theselkie said..

Well done Silkie hope you have a great time and lots of memories on board and may the wind be with you

cisco said..

Well done. What have you got there??? A Contessa??

What? You don't recognise a Folkboat when you see one? For shame.

Aarrgh. Come on the pic was too small.

cisco said..

Aarrgh. Come on the pic was too small.

Cisco, you are not paying attention. Selkie announced some time ago the purchase of her folk boat. They also have such distinct and pretty lines that yours is a major faux pax. Contessa indeed.
enjoy Selkie.

Hehe....thank you all. @ McNaughtical Yep...another girl on the forum ;)

Folkboat she certainly be. Although, being the Gemini that I am, there was certainly a lot of indecision there for a while.

Oh, she's soooo pretty. Desperately needs a respray but that will have to wait until next year. We'll get by on her natural good looks.

Have problems/quirks though.

Bought her knowing she had an issue where the mast step had compressed and damaged the deck. Believed it was due to someone overtensioning the rig.
Have now deconstructed the area to find the lateral hardwood beam (bulkhead?) split. Installed a steel t-beam to repair and ensure it repaired and strengthened.

Thing is, however, mast is way oversized...def not Folkboat standard. Length is Folkboat-appropriate but section is more suitable for something, say, 30=32ft. I now believe this may have caused the compression damage.

Furthermore, the mast I thought would be light enough to easily be raised by a couple of mates and I now needs a crane and more money...oh well, it's not as if I don't know the definition of 'BOAT' haha

More pics to follow

Selkie. Does the boat have a king post, ie a post that supports the fractured deck beam, should sit on the keelson up to the deck beam under the mast, would be most surprised if there wasn't supposed to be one. I don't know of any deck stepped mast supported by the deck beam only. Check out other folk boats on the web.
wrg the oversize mast be very carefull of stability. Weight aloft is worth approx 10 times it's equivalent to ballast in the keel. Ie if you are carrying an extra 20 or 30 kg in the mast this is the equivalent of reducing your ballast by 200-300kg. This could have serious stability issues. Might pay you to do a little investigation on your actual mast weight cf design mast weight and talk to someone with knowledge of folk boats.

Hg I know the construction of the Walker H28 quite well. They do use the bulkhead in leau of a king post. Was also referring to timber construction.

frant said..
I don't know of any deck stepped mast supported by the deck beam only.

The good old Top Hat has a "Girder" commonly called "The Bridge" but no King Post

I found the receipt today for the new (this mast I am assuming) mast from 2007 and the price is very much 'new rig' price (a little over $10K)

I'm going to speak to the rigger tomorrow who rigged the boat...who, incidentally took the mast out in Sydney last week in preparation for road transport to Brisbane and didn't mention anything about the rig?

Right here, right now I am totally confused. I'm hoping once I talk to the rigger in Sydney and discover why on earth he would instal such a chunky, albeit beautiful mast, and talk to another local rigger here, I can decide whether to put the mast back in the boat or sell it off separately and re-rig my pretty little girl. I just want to get her bottom wet and go sailing

Congratulation Selkie. Gorgeous looking boat.

theselkie said..
Hehe....thank you all. @ McNaughtical Yep...another girl on the forum ;)

Folkboat she certainly be. Although, being the Gemini that I am, there was certainly a lot of indecision there for a while.

Oh, she's soooo pretty. Desperately needs a respray but that will have to wait until next year. We'll get by on her natural good looks.

Have problems/quirks though.

Bought her knowing she had an issue where the mast step had compressed and damaged the deck. Believed it was due to someone overtensioning the rig.
Have now deconstructed the area to find the lateral hardwood beam (bulkhead?) split. Installed a steel t-beam to repair and ensure it repaired and strengthened.

Thing is, however, mast is way oversized...def not Folkboat standard. Length is Folkboat-appropriate but section is more suitable for something, say, 30=32ft. I now believe this may have caused the compression damage.

Furthermore, the mast I thought would be light enough to easily be raised by a couple of mates and I now needs a crane and more money...oh well, it's not as if I don't know the definition of 'BOAT' haha

More pics to follow

Much kudos to you "theselkie" from your comments above. You obviously have a handle on yachts. You may need to get more of a handle on engineering type things.

May I suggest you work from the bottom up rather than the top down. No sense spending a fortune on the rig if the boat is going to sink on you.

There are timber Folkboats and fibreglass Folkboats. What have you got??

If she is timber hulled, you need to work on the hull first and get it back in the water as soon as possible to prevent drying out of the planks. Further, do not spare the expence getting the hull sealed as in Queensland waters teredo worms will enter by a pin hole and turn a plank into a paint shell in no time.

If she is fibreglass, half the battle is won. You only have the rest of the boat to worry about except for skin fittings and stern tube. I have heard that no fibreglass boat in the world has ever sunk due to osmosis alone.

So what is her name??

Hi Cisco

I mentioned earlier that she is a glass Marieholm Folkboat circa 1977, absolutely free of osmosis. She has now been out of the water since last Tuesday and shows no signs of any blisters. I am truly amazed.

The Australian Peter Cole-designed Contessa is, quite literally, in profile at least, a miniature of his Cole 43 with a fin keel. Not up to speed with the British Contessa.

Yes. I freely admit engineering is not my forte. However, I do have a wonderful ex-husband who is my best friend willing to advise and do a lot of the work which I cannot physically do. Unfortunately in terms of sailing, he went to the Dark Side of kitesurfing a few years ago and, well, he won't be coming back

Plus, we all are very blessed to have this Forum on which to discuss things. The knowledge base is absolutely amazing!!!!

Anyway, to work!!!!

Have a fabulous day everyone

The Mariholm Folkboats were built by Dulmison in Gosford. There were two versions the "International" and the M26. The latter has a raised deck and more freeboard.
I have attached pics of the M26 mast. I liked the fact that it is lightweight , and has a pivot. In Scandinavia they drop the mast and lift out in winter, so it is designed for that.





More INFO :
www.ifboat.com/index.php?q=about-the-if-boat

Well, Ripple - as she is named for the moment - splashed today. It wasn't a glorious start to our relationship, her mast remaining lashed to the deck instead of standing proud. However, hardstand rates are expensive and I needed to know whether this 'monster mast' was in fact going to stay. The eleventh hour came just a little too late and we were forced to launch.

Motored around to her new berth and tied up, phone calls were finally returned from both the installing rigger in Sydney and a rigger here in Brisbane for advice; and a boatbuilder who I hold in high esteem finally managed to find an hour in between other jobs to come and have a look at the compression issues.

Long story short. The mast fits....just! The boatbuilder can strengthen the boat to take the monster mast. Unfortunate thing is my ex spent two long days working to put the steel beam in which, unfortunately, would not have fixed the compression issues.

Have attached a couple of pics of my pretty girl.

By the way...although the name is nice and gentle, I think being a girl's boat it will invite too many jokes where the first letter of the name is replaced with an 'N'. Or is that just my deviant mind

Some inspiration:

www.sydneyboating.com.au/boatingnews/worlds-best-folkboat/