Well, first of all I'd like to thank everybody on their comments concearning my little story about the North Sea experience. They all seem very helpful and the fact that people are concearned and even excited and willing to think with me about these preparations will contribute to achieve the needed succes in this matter and leads to the thinking that in some way we are not alone in this project. Also Mr. John Cherubini II was ofcourse a great help in his advice and I felt honoured that he has been so explicit and detailed in his explainations. At this time autumm has set in and around October most of the boats will be out of the water. Last 2 winters the Seagull has been in the water all through the year and this time she needs to get out as well with the others in order to avoid blisters on the hull. In previous years I did the same with other boats because just like any other child I like to stay in the water as long as possible. Mostly because at the end of the season the lakes and coasts are deserted and the world seems yours. In this little country with about 16 million people and a lot of water almost every household seems to have a boat (one out of five inhabitants)and that results in extreme busyness during the summer. So now I have to work the boat as anyone else but also gives me the opertunity to actually start on my boatimprovement. I've made same sort of scedule in order to be ready within two years. First of all I'll start with thickening the hull from the inside with two extra layers of fibreglass and epoxy. This will involve the underwatersection up to aproximatly 1 feet above the waterline. After that all the rigging will be replaced for 8 mm s.s. thread. Most of the fittings will be renewed as well. The mast will be inspected for weakness and haircracks. All of the electrical wiring will be renewed at the same time and I will add extra wiring for a possible windspeed/direction indicator and a radarfindingindicator wich is the perfect answer instead of huge and expensive radarsystems. You probebly all heard of these divices. Then ofcourse the regular engine checkup. I also want to get a tri-radial furling jib and a trysail if my wallet allows me. And finally (for this year) I will give her a few layers of paint, anti-slip on deck, 2 comp. epoxy high-gloss on the hull and chlorine-rubber as antifouling. For the dark winterevenings I will take classes in meteology and navigation to improve my knowledge especially about sextant using and weatherchart interpretation. If I have the time left for this year I will try to get the licencies wich allows me to use EPIRP and INMARSAT-C communication divices. For next year I will renew the mainsail, improve knowledge about shortwave radiocommunication and use my holidays for a medium-long cruisingtrip, probebly the Mediterenean Sea. The route will be Holland - Plymouth(UK) - La Coruna(Portugal) - Gibraltar(North Africa) and back. I'll keep you posted. Regards and thanks, Olivier
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might focus more on strengthening above waterline
All of the preparations you mention make sense to me except the overall thickening of the hull below the waterline. Unless there is an acknowledged structural design problem or the original fiberglass shows excessive cracking I would not add that much weight by adding 2 more plies everywhere. Rather I would limit myself to the most likely collision points, e.g. the bow section (where the newest Hunters do have several layers of Kevlar fiber reinforced composite material). From a materials point of view, simply adding more plies to properly designed hull sections would only serve to stiffen them and might possibly even weaken the overall hull by preventing flexing where and when it is useful to disperse wave impact forces. For composites, thicker, heavier and stiffer is not always stronger in a dynamic force environment. On the other hand the hatches, coach roof and companion way all probably could use some reinforcement against breaking and boarding seas. I would certainly replace any old acrylic hatches or portlights with polycarbonate (Lexan) while reinforcing the catches/seadogs, if necessary. For the companionway preparation the earlier mentioned Manual for the West Parine Pacific Cup, written by the Corenmans (sp?) is very helpful. Success Flying Dutchman "Rivendel II"
All of the preparations you mention make sense to me except the overall thickening of the hull below the waterline. Unless there is an acknowledged structural design problem or the original fiberglass shows excessive cracking I would not add that much weight by adding 2 more plies everywhere. Rather I would limit myself to the most likely collision points, e.g. the bow section (where the newest Hunters do have several layers of Kevlar fiber reinforced composite material). From a materials point of view, simply adding more plies to properly designed hull sections would only serve to stiffen them and might possibly even weaken the overall hull by preventing flexing where and when it is useful to disperse wave impact forces. For composites, thicker, heavier and stiffer is not always stronger in a dynamic force environment. On the other hand the hatches, coach roof and companion way all probably could use some reinforcement against breaking and boarding seas. I would certainly replace any old acrylic hatches or portlights with polycarbonate (Lexan) while reinforcing the catches/seadogs, if necessary. For the companionway preparation the earlier mentioned Manual for the West Parine Pacific Cup, written by the Corenmans (sp?) is very helpful. Success Flying Dutchman "Rivendel II"
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