So we bought a Pacer dinghy :) Thanks for all the advice from people last month: it was very much appreciated.

When I and my husband took it out for the first time (he can't sail), I managed to rip the main block right out of the centreboard casing. It was screwed into a too-thin piece of wood and it tore out as I shouted at him to Sit Down!!! Don't Move!!! Pull That Rope, No, THAT Rope!!!
(This, by the way, completely blew out of the water his claim that he "had sailed dinghies before"....)

So took it back to the guy I bought it from, who was lovely, and did a thorough fix. The second outing, kids in tow, was much smoother sailing :)


Anyway, now I've had a go with it I have identified some things that need fixing pretty fast, or they will drive me nuts. So I'm going to Whitworths tomorrow, but I'd appreciate some advice.

1. This cleat for the main/jib halyard is broken, but I can't find any like that on the Whitworths catalogue. A replacement will have to be rivetted onto the mast. I wonder whether something like this will do:
www.whitworths.com.au/mini-horn-cleat



2. There are two pulleys around the bottom of the mast. Any idea what they are for? I wondered whether the one on the left of this photo, which is at the front of the mast, is to use to get more purchase on the main halyard, but that seems like overkill on a dinghy to me. The left one, which is on the port side of the mast I have no idea about. Any suggestions?


This bailer has a slow leak even when closed as tightly as I can close it. Any ideas? The kids find it upsetting to see water coming in...

This bung leaks, though the other one doesn't. Any ideas? I think I'll try cleaning it out and screwing it in really hard before doing anything else. Are these actually useful? I could seal it in with silicone easily enough, I think, but then we would have to leave it in all the time.

I also have to get me a new jib sheet (for sure) and new rope for the halyards (if I'm feeling rich). But those are easy enough.

Does anyone know of a paint shop where you can get sample sized pots of different coloured outdoor paint? When I looked I could only find sample pots for indoor paints. I think the outside (yellow) is an enamel and the inside (blue) is something else. I'd like to be able to sand/repaint a few obvious spots.

Thanks for any suggestions :)

Hi Tenar
Well done
Question 1 cleat. www.whitworths.com.au/mini-horn-cleat No.
The holes in the Whitties cleat are side by side . You need a cleat with the holes above each other to fasten onto the mast.
I checked the catalog and the plastic ones are not in there . They are definitely in the store. If you are lucky you can get cleats that match the holes.
Remove one and take it into the store. With those cleats in that condition I would replace every one on the boat. They will be 2 to 3 dollars each I think.

Question 2. Pullies are called blocks on a boat. My guess is that one is for a spinnaker halyard. But don't worry about it. The use will come to you one day in an . "Oh. I see!!" moment.

Question 3. Bailer. Remove and take it into Whitties. If stuff gets old enough, it just doesn't work any more.
If you don't want to remove it at least take the photo in and show them with dimensions.

Question 4. The red sealing ring on the plug has gone hard from age. You could try to boil it gently to soften ii. If that works do the other side too before it starts leaking. Otherwise take in to Whitties.

I could seal it in with silicone easily enough, Never, i repeat , NEVER use silicone on your boat. Butyl (mastic) or expensive Sikaflex are the way to go for sealing. NOT silicone


Question 5. Don't even think about paint at this stage. You should see my boat. Battered scratch and dinged. Battle scars I call them.

Albert Park lake. stated sailing there almost 60 years ago. Fantastic place.

All the best
gary

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garymalmgren said..
Question 3. Bailer. Remove and take it into Whitties. If stuff gets old enough, it just doesn't work any more.
If you don't want to remove it at least take the photo in and show them with dimensions.

... or get rid of the self-bailer, fill the hole and use a sponge and bucket to mop out the wet stuff.

I could seal it in with silicone easily enough, Never, i repeat , NEVER use silicone on your boat. Butyl (mastic) or expensive Sikaflex are the way to go for sealing. NOT silicone

+1 (actually, +10). Or use Fixtech. Butyl is great stuff for filling small holes, but it stays sticky and putty-like. SikaFlex and FixTech will give you a hard, rubbery finish that you can cut with a knife, sand and paint. Bathroom silicone will actually do none of the things you think it should do, like fill gaps and seal stuff, and it is virtually impossible to remove.

