I would like to get and install some stern pulpits at each rear corner of my cokpit a bit “a la Scobby III”, maybe not as high though (see Gallery). Are parts like those for sale from the builder or someone would have plans to have them made? Also were are they fixed on the hull, any detail picture/drawing?

Thanks in advance for the help, Jean Philippe, DF 800 SW “Calopteryx”

Quornings are very helpful and sent me a diagram. Try them.

The bungee cord holds up a wooden block which I think acts to stop water splashing up the centre board case.

Unscrewing the table top gives reasonable access and you can see how it all works.

The mooring cleats on the outside of the cockpit, aft of the winches, on my 800 SW are going rusty and need to be replaced. The problem is that I cannot see any access to this area from either the stern locker or the space underneath the cockpit that extends from the cabin.

Can anyone advise on the best way to change these cleats? I do not want to cut inspection hatches in the cockpit sides if I can avoid it.

I own a 1991 SW800. I have the impression that my centerboard is not going all the way down and would like to replace and readjust the centerboard adjustment line (the knot is probably to old to adjust). How could this be done? After removing the cockpit table it does not seem very easy. Can anyone give me a clue?

Best Regards, Hans Peter

Thanks Al for the picture with the measurements. That is certainly shorter and wider than what I’ve got now and will give me something to go on if I attempt to build a new rudder.

I should amend the previous message about Quorning. I have called them again now and actually got to speak to Mr. Quorning himself which was quite helpfull. So try calling instead of e-mailing. He says the molds for the DF 25 were sent to Canada to a company on license which went bankrupt after one year and he doesn’t know where the molds are now. Another DF 25 owner has lost his rudder on some rocks and is going to mount the 800 system which hangs off the back of the boat with some modification. This is certainly a painful and expensive way to solve the problem, but will be a last resort if everything else fails.

On a side note I asked about putting in larger windows instead of the small circles on the front of the cabin. Was thinking of lateral loads from the mast foot, but he said this should go okay as everything is carried by the dagger board box. Would be interesting to hear if anyone has tried this yet.

Just installed 4 lights in the boat and it is much better than original lighting. Removed the wooden “roof” and will just keep it off to have more white exposed and roomier feel. Put flourescent light above table for map reading and general use, mounted swivel halogen by the cubby hole over the stove to see what’s cookin, very dim orange colored light near the same place but forward facing with thought of night sailing while having light inside, but not ruining night vision, and then a nice bright double halogen in the “bedroom” or “coffin” up front simply running wires under the starboard bunk. Tried it out last night on a sleepover and it was great!

One other comsmetic note is that we have removed the old green stripe around the boat. Like a huge sticky sticker that was old and cracked. It is A LOT of work, but the result was a much prettier boat. Used a heat gun very carefully and scraped it off, and then scrubbed with amonia to get off the residue. Only heat damaged a bit where I will put in new windows anyways. Don’t try to do this in a day.

And just a little more ….. the boat was lying tied to a dock by my house, the wind changed and came straight from the side 12m/s with a good run and waves like a nightmare. I had 2 “orange balls” fenders out, but this wasn’t enough, so I set out three cylinders. Looked good, but I was worried that the if the back end ball rope got cut or worn off the boat would smash on the pier. Solution… truck tire intertube lying in the garden from sledding this winter. Put it over the line from the beam stright up to the dock and then centered the beam in the middle of the hole with the outer mast tensioning rope so it wouldn’t chance cutting it. Wonderful. The motion of the boat settled down, there was a huge contact surface of nice soft rubber and it didn’t even make black marks on the boat! What a wonderful thing to have stowed away in the boat on trips. A couple of tubes under the bed and a small pump. Takes much smaller place than conventional fenders, most likely free from a tire place, they are huge, you can play with them too, and greater surface area to spread the load on the hull. Why didn’t I think of that before?

Happy Sailing!

Hi William,
As you share my father’s name, I thought I’d better reply to this one!I’m doing some work on my DF25 rudder at the moment, so I’ve written some dimensions on it, and attached a photo. I hope it’s readableI haven’t yet sailed the boat yet, so can’t vouch for the balance. I also don’t know for sure that it’s the original rudder, but I have no reason to doubt it.

