Despite the fact that spending time in one of my favourite countries was an interesting and engaging time, as we returned from eight weeks of late autumn and approaching winter in the UK I could feel and almost hear the promise of a great New Zealand summer as the plane landed.
One of the first jobs I undertook was to give three coats of anti-fouling paint to 'Mariners' little work horse dinghy. This small six footer is permanently tethered to a pontoon and gets a lot of hard knocks and in the past has not had the protection of any bottom paint. With a bit of a scrub every couple of months the dinghy should stay barnacle free until the next round of painting.
'Mariner' herself is pretty much in sailable condition although there are a bevy of peripheral reconditioning issues to deal with - bilge pumps, compass, stove being the main ones.
With a very sailable Northland summer on the way, the Zephyr Nationals early next year and my desire to get the traditional 8 footer up and sailing, there is plenty to be going on with.
6 comments:
Which model Anderson is an exact fit replacement for the Super Suck? There's one (currently removed from a Moth I'm rehabbing)which is in dubious condition. I've ordered a new gasket and am replacing the worn shock cord but in the end a new bailer may be the better solution. I believe the Super Suck which I have is the external mount version--even though the hull skin panels are only 3mm thick (!).
George, the CUTOUT HOLES that I have removed the INTERNAL mounted Supersucks are both 85mm X 40mm ****
The markings on the Supersucks are:
Supersuck
Small
Patented
Made in England
US Pat No 3911848
I am replacing them both with Andersen Automatic Bailers. These are both INSIDE MOUNTED.
The information on the Ronstan (TM) spec sheet is:
SUPERMINI RA554131
Flange size 61mm X 106mm
CUTOUT HOLE SIZE 85mm X 40mm *****
Nominal hull thickness 7mm
The specs for the Andersen are taken from a photocopy of page 170 from a current Ronstan catalogue that was given to me by BURNSCO our local marine shop.
There are Service kits available for the Andersen bailers which is good to know.
The catalogue shows 4 different sized INSIDE MOUNTED bailers and 2 different sized OUTSIDE mounted bailers.
I hope this information is of some use to you.
Thanks Alden. I'll measure things up and see how the hole in the boat compares.
George, Good luck with sorting out your bailer, they are a very useful piece of kit to have on board but a pest when they leak!
Hi Alden, did not realize until now that you had a 6 and 8 foot dinghy. You keep the 6 foot on board?
The 8 foot dinghy is Mariners old workhorse dinghy which I used to keep tied to the dinghy pontoon and used to get to and from Mariner. I replaced it some time ago with the smaller, lighter and easier to tow 6 foot dinghy. The advantage of the 6 foot dinghy is that it is small enough to lie across Mariners cabin top and light enough to get on board. Carrying the dinghy on board is required if a big sea is running - a towed dinghy in rough weather can get swamped or surf up onto the towing boats stern.
Mariners old 8 foot dinghy is too big and heavy to get on board Mariner, but will make a very nice little cruising dinghy.
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