which boat should I look at?

[rseydler]

Epoxy it then? Pvc pipe?
Looks like a nice place to launch from.

You sure it's not got a gut full of water? Does it slosh when you rock it? That's pretty heavy.

[Peter Yates]

The only reference I have says they weigh about 290kg, so it is in the ballpark. They apparently carry nearly 100kgs of ballast (plus water!)

[guzzis3]

The brochure for the mk2 says 250kg.

Kookaburra park is the closest ramp to my home. I'm 500 yards from the river but no access anymore so I go to that ramp which is about 3 kms away. It's navigable all the way and about 80 kms to the mouth of the river. Of course the brisbane river is tidal salt up to the Mt Crosby weir. Lots of fishermen around the park and I chat to them when I'm rowing or whatever. Very friendly lot and they know stuff. LOTS of bull sharks up to about 2 meters. The ramp is fairly new and very well designed and built, and the park is beautiful. Few know about it so it's rarely crowded.

I love where I live and have wonderful neighbours, but the place is hellish hot in summer.

Blog updated including some photos of gypsy and the cockpit drain solution.

https://guzzis3.blogspot.com/2019/02/so ... today.html

[zebedee]

Kookaburra park is the closest ramp to my home.
...
The ramp is fairly new and very well designed and built...

With no jetty or pontoons, I beg to differ!

[guzzis3]

Well true. We just drag our boats up on the beach while we park the trailer. There are also rocks around it which you have to miss.

My comments pertained to the slope and shape of the concrete. It has nice traction grooves, a walkway down one side and a nice 10:1 fall. Once past the concrete the drop off is neither too shallow nor too steep. There are large rigging and parking areas, good bitumen and it's pretty flat.

The park as I said doesn't see that much use so I doubt they could justify the extra expense of a jetty, I'm just grateful for what we have.

By the way I would be interested in suggestions on what to use to paint the rudder. I want a small quantity, not too expensive but fairly durable. I don't really care what it looks like I just want to protect the timber etc. The rudder is supposed to be temporary but you know how that goes...

[MargGannet]

The cockpit drains on my Boomerang were similar. (Several boats ago!) Bigger diameter and longer, but the setup was much the same. Some through hull fittings, hose and hoseclips were used to make a much better seal than that aluminium tube... But there was some access under the cockpit to get in and attach the hardware.
Just a suggestion...

[guzzis3]

Thank you for that, yes I am doing a search on thru hulls but sellers are idiots. You would think if you were selling something like that you would tell buyers what od/thread the thing uses and the maximum hull thickness wouldn't you??

Anyway a lot of them require a bigger hole. I've only got 20 mm to play with. It's easy enough to trim the flange on the cockpit side. Maybe I'll just have to bite the bullet and bore it to 25mm. Even better if I can find an integrated scupper valve...

I was going to get a 100mm length of stainless pipe threaded both ends and a couple of stainless nuts with o ring grooves, some o rings and assemble it with silastic. That should do it but it's a fairly clunky way to do it I guess. A proper thru hull would be neater.

[Peter Yates]

Thank you for that, yes I am doing a search on thru hulls but sellers are idiots. You would think if you were selling something like that you would tell buyers what od/thread the thing uses and the maximum hull thickness wouldn't you??

Anyway a lot of them require a bigger hole. I've only got 20 mm to play with. It's easy enough to trim the flange on the cockpit side. Maybe I'll just have to bite the bullet and bore it to 25mm. Even better if I can find an integrated scupper valve...

I was going to get a 100mm length of stainless pipe threaded both ends and a couple of stainless nuts with o ring grooves, some o rings and assemble it with silastic. That should do it but it's a fairly clunky way to do it I guess. A proper thru hull would be neater.

I think I understand what you are describing, but can't grasp the reference to O rings on the nuts. My threaded pipe (brass I think) was indeed about 100mm long and about 20mm OD from memory, so I actually "screwed" it into the drain hole until a small length showed on the inner and outer faces of the transom. I then screwed on a flanged nut on each face, liberally sealed and epoxied in place. So the pipe was never going to allow water from inside the cockpit or the sea outside to enter between the transom walls. Having a small bit of thread showing on each end also allowed me to fit a cheap screw on cap if I wanted to, so that seawater didn't enter the cockpit floor when the drain was below water level. That was a nice by-product, but the main game was achieved just having the sealed pipe through the transom walls.

[guzzis3]

I am planning exactly the same thing as you only in stainless, and the nuts come with a groove on one side so an O ring can be fitted. The O ring will seal against the hull skin on both cockpit and transom side. Note the 1/2" refers to 1/2" bsp which has an OD of about 20.9 mm

Ebay links:

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1-2-Lock-Nu ... rk:19:pf:0

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1-2-Male-x- ... 1438.l2649

Note the groove on one side of the nut. If the hole were perpendicular the o rings would be enough to stop the leaks into the bilge. Because of the angle I'll put silicone around the join to ensure a seal.

I hope that makes it clearer.

[Peter Yates]

I thought the drain was perpendicular to the transom walls and that the transom walls were in fact parallel, but my memory might be faulty. A bit of gunge should seal it anyway but I did some FG work as well.

[Jaime]

I got a 20mm O.D. through hull in nylon from boating & R.V for a few bucks

[Jaime]

https://www.boatingandrv.com.au/skin-fittings/

[guzzis3]

Peter: You could be correct about yours, there is no need to drill the hole other than perpendicular. Unfortunately the person who did mine decided to bore it at an angle. It's surprisingly hard to measure accurately but I think the difference in height inside to outside is about 8 mm, the pintles etc are right in the way.

Jaime: At least BARV have the brains to include some important dimensions. Unfortunately what I've found is the length of most skin fittings is inadequate. The distance from the cockpit skin to the outer is 68 mm, then you need enough thread for the nut or nuts. This one:

https://www.boatingandrv.com.au/skin-fi ... ru-design/

is longer than most but only has 60 mm of thread.

Bizarrely the ebay stainless stuff is cheaper than any other option. It's really weird. I couldn't find plastic hollows with outer threads or plastic nuts cheaper than the stainless ones. $6 plus gst for 2 nuts and the pipe. About another $1.30 for 20 o rings. Crazy. I might get a cap at the same time as Peter suggests.

I don't suppose anyone has thoughts on paint for the rudder ? I really don't know anything about paint.

[zebedee]

Two pack paint is wonderful stuff, both to apply and in durability, and not much more expensive.

[rseydler]

For paint, just get something exterior oil based from bunnings.

[guzzis3]

zebedee: Where would I get 2 pack paint?

Ron: Bunnings website is overwhelming.

Thank you both for the comments.

Would this be a good choice? It's only a rudder so I imagine 250ml will be plenty...

https://www.whitworths.com.au/norglass- ... amel-gloss

[rseydler]

How about crystal paints at Underwood?

[guzzis3]

Thanks I'll look them up.

[zebedee]

Whitworths don't seem to carry 500ml of 2 pack Northane; other marine suppliers should have it. Specialist paint places will also have two part polyurethane paints, Norglass Northane or other brands. Like I said, it is beautiful to use and lasts very well.