Ian B if Bob can repost his pics you can move this to TECHO if you wish
Cheers
TrueBlue
Yachtmaster
Hi all,
Ok, you Investigator owners, what is missing here?
Obvious that there is half a slide missing that I can figure, but what should be on the hatch cover to slide on. I am also guessing that whatever it is, will lift the hatch a bit as it will not slide back as it is over the Companion way wash boards, too low.
Cheers
Jay
http://www.seagypsyonline.com.au
Life is a game, take up the challenge - Go hard or Go home Twisted Evil
'Currently un-named'
Investigator 563 T/S
Hi Jay
Glad you have joined the fold of happy investigator owners. The boat is mainly well designed and thought out but it has a few badly done details and the hatch is the first one I found too. The hatch itself originally has little L shaped bits molded into the glass to lock under the metal plate bolted to the roof. They are unreinforced and eventually wear away before ultimately breaking off. Maybe I should not be so harsh on the designer as all boats are 30 or approaching 30 years old now.
I have two left at the back, you appear to have none. I have to make a new metal inner hatch front wall with these cut into it, same at the back. I also think the Storm board slides are poor and I making thicker storm boards with aluminium U channel slides to replace the timber ones. I have a large SS pad bolt under the front of the pop top to lock it. I then extended the top of the existing poor storm boards to fit under the sliding hatch which then locks it all in place and have two outboard pad locks on either side of the poptop. I lift the poptop to slide the hatch the last inch to lock it over the SB. Ill get a pic if it helps.
Keeps honest people out!! Confused
A full metal bracket running down the inside of the hatch would work too and make the hatch more secure. Im not worried about theft so much as sea worthiness. The hatchways including the front one are definitely the weak points in an otherwise fine boat but they are not hard to fix.
As i become a (marginally) better sailer I am willing to tackle slightly worse weather this season but t will be making the hatches and new standing rigging a priority this next haulout.
_________________
Ozzie
Investigator 563 "SPRITZIG II"
proavia
Midshipman
Might do a bit of maintenance on mine to see that the same doesn't happen.
A bit of ingenuity and some fibreglass should do the trick?
Bob
Investigator 563 "Margarita"
drikko
Yachtmaster Offshore
Looks like a good opportunity to chop up mums chopping board and shape some nylon slides to me. They could bolt on the inside of the ends and shaped to go on top of then hook down under the slides.
Ulwike
Inshore Skipper
Hi,
also missing is the wooden stopper on the end of the hatch!! Will hold the hatch back from sliding off when you close the hatch. Made from a bit of wood and clued or fixed with srews to the hatch. The missing railguards just cut out of a fiberglass sheet the size and laminate it on with 2 layers of fiberglass. This little things break off when some owners remove the hatch with force and not removing the stopper first. But thats a very easy fix, wait till you find out the daggerboardcase is leaking!! Then this is a other weak point from a Investigator. Also a little bit of flex in from of the front hatch and nearly no seal on the Lookers.
Karl
owned a Investigator for few years
Ozzie
Jay as per Bob's pics the weak point is obvious. You can even see the stress crack starting above the slide cutaway. There is way too much stress on this point.
Drik's suggestion of nylon sounds good too, I might go that way myself, certainly would be a smooth sliding surface.
What do you have holding the front hatch closed ? I want to beef my lock up but i want something that wont catch sails being fed out or me getting in, plus be strong enough to take a decent wave.
The standard hinges are a bit anemic as well. I have changed mine but I think I may fit some kind of HD dogging mechanism on the whole front hatch for heavy weather. An opened hatch that size in that position would be a quick way to disaster in the right conditions, same with the poptop Crying or Very sad
One other thing to check is the cockpit drain tubes. Seal them inside the cockpit ends, myself and other 563 forum users had water draining from the cockpit to the bilge from here.
_________________
Ozzie
RobertB
Hi Jay,
Welcome!
Feel free to call by and have a look at my Investigator.
It has stainless steel slides that the hatch slides on and that explains why you have those other holes further forward on your coach roof.
Also, check out
http://www.investigator563.com/forum/
I'm in Morningside.
Robert B
_________________
TopNote
Inshore Skipper
Hi all,
If i remember correct isnt there a way modification for making the hatch into a PopTop style with some track and little posts or similar... I recall seeing this on a 563 sometime back....... I think Ian has this on his 563 in sydney.
