New owner

[Rudderly Confused]

Hello All,

I've been a member of the site for a few months now, but as of today I am officially a 365 owner.  She is a 1978 365 ketch, #189 if I read the HIN correctly, soon to be renamed Valhalla.  The boat will remain up in Maine for the winter, and after some work by the yard and myself between now and next Spring, I'll sail it back to NY, and then hopefully to the west coast of FL at the end of next season, coinciding with my retirement. 

I appreciate the knowledge of all the participants here, and I've already read and learned a lot about what I've gotten myself into.  Lots of work ahead, but I'm really looking forward to it!

Chuck

[Dale Tanski]

Welcome aboard Chuck. 
Never hesitate to ask.

Dale Tanski
Maruska

[#23]

welcome to the forum 

[jpendoley]

Chuck,
Welcome aboard! I'm a new owner too, this site has been a wealth of knowledge and the folks are great.  What can you tell us about the condition of the boat? any pictures?
Jim

[Rudderly Confused]

Thanks Jim,
The boat is in generally decent condition, as much as can be expected for 38 year old boat that has been sitting on the hard for the last 3 years.  I generally like to do all boat work myself, but since I'm in NY and the boat is in Maine, the yard will be some work for me, like stripping decades of bottom paint, barrier coating, repainting the bottom, and repairing some core and glass in the main mast area.  I'll be replacing the plastic thru hulls with bronze, adding sea cocks where I have room, replacing just about every hose and most wires in the boat (eventually), cleaning up or replacing the mast step, and generally upgrading most systems over time.  So far I've removed the step and 3 thru hulls, measured everything and ordered replacements.  One oddity is there is a glassed in battery box on each side compartment, toward the aft end of the compartments, for 1 battery each.  Especially on the starboard side, it greatly limits my access to the compartment in general, and the aft deck drain thru hull in particular.  The plan is to cut both those out, glass in a new box for (4) 6 volt batts (house) on the port side, up against the forward bulkhead.  Room permitting, I'll add another box aft of that for the 12 volt start batt.  Plenty of work to do, but I'm retiring in the Spring, and intend to get up to Maine for a few weeks to insure everything is seaworthy, and then sail her back to NY and continue bringing her back to life.

[Sailing_Photog]

Chuck, I am also a new owner of a 1979 sloop and am also Chuck!

I've been spending time down in the lockers.  Mine has two batteries in the forward part of the port locker.  I would suggest checking out the engine access before you move your batteries there.  You need to be able to get to the essential bits and my battery boxes don't make it any easier.

Engine access isn't as easy as I thought it would be.  Just because you can see it, doesn't mean you can reach it!

Chuck Fadely
s/v Shayna
on the hard in CT

[Rudderly Confused]

Thanks Chuck, and congratulations to you too. You bought Shayna?  You must be the guy that beat me to her.  I looked at that boat, called 2 days later to make an offer, and she was gone already.  Congratulations again, I think you got a great price on a well equipped boat.  The only issue (besides being a sloop and not a ketch), that concerned me was the in-mast furling.  I'd be interested to hear how that works out for you.

I will pay attention to engine and maintenance access, I have a pretty good idea what you're talking about.  I haven't actually moved or removed anything permanent yet, but I've made cardboard mock ups of various possible battery layouts to see what fits best.  Right now my main problem is being 400 miles away from the boat, so every project needs detail planning, and back up plans in case the first plan doesn't work.  That will all get easier in the Spring when I can spend a few weeks straight working on it.

Chuck Klima

[Sailing_Photog]

Thanks Chuck, and congratulations to you too. You bought Shayna? 

I bought her as soon as I saw her.  I wonder if you were the guy with the clipboard when I got there? 

Had a survey done and didn't spot any fatal flaws, but if it makes you feel any better, I had to rebuild the v-drive and get a new windlass, both of which cost a lot more than expected ($2k each.) The old windlass was so corroded it took three weekends with increasingly larger gear pullers to get it off. The plumbing and wiring is a mess as well, and I don't know how I'll ever get all the oil out of the bilge. I won't know how the roller furling works until next spring when we launch. I also didn't realize the fancy Lectrasan head treatment system can't be used in Long Island Sound, so will have to replumb the holding tank. 

I'm 2-3 hours from the boat so I've been working on it on weekends.  Most of my time has been spent figuring out what to do, rather than actually doing something. This is my 7th or 8th sailboat but the 365's systems are way more complicated than I'm used to.

Good luck with your new boat!

Chuck

[jpendoley]

Chuck,
I have a hood in mast furler and have come to appreciate it. It makes getting going a bit faster and reefing down is incredibly easy and safer. In 20 knots of breeze the performance loss due to the diminished roach is not noticeable.  I have much greater confidence in winds above twenty then I did with my previous boat which had traditional slab reefing.

[Rudderly Confused]

Chuck F.,

If it was a green clipboard, yeah, that was me.

I have the same issues with the plumbing and wiring, except none with the head system.  That was recently re-done.  I have no windlass, so that is on my list as well.  Apparently there used to be one, but just a little wiring left over from it.  No V-drive issues that I know of yet, transmission was rebuilt a few years ago.  I also had oil in the bilge, but it wasn't as bad as it looked.  I have a garboard drain plug near the bottom aft of the keel, and when I pulled that, I drained about 3 gals of water and only about 1 quart of oil.  Of course the oil was on top of the water, and coated everything in that cavity on the way down, so I have to pull out the bilge pump, hoses, and intake strainers to clean the residue off, and clean the bilge cavity itself.  Not rocket science, just a PITA to reach that far down into the hull.

My last boat was a Cape Dory 25D, and the systems don't see that much more complicated, but the extra room to work on them is a blessing, as far as I'm concerned.

Chuck K.

[P69]

I used this stuff to clean the oil coating from the bilge and hull under/around the engine. It worked really well.

http://www.thepaintstore.com/Zep_Professional_Strength_Industrial_Purple_Cleane_p/zuo856128.htm

Got it at the local, independent auto/marine parts store. Don't know what it is, but wear rubber gloves, it dissolves skin.

I removed the bilge pumps and used a shop vac to suck up all the fluid in the bilge.  I then sprayed and scrubbed the fiberglass surfaces under the engine and in bilge with this stuff (diluted according to instructions, soft of).  After about 2 cycles, the surfaces were clean.

It was easier because engine, jack shaft and v drive were out.

You might have better scrubbing access if you remove the jack shaft

[Dale Tanski]

I sell lots of different brands and kinds of marine cleaners. It would appear for the most part they are all very similar, although there are a few standouts here and there.  To get a bilge clean the easy way is to dump the product of your choice in, add some additional water and go for a good sail.  The movement of the boat will do wonders for "self cleaning".  Dishwasher detergent is formulated to be a grease resolver which of course is what oil residue is.  It works very well.  Auto scrubbing sure beats trying to get down in there and trying to physically remove it.  If the boat is on the hard that is another story.  You will probably be amazed what treasures you find down in there. 

I am a big fan of a garboard plug like the one in Chuck's boat and installed one in my boat shortly after buying it.  Freeze damage from water collecting in the bilge in cold climates is a big deal.  Once the boat is on the hard and the plug is removed I never worry.  I have seen floors shoved up in boats that have froze and keel sumps cracked. 

Dale