Nautica 23

[Emibel]

Hi all.

I´m new here, so first of all, congratulations for your excellent forum.

I have just got an old Nautica 23 in Spain. This is an extremely rare boat here and I cant find any information related to it, so I´ve decided to ask in your forum since the boat was built in Germany, as I could find out after some research.

She is in poor condition and I´ve started to work on it. It will probably take me a year!. The keel was totally rusted and stuck, but after some hammering and heat I´ve managed to take it out. The thing is that I´m not sure how much it should come out of the boat once it´s deployed. There´s a steel wire holding the rear part of the iron fin (the one you use to winch it up), and I´ve opened the keel untill the wire gets finished, but I´m not hundred per cent sure the measure is the right one or the wire has been cut in the past.

I wonder if after looking at the pictures someone could tell me if the keel should open more (or perhaps less!)

[Shearline]

Welcome to the forum, mate!

Nice to "meet" someone from the southern part of good old europe. Interesting project you are working on. I hope you will keep us informed during the restauration process.

You may want to have a look at the following linesplan from a nautica 24 (second pícture from top). I guess it will answer your question about the keel.

[Emibel]

Hello again.

Thank you very much. Shearline. I really appreciate your help posting that sketch of the Nautica 24. Although it's the bigger sister of the Nautica 23, they are basically the same, so it will be really useful for the project.

As I can see in the drawing, the swinging keel doesn't come out as much as I thought it should. Total distance from the helm to the top end of the keel once deployed is 92 cm...looks a bit short to me, but I guess that's the way the boat was designed. I wonder how will she behave up-wind with such a short keel...

Anyhow, next step is removing the stainless steel pin that holds the keel so I can totally remove it and work on the fin and inside the keel box. It will also be useful to see the condition of that pin and if it's bent and needs to be replaced. I have measured the volume of the iron fin and I calculated that the weight is 200kg...I guess I will need some help. Probably a crane again (50 euros/hour)

I love restoring boats, and I like to share whatever information might be useful for other owners, so yes, I will share with you the progress of the project.

Thanks again.

Emilio

[Stephan-HB]

Holla Emilio,
a Nautica in Spain? can´t belive it! Iam a proud owner of a Nautica 24 with fixed keel. There are some thinks modifed on your Boat, but you have a choise, it is faster than the Orginal! There is no Hole for the Outboard and the Rudder is not longer in-line. For your Fun, you can see some Pics of my Boat and Work on it- will be contionued
http://www.boote-forum.de/showthread...shanti&page=16

[Emibel]

Hi Stephan and mates.

Good to meet another owner of Nautica. I had a look at Avanti pics...it looks great. Hope mine looks the same after the job I'm doing!

Yeah...my boat has been modified sometime in the past. You are right, the outboard engine and the rudder shaft have been placed outside. As you say, probably the owner thought that she sails better with the engine in the stern. but it's really uncomfortable to control the rear/front gear with the engine hanging there. And it looks much nicer with the engine inside the case, as in yours. I intend to bring it back to the original design. That's not a difficult job. Just need to cut the fiber glass and place it there again.

By the way...how many HP does your engine have? I have a Suzuki 8 HP 4 stroke (long shaft) that I think could fit there, but perhaps I would need more HP...what do you think? Does your engine have a long shaft or a short one? The distance to the water line from inside the engine case looks very short to me... I think probably with a short shaft would be enough, although a long one can be used with no problem: the propeller would go a bit deeper and that's all.

Ok, mates. Thank's for your help. We keep in touch.http://cdn.boote-forum.de/images/smilies/wst-ok.gif

[Stephan-HB]

You are right, it´s not a hard Job, to bring the Engine inside. It´s a hard Job, to bring the Engine inside, that it´s perfect work If you have a Friend, who can translate my tread from german in english or spain, you understand some Problems, there are waiting for you. My English is to poor, to write it here in Detail, but i try it.
I had testet some different Engines in this Boat and i can say, that 8HP are more than enough. At the last time, i used a 5 HP 4-stroke short-shaftet Engine. I think, that a long-Shaftet Engine is a better choice for our Boats and you need to close the dammed Hole as well as possible. At next, i need to buy a Tohatsu Sailpower with 6HP. A bigger Engine takes to heavy and you become some Problems to bring it in to the Boat.