Vindo yard

Vindö Marin AB
Vindön, Nötesund
S-473 91 Henån
Sweden
Phone: +46304392 90 or cell phones +46704239295 or +46704239293.
Fax: +46304393 83

E-mail: info@vindomarin.se

Vindö Service
Båt-Jonas
Jonas Alfredsson

Tel: 0705 391 691
email: jonas@batjonas.se

Hans- Olov Handmark

Renoverare
Tel: 073-2000874
email:hans-olov@batjonas.se

Christer Nyholm
Marinmekaniker 
Tel:0706 77 49 31
email:christer@batjonas.se

Per Olsson ( now retired )
Vindön 3674
S-440 90 Henån
Sweden
Phone: +46030439675

Steering

Some Vindo boats have a wheel steering gear made by Wargia. Karl called Wargia in Vanersborg (30 km from Uddevalla, where he lives) and they told him that they don't manufacture boat steering any more but they have spare parts for sale. You can contact them by phone, fax or letter. 

Discussion about steering problems

This summer i sailed several times with my Vindo 40 in a firm wind (5 >bft) and with waves coming in with an angle of 45-70 degrees from the back of the ship on the "IJsselmeer" in Holland. It is always a bit hard to steer in this conditions, but i thought the
longkeeler would predict a more stable course. I now have a tough job at the steering wheel to keep a straight course. What are the experiences of other Vindo sailors? Does anyone have a steering pump with a lower gear which makes less revs of the wheel and if so, is it not heavy steering then. On my ship the wheel has to make 5 revs to move the rudder from left to right, and this goes quite light. I would appreciate your experiences.
Taco Bruin

When I first bought "Tucana" five years ago I had no experience with a full keel sailboat and I too expected that the boat would track straighter than it really does in a seaway. I find in rough seas that steering the boat is more
work than I expected. I really love the boat and love taking care of her but this aspect is a bit of a
dissapointment for me.  I too would love to hear from others on this topic.
Thanks
Joe Murli
V65 "Tucana"

yes
I have the same problems thought it was due to wheel steering as previously tiler steering on long keeled
yachts was not such a problem, I find it so bad that even when tacking to come back on course requires one
to think ahead of position and counteract heading to keep steerage as neutral as possible
peter.

The sails are one factor that could worsen this situation. The long keelers are generally more stable, but going downwind the Vindoes and other long keelers can be and are difficult. When the wind increase the long keelers do want to round up to windward and could get really heavy on the helm Reducing sail helps. Going downwind, reduce on mizzen and main before genoua. For the Vindø 50 I have heard that somebody think rudder is to small
and I have heard that some have added some area at the stern of it. I do not
know how that worked out. One thing is very clear - old and baggy main will make things worse for the
steering in a blow.  
rgds
Sigbjørn
S/Y Isabella.

Peter,
what about replacing the original steering by a teleflex with only 3 turns lock to lock? Maybe then we could get more feed back from the rudder. Swanti (v40) has two push-pull cables from the the steering head to the
tiller arm. Is that standard? Did anybody replace ist?
Stephan

This is not an uncommon situation with long-keeled boats sailing with the wind aft of the beam. It usually only becomes a problem when the wind and seas get up (force 5 and above). In which case, reef the mainsail first and keep the genoa full. The second reef should be rolling in the genoa a little, or changing down to a smaller headsail. The third reef should be in the mainsail. In this way you keep the centre-of-effort of the sails well forward which will help the steering - although it will not completely remove the problem.
It also helps to anticipate the boat turning into the wind as the stern begins to lift with the new wave, by starting to steer in the opposite direction before the boat begins to turn into the wind.
Peter Firstbrook
V40 Svea

Hello Joe
I use that as a general rule, on my V50, Isabella. Even on a gentle day when I know I'm going with the wind, I do not bother to hoist the mizzen. 

rgds
Sigbjørn
S/Y Isabella

Peter,
Reducing the main before the genova sounds like good advice,  The V65 is ketch rigged.  Should I take down the mizzen sail before the main when the wind is aft of the beam?
Joe
"Tucana"

Hi Joe
You will certainly find that dropping the mizzen will reduce weather helm when the wind gets up, and this might well be the most comfortable configuration with the wind aft of the beam. However, if your boat is tracking well in strong winds on the beam or ahead of the beam, you might find that dropping the main completely and sailing with reefed genoa and mizzen (perhaps with a reef) will give you a nicely balanced rig which is easy to reduce further if you have to. It's worth playing with various combinations in different winds to find what is best if you have a ketch - you have so many more options.
Kind regards
Peter
V40 Svea

