What I did or planned for my Top Hat today!

[Aaron]

Good Topic!!

Well.......
-Bought a new rudder shaft, which will be bent and have a key way cut into it tomorrow.
- Bought Primer for top sides and antifoul primer
- Bought Top flight anti foul RED
And when I get paid a NEW TOHATSU 9.9 25 inch long shaft 4 stroke and a 2 double spinlock rope clutches.

Has anyone ever seen inside a top hat rudder?? and what the shaft looks like after 30 year battling the sea?? Very scary!!

Getting there slowly, we are designing the goose neck now.

Good to hear i'm not the only nutter spending money on good boats!

Dawn Breaker.

[Phillip]

Spent another day removing old paint........ but the fore cabin is finished!!

Should have emptied the boat of all gear!

Why.. well I reckon I will be chasing the paint dust for years!!!!

Have removed 2kg of dust already. . still heaps onboard .. and have the main cabin to go.

Day off tomorrow, to recover, then back into it on Thursday!

[Ianb]

Aaron,
Please post a pic of your old rudder shaft so we all can get scared!

[Phillip]

Still removing the old paint. At least two days to go!

Main cabin ceiling before removing old paint.

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Stage 1 removal of old paint in main cabin looking forward.

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Stage 1 removal of old paint in main cabin looking aft.

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Stage 1 removal of old paint in forward cabin looking.

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[Troppo]

Phillip, that is very impressive! What are you sanding with?

There seems no end to the list of things-to-do to Windchaser. Today I put the new fitting onto the vhf radio. Followed the instructions downloaded from the GME website. For soldering I used a 240v soldering iron via a 300 watt inverter clipped to my battery. Worked well.

When I bought Windchaser, the radio seemed to be working but I found it was only working some of the time and then not when I needed it. Eventually found this:

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[Troppo]

Another job I finished on Windchaser today was the hole I cut in the cockpit. A month or so ago after some rain I noticed when I stood near the rudder shaft in the cockpit, a little water squeezed up. Hmmm, not good. I drilled several holes through the top layer of fibreglass into the wood core to check . . . . The drill brought up wet wood.

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Using a multitool plugged into my 750 watt generator, I cut out a square of fibreglass and used screwdrivers and a chisel to lever it up. Left it to dry for several weeks. Lucky it was the dry season.

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When dry, I poured in epoxy resin with wood rot killer (Botecote + TPRDA), worked it into the cracks and gaps. Probably used two cups so it was going in a long way. Put the fibreglass square back on top and used fairing powder in the epoxy to fill the gap. When set, I used an attachment in my drill, it is a bit like a wheel with red tough string, not wire, and it is hard enough to sand the fairing off but soft enough to not wear much of the fibreglass away. So most of the rippled surface that got fairing mix on it cleaned up nicely.

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[RodM]

Sitting on my boat in Batemans Bay Marina. Marina redesign proposed for the next few years will mean the minimum berth will be 10 metres. Guess what market they're aiming for??? The creaky old Wooden jetties and rotting pylons will make way for pontoon jetties and the offer of storage cradles for boats under 8 metres...

But for today, I've measured the cabin sole and find I have a Mk3, not a Mk2 Toppie. While I adjust to this, it's almost like owning two Tophats!

As with all good inboard owners, I've spent Sunday morning in prayer, on my knees, leaning over the engine. After I'd done the previous head fix in late 2012, changed oil and filter (twice) the oil was still milky from water after even only a short run. The Yanmar arrived a couple of days ago prompting me to try one last time... Suctioned out the oil, added a bit, removed it (repeat x 3), removed oil filter, wiped away oil pumped up by hand turning the flywheel (repeat, repeat, re...) new oil, new filter... Viola, new engine! Oil clean, tappets adjusted, no overheating... All good news. Motor swap for the Yanmar will still happen, but a bit later. For now I can inspect prop shaft, cutlass bearing, rudder n all when the two BB Tophats emerge for an anti foul job early October.

A Mk3 Toppie, hmmm... At least now I know which gallery to put photos in

[storm petrel]

Today I did nothing on my Top Hat other than have a nice sail off broken Bay. Perfect weather and a lovely 12 knot southeaster.

Rod,

Shame the dollar is driving the marina business down there as well. Be aware that if your Top Hat was fitted out by the owner it may have a lowered floor and have measurements like a Mk3. My Mk2 has a floor plan similar to a Mk3 but higher head room than a Mk2 or Mk3.

Your inboard sounds painful. My 2QM15 yanmar is 30 yrs old and still runs sweet, knock on wood. The secret- I run it for a couple of hours every week or two because I think marine diesels need to be run regularly under load.

Cheers,
Mark

[RodM]

Yeah, I do wonder about the Mk... Mine is documented as a 1973 boat, and if Mk3 didn't come out of the mould till @ 1980, someone has prematurely aged her! I don't think its an owner finished boat, I've had a look in a few Toppies, mine looks consistent with the 'racing layout' of central for'ard dunnieloohead, wet gear locker, standard woodwork etc. I guess there's a bit of the unknown history with most our boats...

[Phillip]

Mmmmm!

Looks like we will have to add a rider to the floor measurements.

Could those who know they have a Mk 2 or 3 measure the floor to ceiling dimension at the main bulkhead please and post the results here.

Just a bit of History.... Formit produced about 6-8 Mk1's in 1972 after they purchased the moulds from Geof Baker. In late 1972 the first Mk 2
was built and in Nov 1976 the first Mk 3 hit the market. The LAST Mk 3 was built in 1985 and she sat in the factory until 1990 when she was finally sold.
It was possible to get a Mk 2 after Nov 1976, as advertized, but I have no proof yet of any being built after 1976.

It's easy to identify a Mark 1, which were built between 1965 and 1972. Baker probably stopped building Mk 1's around 1970-71.

And what did I do today.... I stripped the mainsail off in preparation for the refit of all my halyards etc back to the cockpit.