tophatyachts.com

Wikipedia says that Mk3s had steel shot cast in concrete. Could this be true?

Firstly, please don't believe all what Wikipedia has to say about Top Hats.

I've tried on numerous occasions to correct what is posted there only to have it changed back! [I think by the original poster]

There is anecdotal evidence that the first ballast was solid cast lead [MK0's], this progressed to lead ingots [Mk1's & Mk2's?] and then to steel shot
coated with oil and sealed in. [Mk2's & Mk3's] I do have a couple of the lead ingots and I'm sure I have posted a photo here somewhere.

You may remember a previous post by a member who had gunk [oil?] seeping from his keel and the repairs he did.
He had no evidence of concrete encasement of the steel shot.

As to what is in each Top Hat I think nobody really knows unless they have opened up the top of the keel.

One thing I can say is that Mk2's & 3's have more ballast than Mk 0's & 1's and that may include the 6 Formit Mk1's.
Formit added the extra ballast to compensate for the loss of water in the keel tank [caused when they lowered the cabin roof and hence the cabin floor to maintain the headroom] and to stiffen the boat for racing.

I'd go with what Phillip said.

My old boat, Windchaser, a Mark II, had a keel mostly full of lead ingots but with all the spaces around the lead bars filled with steel shot and then topped up with some kind of oil, I guess to keep the shot from rusting. No concrete that I found and the steel shot seemed to be only a small percentage of total ballast.

cheers

Troppo

I'll go with that Troppo

Hmm, I seem to recall reading somewhere that some Top Hats Mk II' (?) were sold partially finished and the new owners completed them, possibly a way of saving money. [I remember wondering at the time of reading it if that was why Windchaser had such a poorly installed liner.]

If some Top Hats were sold not completely finished, is it possible that ballast in these cases was left up to the new owners? I somehow don't think so but am curious enough to ask.

troppo

Yes about 6 [as far as Formit's sale person could remember] were sold as hull and deck separate.

This caused Formit all sorts of problems so the practice was quickly discontinued.

Biggest problem with those few boats is the hull to deck connection.
Seems they all did a poor job on sealing up the joint with resin.
A mate has just had to redo his Mk2 hull/deck connection again.
He did it in small portions cutting out the old glass cloth at the joint, redoing it and then pouring in resin from above to seal the joint.
In some cases the ply in the composite deck also had to be cut out and replaced where it had rotted from water getting in.
You can sometimes find those areas as the deck will be soft.

It took him a long time to do.

I don't know about the ballast.

I'm happy I have a Mark 1

Had a chat to a gentleman today called Rick, who had a Mk1 called Sea Bird. He bought from Wyong as hull and deck, and he did the fitout. Said that the ballast was already fitted. Had an inboard, with the common problem of wet feet in the cockpit. Anyone tried my backwards scoop to solve the wet feet problem?

Ian,

That's good to know. Would seem then that the practice started with the Formit Mk1's and may have involved some of the early Mk 2's.

The two Formit Mark 1's we have here were sold with deck and hull fixed on sale.

There are at least four with sugar scoops that I know of.

One Mk1 and one Mk2 and an other Mk Unknown. All in the Brisbane area. And of course yours Ian.

The wet feet problem was partially solved by Formit who raised the cockpit floor by 100mm in Mk3's and maybe some or all Mk2's.

Personally I don't mind the water that comes in through the cockpit drains, not a problem with sea boots on and up north it cools the feet

Hi Phillip,
Actually I have not bought a TopHat yet. Looked at a few, but waiting to fall in love.

The scoop idea I have for the Mk1 wet feet is to mount at the end of the drains, a standard water inlet fitting turned around. They are designed to scoop the water in normally. By turning around you create a suction instead, which should keep the water out. This theory is based on the comments that the problem is worse when moving. I described the idea some months ago in the forum, and I was wondering if anybody had tried it.

Ian,

I'll take that back...Only three Top Hats that I know of have sugar scoops!!!!

As to water entering the cockpit on my Mk1 its only really a problem when doing a bit more than 5 knots.

My average speed when cruising is 4.6 knots [average for over 7,000 nm] so you can see it doesn't happen all of the time.

It's really not a problem that HAS to be fixed.