DS II Mystery holes in bulkhead

[PJM]

I am the new owner of a 1983 DS II that seems to be largely in original condition, with the exception of missing spinnaker and associated gear, and ready to sail with just some minor clean up. $500 including a trailer that needs work, so I thought that was good mid-winter deal. The boat came from Cape Cod, is currently north of Boston and will eventually make it's way to my Maine house this spring.

In the bulkhead, on either side of the cuddy opening, are a set of holes that I can't quite figure out. Has anyone seen a pattern like this and know how they might have been used? There are through-deck blocks on either side of the mast and cheek blocks mounted on the under side of the foredeck in line with the mast - so that might be related.





Also, the resin jib blocks are on 24" wire extensions that feed through the deck and terminate in eye splices around a thimble. I suppose that could be part of a barber-hauler arrangement, but wire seems an odd way to go ... any thoughts?

Thanks for sharing your experience!

[GreenLake]

@PJM - welcome to the forum!

About some of your questions:

If lines were lead through the deck, then it is conceivable that they end up being lead through the bulkhead (so that the main bulkhead opening can be closed off under way. Note that this arrangement undoes some of the reason for having a bulkhead: in a capsize, it may be the case that the water level never rises to the cuddy opening, preventing the cuddy from flooding. (However, that may be more theory than practice - and I don't have a DSII around to check on that theory). But with the opening, water will definitely get in.

There's nothing required about the running rigging in the class rules, so there's a large amount of variability expected. Likewise, you should simply feel free to set things up the way they work for you. From the impressive list in your signature I deduce that you have enough background to rig a boat like this from scratch if you have to.

I'm not sure what you mean by "resin jib blocks". What I'm picturing are original style "tufnol" single blocks. If someone replaced blocks like these found in some other location on the boat with more modern ball-bearing ones, then these might simple have been "cheap surplus" and therefore indeed ideal to rig up a set of barber haulers. I'm not quite sure I can visualize the full setup correctly: they are attached to 24" lengths of wire, splice to the block at one end, and to a thimble on the other?

That would imply that they were intended to be hooked over something when tight, or that, inside the deck there was a longer line that lead to a cleat somewhere. Now, for those to be barber haulers, the exists would need to be close to the aft edge of the cuddy deck - unfortunately you don't show that in any of your pictures.

[PJM]

Greenlake,

Thanks for the thoughts. The bulkhead holes could be for lines, but the oval slots are certainly overkill and the pattern of screwholes seems odd. Also, no edge treatment - just holes drilled/milled in the bulkhead. Maybe they had some kind of instruments mounted there and needed access to the back ... I'll probably never know. As you suggest, I will rig it as makes sense for my use and will either do the easy thing of mounting some Star Board over those holes or filling them in.

Yes, my "resin blocks" = Tufnol. I had them on an old Pearson Commander that I used to own ... they have impressive longevity, but will get replaced on my DS II. The blocks appear to be mounted where you would expect a stand-up block to be for jib sheet leads, but instead go through the deck. (Jib sheets terminate in what I think is the standard 12" track on seat backrest ... will probably move them to CB trunk as many seem to suggest.) The thimble end in the cuddy could have been attached to a line or perhaps a bungee, allowing the blocks to extend above the deck, whether for a barber-hauler or perhaps for a better lead to the tracks/jam cleat cars. I have the blocks all secured for trailering, so didn't take a picture, but will post a pic when a I careen the hull for some bottom cleaning concurrently with some trailer work.

Thanks again.

[GreenLake]

Instruments had been my first guess, actually, but I wanted to exclude the other possibility first. Why not mount something fun in that location?

My recommendation: keep the funny blocks, but rig them as real barber inhauls: they should cross on the cuddy top with each being cleated on the windward half of the deck. Here's a closeup of my setup for a DS1. For your boat, I'd probably mound the cleats on the top, perhaps using a V cleat.

(The picture shows the starboard side of the top of the cuddy opening; the yellow cleat is for the port inhaul)

Other than inhauls, the DS shouldn't need any jib fairleads beyond those on the tracks. My sailmaker suggested that the forward most position on my tracks would be appropriate for most conditions; something that not all of my crew agree with (and some have more sailing experience than I do).

To show positioning of the track (same as factory original location - before I upgraded the track to ratchet blocks)


(after the upgrade)