reading, www.bealeparkboatandoutdoorshow. co.uk ■ The 2015 Falmouth Classics Regatta, 12-14 June, and parade of sail, with free visitor berthing at the outer sections of Falmouth Haven, www.falmouthclassics.org.uk ■ Hartlepool Marina Boat & Auto Jumble, 21 June, 10am-2pm. The Morris Minor club will also be in attendance. Free entry for buyers and 50% off visitor berthing. Email Shaun@hartlepool-marina.com ■ Round the Island Race 2015, 27 June, Isle of Wight, www.roundtheisland.org.uk ■ Golowan Maritime Festival,…

SUMMER ISSUE ON SALE THURSDAY JUNE 18 Summer visitors’ guide to marinas What you’ll pay and facilities you can expect at marinas around Britain this summer PRACTICAL Glassing in engine bearers ■ ...Then fitting a shaft seal and aligning Hantu Biru’s engine Plus ■ Repairing a Volvo heat exchanger ■ Making cockpit cushions ■ Getting the best from circular saws ■ The facts about DC-DC converters ■ Fitting a swing-up bracket in a well TESTED Jump-start packs ■ PBO tests portable power packs for emergency engine starting Tiller locking devices ■ We look at ways to lash, clamp and secure your tiller under way BOATS Maxi yachts ■ The creations of Swedish yacht designer Pelle Petterson Shrimper 21 ■ Cornish Crabbers’ latest addition SEAMANSHIP Single-handed sail handling ■ Seamanship tips…

Ensign of the times ■ Re Sam Llewellyn’s ‘Flagging enthusiasm’ column (PBO June), I nearly choked on my G&T. Ensigns are not flown, they are worn! Whatever next: calling the cockpit a patio? This observation is a bit tongue-incheek, but there are those – my old YMI especially – who would hang ‘offenders’ from the yardarm for such ‘heresy’! Yours amusedly, Iain Webber, Salisbury Sam Llewellyn replies: I have signalled a friend who claims to be Gules Wyvern Couchant at the College of Arms, and he says that ‘flying’ the Red Ensign is legitimate usage, as is ‘wearing’. Mind you, he also wondered what YMI stands for, and whether Nelson would have known. Perhaps I should point out that all this happened at the wrong end of lunch in my boat’s…

Flotsam and jetsam Sam Llewellyn is editor of The Marine Quarterly, www.marinequarterly.com, and author of nautical thrillers. Three years ago he bought a Corribee on eBay First, a word of explanation for people who sail on the East Coast of these islands. What are rocks? I hear you cry. Well, rocks are like mud, only harder, with jagged edges. Single-handers sometimes talk to them, while hoping to be far enough away for the rocks not to hear. A relationship can develop, sensibly based on terror. Rocks fall into several categories: 1. Useful rocks. There is one of these off the tail of an island in a loch in Scotland where we have done a lot of informal racing down the years, in boats full of people yelling abuse at each…

SEA SAFETY Will Stephens is Staff Officer Operations (Coastal Safety) at the RNLI INSURANCE Simon Tonks has worked in marine insurance for over 18 years as a broker and insurer CRUISING Stuart Carruthers is the RYA Cruising Manager and has sailed extensively SAILS Ian Brown of the International OneSails loft group is an expert on sails MASTS & RIGS Mike Coates worked in the spar and rigging business for many years SURVEY AND CORROSION Colin Brown runs a marine survey and consultancy company, CB Marine Services ELECTRICS Paul Holland is chairman of the BMEA and MD of Energy Solutions (UK) ENGINES Pat Manley is a diesel engine course instructor and marine author GAS FITTINGS Peter Spreadborough, of Southampton Calor Gas Centre, has 20 years in the industry PAINT AND ANTIFOULING…

Q can you recommend a suitable mastic compound to use to install a replacement through-hull transducer? My default choice has always been sikaflex, but I don’t think an adhesive mastic would be suitable; I would like to be able to remove the plastic transducer should it develop a fault. thankfully, my boat’s previous owner had used a mastic that was waterproof but still enabled me to unscrew the plastic retaining nut and separate the unit from the hull without having to resort to brute force and ignorance. Dennis Haggerty By email COLIN BROWN REPLIES: I would use a non-adhesive sealant like a polysulphide or butyl. Both have lots of uses on boats but never seem to be stocked by most chandlers. I’ve bought both online from building suppliers. As usual…

