Restoring a Quarter Ton

[D'ARTOIS]

Driving to a supplier my eye caught a smallish sailing boat that had the lines of a racer and at a closer look it turned out to be a quarter tonner, 27 x 10 x 5,
in a what neglected condition.
It was traded in by a shipyard specialised in larger motorboats and when I offered a very low price it was happily accepted.
Being a bit disabled, I can easily manage such a small boat on my own and
although there is no headroom to speak of, the interior is cosy and pracitcal.

The boat is built of diagonal glued strips of Western Red, with here and there
visible repairs. Different kind of glues are used and for all of them I fear the
P.U. glue.
In the corner of the pushpit, de deck has delaminated.
Here and there on the deck are soft spots, also around the stanchions.
The rudder system needs to be overhauled - it is made uit of an aluminium tube
but eaten away.

She has no engine so a small 7 hp inboard diesel has to be found and installed.
Outboards are unreliable, specifically at sea.

It is a spartan boat, but that suits me fine.

What I am planning to do is to strip all the paint and look for soft spots in the hull - I don't know yet if there are any. On the deck, yes - but that is not exciting!

After thoroughly drying out, I will repair the deck/hull connection;

Will give the boat a new epoxy coating on the topsides and an epoxy-tar
coating under the waterline;

Re-wire the whole electrical system;

Install a suitable pump-out system;

Install a small diesel or diesel-electric; ( the engine will then be placed under the table);

The rig is pretty racy, but does not need to be re-rigged, only the boom needs some proper attention.

I am used to big boats so everything looks too thin and too small of dimension; I must take care that I am not overdimensioning things.

I will have a lot of fun anyway.

Only the name........Wahnsinnn......

[hansp77]

looks like a lot of fun.

Does Wahnsinnn mean anything?

[D'ARTOIS]

It is German and means total madness..........

[Mr V]

That boat looks like it could be fast. What a project. Have fun!

[longliner45]

yea ,,,its gonna take more than a bike or truck to stop you from doing what you love, glad for ya ,longliner

[yipster]

she is yours now? a waarschip?
if your going to spend alot of time onboard i cant say it enough: headroom!
i know you love to sail, she looks fast and hope the work will be to.
i even like her name but whats wrong with the outboard?

[D'ARTOIS]

In fact, nothing. As far as I know, the outboard runs well. The only thing is that I am going off shore - operate the boat in sea conditions, and then I am not completely sure if this Honda is reliable enough. I have learned by experience
(experience = knowledge that comes too late) that your life may depend on an engine that must be able to start at a blink.
An outboard definately does not do that. But, we will see. The boat is not designed for the excess weight of an inboard engine, if there is a possibility to do without an inboard, I will not fail to drop the inboard engine.

Point is that I need also electric power that cannot be generated by the outboard. For reloading the battery, nav lights etc.

But superlightweight propulsion is my aim, so if you have idea's - shoot!

[Toot]

No ideas, sorry. But she sure is purty!!!!

I just did some reading up on the quarter tonners. They seem very cool. It seems though that most of them were FRP, yours is cold-molded wood though, eh?

I dare say, these 1/4tonners are some of the prettiest small(ish) boats I've seen.

[marshmat]

Looks like a pretty nice project there.
About the motor- I'd be plenty happy with a Honda's reliability, but on a boat like that the outboard's prop would be coming right out of the water as you go over each wave crest in big seas. So yes, I like the inboard conversion idea. There's not a bad selection in small inboards these days, many of them won't be much heavier than the current OB. One of those compact saildrive packages, perhaps, or do you prefer straight shaft?

[D'ARTOIS]

Hi Matt,

No, a saildrive package would do nicely - I have to reiforce the hull at the place of the engine and also glue in a suitable engine bed.

This is a very, very light boat. I would be surprised if she weighs more than 2500 kgs, I don't think it will be even that much.

She has a tall rig but I have to measure the sails to get an idea about what she carries. I guess that the mast is something like 10 mtrs high.
My guess is that she carries about 15-17 sq. mtr mainsail and 20-25 sq. mtr
genoa - about 40 sq mtrs in total.
That is a hefty sailarea for such a light and small boat so I will definately have a very close look at the reefing-system, if that works properly.
There is a furling system and two sets of genoa rails on the deck. Nobody knows who designed her or who had built her - I am not familiar with the
Quarter Ton class and since she is built out of wood, I might assume further that she is a one off.

There is sufficient place for a small Lombardini saildrive package onder the cockpit floor - I have to remove the toilet, a useless addition in such a small boat. (The toilet is placed under the companianway-cockpit entrance.

With this boat I can easily move along the coastline to the small fishing ports in France which were inaccesible to me with my previous boats.

She has a simple tiller - I have to get used to - all I know are steering wheels. She in fact an oversized dinghy.

So there is still a lot to learn an a lot to gain.

I paid only 3500 Euro's for her - with all the gear: two sets of sails in very good condition, a tridata, a Honda outboard (4 stroke).

The interior consists of 4 berths, a sink and a 2 flame gas cooker and a removable table that can also used in the cockpit.

I will paint her finally in gunmetal grey metallic, the deck light grey.

I will add nav lights and a VHF. There are two compasses, one on SB and one on P. I will add a central one in the cockpit that is illuminated for nightsailing purposes.

The waterdrains in the cockpit are made out of PVC pipes - those I will replace by two anodised aluminium tubes.

[Crag Cay]

Hi D'Artois,

You are indeed a 'man of the moment' as the quarter ton class has had a revival in recent years with the Quarter Ton Cup being raced again in 2005 and 6.
http://www.rcyc.co.uk/da/25971

The French have also resurected their Association:
http://quartertonclass.free.fr

But before you sink too much time and effort into your new 'love' make sure she is really fit for your purpose. Quarter Tonners were built to the IOR rule and some of them displayed all the undesirable characteristics of boats that were built to the extreme contortion of that rule.

I crewed quarter tonners during the 'Cup when it was held in the far east in the late seventies / early eighties. During one squall during a heavy weather offshore race, I climbed onto the side of our pinned down hull and could see perhaps 20 other boats all laying on their sides in the huge Pacific swell.

I think it is not without reason that the class motto is 'Still crazy after all these years'.

At least put a rope to the masthead and pull it over till it touches the water with someone clinging to the cockpit. A spring balance will tell you exactly how far offshore you may wish to venture.

Having said all that, if it dates from before the IOR rule came under intense design pressure, or after the Fastnet disaster imposed a degree of sanity again, it could be a nice boat. I would just proceed with caution until you know a little more about the boat.

[D'ARTOIS]

Hello Craig,

Thanks for your very welcome reply. Point is, I am not used to small boats. Never been. Of course, I had my share of dinghy sailing, but nothing real serious.
So I have to experiment, to learn small yachting and to know where the limits are.
For the time being however, I am very attracted to this "little" boat.
She looks definately more elegant than the today's 1/4 tonners and being still light she might be versatile enough to compete - or not.
I have no confidence (yet) as related to her construction. Everything is superthin and super light.

First I have to bring her in good shape again; Hence I will take her into the open in some heavy wind. If she remains as a whole, we might try her at sea....etc.

She has only 5 bulkeads/frames, is built over rather thin longitudinals and has rather smallish keelstruts.
Rigging consist of 3 or 3,5 mm wiring, almost dinghy dimensions.

Well, force 4 or 5 Bft on the IJsselmeer will tell me more about her capacities....

keep you ahead......

[Crag Cay]

Sounds like a good plan. Have fun.