Messages

1

Standing & Running Rigging and Fitting/Tuning / Re: What is a Fresh Water Stay anyway?

« on: September 27, 2022, 09:18:54 AM »

Alas I answered my own question, with the help of a 424 owners manual.

Confirmed that the Triatic and Fresh Water Stay are the same animal in this case, but interestingly enough I haven't quite figured out why there are two names for what seems to be the same thing...   I suspect it is going to be one of those boat things where people often use words interchangeably but they are actually totally different things (i.e. Taffrail, Stern Rail, Pushpit, Aft Pulpit).

What do you all call the stay between the top of the Main Mast and the top of the Mizzen Mast?   

2

Countess / Re: Rudder Removal

« on: September 26, 2022, 11:45:35 AM »

Hey there,

My rudder isn't nearly as bad off as yours was, but this project is definitely on the horizon for me.  I've studied my rudder thoroughly and came to a completely different solution for removal than you ultimately did and I was wondering why you choose the route for removal that you did.  Perhaps I'm missing something?  Perhaps you wanted a different type of rudder?

What I came up with:
The attachment of the original rudder blade as best I can tell is accomplished via 7, very long and heafty, flat head machine screws.  These screws pass through the rudder stock/axle, a section of the rudder blade and then into an resin encapsulated nut in the blade.  Further attachment is made via a pair of rudder gudgeons that pass over the rudder stock/axle and are thru-riveted to the rudder blade.

My plan is to first drill out the rivets in the gudgeons, then fabricate an offset screwdriver that can pass between the rudder stock/axle and the keel, and then unscrew the screws.  This will require each screw to be backed off a bit, the rudder pulled out, and then repeat until they have disengaged from the nuts.  Once free, remove the rudder blade, leaving the rudder stock/axle in place. 

ALTERNATIVELY, I may just dig out the resin encapsulating the nuts and just take the nuts off the ends of the screws, which honestly sounds like it might be easier than plan A.  The offset screwdriver will be required either way since I'll obviously still need to engage the heads of the screws to get the nuts off.  The rest of the removal would be the same.

Once the rudder blade is removed the rudder stock and axle become two independent components which can be inspected and repaired as necessary without the need to drop the whole unit as a single assembly which as you found out came with its' own set of complications.

Finally, fabricate a dimensionally correct, direct replacement fiberglass rudder blade and install as the opposite of removal of the original.

3

Standing & Running Rigging and Fitting/Tuning / What is a Fresh Water Stay anyway?

« on: September 26, 2022, 10:47:24 AM »

Hey there,

So one of the first things we're working on aboard our Countess is a complete re-rig, 58 year old rigging is a little beyond my comfort zone.

Currently I'm in the process of researching all of the parts needed but the manual references a piece of rigging that I've never heard of:  "Fresh Water Stay"

My best guess is that this may be a reference to a triatic which doesn't appear to be otherwise noted in the list? 

What do you all think/know about the mystery stay?

4

New Member Introductions / New Countess 44 Owner

« on: September 26, 2022, 09:53:29 AM »

Greetings all!

My partner and I recently purchased a Countess 44 and intend to circumnavigate with her.  She's in really good shape structurally but critically outdated in pretty much every other aspect.  Our particular Countess was built in 1965 and nearly all electronic/mechanical systems date from 65-72, so she's due for some serious updating.

It seems as though there is relatively little information available for the Countess online so my primary goal of being on the forum is to help flesh out details (hopefully with the help of other Countess owners) so that there is finally a resource available for these beautiful boats.  Our Countess came with loads of original paperwork and I'll be scanning those and hopefully start making those available online (Where to host this information is still unknown.).  If any others out there are interested, I'd love to help out in any way I can.

Otherwise, I'm sitting on a pile of questions to ask so my apologies in advance!

-Dana