Gin Gins Caramel The Ginger People’s new Gin Gins Caramel contain 30% ginger per sweet and are said to be great for combating motion sickness. There’s a few recommended ways to consume them: suck, chew or melt in warm water for a soothing drink that’s handy for children. Ginger helps to boost digestive fluids and neutralise acids, making it an effective alternative to anti-nausea medication without the potentially unpleasant side effects. Other health benefits associated with ginger include boosting immunity, fat busting and easing muscle pain. We tested a box load of this slightly chewy sweet and were impressed with the blast of ginger warmth you get – but they’re not for the faint-hearted. Jane’s six-year-old Elliot spat one half-finished into the bin, while my friend Jody wasn’t expecting the…

In March, PBO hired a motorhome and hit the road for a week. What lay behind this out-of-character land-based adventure? Our task was to install a set of test panels with 20 antifouling paints applied to each, in 14 popular sailing areas around the coast of Great Britain, in what is the biggest test of antifouling paints ever carried out in this country. We spent two weeks painting the plywood test panels, in the process consuming 350m of masking tape, 15lt of primer and 40 paintbrushes. Six days, 2,000 miles of driving and an unspecified quantity of bacon sandwiches later, the test panels are sitting in marinas and rivers around the country, exposed to some of the worst fouling conditions in Europe. We’ll haul them out in early October and…

I wanted to strip the whole trailer down to inspect it, treat the rust and paint it, and to do this properly all the fittings first had to come off. After wire-brushing the frame I noticed that the mounting plates for the suspension units had suffered corrosion and would need to be replaced. Before trying to remove any corroded fixings they were first given a good soaking in penetrating oil: I’ve tried several in the past, and after conducting some research online I found a recommendation for 3-in-One Professional High Performance Penetrant Spray. At £5.99 a tin from Halfords I found it to be an effective spray, and it worked pretty well with fittings which were not irrevocably rusted. However, some bolts were so far gone that drilling them out…

Walk around any trailer park and you will see a host of different designs and various adaptations that boat owners have made to their trailers to suit their needs. The original trailer featured here had been fitted with a solid bow post which had been custommade for the job. However, this was on the front box section which I cut off due to the corroded coupling. The post itself could have been salvaged, but I wanted something lighter and more adaptable to ft the different boats I wanted to carry. Here again a part left over from a previous trailer modification came in handy. On that project I fitted a winch post assembly to replace the mast support: I could now recycle that mast support to form the bow post…

As with any towing, being able to secure the load properly is vital, and the old trailer lacked decent tie-down brackets. This meant stern lashings had to be taken around the trailer frame itself, which I found a rather unsatisfactory and fddly arrangement. To make things quicker and easier I decided to fabricate two tie bars as shown, using a 1m (39in) length of mild steel rod with a diameter of 10mm (3⁄8in). This rod was far longer than required, but when bending any steel in a home workshop (my shed in this case) the extra length provides leverage to get it to the shape required, and I could cut it to size later. I also needed to make a stand for the front of the trailer to keep the…

The old trailer came with a launching trolley which looked as though it had had a hard life. This was not a ‘combi’ trailer in that the launching trolley was not specifically designed to be a part of the road trailer. Nevertheless, both units were neat and compact: and another thing I liked was that the wheelbase on both was just the right width for the Mirror dinghy they came with. Some trailers have a wide wheelbase designed to take quite beamy boats: a disadvantage is that they take up more storage room and, when towing, it is also hard to tuck a big trailer out of the way if space is limited around launch sites. The trolley had an aluminium handle which was fitted to a steel axle with…

B&G Vulcan 7 PRICE: £679.96 B&G is known for its high-end racing kit, but has branched out towards the entry-level club racer market with its new Vulcan MFD. It lacks Ethernet and NMEA0183 connectors, but can network to NMEA 2000 instruments and Navico’s new forward-looking sonar. It’s otherwise fully-featured, and it can be connected via NMEA2000 to a B&G processor if required. Equally, it can be used as a standalone plotter or mast or instrument display on larger boats. It had the brightest screen, which made the Navionics charts highly visible even in direct sunlight. The touchscreen was sensitive and responsive. It has built-in WiFiand Bluetooth to aid with updating and app downloads, and can mirror its screen on a tablet via an add-on. Raymarine e70 PRICE: £699 Raymarine’s e70…

