Clipper 26 Restoration Project

Additional work

2011-06-22T18:01:00.000-05:00

I've not completely dropped this project, I've just gotten it to the point where it is sailable and not in desperate need of additional modifications. I'm also no longer embarrassed to pull up to another nice boat for fear of recrimination and/or a scowl for lack of a decent paint job. Tasks yet to be completed, that I eventually needs to address:

1) Replace all lights with LED -

2) Check all electrical and rewire as necessary. This implies I have to break down and buy a decent deep cycle battery and solar charging solution.

3) Install depth-finder/GPS and decent radio. No sense in getting lost at sea unless I've good reason to.

4) Rebuild keel lift mechanism. This is going to take some engineering and patience. Both of which I am short on.

5) Cushions - more money and effort since I have none to begin with.

6) Correct Back-stay with adjustable tensioner.

I'm sure there is more, but the summer is here and I've no desire to spend any more time than necessary camped out in my carport sweating away the hours.

Topside and Correcting the Keel Slam

2011-03-22T00:14:00.000-05:00

The ugly crush point

Correcting the smashed keel turned out to be fairly easy. Getting all the water out of the hull was the real problem. As soon as I figured out I had a damaged hull, I punched a hole in the dead space just forward of the keel housing and waited for the water to stop dripping out. 18 days later and I was still waiting.

Other CM owners said the dead space was an after-thought or the remnant of a design change. Either way, it's a point of failure and is usually fills with water.

On a whim I stuffed a shop towel in the hole with the thought that it will sop-up any water standing in the bottom of this area. What I did not expect is that it would act as a siphon and suck all the water out of the hull in about a day.

After picking up some waterproof epoxy from West Marine, and sanding/scraping the remaining loose fiberglass from this area, here is the tentative outcome. It's six sheets thick and hard as a rock. I'll sand it down one more time and put some gel coating on it.

What I don't have is a picture of the hole I punched in the cabin floor. This gave me the means to push air through this space, which in hindsight helped very little. The one benefit to this hole was after glassing over the outside hole, I simply poured epoxy into the hole until it overflowed....no more dead space. It took about 1/3 gallon. It was not the best use of the stuff, but I had extra and it would have gone to waste eventually.

Paint Work Results

Prepwork wiht 3M tape. The corners were tough.

Forward

Port side prior to pulling the tape off

Pop-top, completed and rails back on.

Bow Roller Installation

I had some scrap steel laying about that I had intended to use to build a bow guide. I envisioned welding up a tripod with a roller at the apex.

After putting my mind to it, I realized all I needed was to drill holes in the proper spots and I could bolt it all together without welding anything. Of course, I won't have my sigh my relief until after I try to get it back on the trailer the first time. That will be the test to see if I set the height correctly. The roller I choose may also be too narrow which will force me to rethink this entire configuration.

Version 1. Notice something wrong? After I had it on, I realized that unless I'm 100% perfect getting the nose lined up, I'm more likely to stab a hole in the bow than help land this thing. I took an grinder to the angle iron and cut those edges off. I also cut new spacers to hold the support bar to the center. I don't want any unnecessary twisting going on here.

A little primer and paint, and it's a done deal.

Also note that the upright support is not completely straight. I anticipate some stress on this construction. Moving the angle back a bit will lessen the possibility of a failure.....I hope.

Paint & Keel housing work

2011-03-13T21:58:00.000-05:00

After the initial sail this spring and the keel-slam, I decided to check out the forward keel housing. I found that I was not the first to investigate this issue. At some time in the past, someone had damaged and tried to fix a crack in the keel housing.

The unfortunate reality of a crushed forward Keel housing.

In this pic, the white material is some sort of pliable epoxy putty. It was jammed into the crack and a hole a PO had drilled into the housing.

After getting it home, I noticed a steady drip from this area. I drilled the bottom hole to see just how much water would spill out. What I instead figured out was that the repair job also included some of the spray foam filler material. It was soaked and was the main source of the water dripping out.

At that point I drilled a larger hole and began digging foam out. I also punched a hole in the floor of the cabin to allow me to force air through this space. You'll notice what appears to be cracks all over this area. Much of that is cracks in the material the PO smeared over the whole area. Not a bad idea for a quick fix, but it was never meant to be a long-term solution.

