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Oliver ShawModerator
Actually, in fairness, there is a second weak point to her abilities as a “general purpose” dinghy; she is desperately cramped for camping aboard. But she was never designed for that, and very few owners use her in that way – although very occasional ones have done.
Oliver
Oliver ShawModeratorTo answer just a few points: if the boat is wooden she will be a Series 1, not a Mk. 1 (The Mk. I, Mk II, etc. through to Mk. IVa are all plastic boats). That may help on a number of points.
The first step to identification is to lift the floorboards and identify the registered hull number, which on the Series 1 should be carved into the hog abaft the centreboard case. Then contact our Archivist, Hugh Brazier, via the Association, to see what records we hold for her.
As someone who puts the emphasis on seamanship, and enjoys cruising, you are a man after my own heart. And you will find that the GP14 is a splendid sea boat for her size. But there is a place for racing as well; indeed I reckon that I learned most of my boat handling from racing, and most of my seamanship from cruising.
The boat is also a genuine “general purpose” boat, although her one wak point in that department is that she can be a little tiring to row for any distance.
Mainsheet horse. First question is whether you want transom sheeting (which is the original configuration, and arguably the best for cruising), or the immensely popular split tail mainsheet led forward along the boom and down to the centre of the boat (which many people find the best for racing), or a genuine centre mainsheet (which is extremely rare on a GP14, but permitted, and I can remember seeing precisely one – and that one was only in a photo, not in the flesh). A few owners have their boats set up to allow a choice of the race rig (split tail mainsheet) or the cruising rig (transom sheeting) cacording to what they are doing on any given occasion. The mainsheet horse is entirely optional; you are not required to fit one, and if you do fit one its design and type is optional. I entirely agree with you that a rigid horse is far preferable to a rope horse, and you might like to consider a nicely shaped full width wooden former topped with a stainless steel track; these became popular in the sixties, and remained the generally preferred system until the racers adopted the split tail mainsheet system.
Worn-out sails are probably best binned. Never regard them as “OK for cruising” if you are at all serious about your cruising! Sail with your good suit, and when funds permit consider having a new suit of dedicated cruising sails made; probably the most popular sailmaker for cruising sails for the class is Edge Sails, and certainly I have been delighted with my suit. And on my occasional returns to club racing I still sometimes win, despite sailing on dedicated cruising sails. But they are more heavily reinforced than racing sails, they are specifically designed to set well when reefed, and they are built of a different cloth which is better able to stand up to the occasional abuse which inevitably occurs from time to time when cruising, and they seem to hold their shape for longer than racing sails. Horses or courses; ideally (and if funds permit) use good racing sails for racing, and goo cruising sails for cruising; and they are not the same animal at all.
Oliver
Oliver ShawModeratorI can at least answer questions 2 and 4. Yes, the hull can be painted. The best paint for the job is a yacht quality two-pot polyurethane, such as Perfection (from International Paints), or the equivalent from other yacht paint manufacturers; these paints are specifically formulated, in part, to overcoat GRP gelcoat, specifically as the final stage in the treatment of osmosis (a.k.a. boatpox). Of course, as with any two-pot product, all traces of any one-pot finishes must be removed first.
Having said that, some years ago my oldest sailing friend made an excellent job of refurbishing a onetime training centre boat, and he finished her by painting with Toplac (International Paints’ one-pot conventional yacht enamel), and achieved a superb result.
Either of these paints, which are at the top of the range in their respective fields, are capable of producing a first class result. No doubt other specialist yacht paint manufacturers (e.g. Epiphanes, and Blakes) have equivalents which are equally good, but the International range is the one which I happen to be familiar with, and it is readily available from chandlers.
Beyond that, rather than my hypothesizing about repair techniques I would refer you to the GP14 Owners Online Community (on our Links page, near the bottom). There are experts there who have first-hand experience of working on these early GRP boats.
Hope this helps,
Oliver
Oliver ShawModeratorJust a thought: do you in fact have a slipway, or do you have to launch over the side of the jetty?
Oliver
Oliver ShawModeratorI realise that I had overlooked one detail. With the boat in the water, if there is sufficient depth you have the option of lowering the centreboard before you step the mast, and that would give you somewhat more scope for swinging the mast aft, but the maximum swing would still be limited because the centreboard case would get in the way at some point. I can’t tell you how much angle of swing you could achieve with the plate down, because I have never had that luxury; when stepping the mast while ashore one doesn’t have that option, and I have never needed to do it afloat in a GP14.
It would be worth bearing this in mind as yet another conjectural option, but for my money I would go with any of the three methods I have already suggested, as being probably a lot easier. The crane (or derrick) may be the easiest of all, once you have rigged one up; but it would be worth practising stepping it and unstepping it on dry land anyway (without using a crane), just so that you have a well drilled system and are fully competent to handle the situation if you ever need to do it when away from base.