SEND US YOUR STORIES Email news editor Laura Hodgetts at newspbo@timeinc.com, tel: 01202 440825 Almost a year after the sailing community was shocked by the tragic loss of the British sailing yacht Cheeki Rafiki and its four-man crew, the findings of an official investigation have been published. The Bénéteau First 40.7 capsized and inverted in the Atlantic Ocean following the detachment of its keel in adverse weather, an official report has concluded. In the absence of any apparent damage to the hull or rudder other than that directly associated with keel detachment, the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) report ruled that it is unlikely that the eight-year-old vessel had struck a submerged object. Instead, a combined effect of previous groundings and subsequent repairs to its keel and matrix are thought…

‘The loss of lives occurred not due to the stowage of the liferaft but because the keel broke off due to the modern way keels are being fitted. ‘No crew sailing across the Atlantic in a modern Cat 1 yacht should expect the keel to break off even if it hits or had hit something previously. ‘The hull-to-keel joint now seems to have become a flexible joint with silicone-type sealants having to be used, which only adds to the problem. Although the keel is an attachment, it should be designed and constructed so when fitted it becomes an integral part of the vessel.’ George Stead Boatbuilder ‘In the same way the IOR ratings system was blamed for some of the failings of yachts in the Fastnet disaster of moving ballast…

Police in the Bahamas have launched an island-wide manhunt for the suspects responsible for a shooting incident that left a British yachtsman dead. According to reports, Gary Vanhoeck, 51, originally from Grimsby, was killed on 1 May 2015 while on his boat at western New Providence. Mr Vanhoeck, who had lived in the Bahamas for a number of years, was confronted by two men armed with handguns who demanded cash. The men fired two shots, hitting the victim before feeing on foot. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene. Police are searching for four men in connection with this incident. Mr Vanhoeck, who worked at Stuart Cove’s dive centre in New Providence, is reported to have been shot in front of his wife. A Foreign Office spokesman said: ‘We…

This August, up to 50 vessels will cross the ‘Great Pacific garbage patch’ in parallel, in what aims to be the largest ocean research expedition in history. Sailing from Hawaii to Los Angeles, The Ocean Cleanup’s Mega Expedition will cover 3,500,000m2, and aims to collect more plastic measurements in three weeks than has been collected in the past 40 years combined. A compact surface trawl which is dragged behind each vessel will catch the smaller plastics – the novel design does not require the vessels to slow down during deployment. Yacht owners are being invited to become part of this historic event. To find out more, email: megaexpedition@theoceancleanup.com…

Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) organiser World Cruising Club (WCC) has taken over the operation of rival company Sailing Rallies Ltd. A Sailing Rallies spokesman said: ‘As part of their growing portfolio of rallies for cruising sailors, leading rally organisers World Cruising Club are taking on the running of the Baltic 4 Nations Rally this summer. ‘The rally was set up by Sailing Rallies, whose staff and projects now have a new home under the World Cruising Club banner. ‘This merger provides many exciting opportunities to benefit cruising yachtsmen, with the possibility of developing further rallies in the future.’ Six-week cruise WCC will deliver two rallies in the Baltic Sea this summer: the second edition of ARC Baltic will be a six-week cruise including stopovers in St Petersburg, Helsinki, Tallinn…

The Catamaran Cruising Association invites all catamaran owners to share their new website www.catamarancruising.org by placing their boat name on the association’s world map. Spokesman Aleck Tidmarsh said: ‘We hope this service will help catamaran owners to contact one another, to share their thoughts, logs and perhaps a few drinks.’ Full details on how to use the website, obtain a position pin and how to put your details on your individual boat flagpole can be found under the ‘contact’ tab on the website. For the time being there is no charge for this service, but to access the rest of the site, the membership fee is £20 per year. The first 100 applicants will be offered 12 months’ temporary membership free of charge. www.pbo.co.uk – new and improved! Visit the…

