Check your rigging !!!

Here’s a really good reason to pull your mast out and check your rigging over before we really get summer sailing going.
Recently we have had a couple of mast issues, mainly around the standing rigging.
After the loss of a mast due to a shroud failure in Sydney, we have had the insurance angle brought home to us with a decline to pay out, due to age of rigging. A number of insurers will not pay out if your rigging is over 7 years old. This becomes an expensive exercise to replace a lost mast.
Just this week we have had a broken lower shroud in Melbourne, happily not resulting in a broken mast. Upon replacing the shroud it was found that the other lower was also on the verge of breaking – That’s the pic above.
The message in this pic is very clear and this T Ball fitting was on the verge of potentially losing another mast.
So now is a really good time to check your rigging and replace it if it is over 7 years old.

Simon

Winch Fixes

Recently Brendan Lee discovered the joys of servicing winches, a good thing to do and I recommend it’s something all owners should do twice a year, doesn’t take a lot of time if you do it regulary. But woe betide anyone that forgets to do this at all. Winches are full of moving parts, hopefully some winch grease and some small but very important springs and palls (those are the things that make the clicking noise when you spin them)

If your winches aren’t making this important sound, or seem to have no noise at all, too much play in the drum or worse still don’t go round very well at all, then you have a problem you need to get on to – immediately.

If you don’t then you’ll have a problem like Brendan just found, some bits not going round at all, one bit stuck inside another so hard that force, freezing and heat wouldn’t budge it. Result – frustration and the need to go and buy a new one at $600+ each.

Lucky for Brendan, he has found another answer and he has had the winch fixed for just $35. Not saying that this is all you have to pay if you have a problem, but the answer for owners of Barlow Barient winches and others is a company in Sydney that we are very happy to promote, THE AUSTRALIAN YACHT WINCH CO, also known as HUTTON WINCHES I believe.  Chances are this company will be able to service/fix your winch for a fraction of the cost of buying new winches.

I have bought winch bearings from them previously and they have a very quick and reliable buy and mail out service.

Their full details are:

THE AUSTRALIAN YACHT WINCH (SALES) PTY. LTD.
4 Narang Place
St Marys N.S.W. 2760 Australia
Phone: +61 2 9623 2448
Fax: +61 2 9623 2265
Email: winches@attglobal.net
Website: www.huttonwinches.com

Keel Bolt Maintenance Bulletin

Check your keel bolts

Peter Stevens is our National Measurer and our representative on the ITC (International Technical Committee), this is a maintenance bulletin from him for us all to take careful note of.

There aren’t many maintenance areas that are more important, or more often overlooked than keel bolts. This is true for every boat, but particularly so for J/22s, J/24s and J/80s, all of which routinely hoist the boats in and out of the water using the bolts.

Failure of any keel bolt is bad, but most bolts are part of a massively redundant system, where the failure of any one bolt is rarely immediately catastrophic.  For boats that are hoisted, the failure of a bolt holding the lifting gear can be catastrophic and has the potential to lead to the loss of the boat, or much, much worse.

While this article is being distributed to USWatercraft and J/Boats customers, it applies to virtually all production boats, regardless of builder or brand.  If they use Stainless Steel keelboats and most of them do, it applies. Feel free to pass it along to your friends and fellow boat owners.  It’s pretty important.

Since they live in the bilge, keel bolts can fall into the category of “out of sight, out of mind”. It is because they live in the bilge that they need routine care and attention.

J/22 keels are made using 316 Stainless Steel threaded rod, which is cast into the lead. The nuts, washers and lifting bar are made using 304 Stainless and are then electro polished. This has been the industry standard for many years, and has provided many years of service life.

Stainless Steel is corrosion resistant, not corrosion proof

The basic resistance of stainless steel occurs because of its ability to form a protective coating on the metal surface. This coating is a “passive” film, which resists further “oxidation” or rusting. The formation of this film is instantaneous in an oxidizing atmosphere such as air, water, or other fluids that contain oxygen. Once the layer has formed, we say that the metal has become “passivated” and the oxidation or “rusting” rate will slow down to less than 0.002″ per year (0,05 mm. per year).

