Updating a Trojan F36 - Question of weight balance aftwards

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AJ.TO
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Updating a Trojan F36 - Question of weight balance aftwards

Post by AJ.TO »

This is my first post, Firstly my sincere gratitude to some very experienced and knowledgeable Trojan owners who are so generous in sharing their knowledge and experience on this Forum... Prowlerfish, Peter (Lake Erie), Captain Ross, Jamie (Stripermann2), LandVF36, Tony(Juiceclark), Brett and so many more of knowledgeable Trojan owners out here ...

I live in the Toronto area and owned a Tiara Slickcraft 31 Sports cruiser for few years and wanted to get something bigger with a fixed enclosure for what is mostly cruising (~100 hours annually in our short boating season) on Lake Ontario and nearby great lakes and I had two choices :
A. Get a shinier newer boat with compromised bones and cored hulls or B. To get solid bones and update and decorate it to taste. B felt like more work but I liked the classic lines of the Trojan F36 and over the past few years had also done some reading of the ever entertaining Mr. Pascoe and learnt the importance of heritage, solid bones, solid glass hull etc. I know these boats will still be going strong in 20 years when the flaky stuff would have ditten dust..

Within the gasoline options, the Crusaders were rated highly by Mr Pascoe, and that influenced my decision to buy my first Trojan - A 1986 F36 Convertible Sedan (460) with Crusaders 454's ~1100 hrs with a stock Onan 6.5 genset towards the end of 2019 and discovered this forum and have searched and soaked up some of the insights and tips shared by the experienced captains : you have no idea how grateful the new generation of Trojan owners are are to you!

The seller was selling this boat for untenable medical reasons, and wanted a new owner who could update it to restore her pride and I did a thorough pre-purchase Survey & got a thumbs up overall except some rot with two of the Port stringers in aft area (not uncommon for these boats) and (The hull, decks, bulkheads, flybridge and controls are sound, Electricals are original, newer batteries) and the mechanic tested and liked the condition of Engines and Onan Genset. So it felt like a value purchase for a boat with timeless looks; I knew that I would like to update the interiors and rejig the features to make it open, modern, brighter and suited to coastal cruising.

Amongst the things that are being done :
1. Stringers port side repair (Aft 6 -8 feet or so)) with matching white Oak stringer sections. (Rear fuel Tanks, the Onan, swim platform, & the rudder assembly have been removed to refinish the Aft bilge). I plan to not keep the aft Fuel saddle tanks. The seller used all tanks concurrently and we re leaving the rear fuel tanks out- 250 Gals of main tanks is more than enough to criss-cross Lake Ontario, which is dotted by Marinas.
2. The 40 Gal Aluminium Water Tanks are relocating to the aft bilge (in place of the old gasoline tanks). A new 11 Gal Water heater is being set in the aft bilge as well. This mid section between bulkheads is now completely free to be used as storage via cutout in the galley floor.
3. The hollow keel has been exposed / reinforced neatly with diaphragm pumps set up to keep it water free. (The false bilge floor there was trapping water and in our frozen climes I was worried about potential freezing damage).
4. The Bulkhead (B2) have been sealed to give us two watertight compartments down to the keel. Four new Bilge pumps are being installed - 2 each in each watertight section with a combo of ~2000 GPH - A regular Bilge pump combined with a pump that will draw water from hollow keel.
5. The old 26 GAL holding tank under V berth has been removed and a newer bigger 30 Gal setup with new hoses is being installed in the compartment just aft to the head (under the original big fridge floor) with a shorter inlet hose run (~3 ft), I hope that it increases its net capacity.
6. Galley layout is being changed to create more open space - We removed the big fridge to open up the layout from "L" to "I" to have a a smaller fridge fit alongside the sink. A second smaller fridge will be built into the floor by the lower helm. (This has opened up that space nicely and turned the lower level dinette into a light filled space).
7. An Aircon / heat exchanger is being installed (Dinette/Aft)

The upholstery and rest of finishes are planned for spring after the essentials are completed.

I understand that each of these reno items is a topic in itself and requires careful due diligence and skill to get optimal results and we are using the insights from this Forum as far as possible but for this post, I wanted to seek your guidance on the topic of modified weight distribution.

I have heard from many of you that the Trojan F36's ride happier with loaded sterns especially in heavier quartering seas and with these updates, I will be shifting a good chunk of weight aft-side. Do you see any issues with it? Pls see rough calculations below:
Holding tank: Moving 10 feet towards stern + Hot water tank: Reducing from 20 Gallons to 11 Gallons (moving aft 12 feet) + Fresh Water tanks: Reducing from 80 to 50 Gallons & moving aft 12 feet+ Swim platform: Adding 100 Lbs... Essentially I am removing about 500+ lbs lbs from the midsection and shifting the resulting weight balance towards the Stern.

What do you think will it do the handling of the Boat ? Will appreciate any other words of advise on the topics above if you have undertaken similar enhancements...

AJ.TO
1986 F36 "Friendship"
Crusader 454s
Updating & customizing a Classic beauty
"The intention is to leave what you touch better than how you found it, be it people or a boat"
Last edited by AJ.TO on Sat May 09, 2020 11:58 pm, edited 8 times in total.
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prowlersfish
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Re: Updating a Trojan F36 - Question of weight balance aftwards

Post by prowlersfish »

Congrats on the F36 . Sounds like big project . It is true the F36 likes weight aft . In fact when you bought one you had to get rear fuel tanks and or the generator . The hollow keel has not been a really issue on the F36 ,like it was on some F32s and F30s but its possible . While your rudder assembles are out I would add some fiberglass in the rudder port area . I had a issue there , its likely the weakest part of the hull .
I had cracking there .

Please post some photos of the work being done . And good luck
Boating is good for the soul
77/78 TROJAN F36 Conv.
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AJ.TO
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Location: Toronto

Re: Updating a Trojan F36 - Question of weight balance aftwards

Post by AJ.TO »

Thank you very much for sharing this...Your knowledge of the history of the Trojans is amazing.

It is timely bit of advice as the Stern area bilge is being finished and we will surely beef up the area you pointed out!

AJ
1986 F36 "Friendship"
Crusader 454s
Updating a Classic beauty
Last edited by AJ.TO on Wed Feb 05, 2020 11:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
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WayWeGo
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Re: Updating a Trojan F36 - Question of weight balance aftwards

Post by WayWeGo »

Welcome AJ.TO! I can't wait to hear more about your refit.

Our boat has a soft spot on the inner port stringer by the transom and that will be addressed at the same time I am making some other mods there. Thanks to prowlersfish for pointing out the area around the rudder stuffing boxes as worthy of some additional glass!
1975 F-36 Convertible
Twin Chrysler 440's
Swpc8741
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Re: Updating a Trojan F36 - Question of weight balance aftwards

Post by Swpc8741 »

What kind of condition are your rear tanks in? I’m actually looking for tanks for mine that were removed prior to my buying!
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AJ.TO
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Location: Toronto

Re: Updating a Trojan F36 - Question of weight balance aftwards

Post by AJ.TO »

The rear Fuel Tanks are totally fine, they were full when I started the renos in late fall and we had to empty them and have been in storage since, pls message me if you would like to buy them. Thanks.
AJ.
AJ.TO
1986 F36 "Friendship"
Crusader 454s
Updating & customizing a Classic beauty
"The intention is to leave what you touch better than how you found it, be it people or a boat"
oil&water
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Re: Updating a Trojan F36 - Question of weight balance aftwards

Post by oil&water »

Congratulations, the F36 is a terrific vessel. Keep the updates coming on the refit!
Currently Trojan-less :?
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