I am now the very proud new owner of a 1966 buitlt Mark IXB, I picked her up from Norfolk yesterday and plan to race her at Hampton.

At the moment she is very set up as a cruiser and there are various jobs that will need doing first, I really require advice from all those who have undertaken projects like this as to how to go about doing them.

The sails are completely shot but she has an old sized tall mast, can I use any sails or should I find a second hand main from somewhere off an old boat?

There is a spinni halyard but no uphaul/downhall I have a repaired carbon single pole but should I stick with simple and rig a single pole system or go the whole hog and invest in twin poles?

She appears to have the original centreboard but on inspection it is very rough round the edges...what would be the best course of action?

Last question and I am sorry for such a rambling post....on my new winder tales the jib sheeting angle seems much tighter than on 1911. On the winder the sheet goes to the floof and then through the deck to a cleet, on 1911 the sheet runs straight to a cleet on the deck infront of the shroud.  With this set up will I significantly lose pointing ability on the beat? would it be worth trying to set the jib up like the modern boats as I will be racing in a competative fleet of restored classics?

Thanks for sticking with this post and reading it to the end, I await any replies with great interest.

Thought that one might suit you Hywel!

The one I can answer is on the jib sheeting.  You are best to put a track on the floor with a turning block on the 2nd land out from the hog as that will suit the designed sheeting angle of the modern jibs.  It may be worth investing in a new centreboard, the original may well just be a shaped plank of mahogany with a square end which is what 1498 had, if so a properly profiled board will make a big difference.  A decent rub down and refinishing of what you have may be OK for now, I'm pretty sure John B got a new board for 1201.

Cheers Andrew,

Would the plank be srong enough to simply screw a track in or do they need some beefing up first? 
I'll get onto sanding the centreboard asap!

If it were me doing the job on my boat (908) I would make up two wooden mounts for the fairlead track out of mahogany then epoxy in situ, also screw from the outside in, in effect to pull the mounts into place and onto the epoxy creating a good solid joint. You can fill the screw holes with a bit of epoxy mixed with some west 403 Microfibres. If you just screw the track straight into the plank lands it will last minutes under any load.

As for the centreboard. Assuming it is in good nick then just sand down and revarnish or epoxy. On my boat the centreboard was ok'ish but unfeasibly long! I sanded it and painted it with 2 pack paint (2-3 coats) rubbed down between coats.

The track on Heaven Sent is simply screwed into the lands as with most wooden boats.  It pulled out at the very windy Hampton open 3 years ago when the boat was 12 years old, I filled the holes up with epoxy and microfibres and screwed it back in place and it is still there.

Blimey! Are they really!? Total thickness on land overlap, what 8-10mm? Doesn't seem much to take some pretty heavy loads.

Well it got thoroughly tested at Salcombe!  I'd screw into the lands (pilot hole and gauge the depth accurately) and use the belt and braces technique if it all pulls out.  Bet it won't!

On a few of the Tammy vintage boats (ie. Passing Cloud) the jib track runs on the rear foredeck edge, the runner also has an aluminium bracket which holds the harken cleat.

Hywel, on 1620, original jib was high clew. We tried a low clew to be able to use the foredeck as an end plate but we could never get the balance to feel right and went back to the high clew. We found it was difficult to get a good sheeting point on the floor, so continued to have the jib sheet fairlead on the deck, but fed the sheet first  through a floating pulley on the end of a thin line which runs through a pulley fixed to the foredeck brace, and then runs across the boat just behind the mast and is cleated to the opposite side deck. Works as barber hauler so we can set the angle of the jib sheet as we want without coming in.  Try it!

PS, this is a sister ship to Andrew’s old boat, proving that there is more than one way to skin a  cat.

Evan Macombich 1498 did eventually disintegrate beyond repair.  I gave it away to some friends who didn't really sail it and let the cover decay.  Even all the decent fittings got stolen at Papercourt and then they gave it back to me!!!!  Went to the dump I'm afraid.

Alex has got a load of old vintage stuff kicking around the flat, I am sure an old centreboard included. Worth giving him a call. I am sure it is available for the cost of a few beers.

well done on the purchase bro.

I'll be having that centreboard off FX thank you very much. 

I'm a bit nervous about this new Alpha MoFo.

Dalbers 1 Porkins 0

Grrrrrrrr!!!!!!

Tom, I think some covert tactics are needed to stop the Dalby menace...we'll need to put our thinking hats on!

Andrew, I understood 1498 was falling apart from the moment you found her in a field?

Not really Rod, was in pretty reasonable condition allowing for the chickens that had been living in the upturned hull!  What caused a lot of the problem was sailing it in vigorous conditions and particularly capsizing in surf trying to launch off Gurnard beach once.  Sprung a couple of planks and damaged the deck frames and it was downhill from there on.  I didn't have any money to do anything properly at the time.

Don't forget the Philly-chops Factor. 

Dalby 2 
Porkinz 0