As ugly as this looks, its not as bad as it could be. my intent will be to continue to work at getting as much foam out as possible while push air through the void in the hopes of drying it out.

With the two holes, I'm able to use various tools to root around in there and knock foam loose. In another couple days, I should have a fairly dry, clear area to work with.

Though I have already gotten advice to the contrary, my intent is to rough up the surfaces and push as much fiberglass filled epoxy into this void as possible. I'll then glass over the exterior hole being careful to leave room for the keel. Once the exterior hole is sealed, I'm planning on using some left over resin to fill the void. I only have about a gallon left, so I hope it's enough.

The key to this solution will be surface prep. This will be the ugliest picture of the project. When I'm done, I intend to have a smooth, highly reinforced keel housing that can take some abuse. With some testing, I may even try to work in a rubber bumper to further slam-proof the housing.

Next on the list was the deck. The tread areas, originally faded light blue, were due to be painted.

To get this point, I had to first re-sand and repaint the prow. Something happened with the curing and all the paint on the prow lost its shine. I think it was the morning dew and the paint not having time to set. It looks much better now.

In this pic, I've taped off all the corners which was a hassle in that I ran out of automotive tape and had to use 3M blue. It does not bend around the corners as well.

After taking off all the hardware, here is the first coat on the pop-top. Brightside sapphire blue unfortunately requires more than one coat.

I neglected to do the fuel compartment cover on the first go-around

Like I said, two coats required. I'm a bit surprised since the floor, with the non-slip material added went on so well. You can see it in the corner of this pic. Notice how it already is starting to pick up dirt. :-(

The last thing I worked on was some painting in the interior. The forward berth ceiling I skipped for whatever reason, so I hurried up and checked that last block.

Clean, sand, paint, sand, wash, paint

2011-02-20T23:19:00.000-06:00

The title says it all. I've spend the last few days working on all aspects of the exterior. It all had to be cleaned of the largest lumps of dirt, sanded down, primed, resanded, given final wash and then painted with the final coat.

Here's a picture of the cockpit vs. the hull forward. I have everything taped up that can not be removed. The hardest part was....well, it all pretty much bit, so there was no real easy part.

In this picture, you'll notice a battery sitting on top. This was to provide weight to mash down on the poptop. I had separation that had me worried. To fix it, I drilled couple shallow holes and injected resin in until it started oozing out the furthest hole. This proved to be more annoying a task than I estimated. Just when I thought I had the void filled, seepage sucked it futher into the resesses. I ended up standing there and drizzling resin into the holes for an hour as it soaked into the wood core. Its very solid now.

After painting. With the proper prep-work, you can get a nice sheen with a roller. You just have to be patient.

Here's a before shot. I've cleaned and prepped the entire deck. Ready for the primer.

First coat. Tomorrow I'll figure out if I have to run a 2nd coat. Used Brightside. It works very well and covers a lot of area. 1 Qt for the entire job and I still have more left over.

My niece, Kali. She likes to sail, but gets 'scared' very easily. Odd thing is that as soon as you get back the dock, she always wants to say on...go figure.

With all the hardware back on, I decided to add some non-slip paint. Getting the zones taped off was difficult. I had to use automotice tape to bend around the corners.

After mixing 1 part non-slip, 1 Part thinner & 2 parts sapphire blue, this is the tentative look of the cockpit.
I'm really rolling the dice here. I've never used this stuff before and am going off what others have advised me. If it ends up looking bad, I'll sandblast it off and start over.

I still need to come back to all the other walk areas and do the same thing. I hope this works. It may end up looking very nice and giving me the traction I'm hoping for.

More inside work and priming

2011-02-07T22:16:00.000-06:00

Since I want the boat in shape to sail it in two weeks when my siblings show up for a Mardi Gras parade, AND its above 60 degrees this weekend, I hurried up and started work on the cockpit. I'm not so much worried about asthetics as I am about getting all the hardware reinstalled.

What I could not unscrew, I taped up. It's not pretty, but the next owner can lament my shortcuts at some later date.

This is the end result of much scrubbing and rolling of the primer. The next step will be to finish up the rest of the boat. Since you can't paint half a boat, I've gotten myself into a predicament. I know I have to get it presentable, but the practical side of doing the job right demands I ask for forgiveness if its not ready by the 26th. My biggest convern is that any area I prime, I have to go back over with emory paper.....THAT is going to take the longest.

