South Coast 26 Build and sailing trip thread

[tmleadr03]

Pulled the winch and checked it out today. Not super happy, but that isn't a surprise. Been sitting and the wiring leading to it was in need of some TLC at the minimum. Pic from when I first saw it.

Not super pretty.

The table mounts over the keel case. So you can just lift it off and the keel trunk is right there. The board the winch is mounted on is screwed to the fiberglass trunk. Should have grabbed a better pic of that.

Rust? On something that goes in the water? No way!

A couple of shots down the sides of the keel.

I cant tell if it is in good condition or not. I know the pulley is not good. That is about it.

Got the winch on the bench and ran the wire all the way out and then back in.

Found a lot of really ugly wire.

And the winch makes a horrible racket when operated. Not to mention draws about 11-13 amps with no load. Some of that is clearly the rusty nuts where power goes in. But considering the racket, some is the motor itself.

Pardon the mess on the top of the tool box. I have to say we dont want to rely on that winch. We need another. But what I can't find and hopefully someone has a suggestion is one that is electric but if there is a failure can be manually cranked. That would be ideal. I would hate to be stuck half way.

 

[rgranger]

You are making short work of this project. Congrats.

 

[tmleadr03]

You are making short work of this project. Congrats.

The goal is to sail! Fixing it up is just one step. Girlfriend and I have plans already for sailing trips and we both realize fixing her up is a continual project.

 

[tmleadr03]

Build going slower then expected, which is unexpected to everyone else. Should get the keel back together this next week.

Today I got the tires changed and finished wiring the brake controller on the Lexus. Nothing great on the ship itself sadly.
While sitting in the lot one of the tires blew out. So I bought 4 and installed today.

New tires on.

The GX470 is prewired for a brake controller so that was easy. Figured the ashtray would be a good location for it since I don't smoke and only use that for change. Just a few bits of trim and some fiddling small screws. Had to use my small pliers to get the screws in.

And all back together. Nice and snug in that location. Not going to knee or kick it every time I get in and out and all the wiring is nice and tucked away behind the dash.

 

[tmleadr03]

Been a bit slow working on The Boat, it being winter and sailing season feeling so far off. But now its getting closer and gears are moving again. We plan to have her in the water in April. So gotta get cracking! Moved forward on the keel and winch. Been working on it off an on over the last few months. Kid was enrolled in too many afterschool activities and it killed free time. I ordered a new winch since the old one was meh at best. And 3k lb winch over the 2k lb winch at that. So more power!!!! Figured if I was already tearing it all out and replacing do it right and get new wood as well. Oh, and why not actually seal it so I don't have to worry about it for a while also! Here it is getting cut and fitted to the keel trunk.

Now sealed by myself, girlfriend and kiddo.

Since I was cutting wood and sealing it, I figured the soft spot on the port side of the keel truck could use some re-enforcement. Couple more boards to stain.

Sadly the 2x4s are not tall enough to support the floor. Going to pick up some 1x1 trim to screw to the 2x4 and seal those as well. Should work like a charm.

Mounting the new winch and putting the board in place. Sadly the table does not fit with the new winch. Going to have to notch the hole for a little till we build a new table for it.

And installed in the keel trunk.

I ordered wire for the winch today, but the gauge I wanted wasnt in stock so wiring will have to be next week. Looks like I may just order some caulking and pull the steering pedistal and run the keel switch up there. Pretty certan it will work well and easy mount. One of my goals is to make this easy to sail by one person if needed. That way if one of us is sick/sleeping/injured we can still easily sail. And when you need the keel up, you probably want it up right NOW! Not when sleepy wants to get up, and you may want to keep a hand on the steering while you do it.

And the more panels I pull the more motivated I become to gut the entire boats wiring and redo it. I could wire the entire boat with less wire and cleaner. There is so much extra, looped/wrapped around other wire/disconnected but still there/corroded wiring that it really does stress me out.

On the "to buy" list are now lots of wire (I have quite a bit in the shop already so I can use that), a new panel, and led light strips for the cabin. None of which is needed to get us on the water. But I figure if I start buying some of the things I need now for the job once I have it all together its a two day job of gutting the wiring and running new stuff correctly.