Unlike aluminum or silver this passive film is invisible in stainless steel. It’s created when oxygen combines with the chrome in the stainless to form chrome oxide, which is more commonly called “ceramic”. This protective oxide or ceramic coating is common to most corrosion resistant materials. Unfortunately Halogen salts, especially chlorides easily penetrate this passive film and will allow corrosive attack to occur.

CONCENTRATED CELL OR CREVICE CORROSION

This corrosion is common between nut and bolt surfaces. Salt water applications are a severe problem because of the salt water’s low PH and its high chloride content. Here is the mechanism:

•     Chlorides pit the passivated stainless steel surface.

•     The low PH salt water attacks the active layer that is exposed.

•     The absence of oxygen inhibits the re-forming of the passive layer.

These three factors work together in a vicious cycle, repeatedly attacking the same small area.  If the metal is under tensile stress- like from an over torqued keel bolt nut, the pit formed can transform itself into a crack.  When a crack forms the process repeats and accelerates as the surface area of the ‘active’ layer is now much larger.

Prevention is the best cure

The best way to prevent corrosion is to keep salt away from your bolts.  The best way to do that is to keep your bilge clean and dry.  We’ve designed our interiors to be easily washed down. Take advantage of this.  At the end of the day, when you hose off your deck hardware, stick the hose down the companionway and blast out the bilge and bolts. Pump and sponge dry and leave the floorboard off when you leave.  Not only will this protect your keel bolts from corrosion, it will prevent mildew and keep your interior looking and smelling fresh.

Important note! Avoid using any cleaning products containing chlorine.  Chlorides are just what we are avoiding.  Read the label.  Clorox, Comet, and Fantastic are all products that while good for most stuff are bad for this application.  Check the label.

Annual Maintenance

Checking your keel bolts should be part of your annual maintenance plan.  Working one bolt at a time, remove the nut and washer and clean the threads with a small nylon or brass brush or scotch brite.  Do not use a steel wire brush, as this can lead to other corrosion issues not covered here!  Check for signs of rust.  If everything looks good, use a generous coating of anti-galling compound and re-torque the nut. Most J/22 keel bolts are 5/8

Keel Bolt Torque Table

Bolt Diameter Torque Nm Torque Ft/Lb
1/2″ 26.0 19.2
5/8″ 66.0 48.7
3/4″ 130.0 95.9
7/8″ 190.0 140.1

This Table is derived from information in Table A7 from ISO/DIS 12215-9.2. These values are for well greased threads. Friction in the screw and under the bolt head makes up approximately 90% of the tightening torque and approximately 10% contributes to prestressing of the bolt. The user is cautioned to use good judgment in applying these values.

Tip- If you can pull in your mainsheet, you probably don’t need a big breaker bar to torque your nuts.  Over-torqueing is extremely bad.  Particularly on the bolts holding your lifting rig, under-torqueing is equally bad.  If the nut is loose enough to allow movement in the bar, the bolt can be loaded unequally, leading to tension stress on one side of the bolt.

While you are there

Since you are spending some time with your bilge anyway, this is a good time to give the rest of your lifting gear a good look over.  Check your sling for any signs of wear; fraying, cuts, abrasions and the like.  Your sling should look essentially new.

If you use a shackle in your system, check it too.  If it is bent, rusted or shows signs of wear, just replace it.  A new sling costs around 50 bucks and a shackle around 9 bucks.  It is the cheapest peace of mind available.

If you think you find a problem

If you find or suspect you have problems beyond a good cleanup you should contact a marine surveyor who can inspect and report findings. Your surveyor will have the specialized knowledge and tools to give you an informed recommendation.

