Forums, External Fixtures and Fittings

I see there is a topic from a few years ago. I am planning to replace winches and was wondering if anyone has more information on the best way to go about it, perhaps some photos. I am replacing non-ST Lewmar winches with Anderson ST winches.

Blueshank at 25/11/2013 17:19:25
Hello

I want to replace my original 1977 “Stuart” engine cooling seacock with a Blakes.
The Stuart has a slightly larger through hull hole and a 3 bolt pattern, whereas the Blakes
is a four hole pattern. I plan to seal up the old holes and start again. The seacock is on the port side at the top of the keel void.

My thoughts are that I will put the blakes in the same place, reusing one bolt hole and drilling a new through hull hole through the repaired and filled old hole. However, I am wondering if it would be better to locate it elsewhere and start afresh?

Any thoughts or advice welcome.

Tim

Victoria808 at 15/05/2020 15:40:17
The contessa that I bought a couple of years ago had part solid teak decking and part veneer in the cockpit. The latter has degraded and I’ve taken it back down to the gel coat. I’ve had a couple of quotes to have it replaced professionally and they suggest about £1500 plus VAT. Each time I nearly proceed with a quote I can’t help thinking that with extreme care I could possibly do it myself. Has anyone else taken this approach, and if so are there any templates available for the more tricky cuts? Very interested in any information or suggestions.
Cheers

gauntlet at 03/09/2017 21:07:19
Good day fellow CO32 owners.
I am considering fitting a horizontal windlass just aft of the anchor locker just as I have seen in photos of Calypso and Assent etc
What I would like to know is where does the anchor cable go?
Does it get led via a spurling pipe down to the forepeak locker?
Are the forecabin cushions altered to fit around the pipe?
Any information about this and any other aspects of fitting a windlass on a CO32 would be greatly appreciated.
Most windlasses I have seen drop the cable vertically at the windlass although I have heard that there a some that feed horizontally to a spurling pipe away from the windlass. Anyone have any information about this type of windlass?

Regards…………Andrew
Gauntlet CO900

Gillian at 28/08/2017 11:36:03
Hello,
I’m the new owner of an old CO32 and am shopping for safety lines. I’ve read of the dangers of too long a line and am quite taken with the three clip line for going forward. I see the chandleries offer 2m or 1.8m lengths but wonder what experienced CO32 sailors find to be the optimum.
Gillian

Resolute635 at 18/02/2017 11:39:54
Does anyone have experience fitting mid-ships cleats? JR advised placing above saloon recess but this seems too far forward – so advice on position.

The underside of the deck has a ridge in the construction so that the backing plate JR recommends has to be just the right size so as not to be across the ridge – so advice on backing plate welcomed.

Registration of cleat bolts and backing plate might be problematic to ensure in practice – any advice?

How thick is the deck?

Thanks for any advice

CO923 at 14/02/2017 17:21:44
We want to move our life raft from the starboard quarter outside the pulpit to the position many people use forward of the mast and behind the forward hatch.

Any advice on exactly where and how to fit the support brackets (e.g. self tapping screws into the fibre glass, or through bolts?), whether to mount the life raft fore and aft or transversely, and where to put the inflatable dinghy, which lives in that spot at the moment?

moongirl at 23/01/2017 19:18:45
Where do other boats fix the ends of their Jackstays? and what do they use to join them to the anchor points? I prefer nylon webbing to wire what do others think?

Brigitte at 04/11/2016 08:04:50
We have an 1970s Gebo Skylight hatch which is still in good condition except that the main gasket leaks when we ship water over the bow or get too enthusiastic with a hosepipe. I have found the current Gebo gasket on a useful website:

https://www.svb24.com/en/gebo-sealants.html

We are told No 42444 fits Gebo Skylights, but they were redesigned in the 1990s. Before we stump up £35 for a length, or destroy our existing gasket attempting to check, is anyone out there able to confirm that it fits the old style hatch?

Secondly, has anyone successfully replaced the seal to the acrylic glazing on a Skylight and if so, where did you get the seal?

Speedwell at 01/11/2016 19:10:38
Does anyone have any experience with the non-tapered screw which holds the hatch lid to the hinge coming loose?

It slides in and out of the hinge without any resistance so the hatch is now only connected by one hinge. They look like the original hatches and hinges but they are almost watertight so I’d prefer not to replace the entire hatch for one hinge – but I can’t figure out why or how it’s coming out.

