Sabre 28: rig tensioning

On a recent sail we noticed too much slack in the leeward shrouds.
I found my old Loos cable gauge.  With suggestions from the original Sabre manual that came with the boat, we went from shroud to shroud and slowly and evenly increased the tension.
On a subsequent sail, leeward slack was much reduced and we have a bit more confidence in the standing rigging.

JY 15 sailboat!

Our boat angel neighbor gave us a boat I had no familiarity with.
It is a mid 1990s JY15.
It has been sitting for over a decade and was on it's way to becoming a garden.
The sails and rudder were stored inside thank heavens.
While the boat looked rough at first, a little elbow grease and cleaner and it is looking like a boat again.
Here are some photos...

My YJ towing my JY!

Much better!

Sabre 28: diesel maintenance

Our Sabre was repowered with a Beta Marine 14.  We don't have a sure idea when this happened but our guess is around 2005.
The engine looks to have low hours.
The installation was well executed with proper fuel and raw water plumbing.
It has a dripless shaft seal (a big plus.)
When we got the boat we immediately replaced the impeller even though it looked to be in fine shape.  We also changed the fluids.
I haven't owned a boat with an inboard diesel but to my eye, the water flow out with the exhaust seemed low.  The last few days, we removed the heat exchanger and pickled it with a dilution of muratic acid.  This cleaned off significant scaling.   We also removed and cleaned the raw water strainer.  Once all was back together, there was no discernible change in the flow.  I then started testing each passage the raw water passed through and fairly quickly found the problem.

The clogged tube that leads raw water from the  impeller pump to the heat exchanger.

In a previous impeller replacement, the debris of a disintegrated impeller was not removed from the tube leading to the heat exchanger.  It was 85% clogged with rubber shrapnel.  This evening we are fishing out the last of this debris and expect a decent flow the next time we fire up the iron genny.

The newly cleaned heat exchanger.

The heat exchanger is the rectangle the cap is attached to.

This is a cap with a vented loop.  This is on the rear of the unit as the water is headed  back to sea.

Back it the correct location.

Another view of the rear cap showing both the old and new zinks.
This part as well as new o-rings were purchased at Beta Marine of Minnesott Beach, NC.  It is handy to have the North American headquarters of Beta just around the corner.

Sabre 28: Port Light replacement

The port lights on the Sabre are original, hazy and cracked.  Replacement of the old plexiglass glass is good winter project.  The boat has 2 large and 2 small port lights on each side.  I ordered a 24 x 36 inch piece of 1/4 inch plexiglass.  This is enough to tackle one side of the boat.
I also ordered Dow Corning 795 silicone which is the proper adhesive/sealent for plexiglass.
We had hoped to salvage an intact piece of the original to use as a template but they all shattered on removal.  It was easy enough to make the correct shape when we had the frame removed.

The edge of the protective film was cut away before seating the plexi in a bed of Dow 795.  Before the 795 fully set, we peeled away the masking and tape.

Sabre 28: Sailing!

We have been working on old boat issues and sailing when we can.
Here are some of the items we have addressed recently:
But first some Sailing!

1.  Removed a diesel/electric water heater.  It was taking up too much room and interfering with the engine circulation.
2.  Installed a big Rule automatic bilge pump.
3.  Removed the shore electric and a variety of abandoned circuits.
4.  Installed a battery cover for the 2 deep cycle batteries.
5.  Replaced the deck flood light and mast light with LED bulbs.
6.  Did the required glass work and reinstalled new/used stanchions to replace the 2 that were damaged in Florence.  We also rewired all 4 lifelines.

Hurricane Florence

Florence produced the highest surge recorded in Oriental.
There was 9'6" of surge that crested about 1am early Friday morning the 14th of September 2018.
Wind speeds in town were in the 70 to 80 mph range.
There was significant damage caused by tree fall and water and wave action.
We stayed despite evacuation orders.  I over-built our house and elevated it on masonry piers expecting this type of challenge.  I didn't expect it to happen so soon after we moved in. (Less the a year)
Our "new" Sabre 28 was prepped for the storm by removing sails and most of it's interior contents.
We removed the boat from our slip and anchored way back in Greens Creek.

