Michael Hood - Pippin #120

Hi all,

I am very pleased to have purchased my first trailer sailor.  I spent a long time looking at many models but landed on Pippin, in need of a new owner and not all too far from me.  

This site has been a wealth of knowledge and will be valuable in getting Pippin ready for her next chapter.  She will be (hopefully) berthed at the local pond, Ullswater, from the beginning of next season.   She will need a new outboard, an stripping back and painted to the exterior,  and plenty of interior work to be done too.  New windows will be a must since the current ones are very clouded.  I can see so much of her history on here and this helps provide a vision as to what the new interior may be in time to come.   It's all very exciting but I have it all to learn.  The budget is quite tight (so my partner assures me) so rather than cut corners the project will simply be dragged out longer.

Structurally,  Pippin seems sound, though she has had an amendment, which I assume will lessen her sailing capabilities, to sail more like a Pedro.  She started taking on water around three years ago, and thus her drop keel was fiberglassed in, making it inoperable. Windward sailing I'm sure will be more a chore, with her becoming overpowered at full sail when the Ullswater here, there, and everywhere winds do there thing.  She will be good enough for me to enjoy none the less.  I'm hoping the keel will not now be full of water and if it is, I hope it does not become a big job to drain.  She has very little water visible in the small forward inspection hatch, and is bone dry everywhere else I've looked.

Anyway, I've rambled on enough.   Thanks for having me and sharing such helpful information.

Michael

Hi Michael,

Great to have you aboard and to read that Pippin has a new owner.

You should find you now have full "member" status and can post in much more of the forum.

Pippin was one of the first boats I learnt about when starting the site in 2004. You can see how her cabin looked then at:
https://www.seahawk17.org.uk/owners-custom-cabin-cabins.php#pippin
Back then, I recall she was based in Hertfordshire.

By 2013 she'd had most of the cabin fittings stripped out.



But she still had the bold colour scheme of the first owner I heard from:


That image comes from a subsequent owner who I recall had based her on the River Trent.

By 2018 it seems she'd been taken back to her gel coat and painted in original colours, but the cabin was looking as grubby as I'd ever seen it.

It was sad to read of the leak issue but she is an early boat that will have the unsealed ballast that does seem prone to such issues.

It would be great to hear if you manage to open her keel up again and cure the real problem rather than have to live with a solution that affects her performance so.

Greg,

I couldn't agree more with the keel.  That may be a later project.  Once she is with me I'll be having a decent inspection.  If it's a case of a little fiberglass of the keel casing and the ballast is loose junk that is easily removable,  then it will be done sooner.  I assume ballast surrounding the casing?  If so, what would you recommend replacing it with?  And finally, do you know of any photos of a seahawks keel slot from underneath, so I can see what hole should be there?

Thanks for your help.

Michael

Countrysideguy wrote

I couldn't agree more with the keel.

I may have over stressed the point about not having a keel plate to lower. In my earlier days with a SeaHawk I would often forget to lower the keel when leaving my mooring in a shallow dyke off Hickling Broad. Perhaps it was lack of experience, but I would notice the keel strop and handle were not where they should be rather than noticing a loss of performance to windward.

That may be a later project.  Once she is with me I'll be having a decent inspection.  If it's a case of a little fiberglass of the keel casing and the ballast is loose junk that is easily removable,  then it will be done sooner.  I assume ballast surrounding the casing?  If so, what would you recommend replacing it with?

Here are the pages I suggest you read initially:
https://www.seahawk17.org.uk/boat-description-hull.php#ballast
https://www.seahawk17.org.uk/owners-maintenance-fittings-keel.php#jammed

And finally, do you know of any photos of a seahawks keel slot from underneath, so I can see what hole should be there?

https://www.seahawk17.org.uk/owners-maintenance-fittings-keellittleauk.php

My own SeaHawk (sold in 2018) was a later model built with sealed ballast and I had no problems at all with the keel. However, the reports you'll see on the pages linked above suggest that to remove the ballast fully you'll first need to cut away the cabin floor and then spend several hours with a kango hammer drill tackling the ballast. Of course that may depend on how ropey and mobile the ballast is and yours could be an example where it is fairly loose and it may be much easier to remove, but I suspect it will still involve cutting away the floor and then re-fitting it after the keel work.

Thank you again Greg - very informative.

I believe the floor has already been cut out, given above the keel is now a wooden floor screwed in.  It is good to hear that sailing may not be completely terrible without the drop keel.  The previous owner believes the drip keel itself did very little.  I guess I will find out with my limited sailing experience (always been motor driven, which at the very least Pippin will do well).  I have a friend who will be a better judge of sailing performance for me.

I will keep the forum posted and keep another seahawk ploughing the chop.

We sail on the narrow rivers of the Norfolk Broads and tacking would be a nightmare without the drop keel.  It’s really essential to make enough forward progress and manoeuvre accurately among all the other boats.  However, you won’t have the same problem on Ullswater and you can always motor when the wind is against you.

You're right, Victoria, I shouldn't pretend that the drop keel has no effect. If you know how a SeaHawk should perform you certainly do notice that it is missing in narrow channels, but as I suggested it's much harder to detect with no land marks close by.

A Broads sailor should certainly be encouraged to give priority to fixing the keel.

Thank you Victoria,  again very helpful.   I will be sure to read through your furling jib posts, as this appeals to me long term.  This forum is a Gold mine.