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1981 Neptune 16
I bought this in 2015 and didn't do too much with her between then and now. Neptune/Newport/Glouchester 16s all have the same hull and slightly different topsides. They also have swing keels and the 200lbs blob of lead at the bottom of the keel had broken off. Turns out, pouring lead was a little more involved than I had anticipated, but, with the help of friends, I was finally successful. Now it's time to get on with the rest of it.
Here she is at home. Let's have a look at her, shall we?
Step one was to raise the mast. Look at this! This is the pin that holds the forestay. See that bell end? It has a button you push that retracts retaining knobs, letting you remove and insert the pin.
Slick as snot and twice as tasty! See that little hole in the bell? I'm putting a leash through that, I am.
Mast is up! Now I have room to work.
Here's a shot from the top. This is one of those "Sails 6, drinks for 4, sleeps two" kind of boats.
Transom, drain hole, couple of eyelets to hold the blocks that'll run the mainsheet to the boom.
What are those strappy things for?
200lbs of lead-blobbed swing keel needs a crank to lift and lower. I replaced the normal stainless steel cable with Dyneema. One of the problems with the crank is where it's placed - right over the lazarette It is removable, but once removed, where do you put it?
Lazarette is on the port side.
Looks fairly waterproof and (when the keel winch is removed) allows access to storage.
Here's the pivot for the swing keel. Don't worry, I'll clean it up and put the cover on.
Hatch and entryway.
The hatch has a lock on one side and lip on the other. The lip slides under one of the few pieces of wood. The entryway slides under the others.
Nice interior with plenty of sleeping space for two. More roomy than most pup tents, but you do have to crouch - but not over the potty.
These are the cushions from the interior, as well as the potty. I was surprised they were full length.
Interior of the port window. Not pretty.
That's . . .less than reassuring. I guess if you build a boat to keep water out, it sorta keeps air in. Even bad air..
This is the footwell of the cabin area. Not completely comfortable, but better than any pup tent. That bolt? That's a lock for the keel, to hold it down. Not sure of the efficacy, the keel has a pretty deep grove that was worn by that bolt.
This is the area under the cockpit on the starboard side.
And this is the same space under the port side. I'm going to have to scrub those flaky bits out.
Enough of the inside, back to the outside. This is the gooseneck. Main halyard to starboard, jib to port. Not sure what the knob is yet - block for the mast gate?
Jib halyard is secured in this cleat. It's pretty fancy.
Port jib sheet. The sheets come through the fairlead and set in the cam cleats. I wonder if they are supposed to go through that horned cleat as well?
Starboard side of the transom has a cutout that a lot of people use for the motor. I have a long shaft motor, so I'll restore this cutout to it's original purpose: Reentry after swimming.
Mast crutch through the pintles.
And there's the little beastie that started it all: The keel on a roller. Story goes the previous owner did a fast stop (rear ended someone?) and the boat slid forward. The keel came off the roller and swung down until it rested on the axle, where it wiggled back and forth for the rest of the trip home. The wiggling caused the lead to weaken and mostly fracture My plan is to add another roller on the front side of the beam which *should* make it really for the keel to come off support, no matter how hard I rear end someone.
Forward mast crutch on the post.
That pulpit is purty.
Peeling off the Washington registration numbers.
Look at that, a ghost of a California registration number. And that's it. Time to get to cleaning. |
