Looks great!
I have rechromed the stem piece and the cover for the tiller shaft. I am afraid to chrome plate the cleats and chucks for fear that the chaffing of the lines will peal off the plating. How long do you think the plating will holdup?
Looks great!
I have rechromed the stem piece and the cover for the tiller shaft. I am afraid to chrome plate the cleats and chucks for fear that the chaffing of the lines will peal off the plating. How long do you think the plating will holdup?
Mike,
Was that the "good buddy" price on the plating or the price for everyone? I would be interested in boxing up my parts and shipping to the plater. If you could provide some contact info that would be great, Thanks ! Carl
PS Your New Ensign looks great!
jshisha - I'm no expert on the subject, but I believe chrome is extremely hard and wear resistant.
Carl - No good buddy discount, just found him from talking to hot rod guys and bikers.
J & D Custom Plating
2124 Gilbert Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55104
651-251-7400
Wow. Pretty shiny bits! AND a great price too...
I did not think of chroming the window frames... I should have! (I just painted them).
Great job on the waterline stripe... You certainly went after the sure-fire method of getting it right!
I was very careful to keep marks when prepping for the new gelcoat. I did hiring a travel-lift would have been expensive!
I love the contrast with the coambings. Amazing.
Did you keep the conventional bulbs in the nav lights? I've yet to install mine since I'd like to go LED...
Jshisha; I do think that the chrome finish will hold-up nicely... I cannot even see even small scratches on my winches yet!
I put the Princess back in the water the other day, the poor old girl is nowhere near complete but working on her outside in a dirt parking lot wasn't doing her new paint any good.
Still to do list;
Finish installing the head.
Finish wiring; stern light, interior lights and neaten up the bundles.
Fabricate and install door for the head. None of the other interior work will likely get touched this summer.
Install winch towers.
Install Genoa tracks (I almost installed them yesterday but decided they were not shiny enough and sent them out to be chromed)
Install midship horn cleats.
Run halyards and running rigging.
Pic #1 New under deck furling line
Pic #2 1:2 furling. each foot of furling line will bring in two feet of sail
Pic #3 Furling control exit. My wife has staked a claim to the cockpit forward of the winch towers (which she had me mount farther aft) and deemed it to be a "gizmo free zone". All sail controls are being lead aft of the winches so she will not be bothered when I am tacking, jibing or other such nonsense.
Pic #4 Traveler and main control.
Congrats on the ongoing reclaimation of The Princess! The furler line running belowdecks is a novel idea that I haven't seen on any A/Cs (reminds me of some of my old MC Scow's line management) My first thought though was water intrusion at that point...? You know more than I by a long shot, hence my question - seems like an open hole to the elements directed inside the cabin! Inquiring minds (or just my mind) want to know.
Last edited by Lucky Dawg; 05-08-2009 at 09:12 AM.
Kyle
C-65 Lucky Dawg
I assume the underdeck furler enters below deck close enough to the bow to drain into the chain locker and then down into the keel. With the 2:1 purchase that has to make it easier to furl and unfurl.
I also like the center fixed block and cleat to keep the mainsail sheet always located at the same spot and not moving back and forth with the traveler. I may steel that idea on my commander. One thing I do with my traveler that I find very useful is a continuous loop on the control line. It is much easier when the boat is heeled to uncleat the leeward cleat and it gets rid of a lot of unecessary line in the cockpit.
You have come a long way and completed a lot of the major work on your rebuild. Mine is just beginning. Have you test fired the electric drive yet?
Heres the preliminary report on the "Dragon Drive" (named by my 15 year old son, who claimed young people are not getting into sailing because it's not marketed in an exciting enough manor)
In short, I could not be happier with the performance. It has far more power than I need or hoped for and uses far less power. heres the MPH/amp break down (measured on flat water and calm winds);
2.5amps = 2.6 mph.
5.0 amps = 3 mph
10 amps = 3.6 mph
15 amps = 4.3 mph
20 amps = 4.6 mph
30 amps = 5.1 mph
40 amps = 5.4 mph
65 amps = 5.8 mph (wide open)
I installed 4 standard group 27 deep cycle marine batteries that claim 77 amp/hours at a 25 amp draw, that totals 308 amps.