JIMMY GREEN SAILMAKER REPAIR KIT Includes No5 sailmaker’s palm, tube of five reduced edge sailmaker needles, cop of waxed sewing thread, block of beeswax. Supplied loose or in stowage bag. ■ Jimmy Green Marine Tel: 01297 20744 www.jimmygreen.co.uk PRICE £21.25 (£22.95 IN BAG) GILL COAST SUIT IN SILVER Fantastic all-round performance and comfort for coastal/inshore sailors. Completely waterproof and highly breathable. ■ Force 4. Tel: 0845 1300 710 www.force4.co.uk PRICE RRP £260 NOW £189.95 WAVECO 2.3M SLATTED INFLATABLE A durable yet lightweight tender with slatted floor and solid transom. Price includes free delivery to UK mainland. ■ Gael Force Tel: 01463 229400 www.gaelforcemarine.co.uk PRICE RRP £289.95 NOW £299.99…

Tide tables assume a standard atmospheric pressure of 1013mb (hPa). For every increase in pressure of 1mb, the sea level drops by approximately 1cm, and rises 1cm for every decrease in pressure of 1mb. You’re about to visit a marina which has a sill with a drying height of 1m of LAT. You’re running a bit late, but would like to make it over the sill and into the marina before nightfall, and you think you can arrive three hours before LW. The predicted tidal height three hours before LW is 2.8m. Your boat draws 1.8m, and the atmospheric pressure is 990mb. Can you get over the sill 3 hours before HW? How much water would you have under the keel? A: Yes, 23cm B: No, 0cm C: No, -23cm…

Monthly musings Yacht surveyor and designer Andrew Simpson cruises with his wife Chele in his own-design 11.9m (39ft) yacht Shindig. Read his blog at www.offshore-sailor.com Life, as they say, is about making choices, and that’s never truer than when it comes to cruising under sail. The photo above was taken a year ago. Shindig and her crew were then in Torrevieja on Spain’s Costa Blanca and the boat had just been lifted out for some much-needed attention to her underwater areas. It had been two years since she had last been antifouled in Greece and the various organisms that had since colonised the hull were – how shall I put it? – yes, abundant would do nicely. High-pressure cleaning had evicted most of the squatters, but it took a scraper…

Q We were motoring in our Dufour 40 one windless day when the rev counter fickered and dropped to zero even though the engine kept running. The fault lay with the alternator, which was only producing 1.1V across its two B terminals. After a few phone calls the next day I had a nice new ‘direct replacement’ alternator delivered to our boat: I had considered repairing the old alternator but it had done 1,000 hours and I would not have been confident about its reliability. Both old and new alternators had four terminals at the rear, B+, B-, W and D+, and the new unit’s mounting points fitted the engine so it looked like a direct replacement. It was only after I had nearly finished installing the new alternator that…

Q Our boat has two 12V 110Ah batteries which can be selected by means of a rotary switch. no1 is usually reserved for starting the diesel engine, but we tend to use both. no2 is used the whole time for the main boat electrics such as navigation, radio, water pumps etc. I would like to acquire a solar panel to trickle-charge the batteries during the week when not in use. What size would you suggest in terms of wattage/ampage? I was thinking in terms of a semi-flexible panel. Would we also need a controller to go with this? When the yacht is moored everything is switched off, which means the navtex is not much use. Robert Kettlewell Hadleigh, Ipswich PAUL HOLLAND REPLIES: I would always suggest a controller with any…

Seekey colour-blindness aid Apparently, one in 12 men and one in 200 women experience difficulty in telling colours apart, and as David Harding reported in PBO July 2004: ‘It’s most unfortunate for sailors that the most common type of colourblindness affects the ability to tell red from green.’ Developed in Sweden, the Seekey aid for colour-blind navigators consists of two plastic filters – one red, one green – that you hold in front of one eye (or your binoculars) while you shut the other eye. You then move the Seekey from side to side, so you’re looking first through one filter then the other. You should only see red lights through the red filter and green through the green, while white shows up through both. Even those who aren’t colour-blind…

