newbie owner - advice wanted

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gadjethead
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 10:22 am
Investigator Boat Name: Gilded Lily

newbie owner - advice wanted

Post by gadjethead »

Hi all,

Just took delivery of an Investigator (reg TQ637) and looking at giving it a cleanup during the "2nd wave" Covid lockdown in Melbourne. The boat was previously advertised on this forum and on Gumtree, 12-ish months ago?. It has been in a Mordialloc marina since last year (too long) and is looking a bit shabby. Im looking to clean off the antifoul and clean and polish the boat all over before i look at what else is required

The boat has lost much of the toerails amidship due to inadequate fender positioning, and the length of time tied up. The rudder was also left in the water and has foul smelling water inside it (it was also antifoul coated)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated about:
1. cleaning the hull of antifoul?
2. cleaning and polishing the gelcoat (much white dust from weathering)?
3. toerail (gunwale) replacements or mouldings?
4. Original rudder advice on refurbishment or replacement?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. This is my first TS (after dinghy and cat sailing history), so be gentle to the (excited) newbie

Cheers
Simon
Gilded Lily
TQ637
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Ozzie
Posts: 1621
Joined: Wed May 27, 2009 1:07 pm
Investigator Boat Name: Spritzig II
Location: Lake Macquarie
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Re: newbie owner - advice wanted

Post by Ozzie »

Welcome Gadgethead, great moniker, and congratulations in saving another 563 from possible vanishing into history.

Suggestions for your problems :-

1. If you have or can access a petrol pressure washer try that first on your antifoul. I clean mine during haulout with a base model Supercheap petrol washer, mainly to get off marine growth, but it removes a considerable amounts of my hard antifoul as well . See pics from my haulout thread. If your AF is ablative type it should remove quite a bit of it . Tread carefully as if there is any hull damage or osmotic damage under the antifoul I’m making an assumption that you may cause further damage. David will probably be best to advise you on getting the hull back into shape. If the previous owner has prepared for antifoul with 2 pack primer you may have issues getting back to a standard hull . Paint might be the only option but a painted dark colour below the waterline looks terrific in my opinion, but then again I’m moored.

2. Once again David on here was a professional and he has threads on this. And, again the pressure washer will get the loose stuff off but use a less aggressive jet on the washer. I’ve been washing my topsides with PW for 15 years and they are fine . I follow up with a mild cut and marine polish and then some wax although the wax usually doesn’t last long on the mooring.

3. If you can get some second hand aluminium toe rail on gumtree or rich enough to fork out for new stuff it really sets the boat off, makes it “feel” stiffer although it’s probably imagination and certainly safer for moving about under sail or even at rest. Other members have had good success with timber both with traditional fitting or using the stanchions, which also gives good footing. Search “toe rail” with the search function .

4. I still use the original rudder as I like the lightness even though Spritzig II also came with a timber lifting rudder with ss frame . It can be repaired much the same way as the rest of the hull. Mine developed a leak which I patched with resin. The original rudder Is hollow and does float if not full of water :shock: drill a hole to drain it and then dry it out and fill the hole and any seam cracks with new resin. You may want to check the rudder fittings if they are original and replace them and the bolts as they take a bit of strain .

Good luck with your refurbishment and I’m sure there will be more advice following soon .

Cheers Ozzie
Ozzie
Investigator #143 "SPRITZIG II"

The Mariner - “It’s too strange here. It doesn’t move right." ...
Enola - “Helen said that it’s only land sickness."
Waterworld (1995)
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Raya
Posts: 314
Joined: Sat May 05, 2012 4:25 pm
Investigator Boat Name: Tme Out
Location: Gold Coast

Re: newbie owner - advice wanted

Post by Raya »

A warm welcome from me as well. From the previously advertised pictures of your boat, it looks to me to be in pretty good condition. It is one of the later production Investigators with the two hinge hatch. Your black mast is not original (unless it was painted) which probably means that all the rigging has been replaced at some time. Excellent news.

I would stick with the original rudder. It should be easy enough to repair. I would recommend you use white flowcoat to seal the new fibreglass in preference to paint. For the fibreglass topsides, if it doesn't come up with a water blaster, use progressively finer grades of wet and dry and finish with polish. I wouldn't bother with trying to paint it. After you have owned the boat for awhile, you won't notice her blemishes.

My preference is timber for the toe rails. If you go this way, you will need to hunt up a couple of long lengths of suitable timber (I used Pacific maple). You can either have it machined or, if you have access to a router, do it yourself. I simply glued mine to the gunnel using Epiglue and didn't use fasteners. There are some pics somewhere on this forum if you search my posts.

What is the name of your Investigator? Any idea of the sail number? The number will be on the original main sail if you still have it.

In order of priority, I would first fix the rudder, check over the trailer and outboard, then go sailing. Have a think about all the work that it will take to have a shiny hull and then go sailing again.

Enjoy your Investigator.
Ray
Investigator #39
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Ozzie
Posts: 1621
Joined: Wed May 27, 2009 1:07 pm
Investigator Boat Name: Spritzig II
Location: Lake Macquarie
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Re: newbie owner - advice wanted

Post by Ozzie »

:cry: In regards to toe rail, I did a quick search today and it seems in Oz this mob are pretty much it.

https://www.ullrich.com.au/wp-content/u ... ctions.pdf

There was a was an old post on Seabreze lamenting the lack of suppliers so this may have changed since them . It seams that all we manufacture in this country anymore are instructions on how to mail order stuff from overseas...guilty :oops:
CE231D84-01F0-4E19-BF52-52CCE9292AED.png
If you use Gumtree, you can try a wanted ad which is where I got my rail for a song🎼

Remember, sailors are usually hoarders and will have scads of old boat bits stacked away in the shed that their missus has been after them to sell. Don’t ask me how I know :shock:
Ozzie
Investigator #143 "SPRITZIG II"

The Mariner - “It’s too strange here. It doesn’t move right." ...
Enola - “Helen said that it’s only land sickness."
Waterworld (1995)
no way
Posts: 187
Joined: Thu Jul 08, 2010 6:48 pm

Re: newbie owner - advice wanted

Post by no way »

Hey boys, go back to the previous topic on toerails and you'll find everything to source ally toerail extrusion
viewtopic.php?p=998#p998
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Ozzie
Posts: 1621
Joined: Wed May 27, 2009 1:07 pm
Investigator Boat Name: Spritzig II
Location: Lake Macquarie
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Re: newbie owner - advice wanted

Post by Ozzie »

https://www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Sai ... AIL?page=1

This is the post from seabreeze forums I referenced earlier. Once again old post. I can remember recommending Guile on here or the other place years ago when people were searching for rail but thought they had gone out of business long before they did. Shame really but like most things it’s all market driven.

There is little value in producing rail when there are no TS builders and few yacht builders in the country. The Ullrich company mentioned in the above post notes that not all its marine fittings are available ex stock.

I suspect most Aluminium extruders would concentrate on the tinny market plus commercial aluminium vessels for which toe rail is not applicable.

One of the ironies or the web is that with so much info so easily stored particularly on what my daughter, who is a journalist, refers to as “curated sites “ like the ones still mentioning places like Guiles, it’s often never checked for currency and can appear there years after it’s out of date.

Anyway if a phone number is available for extruders its not hard to check. I’d say though if a company these days does not have an active web presence or email it’s probably gone the way of the dodo.

If anyone does find a viable source of toe rail though by all means let us know 😀
Ozzie
Investigator #143 "SPRITZIG II"

The Mariner - “It’s too strange here. It doesn’t move right." ...
Enola - “Helen said that it’s only land sickness."
Waterworld (1995)
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