Hello All! MFG19 Stuff!

I've just bought an MFG 19 (1979) and I'm looking forward to refitting and sailing it. My friends at Joe Wheeler marina on Wheeler Lake, Alabama, own a very nice S2 which I'm privvy to hitch with when I can so I'm no stranger to wind power, but I'm still a novice owner. I've been a diehard powerboater most all my life but its time to settle down a bit. I've learned a bit here in the background and would like to learn more from you MFG owners, especially regarding sprucing up the soon to be named bank account drainer lol. Hope to meet you sailing!!! Best Regards, Chris



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2016 06:39AM by Chef.

Welcome to the group Chris. I owned a 19 for a while some years back and will offer any advice that I can, although there are others who occaionally hang around here that know a lot more than I. Sometimes you need to be patient as it can take months for a response because folks don't come to the site all that often.

I had some cushions custom made for it from the original pattern and still have them. I paid a fair amount to have them made (they are high quality) but never had a chance to use them. If you are interested, lets talk. I am not sure how they could be shipped -- maybe rolled up into some rather large boxes.

Paul

Paul
Webmaster: sailmfg.com

Thanks for the welcome Paul! I appreciate the offer on the cushions but I scored a full set of cushions last weekend at a great price. I am curious if you did any refit work on your 19? I need to remove and refinish the rudder blocks. The lower gudgeon is damaged and was replaced with a makeshift fix. I was considering installing an inspection hatch closer to the middle of the rear cabin wall to make the job a little easier. I know I can probably reach the bolts from the open hatch that is on the port side of the rear cabin but I would probably lose several of the nuts to the bilge. Did you ever have to work from that hatch? Any tips? Thanks again for the welcome and thanks for keeping this forum alive! Regards, Chris

Get Wet!

Oh how I remember trying to get to the transom from inside the cabin! The cockpit drain connects to a tube that runs out to the back. In my case the tube came off at the connection all the way against the stern and I had to somehow get a clamp on it and secure it. I was able to do it, just was uncomfortable is all. And I worried about dropping the screwdriver because I had to really extend my arm as far as possible.

When I bought my boat I did not know this tube had come off. One day I realized the cabin was filling with water from a rainstorm. I suspect the person who sold it to me either kept it covered or had drained the water just before I bought it without telling me. The problem was the water went down into the keel and filled it up. I never got all the water out of the keel the entire time I had that boat!

My rudder was a mess. It was splitting vertically in two, and the tiller was dry rotted. I repaired and refinished the rudder, and refinished the tiller (I did not know it was dry rotted). I soon found out because the tiller snapped in half while sailing (yeah, that was fun) so I had to replace it.

I had to repair the windows. Fortunately the front hatch was fine. I had noticed the deck above the cabin was getting soft in some places, and I am sure I would have had to deal with that at some point.

My boat had the original interior carpet-like material on the roof and walls of the cabin. I was hoping to preserve that, but the glue had gone and it was falling down and turning out to be a lot of work.

I can't remember doing much else to it.

I live in Colorado. There is not much water here, and the slip fees were $2400 per year and going up every year. That was too much for me. I tried to sell the boat, but found no takers. In the end I ended up donating the boat to the local public radio station.

Good luck Chris.

Paul
Webmaster: sailmfg.com

I've got lots of little projects that I'm trying to get done before early spring. I bought some 5" inspection hatches and I intend to install the first one in the cabin well below the factory "hole" at the stern.I hope this will accommodate easier access to the cockpit drain thru hull and make it easier to remove the rudder blocks which are in need of some repair and refinish. I found a woodwork shop to repair the rudder. It is separating at the leading edge and had some major gouges happening. I am going with quarter sawn mahogany to replace the ailing wood. New gudgeon straps are on the way from Duckworks Boat Builder's Supply. I had ordered and received a pair of the "heavy duty" version but they were not sturdy enough so I have sent them back and re-ordered some stouter ones. Scored some nice 13" galvanized wheels for the trailer for cheap. Needed a spare and got a bonus wheel in the deal.
My boat has the factory boom traveler in front of the companionway hatch. Its not working because the "car" has been screwed down to the hull to keep the boom centered. It appears all of the hardware is still there. Does anyone have pics or rigging instructions as it came from the factory? I'm sure I can re-rig it to be functional, it seems pretty simple. Just curious how it was originally rigged.
I'm looking forward to sailing this spring. Anyone near Wheeler Lake Alabama day sailing? Hope to see you on the water!

Get Wet!

Hey Chef,

Congrats on getting your own MFG19. I just bought one of these at the end of last year with a friend and it has been an excellent little boat.

Of course the only bad part of buying a boat that was made more than 20-30 years ago is that you will need to replace several bits and pieces of the boat in order to keep it in running shape. This last summer we had to replace our gudgeons as well as we almost lost our rudder on a high wind day when the lower gudgeon loop broke off. This was not a fun project, but I am happy to share some thoughts and tips so you hopefully spend a bit less time screaming in frustration while wedged between the transom and the inner hull than I did!