I have inherited the Vindö 50 which was built for my father and launched 1969, actually the very first Vindö 50 built after the plug. So I know the boat pretty well after 43 seasons. I would like to reply to the contributions on steering started by Taco Bruin:

Our Vindö 50 was delivered with a Teleflex steering with 7 revs from port to starboard and no feel at all. A lot of turning on the wheel when running before the wind. Frankly, a bad steering. However, when the Teleflex steering finally broke down after 10 years or so we replaced it with a steering from Edson (edsonmarine.com) with chain, wire and quadrant, an old-fashioned and very reliable system. Quite interesting to install for us teenagers at the time but it turned out very well and it has worked well for > 30 years now. I now have 3.5 turns from port to starboard and a good feel. The boat can still require many turns on the wheel when running before the wind in rough seas but she is not really heavy on the helm with proper sails and the required changes of rudder angle will usually correspond to < 1 turn of the wheel. I find turning the wheel ~ 1 turn is easy for a grown-up with one hand on the same spoke all the time. I have no experience of the Vindö 40 so I do not know if the above is true for them.

Carl Johanson

Vindö 50 “Cavilo”

Cutlass Bearing

Discussion of replacing propeller shaft bearing

Help please! Has anyone renewed/replaced the curless bearing and inner stern gland on a 32 (I think it will be the same on the 40 and 45. I have a lot of wear in the bearing and the prop shaft moves about making noise! Can you tell me the procedure? Are there any drawings? I cannot make out the structure of the stern tube and access to the cetless bearing since it all appears to be glassed in.
Robert Lambert Irish Mist V32 412.

Robert
It's all glassed in. Isabella had the original shaft bearing and stern gland replaced before I bought her. I can clearly see that there has been a major GRP job around the new gear. If you are not familiar with GRP work, it's an workshop job. You actually has to grind away old GRP to get access to the old bearings, and then after replacing and aligning the new bearing and gland, rebuild the damaged GRP. Best of luck with the progress.
Sigbjørn

Hello Per-Inge
We now have the same problem from the stern bearing with our 32! Did you get some pictures from Per Dagbog? Is it possible to send me some of the stern bearing assembly - perhaps with some news of your own experience? I do not seem to be able to find the original vindo.dk link - certainly not with any reference to Dagbog. Your help will be very much appreciated.
Robert Lambert. Irish Mist V32 No 412 1981

Hi Robert,
I send you a picture of the stern tube, so you can see where the grub screws are located. You have to cut away the fiber glass to get down to the two grub screws. Remove them, now you should be able to with draw your bearing out of the stern tube with a puller. Good luck
Stephan

Letter:

I had to replace mine on the V32 18 months ago and had a lot of trouble! I will send you some useful info! I received from a V40 owner before I set to
work, although I found my installation was not the same. In the hope that my experience may help you, the sequence went like this:

1. Remove the propeller using a three leg puller and a large hammer. On the V32 there is just enough room to waggle the prop out without removing the
rudder - but it is a bit like a Christmas puzzle....

2. Disconnect the propeller shaft at it`s connection with the flange on the gearbox. In my case the engine and gearbox is an old Volvo 7A, with a
flanged split collar holding the inboard end of the propshaft. I had to use an angle grinder to cut through the 6 allen bolts retaining the split
collar, and spread the slit with a cold chisel because the whole lot was rusted on!!! You may need to put the propeller back on loosely and use it
as a slide hammer to persuade the shaft out of the collar.

3. Remove the prop shaft. I also removed the entire sterngland, but it depends what type you have. Take the opportunity to check both for wear or
wasting due to sterngland abrasion etc., polish out any roughness on the shaft, and put aside the sterngland for repacking before reassembly.

4. Now the tricky bit. You need to find out if you have a metal or a fibleglass sterntube. If it is metal then you probably just have to expose
a pair of grubscrews - probably covered over by a resin mix (gloop), moulding the tube into the shape of the hull externally. When exposed, you
can release these grubscrews and, using a carefully sized bar or tube, knock out the bearing from the inside. In my case I knocked off the resin fill
around where the tube comes out of the hull, (using a chisel) and found that there were no grub screws, and that the sterntube was some sort of
fibreglass or hard plastic. Now - if you are lucky - you will just knock the bearing out from the inside without any cutting or hassle However, in
my case - for a long time I could not move the cutlass bearing at all - it had been put in with the help of some sort of adhesive, or possibly lightly
glassed in!!!! I was forced to use a hacksaw to saw longitudinally through first through the rubber and then the brass of the bearing - being very
careful not to cut into the stern tube in the process! Eventually, by creating a slit, I was able to deform and disturb the bearing a little, and
again using a large hammer on a tube sized to just less than the internal diameter of the sterntube, "persuaded" the bearing out from the inside.
There is not much room to wield a hammer to drive from the inside, so you need a big one.

