Another swabb on deck, reporting for duty!

[OkieBob]

Per Milt [though, I think the two additional concrete ballasts you referred to are actually pillows of poured polyurethane foam. I cut into these and removed a small portion when opening up my starboard berth for repair.]

Milt, those things are just foam?  Well, I may have to completely reassess my desire to mess with the ballast.  I thought those things were concrete --- Oops.  Thanks for the heads up.  Although I feel stupid now, I'm pretty sure I would have felt much more foolish had I found out on my own (after taking the whole freaking boat apart).  Well it's all water under the bridge now.

Okay for my next project, I was considering making a removable bowsprit, seriously.  And before anybody replies to the Okie regarding the bowsprit, I'm going to start a new post; It will be called something like, "Okie Engineering"  I'll put it in CP-16, since it is just untried theory for now, vs an actual working modification.  I hope the non 16ers provide commentary.

[adifferentdrummer]

OkieBob

Yes, they are foam; polyurethane, I think. One thing of interest to report here is that, even though water had been trapped under this berth long enough to ruin that strip of plywood supporting the outer (foot-well) edge of the berth, the foam had not absorbed any water; it was perfectly dry inside when I cut into it. I have read reports on other boat forums (Siren17, DS16) of a similar poured-in foam becoming water-logged, so that's good news for Com-pac owners.

I'm still not sure what the purpose of the foam is. There is not enough of it to offer any significant additional buoyancy. It might be to add some stiffness to the hull in that area, or might just be for sound dampening. It would offer some support to the plywood of the berth and I suspect that may be why it was put there. Perhaps Gerry's email will shed some light.

I have been considering adding a bowsprit to #635, as well, mainly to have a place to attach an anchor roller and a better place to stow the anchor. I have fashioned a nice mast crutch with a roller in it which slips over and clamps onto the rudder casting. It's very handy. I'm trying to imagine a way to integrate the mast crutch into a bowsprit, so that when I get the mast raised and remove the crutch, I can stow it in the bowsprit and use the roller in it for my anchor roller. I like to get double duty out of as much of the onboard equipment as I can, it being such a small boat and all. I'll look for your heading, "Okie Engineering," and continue this thread over there.

Milt

[Craig Weis]

adifferentdrummer, the closed cell foam [foam that can not absorb water] is only to make the hull quieter when pounding into the seas.
Not for much structure. OK, just a little structure. But mostly for oil canning in the slings and in the cradel sitting on the hard. Not for floatation. You fill her up, she goes down.

When my buddies Com Pac 19 [Wind Rover. The CP-19 I added the bow sprit to] had a battery tray floor failure I shot some Great Stuff under the tray's floor to hold up the battery after he dropped the battery and battery box onto the tray, crushing it. The foam made her all better.

skip.

[OkieBob]

Reply from Gerry Hutchins:  Those photos are of a Com-Pac 16.  However,  I still do not see what you refer to as two extra ballasts.  Perhaps you are referring to the rounded puffy things that were under the bunk tops?  That is foam that was added to provide strength to the hull in a situation where someone wanted to use a fork lift to pick it up.  Without something in there the hull would flex when lifted there. Gerry

So it is not concrete, like some fool thought (that would be me), and it provides support.

You have to admit it is really cool how Mr. Hutchins is willing to reply to some bum who bought an old boat.

[Salty19]

"You have to admit it is really cool how Mr. Hutchins is willing to reply to some bum who bought an old boat."

Very cool...those guys run a solid customer friendly business..no question.

[adifferentdrummer]

Well, now we know 'the rest of the story,' and how good it is to have the mystery explained. I suppose it would be safe to remove that foam if there was a need to, as long as you don't ever intend to lift your boat with slings on a forklift. In looking at mine, I can see that those foam reinforcements are right in the area where the hull rests on the trailer bunks, so that is probably another good reason to have them in there.

It is remarkable that a company would still offer customer support for a product sold over thirty years ago. That is outstanding customer service, above and beyond.