First off, I purchased a Racelite RL-490 reinforced stainless gudgeon for my replacements, and it was a good enough fit for my boat that we didn't have re-drill any holes through the hull or through the wood plate that the gudgeon sits on. They didn't fit exactly perfectly, but we were able to tap the bolts through and get them tightened. If the gudgeons you got from Duckworks works out great, but I know these gudgeons from Racelite worked for me, are made in the US out of quality steel, and were only $12.90 a piece. Here is the url for their website: [racelitehardware.com]

Second, the built in transom access hatch at the back of the port side inner hull was way too small for my arm to get through to reach the nuts of the gudgeon fasteners on the inside of the transom, and I am 6'4". I took a rotozip and cut open a larger hole around the access port. While you never want to leave raw fiberglass open to the elements, since this was on the inner hull it is probably okay to leave alone, but it is probably a good idea to slap some epoxy on the edges to seal them to prevent moisture from seeping in and causing your fiberglass to start to delaminate. Another viable quick fix would be to cover the exposed edges in duct tape, since that will block moisture which is the main concern in that area. Also, taping the edges will make it much easier on your arm when you are wedging yourself in there to reach the gudgeon fasteners.

Third, when I poked my phone in there to take some pictures of the fasteners I noticed that the stock washers were being pulled into the fiberglass a bit after 30 some years. I picked up 12 fender washers from my local hardware store for a couple of bucks and replaced the stock washers with those in order to distribute the force over more glass. Just make sure you measure and size your fender washers appropriately so they will fit next to each other. And while there are technically only 8 fasteners to deal with, I got extra washers and nuts and was glad I did, as I dropped several while trying to get them started. Even at 6'4" with a larger access port I had to stretch to my maximum extent to reach the top set of gudgeon fasteners.

Fourth, tie a string from your wrench to your wrist. Nuts and washers are cheap, but will be a pain to try to get your wrench out from between the transom and the inner hull if you drop that. Also it really helps to have someone on the outside of the boat with a ratchet so you just have to hold the nut on the inside and they can do the actual turning outside where it is a lot easier.

Finally, once you get the new gudgeons on, get some emory cloth so you can sand your pintels down a bit so they will fit smoothly in the new gudgeons. I actually didn't have any emory cloth so I just reamed out my gudgeons a bit with a 3/8 bit (which I broke in the process) in order to get the rudder to slide in and out easily.

Good luck with your gudgeon replacement!

Mike (SailWeasel)
Wisconsin

Hi MIke! Thanks for the post. The gudgeons I ordered from Duckworks are the RL-490's. They looked suitably beefy for my needs. I'm glad to hear you say they don't need much fitting. I've almost finished sanding and sealiing the rudder blocks to reinstall. Thanks for the tip on the fender washers, I probably would have just reinstalled with the stock washers. I sent the 390's back and now waiting for the RL-490's. After reading lots of posts about accessing the stern innards, I decided to go straight to the problem and made an access hatch in the center of the cockpit rear. There was an ugly, rust stained hole there already from an old cup holder installation and I was going to have to rework it anyway, so viola!, rework done! 5_1/2" hatch covers will be installed when I'm done. I did have to go through two separate layers to get to the inner transom but it made it very easy to access the rudder blocks and the cockpit drains. I'm assuming that the chamber I cut through might be for flotation if capsized so I will fill it back up tightly with closed cell foam pool noodles when I'm done with the transom work. I needed more access back there also to install some bracing for the outboard mount on the inner transom, there was way too much flex there for my taste. I'm using a 7.5 horse 4 stroke Honda as alternate propulsion and need the extra support for the heavier motor. To cut the hole I used a Harbor Freight circle cutting bit stretched past its rated diameter ($6.99 minus a 25% discount). I had to file the shoulder off the bits a little to get the needed depth but it worked wonderfully. Got a perfect hole to mount the inspection hatches when I'm finished. I'll be repainting the topsides this spring and will paint the edges of the holes then. Its too cold here now to do any epoxy work so that will have to wait too. The mast step needs some attention as well as the grab rail mounting pillars. A previous owner had used mild steel replacement screws on the rail and then gunked some caulk on them. Quite a mess. I'm drilling out the rail holes to 3/8" and using a plug cutter(another HF cheap tool at $3.49 for a pack of 4 sizes) on some scrap mahogany to make filler plugs. I'll epoxy them in then redrill and counterbore them to the right depth. I hope the mild steel screw remnants in the pillars don't interfere with the new installation. And so I ramble on lol!

I really appreciate the input. You have some great ideas and sounds like we're on the same track.I grew up here in Alabama but I had relatives on Lake Geneva Wi and have fond memories of summers spent there! Never had the pleasure of a winter there tho! Hope yours isn't too bad!
Smooth Sailings! Chris

Get Wet!

Hey Chris,

Well, it was zero degrees today when I got up here, but hey, pretty typical Wisconsin weather. I don't mind, I kind of enjoy having wildly varying seasons! Heck we even got the boat out this November because we still had a few 60 degree days! I guess the worst part is having to wait until spring before I can get sailing again...

