New Owner! First question!

[Steve Cornacchia]

Hi Everyone,

I just bought a 2015 Eclipse (#74). Drove down from Maryland to St. Petersburg and trailered it up this weekend. 2000 miles in 3 days. Any questions on trailering, I'm your guy lol.

You are probably all going to be sick of me in the next few weeks - with all my questions. I am a slight noob sailor. Had a 30 foot Pearson for a couple of years but was way to big for me to single-hand comfortably.

My first question - and I have seen some talk on this but hoping someone could sum it up for me. I will be keeping my boat in the water during the season here on the Chesapeake. It only has a manual bilge pump. It seems people recommend I install two automatic bilge pumps for peace of mind and redundancy. Questions are: any recommendation on the right bilge pumps to us. And where have you installed these on the Eclipse?

Thank you!

Steve

[alsantini]

Steve.  Someone might disagree but I do not think you need any more than the manual pump.  Boats with transoms and drains that can plug up and flood the boat in storms, sinking it.  These boats NEED bilge pumps.  However with the open transom it is virtually impossible to flood the Eclipse.  Rain, snow, sleet, sandwiches, beer or whatever winds up on the cockpit floor will gently roll out the back of the boat.  No muss, no fuss.  Off The Wind spends summers in a slip in Northern Illinois.  Even the severest flood 2 years ago did nothing.  I usually pump the bilge a couple of times a year to keep the pump moving but have yet to have any water.
Where will you sail?
Any questions, please feel free to post or even call.  630-728-6035  I love talking sailing and especially the Eclipse.  OTW is my 7th boat and the best of the lot.  Great sailing, easy set-up and relative comfort.  Sail On       Al   Eclipse #49

[slode]

Welcome and congrats on the new boat!

I would tend to agree with Al.  While I don't keep my Ellipse on a slip or mooring she has seen a couple pretty good storms and the only water that makes it to the bilge is what leaks in around the mast hinge, that was a milliliter or two over a couple hours of very heavy rain.    The two previous owners kept her on Michigan all season and they apparently never saw a need for anything more than the manual pump.  An automatic bilge pump may provide good peace of mind.  But I think a redundant backup is way overkill!

[Steve Cornacchia]

Guys - thanks for both of your input. You saved me a lot of time and money. I didn't realize with the open transom there is very little fear of flooding. I may end up putting one in the future if I run out of projects.

If I can bother you both for another question. The broker that sold me the boat showed me a couple of rubber plugs, etc that he recommended I order since one was broken and the others looked pretty worn. The 'v' shape one in the picture attached I know what it is - to keep the shrouds in place and forstay/jib. Does anyone know if I can order it from Com-Pac and what the part number is? I couldn't find it on their parts list.

The other photo of the two rubber things - no idea what they are for? Any ideas -and if they can also be ordered from Com-Pac.

Thanks again!

Steve

[Steve Cornacchia]

Al - to answer your question. I live a few minutes from Annapolis. So most of my sailing will be around there and hopefully some overnights to the Easter Shore. One day down the coast to FL!

Steve

[captronr]

Welcome Steve,

You will love the Eclipse for it's beauty, sailing and simplicity.  I have #68 Eclipse.

I'm known by Hutchins as the village idiot on mastender parts. 

Having had a 26 ft boat with a much heavier mast which required a lot of force to raise, I managed to bend the ears on the mastender when a stay was hanging up.  Took it off and Compac straightened it for me. 

It was off a couple of months, and when I put it back on, I managed to flip/flop the parts--which bent it some more when I first tried raising it.  I still need to send it back in for round two.  But I was able to assemble it correctly and with extra care, I can raise / lower the mast.  But it's not as easy as it should be.

Also, if you forget to secure the mast raising pole to the jib halyard, you WILL break off the tang and bend the beejesus out of the pole.  I had a buddy reweld the tang, and I straightened the pole.

Message from the idiot:
Create a checklist for launching/retrieving and read it every time.  Better yet, have a helper read it off as  you do the steps.

When raising the mast, if you have to exert more effort than a thin 12 yr old girl can muster, look to see what is hanging up.  Your mastender parts and your checkbook will thank you.

Al won't mention it, but he probably has as much tiller time on an Eclipse as anyone currently here.  He also wrote two novels which are a good read, based on sailing on the gulf.

Remember to post pics!
Ron

[Steve Cornacchia]

Thanks for the advice Ron. I haven't even begun to think about getting the mast up - but will take your counsel when  I do!

Steve

[slode]

Steve,

Your pics on the previous post questioning the rubber parts didn't show.  See http://cpyoa.geekworkshosting.com/forum/index.php?topic=9472.0  there's a bit of an issue with file size when posting pics.

Without seeing the pics I'm not sure what you may be referring to.  About the only rubber on my boat I can think of is the scrupper flaps. 

Don't let Ron's comments get you too scared of mast raising.  As long as you're careful about keeping track of the stays & shrouds to make sure they don't hang up on anything its pretty simple.  The nice think with using the boom vang is you can lift a little bit at a time, cleat, stop to check things out, then continue on.  Just make sure to keep the mast from swaying side to side on the way up.  After a couple times you'll figure out where to rest all the cables to prevent them from catching on things.

I posted a link to a manual I put together on rigging.  http://cpyoa.geekworkshosting.com/forum/index.php?topic=11171.0  I've been thinking about taking pictures of the mast raising procedure and adding to this.  If anyone would find that helpful let me know and when I pull her out this spring I'll setup in the driveway to go through it.

[Steve Cornacchia]

Thanks! - The manual looks great - I just downloaded!

I am replying with pic of the rubber/plastic things I am trying to identify. Hopefully I did it right this time.

Steve

[alsantini]

Cannot help you with the bottom photo, but the top one is the little, easily breakable  thingy that hold the top of the side stays or the bow stay during travel.  I have a broken one on the front stay and have not felt the need to drill out the pop rivet and replace it. 

[slode]

Steve,

The first pic is of the plastic piece that covers the slot in the mast for the shrouds and forestay.  I keep my shrouds on the mast at all times and just tie them up neatly for trailering.  So those pieces are probably needed to keep them from popping out of the mast.  But on the forestay that piece broke on me about the third time I took the boat out and I haven't bothered replacing it.  It just got in the way anyways.  I'm sure you can get them through Hutchins.

I'm not sure on the other rubber parts.  They don't look familiar.

[Steve Cornacchia]

Thanks to both of you guys. I reached out to Com-Pac based on your comments and am ordering a few extras. The other things are a mystery. Hopefully I figure it out before I am on the water lol.

Steve