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Depends what kind of boat it is and how it is attached. Sometimes it requires removing the board from the trunk in order to attach and run a new pennant. Sometimes you can careen the boat on a beach and reach the pennant attachment point and replace the pennant that way. Lots of variables.
The brochure: https://pearsonyachts.org/models/pearson-386.html
labels the tables as teak, though I agree with you this one doesn’t look like it.Keeping the mast up is best way to start. Have you inspected everything? The rig turnbuckles are probably already close to where you want them. You will have to go sailing to find out what adjustments might be needed to keep it straight and in column. It looks like the backstay adjuster is quite powerful and that the mast is pretty bendy. Adjusting that will depend upon your sails and the wind strength.
If you’re not having any luck here, you could try the French web forum Hisse et Oh. https://www.hisse-et-oh.com Don’t know how good your French is, but under the “Voile” section you could put: “Cherche Expert région Marseille pour achat Dufour 4800. Bonnes suggestions et/ou qui éviter? Merci d’avance de votre aide. ” Adding the actual port where the boat is (after Marseille) might also be helpful. Bonne chance!
Your post provides no indication as to which fittings might be missing, so no one can tell you. It’s like saying “My car won’t start.” Perhaps it’s out of gas. Perhaps the distributor is disconnected. Perhaps you have to depress the clutch. Perhaps the battery is dead. There are too many variables involved. Pictures of the boat and rig might be helpful. In the meantime, the best advice might be for you to look up Designers Choice 15 Sailboat on Google, under images, and look to see how the boats are rigged. That may show you what you’re missing and what you need to do. A rigger might also be able to help you, though that might be more expensive than a Google search.
Was water cleaner in 1978 than it is now? Perhaps it was used in fresh water and doesn’t have a tank – water is simply pumped from a through-hull opening.
How is it slipping? Is the rudder stock slipping down, out of the rudder bearing tube (The rudder falling out of the boat) or is there play in the tiller (The head of the tiller isn’t snug on the rudderpost.)? Fixes will depend upon what the problem is. More detailed information, including how the tiller is attached to the rudder head, would be helpful.
You’re describing a normal purchase procedure: you agree to buy, and the seller agrees to sell at a given price, subject to the vessel passing your survey. You put down a deposit to show that you mean business, and get the boat surveyed at your cost. Online threads in France tend to relate horror stories about incompetent surveyors there, so be sure to find a good one. The advice is generally to avoid the surveyor that the listing agent puts forward. (The agent may be getting kickbacks or “finder’s fees” from that surveyor.) Instead, ask around at several boatyards who they would recommend. The Capitaineries at nearby ports may also have good suggestions for you. Take the top three and contact them to see what they will do for you. They will be in YOUR employ, working for YOU, so you need to feel that they know what they’re doing and will do a good job for you. A written report is a given, but will it be in boilerplate legalese that takes three pages to say nothing, or in sensible prose that tells you what you need to know in a simple paragraph? Be sure to be there for the survey so you can hear the surveyor’s comments about different issues and ask questions. YOU ARE PAYING for this, and a boat this size is a big investment. You want to avoid making an expensive mistake. For example on a boat this old, osmotic blisters can be a huge problem, or a minor one. The surveyor should be able to tell you how they might affect this boat, and a variety of possible fixes – along with ballpark pricing for the fixes. Take notes! Surveys are real learning experiences.
A survey should almost always find something that you were unaware of which needs fixing. This provides you the opportunity to decide that the “something” is sufficiently important for the boat to not pass your survey, and you decline to proceed with the purchase. You decide what is important to you. It does not have to be that the keel is falling off, or that the rudder is bent. A leaky hose in the head or scratches in the topside paint that you hadn’t noticed before could suffice. You then pay the surveyor, get your deposit back, and keep looking for a different boat. On the other hand, the “something” may be relatively minor, but may warrant renegotiating the price in order to balance out the cost of fixing it. A surveyor of one boat I was involved with found that the entire main bulkhead core had delaminated and rotted between two layers of fiberglass because of water intrusion. The sale still went through, but with a $5000 adjustment to allow for fixing the bulkhead. If you still like the boat despite the issues, renegotiate.
This boat has a deck-stepped mast, so I would pay close attention to the area around the mast step on the cabin top, looking for depressions and any crazing or cracking there. Likewise, the compression post in the cabin that supports the mast needs to be looked at carefully, along with its seating on the floors and pan of the bilge. Bon vent!A triatic stay is what links the tops of the main and mizzen masts. If you look up Vindo 50 images on Google, you will see that the photos of the ketches’ rigs do seem to have triatic stays. They can be used for setting a sail called a “Mule” if the wind is right and you plan on holding course for a long time. (Mules are a hassle to tack or gybe; they need to be taken down and re-set.) People sometimes also use their triatic stays for SSB radio antennae.
Why do you need dimensions for a sail on a boat you don’t own? If you’re just tying to determine what a new mizzen might cost, should you decide to take the plunge, you could probably figure about $2000. A new main on a sloop that size might cost $4000, but it’s the mizzen on a ketch, so it should be a good bit less. Is the mizzen also gaff rigged? That might add to the cost as well: more area and more corners to finish.
If you really need them and can’t take actual measurements from the boat you may have to look for the plans somewhere. (MIT? Mystic Seaport?) They may be included here too:
https://www.amazon.com/Sam-Crockers-Boats-Design-Catalog/dp/0877421951The length you need is the I measurement, since the mast is stepped on the cabin top. 6071mm. The rigger will need to figure out what might work for you. Maybe a Lightining mast. Maybe he has a boom from a bigger boat lying around that would fit the bill. Do the sails have slugs, slides, or just a luff rope? Each detail makes a difference. That’s why you need to find a rigger.
This should help:
https://www.sailrite.com/Edel-540-Sail-DataSince the mast is stepped on the cabin top and the plan shown on Sailboatdata.com is to scale, the rigger should be able to figure things out. You could also look for an owner’s group online. Since the boat was built in Canada as well as France, there must be some others around too.
You are starting to find out why a free boat is the most expensive one. Seldèn could probably provide you a new mast, but it would likely cost quite a bit. Do you have the sails? Looking for used spars online may unearth something, or it may not. The quickest solution might be to find a rigger nearby who could perhaps re-rig an existing mast to fit your sails. He may know that a Catalina 22 or some other mast could be cut down to the right size for you, for example. Paying for his knowledge might be well worthwhile.
Could they be/are they wired for port and starboard batteries? Don’t know what the setup looks like in your battery compartment.
The drawings available on this site don’t show much about that. You might try looking for pictures of the setup on listings of other Ensenada 20’s for sale. The one I found definitely had what looked like a Compression Post going from the top of the centerboard case and keelson to the underside of the cabin top below the mast step. The design may vary on different boats, but the idea of supporting the base of the mast is there.
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