Here's the last picture I'm going to take of the cover over the indetation. No more annoying, useless box....and you can stand on it.

With the paining came the despised job or removing the stancheons I freshly installed a few months back. I noticed one was dripping, so it had to come out. I picked up in some old boat magazine a tip on drilling through the top deck. You don't just drill the minimal hole, goop on silicone and let it go. You have to mark your intended hole, drill over-sized holes and back fill with resin. You then drill you final holes through the resin plugs. This way, if ever you get a leak, you are ensured that you won't get water into the wood core. If that happens you may as well go get another boat because I don't anyone who can fix something like that without serious experience.

Inside the cabin, I decided that since a little panneling was good, a lot of panneling would be better. Here's an old picture of the initial rebuild. It give a little more prespective to the after pic.

After a lot of cutting, fitting, cutting and refitting, I eventually ended up with this product. Granted it is not perfect, but it is as near as I'm going to get with the tools at my disposal. Notice that I also took some spare pieces and covered the white resin strips that held the wall in place

You can't see it very clearly since the wood is all blending in, but I installed 1/4 round along the hull to clean the carpet edge up.

...and before anyone says it, yea, I know the wood grains don't match, much less the stains I used. Ya work with what ya got.

The outdoor carpet, I picked up at Home depot. Blue seemed to be a logical choice, vs. bright green or charcol. It is glued and stainless steel stappled on the seats. I folded the edges under and stapled them into submission.

Cutting out the hole was as easy as following the edge of the seams with a razor. Again, I stapled every 3-5" along the edge to keep it tidy.

Paneling

2011-02-01T10:39:00.000-06:00

Every time I've tried to finish the prep-work on the deck, it's been raining or simply too late in the evening to start. Sunday would have been perfect, but all that snow the folks up north are now getting, started out as steady showers for us down here.....and its still raining. Yay.

I elected to take on a task inspired by other more eager rebuilders, that being to place paneling inside for improve the aesthetics. Given that I'm not skilled at fitting wood to contour to all the curves of the hull, I had to choose the areas I would improve carefully.

First off, I obtained a 1/4" sheet of 4x8 hardwood plywood. After staining it with two coats and a follow-on coat of varnish, I had the base material I would cut from.

My first area of choice is the port area under the window. For anyone considering this change, it really is quite easy once you look it over. The CM has a recess along the under-sided of the hull where you can brace the top edge of a panel, eliminating some of the responsibility to secure the piece. The panel I replaced it with simply had to increase in size from 5 1/2" to 7 1/2" to match the shape of the area. I then put some glue along the bottom edge, and braced it to ensure a solid bond.

Note: the front 15" is a separate piece from the rest of it in case I needed to get to those side-stay bolts.

Also, I primarily used glue and strategically placed 1/4 round to hold it in place. Drilling into the hull did not seem like a good idea.

Throwable life preservers and expandable poles were used to hold the paneling flat against the hull while the glue set.

The forward berth entrance way needed a little something. Granted, its not important, but every little bit helps.

Since this boat always gets wet, I did not extend the wood all the way to the floor. Its paneling and will get ruined with consistent exposure to water.

The SB quarterbert. You really have to stick your head in there to see that I did not extend the paneling all the way to the rear. Who's going to see that anyway?

This picture has something to be desired. Though I would have liked to include the entire inside in this project, I can't figure out how to do outside curves with any finesse. It will just have to remain white for now.

This is a tip to cut down on wear to the stern gelcoat. Though I tried a few other ways to do this, I've settled on permanently attaching this piece of furniture slider padding. Its made of that incredibly slippery plastic....called ???? I forget, but you can buy it in all kinds of shapes at Home Depot. My tiller was eating into my boat and I had to stop it some way.

A sanding we shall go....

2011-01-24T09:42:00.000-06:00

That's all I'm doing is sanding, sanding and more sanding. No pics today since a sanded surface looks only marginally different from the oxidized version. What I am finding is that much of the brightwork is not coming off. Years exposure to the elements have resulted in way too many frozen nuts. After stripping the heads of four screws, I've given up on the majority of removable cam cleats, rope cleat and railings. I guess that is what they made 3m tape for. May the next owner enjoy cussing me for my transgressions just as I'm ticked about some PO that painted the rub rail.

I'm about 3 hours away from the final scrubs and the initial coat of primer.

