Tuesday 7 November 2017

Various tasks, and progress

Saturday past we got the engine aligned and permanently bolted in, bolted up the coupling to the drive shaft, connected the gearbox, throttle, and stop control cables, the exhaust and the major wiring, and used the key to spin it over.  All good so far!

Next we need some fuel and sea water delivery sorted, and the rest of the wiring, and we'll have a working power unit.




Other tasks are progressing in parallel.

New upholstery:


New cabin top grab rails (the old ones are jarrah and splitting, the new ones Burmese teak):











Monday 30 October 2017

Tiller and Bridle or Horse

This set-up is a problem.  Originally, well, recently anyway, Fair Maid had a traveler in the cockpit for the main sheet.  That has been removed, and somebody fitted a rope bridle instead.  It's annoying and puts the mainsheet block at somewhere near head height as she swings across...

We need to come up with a new solution...





Sailing, Monday Oct. 30:






Tuesday 24 October 2017

Engine in

Saturday afternoon we drew Fair Maid over beside the club jetty and swung the new motor over, using the boom as a gantry, and lowered it into the engine room.  We fitted two bolts to the engine mounts, then knocked off at that point and went for a sail.







The next step is to hook everything up:  Wiring, fuel, exhaust, sea water.  Lots to do...

Actually, there are many different and vital systems on a yacht, a surprising multiplicity.

1.  Rigging and sails
2.  Motor and propeller, including cooling, fuel, exhaust, mechanical controls (gear and engine stop), starting, gauges, and charging.
3.  Steering
4.  Anchor, lines, bollards, fenders, etc.
5.  Safety, including EPIRB, life-ring, life-jackets, marine radio(s)
6.  Battery charging (via alternator, solar, and shore-power)
7.  House power and lighting
8.  Navigation lights
9.  Head (i.e toilet)
10.  Galley, including stove, icebox or fridge, and sink
11.  Bilge pump(s) including automatic level switches
12.  Depth, speed, and GPS location indicators
13.  Navigation, including compass(es), charts (electronic and/or paper), etc.
14.  Cushions and other creature comforts.

All of this requires addressing on Fair Maid.  Much of it is present, some of it in poor condition, and some of it entirely absent.  Over time we intend on putting everything into good order, and making her as seaworthy and as pretty as she has ever been.

Sunday 22 October 2017

Sailing...

Fair Maid sails nearly every week on the Swan River Estuary.  Being engine-less for the time being, we are sailing her off and onto her swing mooring, which is only 10 metres or so from a mud bank hazard, making for a real challenge to navigation.  So far we've been aground on the mud twice, once kedging her off, and the other time being towed by a yacht club rescue boat.  All in all slightly embarrassing, but considering the degree of difficulty and our unfamiliarity with the boat, I think we've done OK.

The allure of sailing is difficult to describe to the uninitiated.  It combines many elements, all of which are fabulous: being on the water, isolated from the hard, solid, daily world; no mechanical noise at all, no fuel or oil smell either, just salt in the nostrils making one feel clean and invigorated; the power of the wind, which until it is experienced as it is on a yacht, is either unnoticed or only seen as destructive; the aesthetics of a sailing craft, which are beyond compare; the feeling of liberty which is comparable to flying; the sheer joy of the whole experience, the senses filled with sweet, gentle, things.

The following are some sailing pictures, illustrating the beauty of this part of the world and the serenity and attractiveness of sailing.











A couple of weeks ago the Duyfken passed us running her engine...




And Saturday (Oct. 21, 2017) our twilight sail turned into a half hour of magic towards the end, as the breeze dropped to a whisper and the sunset exploded into liquid gold, with a spectacular, almost mystical, counter-glow in the East, with a huge double rainbow over the City of Perth filled in with pink.  I cannot recall a more beautiful evening.








Thursday 28 September 2017

Motor progress

The new motor is a Kubota D850 three-cylinder diesel, marinised by Westerbeke as the Universal M25.

The first task was to strip it and assess the condition.  The rings were seized in the ring lands in the pistons, and there was therefore no compression.  A full rebuild was in order.  The bores were excellent, hardly worn at all, which is typical of leisure marine engines - they hardly do any hours.  Corrosion and neglect kill them, not wear.  A full set of main and big-end bearings, rings, gaskets, as well as new injectors and glow plugs, were fitted.