Tazling at 28/07/2013 21:58:47
What’s the wisdom among Co32 owners as to the tension of standing rigging? I’m inclined to call my lowers (especially the aft lowers) a bit too slack, yet I’m hesitant to start cranking them tighter; it may be that the boat doesn’t well tolerate a really taut standing rig. Better cautious than sorry. OTOH, if it really is too slack then that’s a lot of wear and tear also…

My after lowers are visibly swaying on the lee side in 12-15kts. To me this is “loosey goosey” and demands attention, but I’ve spent time on modern racing sloops (downwind sleds, fin keel buoy racers etc) which are often tuned a bit tighter than is good for ’em.

Any comments on lowers, backstay etc?

Tazling at 28/07/2013 21:54:38
So I’ve just had a lovely couple of weeks getting to know my Co32 in various conditions — mostly big blusterly NW near-gales with bright sun, nice! — and the more I sail her the more impressed I am.

One thing has been puzzling me for some time, and that is a curious shudder or shiver that runs through the whole boat occasionally at anchor. It doesn’t seem to correspond to maximum wind gusts - I thought it was maybe the rig shaking, the forestay oscillating, something like that, but the timing is odd, almost random. Sitting in the cockpit I observed that the shudder or shiver did correspond with an oscillation in the tiller, perhaps in response to small waves or turbulence as the boat dances around in the gusts against the tide.

So I just wondered, does anyone else’s Contessa occasionally tremble all over (like a minor earthquake) while at anchor? Should I be worried? I don’t recollect either of my previous boats doing this, but they were quite unlike a Contessa, so that may mean nothing :)

And now back to singing her praises: What a nice little boat she is! She’s been reliably making 5.5-6.5 in the good strong air on any point but a dead run. (Yes, I saw 8.1 on the gps screen once or twice but that was with a favourable tide!) A beam reach is of course a hoot and a half in 20 kts and relatively low sea state :-) - I hurt my face grinning :) I find that she’s happy in 18-22kts with just one reef in the main and the whole genoa (mine is a roller-furling job, I’d call it a #2, maybe a 110 or so), but in gusts to 25+ I need to roll up at least a half of the genoa. Steering is mostly easy, though she does do a bit of “wallowing in the following” (who doesn’t?). Her motion is pleasant in all conditions so far, never pounds or slams, never does anything startling. Anyway, I’m very pleased now that I’ve had her out in some fairly serious air. Light air performance can always be enhanced by putting up more acreage of sailcloth :-) but a boat that won’t handle in heavy air is kind of a dead end. This one handles very nicely when things get sporty, and that’s just great.

Tazling at 16/07/2013 06:58:43
I’ve just polished JJT’s maker’s plaque back to legibility and I don’t see an obvious hull number on it. Does anyone know how to interpret the numbers on the plaque? I’ll try to post a picture sometime. One number looks rather obviously like date of manufacture or date of launch (lower right corner) but there’s another alphanumeric code in the lower left that I’m guessing is some kind of serial number. I’d just like to know which hull I am in the series! My mainsail says 25 on it, but heaven only knows where that sail came from :-) might well have been bought used, off some completely different boat.

Is there a registry anywhere of JJT’s Contessas? I think this one may at one time have been known as Achilles. Not that it matters I suppose, the boat sails just as well whether I know her history or not, but I’m curious

Tazling at 15/07/2013 02:24:22
I’ve been slowly going through all the worn-out gear on my venerable CO32 (Tazling, ex-Swack, possibly ex-Achilles, JJT 1981). Replaced the disgusting all-chain rode (a cranky, sticky, filthy rustpile) with nice new 5/16; and in the process I stared at the bowsprit fitting and was puzzled.

The anchor roller has been placed dead centre, so that the chain chafes on the forestay on the way in. This seems odd. Do other CO32s have twin rollers, one offset to each side?

Has anyone modified the bowsprit to offset the anchor roller? The attachment seems to be part&parcel of the forestay fitting, so it looks like a major project. I can probably live with it as-is, but it seems peculiar.

Colin Pritchard at 06/10/2016 11:04:05
Well my initial post was very informative, so here’s my real question…

We’re going to replace our original Lewmar 40 genoa winches on Rampage with shiny new Lewmar ST 40 or 45’s, final size to be decided when I’ve properly checked the coaming width.