Forward berth and Exterior Prep work

2011-01-16T19:45:00.000-06:00

Though I had intended on following a specific set to goals this weekend, as usual the priorities of effort meandered from the path like an Ohio riverbed during a flood.

By the end of the weekend, I accomplished several tasks. The first was the near-completion of the forward berth. The lack of finish work there has been an annoyance to me. It matters little that its unfinished, but every time I look in there, I have felt the pull to put some of the problems to rest. I also corrected a problem with the cabin and started sanding down the entire topside in preparation for painting.

Cockpit Mystery Indentation

Anyone who owns a Clipper Marine 26 is annoyed to deal with a squarish indentation to the port of the entryway. It had a purpose of some sort, but no one can figure out what they were thinking when they added it to the design. It does not hold a beer well, it does hold water so personal items should not be stored here, and its a hassle to clean. The time has come for it to go.

Using some resin and fiberglass, I fabricate a plate of fiberglass to be used to cover over the hole. First off, I matched the hole to the panel and marked where I would cut.

The first initial cut was followed by a more precise fitting. The goal was to get the panel to sit just inside the lip and allow me to pour a layer of strengthening resin over the top. The end result being a simple flat surface to step on.

I also decided to leave the original bottom in place. The resulting self will become yet another place to store emergency gear.

As I write this, the resin is still drying. I must have not put enough hardener in it.

The blue tape was there to keep the resin from running around the panel edges. The tape did not hold in a couple spots to my great aggravation, so now I have puddles of resin pooling inside my self. If I had gotten the right amount of hardener in, that would not have been a problem.

Next came the cruelest to tasks. Prepping the exterior for painting. With the hundreds of times that I crawled in and out of the cabin, I inevitably tracked gobs of resin all over the cockpit. All these spots now had to be carefully scraped and sanded out. Not a lot of fun.

Also, no one warned me about the hassles involved in pulling hardware. It's a two man job, and I've got boys who are more interested in Xbox than helping me for several hours as I break down the myriad of locking bolts. There are several things I'm simply going to tape off since they are bolted down so tight that a blowtorch it required to get them free.

On the positive side, I did manage to sand down 90% of the top-side thanks to a nice orbital sander and $10 in pads. ...and one other thing. I think this boat used to be bright blue. It's been painted at least once, if not twice. I figured this out when my sander bit a little deep when fixing scratches.

Forward Berth:

This is a shot of the forward wall (bulkhead). The bottom-most edge was rotted to paste. Someone had started the the restoration work and gave up leaving the hole.

One of the unexpected challenges here was the shelves. Since they butted up against the wall and the wall was toast, I had to figure a way to cut the wall away but save the shelves. My solution was to chisel everything out and worry about the reconstruction process later....which, oddly enough, worked fairly well. Besides the shelves, the only thing I saved from the forward berth was that little door.

Problem One in replacing the forward berth was getting the v-shaped wood into place. I had to cut angle chunks from the shelves to allow me to slide this piece into place. This ruined the structural integrity of the shelves, which I resolved with small triangular braces epoxies under each shelf.

Fast forward to this weekend. Except for painting the ceiling, we are pretty much done with this area. I'm considering putting some carpet on the walls, which is popular right now. It will quiet the place down while trying to sleep, but offers mildew a place to start. I'm torn.

Note that I chopped and reshaped the original teak shelf railing to match the new angles. That was a pain, just as was getting the 1/4 round to contour to the curve of the hull.

Next up, more sanding down the rest of the topside and priming it for the final coat.

Table Work

2011-01-09T19:29:00.000-06:00

The stock table is not only fairly ugly, mine was also falling apart. The years of moisture and being ignored took its toll on that particular piece of the boat. De-lamination was setting it so badly, there was no saving it. On the advice of another boat restorer, I began to casually look around for a wrecked hardwood table I could salvage and replace my table with. Its been a year without luck so I gave up and decided to fabricate something from scratch.

The old table was 27"x 46". When I rebuilt the seats, I somehow managed to forget to ensure the replacements were square with each other. As such, the replacement table had to be 46" long, but tappered slightly to allow the table to fold into a sleeping surface. The edge over the swing keep was 27 1/2" wide, but at the hull, it was 26 1/4 wide....oops! Time for more cowboy engineering.

I first grabbed some fairly strait pine that I recovered from another project. The wood was painted black for that other use which helped identify where I needed to sand.

