An introduction to Fortis, with pics.

[Fortis]

I was going through the pics to find the carpeted deck shots for the footware thread and found some pics that might be of interest.

This is Fortis in various states of disrepair, I'm afraid.



She is an Endeavour 26 mrkI made in the late 70's. No coring in the hull or deck, all hand layed up and beautiful. There were about 400 of the 26's made, most with a well in the cockpit designed for an outboard. Before releasing the E27, the designer took aside three 26's and fitted different engine options to each in order to run sea trials. One got an 8hp Penta, one a 12hp and the thrid a 20hp Yanmar monster.
The conlusion was that the 20hp was the designers favourite, but the 15 is what they could justify in terms of price and such.

Anyway...we ended up with the 20hp test-bed boat. And I do love that engine.

Another super usefull aspect of the E26's deck layout is what also of course costs it some cabin space. I think it is worth while.



It has an afterdeck! The left locker shown (doors removed at times of this pic) is the gas bottle and outboard fuel can storage. The right locker runs all the way back to the transom and perfectly fits a rolled up dingy and oars. The hatch opens up the remainder of hull left by the shallow and deep locker and is where we store the aft anchor, dock lines, fenders and all rescue gear...And on one occassiona  folding bicycle and and numerous other things. It is a huge and accessible space, though we needed to get clever with storage boxes and such or it would be impossible to get one thing you needed quickly.

This storage space is a brilliant way of not having to constantly bounce up and down the companionway.


Down sides were that the keelpocket above the 1ton lead fin keel was full of concrete...which cost me much time and probably 25% of my future lung function to remove. Note; Using a jackhammer on a boat that is still floating produces some interesting results for the physics and kenetics enthusiast.

She doesn't quite have headroom for me, but margaret can pretty much do jumping jacks inside.

One of my weirdest and wisest modifications was in removing the head form the V berth alcove and installing a Lavac under the navigators seat (Because the nav station and the toilet are the two least used parts of the boat on a time basis. So installing a shower curtain arrangement around the nav station was already on the plans as a way of keeping charts and electronics from random splashes.... From there it was a short leap to decide that it was also a good place to mount the dunny. The fact that this moves it as far as practically possible form the sleeping arrangements and galley is a also a bonus. On a 26...as far as possible is not always all that far...but we tried.

At the moment Fortis is parked on a cradle I built (the cradle is nifty, it allows the boat to be rolled around and to be ramped up and down into a standard heavy car-trailer for transport...so we do not need a crane all that often). The plan includeds a full internal re-work and some serious add-ons to the hull in the form of a bow-box that will pretty much give the boat bluff bows and a sugar scoop/swimstep on the back to compensate the balance.

These are on the order of big scary projects.


Hope you enjoyed the tour.


Alex.

[AdriftAtSea]

Thanks for the story and pix Alex. 

However, I'm not too crazy about the blue non-skid you've got.  I think it would heat up, based on its color.  Also, how difficult is it to clean...I keep looking at it and thinking the seagulls targeting it would make an awfully nasty mess.

[Fortis]

Seagulls? We have had a flock of seven pelicans decide to poop all over the boat!

It just hoses right off. Even after it dries. We frankly had more trouble getting the poop off the rope clutches and wooden grab rails.

Despite the dark colour, the interior of the boat is objectively cooler then it used to be. This is according to a digital thermometer which was sitting in the same place both before and after the stuff was fitted and on days of the same tempreture and amount of sunlight (though the last is a matter of observation and a quick glance at the UV index on the weather report)

My personal theory on this is that the fibres of the "carpet" are quiet open and allow micro-breezes to blow away the hot air which is trapped in the fibres which are exposed to the sun. My guess is that they can radiate the heat back out without transfering most of it to the deck beneath.

I know someone that has traditional painted-on non-skid of a dark colour on their decks and their boat is most definately toasty warm on the inside on a sunny day.

At some point I will add an out of the water pic that shows the actual hull shape.
I think I also have a pic of the dinky little prop it came with when we bought her.

The previous owner told me the story of being sent out by his wife to buy a new washing machine, dryer and dishwasher so they could upgrade the general level of white-goodness of their house. Somehow, he ended up taking a detour and spending $2.5K on a feathering prop for the boat instead. His wife was vastly unamused.