Think you could send me a link for the Harbor Freight circle cutting bit and the inspection hatches you will be putting in? I may want to clean up the misshapen hole I rotozipped into my hull and put in a proper inspection hatch there. That should would help make up for any loss of structural integrity that may arise due to making the inspection hole larger. It would also provide more protection for the edges of the hole as well which would probably be a good thing for my boat.

I also experience a bit of flex with my engine mount, but I am okay with it for the time being since I use a 55 lbs. thrust trolling motor as my auxiliary propulsion instead of heavier gasoline motor. I also remove the motor whenever transporting the boat on the trailer, so bouncing on the road doesn't cause lots of unnecessary transom flex. In your case it sounds like some support bracing on the inside of the hull is probably a good idea. I've heard of people using a steel plate with pre-drilled holes, which would be fine, especially if you go with stainless steel and make sure the edges around rounded nicely so they don't bite into your fiberglass. A weather treated board would be a bit lighter and have a bit more flex itself, but wouldn't be as permanent of a solution. Maybe look into composite deck materials from one of the large hardware stores? Something that has a slight bit of flex like wood but will not rot away in moist conditions would be ideal as your backing plate for the engine mount.

As for the space between the cockpit glass and the transom, that is just due to how the boat was constructed, I don't think it has anything to do with flotation. The MFG 19 is made of 3 major pieces of fiberglass- 1st is the outer hull, with the keel ballast glassed into it. 2nd you have the inner hull piece, which is the surface you stand on inside the cabin. The 3rd piece is the deck and cockpit surface. All 3 hull pieces are joined together at the rubrail along the outside of the boat. The space you described was the one between the deck piece and the inner hull, and it exists due to how they put the 3 major hull pieces together, rather than for any additional buoyancy or anything like that. So you can fill it with foam noodles or whatever, but I don't think you will provide any helpful buoyancy when you consider that the fiberglass along with the ballast make up about 1600 pounds anyways. Because these boats have the fixed keel capsizing really isn't an issue, the weight of the keel will always cause the boat to settle back right-side up even if you do manager to knock her over. Which nobody has reported doing yet, at least on these forums (I believe I have read through every MFG19 post on here at least twice).

You kinda lost me on your ramble about the mast step, but yeah, it is probably pretty important to get that cleaned up and properly put together before you head out in the spring. Good luck with that, wish I could offer some advice but I haven't had to mess with mine, fortunately.

Good luck on the repair work, and have a happy holidays!

Mike

Hello Mike, Its been chilly here but only below freezing a day or two. You never know what kind of winter weather North Alabama will bring. It may be in the single digits or like a few years ago I was on the Tennessee River in shorts and short sleeves during the Christmas holidays driving my cruiser. Right now its typical rainy and chilly.Thankful for the rain! We went for almost 3 months without a drop.

Below are the links to the drill fixture and the inspection plate. There's a gazillion sellers with inspection plates on Ebay. This seller accepted my offer of 2 for 10 bucks with free shipping for the 5 inch.They are a little off white but match ok.

To use the drill fixture with a hole already there could be difficult. You could butt behind it with some scrap wood if you can access it or maybe use some quick epoxy and glue a thin piece just covering the center. However you do it you will have to have a good pilot hole to guide the fixture. I don't think you will be able to use the fixture for holes bigger than 5 1/2". Make sure you change to the arbor bit once you've made your center hole. You're going to kick up a bunch of fiberglass dust using it so use a dust mask and protect your arms. I had disposable sleeves from glass work in the past so didn't have any problems. I used a shop vac to get the residue from the boat.

Hope you have a wonderful holiday season! Best Wishes! Chris (Links to follow)


[www.harborfreight.com]

[www.ebay.com]

Get Wet!

Got some parts ordered and some little projects done. Trailer winch was a rusty mess and we had an almost 70 degree day here so I did the home remedy rust remover of baking soda and vinegar, a good rinse of the winch parts which I took apart and a can of rust converting spray paint and I have a new winch! I'm gonna hit the hardware store tomorrow and get some new nylock nuts to replace the rusty stuff. A new winch strap is in order too as the wire cable that was on it needs to go. Working on the Honda outboard I picked up. I'm trying to find the CDI and coil resistance specs for it. Needs some spark but I'm not sure at this point what the bad parts are. Its a 1986 Honda 4 stroke 7.5.Hopefully looking for a service manual download to get the specs. I'm thinking the 7.5 4 stroke is going to be too heavy and too lonjg for this boat unless I can really get to the inner transom and truss it up as well as move the motor hangar.. May be selling this one and getting something smaller. Anyway...had a fun day prepping for spring...and got to go see Rogue One during my trailer work intermission lol. Merry Christmas All! Chef

Get Wet!

Hi - I purchased an MFG 19 a few months ago and have just got it into the water. It sat in a garage for a few years and is in remarkable condition. I downloaded the rigging instructions but having some trouble following that so was wondering if anyone out there has photos of their boat that shows the details of the rigging - the jib in particular.

thanks

Richard

Hi.

I have been sailing a 1978 MFG 19 for the past 4 years, I have tons of pics, send me your email and I will forward.


Jim Baker

JKIMBAKER@YAHOO.COM

814-442-7666