Seawych Kamala

Blog has now moved to

http://kamalajersey.blogspot.com/

as this one was really clunky to work with.

Jason

Here are photos of the Seawyches I have found in Jersey

1. Mine! ‘Kamala’ SW614 in St Aubin’s Harbour

2. ‘OG’ – currently on the hard in St Aubin’s Harbour

3. Pitch n Putt II?, St Aubins Harbour

4. Sea Miranda, St Helier Old Harbour

Well, I managed to replace the leaking window, and also discovered perhaps a more serious problem in the process. More of that later.

The window went on easy enough. Here’s the before and after pics, before I get into the details.

This is my daughter by the way. I removed the old window with a screwdriver, to lever out the rubber and window. I then marked out the position the new window would occupy and put a bead of sealant on the boat where the edge of the window would come. The intention was to leave this to set and then put the window on the next day with  another bead of sealant (as given in the seawych owners manual). I duly went home to drill the holes in the windows ready for fitting.

In fact, the next day, after I’d drilled the holes, it turned out that the window was way to far away from the GRP for the screws to reach. Luckily I’d brought a sharp chisel and just cut off most of the previous day’s sealant. 

4.3mm holes seemed too big, so I settled for 4mm holes in the GRP to screw into. I’d gone for 80mm spacing between screws exept near the corners. I screwed the window down and marked the outline.

The window was then removed and a good thick bead of sealant placed just inside the marked outline. Now the decisive moment…off with the protective layers on the dark-tinted window, and screw it back on. Not too tight, just enough to squish the sealant a little. Another bead to neaten the edges and that’s how I left it. Next time I go down I’ll tweak up the screws a little.

I love the way it looks. The window appears very dark from outside but from inside it is still quite bright. Will save the other, non-leaky, windows for warmer times.

Issues / Reflections:

I used #10×1/2″ screws. These felt a little short and only gave 2/3 turns of good purchase. 20mm might be better, but may poke through to the inside. I’m glad I didn’t use the 10mm mentioned in the owners manual. With a 5mm window thickness and something for the sealant, that only leaves a few mm in the GRP, and most of that will be taper.

I managed to cover many things with sealant. It’s messy.

I did all this outside in late december, around 4°C with a biting easterly force 5. Just about bearable, but with the window off the cabin there was no where to get out of the wind. Needs must. Just meant I had to work quickly.

Serious Problem?

I have really bad headlining headaches. The front V-berth section is hanging off. I know, thinks I, just put a small hole in the roof, and hold it out the way for now with a self-tapper. One small hole later and it’s dribbling a steady stream of water, thats obviously trapped between the layers of the roof. I sealed around the mast foot in case thats the problem. Any ideas what’s wrong?

Summary:
4 new oversized windows and fixings purchased, made up by signtech (local sign manufacturers) for £86. ST-242 stainless self tappers purchased for fixing, (x 50 for one window) (£3.80)
Dow-corning marine sealant purchased for beading (£5.50)

Method
The forward starboard window leaks badly and the v-berth cushions were soaking wet. The rubbers here face the midday sun and the prevailing wind on its current mooring, so have badly perished.

I checked out the seawych owners manual on the website www.seawych.org (you’ll need to be a member to see the manual) and studied the options.

Options looked at were

a) replace the rubbers
b) fit new larger windows and screw these into the GRP.

Given that the windows were seriously crazed and the comments I’d read about the difficulty in replacing the rubbers (not by everyone, it has to be said) and the cost, it was a relatively easy decision to go for new oversized windows.

I was advised that a local sign manufacturer would be able to help. Despite this I wasted a lot of time pricing up acrylic online and in local builders merchants. An uncut peice of liteglaze, 4mm acrylic was £82.

In the end the local sign makers cut the four windows out of dark-tinted 5mm acrylic for £86. You can see them on my kitchen floor.

To make the template I took a roll of paper and a permanent marker down to the dried out mooring, and simply drew dots along the line of the aluminium sealing strip on the rubber seals. At home I enlarged this outline by 25mm to create an oversized template.

The screws recommended on the members site are 5mm x 10mm self-tappers. I could only find #10 x 1/2″ in my local chandlers. If I’d had to buy them bubble packed in packs of 10 it woudl have cost a fortune and I’d have looked to the web, but luckily they had them loose. Code was ST-242 I think (or 240).

These have a shaft diameter of 3.5mm, an OD of 4.75mm and length 13mm as measured by me. The head diameter is 9.5mm.

I am going to drill 4.0mm in the hull I think, and 6mm in the acrylic glazing to allow for movement.

The sealant I bought in haste and now regret, is dow-corning marine sealant. I should have gone for the sika quick setting stuff. UV resistant Sika is the recommended option but not available in Jersey.

Hopefully get the leaking window fixed over Christmas break as the current high is making the weather pretty good.

Hi there, this is the inauguarl post, as I have just bought the boat, a Seawych 19.

There is a great owners association at www.seawych.org , where I found loads of info to help with the masses of work this boat needs.

A friends of my wife owned the boat and gave us use of it over the last summer, but now they have a new baby and were willing to sell.

The price was great. £500, and it included a honda 5hp in pretty good condition.

A brief summary of the work it needs that I currently know about(!)

• new mainsail (actually I have already bought this before I bought the boat as the old one was shredded by being left on over two winters)
• headlining in forward birth area
• anti-fouling
• engine service, especially the carb.
• leaking windows need attention
• cockpit locker covers