Incidentally once the mast is stepped I suggest that you attach the forestay first, but on a long lanyard and initially leave it slack. That can probably be best done from inside the boat, by leaning forward over the foredeck, but it could alternatively be done from the jetty provided you first pull the stem in close to the jetty and secure it there; since the forestay won’t be already rigged at this point you will need some other means of attaching a line to the heaf of the boat, and I myself would fit a mooring cleat two-thirds of the way aft along the kingplank and a pair on anchor fairleads (sometimes called anchor cleats or skene cleats) as close to the stem as possible on either bow. What we do not want is someone leaning out across an expanse of water trying to fix things to the boat at arm’s length; that would be an accident waiting to happen. Then, with the forestay secured but slack, open the gate and allow the mast to swing aft. That will allow you to secure the shrouds, which should be already adjusted to the correct length (see the excellent tuning guides in the Members’ Library on this site), without having to struggle against tension in the wire; this is most conveniently done from inside the boat. Then push the mast forward and close the gate; you will need a moderately heavy push, because you need to slightly bend the spar before you can close the gate; this is what is referred to a pre-bend. Finally, with the shrouds attached and the mast in the slot and the gate closed, tension the forestay.
Incidentally with a modern GP14 such as yours you have a bendy rig, and the spars are intended to bend under the influence of the appropriate sail controls, notably the kicker (which is why your kicker will have – or should have – a purchase of around 16:1 or 18:1. This controlled bend, adjusted to suit the conditions, is an important part of controlling sail shape. Again the excellent tuning guides elsewhere on the site will elaborate on this for you.
Oliver
Oliver ShawModeratorDennis,
You have slightly misunderstood my boat. On all GP14s the mast passes through a gate and can be swung aft, but with the foot in the step it cannot be swung very far before it fouls the centreboard, only a very few degrees in fact. While the heel of the mast is still higher than the centreboard you can of course swing the mast as far aft as you wish; but you will be standing in the fore part of the boat holding the mast near the bottom, and if it is leaning well aft you will have absolutely immense problems in holding it and controlling it, because of the leverage that its weight will have.
Unfortunately you cannot just adapt the system used in the Wayfarer, which mounts the mast in a tabernacle so that they start with the mast laid horizontally along the boat, insert the pivot pin, and then haul the mast vertical. They get round the problem of the centreboard by having the pivot pin higher than the centreboard. That is a good system, but the bottom of the mast swings forward from the pivot as the main part swings aft. The Wayfarer is specifically designed to have sufficient room between the tabernacle and the forward buoyancy tank for that to happen, but the GP14 is; in the GP14 there is not enough room for the foot to swing forward, because it would hit the forward buoyancy unit.
The reason why I like to have the mast accurately vertical, or indeed leaning slightly into the wind if that is an issue, throughout the lift is because I find that is the only way that I can control its weight when lifting it from near the bottom.
From what you say you will have sufficient assistants, indeed one more than you actually need. The third method that I suggested is just slightly adapted from what I do as standard when stepping the mast on dry land, which is often single-handed, but with a well briefed assistant it is easier. With an assistant on the side of the jetty setting the mast vertical and then passing it across to you the method would seem to work – in theory, and provided there is no wave action, so that the boat remains still. If the boat is bobbing around in waves then forget it, and wait for a quieter day.
And yes, do try a dry run – or three – on dry land first. Stepping the mast is easy once you have the knack of balancing it, and have a well drilled system; but without that it can be a bit of a nightmare.
One small tip for getting it vertical in the first place; place the foot against a fixed object on the ground (e.g. the wheel of the launching trolley, a cleat on the jetty, or even a wood block screwed down to the jetty for tat very purpose), then “walk it up” – lift the part of the mast you are holding to head height or above, and walk towards the heel while “walking” your hands down the mast and keeping them always above head height.
Since your launch site is your own place it would seem that my second method is also open to you; set up a simple hand crane on the jetty. It need not be particularly heavy duty, as it is only required to lift the mast, but it does need to be high enough – well above spreader height. A simple derrick would be sufficient, and it could be left permanently set up. Lift the mast by means of a loose strop passed around the mast below the spreaders, and it may help to have a downhaul rigged to the strop so that once the mast is stepped the strop can easily be pulled downwards to within reach and then disconnected.
Finally, since your launch site is your own place, you don’t have to consider obstructing anyone else. So my first suggestion may perhaps be viable if there is enough length of slipway between the end of the boathouse and the water. If there isn’t, of course, that is a non-starter.
Oliver
Oliver ShawModeratorI suspect that not many people have experience of doing that in a boat such as ours and with a mast as long as ours.
But thinking laterally, and trying to be helpful, some questions and some conjectural possibilities come to mind.
Is there physically enough uncovered length of the slipway for you to at least insert the mast into its step and close the gate while still on the slipway, even if securing the standing rigging and hoisting the sails and setting up the rig tension etc all has to be done while moored alongside the jetty? Doing that one crucial step on the slipway, if there is enough length available, should take only a few tens of seconds, so you would not be blocking the slipway for other club members for an unreasonable length of time, and with that part of the operation out of the way it would make completing the rigging alongside the jetty very much less hazardous.
