Drain Away Genoa Sheet Turret ….

We’ve seen this a lot of course, but Bill’s set up overall is very neat.

Flying Fifteen Keel Platform….

When I helped VC Phil Tinsley get the keel off a 20 year old boat ready for refurbishment, it wasn’t half as difficult as I thought. You can see Phil’s description of how we did it elsewhere on this website. (look along the black bar under the banner photo. You will see “About Owning” there. Hovver your mouse over it and a drop down menu appears – click on “Keel Refurbishment”…)

I distinctly remember as we took the keelbolts out, a steady trickle of water emerged – and not from within the hull either, which was bone dry…. I guess the keel platform, the hog, was made of hardwood and was gradually giving up the ghost and letting water in. In fact, when we had the boat back together we found that the keel did a sort of reverse cant operation on each tack – a bit like a 505 gybing centreboard ! Much bar talk ensued afterwards about whether it would improve the upwind performance – the keel being more upright no matter how much we heeled!

So how do they give us a rot proof keel platform in new boats?? This is the keel platform in Charles new Composite Craft Fifteen. You can see how well bonded in the platform is. It doesn’t look like wood, so I’ll have to ask Charles what it is made of next time I see him…..