Yan Anderson

Hey All,

After deciding I needed a trailer sailer to complete my new life living in Christchurch, and that my old Wayfarer dingy wasn't enough for me. I finally came across this website and forum about the Seahawk 17 and came to the conclusion, after considering other boats like the Leisure 17 that the Seahawk is perfect!

I'm now the proud new owner of Mustang who received a beautiful re-paint from Tom along with some smart new woodwork.  I've just finished cleaning ?her? up and sorting through all the bits and bobs that she's been left with by the previous owners.  Safe to say everything I could possible need appears to be there!

I look forward to the next step which will be getting her all rigged and figuring out where everything goes.  I'm looking forward even more so to the next step after that which will be getting her wet .

She doesn't need much work from what I can tell.  The metal rope to pull the swing keel looks a bit frayed and rusted where it joins so I'd like to get that replaced to make sure it doesn't snap off at the most inconvenient time.  Is this a job anyones done and has any tips for?

Here are some pictures of how Mustang is looking now after a quick clean out.

Welcome Yan,

Great to have you aboard. Your photos suggest you've found a good example of a Reedcraft built boat.

I've upgraded you to Member status, so you can now post just about anywhere on the forum and will add you to the alphabetical list within the next few hours.

Hello Yan
Definitely get that strop replaced.  When ours snapped some years ago the keel swung round and made a hole in the bottom of the boat!
Victoria

Hi Yan
Mustang is our old boat that we had for over 10 years, sailing her in Lyme Bay and on the Camel Estuary in Cornwall.  We have many videos and pics of her so message me and I'll email some to you. Replacing the keel strop is pretty straightforward if you can find someone with a swaging machine - try your local riggers.  Have fun with her - we loved sailing her!  Brian

Hi Yan,

You now appear in the alphabetical list!

I knew I recognised the name Mustang! Reading the forum you'll see that Brian has been a very valuable contributor. It only confirms that you should have found yourself a well cared for example of a SeaHawk.

Thanks All,  I will get the keel strop seen to!  I'll soak the screw that holds it in in something that breaks rust down a bit and then attempt it.  I'm sure somewhere locally will do a nice wire strip since I live in a big sailing area.
Yes I'm definitely happy with Mustang so far and Brian I've sent you an email (or 20! struggled a bit with the submit button).
Greg, the Forum has been great in regards to finding the right boat.  There was another one for sale which looks great, but given the choice I'd rather one that has a lot of good transparent history and using the tools here I was able to find out a lot about her which filled me with confidence.
She done a round trip now, Poole > Lyme Regis > Suffolk > Christchurch (very close to Poole).  But she's gone back to being far away from the Broads though where perhaps she was born.  

I'll try and contribute to the forums too and let you know how I'm getting on.

I cleaned up around the keel strop a bit and attempted to remove the retaining bolt but no luck, its just a flat head screw driver fitting and I guess it will need drilling out, the thread re-tapping and a replacement bold.  But after cleaning up the surface rust enough that it now moves freely perhaps its not too badly frayed.

Whats your guys opinion, is it needing urgent attention?

Hi Yan
Looking at the photos of the strop, it appears to be missing the thimble inside the wire loop (eye splice) at the top of the keel.  Without the thimble, the strop will wear badly.  Suggest you replace the strop making sure that the eye splice is done around a stainless thimble.  You might just get away with inserting a thimble into the existing splice?