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The Fifth annual WinterBash regatta hosted by Humpybong Yacht Club attracted 151 boats last weekend .. We had 121 boats registered by friday morning and more registrations were made on both days of the event. Competitors came from Gladstone to Coffs Harbour, Drizzle interspersed with showers on Saturday didn't put as damper on the highly competitive three races held but Sunday was sunny with strengthening easterly winds to provide a beam fast ride for the divisions talking part in the marathon from Woody Point south to Sandgate, north to Scarborough and return to Woody point pier.

Screws or rivets (I prefer screws). Use only 1 rivet in the rear hole, to fix the tiller in the casting (The front hole is what causes them to break)

The tiller Al tubing is an oddball size. I sourced the closest possible I could find at my local specialist Al shop. It was slightly too big for the castings, so I had to machine the castings out enough to get it in. I only did one initially (the broken one, naturally). It has held up well so far. The other one let go a few years later, when I was about 2km off the coast of Torquay, out in Bass Strait. That could have been a bit exciting, except that it was my upwind rudder on a ~15km reach along the coastline, so I didn't really need it that day anyway 😄 . Incidentally, if you ever get the chance to sail Torquay SC's Aus Day regatta, definitely do it. Torquay to Anglesea and back (if your boat holds together) in small cats. I plan to be there again next year. I asked the Al shop to bend the tubing too but they didn't think it would bend without kinking. So I did my own bends too, using a long timber beam with the tiller tubing levered through a hole. About a dozen extremely slight kinks and the angle was perfect. Has held up well, as I said.

I don't know if it's possible to buy a new replacement. Bris Cat centre might have them. The spare alum tubes I have are still attached to the rudder castings but i could drill out the rivets & just send the tubes if you're stuck for a replacement. I have a pic but it's too large to attach to this forum. I could FB message it or text it if you're interested. Regards Jish

$20 AU, plus postage

Just bought a H16 in great condition for its age. 30 years old and always garaged. The mast has been left outside and has a lot of pitting on it. Its the entire length of one side only, with a couple of holes right the way through. I'm guessing it was a stainless/aluminium reaction. So I'm after a new mast. Any suggestions where else I should be looking? Do second hand masts come up for sale often, or am I going to have to look at buying something new? Greg (a newbie)

Trampoline rail repaired and finally got some time to have a practice run of rigging the cat. All worked well and all the parts seem to be there. Didn’t set up the jib but all seems intact. All sails feel crisp and in good condition. Looking forward to getting it out on the water when restrictions are lifted.

One of my projects this weekend was to fix my transom. I did the following: 1. After trying unsuccessfully to remove the pintle screws I ground them off to remove the pintles 2. I hit the screws a lot (as mentioned by Darcy) which eventually broke away the inside piece of alum moulding. I had rear hatches which made the whole game possible so first order would be to put these in! 3. I did a lot of pulling out and cleaning up of all the rubbish from inside. There is quite a big 'lip' all around the deck to hull joint. I elected not to remove this. 4. I made a piece of 6mm marine ply backing - odd shape but got it so it was close to the transom. It had to be narrow enough to go through the hatch. 5. I had some triax cloth (three layers, different angles) which makes a nice thick pad of glass. Cut two pieces. 6. Mixed epoxy resin. Jimmy Buckland said 5:1 by weight - well I did try and it did certainly get hot! 7. Got the first piece of cloth wet, nice and sloppy. 8. Managed to get it into the hull without dripping too much on the surrounds (if you have to cut new hatches in don't install them until you've put the wet cloth inside - tends to bung up the threads). Used latex gloves (about 20 of them!) to push the piece onto the transom. 9. With the ply I cut up a lot of fibreglass tape (didn't have any chopped strand) and mixed it into the resin. This provided a bit of 'bog' to put onto the back of the ply. 10. I put the ply against the mat against the rear of the transom. I then screwed a s/s screw through the back and into the ply to hold it in position. 11. I wet out another piece of mat and bogged it against the ply. It was much bigger so it also bogged against the transom. 12. I put some more 'bog' into the drain hole and a couple of pieces of fg tape against the pintle mounting points. 13. Next morning I drilled through the ply. 14. I got some Sikaflex that's been in the freezer for years and pulled some up into a syringe and squeezed it into the holes. 15. 35mm x 6mm bolts with two washers (one standard, one large) and a nyloc nut. Doing the top screws was VERY hard because I'd left the lip in place but eventually got the thread on and bolted it all up. 16. Got the cheapest Bunnings Colourbond spary paint and gave it about five coats. I think the fact that the original plug for the drain holes that I did with epoxy filler seemed to be loose may have been the main reason for the leaks! Testing next weekend. J