Thanks again for all the info. This is such a great group!

Milt

[rwdsr]

Hey Milt,
Haven't heard too much from you lately.  How have you handled the winter weather we've had here lately?  It finally got into the mid 60's on this side of the state and gto to work on the boat a little this weekend.  Still have a long way to go, but plan to get the inside liveable and the cosmetics done on the outside and then work on the rest a little at a time.  Hoping to get a barn built where she can spend her winters and I can put a little heat and work on her when the weather is bad.  Well, I'm gonna get off here and go to bed but was reading all the latest posts and remembered I hadn't heard from you in a while.  Sprin gs a comin!!!!!
Bob D

[adifferentdrummer]

Hey Bob,
Thanks for thinking about me. Yeah, it's been a real nasty patch of weather we've had. Maybe the worst is over now. The days are getting longer and now we've finally had a few days of comfortable temps. I even saw the sun the other day for the first time in I don't know when. I got in a few boat chores on some of the warmer days, but still have a bunch to do. Although, my little princess is ready to go at a moments notice, always, and if the weather improves just a tad bit more, I may have to take a sail day from work.

Yeah man, a barn sure would be nice. I just have a big tarp rigged up to keep the weather off her. Whenever it warms up enough to work on her, I unhook one side of it and stretch it out like a huge awning with ropes tied into the trees she's parked under. Works for now, but a barn would be great.

The lakes around here are still suffering a major low tide due to the annual flood control draw down. They (TVA) usually put the plugs back in sometime around mid March. I did get out for a few hours one afternoon about the middle of January, but there wasn't much wind that day, which was probably a good thing, because, man, it was cold!

Spring's a comin', and ifn the wind blows, we'll be a sailin' soon!

Thanks for shakin' my tree!
Milt

[rwdsr]

Sometimes I swear, I can't see the forrest for the trees.  My buddy at work today was telling me about a friend of his who got a trailer with a removable tongue and could put his boat in the garage.  Well, I ame home and wheeled mine in the garage and was going to work on it for a little bit and then pull it back out.  I got to looking at it and found it was only one large bolt to pull the tongue off!  So I did and then dropped the garage door!  I blocked up the rest of the trailer so it's good and stable and went to work on it.  Now it can just get cold and nasty, I'll put the heater out there and keep on working.  Boy, to think how far along I could have been.

[Bob23]

Bob:
   Coulda been worse...you could have discovered it on launch day!
Bob23

[rwdsr]

LOL, yer right about that!  Speaking of misplaced things, did you find your mooring chain?  When I came in from the sail in January I pulled everything out of the boat so I could start working on it, and discovered I was missing an anchor and chain.  Saurday when I pulled the boat back up in the driveway so I could work on it, I found the anchor and chain where it had been buried in the snow.

[adifferentdrummer]

It won't be long now. The sun actually shined here again, today. Spring's a comin'... Spring's a comin'!

And on a further note, I've noticed over at the Yahoo group that some have reported having problems accessing this site. It got me to thinking of all the contacts I would loose if this site should go down again as it did not so very long ago. So, at the risk of inviting spam but in the interest of not loosing touch with anyone who wants to keep in touch, I'm going to post my address in here and ask that you add me to your contacts list. I can be reached at adifferent_drummer (you know, at yahoo dot com). Spring's a comin'...

Milt  CP16  #635

[Bob23]

   I have not gone out again to look for it although tomorrow here in NJ is forecast to be sunny and 50 degrees. Might be nice day to take the old Alden Ocean Shell out for her inaugural row. I may just wait till warmer water and go for a dive.
   Here, the snow is just about gone and not a minute too soon. I like snow, and I like beer, but with either, excess is no fun!
Bob23

[rwdsr]

Milt,
I'm going to send you mine direct to your site.  Didn't we just put all that info on a form here a while back when we sent the numbers of out boats in?  I think there's a list here somewhere with all that infor on it.