■ How blessed we were with three days of good weather and almost no rain. The Broads are so picturesque: the vista is almost ethereal as sails appear across the landscape, drifting lazily over the grassy horizon. ■ Being the temporary custodian of such a special boat was a weighty responsibility indeed. There was a superficial scratch in the varnish on the port side – our only real black mark. ■ Quanting with a long pole with a hooked end is used to move the boat when not under sail, or turn the boat through the wind if casting off or stuck on a lee shore. ■ Wood Avens would get some way on her and we got better at anticipating this, tacking with minimal drag by avoiding overcompensating rudder…

First thing on a Saturday morning is usually when we get a frantic phone call. Someone has gone away without a spare wheel and had a puncture or a blowout,’ said the engineer, a trailer specialist. ‘Imagine leaving your boat on the side of the motorway and going off trying to find a new wheel or bearings on a Friday night. I’ve also seen plenty of boats overturned from when wheels have flown off trailers…’ The engineer went on to relate other nightmare scenarios concerning trailers which typically had one thing in common: maintenance – or rather, lack of it. Usually, of course, most of our attention goes on the boat. When towing a dinghy or dayboat, the trailer is often just there to get it from A to B,…

There are certain critical areas of any trailer which need to be checked regularly, and one of these is the towing coupling. This one not only looked corroded, but there was no secondary coupling either – which is different from a breakaway cable. There’s often confusion about secondary couplings and breakaway cables: people often ask for one when they mean the other. A secondary coupling goes on to an unbraked trailer, and the law requires you to have one fitted and use it. It is designed to keep the trailer hanging on the back of the vehicle if the primary coupling jumps off the tow ball. A breakaway cable, meanwhile, goes on to a braked trailer, so if you lose the trailer it pulls the brakes on and prevents the…

Previously, the trailer had been ftted with 250kg suspension units each side. However, there seemed to be little if any ‘spring’ left in these. I’d noticed previously that the boat when towed seemed to bounce along, getting an unduly hard ride, and it had to be very securely tied down to prevent the lashings working loose. I spoke to trailer specialists Indespension about this and we discussed the weight of the boat I would be towing. The maximum load of the dinghy itself (a Mirror) would probably be no more that about 75kg with parts and odd gear etc. The Indespension advisor explained that they often came across the problem where trailers were fitted with the wrong specification suspension units for the weight of boat. If they were too hard…

In any restoration project like this, the satisfying part is when you start putting things back together. But first the various components had to be cleaned of corrosion and painted. The recycled fittings which were galvanised were fine, of course, unless an area of coating had been removed to weld something to it. To match with the galvanised sections I used a grey paint on most of the untreated steelwork. Two coats of International Yacht Primer was applied to cleaned, bare metal followed by a coat of International Toplac. I used single-pack paints so any touching up in the future can be carried out easily and quickly. Also, despite my best efforts with reduction discs and rust treatments, parts of the trailer were still pretty battle-scarred and/or pitted: surface preparation…

The RYA has asked its sail cruising schools to put more emphasis on recovering an MOB back on board after we have successfully stopped the boat alongside that familiar fender and bucket! There is no single method for getting a disabled or partly-disabled person back on board, but we all know that it’s no easy task. With this in mind, I was about to discard an old working jib, but decided to experiment with it as an improvised ‘scoop’. I asked my sailmaker to put some eyelets along the foot of the jib, but he persuaded me that sewing on tapes with shackles would make a stronger attachment to the toerail. The victims of subsequent experiments with the scoop – three clients on separate courses – were led to believe…

Original Boat Owner’s Sketchbook volumes 1 to 5 are now available to download from www.pbo.co.uk/sketchbook priced at £4.95 each. A limited number of printed volumes 3, 4 and 5 of the original Sketchbook series are still available from the PBO Editorial office priced at £3.75 each, or all three for £10. Order yours by calling tel: 01202 440830 or email: pbo@timeinc.com PUZZLE SOLUTION: A: Yes, 23cm…