.. and congrats on the boat. Although your first instinct might be to fix stuff, you might be surprised at how much you actually don't need.

Cleat: Rostan RF521, surprised Whitworths does not show it in stock. Used to be Discount Seamart just up the road but sadly they are gone now. Just check the hole spacing on your existing ones and compare with what is in stock. You can re-use the holes or at worse re-position cleats. Usually one each side not front & side as you have - old skool!

you could try Anchor Marine in Sandy or CH Smith in Fairfield, should be able to get your other bits at either of those as well. Probably easier to mount with SS self tappers, get them with the cleats to make sure they heads fit into the cleat holes.

those blocks at the mast base are for the spinnaker halyard port side and topping lift stbd side. should be some jam cleats alongside the cb case or under the thwart as well.

old venturi bailers are pretty useless. You will have a hole to fix if you remove it, winter job I think. A bit of duct tape will stop the water for now.

jib sheet about 6metres, I use 8mm but some prefer 10mm, double braid, something that feels nice in your hand so you don't bother with gloves.

halyards you want the 4mm spectra. yachting vic pacers are rigged with yellow/black for halyard and green/black for jib. Measure off your old ones for length, main is something like 11 or 12 metres. jib a bit less.

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garymalmgren said..
Question 1 cleat. www.whitworths.com.au/mini-horn-cleat No.
The holes in the Whitties cleat are side by side . You need a cleat with the holes above each other to fasten onto the mast.
I checked the catalog and the plastic ones are not in there . They are definitely in the store. If you are lucky you can get cleats that match the holes.
Remove one and take it into the store. With those cleats in that condition I would replace every one on the boat. They will be 2 to 3 dollars each I think.

Thanks, that's worth knowing. I was suprised not to find cleats like that online, will check in store tomorrow. I'll measure the distance between the holes, at the least, if I can't get the thing off easily.

I definitely would like to replace them all (there are 3 on the mast, all old, though this is the only one that is actually broken. I don't especially like the ones where one side is shorter than the other anyway.

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Question 2. Pullies are called blocks on a boat.

:) Thanks. It's the sailor in me warring with the physicist in me...

Actually I find I'm dredging up quite a lot of things that I "know" it should be so, but I can't explain why. Like the names for things and why you do things one way and not another - clearly I soaked this in as a kid and haven't used it in the last 25 years, but its there in my head anyway.

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Question 3. Bailer. Remove and take it into Whitties. If stuff gets old enough, it just doesn't work any more.
If you don't want to remove it at least take the photo in and show them with dimensions.

Will do that.

Select to expand quote

Question 4. The red sealing ring on the plug has gone hard from age. You could try to boil it gently to soften ii. If that works do the other side too before it starts leaking. Otherwise take in to Whitties.

I could seal it in with silicone easily enough, Never, i repeat , NEVER use silicone on your boat. Butyl (mastic) or expensive Sikaflex are the way to go for sealing. NOT silicone

Thanks, I'll try boiling it and see what happens.
Have gotten the message about silicone (but it works pretty well to seal up all sorts of gaps in aquarium kit...). Actually I'd have asked my parents before trying that and I reckon they would share your reaction, seeing as it's so very clear.

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Question 5. Don't even think about paint at this stage. You should see my boat. Battered scratch and dinged. Battle scars I call them.

Albert Park lake. stated sailing there almost 60 years ago. Fantastic place.

Do you still sail there? We can see it from the balcony of our place. I'm planning plenty of picnics over there with friends and family and the kids to have a sail, because it's so close. But also want to try some spots around the bay - Black Rock looks nice, if not for the current Covid cluster there.

Thanks for the advice.

