Below the waterline restoration

[PeteW]

The haulout is scheduled and  I will have a week at the ship yard to complete the  below the waterline restoration. This work will include qty 3  1- 1/2" bronze thru hulls, qty 2 3/4" raw water thru hulls, a new strut, prop, packing gland and shaft log hose as well as a new bronze raymarine speed transducer. The rudder and its gudgeons are TBD.

So I bought a new bronze strut from Rudy up at DRmarnne.  The strut is offset about 2" to starboard and angled to starboard as well. That seems to be how the shaft will clear the skeg which up until know I was unsure about. All I can think is with the angle to starboard combined with a LH prop means that there is now way to ever think you can back this boat to port? Am I right on this? ( LH prop angled to port would have seemed a better compromise in the design stage)

Ed's pictures seemed to show the strut buried in glass, meaning it will need to be chopped out. My strut bolts are quite accessible below the oil pan on the Wetsebeke w58 which sits very high. ( my engines rocker cover is up against the mizzen bulkhead)
I would have expected to see some substantial backing plates on these nuts inside the hull but there is not even washers. I will improve on that.

The raw water intakes appear to be thru-hulls with the nuts glassed in. Very old school. These will come out and bronze flange mount valves installed. I am not sure how thick the hull is in these location which are near the keel. I have 2 1/2" long thru hulls. The bronze screen scoops are separate and will go over the thru hulls after they get tightened.

I hope to have all the correct pieces ready to go as time will be money on this job. Please feel free to chime in if you think I overlooked something.

When launched, we will rename her and pour some champagne into San Diego bay to appease the Gods. I hope by then all the demons will be cast off from this ship. Photos to follow.

Pete W,  Pearson 365 Ketch, Hull#6

[Dale Tanski]

Pete,

As for the offset prop shaft to starboard and the LH prop rotation not allowing the boat to back to port, yes but no.  The offset and the rotation factor are designed to overcome the prop walk while moving forward.  Both help keep the boat tracking straight while doing so.

When in reverse, both negatively restrict your ability to initially back straight let alone to port.  Once there is some hull speed and the rudder becomes more and more effective, the adverse effects dissipate.  Under heavy power however backing up while making a left turn is pretty much impossible.  There are good and bad to come out of this.  I slowly power into the slip at a slight angle bow in and use the reverse thrust both to stop the boat and bring the stern into the dock.  It works wonderfull as long as you know how the boat handles.  To leave I shove the stern away from the dock, putting the boat at an angle and when I put it into reverse the prop walk brings the boat slowly back to a straight line.

You have a very ambitious week ahead of you, good luck! Let us know how you made out.

Dale

[PeteW]

Dale,

It sounds as if making enough sternway to back to port requires a bit of nerve, especially if you are in tight quarters. After some practice I'm sure it reasonably accomplished. Perhaps allowing the boat to spin 270 degrees to port with reverse and forward thrust might be easier. In this case I'm assuming the wheel is turned to port to direct the forward thrust.

I now understand the concept you describe of directing the starboard bow toward the dock and using reverse prop to reduce headway and simultaneously walk the stern in. If my memory is correct this the exact docking maneuver employed in the movie "Captain Ron". (one of my favorites)

Haulout is May 6. I have until then to re-install the rebuilt fresh water cooling system and pressure test it for leaks. Other than that the motor starts. I needed new glow plugs, NGKs I crossed and bought from an on-line auto parts store in the UK for 1/4 the westerbeke price.   It runs smoothly even though I  had low compression in #4. I pray I don't need a head gasket right now.

Thanks for all the sage advise you offer.

Pete

Pearson 365 Ketch,  old neglected Hull #6

[S/V Deo Volente]

Dale has it right, I always like to say it always backs to starboard unless you really need it to, then it will back to port. Actually I find the bow will blow off, downwind so with a good breeze on the port side it will back to port. I have found it to be fairly predictable.

[Dale Tanski]

We have a bit of real estate behind us, that being said the proper way to exit our slip is to back to port (a left turn in reverse) and go.  On several occasions (usually with company aboard) I have had to employ the 270 degree method myself.  I prefer to think of it as creative seamanship!

Despite the issues the boat has while backing, the fact it will cozy to a starboard finger or seawall when powered in reverse is a huge plus. 

