#37 New Home!

Pat Burnett · April 28, 2021, 10:01:20 PM

Hello all,

I brought #37 back down to Annapolis and am working through the rigging and learning how it all went together. I'll be working on patching up the deck and finishing the last upgrade for the spinnaker retrieval hoop from the roller. I'll try to keep updating with some pictures as I get everything ready to sand/paint the deck.

Today I got the entire deck stripped minus a few forward pieces of hardware that are waiting for me to cut the new inspection ports in the bulkhead under the foredeck area to reach.

To kick it off, here's the first picture of the boat at it's new home!

Pat

John Leyland · April 28, 2021, 10:09:29 PM

Congrats and good luck. Looking forward to seeing the progress.

Darren Gilbert · April 29, 2021, 10:03:07 AM

Very Cool! Love those old Bennett Boats!

Pat Burnett · May 12, 2021, 09:15:03 PM

Progress Continues. Got the first coat of Interlux Primer on today. Here's some images of the job so far. Completed the upgrade to the stainless steel bow hoop from the roller. Painless honestly. Took about 2 hours all said once I measured out the location for the holes.

This weekend is looking ideal to get a couple coats of Interlux perfection on the deck... which hopefully allows for reassembly starting next week, meaning that Atlantic Coast Championships may happen after all, since all my paint and major parts came in! I am definitely going to have to figure out how to get the keel out to fair and repair the keel, and I will likely defer painting the mast for a little bit to get on the water, but I'm happy with the progress so far!

Peter Beardsley · May 12, 2021, 10:09:41 PM

It's really coming together nicely, great work!

Maybe it's just the angle in the photos, but you may want to get a laser sight through the centerline of the boat to ensure that the rudder tower and rudder bracket are in line with the keel and mast step.

Pat Burnett · May 21, 2021, 07:55:53 PM

Painting done. Time to install hardware.

Pat Burnett · May 24, 2021, 08:00:14 AM

All hardware on and ready for deck install and rigging this week.

Missed the Atlantic a coast Champs, but got some great ideas talking to everyone Sunday morning. Hopefully splashing soon!

Using the rain today to see if everything held watertight.

Darren Gilbert · May 25, 2021, 09:03:27 AM

Looks fantastic Pat! I love seeing these Bennet boats get restored. I loved putting 29 back together and I must've done a pretty OK job. She's still sailing on the Great Lakes, on her 3rd GL owner now.

Good luck with 37, again she looks fantastic!

Pat Burnett · May 28, 2021, 11:37:49 AM

More progress. Putting the running rigging and some new lines on soon!

Pat Burnett · May 28, 2021, 02:18:09 PM

Also, I have a quick question on mast chock measurements. Where is the measurement from when people talk about how much chock to put on?

Total length of the chocks stacked (i.e. from the end to the end of the 'stack') or from the center of the filed out portion where the mast would ride to the end? Basically, is the measurement in the middle lengthwise or on the sides of the chocks?

I'm not sure I have a full stack either... I seem to have max stack of 2.75 inches if I measure on the ends. Any recommendations where to get another set of chocks, or am I ok with what I have?

Bill Vickers · May 29, 2021, 11:13:57 AM

Hey Pat,

The measurement is typically from front of mast to deck for the chock measurement. So the center of the concave cut out of the block, closest to the mast, to the most forward chock.

Somewhat recently, well preCOVID, folks started putting their mast butt further forward and shortening the forestay several turns---recommendation from North and others after the last Worlds. So the shock measurements shortened roughly .75-1 inch for some boats, for those of us who followed these new recommendations. So your 2.75" may be enough if you go with the new measurement.

More importantly though, every boat is different.

I am happy to go out for a bike ride when it stops raining and we can discuss these things.

Also, shoot me an email and I am happy to come over and help step the mast and look at these things. Love the foam deck you put in

Hope you can get out when we all get together to do some practice races in June/July.
Waiting for Walt to send out a survey for what weekends work.

Bill

Darren Gilbert · May 31, 2021, 08:14:47 AM

Hi Pat, I'm stretching my memory a little, but I think the measurements for the Mark I boats are different for both the mast chalks and the forestay. For the forestay, I think it's a half inch shorter. But I can't recall what the measurement is for the chalks. Justin Scott might know, he had a lot of successful years in his first boat.

Pat Burnett · June 06, 2021, 08:27:58 PM

Thanks!

Fully rigged the boat today. I adjusted the blocks to achieve the target 2.25" pre bend with the 26 tension by removing blocks based on my settings. Re-did my tuning guide a little bit for the amount of blocks I should have while sailing.. It is much less than a Rondar boat it appears. My "base" setting is only 1-7/8" blocks to get the pre-bend with 26 shroud tension and 15 headstay tension.

In other news... Rebuild is temporarily complete! Finalized all the rigging (with some minor length adjustments required still on the bridle and Cunningham lines. Of course, there is still a list of things to get done, but I'm READY TO SAIL. Targeting Wednesday night to christen the boat and take her out for the first race. My initial crew came by today to work the systems together while rigging and I think we're starting from a good spot. It will be harder as we need to keep the mast down to store and ramp launch, but we'll get faster at it I'm sure.

Remaining list:
Paint mast
Remove keel to fair (probably later this year)
convert to 2-1 jib halyard
Buy new rudder.... I still have the kinked one. With the vertical rudder config, my rudder sweeps slightly forward now. Greaaat.
lube up the spinnaker sock
Instruments
Outboard bracket
Find a turnbuckle wrench.

Pictures in the next post from my phone.

Pat

Pat Burnett · June 06, 2021, 08:30:38 PM

As promised! Forgot to take pics while everything was rigged.

Pat Burnett · June 11, 2021, 07:42:17 AM

Finally got the boat on the water! Raced a Wednesday night handicap race this week to start figuring out the systems. I certainly have some adjustments required, particularly on the Cunningham and Gnav line lengths. Forgot a clew strap for the main, which made sail shape interesting. Raising and lowering the keel was.... a bit more difficult than I expected. I think I need to look at lubricating or taking the keel out to inspect to ensure that it wants to go up/down easier.

Started in 1-2 knots, and I left the rig set to the base tune settings to play it safe on the first sail. We had to get towed out to the starting area as the wind died completely. By the time the start sequence was in though, wind had built through 5-6 knots to 10-15, and probably up to 17-18 on the first beat... No idea where that came from. Backed off to probably 12 knots by the first mark, popped the spinnaker, and off planning we went. What a blast.

Long story short, we got the gun after starting 5 minutes back. We'll see how the time corrections go, but was a great first day on the water and we learned a ton about sailing the boat and maneuvers.