Hi, I'm new to SBO and sailing in general. I've made / the original owner (that's right, 1 owner for a 35 year old boat) has accepted an offer on a 1978 27, pending the outcome of a survey. I've been inside the boat and in general, she looks pretty clean. There are a couple fairly substantial areas of wall fabric delamination (v berth and rear quarter berth are most significant), and the pan under the yanmar diesel is full of ice, as is the cockpit floor (ice in cockpit is about a foot thick, so I can't yet get it out) and bilge. The ice is (finally!!) melting in MN, so it is running onto the salon floor. Since the bilge is also full and frozen, I've been wet vaccuming it. The salon smells musty...
The ports and the hatch were slightly loose, so I tightened them down. I wonder if the fabric delam is due to loosening of the deck and hull bolts, or just maybe a consequence of moisture intrusion from the hatch and ports? Of course, there is no opening port over rear quarter berth, so maybe it's not that simple. If it is a combo of port leaks and deck bolt loosening, where are these bolts and how to I tighten them? Also, is it normal, given the lack of covering over the cockpit and deck, for water to leak in like this during winter?
Last, the motor also has a small pan under the oil pan, and there is maybe a half cup of oil in it. I don't see any signs of oil seepage around the top of the pan - it might be coming from the plug? Just curious if I should be concerned or not. It has been on the hard for at least one year, maybe longer. Current owner says she runs perfectly and I have no reason to doubt him. He's an older guy and isn't pushing the boat on me at all. I doubt it's a big deal, but y'all know better than me!
To me, she looks great, just in need what I perceive to be some general sprucing up.
Any thoughts / ideas from your sailing experts are very welcome! Thanks in advance.
I bought a 1982 H27. First, the oil spill: I have the little 8hp Renault engine. It only takes only one quart of oil when you do a full oil change. A cup of oil seems like a lot of oil for such a small engine. The good news with such a small engine is that they run for about an hour on one quart of diesel.
The corner of the cockpit sole where it meets the companionway is particularly vulnerable to ice and can develop a leak if ice is allowed to freeze in the cockpit repeatedly. The previous owner battled this problem and when he was totally frustrated trying to correct it, he poured some gel coat into the corner and it hardened and fixed the leak. It isn't that pretty, but it is functional and keeps the cabin dry. To keep the ice out of the cockpit altogether, I found that if I took the small chrome strainers off the scuppers, I could feed a halyard with a whipped end down the tube while running a water hose to flush the scuppers. When I hit a blockage, I pumped the line up and down, causing a plunger type action on the partial blockage. When it broke loose, the halyard pulled right through the tube. By pulling it back out, the scupper was completely cleaned of leaves, debris and built up algae. I did this for both scuppers. This year, I used a poly tarp to cover the boat. I think next year, I am going to have it shrink wrapped.
The bilge in the 27 is very shallow. On a 30+ year old boat, the portlights are probably cracked or have the tangs broken where the dogs should hold it tight. Order some new gasket material for all the ports and replace the parts that are broken. You can get the parts right here on this website. I ordered the new plastic ports. Some are coming from Seattle and the others from Florida. Should be here any day.
You mentioned wall fabric delamination. I believe on your boat, there was carpeting that was glued to the hull for insulation and soundproofing. My H27 has strips of teak along the hull in the V berth and along the sides of the hull over the settee backs. Is the delamination only the carpet glue letting loose, or is it actual fiberglass delamination? I find it hard to believe it is fiberglass problems. If you wanted to replace the carpeting, that should be fairly easy to do.
I needed to replace the companionway boards as the original teak ones were nearly falling apart from weather. I used King Starboard and made new ones. They are nice and they do not leak. I am going to replace the cabin sole with the light gray King Starboard that has a textured surface for non-slip. Because of the shallow bilge, getting the water out has always been a problem. It keeps the wood sole wet when heeling over and the glue in the plywood is letting go. I use a suction pump that removes about a pint at a time, by inserting it under a stiffening rib and sucking bilge water from the space between the stiffener and the hull. I have been considering drilling a hole about 2.5 inches in diameter through the stiffener and setting my little bilge pump down a bit lower. I would have to make sure the float switch could fit down there between the two major fiberglass components. The bilge needs to be emptied of about 2 gallons about every 2 weeks. I don't think that is too bad, but I did find that when I winterized it last fall, I found that after pumping RV antifreeze throughout the water system, I realized I had a leak inside the body of the sink faucet in the galley. I think the PO did not get it quite pumped through before freezing. I am going to replace all the water lines with PEX tubing before putting her back in the water.
Also, check your holding tank hoses regarding that musty smell. There are some good resources here that will help you out. That Head Mistress information was a great help. Those plastic lined hoses do wear out! A previous owner or the factory had converted the water tank and holding tank to be strictly holding tanks. I added a 38 gallon flexible water bladder that lays in the bow, between the molded in tanks. I find a small leak in this area, about a cup of water in 2 weeks, most likely from the transducer that measures depth. It is not leaking from the new bladder tank, and it is clean water, so it has been low on my priority list.
I only have one battery, but it has been adequate. If you change any of the lights to LED, be sure to check the polarity on the wiring. LEDs are diodes and if you connect them backwards, they will not light up. I made that mistake on my deck light last year. I am going to be rechecking my work on the saw horse this time!
Good Luck and I have enjoyed your postings and the advice and wisdom of all those who take the time to help us out. Thanks all.
Bill on Sea Wing
