Misc Swan 44 questions (toerail - vents - turning blocks - tracks)

Hi, a few questions.

1. What is the very strong mount on the port and stbd quarter of the toerail for?

2. What are they 2 sizeable vents on the aft size of the cockpit coaming for?

Dear Sweyn,

1 - to attach the spinnaker sheets blocks
2 - to connect the engine room ventilator (two ventilators, one IN an the other one OUT)

matteo (47/069 Vanessa)

Thanks Matteo, much obliged. Were the engine room ventilators fan driven, or merely open to air?

I would definetly install driven fans, otherwise they would be useless.

matteo (47/069 Vanessa)

3 . what are the he 2 small pipes inside the lazarette between the two large vents for?

4 . What are the two holes under the very edge of the transom for? The pipes are cut on Itthaka

5 . The Gas locker doesent seem to have a vent. Has anyone come up with a good solution for this?

6 . The Genoa track has a variety of pin stoppers and brackets on it, but the Genoa cars have their own pins. What are they for?

7 .  The turning blocks at the stern for the Genoa sheets seem unnecessary with the Genoa that came with Ithaka? What size Genoa would need such a block?

3 . gas locker ventilation.

6 . please post pic of your cars

7 . Sheets go into the adjustable cars and then into the turning blocks

matteo (47/069 Vanessa)

Re question No 2: on our 411, one of the vents is used for engine room ventilation out. The fan is under the galley sink, next to the engine compartment. The other vent is/was used for the battery boxes, as a precaution to prevent toxic gas from the batteries in the cabin. This is not an issue with modern sealed batteries anymore, so while we still have tubes from the battery boxes to the vent in place, we do not see them serving much of a purpose.

Kind regards,

Christian IF 411/028

Thanks!

The gas locker vents are actually linked to the cockpit drain tubes in this boat. Still can't work out what the other tubes going to the edge of the transom are for?

My Genoa car (yes I know it's the wrong way around, the pin should be at the front, but it can't come off unfortunately)

Don't suppose you have these 2 little pipes between the vents on your Swan do you?

Dear Sweyn,

I think there is some mess in your lazarette connections.

The two drain cockpit small connections should be vents for engine siphon and not for the gas locker.

Gas locker vents are, as described above, to be connected to the two lower exits.

The two above pipes (now disconnected) are for diesel tank vents.

Is it possible the tracks have been removed (perhaps during a teak deck replacement) and not properly re-installed (bent)? Very gently try to slide the car out with a hammmer and a wooden block, then check if the car has its two plastic slides.

Fair winds,

matteo (47/069 Vanessa)

Hi Matteo, I'm still confused and would be grateful if you could clarify.

1. There are two small vent holes under the transom edge which have red pipes running vertically up to under the deck which are then cut. These can't be anything to do with draining the gas lockers as they wouldn't allow heavy gas to drain?

2. Each gas locker has two red pipes running down to the large cockpit drains. One from the base of the gas locker, and one from somewhere near the top, though I cannot see where the top one actually enters.

3. Then there are the two small horizontal pipes which I think you say are fuel tank vents? Not sure why there would be 2?

The Genoa car can't be removed because a previous owner added another track in front of the standard track which blocks it's removal.

Thanks again for taking so much time with my questions!

I believe another Swan 44 owner could provide further insights. Looking at the photos, there are maybe some clues:

- the same red tube can be seen at the gas locker and the two cut tubes. So maybe tubes are the original solution for venting the gas locker. To prevent water entering the tubes from below they would be routed the way they are. If leaked gas is under pressure, it would still exit despite the routing.

- maybe a previouls owner was not satisfied with that solution and modified the cockpit drains to handle the gas locker vents.

- as Matteo is writing, there must be vents for the engine exhaust system, and the diesel tank somewhere. On our 411, the diesel tank vent is in the base of the starboard dorade, and the engine vent midhship just under the toerail. The engine vent is not in use anymore after the engine was replaced, the vent now being in a locker. You could try to find the diesel tank vent on your boat, because there must be one, somewhere.

- it looks like your boat had a heating exhaust at some point in the lazarette. Maybe there are further remnants of that installation

Kind regards,

Christian IF 411/028

It is definitely confusing, but the gas locker pipes to the cockpit drains (2 per side) look original, and no gas drain would work well or require a gooseneck. They are not supposed to require pressure, and if there was pressure it would drain into the cockpit out the top of the locker before it went down the pipe.

A previous owner has rigged a non original fuel tank vent on the stbd beam.

Very much agree that any insight from a 44 owner would be very valuable.

yes, there is evidence of at least one previous heater installations...

Since your heads are further to the aft than on our boat, one maybe remote possibility for the cut tubes is the original setup for shower sump and blackwater tank vents.