Email and satellite voice communication extracts between Stormforce Coaching’s principal/director and Cheeki Rafiki’s skipper ■ Thursday 15 May 2014 2022 – email from Cheeki Rafiki ‘we have been taking on a lot of water yesterday and today. today seems worse i think stbd water tank has split so that is drained checked hull and sea cocks for damage but cant see any.’ 2046 – email from Stormforce Coaching, not received ‘Is any water fresh or salty? That will tell u most if what u need to know’ [sic] 2048 – Email from Stormforce Coaching, not received ‘Loosen straps for liferaft. Check epirb and sat phone are accessible etc. Have everything ready in case of worst case’ [sic] 2221 – Voice call from Cheeki Rafiki: The skipper described the water ingress…

Mad about the boat Dave Selby is the proud owner of a 5.48m (18ft) Sailfish, which he keeps on a swinging mooring on the picturesque Blackwater estuary in Essex I don’t want to blind you with science – that’s what the other sections of this magazine are for – but basically, windows are a pane. Frankly, just the mention of them makes me glaze over. In purely technical terms, most boat windows are very carefully designed to leak first, and then craze; that’s unless you’ve got the much-improved more modern ones that craze first, then leak. Of course, there are notable exceptions such as Mirror dinghies and jet-skis, which don’t have windows, and old wooden boats, which do but leak so much from everywhere else that leaking portlights are considered…

Q My Hunter 272 is moored in a marina on the River Hamble, and I have a real problem with log impeller fouling. I have tried several ‘remedies’ without success, including prop antifouling spray, lanolin, WD-40 and the fitting of a complete new transducer and skin fitting etc. The fouling occurs if the boat is left unused for longer than about two weeks. The impeller is situated in the forward berth locker and I find climbing in and out of this to withdraw the transducer unit a bit of a struggle in my advancing years! Is there a solution, please? Mike Kearley Clevedon RICHARD JERRAM REPLIES: The only effective way of reducing fouling on impellers is to apply some antifouling. Before doing this, though, I would recommend you speak to…

Q My Westerly Konsort is fitted with two sets of navigation lights, probably from new: one set on the pulpit and pushpit and the other a masthead tricolour. Having heard that the bridge crew on large ships find that masthead lights give a false picture of the range of a yacht, making it seem much further away, what advice can you give as to which set should be used when, or should I just dispense with the masthead lights? Doug Pattison Priston STUART CARRUTHERS REPLIES: I am not sure how accurate the perceived wisdom is in regard to the view from the bridge. There is a view that sidelights and a stern light give a better indication of your range, but if you really want to make it clear how…

Q We have a Weymouth nelson 42 built in 1974. I have been in contact with the ritchie company, which identified our compass as one of its Magtronic systems. this line was discontinued in 2001, and since 2011 the company has not held spares and is unable to repair or support this system. My compass has never worked, and upon investigation I discovered that several wires in the sensor are unconnected, which I can only suspect is due to the previous owner’s failed DiY. Do you know where I could get a new or used sensor, or alternatively suggest anyone that would be able to repair our sensor? Derek Roberts Bourne End, Bucks CHRIS ELLERY REPLIES: It’s been a very long time since I saw or sold any Ritchie compasses…

Scenery and settlements This is a wide canalised river with easy downhill locks. Much of the landscape is fat and featureless and obliterated by woodland. Pont-l’Evêque is a good mooring town but short on provisioning shops. Those interested in First World War history may choose to stop at Compiègne, the site of the railway carriage within which the 1918 peace treaty was signed. Longueuil, Beaumont, Pontoise and Cergy are towns with places to eat and provision. Lock procedure Again, the long industrial-scale locks are only a péniche wide: hail the lockkeeper on VHF when within sight and then follow traffic lights. Locks are very long with comparatively small descents (typically 1.4-3m) and are stress-free. Ambience This is an un-taxing and dull waterway, although there are some pleasant historic towns to…

RE-CHROMING WORN WINCHES At the stately age of 18, the four large Harken winches on my lovely yacht Singapore Sling were looking shabby. However, they all worked well and the gear trains seemed fine, so I decided to have them re-chromed. The name AM Philpot cropped up favourably on an online yachting forum, so I contacted the company’s Andy Morgan and took the chromed parts of the winches up to their Luton engineering works. Andy figured that re-chroming the two large 64s would be a straightforward job, but the smaller 53s had a black anodised aluminium skirt attached with no apparent means of separation. As they’re dipped in various noxious liquids during re-chroming, you cannot leave anything attached to the winch barrel. It turns out they’re an interference fit, so…