 

[Ron20324]

Back in my memory banks I'm thinking I read that radials are not good trailer/load tires?

 

[tmleadr03]

Back in my memory banks I'm thinking I read that radials are not good trailer/load tires?

Not certain, this being the first trailer I have owned. But clearly those radials didn't do very well.

 

[tmleadr03]

Finally got her in the water last weekend. And it has been so busy I haven't had a chance to update till today. And we are getting back in the water this next week for the entire week! Woot! Hopefully the snags we found last weekend will be fixed by then. Because we found a few "minor" issues.

First off while my GX470 can pull the sailboat, it really isn't ideal. I am going to sell the Lexus and get a full size 3/4 ton truck. I think the road trips will be significantly more comfortable that way. The GX gets pushed around a bit in a cross wind and it is a bit uncomfortable.

It is a 60 mph drive, and I am getting a little under 10 mpg average. Not ideal. So window shopping for now, and we will probably swap out for the truck after next week.

We got to Lake McConaughy late Friday and didn't put the boat into the water but we did sleep in her.

Next morning we raised the mast using the hand crane and got her into the water.

Our first snag. I fired up the motor in my shop before heading out and it fired and idled. But I didn't have a large enough bucket to let it run for any extended period of time. I found out in the water that the fuel would not continue to flow. We had to continually prime the motor with the fuel primer bulb. This was found out after tearing down the carburetor of the motor and checking that then resembling it. Wish I was a bit quicker sometimes. My forearms are still sore from having the pump constantly when we needed motor power.

We had a lovely sail after we finally got out of the small bay the ramp was in. Sorry, I was distracted with the joy of that and didn't snap any pics. It was a light wind. Easy sailing. The ship was a joy to control and easy to do so. Lost wind about mid lake and had to motor the rest of the way to where we were meeting friends and family to camp.

Thats where we ran into snag #2. The winch. Which I had replaced. It was not pulling up the keel. Not even a little. So... We anchored as close as we could to shore, and with the keel down our draft is just over 3.5 ft so pretty close. I started testing things with the winch and the power. And found I had sadly overlooked something. The batterys in the boat were from 2007. No way was that powerful enough for running a winch. Issue number two was that the winch cable had unspooled too much and it had tangled like that fraction of a second it takes fishing line to tangle.

It was ugly. So I pulled one of the batteries, borrowed a car from my girlfriends sister and went and bought a bigger newer battery. That ended up being twice the weight as well. That was a joy to port out to the sailboat in chest deep water. Got the battery installed and it raised the keel about 1/3 of the way up. Further then it had up till then. I let it cool down and slowly got it all the way up a little at a time.

We spent the rest of afternoon hanging out on the shore and relaxing. Nightfall was beautiful!

Next morning motored to a ramp, pulled her out and headed home.

Things I still need to get done before we head out this weekend for a week of sailing. Installing two new batteries in the ship. I couldn't find a matching battery to the new one I purchased in NE so I got two matching ones. I guess I am mildly OCD. I am also going to install a 100 watt solar panel to make sure we have power the entire time. I have trimmed the cable back on the winch and it is now going to much shorter. It now has about 4 ft of cable which will give me approximately 6 turns around the drum then go to the keel. This will eliminate that as and issue. I am also going to change the wiring to the winch from 12 gauge that is currently run, to 6 gauge to make me happier. The wires were heating up leading to the winch, so way too much resistance for the amp draw.

I am pretty certain that is the remainder of my "have to do" before sailing again. Everything else I want to do can be done on the water.

 

[tmleadr03]

Have you ever planned a week long trip and had everything go according to plan? Then we need to talk so you can give me pointers.

Before we took off I got a bracket made up and mounted on the boat for solar panel I bought. 100 Watts should do more then I need. And for quite some time. Also got two matching batteries to go with it. Figured I was good to go now that I had trimmed down the winch cable and got rid of the snarl of cabling.

I trailered out there needing to do the final mounting on the water.

