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Oh dear!!!
Of course, in principle, the positive note is that any damage in a wooden boat is intrinsically repairable. But this looks like needing a major repair, and you are sensible to consider whether the boat is worth it.
First questions; age / sail number / anything special in the history of the boat / any personal emotional attachments to that particular boat? Any of these might potentially influence the decision as to whether the boat is worth the repair.
If she is to be repaired, the classic and traditional approach is to cut out all the rotten wood and replace with new, bonding it in, and adequately bonding to the surviving original structure. I rather suspect that this would be a fairly major job.
A more modern alternative, which can be useful if the damage is not too severe, is to use a penetrating epoxy to stabilise the rotted wood. Smith’s CPES is one such, and is a headline brand. However I would like to see further investigation, and more photos, before any of us could recommend whether that is likely to be successful.
On the positive front; nearly 20 years ago I heard of a seriously “ripe” classic yacht which had been returned to life and was now regularly sailing in Poole Harbour, after being thoroughly dried out and then treated with a penetrating epoxy.
But it looks like being a big job, whichever way you go, if you do decide to take it on.
Oliver
Being totally unfamiliar with this I did an internet search in an idle moment.
Amongst several “hits” I wonder whether this one is helpful to you: https://www.sprint15.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4321
Although I caution that it is many years old.
Oliver
Since Butler produce composite (epoxy and wood) boats they may well be able to help with a rudder stock that is visually acceptable for a wooden boat – you may not necessarily want one styled for an out and out plastic race machine! It is at least worth asking them.
On a lighter note, I do enjoy the unfortunate spelling error on their website (albeit that there are several other spelling errors elsewhere on the site); “… our composite racing GP14 and the Training and cursing GP.”
I can imagine that trainees may indeed have occasion for cursing, when Sod’s Law happens to them!
Oliver
Agreed PinBax seem to have very little, although they do have some. Personally I find their choice of stocks not aesthetically pleasing, and I would distrust plywood for rudder blades, just as it is a big NO NO for centreboards, and for the same reason – the material is designed to be equally strong in both directions, but that is achieved only at the cost of much-needed strength in the one direction in which (for this application) it matters! (Every time I hear of a GP14 breaking its centreboard I always ask “Was it a plywood one”? The score to date is 100%!)
I suspect that you will have a laborious and not very rewarding search, unfortunately.
But if you are thinking of buying new, why not approach one of our builders who works in wood, and ask what they can offer you. They may well be able (and willing) to build you a wooden stock and blade at a price competitive with Milanes or Pinbax, and it may be more to your liking. There are a handful of builders to choose from.
Hope this helps,
Oliver
I have the impression that several of the major online chandlers sell as standard a complete centreboard brake replacement kit.
Try Trident, and Purple Marine, and Pinnel & Bax, for start
Oliver
I had hoped that someone else would have picked this up by now.
Since it seems to be left to myself to pick it up, what exactly is your problem? Can you, for example, replace exactly like for like, with what you had previously?
Or are you looking for improvements in the arrangement?
Oliver
Good to see vintage parts being refurbished; good luck with that.
Do bear in mind that if you have Barton self-bailers fitted it is most vitally important that you always raise them, absolutely without fail, before beaching the boat. Graunching the bottom on the shore, with these bailers down, risks doing structural damage.
Unlike the hinged types (e.g. Elvstrom/Andersen, and there was also a small plastic hinged one at one time), the Barton ones will not self-close if they hit an obstruction.
(And if I remember correctly, there was also a plastic one of broadly similar design, in probably the sixties, which I would expect would safely snap off in the event of impact, without damaging the hull.)
Oliver
Glad you are enjoying your newly acquired GP14 so much; she is a truly great design.
Transom main; agreed if you are used to a centre main the transition will perhaps take you a little time, but you will get used to it. And for cruising this has many advantages, although I concede that centre main has some benefits for racing.
There are some owners who both race and cruise, regularly in both cases, who have their boats set up so that they can quickly and easily switch sheeting arrangements depending on whether they are racing or cruising.
Spinnaker arrangements; I will leave some of our racers to advise on that, with more experience and authority that I can muster. I do use a spinnaker, occasionally, and up to my mid seventies I would even set it single-handed in fair conditions, but I am far from being an expert at it.
Enjoy getting to know the boat!
Oliver
Bin the shockcord; it was never a good system, and there are better systems available nowadays.
Replace with two separate control lines, not elastic but there is no need to go overboard with high tech non-stretch materials such as dyeema; standard polyester is fine, around 4 mm. One control line is an uphaul, led to a standard clamcleat on the tiller; the other is a downhaul, led to a CL257 auto-release clamcleat, also on the tiller.
Adjust the tension on the pivot bolt so that the blade moves as freely as possible vertically, but with no sideways sloppiness; that is likely to be quite a fine adjustment, which can be found only by trial and error.
Hope this helps,
Oliver
Ah! Found your post, and photos; for some obscure reason it was a hidden reply. It appeared when I clicked on the “+1 hidden” link at the head of the page.