Power saws are great for certain cutting jobs, but the sheer versatility of a simple hand saw – it’s light and doesn’t require electricity – makes it an essential bit of kit on board the boat or in the yard. You can buy a cheap ‘contractor’s’ saw for around £3, but I’d recommend spending the heady sum of around £8 on a better-quality universal ‘Jack’ saw. I’ve been using the same 50cm (20in) saw on a variety of tasks for around three years and, having managed to avoid hitting nails in old wood, it’s still going strong. Using a hand saw doesn’t have to be tiring providing you follow a few simple rules. First ensure your saw is sharp – a blunt saw is always going to be difficult to…

Servicing trailer hubs was described in detail in PBO March 2015, and when carrying out general maintenance it’s always a good idea to periodically remove bearing caps to check the bearings and the condition of the grease. If the wheels have been submerged in seawater then wash them thoroughly with clean water as soon as possible. If the bearings have been underwater for any length of time you’ll need to take them out, clean them and check them thoroughly. In this case, when I spun the wheels to check the bearings they made an unhealthy graunching noise. I wanted to change the bearings to take the boat and trailer for some test drives to see how the rig handled, but even with a blowlamp and hammer they were impossible to…

Having seen the corrosion around the box section steel where the coupling was mounted, I had two options. I could either repair the area by welding in a patch or cut the lot off and ft a new piece of box section steel. I preferred the latter because I already had in mind that I wanted to ft an extension bar to this trailer. This would allow me to alter the length of the trailer so I could use it for towing various boats more conveniently. In particular, the trailer could be shortened easily to suit my 8ft tender when necessary. When modifying our other dayboat trailer to increase its length and make launch and retrieval easier I had some leftover fittings which could now be put to use on…

It’s quite possible to build or repair a small trailer just using nuts and bolts to make up sections – I’ve done this myself in the past. However, if you have access to a welder it opens up a lot more possibilities. Originally my plan was to buy a cheap arc welder for this project, but frst I sought some advice from Machinemart which specialises in this sort of kit. It was suggested that for most amateurs like myself a MIG welder would be easier, quicker and give better results. ARC welders, or ‘stick welders’ as they are known, require fux-covered metal rods whereas MIG welders use a spool of wire and a shielding gas, or a fux-cored wire. MIG welders are also generally better for welding thinner materials but…

Using mainly a combination of reduction discs, a good grinder and a selection of wire brushes, I got rid of a lot of the rust on the trailer and its component parts. Nevertheless, there were inevitably still areas of corrosion which were awkward to clean up effectively – and it can get very time-consuming trying to get every bit of rust off an old trailer. To help rust-treat tricky areas I tried something called Aqua-Steel Rust Converter and Primer, which seems to have worked well. It is painted on by brush: two coats are recommended, and it takes between 2 and 4 hours to become touch-dry. When cured it leaves a blackish, corrosion-resistant layer which should be left to harden for 24 hours before being coated in marine paints. A…

I was reluctant to part with a redundant sausage sailbag in good condition, so I handed it to my sailmaker with some spare rigging wire and instructions. This resulted in two drogues which can be deployed separately or in tandem. When motoring at 5 knots in a fat sea, the deployment of a single drogue from the starboard quarter reduced boat speed to 3.7 knots. When the second drogue was deployed from the port quarter, boat speed was reduced to 3.1 knots. When both were deployed in tandem (on one line), the same reduction in speed was achieved. As required by the current regulations for sailing school yachts, the drogues are stored beside the liferaft in a dedicated locker in the cockpit. Apart from meeting this requirement, will they ever…

If you have been in through the Haven, stuck to the main channels and headed for Poole Quay or one of the marinas in the harbour, you have seen only a tiny part of what Poole has to offer. Get an up-to-date chart (Poole Harbour Commissioners’ hydrographer takes detailed soundings) and go exploring. Don’t follow this author: he has been racing and photographing in Poole Harbour and bay for 25 years and explored at LAT, but still goes the wrong way and finds patches of mud, sand or stony bottom that had no right to be there. Instead, take encouragement from Jim MacGregor: ‘with double high tides, the tide is more up than down. There’s plenty of water if you know where to go.’…