Fair Maid, like most leisure craft, has a "wet" exhaust.  This means that cooling water is injected into the engine exhaust and leaves the boat with the exhaust gases.  The exhaust system is therefore "cool" (relatively, anyway) and is not a fire hazard.  The Westerbeke/Universal engine has a coolant header tank which envelops the engine exhaust manifold, and at the exit of this assembly the sea water is directed into the exhaust itself via the tube atop this green exhaust elbow.  This elbow is actually a Volvo Penta unit adapted for the task. 



New engine mounts were fabricated, using the old engine as a template, so that the new engine mounts would "land" in exactly the same place in the boat, simplifying and speeding up the installation.







First start:


Some paint:





The next step was to procure a heat exchanger and mount that to the motor.  The old Volvo Penta MD7A was raw water cooled, meaning that fresh water (sea or river) is taken into the cooling jacket, circulated, and then expelled through the wet exhaust.  The new motor is coolant-cooled, meaning the raw water does not touch the engine, but instead is taken in via a sea-cock, pumped through a heat exchanger, then expelled via the wet exhaust.  This is a much superior system, in that the engine is not subject to salty water and the resultant corrosion.  Instead, the engine is cooled by normal anti-freeze and corrosion-inhibiting coolant, and the sea water cools the coolant via the heat exchanger.

Here is the heat exchanger being mounted.  The approach was to mount everything together to create an engine/transmission/heat exchanger "package" to reduce installation difficulty and time.  Ideally we will be able to drop the package into the boat and simply hook everything up.




Wednesday 9 August 2017

Tuesday 8 August 2017

Design profile

Fair Maid was built in 1951, and a sister ship was built shortly afterwards, named Santa Maria.

This is from The West Australian newspaper, Tue 16 Feb 1954:


Santa Maria, the Bermudian sloop which won the Fremantle to Bunbury and return yacht race last weekend, was specially designed in New Zealand for fast ocean cruising in moderate to heavy weather.

For handicap purposes in the race her time correction factor was computed at 0.660. T.C.F. is a working rate based on the time the sloop takes to cover a nautical mile.

In addition to the sails shown in the silhouette of Santa Maria (above) the yacht carried a Genoa jib (150 sq. ft.) and a small parachute spinnaker (450 sq. ft).  The cabin is roomy and deep, providing full head room.

Eric Cox, Fair Maid's designer

The following reply arrived this morning from the NZ Maritime Museum:


Hi John,

Thanks for your enquiry. While we don’t have any plans or other collection items relating to Eric Cox’s designs, I have managed to track down what may be the original article, see attached. There was an article by H. E. Cox in an issue from April 1949, but it was for an 18 footer, so I wonder if this article from 1951 is the one you were looking for? Aside from these two, there were no other articles by or about a Cox design in the 1949-50 issues.

Sea Spray 15 June 1951 v. 6 no. 7 pp. 12-15

The fee for answering this request is $NZ15.00. The payment can be made by credit card on the Museum website at:www.maritimemuseum.co.nz/library-research-fee.

Best regards
Danielle


Danielle Carter
Archives & Library Manager
Bill Laxon Maritime Library
New Zealand Maritime Museum

PO Box 3141, Auckland 1140, New Zealand
Corner Quay & Hobson Streets, Viaduct Harbour, Auckland
DDI: +64 9 373 0810  
www.maritimemuseum.co.nz

From: John
Sent: Monday, 7 August 2017 3:55 p.m.
To: NZ Maritime Museum Info <info@maritimemuseum.co.nz>
Subject: Information request

Good afternoon,

I am researching the history of my yacht, which was designed by Eric Cox of Christchurch and built in Cottesloe Western Australia in 1951.  The original owner's son is now 86, and he recalls that his father saw the design featured in Sea Spray magazine and decided to purchase the plans from Cox.  The magazine would have been circa 1949-1950, and the yacht is a 30 footer (perhaps a 32 footer with rig extensions) with a waterline length of 25'.  Would you have old issues of Sea Spray magazine, or any of Eric Cox's plans or other paraphernalia in your collection?

I called Sea Spray magazine's current number but it's disconnected.

________________________________________________________

Unfortunately, this is not the design that Fair Maid was built to, so the search continues.

Monday 7 August 2017

History

Fair Maid was built by Johansen in Cottesloe, and launched in 1951. The man who commissioned her was David Lesslie, a Scot from Dundee, hence the name Fair Maid, a reference to Sir Walter Scott's Waverley novel, Fair Maid of Perth. I like that, cultured yet subtle. David saw the design featured in Sea Spray magazine, and purchased the plans from Eric Cox of Christchurch NZ. In '52 and '53 she participated in the annual Fremantle-Bunbury and return race. I suspect that winning it was David Lesslie's dream, but sadly not to be fulfilled.

