My second time out on my DS1...some problems arise.

[Peterw11]

I took her out for the second time yesterday, again singlehanding. Winds were 15-20 with sudden gusts to 25. A little intimidating at first, but manageable (eventually).

Last week, under similar conditions, the port jib track pulled out of the coaming. I relocated it an inch back and installed longer screws. The repair has held up just fine, so far.

This week, the constant snapping of the jib yanked the starboard thwart loose. It's not completely dislodged, but will be if I don't redrill the screw holes and use longer screws.

Sounds like I've got a dry rot problem, or is it just age?

I really want to relocate the jib cleats from the thwart to the CB trunk, both for convenience while singlehanding and improved sail handling. I've searched old threads and apparently this is doable. I've ordered the Ronstan cam cleats and fairleads from D&R.

Have any of you made this mod, and how did it work out?

Another problem arose while raising the sails in gusty conditions. Raising the main was a real struggle, as the bolt rope didn't feed very well, and the halyard required some hard core force to raise to the top of the mast, but I attribute this to the windy conditions, or is there another reason?

I also noticed my boom has 3 horn cleats in a row along the starboard side. The first (closest to the end) is to cleat off the outhaul, but why two others?

I let the boom swing free once the main was raised and the cleat closest to the mast caught on the starboad shroud, effectively locking the boom to the shroud and preventing it from swinging back. A heavy gust came up as this happened and almost knocked the boat over. Scary stuff.

I tried to remove it, but the screws were corroded in place and all I did was tear the screw heads up. I will drill out the screws and remove it, unless there's a reason I should keep it.

Anyway, I did manage to get it together and get a couple of hours of sailing in. I scared myself a few times as the gusts hit, but made it back to the dock dry and safe.

Any opinions as the problems I encountered and the way to correct them would be greatly appreciated.

[GreenLake]

Where did your thwarts come lose? I assume from the seat? On the CB side of the thwarts they are screwed into L brackets that are glued to the CB walls on my boat. (Don't know whether that's original).

I assume that under that part of the seat edge there is a single piece of wood to act as a reinforcement, and into which the thwarts are screwed.

I would suggest that instead of simply using longer screws, you treat the wood backing first. There are a number of penetrating epoxy products that can be used to saturate the wood and strengthen it around the screw holes. One procuct I have used is "RotFix" from SystemThree - it's a very thin epoxy that soaks up really well into spongy would and gives it back some strength (and not coincidentally will prevent further moisture coming in from the screws). You would need to re-drill your holes, but only to the size of the existing screws.

This does not stop the rot. Esp. if the woods open to condensation inside the seat tank (something I don't know, but suspect very much).

You could try to soak the old screw holes with a borate solution, but the problem is that you need that area to be fully dry before you can apply the epoxy. What to do?

You could drill additional holes next to the existing holes and treat the wood from there with solid borate sticks ("Impel" rods from SystemThree) which you soak in borate solution after you insert them. That will provide a reservoir of borate to travel along the grain to kill off the fungal organisms over time, whenever the wood gets moist.

I'm planning a treatment like that for my carlins (where the srews go in from the coamings) assuming that I don't end up replacing them. I've used these techniques before, but on buildings, not on boats, and you can get the materials from some lumber yards.

[GreenLake]

I really want to relocate the jib cleats from the thwart to the CB trunk, both for convenience while singlehanding and improved sail handling. I've searched old threads and apparently this is doable. I've ordered the Ronstan cam cleats and fairleads from D&R.

On my DS there was an upside-down U bracket to hold the cam cleats on top of the CB trunk. This was not original, and, made from aluminum, corroded badly because of contact with saltwater.

The CB trunk had two shallow indentations about 8.5" long and 1/2" from top to bottom and between 1/16" and 1/8" deep running on either side of the top of the CB trunk. The "wings" of the U bracket would fit flush into these indentations. The top of the CB, underneath the bracket, looked like there had been something glassed in there that was later ground flush.

The U bracket is 8.5" long and the wings are 1" wide. (The middle part is as wide as required to span the thickness of the CB minus the depth of the indentations). The whole thing rests high enough above the CB trunk that there is clearance for the nuts of the cam cleats between the middle part of the (upside down) U and the actual top of the CB trunk. The bracket is held by two horizontal through bolts that go through the top of the CB trunk, from one wing of the U to the other.

In trying to replace this arrangement, I couldn't locate a pre-manufatured U channel of the right size, so I ended up having that piece made at a local machine shop. It's now in 1/16" stainless steel, with rounded bends and rounded corners and looks much less like the retrofit it is. Here's a low-res picture:



I can't tell whether the indentations in the sides of the CB trunk (near the top edge) were original or not. Making the U bracket fit flush looks nice, but is not essential to its function. If your CB trunk does not have them, you could first drill the holes for the through bolts to gauge the thickness of the laminate and then decide whether carving out any indentations is feasible.