Our Sabre held on.  We were happy to find it afloat.

Our set up dragged a bit but ultimately held.  Our boat received some stanchion damage from a boat that drifted.

We used 2 anchors on 1 rode. The primary is a 35 pound CQR and the additional is a midsize danforth on 6 feet of chain.

We counted 14 boats in the anchorage before the hurricane.
After it was over 6 of them were in the marsh and woods on the south bank of Greens Creek.
Here some photos...

Sabre 28: Mast inspection

My eldest son was willing to take a ride up the mast in a bosun's chair to inspect the mast.
The standing rigging is in adequate condition at present.  All the bulbs are burnt out. There are three lights on the mast: deck flood, steaming light and masthead.  He was able to open the fixtures and retrieve the bulbs.  We will find the LED replacements and have another trip up the mast.

Sabre 28: deck

Other than the chainplate penetrations, the deck is in good shape.
I replaced the solar fan with a new and larger unit.  We have been sanding the teak and varnishing our way around the deck.

Sabre 28: Standing rigging

Another water intrusion issue with the Sabre was the leaking chainplates.
It has been years since the deck penetrations were serviced and the bedding compound had dried out and shrank.  This allowed water to get to the top of the bulkhead and it started the rot process.
The straps each have 5 bolts through the bulkhead spread out over 12 inches.  The top 2 bolt holes were compromised on both port and starboard.

Here is the chainplate after the repair.

To address this I cut and fitted marine ply sections and epoxied them over the good wood after cutting out the rot and filling the void with thickened epoxy.  It has the added plus of fitting up tight to the heavy molded fiberglass deck house beam.  After the repairs are varnished, the bolts will be reinstalled.
Here are photos of the strengthened bulkheads and the cleaned up and refitted chainplates.
If there is a rigging failure someday, I don't think it will be here.

Sabre 28 Projects: Chain Locker

The chain locker on the Sabre has a drain.  It is a small hole right through the stem about a foot above the waterline.  The hole is about 3/8ths of and inch and was clogged for several years apparently.  Rain water filled the locker and eventually rotted the bulkhead.  It was holding water when I got it.  The first project was to cut out the bulkhead and replace it with marine ply.
Because the deck is inplace, the bulkhead had to be installed with a seam.  This was backed up with an overlapping butt joint and the locker side was glassed with layers of glass cloth set in epoxy.
The drain hole is clear and one of the regular maintenance items will be to check it.  Washing down the rode will be a priority.

The locker after repair and paint.

The bulkhead. The treated pine 5 quarter  thick strips are epoxied in and will provide a surface to fasten finish oak lapping to match the existing woodwork.

Sabre 28!

Oriental, NC  the land of milk, honey and boats.
A nice neighbor lady gave us sweet deal on a 1978 Sabre 28 Mark ll.
I thought it would be a couple of years before we managed to acquire a nice cruiser, but low and behold this beauty:

She was nearby all along!

McKee Craft Update: thar she blows

Last week we got some items we had ordered; steering helm, a destroyer wheel and new throttle and shift linkage cables.
It was so fun, I forgot to get photos of the installation.
The SeaStar helm was super easy to install and very well built.  It cost $139.  Total deal.
Our arrangement needed only a 9 foot cable.
The old Evinrude cables were shot.  It is awesome how you can order these parts for a 40 year old motor and get everything working like it is new again.
The Evinrude control box just needed a little cleaning and marine grease and It is all back together.
Today we launched the boat and gave it a shakedown cruise.  My son is trying out the navigation lights in the dark now.

Fun on the water!

Helm with a John Deere ignition switch, nav lights and bilge pump switches.

An orderly stern.

Bilge pump with float switch.

The helm with simple accommodations.
(Treated Southern Yellow Pine 2x12)