Cheers
Mark
_________________
Mark
Waterless Sports Boat" MX-5
TrueBlue
Yachtmaster
J
Hi All,
Thanks for the suggestions so far, I wasn't sure and would not have thought the hatch would slide on the fibreglass and that those little tabs were what held it in place, but there you go I was wrong Embarassed It does appear the hatch has had something there at some stage, all 4 corners have 2 rivets still there as if something was inside the hatch?
Hey Bob (Proavia) what is your slide material? This one here appears to be a metal construction of some kind? Not sure yet as not looked at in that much details. That pic of your system the slides they appear to be some sort of composite material would that be correct?
I like Driks idea, would take a bit of whittling of the material but reckon would be quite strong once done.
Ozzie, the front hatch is latched from the inside only, it looks basically like an old style window latch for a hopper swing out timber styled window, similar to what was in my family home growing up. A very rough description is an oval shaped handle with it continuing on one side to give a flat lug about 30mm long 10mm wide that when you twist it, Looks a bit like the letter P in shape - the lug locates down into a slot at the bottom of the hatch. I'll get a pic when I can. It would not be any good to open from the outside. As to hinges, it has only one in the centre up top.
As to Cockpit drains? I'll have to go have a look now, but this one appears to drain out the back through the stern, two open drains either side of the floor, look like they have been there since the day it was made, all fibreglass right through etc, and exit out the back. This boat has a manual bilge pump mounted in Port locker, down to the bilge area just under companionway entrance, which I am gathering at this stage would be the deepest part of the bilge (have not pulled the one floor board out yet) the pump seems in good condition.
The actual pop top has no hold downs anywhere and I will do something about that, not a real issue for protected waters, but could be if ever caught with a greenie coming over the top. Not something I would like, but you just never know do you Rolling Eyes
I'll keep digging and see what else I can find that needs work, all expected of course Wink You don't usually get a 3.5K bargain and not expect some work to be needed Smile
_________________
Cheers
Jay
http://www.seagypsyonline.com.au
Life is a game, take up the challenge - Go hard or Go home Twisted Evil
'Currently un-named'
Investigator 563 T/S
&
'Sea Gypsy'
30+ Bollard steel keeler
Alexandra Hills, Qld
IanB
Yachtmaster
Jay
This is a useful discussion for the technical section at http://www.Investigator563.com.
TSP is great because you get hundreds of people helping, but the problem is when this issue comes up again, it will be buried and hard to find. Would appreciate if someone would copy the posts across to the Investigator563 site.
Back to the problem. The pop top is U shaped, and has nothing to stop it splaying over the years. The result is that the hatch slide tries to hold it together, and the forces are too great, and that is why the little returns have broken off. On Yara they are cracked, and my next job is to file some material away to provide clearance. The slides themselves are stainless steel, but not the only problem, as the fibreglass is in contact as well.
The pop top is secured by hasp and staples, and has a locking screw at the forward end.
Your other details sound stock standard.
Oh, and BTW, for a boat that has been on a mooring you might need to service, or at least free up, the centreboard.
_________________
Ian B
Investigator 563 #50 Yara
Ozzie
Inshore Skipper
Joined: 05 Jan 2007
Posts: 155
Location: Lake Macquarie
That is exactly what my 563 has on the front hatch. Must have been a standard fitting and not really a very strong one. I bought a tensionable clip hasp last year but it is too hard to mount it out of the way.
I love the idea of a turning cam with slide bolts like a roller door but you would need to make the whole thing. I like the idea of all the sharp bits going up out of the way on the hatch for when you move sails in and out of the boat.
Even a simple cross bar on brackets would be ok providing it was prevented from moving in a knockdown. Back to the drawing board.
It is the seal between the ends of the cockpit drain tubes and the cockpit floor that you need to check. I had water in the bilge for ages till i sealed around them ..now it is bone dry and moored.Good luck and let us know about any other problems and inventive solutions you find.
Cheers
_________________
Ozzie
Ian B if Bob can repost his pics you can move this to TECHO if you wish
Cheers
Empty oil bottles and junk scattered all over the interior. I reckon you could buy these boats ,throw out the contents, spend half an hour pressure cleaning and bung them back on the market for a grand extra, almost every time.
Once I do if I come up with a good solution I will let you all know 