I cheated and made two 12" x 2' boards and screwed them onto the back for structural integrity.

The top end you can see I also ran a thin strip of wood to enforce a perfect plain in preparation for the finished surface.

I totally cheated and used the tongue and groove flooring for the surface. ($26 for a pack of 'hardwood' red oak at Home Depot) After cutting the strips of flooring to match the area, I used Liquid Nails to bond the flooring to the pine. Though I thought it would be faster, I figured out that Liquid Nail does not dry all that fast. Also, the flooring had a tendency to want to lift. Four clamps and a couple a pieces of scrap wood helped to force a good bond. The next day, I would have needed a crow bar to bust them apart, just as I wanted it.

The Glueing process.

I took the remaining L-shaped corner moldings I had left over from the cabinet to create a nice edge finish. The intent was to create a lip to go around the table which will help keep things from sliding around while at sea. It won't keep a tackle box from rolling off, but it will slow down a bag of charts.

Getting the moldings on here proved to be one of the bigger hassles. I know this is one detail that is going to be carefully evaluated for years to come each time someone sits down at this table. It had to be as close to perfect as possible. 47 miter-saw cuts later, and I'm done.

Comparison of old vs. new.

After reattaching all the hardware, I manhandled it back into place. There were a number of adjustments I had to make that I did not expect. With my rhomboid design, the brackets that lock to the hull (under the shelf which you can't see) had to be repositioned off-center and and different depths. The folding leg was the easiest. I just eyed it.

Of course you have to have a down position so you can have another place to sleep. I replaced the two runner boards (which you also can't see) that hold the table in place while down. To place them it was just a matter of figuring out the depth of the table and screwing in slats of wood the appropriate depth below the edge of the seats My new table is 1 1/4" deep.

If you want to pick at my workmanship, I know it is a tad longer than it needs to be, but I'm not willing to mess with it any further. It will just stick out over the edge a bit.

I'm thinking that carpet may be an option. I just did not get the surface appearance I wanted on these seats. I'm also considering adding some panneling to the walls. Others have done this. I just have to figure out how it is done so it looks professional.

Keel cable and more finish work

2011-01-06T17:28:00.000-06:00

As I get further into the detail work, I find I have less and less things to show that demonstrate dramatic improvements in the project. Still, for the sake of completeness and to show I’m not slacking off entirely, I’ll include this minutia work that I’m engaged in.

In the forward birth, I have several things that need attention. The first in the port-a-pottie platform. When I completed the glass-in work, I did not carefully inspect the area for neatness. In this pic I’ve gone back over the entire area to smooth out the largest bumps and grooves. You can’t really see a significant differences from this pic, but if you run your hand over the various edges you will no longer come away missing skin.

Of course, I need to repaint ....again. yay.

I also attacked the backside of the SB wall tht sits just under the mast. You can see where I did not clean-up the epoxy work. Getting at these inside joints is a pain. Anyone doing this work should think ahead and try to sand just after the epoxy hardens to knock down the high points easier. Since no one except the sleeper will ever take time to carefully look at this particular seam, my shoddy work will likely go unnoticed for the most part.

Just below this wall is some storage. As with any fabrication work, and lacking something to go by, I had to figure out what Clipper was trying to do with this area. I had to build it so that there was enough room to step over the threshold, but maximize storage capacity. This space has a removable lid which a realized needed some suppports to hold it firm should anyone put weight on the 1/2" thick cover. Here I've installed two boards to give the lid support on all four edges. The underside of the lid also has a lip to ensure it can't slide from it resting place. I could have installed hinges, but decided not to.

Here you can see the lid in place. The holes are there to help you pick up the lid. I'm in denial that I really should sand this whole area down again and repaint. I despise fiberglass dust. Not matter if I wear an environment suite, it still finds a way to keep me itching for hours.

The next area of concern is the swing keel. I know that my old cable as reliable as a dog watching a hamburger. It was just a matter of time before it let me down in a big way, so it had to go. After pulling the crank from underside of the aft seat, I unstrung it from the spool. As you can see here, it was a collection of kinks and frays waiting to check out while on the water.

This is the orginal crank. It looks like crap, but it still works fine. I did not see the need to spend another $50 getting a new one.

While I was cleaning this whole arrangement, I decided to clean up the aluminum support plate the crank hung from. I started to grind off the oxidation before I realized a before pic would be nice.