The story gets worse (or takes a turn for ironic farce) given that he had the new prop on there for less then two weeks when it suddenly spun off the shaft and sank to the bottom in the very deepest part of the commercial shipping channel in Port Phillip Bay. I imagine that embarrassment does not begin to sum up the experience for him. A mate had an old two blade fixed prop lying around that he could have for free (and it was worth exactly what was paid for it) and he fitted it without further to-do.

Fortunate man that I am, when I said to Margaret, "I want to buy a three blade feathering prop so we can actually make the most of our engine"...She looked through the online catalogues with me and picked the best one (also the most expensive) and then said to me, "Now see if you can get for $400 below list price".

I love that woman!

(I actually got it for $600 below rec retail, too.)


Alex.

[AdriftAtSea]

Alex-

Where did you get the material and what is it called??  BTW, I truly hope you appreciate how lucky you are to have Margaret.  :D

Dan

[Fortis]

I will check into that and get back to you with the info. I bought it as exterior non-slip boat carpet. But it may have a brand name I have not encountered or be sold as something different in the US. Or it may be a local product.

I will drop our supplier an email and ask.


And yeah, I know how lucky I am....She even stuck around and kept her passion for sailing after I went through my 8 week long captain Bligh phase (actually Bligh was rather admirable and much maligned) ...Mostly the result of being terrified of skippering and compensating by yelling orders. I grew out of it.

There is nothing quite like the thought "Am I the sort of skipper that I enjoy crewing for?"...and finding the answer unpalatable.


Alex.

[s/v Faith]

I am intersted in seeing what you are talking about WRT the interior.  Do you have any pictures of your navstation/loo ?

 

[AdriftAtSea]

I will check into that and get back to you with the info. I bought it as exterior non-slip boat carpet. But it may have a brand name I have not encountered or be sold as something different in the US. Or it may be a local product.

I will drop our supplier an email and ask.


And yeah, I know how lucky I am....She even stuck around and kept her passion for sailing after I went through my 8 week long captain Bligh phase (actually Bligh was rather admirable and much maligned) ...Mostly the result of being terrified of skippering and compensating by yelling orders. I grew out of it.

There is nothing quite like the thought "Am I the sort of skipper that I enjoy crewing for?"...and finding the answer unpalatable.


Alex.

You do know that she's the Admiral, and out ranks you... don't you?? If not, here's your warning... :D  Thanks, I look forward to hearing from you about it.

DK

[Fortis]

Okay, the information on the non-skid carpet is as follows.
It is made by the Autex company and is a UV stabilised polypropelyene.

Key Benefits & Features:
All carpets in the Autex range are manufactured from hard wearing polypropylene fibre which is resistant to water and won't fray or rot. Exterior ranges are made from UV stabilised fibre which makes them highly resistant to fading and the ideal product for marine outdoor applications. Width 2 metres.

I could not find a website for the company that makes it.


We stuck it down with regular "wet area" contact adhesive (took about 6.5 litres) and expected the worst...but have been very pleasently surprised to find it more then adequate.


Alex.

[CapnK]

Here's a link to what seems to be the Autex carpet on Fortis:

Autex Decord

Although unconvential, I really like the idea, Alex. Thanks! It looks a lot like it could be that raised non-skid sheet material, which gets only mixed reviews (from what I've seen), but is hideously expensive.

If I could find similar, but in a tan color like the current, non-visually obtrusive nonskid, it would be a serious contender to the other options available...

[Fortis]

Our local supplier had a tan version, one with the valleys filled with a thin bloack strip and one that was monochrome tan...but both were of the lighter duty variety, suitable for under hard didgers and such, but not as totally UV resistent as the other stuff.
The really hard wearing stuff is available in either the blue and black we have or the grey and black, which I think could grow to look a bit dingy.


Alex.

[Captain Smollett]

What's the origin of the name Fortis?

Perhaps this could be a thread by itself for all of us to answer.

[Fortis]

Fortis is latin for Brave.

...I could not remember the latin for stupid   ;)

Alex.

[AdriftAtSea]

Alex-

Just in case you want to name your dinghy.. ;)  Click Here.

LOL.  BTW, I think Fortis sounds much better... the other is a bit too obvious.

Dan