I suggest that the first step is to investigate further, by removing the paint. Once that is done you can asses how extensive is the problem.
I note first that the transom is painted rather than varnished, and second that you are considering just putting a fibreglass patch on it. Fibreglass applied over rotten wood is very unlikely to be satisfactory unless either the rot is treated or the wood replaced first. However when you can see the extent and severity of the rot you can assess whether it is worth trying treating it with Smith’s CPES, followed by a fibreglass patch (using a marine epoxy resin, not an automotive polyester one; the headline name is WEST System, but there are others also).
If when you have the wood exposed you decide that it is too far gone for that approach you could then replace the rotten wood with a graving piece. Since the transom is painted, the appearance under the paint is relatively unimportant, so it won’t matter if the graving piece is a slightly slack fit and you use the epoxy as a gap filler. That will make the job a little easier. You might or might not then decide to sheathe the repair with fibreglass; that decision will depend in part on your assessment of the job when the wood is exposed.
Do remember that the area around the pintle is structural, and may on occasion take significant loads. Inside the transom you may need to reinforce the bond to the hog; and it is possible that the timber there may also have deteriorated.
Oliver
We seem to have a technical malfunction. I have just now received an email from the Forum saying “This area is the most concerning because it seems to go behind the rudder pintle, but there are a few small areas of rot around the edges”, which suggests that there is an accompanying photo; but no photo has come through, and not even the text part of the message is currently showing on the Forum.
Can you please check later in the day whether anything has appeared by then, and if necessary try again.
Please be aware that the maximum file size allowed is 512 KB, so if your photo is bigger than that it will need resizing.
Oliver
It would seem difficult, but not impossible, to rig a block (or blocks in the plural) to divert the halliard clear of the strap eye for the kicker. And I can see that you entirely reasonably wish to avoid unnecessary chafe with the present arrangement.
I can suggest several possibilities for you to consider, and perhaps investigate further. In no particular order:
- Run the halliard inside the strap eye, with the D (rather than the pin) of the kicker shackle through the strap eye; when under load (i.e. with the kicker tensioned) I would expect that the shackle will then be just clear of the halliard. Then, with the shackle the correct way round so that the head of the pin is accessible (rather than jammed against the mast), that may completely solve the problem. But if you find it necessary (and it may prove not to be necessary) devise a means of holding the shackle in that position; perhaps Araldite or other epoxy glue (there are many available), or tape, or whipping twine, or whatever.
- If you prefer to take the halliard outside the strap eye, use a pair of locking pliers (a.k.a. Mole wrench, a.k.a vice-grips) to bend the strap eye slightly; either so that the edges are bent inwards, so that the halliard slides over only a convex surface, and/or bend the eye in profile so that it is fully out of the way of the halliard. Or (with care) use a ball-pein hammer to bend it in profile so that it is clear of the halliard.
- With the halliard outside the strap eye, run the halliard through a short length of flexible plastic tubing, and position that to cushion it against the strap eye before you tension the Highfield.
- Again with the halliard outside the strap eye, use a small piece of high density foam as a cushion between halliard and strap eye, again putting it in place before you tension the Highfield.
I may well think of other ideas later, but I have to adjourn now as I need to leave the house imminently to take a Choir Practice. I may well edit this reply later.
Oliver
Removing the transom and then reinstalling after repair is fairly major surgery, but removal and replacement with new wood has very occasionally been done. I would expect that removal with the intention of re-using the same transom after repair would be an even bigger task. It is one thing to take out the old one without damage to the frame on which it sits or to the plywood, provided the old transom can be sacrificed; with care you can cut away the transom (whether using router or saw or chisel, etc) without touching either the frame or the plywood, but that will inevitably cut into at least the periphery of the transom, so it will end up smaller than it needs to be. One can then replace the entire transom with new wood; but I am not clear about how one could get the original one out undamaged, so that the same transom could be refitted.
Just possibly a very fine oscillating saw used all round the edge, and then used again inside the boat to separate the transom from the frame on which it sits, and accept that when it is refitted there would be the width of the saw-cut all round the edge which would need to be filled with (preferably) a thin strip of wood. Or alternatively with epoxy??? But that is no more than a best guess as to an approach, and I am not wholly convinced that it would work. And at the end of the day there is still that gap, at least the width of the saw-cut, all round the edge, which at the very least would be a problem.
Around sixty years ago I replaced the transom on a Firefly, and I know of a couple of people who have done that or very similar jobs on the transoms of GP14s in more recent years. But certainly when I did the job the old transom was being scrapped and a brand new one fitted. Don’t underestimate how big a job it is.
Whether an in situ repair is viable depends on your assessment of the damage, but in most cases I would expect it to be the easier option. And, depending on the severity and extent of the dry rot, a possible alternative to a graving piece just might be treatment with a deeply penetrating epoxy product such as Smith’s CPES, a wood-based penetrating epoxy which was originally designed for that very purpose.
Can you post some photos, please?
Oliver