I took the liberty of grinding down the edges to make it a little more friendly and put a fresh coat of paint to pretty it up a bit further.

It will never look good, but at least I can make it look less ugly.

After a trip to the hardware store to get a matching length of stainless steel I rewound it back on the spool, bolted the clean-up plate and crank back into it’s factory-placed location, snaked the dirty end of the cable through the cable hole and replaced the eyebolt. In this instance I am fortunate that my Clipper rides much higher on the trailer than it really needs to. It’s a pain to launch, but it made things very easy when swapping out the keel cable. I only had to jack the boat up a foot to get at the connection point. From there, I mashed on an eye hole (or whatever this connector thing is called), and reassembled everything. The entire job took about 90 minutes, with painting and all.

Next I'm thinking about taking on the final finish work in the forward berth. That out of the way, I can refocus my effort on the exterior.....maybe I'll do some carpet on the walls, too. Who knows.

Back on it

2010-08-19T08:40:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I posted because all my time has been taken up with other projects. Specifically, my Hobie and sailfish both needed the attention more. At the end of the season, I managed to break both of them (Hobie and Sailfish) so badly that I had to cut the season to an end early.

One of my friends forced the issue by crashing the port pontoon into the rocks, punching a hole in the bow. This was actually a good thing. The last few times I sailed it, I noticed that the same pontoon was taking on water faster than usual. I figured a bolt or seam was breached, or I was just spending too much time with the pontoon burried in the water when I was flying the hull......WRONG. That pontoon had a latteral crack along three feet of the hull's bottom edge. Water was flowing in just about as fast as if I had left the drain plug open. It was the internal flotation that was keeping me from sinking, not any boyancy. It took my friend's mishap to force me to fully inspect the hull for damage. The reapir work was extensive such that I could not do it and salvage the paint job. I ended up sanding off the flames, patching all the dings and cracks I found and painting the whole thing over again. Since you can't do just one, I had to redo both. I'm back to a plain-jane White Hobie cat. I'll put some cool flames back on it in the spring.

My 2nd pressing task was the 45 year old Sailfish I got for free when I bought the Hobie from my wife's cousin. Apparently, this sailfish had been in the family since the 1960's. Six years ago I decided to fix all the holes and repaint it. Since then, I made every attempt to put it to good use. After this last summer and multiple repairs since that initial rebuild, I've given up on it as a usable boat. The Fiberglass is just too brittle for it to be sailed in anything but calm weather....and just what fun is that?

I had to corect several hair-line cracks, fill in many gouges and take the last paint job back down to the old gellcoat. I also had to replace one of the handrails that did not survive the removal process.

This pic is a view of its new permanent home. It is now an expensive ornament on the carport wall. The hardest thing about this rebuild was designing a system of brackets and the means to get the boat in place without tearing the brackets off the wall. After failing twice to place it, once with four teanage boys, and the 2nd time with the help of some adults, I resorted to picking the whole thing up with a block and tackle and swinging it into place.
The little fish-thing in the middle is a piece of wood I cut and stained that has two bolts going into the wall. It's not going anywhere.

...so that was the last three months. I've no explanation as to why its taken me this long to get back on the job other than I did not want to work on a sailboat I did not have a clean title on, which I now do. It has officially been registered in Louisiana for the past couple months. Thanks goes out to the Lee in OK who went the extra mile to help straighten the legal mess out. BTW, if you buy a boat in Louisiana, a signed title is not enough to get it registered. Also, if you don't have a registration for the trailer, you are screwed. The way Louisiana DMV laws are written, there is no way to legally register an old trailer when it comes in from out of state. My only option is to write a district representative, I think.

back to the Clipper:

The task at hand that I've tackled is painting the interior. Here is a quick pic I took of the underside of the pop-top. The fiberglass was a speckled and mildewed brown. You can see my progress as I cover it all with a high-gloss enamel.

Yes, I did all by hand with a brush. I tried to roll it, but it did not get in the dimples very well. You can't tell, but once I brushed it one direction, I had to go back over the surface with perpendicular strokes to get it all.
Something that has been bugging me was the windows. They look aweful. The frames aluminum is oxyidizing, and the plexiglass is spiderwebbed.

The light, that's got to go. I just need to pick up some nice LEDs to go in its place.