Access to the nuts on the existing securing bolts is the issue. The nuts are glassed in and impossible to get at easily. I’ve loosened the bolts from the top but the whole bolt/nut assemblies are rotating so I have to get at the nuts from the underside of the cockpit coaming, but the cockpit side lockers are in the way. I would like to know how other owners have managed to get at these awkward nuts.

Any suggestions will be gratefully received.

Many thanks

Colin Pritchard

Nyaminyami at 25/04/2016 11:56:15
Dear All,

I removed a stanchion base bolt last week, and my suspicions of severe corrosion (re rust staining on the deck near the base) were proved correct.

Naturally, these are imperial sized bolts. Any idea re getting replacements, or is it a case of making a slightly larger hole and fitting a bigger bolt?

Many thanks for any advice

Simon

CO923 at 01/04/2016 17:47:12
Our cockpit grating (the wooden grating on the floor of the cockpit) is a bit tired and in need of some TLC. I have removed it and it looks a lot better after being hosed down. Still a bit of green moss-like growth on the sides of the cross members.

The main frame round the edges of the grating was varnished and a fair bit of the varnish remains.

The wooden cross members look as if they were once bonded together with some sort of flexible adhesive, but are now all loose. Does anyone know what kind of adhesive might have been used?

Some of the cross members have hints of old varnish at the ends where they join the grating frame. It’s hard to discern whether they were originally varnished all over or just at the ends; and it is also hard to discern how much of the structure was glued together.

Can anyone advise what the as-designed and/or as-refurbished state should be? My current plan is to revarnish the frame, to treat the cross members with Boracol but leave them unsealed, and to wait for advice about whether and how much re-bonding to do and what with.

Many thanks in anticipation

Hillary Sillitto, Peak Flow

Tessa65 at 01/04/2015 16:49:27
have just written a post in the Wanted section re a replacement boom for Ella. If am not able free up the existing one which is probably the original does anyone have a suggestion for a replacement that isn’t too costly I.e Selden which is around £800!!

Tessa65 at 11/03/2015 18:37:26
Hi all – the morning lines on Ella are repeatedly rubbing on the bow. I have shortened the lines almost to the point where the mooring buoy is out of the water. This has really helped but am wondering about fitting a stainless bow protector to further prevent the chafing. Any thoughts?

Tessa65 at 11/02/2015 13:07:15
Hi – I was considering fitting the Deckring Assembly but have been quoted £897 + VAT from JR!! Does anyone know of a cheaper option??
Thanks

Jon at 19/12/2014 10:39:15
I intend replacing the cockpit drains this winter. Before I start though – if you’ve already done this what did you replace the ‘sink drains’ and the 90 deg galvanised bends with please?
Thanks, Jon

doug at 04/12/2014 14:46:32
I have the asymmetric alloy jamming cleats on the main and spinnaker winches. However they are badly corroded on the underside. I intend to drill the heads off the bolts and see if I can lever them off. This may well destroy them; so before I go beyond the point of no return….

They seem to be marked:- CR – and have 2 bolts, 2in centres.

Thanks

Tessa65 at 28/11/2014 12:03:35
Hi – both the toe and taff rail on Ella is disintigrating and needs replacing. Also I think that the previous owner may have used a dark garden furniture stain which is very unattractive. I have been in touch with a local Marine Carpenter down here in Dartmouth with view to replacing it. Has anyone done this before without using the standard JR kit which is quite expensive. Any comments/suggestions would be most appreciated.
Also I need to replace the saloon coachroof hatch which is Gebo 500mm x 310mm I believe. Again this is quite expensive – has anyone used another make successfully? I appreciate that the dimensions are tricky.
Many thanks
Anna
Ps if the owners of Flyanna who is berthed in Kingswear ever read the Forum I have toe/taff rail envy. The one you have fitted is perfect craftmanship!!

James Moore at 17/09/2014 20:22:14
Due to a small incident in the Yealm earlier in the year my pushpit has become a little bent – other people don’t understand that Contessa’s dont go backwards in a predictable manner!
Has anyone removed theirs.
As far as I can see they are bolted into captive nuts – but the nut is not accessible as there is a glassed in shelf presumably to add rigidity to the stern.
The bolts are pretty unmovable at present – in most cases.
Any advice welcome.

James – Katisha

Wayne at 26/02/2014 13:25:32
Has anyone fitted an emgency tiller/rudder? or suggestions how to satisfy ISAF Cat 1 regulations?
Edited: Wayne on 2014-02-26 13:28:36