Hello everyone,
Proud new owner of Draig Y Mor. She's a 1971 all GRP masquerading as a composite thanks to the previous owners painting skills. She also has the med rig+ with a 32' luff on the main! I've just sailed (motored a lot of the way) from Maryport in Cumbria via the Isle of Man, Caernarfon and Milford Haven to Falmouth where she will stay for the winter before heading further south next year.
Lots of work done already, mostly electrical upgrades but still plenty to do over the winter, not least sorting out a rather leaky fuel tank and the removal of 47 years worth of grease from under the stern gland. Which needs either re-packing or upgrading to dripless.
Engine is 1974 2qm15 which ran faultlessly for stints up to 30 hours.
Anyone got top tips for where to put a new fuel tank? I have a few ideas but am still pondering the possibilities.
When the wind did decide to grace us I was able to cruise at 5.5 through the water in 12kt apparent on a fetch with the tiller bungeed and very little interference which was a very pleasant surprise.
Very happy with her after a bit of a chase after a couple of boats which got away before I could get to see them.
Hello David
Welcome to the TCA.
My 55 litre rectangular diesel tank is sited in the starboard cockpit and the filler cap is in the starboard side deck. It is made of stainless steel. I don't have a photo unfortunately. I might have the dimensions somewhere, if you want them.
Between the tank and the side of the hull there is room for 8 fenders and there is space on top for a couple fenders more, some warps and my armoury of boathooks. There is no tank gauge, just a dipstick. The tank is removable; I once brought it home and steam-cleaned it.
John
Hi David,
Congratulations on your new boat, she looks lovely. Im afraid my fuel tank is hidden away under a cockpit seat and quite difficult to get at. I did have on another Twister a purpose built tank that was shaped to the hull. Like Johns it had a lifting eye and could be removed easily. the tank had a level dipstick as well. Helix tank relays on an electric fuel sender and i dont trust it given it only holds 40 litres.
Looking forward to your future posts and changes you make.
Best Wishes.
Stephen
Helix
Hi David,
Congratulations on the buying the best boat ever made. My fuel tank is molded polythene/plastic and is under the starboard quarter. Filler on the aft deck. It holds about 40 liters, or around 6 months continuous motoring with my 1GM10 😁. I just did my stern gland actually, stayed with the packing system. The dripless ones aren't in my experience.
Regards,
Justin
Hi Justin,
Absolutely no idea how you managed to get to your stern gland with the camera as well. Still I did actually climb fully in to a cockpit locker on friday just to put a couple of screws in. Out of interest what do you think Roquettas speed is under engine. Helix has a 2ym15 fitted but only manages about 2-3 knots at 2500 rpm and not much faster over 3000 rpm. think i may need to change the prop. she seams to have plenty of power but not much from from the prop.
Stephen
Helix
Hi Stephen,
She'll do just over 5 knots with the handle down and no wind/tide. I don't have a rev counter, and I run out of fingers pretty quickly 😁. As you know it's a 1GM10. Currently there is a three blade prop fitted not sure what pitch etc. But, there is a spare two blade prop on the boat which is 14 inches, 12 pitch.
Interestingly, I just bought a flexofold prop, which should arrive next week. They recommended a 13 inch prop, pitch 9 (two blade) for my boat/engine. We'll see how it goes when I get around to fitting it. At the moment I'm up to my elbows in new half beams in the fore cabin. Then it'll be a forehatch. I'd dry the boat out alongside and fit it, but the rudder may need some tayloring, so I'll probably wait until she's lifted out. Regarding the stern gland, I'm not sure how I got in there either, but as my brother always says 'if it doesn't hurt somewhere, it ain't boat maintenance'.
Regards,
Justin
Hi all,
Thinking I will replace the current one with a plastic around 40lt. trouble is trying to work out what will fit without access to the boat. I took some crude measurements of the port cockpit locker where the current one is but it's limited by the lid as to what I can can get in.