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DrogueOne said..
Cleat: Rostan RF521, surprised Whitworths does not show it in stock. Used to be Discount Seamart just up the road but sadly they are gone now. Just check the hole spacing on your existing ones and compare with what is in stock. You can re-use the holes or at worse re-position cleats. Usually one each side not front & side as you have - old skool!

you could try Anchor Marine in Sandy or CH Smith in Fairfield, should be able to get your other bits at either of those as well. Probably easier to mount with SS self tappers, get them with the cleats to make sure they heads fit into the cleat holes.

those blocks at the mast base are for the spinnaker halyard port side and topping lift stbd side. should be some jam cleats alongside the cb case or under the thwart as well.

old venturi bailers are pretty useless. You will have a hole to fix if you remove it, winter job I think. A bit of duct tape will stop the water for now.

jib sheet about 6metres, I use 8mm but some prefer 10mm, double braid, something that feels nice in your hand so you don't bother with gloves.

halyards you want the 4mm spectra. yachting vic pacers are rigged with yellow/black for halyard and green/black for jib. Measure off your old ones for length, main is something like 11 or 12 metres. jib a bit less.

Thanks very much, all this is really useful. I had considered ordering the rope for sheet/halyards online but I'm not familiar with the names of different types, though I know what it should feel like in my hands.

I can see myself mucking about with paint and things this winter. It'll make a change from gardening, I guess. The venturi is placed at the right point to drain the water when the boat is on the dolly, so I don't want to remove it. I'll look more closely next time to try to spot exactly where it's leaking - maybe I can seal up just that bit for now.

My guess is that the boat is pretty old: certainly the sails look it. But that's OK for us as long as it works well enough. Don't need to go fast, just to go.

If the kids don't like water coming in the self bailer make sure you make a game out of tipping the boat over on purpose while it is nice and warm so they don't freak out the first time you capsize

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julesmoto said..
If the kids don't like water coming in the self bailer make sure you make a game out of tipping the boat over on purpose while it is nice and warm so they don't freak out the first time you capsize

Yes, that's on my list. But not on the lake: I'd much rather capsize in seawater than murky lake water.

Kids are doing a Tackers 1 course next week (thanks to their grandparents for the awesome Christmas present). I'm waiting until after that.

You may have a little trouble drilling out the old rivets on the mast cleats maybe you will have to destroy the cleat and cut the rivet of flush. If reasonable force doesn't work try unreasonable force

Can I do a self plug here? Please have a look at www.deckhardware.com.au/

We have a large range of all the things you need including a repair kit for the bailer, www.deckhardware.com.au/?rf=kw&kw=4155 and the halyard cleat, www.deckhardware.com.au/67mm-nylon-halyard-jam-cleat-grey

Any questions, don't hesitate top drop us a line.

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PhilY said..
Can I do a self plug here? Please have a look at www.deckhardware.com.au/

We have a large range of all the things you need including a repair kit for the bailer, www.deckhardware.com.au/?rf=kw&kw=4155 and the halyard cleat, www.deckhardware.com.au/67mm-nylon-halyard-jam-cleat-grey

Any questions, don't hesitate top drop us a line.

Thanks Phil.

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tenar said..

julesmoto said..
If the kids don't like water coming in the self bailer make sure you make a game out of tipping the boat over on purpose while it is nice and warm so they don't freak out the first time you capsize

Yes, that's on my list. But not on the lake: I'd much rather capsize in seawater than murky lake water.

Kids are doing a Tackers 1 course next week (thanks to their grandparents for the awesome Christmas present). I'm waiting until after that.

They should cover capsize in that class. Been doing kids sail training for the last 10 years and it's always funny how they are dreading it until they do the first one then they spend the next six weeks tipping the boat over every time they go out.




First capsize for these kids on a lake near you. I pulled the boat over on top on myself kind of slowly and the kids were going to climb over to the centreboard. Well, that was the plan we discussed, they both launched into the sail. After righting the boat they did it again three more times then I left them to it completely unconcerned about tipping over and happy to sail without a adult.

Great job. D1

Gary

Yes it all about not scaring them and them having fun.
Well done.

That's encouraging. My 9yo, in particular, is nervous about sailing and worried about the idea that the boat might capsize. They are used to sailing on grandparents' Salar 40 and there's no chance of that girl capsizing anywhere that they would take the kids to, so the dinghy and its overall lack of a weighted keep is novel to the kids.

I'm presuming the Tackers instructors know what they are doing and yes, capsize is on the list of things for the course.