Alternatively, does your jetty have the luxury of a light hand crane, or even a set of davits; or could this be provided? It need not be complicated, or high capacity; for your requirements the crane need only be sufficient just to lift the mast, so it could be a fairly light structure – but if other club members would want to use it for lifting boats it would need to be strong enough for that also. Although full size yachts are not dinghies, some of the techniques can be adapted; my first yacht had a heavy 30-odd foot bermudian mast stepped on the hog through a hole in the coachroof, and our usual technique was to use a dockside crane to lift the mast in and out, with the yacht moored alongside. The key point is that the mast is supported from above, and all that the man below needs to do is to guide it into place as it is gradually lowered. That worked easily and painlessly. Much easier than my one and only DIY attempt, with a group of willing helpers; I moored to the piles of a bridge across a creek at HW slack, while my helpers passed the mast down from the bridge; very stressful, and not to be repeated…
If neither is available you have a potential problem. What is the water like alongside the jetty; is it totally protected flat water, or do you get significant wave action? If you can guarantee it being flat, I would suggest that perhaps an assistant on the jetty might set the mast exactly vertical standing on the edge of the jetty, alongside the moored boat (between the thwart and the forward end of the cockpit), and then pass it across to you in the boat while you face your helper and keep it accurately vertical, and set the heel down on the floorboards; don’t try to step it in the same manoeuvre as bringing it into the boat. Then, with the mast safely inside the boat and while you continue to hold it vertical, turn to face forwards and reposition your feet, one either side of the centreboard; then once you have done that you should be able to lift the mast into place and then close the gate behind it. But it could be a nightmare if there is any swell to rock the boat while you are doing this.
Hope this is of some help.
Oliver
Oliver ShawModeratorOne serious problem with this forum is the way in which posts seem to appear liberally laced with formatting commands, for no apparent reason. Webmaster please take note!!!
(Thanks, Hugh, or Mike, in anticipation.)
Oliver
Oliver ShawModeratorDale,
Some very fair points there, and we largely share the same opinions about the cyclical fluctuation in traffic, although my experience of other sailing forums is that the problem is not necessarily seasonal. <span style=”line-height: 1.5em;”>Privateer 20 Group and GP14 Owners’ Online Community are both currently slightly in the doldrums, despite having been very busy prior to the New Year. </span><span style=”line-height: 1.5em;”>Small Sailboat Club is currently reasonably active, but has previously had its quiet periods. </span><span style=”line-height: 1.5em;”>Openboat is perhaps an exception, being large enough to be very vigorous most of the time, although even there I have felt at times that it was silent – but that may be a technical glitch with the web host, as looking back I see several weeks’ worth of unread posts that seem to have appeared late! </span>
<span style=”color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;”>> I do sometimes wonder whether we now have so many media (here, FB and Twitter), that we’ve lost a focal point along the way. </span>
Perhaps, but those of us who decline to have anything to do with Facebook also probably decline to have anything to do with Twitter. I think that you are probably right in thinking that it is not the medium that is the issue with ourselves, but if nonetheless the decision is to move to Facebook then so be it; however if you do so you are unlikely to take me with you, and I shall vote with my keel.
Oliver
Oliver ShawModeratorAs a further thought, many sailing forums seem to oscillate between long periods of quietness and similarly long periods of intense activity and heavy traffic. This forum is currently desperately quiet, but in the not too distant past it has also had its periods of intense activity and, indeed heated controversy.
I have observed this with each of the forums (fora?) which I use; GP14 Owners Online Community, Privateer 20 Group, Openboat, and Small Sailboat Club. Including this present forum that makes a total of five very different sailing forums, all of them displaying the same characteristic. It suggests to me that this may be perfectly normal. It also raises the question whether a move to Facebook would change that pattern; my guess is that it probably would not.
Oliver
Oliver ShawModeratorAgreed this forum is very quiet.
However for some of us Facebook is a bete noir, and I at least have long refused to have anything to do with it. I know that I am in a minority there, but I also know that I am not alone.
Oliver
Oliver ShawModeratorFor anyone else who may not know the date (i.e. does not necessarily follow certain very specific media), I find that it is 28 February to 1 March.
Oliver
Oliver ShawModeratorThat works. Thank you.
Oliver
Oliver ShawModeratorWarmest congratulations to both, even though racing is not these days my field.
But the link (for voting) doesn’t appear to work …
Oliver
Oliver ShawModeratorMy reading of the Class Rules is that the self bailers are optional in all respects, provided they are not “substantially in excess of their intended function in either weight or size.”
The usual arrangement is to have two, but I don’t see any problem with the Rules in having only one. However you are likely to wish to deploy one while sailing, and <span style=”line-height: 1.5em;”>in some circumstances</span><span style=”line-height: 1.5em;”> the one on the lee side may be inaccessible, but if you have one on each side then you can at least get at one of them.</span>
Having said that, I find that I can usually get at both of them, but then I am almost never racing, so it doesn’t matter if I spill a bit of wind and move inboard to put them both down.
A second reason for having two is the rate at which you can get rid of serious amounts of water, whether that be the result of taking seas green aboard or the result of capsize.
Unless cost is a major issue I would recommend that you fit the second one. But if cost is a major issue then go ahead and repair the hole, and make do with the one.
Oliver
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