Don't suppose anyone has a table of offsets or line drawings of the hull? Would be nice to CAD a 3d model but it will take a lot of measuring for me to do it from the boat and I don't really have the time. Me Zurich, boat Falmouth!
As for motoring speed my 2QM15 gives 4 kts at revs you can sleep with and 6+ flat out. I rather thrashed it for several hours to make the tide gate in the Menai straits to get through the "swellies". May upload a short youtube of me syphoning diesel into the tank with a fag on the go but a little worried about the health and safety Nazis coming down on me 😉
about 1 ltr per hour at 4 kt and close to 2.5 flat out.
Here is the current fuel system, small leaky tank and 5x 5lt jerry cans.........
Hi David, yes I think my 40ltr is built in, it would take surgery to remove it. I considered the merits of a taller, thinner tank bolted in the for'd part of one of the cockpit lockers but as my current system has no fault, if it ain't broke I won't fix it. I carry 2 x 5 ltr containers of extra fuel too. Because I'm a belt and braces kind of guy. 6 kts under engine must be almost planing 😂
Regards,
Justin
Hi David & all,
The early 60s Twisters cockpits were all very similar and its quite easy to fit a 40 litre moulded tank under the cockpit seats. GRP cockpits I presume like yours are more difficult. Malcolme Collins who owned Helix now owns Tourbillon ,a GRP, he may well have a better arrangement.
5 and 6 knots. wow. I may buy your prop Justin if you decide to sell it. probably could do with a scrubb as well. Whilst im in no hurry motoring, It was quite embarrassing to be passed on sunday by a rowing boat.
Stephen
Hi
On Brigand ( composite Twister ) the fuel tank was under the port aft cockpit seat when we bought her. When it sprung a leak, we replaced it with a plastic tank from Tektanks which we put under the cockpit sole above the shaft. We now have more space to fill with essential come in handy bits.
It is a standard rectangular tank and was fine for the Yanmar 1GM10 fitted. We have just changed to a Beta 20 hope, so it may be a bit small now and we may change to a bigger one.
The filler is still in the side deck, so it has a long rubber pipe from the filler to the tank. This means that we have a tank sender rather than a dip stick, but you could move the filler to the cockpit sole if you don’t want a tank sender.
I have a photo, but I cannot work out how to add it here. Happy to send a photo or give more details.
On the question of offsets, you can buy drawings from Holman & Pye, including a lines plan if would help to see what size tank will fit.
Nick
Hi Nick,
To add a picture use the upload attachments button bottom left. drag your pictures and hit start Upload.
Here is before and after under the cabin sole. The brown stuff had the consistency of err... brown stuff and required a lot of paper to wipe clean!!
Dave
HAHAH!
OK That no longer works. bad url??
So, post the pictures somewhere online, mine are on facebook. Then use the picture icon above. Find the picture online, copy image address, click on the picture icon in the menu and paste the address.
😉
Justin Butler said
No problem Stephen, I'll let you know when I've pulled it off,Regards,
Justin
Hi Justin,
If you take a spanner when you next dive you might be able to pull the prop off. Strangely enough my forward hatch gave way last week and then i discovered I had a leak as well from my stern gland. Ive been going out with the other half building her confidence gradually. unfortunately last week in the solent very strong winds and lumpy seas did not help at all and the lack of any real forward motion made for a tricky return.
Best Wishes
Stephen
Hi Stephen,
strikingly similar.. Is your leak the actual sterngland? My stern gear leak is causing me some distress i must admit. I could no doubt get the old prop off with a snorkel (and a spanner of course) but it's fitting the new one.. i'm getting the boat lifted in 6 weeks. The first thing i will do is sort that pesky leak and fit the new prop. My new hatch is nearly finished, just waiting for the fittings to arrive. It's flat (a nod to the traditional twister look) iroko strip planking. There will be a blockbuster movie, naturally
Regards,
Justin
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