Closed smr547 closed 1 year ago
I know Paul McDonald had made at Opua stainless steel frame with gate to hold the life raft on Mari. If there was anywhere you would find a stainless steel fabricator Opua is it.
Thanks for your observations Chris, Paul has reported the problem and you may have seen the resulting maintenance issue https://github.com/CanberraOceanRacingClub/namadgi3/issues/674.
Dodgy construction does not surprise me. In one Hobart race (Elan 2013) the whole cockpit console (including chartplotter and other electrics) separated from the boat owing to a stainless steel "non-weld" failing.. I think (and hope) that the hulls of our boats are made with a slightly higher grade of workmanship.
You may have noticed I've joined the camp that wants CORC to invest in a higher quality yacht next time we change over. The financial pain will be worth it in terms of utility (once again, actually going in a RSHYR), reliability, safety and resale value.
kind regards Steven
PS. I have shared our discussion with the committee -- It's important!!
On Thu, 19 Jan 2023 at 07:30, Christopher Green wrote:
Steven, don't think anyone has told you about the port helm station breaking off the steering pedestal. Dodgy construction with a ton of salt corroding unprotected aluminium connecting plate. Got very wobbly on the trip, but thankfully didn't actually break off until we were in port. Michael has arranged a metal fabricator to look at making a new stainless connector. Paul Jones will send a photo. Chris
Chris Green reports
Hi Steven,
Got the helm station back together. Feels solid as. Boat builder said youd rip the bolts out of the plate underneath before you'd break it.
Chris
Photos below
Hi @Christopher-w-green,
What was the cost of this repair. I'm thinking we should do a precautionary rebuild of the starboard pedestal
kind regards Steven
Don't know the cost. Michael was handling the money side as he had the GST exemption, but we haven't got an invoice yet. He said he charged $85 hour, so don't think it will be too much, probably a couple if hours work for him. The starboard side still feels solid. But you could pull the chart plotter out and have a look at it if you're worried. I wouldn't think it necessary to rebuild it if it isn't broken. From the broken bit on the port side, it looks like it cracked through one of the elongated bolt holes first, and then the movement gradually fatigued the plate at both ends. As it got more wobbly during our passage, we thought the bolts had worked loose and were planning to tighten them up when we got in. So if the starboard side starts to wobble that would be a flag to pull it apart.
Repair complete. Units operable. Closed.
Crew from the Sydney to Opua crossing have reported...
@pauljones17 @mrmrmartin will be interested