Additional Resources

Lots of info on Stainless http://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1177#_Background

Recommended Anti-Galling compound

Loctite(R) Marine Grade Anti-Seize  available @ Amazon and a gajillion other places

http://www.amazon.com/16-Oz-Marine-Grade-Anti-seize/dp/B0042T5MS0/ref=pd_sbs_indust_4

V-berths and vermiculite

This article was originally written and published in the International J/24 Magazine in 2003. During the writing of that article an option occurred to me that I included in the article as an option. Since then, it has become clear to me that the option is really the best way to do the job, so it is the only way presented here.

Background – Some years back, J-Boats Italy introduced a new hull liner that effectively sealed in the v-berth area and the lazarettes to reduce the accessible interior space in the boat which in turn, reduced the tax that is assessed in Italy based on the internal volume of a boat. Additional benefits of this liner were added buoyancy and some cost savings. When US Watercraft took over production of J/24’s in the US, they added this feature for a cleaner look inside as well as the buoyancy and cost savings

To convert older TPI boats to take advantage of the buoyancy benefits gained here only takes the addition of three panels, a little fiberglass work, three inspection ports and lots of sealant. The conversion as described here, adds about 325 kg. (715 lb.) of buoyancy.

Read more

Get out and revamp your old boat, it's worth it!

One of the huge benefits of sailing a windward leeward course is, it evens out the boats.

At the 2006 Melbourne World Championships, many of the top performers were boats with a minimum age of 15 years. None was more noticeable than Mike Ingham who shipped a 20 year old J out from America, whilst not in the top 3, his top 5 finish was excellent. He then went on to come second at the 2007 Worlds in Mexico in the same boat.
At the 2009 J Worlds in Sardinia last year, the majority of the fleet were boats 10 years+, just with new rigs and fast as ever.

Since then in Melbourne we have seen older J’s revamped and now competing at the front of the fleet. Ron Thompson’s AUS 1324 “Kicking Bottom” ( 20+ years old) has won several races at the beginning of the season, and Micheal Lewenhagen has just put AUS 1687 “Excite your Senses”, back in the water after a major rebuild.
In addition, 3 boats have new rigs and 2 have upgraded 2nd hand rigs. The end result of all of this effort, is improved performance across the fleet.
This was driven home when the J fleet sailed in the Audi Victoria Week at Geelong. Out of the 4 races that weekend the J’s got line honours in 3 and a 2nd in the 4th. A fantastic effort out of 50+ boats all of whom were bigger. In past years the S80 design yachts would have sailed past the J’s, this year, none of the 10 S80’s beat a J24 for line honours!
In South Australia several owners have revamped old J’s. Some of these boats were past Australian champions, were cheap to buy, cheap to clean up and revamp and are now sailing at the front of the national fleet again.

J24’s in Australia, can be brought up to race speed with a minimum of effort and experience. With the racing opportunities now offered, the excuse that your boat is no longer competitive no longer holds water. There are around 200 J24’s in Australia and most can be revamped into a competitive boat.

Over the next few months I will be listing hints on how to get old J’s fast, by reducing weight and getting rid of the huge amounts of junk found down stairs.

So, to all the owners of J’s not currently being used because of a notion that they’re no longer competitive, get out there and fix them up and see how quick they still can be.  Just maybe, your boat may have been one that started a legend…. and …. one that could start another.

A revamped active fleet maintains the investment we all have in our boats, increases the enjoyment and interest in the class.

So get the spanners out, find the screw driver and start taking off all that old crap.

Hugo, Vice Versa.

Fixing a Rudder

I understand somebody trashed a rudder and it needs to be repaired. Go to the Mr Fix It page for an answer.

How do I fix it?

Hi everyone, we have a new page on the site “Mr Fix It”. It will be a page giving tips on how to repair and maintain a J24. If you wish me to discuss any topics please ask and I will post the answers for the benefit of the whole group.

Pete.

contact me on peter@austeknis.com or www.hiyachtracing.com