5. Cutlass bearings are available in a wide range of standard sizes. You will just have to measure you shaft and ID of sterntube. My new one is a
fairly tight fit in the sterntube, but I wanted to revert to the old fashioned method of using grubscrews to secure and locate the bearing - in
case I ever had to take it out and replace it again! I did this by building up the wall thickness of that part of the sterntube which protrudes out of
the hull, using fiberglass tape soaked in isophaltic resin, so that I could drill two pilot holes through which to make small location pits in the
bearing. I them opened out these drillholes just enough to be able to screw in two brass grubscrews, locating into the little locating pits.

6. Tidy everything up with resin gloop to fair the whole area in with the hull as before and re-assemble collar, prop shaft and propeller.

Easy - took me three week-ends and two holiday days in a wet, cold open yard!!! I really DO NOT want to do it again.
I can`t guarantee that your sterngland and bearing arrangement fits this pattern, - the pictures of a V40 which I will send later may be better. -
but hope that my experience at least helps you to make a plan.

Good luck.
Robert A Lambert
removeral@boltblue.com

Leaks

Leakage in the roof. Vindo 40

My "Vindrosa" is a 1971-model Vindö 40. I have a leakage in the wall behind the navigation seat. Because of the mahogany list covering the bottom of the wall over the "dogbed", the water is sprayed over the whole wall bottom, and therefore difficult to locate where it comes down. I have recaulked the nearby places on the deck, cockpit seat and cockpit wall. This has helped a little, but the bed's mattress is always wet after rain, and the mahogany in the wall is feeling wet and is turning black. has anyone experienced the same problem, and solved it? If so, I would be glad to know. The boat has its original teak deck, and it is so worn that about 160 screws have lost their teak plugs. The caulks seem to be tight. Is it possible that these "open" screws take in water and that this water can be leaded between the teak and GRP-sandwich to my problem  wall?

Olav Skipnes

Hi,
I have a VINDÖ40-1974 and have found that thee can come water via the windows and find it´s way on the inside rim backwards and run over. This was the case on our port-side (kitchen) until we fixed the window leakage. Maybe a hint that can help you.

Torbjörn Grahm

Thank you!
I suppose this may be the case. The former owner has changed the windows, and he told me that he had serious problems to get all the windows tight. Perhaps he didn't succeed 100%! I will check it out next time I am in the boat on a rainy day.
Olav Skipnes

Hi, Olav
From my own experience I would say that the most likely cause to this is a leakage in the caulks in the cockpit.  Even though the caulk right above where the mahogany is distorted seems ok, the leak might be further back in the cockpit.  Water finds it ways from the strangest places. My simple advise is to recaulk the entire cockpit.
I don't think that the missing teak plugs has anything to do with this. Normally the screws don't go all the way through the GRP and missing plugs
shouldn't either let any water underneath the teak.  If you have a problem with leakage in the deck, it's much more likely that it comes from damaged caulks.
Hope this can help a bit.

Trond Vassgård

Hello Trond,
You are thinking as I was forced to think when seeing no other ways. I have been suspicious to the screws holding the "løygang", but not examined it further. I have thought it was a small possibility that water could penetrate the teak there, and migrate between the teak and plywood
underneath. I have recaulked all the loose caulks on the cockpit seat. I think it now is tight, as there are no extra slowly drying places after
rain. (Is this a reliable sign?). I hope it is the windows, as this is easier to fix. As you know, I have 250 km to my boat, so I can't watch her all the time. But this weekend I hope to observe a little. Thank you for you help, and good luck with your own
boat!

Olav Skipnes

Hello Olav,
I've had the same problem with my V40 (Yard nr 858). I've just put in  a new cockpit deck. From the traces I found when taking off the old  cockpit
seating, I assumed that the leak was at the bottom right hand of  the seating where the coaming and the deckshouse joints.
But as you said, water comes the strangest ways.
Good Luck
Best regards
Thomas

Hello Joe,
I see that Tucana has been in a similar condition as Vindrosa. leakages everywhere, especially intricate in the cockpit. I now believe that I have
fixed them all except the one in the cabine wall. The cockpit seats obviously has been constructed faulty; the water draining from the teak top
lining has been absorbed by the underlying plywood. After 30 wet years every other disk in the plywood has turned to mud near borders. This has both weakened the seat /coamings, and made opening for water to penetrate into the "dogbed" and the luggage closets. This rotten plywood has also led harmful water to the mahogany wall around the cockpit. I have now removed the rotten plywood and replaced it with an emulsion of epoxy and fine teak sawdust. At least this has stopped further water intake. I think it is a good idea to collect all our collective experience around this problem. Together we perhaps once shall manage to sail around in boats that are wet only where they shall be wet.
Olav Skipnes

