Looking to move away from patches to a pot, but the sail sec plate, though really well made, does not fit the current deck hole.

 

has anyone with a cockatoo, ever fitted a pot?

or the second suggestion is to cut the hole larger in the deck… alarm bells are ringing in my head, but it might be easy…. Advice please

 

ps other advice might be to buy another boat, but very content with this one, and trying to sail it faster, and not get into the throwaway society 

 

Edited November 4, 20223 yr by Stephen B

Hi Stephen, I wonder whether there is an intermediate solution which doesn’t involve major surgery. In my (limited) experience of radio yachts it seems that water ingress is something that can’t necessarily be eliminated, but it can be reduced and managed.

One possible solution is to install an intermediate platform in the hull (perforated to prevent water collecting). With small velcro patches, you can fix the receiver and battery on the platform to keep them well clear of any water in the bottom of the hull. This is very much along the same lines as the tray in our df95s - and it seems to work quite well. An even more simple idea is to place the Velcro on the underside of the deck, so no platform required.

I also am not a fan of deck patches. They can be reused multiple times, but they stretch and become unreliable pretty quickly, especially if you remove them regularly for drying out the hull. On my IOM I have made plastic shapes (from used food packaging believe it or not); and I tape these over the deck openings - a la 95 again. I find this works quite well and they are easy to remove/replace with new tape.

Do I see from your photo that the winch spool is above the deck? The deck penetration for this may be a contributor to water ingress. That can be changed, but again requires a bit of surgery.

Anyway, I see you’re planning on sailing tomorrow, so maybe we can chat and talk to others too about finding you a good solution.

Finally, I wouldn’t worry about changing your boat - think of it as recycling rather than throwing it away (That’s my excuse anyway).

Martin

Thank you Martin, I am already into yohart pot technology with the pot velcroed on the hull, and battery velcro into the pot, with all other elements velcro to underside of deck.

after last week in the pouring rain at Norfolk, more stress spent getting the patch on after connecting the battery, rather than sorting out my rig, so trying to find a screw top solution, open pot, battery connected and sail.

so seeking options, and there could be some out there. The deck mounted winch appears to be sealed well, and new patches on rudder servo, becoming a patch expert, but for Saturday mornings in the winter, a pot seemed the easy solution 

Could you do something like this except cut the bottom off the pot giving a screwed access. The plate the pot is attached to is just held in place by electrical tape. (In my case the plate sits in a recess so is flush with deck when installed). My pot is extended so the weight of the battery is as low as possible in hull but kept dry.

Thank you Eric! 
 

anyone with a cockatoo doing this?

Looking at photo's seem I may need to look at fitting a new lid or pot! Thought I would get in before someone else calls it.

Some might have a laugh, but have used a cut down sailsec fitting, and cut down pot, to get it to fit, but a few hours with sharp knife, and soldering iron and patch material and templates… easier and cheaper than cutting the hull.

sealed in at present for a test, and if it all works well, then more permanent sealing. 
well worth doing for ease of access to the battery.

Looks good to me! At least it can be fully reversed if you want to return the boat to as built.

Edited November 7, 20223 yr by Eric Finley
Entered by mistake

Hope so test on Wednesday and sat

 

Hi Stephen

I wish I'd thought of that!  For comparison here are the pics I promised of my J Class hatch which does not have a pot as there is a flippin great servo in the way.  I believe it was made by David Creed as he was credited with the deck build.

Cheers

Trevor

Hi Stephen

Please let us all know if this is a success.

Makes my flat plate and extended pot look rather amateur.

Eric

Will do!! As a mixture of good deck patch material and carefully sliced sailetc plastic should work.

in the boat it feels robust, fits well and does not move.

one concern that I have is deck flex, caused by hull flex, and rigging, which is true of any boat, but all we can do is try.

I'm assuming as you are asking for set up information on the Cockatoo it didn't sink! Any modifications needed?

It worked well, a slight leak as the pot moulding was only held in place with double sided tape, and patch materials. So improvement part 2 with recommended sealant all the way around the edge being applied tomorrow evening. Battery was accessible and did not move in pot with side and base small Velcro patches.

so trying it again .. week Saturday