Michael  – Is your problem how long should the tails be?  I set my maimsheet so that when close hauled fully sheeted and with kicker full on the point where the tails come out of the single part of the mainsheet is just at the exit of the boom end block.  Make sure when you tie off the split tails to the stern quarters that they are the same length, to check this lay the mainsheet and the tails flat on the stern deck and the split point must be on the centre line of the boat.

Hope that helps if not what you want ask again

Hi having owned 4 Series1 wooden GPs I have on several occasions needed to make repairs to hulls, fortunately not due to rot just after accidents.  When replacing hull ply wood I always cut back any damage to the nearest frame or stringer if possible, this gives a clean support for the new plywood and if the inside is still varnished the new piece is less obvious.  If a frame or stringer is not easy to cut to, as if damage forward of the buoyancy tank bulkhead, if still in place, damage is cut out to a pre cut piece of ply and the inside of the prepared hole is backed with support pieces for the patch.

i have also replaced the bow section forward of frame 1 following the ply being damaged by a fire.  After cutting the old ply out to the frame, keel and stringer, I managed to fit a new piece of ply to the correct curves! A bit of persuasion was needed in the form of two struts from the adjacent garage wall to hold the new piece in place until the epoxy set.  A bit of careful filling and sanding resulted in a repair that can not be seen.
No need for scarf joints simple but joints with supports for the edges will always work with some filler.  Always coat ply with an epoxy coating to ensure long life.  My last Series 1 boat (13003) was epoxy coated inside and out when new and is still down to or below the minimum class weight.

A difficult question to answer as there is no standard set up.  With one of the GRP boats by Speed, SP or Winder find one in your local club dinghy park and copy what you find.  Much the same for a wooden boat either Series 1 or 2 look at one or more other boats.  Normally a shock cord running across the boat through an eye on each side stringer with a block tied to each end of the shock cord, the down haul is threaded through the blocks in turn, then through a block on the mast step, then to a cleat where ever you want in the boat.

Hi,

Another reason for having the hatches is to ensure that on hot days the expanding air in the tanks will pressurise the tanks can result in failures of joints.  When leaving a boat one should remove one hatch in each tank to prevent any build up of pressure.

Steve

Hi,  Having used HyField leavers on a number of older GPs and had a few near misses with fingers when releasing the tension I would suggest that using a muscle box rather than the Hyfield is safer and is jus as easy to set up the tail from the muscle box can be cleated off on the mast.  If planning to use a wire halyard it is normal to exit from the back of the mast above the leaver, if you use a low stretch (Dynema or Spectra) rope this can be lead up to the leaver or muscle box from the normal sheave at the bottom of the mast.  The problem with this will be how to have a loop that will pass through the sheave box.

Preference use a wire halyard, muscle box with hook at top, exit for wire halyard and rope tail from hole in back of mast (if an internal halyard Super Spars or Proctor mast) or if an old IYE gold mast with the halyard in the sail track – open up the track so that the halyard can exit above the hook, take the tensioning rope to a Clamcleat fixed to the mast below the muscle box.

I use a hand swaging tool, two pieces of steel with bolts to clamp the ferule around the wire,  it has 3 or 4 different size holes for the normal wire / ferule sizes.  End results are not as neat as the professionally swaged wire but never had one fail and as it is portable has been useful for running repairs when travelling to Open Mtgs etc.  Copper ferules and hard eyes available on eBay.

Hi,

Taking this in easy steps,

R W Davies was a boat builder and repairer based in Westcliff on Sea, Essex.  His son Ray sailed a wooden GP at Leigh on Sea Sailing Club late 1960’s to early 1970’s now lives near Brightlingsea, but he never did any serious work in the family boat yard.

I didnt ever remember RWD moulding GPs I think they bought part finished hulls from Thames Marine on Canvey Island and finished them.

Do the side bouyancy tanks run full way to the transom? that would be Mk2, or do they stop just before the stern deck? with a full width tank under the stern deck? which would be Mk1.

If there is registered number it will be on a plate mould or fixed to the inside of the keel just aft of the plate case, will be beneath any floor boards.  The number 8866 would be correct for an early MK2 GRP hull.

When you open up the transom flap holes you will need new hinged flaps – perspex or other stiff plastic and shockcord to hold shut.

Hope that helps

Steve GP14197

Hi,

For the main halyard dont bother with wire use Spectra or similar make off on to a standard wrap around cleat.  Genoa Halyard must be wire with a rope tail spliced if a 3 plat rope or overlap and sew to make a loop.  For the kicker again ditch the wire and use Spectra or Dynema core rope, if you are using a cascade system the rope can be simply tied to the blocks and the mast loop with bowline knots – it is just a matter of setting lengths with the mast and boom in the boat.  For other kicker systems such as a lever – use wire between lever , boom and mast; or multi sheeve blocks Spectra or Dynema.

You say you have an old gold IYE mast – make sure the mast is free from corrosion main areas where these masts suffered are around the genoa sheave box, the spinnaker sheave box / some had tube to lead halyard to the mainsail track rather than having the halyard inside the main tube part of the mast, also if spreaders are fitted check the areas around the spreader bracket, as these were often fitted after the mast left IYE anti corrosion paste was normally used.  To clean the mast I would use a pressure washer, followed by a car body cleaner T-Cut or similar and finally a good coat of wax polish.

Steve Corbet