David suffered a heart attack a few years after launching the little lady, remained ill, ceased sailing, and his son John (21 when she was launched, now 86 and going strong, a real gentleman) sailed her in the next Fremantle-Bunbury and return race. David died and the family disposed of the boat. I have yet to discover the next owner, but so far we know the following (this is a State Library summary of a discussion I had with them asking for information):

Confirmation of receipt of Question submitted to WA State Library:
I am looking for photographs on the 30-foot Yacht "Fair Maid", which was launched in 1951 and has been sailed and owned by a number of people since including David Leslie, Governor Sir Wallace Kyle's brother, Dr. Barry Hopkins and the lawyer Peter Kyle. A colour photograph was published on the front page of the Western Mail on 17th December 1953 and I would like to find the original of this image or any others of the yacht that may be available.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/3686516

The Trove link is to the Western mail front page, a magnificent photo!

Peter Kyle is the son of Sir Wallace Kyle, but he sailed Fair Maid with his uncle (his father's brother), who owned her. Dr. Barry Hopkins is a famous cardiologist, who cared for Lang Hancock of Iron Ore fame for many years. Another previous owner is litigation specialist Terry Clavey, and prior to him John Gaunt (and in partnership for a period, Bill Perry), and also Errol Bristow, a retired Police sergeant. Terry told me that if we sail Fair Maid to Rottnest or somewhere where there are lots of boaties, somebody will ask, "Is that Fair Maid?" as she is so well known here. Terry acquired Fair Maid in 2006 and owned her until 2016. The next owner was Johan Grobler, and I acquired her from him.

The ownership history so far, in somewhat doubtful order:

David Lesslie:  1951 - circa 1955
Colin Harry Edwards, of Nedlands, Manager.
Kenneth Joseph Reagon, of Perth, Manager.
Thelma Joy Reagon, of Perth, Widow.
John C Martin, of Cottesloe, Barrister.
Eric W Kyle, of Dalkeith, Surgeon.
Robert Sinclair Ryding, of Perth, Manager.
Anthony John Clarke, of Maylands, Manager.
Dr. Barry Hopkins:
John Gaunt (and Bill Perry): circa 1985 to 1996
Cameron Crevola 1996-99
Errol Bristow
Terry Clavey and Allison Wheatley: 2006-Jan. 2016
Johan Grobler: Jan. 2016-July 2017

Wednesday 2 August 2017

"New" Engine

The new engine has arrived.  It doesn't look very new right now!



First we'll give it a service, then run it up on the bench, and test everything.  If necessary, we'll overhaul it.  This motor is a marinised Kubota tractor engine, and the parts are very available and very inexpensive.  The Volvo Penta MD7A parts are made of unobtainium, and plated with gold.  An example:  Injectors are $400 each.  The Kubota injectors are less than $50 each.

Happy days!

Cleaning...

When a boat with an engine tries to sink, or succeeds in doing so, if the water is pumped out quickly the damage can be minimal.  In the case of Fair Maid, the damage was limited to water in the engine (which was not, unfortunately, removed until eight months later, when we pulled the motor out of the boat), some lost electronics, and oil and diesel spread throughout the hull, soiling everything.  The previous owner seems to have cleaned a lot of this oily film off the cabin interior, because it's pretty good, but the spare sails (6 or 8 of them in bags) are all brown and oily, and the bilges and harder to reach parts of the hull were filthy.

Here are some photos.  This first image is the bilge, with the cabin sole (flooring) removed.



And again:


The oil and diesel in the water and coating the woodwork is evident.  One of our first jobs was to get rid of all of this mess.  We made a start last Saturday.

This is the same cabin bilge area after cleaning with lots of dishwashing liquid and a banister brush.  The limber holes (drain holes allowing water to flow along from section to section, so that it can reach the bilge pumps to be gotten rid of) were blocked, so we cleared those.




Likewise looking to the stern, under the cockpit, behind the engine room.


That grey cloth remains from the near-sinking, and lies where it settled as the water level fell when Fremantle Sea Rescue pumped her dry.

All wooden boats leak to some degree, and require either frequent hand pumping (at least weekly) or an automatic bilge pump to be fitted and working (with a float switch).  Fair Maid's automatic bilge pump had failed last week some time, so we replaced it.

We checked Sunday (and went for a sail) and the bilges were dry, so everything is now working and the result is gratifying.