I'm running a 12X10 two bladed prop and the boat accelerates and stops like right now! I can enter my slip at 2 knots and stop before the bow hits. I do get some tiller vibration and prop noise when I crank her way up and expect the prop is too big for the aperture. I'm going to cut it down to a 11X10.
I ended up using a golf cart throttle pot. It has a fairly strong return spring in case it gets hit accidentlly and a 1/4 turn on the knob will hold a power setting. one switch for on/off, one switch for fwd/rev, and a ammeter.
Last edited by Commander227; 05-08-2009 at 04:56 PM.
The furling line entrance is in the chain locker and I shimmed it up to prevent most deck wash from running in. I don't mind a little water getting in.
The furler is 1:2 not 2:1 so it is harder to pull, not easier. the point was to be able to roll it up quicker with less line on the cockpit floor. the head sail rolls up so easy that I didn't feel I needed the 1:1. Your right Dawg, it is MC inspired.
I like to sit pretty far forward in the cockpit, and I go to the traveler more than the mainsheet when sailing to weather so the continuous loop does not work too well for me. I just leave the leeward side uncleated.
Last edited by Commander227; 05-08-2009 at 10:10 AM.
Your system is 48VDC drive correct? So if you hook up 4ea group 27 batteries that are 12 volt you have to hook them up in series to get the 48VDC current but your amp hours would not accumulate they would stay at the original 77 amp hours that each battery is rated for correct? Or am I unside down on this?
If I'm correct and you keep the throttle down to 3amp draw and you only draw down the battery half way you still could travel 12.83 hours at 3 MPH for a total distance of 38.49 miles on a charge. Not to shabby!!
Am I figuring this stuff correct or am I off in left field?
C-147,
You got it right, my range may be a little longer at low speeds thou as the rating is figured with a 25 amp draw, one of these days I'll have time to do a longer run and check the range. the longest run so far has been 5 miles at varying speeds.
Mike
How does she handle in reverse with the elec drive?
Plenty of stopping power, good acceleration, but like any long keeled boat with an attached rudder there is not much control. She just likes to go straight back with a little torque to port no matter what the tiller is doing.Originally Posted by Commander 147
When we decided that our Ensign was no longer fulfilling our wants and needs we began a long search for the perfect boat. We settled on the Commander for all the same reasons as ya'll.
Its now been just over a year since I dragged The Princess home from Milwaukee and shes all but finished. I paid $3,000. for her and immediately spent that again adding a traveler, winches and the roller furling unit. We did a quick and dirty spruce up to get her in the water and enjoyed the sailing season getting to know her. By the fall haul out we had a pretty good idea of what changes we wanted to make and liked the boat enough to feel O.K. about spending some money and time on her. To date we have nearly $20,000. into her and who knows how many hours. I'm sure on the market we'd be lucky to get 1/2 that back... but we ended up with a boat we can be proud of, custom tailored to our needs with all new rigging and sails that turns the heads of stinkpotters as well as sailors.
