SailNet Community banner
  • SailNet is a forum community dedicated to Sailing enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about sailing, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, repairs, reviews, maintenance, and more!

Is anyone familiar with the Capitol Yachts Newport 28 design?

9K views 34 replies 12 participants last post by  jaschrumpf 
#1 ·
I bought a vintage 1975 version, and from looking at the stern it's obvious that there must have been a piece that fit in there to close the transom:



And yes, I know she's dirty. I'll clean her up, don't worry.

The question is, does anyone have any idea what went into that open transom? The PO had no idea.

I can cut a piece of something to fit, but I'd love to know what the original idea was.

You can't tell from the photo, but the bottom of the opening is about 8" above the cockpit floor. There are two drains going out the transom as well.

Thanks!
 
See less See more
1
#2 ·
It was probably a solid piece that acted as the transom. It was probably hinged and then bolted on the other side. It was designed to act as a "gate", so you could get in and out of the back of the boat easily... like if you were docked stern to the slip.
 
#3 ·
Hmmm, I guess you can't really see what's there. There's a "lip" around the outside of the transom that would hold a board or whatever in place; it looks like the piece would slip in from the top, and maybe have a bracket or something that the nuts on the inside would screw down over to hold it in place. You could leave the nuts loose so that you could easily pull the piece up and out of the way to open the transom.

I agree that it's something meant to make it easy to open the transom for easy ingress into the boat. I'd just love to know what it looked like in the original.
 
#4 ·
Jas-

If the board drops down from the top and you have several "hasps", and they were positioned to flip over the bolts, then you could use wing nuts to hold the board in place.
 
#5 ·
If you have an outboard version, that is where that is put on some boat models from that era. If you have an inboard...........I just typed something for nothing! Altho some folks put the outboard on a seperate bracket off the stern also.

Marty
 
#6 ·
On some newer boats, (mine included) it's just a piece of Starboard like material with a batten on the top edge to give you something to grab and pull it out to make it a "walk-thru". Usually open for several inches on the bottom for cockpit drainage.
Interesting looking traveler also.
 
#7 ·
I hate that traveler. Oh, it's in a great location, above the hatchway, but there's no leverage on it. All you can do is let it down; there's no way you can pull it up against the wind with a 1:1 pull and not even a fairlead on it.

After I get the big stuff out of the way I'll be all over that.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Hello,

The transom should be fiberglass across. There should not be any opening.
I will try and attach a pic of the transom of my old Newport 28 as well as the factory brochure.

Lastly, you should visit this site for some great info.

Newport, Neptune, Gulf sailboats built by Capital Yachts

Regarding the traveler, you have lots of options. Mine had a nice Harken unit
that was very easy to adjust.
 

Attachments

#9 ·
I had a Newport 30 with a beefier traveler than yours, if you can believe it. I think they were Navy surplus from an aircraft carrier! Had the same problem of no purchase. It's pretty easy to add blocks to the outsides of the traveler.
 
#11 ·
Heh. I think it's become pretty obvious I'm looking at a "modification" here. Maybe I should just cut a piece of starboard to fit in there and rebuild the transom back to the way it was. Would 5200 be a strong enough bond, or is there something else that would be better?
 
#12 ·
If it is really a modification, then you might want to glass the opening over instead of just putting a piece of StarBoard in there with 5200. StarBoard isn't strong enough IMHO to be used as what should be a structural element of the boat.
 
#13 ·
They do sell a "glue" for starboard. I believe that is works best when gluing starboard to starboard. I am not sure how well it would work to gelcoat or fiberglass.
 
#14 ·
Free-

From what I've seen of that glue, it doesn't work all that well. Most projects that use laminated starboard, like those expensive drop boards that have the screen inserts, also use screws or bolts to keep the things together. :)
 
#15 ·
I have to agree and was why I said I wasn't sure how well it would work with gelcoat or fiberglass. Starboard is an interesting product for certain project. I am not sure this is one of them.
 
#16 ·
Free-

The manufacturer of StarBoard doesn't recommend it for anything where tensile strength might be an issue or for "structural" uses. The aft end of a cockpit in a small sailboat probably qualifies under both of those, especially if the cutout was a user-modification, since the transom of the boat is probably significantly weaker with such a cut out in it.
 
#17 ·
If I wanted to glass it over -- and I've never worked with fiberglass before -- what would the procedure be, in general? From what I've gathered reading about the process, I'd put in a piece of marine plywood or whatever to fill the gap, then glass over that. Is that correct? If so, how would I attach the new piece in there to the existing fiberglass so that it would be strong enough? Use a marine epoxy glue?

Obviously this isn't a critical need, as many boats have open transoms. But I am curious now.

Thanks again for all the info and advice!
 
#18 · (Edited)
Basically, you'd grind the three surfaces (front, back and top) to taper them so that you can build up a nice layered "patch" of fiberglass...

A typical taper is based on the thickness of the fiberglass involved, and tapers at 12:1.. so if the glass is 1/4" thick, the tapered section should be 3" wide. I would probably go with a bit more gradual a taper—16:1 or so and use four or five layers of glass on each side.

I would recommend you use epoxy resin, since it has the strongest secondary bonding characteristics (adhesive strength) and also generally has the strongest tensile strength. MAS, West and System Three all make good products for this.

To reduce the amount of fiberglass and resin that you'll need and use, most people will use a core of either plywood, foam or end-grain balsa. I'd recommend end-grain balsa or foam, since they're better and lighter than plywood as core materials go. If the coaming is thicker than 2-3", you may have to do the repair in a slightly different manner. Let me know how thick that aft transom section is. :)

The balsa or foam can be epoxied into the opening and then have the fiberglass and epoxy laid over both sides, with each layer overlapping the existing hull a bit more than the previous layer—say 1" each layer. Let the epoxy cure. Wash off amine blush if necessary. Sand it, fair it with thickened epoxy, filled with chopped fiberglass, and sand it to final shape... and then paint it.

West Systems, MAS and System Three all have a lot of good materials on their websites.
 
#19 ·
The transom there is 1 1/8" thick. You know, though, it might be a better idea to just make a piece to fit in there and lock down with wingnuts or something. Then I'd have the best of both worlds, a closed transom and the ability to open it up to drag someone in during an MOB episode. The PO told me his girlfriend used it to climb aboard when swimming, though taking a dip in Chesapeake Bay is not my idea of a nice swim.
 
#20 · (Edited)
It's not critical from the standpoint of allowing water to enter the cockpit, in fact looks a little like there are six snaps on the edges where a PO may have simply used a piece of canvas to close the opening. However, as SD pointed out if the boat was designed and built with a closed transom and a PO simply cut an opening there is nothing to replace the structural rigidity across the top of the transom. Boats built with an open transom have a very beefy structure at the bottom.
BTW Where does the tiller (?) fit in relation to this ?
 
#21 ·
Sorry to be so long replying! Here's a shot of the boat from the starboard quarter, and you can see where the tiller is:



The setup is OK, and the railing keeps anyone from falling out of the boat. It certainly seems sturdy enough. Maybe the backstays help!
 
#24 ·
Jas-

Is that tiller offset to the starboard side???
 
#25 ·
No, the tiller is right in the middle. It's just the camera angle.

I am going to make a board to fit into that opening, though. I figure I'll get some teak, glue it together to get the thickness I need (a little over an inch), router the top to match the curve and then then a few coats of cetol. Should look very nice.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top