This is version 1. I am going to play with it and improve it as time goes by. It works very well right now though!

On top of that I won in a raffle a cool water proof bluetooth speaker that is also solar powered. I have never plugged it in to charge it, just left it out and it has always been ready to go.

\
And I picked up for camping and this trip a solar battery charger. Cuz why not? I like having back up for my main systems.

So last week I took off with my girlfriend and we headed to Lake McConaughy for a week of sailing and camping in the boat. The trip out was uneventful. Got her in the water, dropped the keel, no problem. Wind was light. Very light. Glass water, so there was some motoring around. Still having a few issues with air leak on the motor but not as bad as it was. Just have to prime every 10 min or so. We headed up to a small bay and tossed anchor out and relaxed there for the night.

Super relaxing night and we slept great on the boat. Next morning woke up to a bit more wind, but we took our time getting out of the bay. After all, it was vacation! No need to rush! If I wanted to rush I would have a power boat.

Bacon and coffee on the boat. What a way to wake up!

It wasn't super windy but we were underway out there. And no motor!

Went to get in close to the shore to look for a place to anchor for the day and it made it up... But when we didn't find anything and headed out to the open lake again it wouldn't go down. Keel was in the up position and there was nothing I could do about it. Though wind was light enough we actually sailed across the lake to a small grocery store on the North shore and back before anchoring that night. With the keel up. Anchored off the South Shore and that was a horrible night. More waves (not a huge deal) but the keel banged all night long. Not loud, just persistent. Kept me up all night stressed out.

Next morning the wind was up big time! Which was a serious bummer. But we pulled anchor and the two of us got her into the lake with out using the motor. We were super proud of ourselves. But once in the lake with the rudder hard to starboard we were drifting port. Sigh. And that is the bummer of no keel. So fired up the motor and we headed to the ramp to pull her out and hopefully fix her. The motor back was difficult. The wind was up high (white caps showing on the lake so about 13 knots?) and right on our nose the entire motor back.

Got her pulled out and had to cut the cable holding the keel to the winch. Which dropped the keel about 2 in to the trailer. It was a good call to pull the boat out.

Probably should have done it sooner. But luck was with us. Now to build another winch. And this time I was not going to pussy foot around. I am not doing this again and by god it will work this time. Ordered a SmittyBuilt 9500 lb winch drop shipped to my girlfriends dads house which is on lake mac and has a full work shop.

Total overkill. At this point I do not care. I want the comfort of it working and not having to worry about it. Of course I have to worry now about pulling the keel up through the bottom of the boat...

Built this:

With the help of my girlfriends dad. Ok, mostly him. He is really good at this and I just took his advice for the entire project. Used the rollers from the previous winch since they were a reasonable size. Looped the cable through the hole in the keel and attached a cable clamp. Then ran 4 gauge wire from the Guest switch to the winch, and to the negative bus block.
Girl friend helped a lot in all of this! She helped run the wires and snipped and heat shrunk everything.

And on Sunday we got it finalized and ready to go. Just in time to pack up and head back to Denver. And of course it was blowing like crazy that day. Go figure right? But we have many days of sailing ahead of us.

On that last day I saw quite the trailer sailer.

I guess that counts right? It is on a trailer. I can't say I would want to haul it. The truck is actually the local boat repair guy who was dropping it in the lake.

All in all I really like working on the sailboat and while I was hoping for more sailing and more exploring the lake we are closer to really being comfortable taking her places where we don't have a shop to fabricate what we need to keep her afloat.

 

[rgranger]

Fun read! Thanks

 

[jssailem]

Nice pictures and story telling. Will be interesting to see how the winch 2.0 works out for you.
Might want to put a limit switch on the cable so you do not pull the centerboard through the bottom of the boat.

You have proven why boat designers put centerboards, dagger boards or side boards on sail boats.

Fair winds and fun sailing.

 

[rgranger]

I used to own a Balboa 26 that had a 1200lb lead bulb on the bottom of a large cast iron keel. I'm guessing the entire deal was over 2000lb. It used a winch similar to this one.

