model yachting Australia - including d'12metre radio yacht forums

Maverick · Guru

RE: Blast from the past

Henry · Senior Member

Well Maverick , Nice boat, Nice photos.

Do you see the outer clews of your sails? They have to have a loop from the clew eyes to loop around the booms , so you can have control of the Clews. Right now they are literally swinging in the breeze! Must be hard to get any sort of trim in the sails?

Looking at what you've done , Ithink I will have to think about it a bit longer . I don't know if I should put it all under the deck?

The 1/2 Ali hole I was talking about appears to be for the Mastfitting?? Now this fitting is behind what I was told was the designated mast position?? Has your boat got EC12sails or the other? If your boat has got the "other" then this might account for the different mast positions?

-- Edited by Henry at 12:23, 2008-04-15

Maverick · Guru

Hi Henry

If you click on the following link that will take you to the A2 page where there are some thumbnail images that you can then further click on for a bigger image.The pictures should answer all your questions.

http://dldirect.net/httpdocs/The_A2%20Class.htm

The 1/2 inch hole? Don't know about that. Where is it located?

But I do know I made about a 2 inch one at the back so I could get to the rudder controls. And speaking about the rudder, yes I agree. I think the Nautic12 one looks closer to scale.

I've used two sidestays.

And this is the first boat in which I have mounted the winch on the deck. So far I am happy with it.

Henry · Senior Member

So Maverick , A couple of questions to somebody I know that actually sails one . 1*Does your sheet ropes go under the deck ? OR does the sheet ropes go above the deck? And if they go above the deck, 2*do they go toward the transom or Stem? 3*Is the winch deck mounted. and 4* what is the aliminium hole in the deck about 1/2" dia. for? 5* does the boat have one set of side stays or two?

I have visions of putting a Nautic 12 rudder on "Botany Bay" as it is keeping more to the scale of A11.

Henry

Henry · Senior Member

Well, here it is the 13/4/08 and we have got the "Botany Bay" on the prone position, in the boat house. Ready for the big make over.

Out of the 5 boats we know of this class (apart fom yours ) we don't know what they are doing , even if we wanted to know, which is Double Dutch for bloody nothing!

I figure when I have got it up to snuff, that I will be able to race myself into tedium? There was a great kerfufil about this boat some time ago, with all these "indignant quoffilers", who wanted to have a say in the proceeding . So where are they now? Slunk back into the trees/ woodwork. Only another 20 boats to go till they can ask for class status in NSW.

Henry

-- Edited by Henry at 16:39, 2008-04-13

Maverick · Guru

Henry,

I have absolutely no doubt that in your time, up to and including today, you have screwed a lot of of things. Some good, some not so good.

However, my sixth sense tells me we are drifting off the topic just a tad. smile

Henry · Senior Member

I have you know Maverick , I'm considered a pretty good screwer in my time( as the name implies). But Maverick it is a bit ,,,, how should we say it... Awkward if you're going dancing after the race and want to get 'ome?

Maverick · Guru

Well Henry,

As you well know, I have one of these boats, and so far, (touch wood), have not had any problem with water entering the hatch. However, the system on this boat is nowhere near as convenient as on the Nautic12, but then, I love the appearance.

The builder, Troy, said he used some stuff that he got from an auto accessory place to line the hatch opening. I'm not sure what the black rubber-like material is, but it actually looks like neoprene to me, and is about 1/8th inch thick uncompressed. It seals well, but the trick is I think, to get all eight screws tightened up to the same tension, and that is the tricky part. I do it by feel, but that would not work for a heavy handed screw tightener.

And I know it seals well, 'cos after a sailing session, I cannot sometimes remove the hatch in a hurry, because it has sealed so well. So I just wait a little while before I attempt to remove it. Initially I tried to lift the hatch immediately after a sailing session, but gave that away as a bad joke. I would need a screwdriver to lever it up, and I can just imagine the damage that would do. That's how well it seals.

Yeah, and it's a pain to have to remove eight screws, but what I have done is cut the bend and the short arm off an appropriate size Allen wrench and stuck the straight bit in a little electric screwdriver. And I use this in reverse mode to undo the screws. I do NOT use it to tighten them.

Henry · Senior Member

Well Mav , I managed to secure one of these boats yesterday. I've had it a while in my boat house (resting). There are some probs of getting it up to sailing condition but it has this underlying thing about how to waterproof the hatch. For it is in a well type opening. This is some what a perplexing thing , for as we all know water goes down in wells. And Water and Electrics have a bad way about them when they are mixed.

This is proberly why so few of these boat made it on the water in a meaningful way or as a regular club boat! a shame really. But of course the Nautic answered all those probs. But I will have to figure out how to fix this with out stuffing the boat.

I suppose the easiest way would be to make the hatch cover the well and then paint the hatch black . Stick it on the deck, at deck level and the proceed with a waterproof hatch on this , like a lunch box hatch. More later. I starting to understand why this boat was not proceeded with, with this type of scale hatch?

Henry · Senior Member

What was that saying about ... you can take a Maverick(horse) to water but you can't make him drink?

I really think that this boat is like a another 12. That it is not easy to produce. And It takes skill to get one out. And maybe this is why these other moulds are not being used, for we just have not got these skills??

Go to Victor Aussie11 forum page.

Maverick · Guru

What a waste indeed!

Not only because of inaction with the AII, but also because of the extremely unfortunate friction that was caused and the long lasting animosities that ensued between many parties, upon the advent of the Nautic12. Perhaps had there been some more positive action from the AII'ers and the N12'ers in the early days, and a willingness for everybody to talk to each other things might have been different.

Another case of a golden opportunity being missed. cry

But is it too late for something positive to still happen confused

Henry · Senior Member

Well it was a secret in early 83' but that was ages ago. One can't help but think that it was something to talk about when there was nothing else. I heard the otherday that there is a mould of A11 in Canberra. Now what do they think they were going to do with that one. Maybe plant it in the ground and it may grow?

This is a funny sport , when you get people who just want to stop others having fun. Here was / is a class that could / can be of some interest. That historically could be fun to bring back those past glories, to create some interest and what do they want to do is cut it off at the knees and not add anything to the sport.

There is nothing added , look around this sport and it is full of takers and the amount of givers is dwindling. This is givers of time and stuff like that.

So where are all these people who were so offended about getting a class started in Australian with wing keeled 12 metres? They talked themselves out of it again.

AND THIS IS THE REASON WHY THERE HAS BEEN NO CLASS for A11 in this country since 1983. The Tall Poppy syndrome all over again.What a waste.

-- Edited by Henry at 00:48, 2008-02-18

Maverick · Guru

Nah. There are some others around but the owners are, for whatever reason, just quiet about them. I know they are great boats. Maybe it's supposed to be secret. confused

Henry · Senior Member

Hooley Dooley Mav , is this the only one you can Find ? It been 6 months and no post here . And the only boat you can find of this type is a 1990 model?

Henry

Maverick · Guru

Hooley Dooley!

How fantastic!

You've got a real piece of history there. I personally would leave it exactly the way it is. Exactly the way it was made way back when.

Unless of course temptation gets the better of you, in which case you should probably not be held responsible for your actions.

Thank you for making the pictures available. smile

Munners · Member

Hi

I thought you might like to see the latest addition to the fleet. This is hull number 43 of the Australia2 class built 24 june 1990. This boat is 17 years old and has never been sailed. The hull and deck are not even joined! Its interetsing to see a piece of history like this. the only question now is do I acutally finish it off, or preserve it as an historical piece????

Munners