Here is the final (?) cost of The Princess's restoration:
COMMANDER 227
HULL
Date Vender Discription Cost
5/19/2008 Commander 227 $3,000.00
5/22/2008 Fuel for Transport $320.00
6/10/2008 Lakeland Fiberglass Repair deck under stanchions, pulpit, pushpit and remove front hatch $1,000.00
6/10/2008 Advanced Composites Fillers, Balsa Core, Resin for deck repairs $128.00
6/10/2008 SYC Shop Supplies $55.00
6/14/2008 Seven Seas Cuddy Paint $60.00
6/14/2008 Midwest Boat Appeal 6mm & 18mm Plywood for Bulkheads $130.10
6/14/2008 Fabian Labor to sand out cuddy $100.00
1/10/2009 Seven Seas West System (1 Gal) $125.00
2/2/2009 Lakeland Fiberglass Deposit on Deck Repair & Paint Job $1,000.00
2/10/2009 Seven Seas Awlgrip off white (1 Gal) Reducer, Catalyst. $478.00
2/10/2009 Seven Seas Awlgrip off white (1 Gal) Flag blue (2 Qt.) Non-skid $480.00
2/14/2009 Tonka Bay Marina Duratech primer, fillers $147.00
3/7/2009 Lakeland Fiberglass Balance on paint job $2,860.00
3/7/2009 Seven Seas Jabasco manual head $154.00
3/8/2009 Seven Seas Perfection Varnish (2 quarts) $110.00
3/18/2009 Seven Seas Schooner Varnish $46.00
3/18/2009 Best Buy Stereo $154.00
3/30/2009 Seven Seas Awlgrip Vivid Red (1 quart) $68.00
3/28/2009 J&D Plating Chrome Plating of hardware $500.00
3/28/2009 Radio Shack Hobby box fror fuses, red LEDs for mood lighting $15.75
4/2/2009 Eagle Molding Rub Rail $78.00
4/4/2009 Lakeland Fiberglass Repair damage from fall and Paint hatches & winch towers $730.00
4/4/2009 Seven Seas Vivid White bottom paint ( 2 gal ) $379.00
4/4/2009 Seven Seas Bronze through hulls & ball valves for head $118.00
5/5/2009 J&D Plating Chrome plate genoa cars and tracks $190.00
5/5/2009 Perma Top Interior cushions $830.00
Total Hull $13,255.85
RIGGING
Date Vender Discription Cost
6/20/2008 Seven Seas Halyards $65.00
6/20/2008 Seven Seas Genoa Blocks $52.00
6/20/2008 Seven Seas Genoa Sheets $48.00
6/20/2008 Seven Seas Main Sheet Blocks $108.00
6/20/2008 Seven Seas Main Sheet $42.00
6/20/2008 Seven Seas traveler Lines $26.00
6/20/2008 Harken Traveler set up $426.00
7/28/2009 SYC Head Sail $0.00
7/28/2008 Harken Roller Furler $1,155.00
7/28/2008 Harken B16STC Self Tailing Winches $1,020.00
7/30/2008 Seven Seas Headstay for furler $60.00
3/25/2009 Seven Seas Harken Swivel Base (for Main Sheet) $74.00
3/25/2009 Seven Seas Genoa Tracks $40.00
4/10/2009 Western Sailcraft New Main Sail $820.00
6/2/2009 Seven Seas Hardware for internal outhaul $100.00
Total Rigging $4,036.00
POWERPLANT
Date Vender Discription Cost
12/15/2008 Tonka Bay Marina Shaft Log $118.00
2/20/2009 SYC Aluminum Plate $0.00
12/20/2008 Thunderstruck Motors Motor $450.00
12/20/2008 Thunderstruck Motors Controller $450.00
12/20/2008 Thunderstruck Motors Charger $311.00
12/20/2008 Thunderstruck Motors Contactor, Fuse and Converter $119.00
1/6/2009 McMaster-Carr Bushings and Timing Pulleys $191.00
1/6/2009 McMaster-Carr Garolite for Stern Tube $44.00
1/6/2009 McMaster-Carr 6664k24 Bearing pillow block $30.10
1/8/2009 McMaster-Carr 6309k31 Vibration Mounts (4) $22.80
1/8/2009 McMaster-Carr 6486k114 Timing Belt $19.57
1/12/2009 Land N Sea Cutlass Bearing $28.00
1/20/2009 Minnie's Surplus Propeller $45.00
2/28/2009 Marine Assoc. Shaft $147.00
4/4/2009 Seven Seas Switches $17.00
4/12/2009 Thunderstruck Motors Cutrtis Pot Box $85.00
4/13/2009 EVParts.com Ampmeter, Shunt, Voltmeter $118.00
4/21/2009 Interstate Batteries 4ea SRM 27 $303.00
4/24/1901 Home Depot #2 Copper service wire $64.00
4/24/1901 Fastenal #2 terminals $11.50
Total Powerplant $2,573.97
PROJECT TOTAL $19,865.82
I think it's really good to see what one can realistically expect to spend to get one of these boats into good condition. And the best part is while $20,000.00 may seem like a lot of money it is a drop in the bucket compared to what a new boat of similar appeal and quality would cost. And besides, how many new production boats are there that actually make your heart skip a beat when you look at them like these boats do?
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