There is a hand break that allows you to let the load down slowly. OR you keep you hand on the break while lifting so that if things go sideways, you can control the drop. Anyway, you don't need electricity....

https://www.dutton-lainson.com/proddetail.php?prod=14894

 

[tmleadr03]

Nice pictures and story telling. Will be interesting to see how the winch 2.0 works out for you.
Might want to put a limit switch on the cable so you do not pull the centerboard through the bottom of the boat.

You have proven why boat designers put centerboards, dagger boards or side boards on sail boats.

Fair winds and fun sailing.

For now I am going to raise and lower while visually inspecting to make sure I don't lift.the keel through the bottom. I was thinking either a disconnect switch or a warning light.

Disconnect switch wouldn't really be that hard either. Raise the keel while on the trailer so someone outside can eyeball it. When it is snug to the bottom of the boat stop. Kick the keel to make sure no play. That is the too end. Could easily run the power to raising the keel through a switch that gets tripped by that top end possition. Considering the amp load may do a switch to a normally open relay. My only concern is that is now one more potential failure point.

 

[tmleadr03]

I used to own a Balboa 26 that had a 1200lb lead bulb on the bottom of a large cast iron keel. I'm guessing the entire deal was over 2000lb. It used a winch similar to this one.

View attachment 166730

There is a hand break that allows you to let the load down slowly. OR you keep you hand on the break while lifting so that if things go sideways, you can control the drop. Anyway, you don't need electricity....

https://www.dutton-lainson.com/proddetail.php?prod=14894

What I would love is a winch that runs on electric with a mechanical back up that I could hook a socket to and go after by hand. Cuz I am lazy. Cranking that up and down doesn't sound like a hell of a lot of fun.

 

[tmleadr03]

Fun read! Thanks

Thank you!

 

[rgranger]

What I would love is a winch that runs on electric with a mechanical back up that I could hook a socket to and go after by hand. Cuz I am lazy. Cranking that up and down doesn't sound like a hell of a lot of fun.

I agree!

 

[Project_Mayhem]

I use an electric winch winch as well. It's used to step the mast on my trailer sailor. I know the hassle of the steel cables and how easily they get kinked. I've heard a lot of good things about the synthetic lines. Perhaps that could alleviate some of the issues you've experienced in the past. If you install a stop switch be sure you wire it so it can easily be bypassed in the event of a failure

Thanks for posting this. It's definitely one of the more enjoyable build threads

 

[tmleadr03]

I use an electric winch winch as well. It's used to step the mast on my trailer sailor. I know the hassle of the steel cables and how easily they get kinked. I've heard a lot of good things about the synthetic lines. Perhaps that could alleviate some of the issues you've experienced in the past. If you install a stop switch be sure you wire it so it can easily be bypassed in the event of a failure

Thanks for posting this. It's definitely one of the more enjoyable build threads

I have considered that but would need to read up on the effects of constant submersion and the synthetic cable. I know what the issue is with steel and can lube and mitigate it a little.

 

[tmleadr03]

What a weekend. Great sailing day one. Then the winch pulled the cable out of the keel. With the keel all the way up. Dropped said 1000 lbs of keel down to the bottom of the boat, but thankfully not the bottom of the lake! Spent the rest of Saturday getting the keel raised using two ratchet straps and the sandy bottom. No pics, was too frustrated to think of that. Re-did the cable at the keel. Now it loops through the keel, gets clamped right there, loops back down and clamps again to the loop through the keel. This way if it pulls on the cable it will kink and tighten up not pull through.

Then the next afternoon when I went to raise sails the main tore (my fault, wasn't focused enough on what I was doing). So motored back to the boat ramp.

And for the last fun of the weekend the keel caught on the guide next to boards where it is supposed to rest and ripped the hell out of the boat trailer. Still got it on the trailer and out of the water. And that was all she wrote for the weekend.

Learning to sail isn't that hard, I have done that. Learning to own a boat is a massive pain and seriously expensive at times.

 

[rgranger]

...

Learning to sail isn't that hard, I have done that. Learning to own a boat is a massive pain and seriously expensive at times.

Quote of the year....