Questions about Westwind (24' made by Paceship).
Ken Washburn
I am sailing a 1969 Westwind, built out of Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. It
was bought new by my grandfather, so I am fairly familiar with the boat,
but I just recently took ownership of it.
My questions are:
1) It has a retractable keel (swing keel? I was told that term is
incorrect). Should I be worried about the pins (at the axis of
rotation) holding the keel (in terms of corrosion, wear, etc)? What
about the cable/fastener to pull it up? The cradle I store the boat in
is VERY low to the ground and make it very hard to inspect the keel.
2) The tiller seems to have about 4" of free play. Is this something to
worry about? I have been told that an autohelm would be ineffective (by
a manufacturer) because of the free play.
3) I know that I was asking for a lot of work taking ownership of an old
boat (the price was right :) ). What should I be looking for in terms
of heads up maintenance for a 30 year old fiberglass boat?
I've derived tremendous enjoyment from this boat in the past year
(especially since I bought a 9.9hp Honda 2cyl 4 stroke longshaft). I
have cruised the Passamaquaddy bay and Bay of Fundy, sailed 50' from
finback whales and in the middle of a pod of porpoises.
Graham
Ken, I have added some comments - I have sailed on one of these and we
actually have one for sale on our brokerage (See picture on our web page -
address below)
Ken Washburn wrote in message <350EB70F...@nbnet.nb.ca>...
>I am sailing a 1969 Westwind, built out of Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. It
>was bought new by my grandfather, so I am fairly familiar with the boat,
>but I just recently took ownership of it.
>
>My questions are:
>
>1) It has a retractable keel (swing keel? I was told that term is
>incorrect).
I would say it is retractable - definetly different from waht others call a
swing keel
Should I be worried about the pins (at the axis of
>rotation) holding the keel (in terms of corrosion, wear, etc)? What
>about the cable/fastener to pull it up? The cradle I store the boat in
>is VERY low to the ground and make it very hard to inspect the keel.
I would try to get it raised up so that you can lower the keel on land - The
pins should be checked and the cable should probably be replaced.
>2) The tiller seems to have about 4" of free play. Is this something to
>worry about? I have been told that an autohelm would be ineffective (by
>a manufacturer) because of the free play.
This should not be like this - see if you can tell where the play is and add
shims or maybe a rudder post key if that is where the slack is.
>3) I know that I was asking for a lot of work taking ownership of an old
>boat (the price was right :) ). What should I be looking for in terms
>of heads up maintenance for a 30 year old fiberglass boat?
>
The Westwind is a tough boat - just check the rigging and chainplate
attachments. If it has the motor in the well, check that the glass has not
become waterlogged in this area - Our local boat had had the motor well
glassed closed and the motor is on a bracket.
Regards,
Graham & Gerry Moss
Windjammer Sails, Box 23004 Amherstview PO Kingston Ont.
Canada K0H 1G0. (613) 389-4349 FAX (613) 389-4762
"Everything for sailing - At a good price!"
MAIL WEB SITE
wind...@fox.nstn.ca http://fox.nstn.ca/~windjamm/