Best regards, Al Wood

Please click on the photo to see it enlarged!

I really do like my 25, but this rudder is getting quite annoying now…. We extended the shaft as planned in the last post so that we have 50-60% penetration. The shop built up a significant amount of reinforcement around the whole blade (it is slightly negatively bouyant now due to the extra weight) and everything looks good. You could drive a tank over this thing now and it wouldn’t break. Was out a couple of weeks ago, 16 to 18 knots reaching, and now the shaft is bent 15 deg to the right! I’m dumbfounded and now must figure out how to bend the shaft back, and then cut down the length to reduce the moment. Unbelievable, that stainless shaft is not small….

Anyone out there care to send me some measurements of the height and length of your 25 rudder? Some pictures would be nice to see what they are actually supposed to look like…. the one we have now is from a form used for 18′ catamarans ….

The rudder is far from balanced, the worst I have experienced on a sail boat, but I don’t know what else to do…. Anyone have a form, or better yet make replacement rudders?

I sent a couple e-mails to Quorning awhile back asking about replacement rudders and never heard anything back. When I called, there was nobody I could talk too .. 🙁 Service? Maybe my wallet isn’t thick enough to be interesting.

The rudder blade on my DF25 was broken off while docked during a violent freak storm. I do not think the shaft is too short at 15% as it took extreme force against fixed objects to break it. The construction is the same as the rest of the hull. Foam filled fibreglass. If you still have the blade you can epoxy it back on.

Do not try to make a rudder blade. Multihull foils require very precise engineering. I wasted good money trying to build one and after many re-cuts and re-builds, it still is not properly balanced.

Has anyone had problems with rudder breakage on their Dragonfly 25? Our rudder seems to be quite long, and the shaft only penetrates maybe 10-15% of the rudder. We plan to extend the shaft now and try to stuff it into the rudder again. What are the original rudders constructed of?

How about a seperate section for 25’s?

Thank you Anders, for your quick reply!

Actually , today my boat is on a trailer for the winter.

I was just wondering if I could maintain the centre board without external help (new coatings…etc) by removing the center board from inside? ( boat remains on trailer)

Kind regards, Bert

Board has to be removed from the bottom.

Just unscrew the hexbolt on the board, board is hooked to a bolt inside the drum. After the hexbolt is removed the board can easily be lifted of the drumbolt.

Is it possible to remove the dagger board of a Dragonfly 800 MK2 from inside after removing the table?

Thank you for your reply in advance

I have Dragonfly 800 No. 166, here in Dubai and have found some cracking around the centre hull plates where the dolphin strikers are fixed. It seems that these plates are sealed in a box section. Have you come across this problem before and is it OK to just cut an access hatch above the plates?

My only criticism of the “Fly” is that too many things are boxed in and inaccessible!!

In reply to removal of water from DF 800 floats, I kindly received the following from Quorning. It covers the layout of the float bulkheads and also how to watertight the floats. Has anyone developed a clever way to pump out forward area? It is difficult access for a pump!

Here is Quorning’s reply:

Water from aft will always be located under the hatch in the storage compartment of the float as this is the deepest area. At the forward bulkhead of the storage compartment, the bulkhead goes all the way down and separates the forward and aft areas. To empty forward, you have to pump out via the small inspection hatch in the forward bulkhead.

To make the floats watertight again, unscrew the Teflon rings on the ama deck and reseal the screw holes. In addition, reseal around the stainless fittings for the sidestays and ‘backstays’. Check from the inside that the sidestay fitting inside the float is tight and it would be best to check the ‘backstay’ fitting as well. However, this requires installation of an inspection hatch on the deck back aft which I would recommend for you to check if this fitting is 100% tight.

Anbei ein paar Bilder von meinem Hardtop, dass ich letzten Winter gebaut habe. Es bleibt auch im Winterlager montiert, da der Hauptträger so ausgelegt ist, dass er auch als Mastauflage dient. Die Abmessungen entsprechen der Original-Sprayhood um die Optik zu erhalten. Material 4 mm Bootbausperrholz (Gabun) und Epoxy. Hauptträger Querschnitt 70 x 25 mm. Feste Scheibe aus 3 mm Macrolon.

Vielleicht eine Anregung für andere in der Winterpause.