I owned my Vindo 40 for 5 years, sold it and then after being unable to find a boat that I liked as much to replace it, bought it back when it came on the market. The boat is a 1979. I've had a number of leaks that I've repaired over the years. My son once asked me why there was always something to fix on the boat and when will I ever be finished. I told him it would never end.
I don't think any of us will ever stop all the leaks. The trick is to get to them before the rot sets in. I would agree with Joe, you have to enjoy these boats given the great amount of maintenance that goes into keeping them up. I store my boat at a yard that does repair work on wooden boats. This constant fixing, leaks and rot is the way of wood.
Recently I read a monogram on owning an older boat that proposed a preventive maintenance program for older boats such as ours that was quite extensive. One of the recommendations was to replace teak over glass decks at 25 years or so. Has anyone tackled this one?
Mike Palumbo

When I bought my Vindo 40 (1977 model) 5 years ago, the deck was pretty much shot. The wood was very rough and the bungs were coming out. There was not enough wood left to sand back to flat. It was replaced with a teak deck system where they take a pattern of the parts need and fabricate a new deck in large sections and then glue it to the fibreglass. While doing this it was also possible to fix some soft spots in the fibreglass as well as repairing all the old screw holes. So far all is going well with this system. 
I too have a few leaks in the cockpit and in the aft  corners of the main cabin. I don't know where they come from and the fixes so far don't completely eliminate them.

Jim Grimes

Deckhouse

Repairs to Tucana

Vindo 50 Rudder

Anders Björck has been discussing with Arild Andersen how to remove the rudder of a Vindo 50.

The Vindö 50 rudder is attached to the hull at three different places.
A. The rudder axis that goes vertically through the top part of the rudder. The rudder axis has a wedge that forces the rudder to turn when the axis is turned.
B. Just below the "hole" for the propeller, it is fixed through two bronze "clamps"
C. At the bottom a stainless steel tap is resting in a hole in cast bronze "housing"

This is Anders' piece of advice:
On ground:
1. Remove the nut at the bottom of the rudder axis.
Under the cockpit floor:
1. Remove the rudder quadrant from top of the rudder axis.
2. Unscrew the big nut that now is on top of the rudder axis (actually it is two nuts since one is used to lock the other one). The big nut is also keeping the greased seal tight.
3. Lift the axis; it helps if somebody is on the ground pushing the axis upwards, or maybe loosely tapping on it with a hammer.
4. Loosely refit the axis so the rudder is fixed while the clamps of B are removed.
On ground
Unscrew the bronze clamps B.
Under the cockpit floor again:
Lift the axis again while somebody is holding on to the rudder. Now the rudder can be tilted backwards and the rudder can be lifted so the stainless steel tap at the bottom of the rudder comes out of the bronze housing C.

When he did this job he also completely removed the bronze housing C, and noticed that all the brass !!!!! bolts that held it in place had corroded away. He wanted to replace them with bronze bolt to avoid galvanic corrosion. That turned out to be extremely expensive. Instead he refitted the bronze housing C with stainless steel bolts as well as plenty of epoxy. It is probably impossible to remove it again.

Steering Pedestal

Ronny Möller wrote to me: I see that you are going to build a new steering pedestal. I did that for Linnea, my 1976 Vindö 40 this year. I used 9 mm birch plywood of the highest grade (it is made up of a greater number of sheets and is much stronger than either mahogany or teak plywood). I then covered this with 3mm teak (the thickest available, at least here in Sweden). My corner strips were in reasonable shape and I got away with fixing just the bottom part of two of them and could then reuse the old ones. The top piece I made of solid teak planks glued together in 3 layers.

I have varnished the top piece but kept the rest as it is and the teak have by now acquired that nice gray color of the deck.

Gluing teak is tricky since it is very oily. Always sand the surface just before bonding to minimize the amount of oil on the surface. I used both epoxy and polyurethane glues and I think the latter is to be preferred. A good idea is to wet the surface with a little water before applying the polyurethane. This will make the bond stronger.

Book

Richard Stegeman discovered a very nice book last month and wrote me a letter about it. "The World's best sailing boats" by Ferenc Mate. It contains a very nice chapter about Vindos, with a description (and photo's) of the construction, outstanding characteristics, etc. It feels good to own a boat that is regarded as one of the world's best
sailing boats (but of course all Vindo owners already know that) ;-)

If you want to know more about it contact Richard, tien.richard@zonnet.nl