how to evaluate a heavy hull

The aft head bulkhead isn't a bulkhead, but a partition and it doesn't have to be heavily attached. I'm surprised the surveyor would suggest a filleted epoxy attachment on a traditional build (not usually a good idea), making me wonder about his familiarity with the type.

She'd steer a bit better if the keel wasn't cobbled up. It appears it was deepened at some point, possibly ballast added (common on these puppies), but the design execution of this arrangement was poor. There should have been a similar extension to the aft deadwood and even lowering of the bottom of the rudder too.

She looks pretty good, but it's really hard to tell from photos. Smell and feel are the tools I use first, as they can find things the eye overlooks, especially after fresh paint.

 

That's exactly what I was wondering too. Really great guy in general, and does very thorough and detailed job. This was the one thing that caught me up. I wasn't able to find the perfect "wood boat" surveyor.

Should I make sure the forward bulkhead/partition is firmly bolted to the deck beam?

I was told the keel had to be reworked to fair into the cold-molding. It's a tad funky, but comparing the photos to the Atkin drawings, it doesn't seem that radical. Having sailed acceptably I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

 

Yes the forward side of the head bulkhead should be solidly mounted to the deck beam, but you don't need epoxy for this, just a good glue and sound fasteners.

There's no reason the veneers needed to cause a reshaping of the deadwood profile. Someone's blowing smoke up your butt, just to have an answer for a question they aren't honest enough to simply say "I don't know". The cutout will cause eddy's below the rudder and this turbulence is drag and washes the lower portion of the blade to some degree, decreasing it's effectiveness. This is a bit relativity, considering her performance envelop, so you can probably live with it.

Yeah, the good wooden boat surveyors are dieing off. I'm one of only two in central Florida, that the biggest boat insurance recommends and I'm the younger of them.

 

My general inclination with boats of this age is too leave it be unless there are signs of flexing in the area. If you see cracking or other signs that the area has been moving around then it might be worth tying the bulkheads to the deck beams/deck.

We actually extended our keel in a manner that seems similar to what was done here (with some help from PAR). We didn't add any ballast though. Our boat sails better much better even though we didn't bother to extend the rudder. We intentionally did not run the deadwood all the way aft since we where trying to increase weather helm.

Ideally we would have extended the rudder, but decided to do one thing at a time. I would sail the boat for a while before worrying about changing anything substantial.

Discussion of our keel mods here: http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/sailboats/keel-skeg-addition-traditional-sailboat-43020.html

 

Hey Ben, good to see your post. Have you any more reports on how your Inga is getting along?

Good advice about living with the boat for a while, before making any major changes. If you do need or want to make them, do so one at a time, so you can quantify the results, without them being masked by other modifications, performed at the same time.

 

The keel modifications where a big success, completely changed our ability to make ground to weather in strong winds. Our arrival at the Falkands involved about 8 hours of close hauled sailing into force 8-9 up the sound with a really nasty chop. I doubt we would have been able to make anywhere near the progress we did without the added keel. Boat feels much more lively up wind than it used to, especially when reefed. Much better acceleration out of tacks as well, doesn't feel "mushy" after the tack before accelerating like it used too. She might be a tad more squirrelly downwind now but its a very minor trade off and easily dealt with by moving sail area forward.

The boat is currently in Uraguay and we are in San Francisco working for a few months. We will be heading back down in December to sail up to Boston. If we stop in Florida I still owe you several beers (maybe even a nice dinner) for the help...

 

oh dear, I completely misrepresented what was said. it was offered purely as idle conjecture.

this is interesting. I take it you're not a fan of the "brewer bite" keel shape, or more this specific execution?

Also interesting theory that ballast may have been added. I haven't heard that it's anything besides the designed 7100#, but will keep an eye out for more info.

I like this plan!

interesting read, thanks for sharing. If you have time to swing by, I can hand off a 6-pack you can deliver to PAR for me! I'll throw in some extras in case some get lost in shipping.



another detail: I don't see anything capturing the rudder pintles in the gudgeons. Seems like I read these should have pins or a block to prevent the rudder lifting out of the hardware -- or do I just fail to see how this mounting works?

 

You are correct, the pintles usually have a "keeper of some sort. Often this is simply a cotter pin through a hole, below the gudgeon, through the pintle. Another approach is a pivoting bracket, that prevent the rudder from rising up, that can be swung out of the way, when it's time to move it for repair.

I would happily accept any assistance to the beer transport situation, you know just in case.

 

wandering way away from boat design now, but here's the latest photos:

all the way aft, underneath the stuffing box, are a couple bilge compartments that had a little water in them. I vacuumed this one out today. about 1/4" of water and gunk came out easily. The bottom is filled with some sort of resin. There's a nut and bolt way back in the corner (guessing it's for a gudgeon based on location) with a grounding wire coming off it, but that's broken off after about 4". Around that the wood is chewed up and soft, but only in about a 1" diameter area.
View attachment soft_wood.MOV
a) is this a serious issue?
b) what should be done about it?

3rd photo shows the stern post -- camera is looking roughly along the waterline, straight aft.

water seeps very slowly out of the black-stained areas. like a few ml per hour estimating. If I ever have to replace that timber it's going to require taking the entire aft end of the boat apart, cold molding and all?

 

Any time you can find rot or soft/punky wood, you can bet there's lots more where you haven't looked yet (under the surface). The same is true of corrosion on fasteners.

It's very difficult to tell what timber you're looking at, likely part of the keel or deadwood assembly and yes, if you have to replace it, it'll probably mean the boat's value will be challenged, with the cost of the repair, as it's an extensive thing.

Bolt holes can be easily restored by removing the fastener, drilling out the hole, until you're back into good wood again, filling the hole with an appropriate dowel, set in epoxy or simply epoxy filled. When cured, you drill out the repair for a new fastener, then reinstall the hardware. The same approach is used on soft/punky wood situations, you grind back to known good stock, scab in a repair and finish flush with surrounding surfaces.