# Sailing in New England



## CB69 (Aug 22, 2016)

Hey sailnet people,

I just bought a Nor'sea 27, I will be keeping her in Portsmouth, NH. While I go to sea on merchant ships for a living, actual sailing is something I have less experience with. I'm super excited to get better though!

I need to get a bit of work done first, things I don't have time or the skills or yet: a few blisters penetrated below the gel coat need to be filled in. The barrier coat installed a few years ago has failed, with hundreds of little bumps forming between the barrier coat and gel coat- so have the barrier coat removed and a new one installed. Last but not least-fuel tank is corroded (common NS27 problem) so that needs to be pulled out and replaced, the catch is that the engine needs to be pulled in order to get to the fuel tank. 

Can anyone recommend some reputable boat yards in New England that do quality work? I'm more concerned about quality than price (within reason). I searched around the forum for some info like this but couldn't find much. 

Has anyone ever dealt with Great Bay Marine in Portsmouth?

Thanks in advance! It's cool to have joined this forum now after years of perusing. 

R/
CB69


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## JimsCAL (May 23, 2007)

Welcome to Sailnet and good luck with the boat! No experience with yards in that area, but there a few Boston area sailors that post here so hopefully they chime in.

What do you do on the ships? I sailed as an engineer (3rd and 2nd Assistant) back in the 60s and 70s (yeah I'm old).


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## sailingfool (Apr 17, 2000)

Check the latest vidoes on the SailLife channel on YouTube. He is in the midst of repairing a failed barrier coat. Potentially a very expensive job for a yard, even by boat standards.


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## CarbonSink62 (Sep 29, 2011)

Hi CB,

We keep our Bristol just north of Portsmouth at Great Cove Boat Club.

I've had some small work done by Great Bay, I've had good luck with them. My dad used them for everything back in the day (late '70s, early '80s).

I've heard good things about Kittery Point Yacht Yard, but I've only ordered parts from them (which they deliver to the club!).

Ken


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## CarbonSink62 (Sep 29, 2011)

If you use Great Bay, don't forget about the Sullivan Bridge (it's kinda low, ya know!).


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## CB69 (Aug 22, 2016)

Hey guys, 

Thanks for the responses! 

Ken, Good to know, thanks for the info, I'll be looking into kittery. 

Sailingfool- I'll check those out, appreciate the lead. 

Jimscal- lucky you, you were around d when sailing was fun, at least that's what all the older I mean, guys with more miles underway say.....I'm a second mate at Military Reality Command. I work on a tanker. Who did you sail for?

Thanks again. If anyone had any more input on quality new England boat yards, I would appreciate it. 

Chris


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## JimsCAL (May 23, 2007)

CB69 said:


> Jimscal- lucky you, you were around d when sailing was fun, at least that's what all the older I mean, guys with more miles underway say.....I'm a second mate at Military Reality Command. I work on a tanker. Who did you sail for?


I sailed with District 2 MEBA, mostly Seatrain/Hudson Waterways (both long gone). A couple years carrying munitions into Vietnam and then on container ships running to Puerto Rico and Europe. I graduated from Kings Point and then was on the faculty there.


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## Rhapsody-NS27 (Apr 8, 2012)

CB69,
are you the one on the owners group who just got a boat?

Welcome to SailNet and welcome to being a Nor'sea owner. I love my NS27. Good luck getting the repairs taken care of.


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## CB69 (Aug 22, 2016)

Dan, 

Yes, that's me. I've read through a good amount of your blog which I'm sure I'll be referencing in the upcoming months-thanks for taking the time to write it up. Do you have the dimensions of the fuel tank by any chance? I can't seem to find these anywhere. 

Jim-Kings point! You guys are everywhere! I sail with mostly KP grads. Can't seem to get away from em, even on the internet! I went to Mass Maritime myself. Are you still in the Maritime industry? 

Chris


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## Rhapsody-NS27 (Apr 8, 2012)

Chris,

The tank is 5ft long, 2ft deep. At the front the top is 12in wide and the bottom is about 4.5". At the back of the tank, it narrows to about 5in wide at the top and .5" at the bottom. It'll certainly be a custom job.

Try contacting Speedy Tanks. I got a price quote (just under $800) from them and at the same time, they were already in the middle of building a tank for another owner. They showed me pics of the one they had just built at the time and looked to be good work. At least they have experience with making replacement tanks for our boats.

Also, on the owners group, go to Files>Technical Folder>Fuel Tank... someone measured their tank and put the dimensions in a pdf file that should be useful.

Let me know if you need anything else.


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## eko_eko (Sep 7, 2012)

I had my deck re-cored and a bulkhead rebuilt by a thorough gentleman in MA. His name is Jerry Swartz and he's reachable at: Jerrygelcoat [AT] msn.com

I have photos of the work he did on Clementine. It's impressive.


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## xort (Aug 4, 2006)

You sure your NS27 fuel tank space will be EXACTLY as the others?

Make a cardboard mockup and drop it in to make sure it fits and that you can get it in and out, then have a fab shop duplicate it.


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## Rhapsody-NS27 (Apr 8, 2012)

xort said:


> You sure your NS27 fuel tank space will be EXACTLY as the others?
> 
> Make a cardboard mockup and drop it in to make sure it fits and that you can get it in and out, then have a fab shop duplicate it.


Ideally, you want to do this.

Best to get the old tank out so a builder (if local) can make a new one to the exact size of the old. Each NS27 is essentially built to order. I think even the older ones in the 70s and 80s. There might be variations in one that doesn't apply to others. There are other owners who have been on multiple boats and even between factory built ones, say they're all still very different boats.

I ended up cutting my tank into pieces to get it out to keep from cutting the cabin floor. Other boats (aft-cabins) can more likely remove their tanks in one piece for a full drop in replacement. Certainly not an easy project for anyone to do.


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## CB69 (Aug 22, 2016)

Yes, that's the plan, to get the old tank out and have a new one built to specs. When talking to fabricators for price and time estimates, it's helpful to have general dimensions though. 

Dan-I didn't notice the tech folder before, thanks man, that's a little treasure trove of info. I talked to another fabricator yesterday before you posted about speedy tanks, and 1) They'd never heard of a NS27, 2) they didn't epoxy the outside of the tank. So I'll be giving speedy tanks a call tomorrow. Thanks again!


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## CB69 (Aug 22, 2016)

And yeah, I'm not nearly experienced enough *yet* to tackle that job on my own. Nor do I have the time :/ I only get about 2 months off between ships, so time is a precious commodity. The yard I'm keeping the boat at over the winter lets you do your own work though, so I'm gonna have them soda blast the hull and then do the rest myself, which I'm pretty excited about-well, as long as the hull is dry enough. If not Ill just wait till the spring.


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