… for the Max from your sailing!

Technical

Read about technical aspects discovered by our members. Note some articles may appear under more than one category.

I have fitted a fused mini siren with an on/off switch to the + & – wiring of my automatic bilge pump. To my thoughts, the auto bilge should not normally run under normal circumstances. And if it does while sailing or motoring, it probably won’t be heard. With the siren wired in, it will give you an early warning of water being where it shouldn’t be.

Barry Powling ‘Khamsin’

Since we sailed our Maxi 38+ to the Algarve & left it there over the winter, we will need it to be antifouled before proceeding to The Med next year. I therefore contacted the chandlers/marine paint shop to check prices & found that a 2.5 litre tin cost 51% more than in the UK. So I started enquiries with the manufacturer in the Southampton area & they have sent emails to & fro Denmark/Portugal/Spain & I think I now have the price down to UK levels BUT that was not the main problem!

In the UK, antifoul is called by a trade descriptive name whether it be eroding or hard & it also has a code number. In other countries the paint is also given descriptive names with a code number,
e.g. “Hard Racing” but that term does mean the same as “Hard Racing” in UK!! So whatever antifoul paint one uses in the UK, it has a code number & that number has to be used if one wishes to continue using a compatible paint when purchasing it in another country.

I was confused when informed that I should use “Hard Racing” over my existing eroding paint & this confusion was at first also experienced by the UK subsidiary manufacturer/supplier.

Hugh Rowan

Most modern Maxi Yachts (along with many other makes of yacht) are fitted with Volvo Penta engines with sail-drives. It is essential to understand how the anodes protect the saildrive and the prop, and to test/inspect at appropriate times…

Galvanic protection to the saildrive installation is implemented using a ring anode bolted to the sail-drive leg. This anode protects the leg and sometimes the propeller from corrosion. If this anode doesn’t work properly or replaced when worn, your saildrive may corrode – horribly expensive! Later models of saildrive anode can be replaced without removing the propeller.

The two and three bladed folding propellers currently use anodes bolted to the propeller for galvanic protection. Older propellers (and some non-Volvo-Penta folding props) do not have these anodes and rely on the leg anode for protection.The Volvo-Penta folding propeller fitted with anodes is electrically isolated from the propeller shaft, the propeller without anodes is not.

The anodes are intended to reduce the risk of dezincification, which makes the prop very fragile: you can tell if dezincification has occurred by the reddish colour and a dull metallic sound instead of a clean “ring” when tapped.The Leg anode only protects the leg as the leg is electrically isolated from the engine. Owners should ensure that additional electrical work does not electrically connect the leg to the engine or electrical ground. My opinion is that additional hull anodes connected to the engine ground will not have any effect on leg or propeller corrosion.

Related topics: 1100 propeller size, Rope cutters, Propellers and Anodes,

Mick

The anchor chain locker is generally a damp and hostile environment especially for any electrics, i.e. the windlass. After hosing down the anchor chain, despite Maxis having self-draining lockers, the chain & warp are left in a shallow pool of water, which unless you have the time to leave the locker hatch open, will take ages to dry out.
A simple wood grating, can be made of rot proof treated timber {I used 1″ x ½″ slats for a garden trellis}
The next time you are at anchor, lay the grating at the base of the locker, so that the chain etc. will lie on top when hauled in.
This I find gives an airing effect under the chain and dries the locker that much quicker.

Barry Powling, Khamsin {Brittany France}

An alternative to a wooden grating has been used by Peter Stonestreet on his 1000. He cut the corner off a plastic bottle crate. By careful sizing, the tetrahedron fills the bottom corner well.

We had asked for 60 metres of 10 mm chain and a 20 kg Bruce anchor to be fitted to our new Maxi 1100 which is berthed in the Clyde. Unfortunately, the stemhead fitting was narrower at one end than the other and the chain jammed there repeatedly. The chain also jammed in the windlass several times, every time we let it out to anchor, although it could usually be retrieved without jamming. To add to all of this the windlass was not powerful enough to lift the chain and anchor if the anchorage was deep or weedy!!!!!

The stemhead fitting was removed, straightened out and replaced. It now seems that the windlass itself jammed because it was installed too far aft and we are now faced with fitting a more powerful windlass and making sure that it is installed correctly. A warning to others who might be contemplating beefed up ground tackle for the MAXI 1100! As we had to anchor virtually all the time that we were out, often in pretty awful conditions, the inability to get the chain down in less than 5 minutes was a dreadful problem!

Laurie Prescott