Dale

[slokat]

When we first bought Wind Tamer I had exactly 41 feet behind the slip to back out....  not knowing the tendencies of the 365 design , my first try ended up being a 270 degree pirouette. Some panic & expletives were involved.

(I spent an hour in the LA harbor channel practicing backing after that, everybody watching in the marina must have thought I was insane).

Later we were in a slip in Morro Bay that was perpendicular to the prevailing tide surge with a 1000 feet of back up. Still got exciting not tangling with our neighbors davit mounted solar panels, until we realized the easiest way to back up.

Start the diesel, warm it up, leave it in neutral with rudder locked straight. Untie lines, push her backwards and jump on.  Momentum would take us far enough out of the slip to shift to forward, take a turn and pilot away.

That was the easiest method with just my wife and I, if we had crew for the day I would oversee this process from the helm.

Currently we are on a mooring, so unhook and go is greatly simplified.

[PeteW]

Hello all,

Been living in a shipyard for a week. It's a commercial ship yard with Navy craft and a large number of humongo ships that would crush a 365 like a bug. There is also a train that comes through the yard every moning at 2:45 AM. And yes they blow the horn.

I've replaced all the thru-hull valves with modern bronze flange mount units. My hired help who has worked in the marine evironment for many years balked at these valves. His old-school approach (IMO) is in-line valves.  Says this is the only way to go because when the valve fails you can unscrew it and put on a new one without a haul-out. We agreed to disagree on this one.

Much to his dissatisfaction I bolted them in also. Bronze bolts, thru the hull, countersunk and glassed over the heads.  The backing plates where pre installed  with thickend expoxy. The rest went down with 5200.




Other intersting finds: This boat had a 18" X 15" pitch 3 blade prop. I did the math and found a 17 x15 on Ebay for $150 to replace it. Beleive this to be the correct prop when you have 58 HP.  The twisty 1 1/8 shaft does worry me. Sizing up to 1 1/4 was problematic.


Pete W  365 # 6

[Dale Tanski]

Pete,

The valve looks great.  Nice installation.  If I have to replace I will go this route.  Thanks for the info.

Dale

[PeteW]

Nothing like a launching to produce a high level of anxiety. 5 weeks at the ship yard and everything that I did to all the holes in the bottom of that boat are replaying over and over in my head. But its done and the travel lift crawls for what seems like an eternity toward the water and in she goes. Once in the water I scramble on board to examine every new thru-hull, transducer and stuffing box. If the boat has to come back out I will pay dearly in cost and reputation and the  entire staff of this shipyard is watching for my thumbs up. It wont matter that they saw me and Craig carrying 2 cases of Budweiser into the break room. But that did get me moved up by 3 boats. Its Friday and these guys are humping. I'm now up on deck, she is good so I start the engine and drop it in gear.

I have to add a plug here for Knight and Carver Yacht Center in National City CA. Totally professional staff and the folks in the front office were great to deal with. I paid the bill, it was exactly as quoted and the hull looked like a new boat. And I could have never got in and out of this yard without the help of Craig Coleman, of Craig's Marine (619)581-0183. He did the re-prop work and also greased all the skids in the yard for me.



This kind of work requires a professional yard with scaffolding to tent the job. Plus if you breath any of this stuff you die. Here is a short list of what went into restoring the gelcoat finish:

2 gallons Epoxy Primer, 2 qt epoxy reducer, 2pt AWL Catalyst, 1 qt slow reducer, 1 qt spray retardant (not allowed in Orange or Ventura county), 1 gallon Allgrip Matterhorn White, 1 qt royal blue Allgrip for boot stripe. That's about $1000 worth of paint. The final new finish was around 1/4" thick.

Here's more pictures of the thruhull work that was also done.


These plywood backing plates were sealed with varnish and put down with West System Epoxy thickened with microfiber to about the consistency of peanut butter. This layer of structural epoxy bonds the flat plate to the curved hull. Dry fitting is a must before appplying the 5200 inside and out an cranking it down. That is a 2 man job for sure.


Here's the prop I got for cheap on E-bay. Its a 17" x 15" LH prop. The shaft ,cutlass bearing and stuffing box assy are new.  With 58 Hp, the Pearson 365 throws a little rooster tail and I feel acceleration from a standing start when I throttle up.  I motor out into open water and head home.

Now onto that much needed above-the-waterline restoration.

Pete W, Restoring Pearson 365 Ketch  Hull #6