The problem was this stuff. When they installed the windows, they used some sort of uber-adhesive glue that would have forced me to break something in my quest to get the frames out of the holes. That being said, I decided to cut my losses and just paint what I could. Later on, when I have better tools, or know-how, I will go back and try this again.

I did manage to get the inside braceing parts of the frames off and repaint them. Here is the before and after pics of my painting efforts.

The after picture shows the improvement to the windows frame

I ended up taping the windows and painting the inside edge of the frames as well. I does look 100% better than before. Walls painted and the frames cleaned up, these sort of details are starting to prove their worth.

Cabinet Finished!

2010-06-07T18:24:00.000-05:00

Looking back the the cabinet, I have to remember just how bad it appeared when I first started to rough it in. I had my doubts about inverting the cooler. It was rusty and I had no plan to get water out of it once ice melted. Now it all covered up, has additional insulation/flotation surrounding it and I even rigged a spout to drain water.

Except for getting the wring strung out of the way, this area is pretty much complete. I may add some shelves at some point. TBD

Though I worried over this, I eventually decided to not put the sink back in. I could not find a place to buy a decent pump and the old sink was not likely to serve a purpose on a consistent basis. If I need to put it in, it is only a matter of sawing a hole and putting it back.

The top of the cabinet is covered in $35 worth of flooring material. I figure its tough, it can stand a little water and it was easy to fit. I opted for this vs laminate because the only laminate I could find was fairly ugly and cost way too much.

One thing I want to warn about is the edging. From this angle you can see that outside corners have to be cut in two direction to make them match properly. I had to think more than a few steps ahead on this one.

The L-shaped edges were the product of a lot of careful cutting of a treated 2x4. I ended up with six 8' lengths which I sanded, stained and covered in Minwax. Each has three coats. I intentionally did not color match them to the surfaces for the simple reason I want a little contract. You will note that the vertical and horizontal surfaced do match even though they are completely different materials.

This is a retro picture of Lenard Nemoy. It has nothing to do with the project, but you have to admit its a VERY cool photo. I would like to reference the photographer, but none was posted.

If you are not chucking a little, my humor is lost on you.

My intent with the forward berth bulkhead was to introduce some support into the structure since I took out the vertical teak 2x4 holding up the cabin roof on the SB side. I don't really think my work here is going to matter all that much, since the boat is much more rigid than one would think. Still, I wanted to add a little character back.

Though I had intended to add a little "flow" to the portal, it kind of ended up looking like a duck's head once I matched it to the contour of the cabin roof. Of course I did not fully appreciate this unfortunate resemblance until AFTER I had expoxied it in.

Quack Quack.

Once installed it looked much better. You can also tell the difference from when I've primed the hull. It's no longer the drab speckled brown. I intend to paint it bright white once I get further along.

I could do some paneling, but that would a LOT of work and planning. If my patience does not exhaust itself with this finish work, I'll consider it.

When I flipped the cooler up and inserted the wood to finish it, I found that I could not grab the handle anymore....once again, I neglected to plan 10 steps ahead. Remember these things, kids.

I had to installed a secondary handle. It works fine and does not look all that bad.

Getting the forward berth v-panel into place was a hassle. Besides the fact that if you are off by the slightest fraction of an inch in any direction it will not fit, I had to make sure I cut a hole in the facing to match the hole in the supporting wood underneath.

I should have made both pieces at the same time to make this easier. Hindsight. The door is original. I encourage everyone to reuse anything you can. Fabrication does get tedious. Yes, the color is off, but I'm not as concerned as I should be.

This is what it looked like before, BTW.

My intent is to finish painting the entire area and then reinstall the teak stripping that lines the shelves.

If you look carefully, you can see that each shelf now has a triangular support reinforcing it. To get the supporting panel into place, I had to cut the shelves at an angle and thereby removing an anchor point. The supports are so strong that I can now step on the shelves when crawling in and out of the hatch, something I could not do before. I would encourage this addition. These shelves are only taped into place. They can carry very little weight.

Cabinet & trailer work

2010-05-12T16:18:00.000-05:00

The main cabinet has been a bane of my work for some time. I've been putting it off because a) it is mostly finish work and b) no one but a select few will ever see the interior, so who cares? I’ve also been puzzling over some functional changes I need to make to the trailer in order to get the boat on and off without so much effort....but that's another matter I'll get to later.

The problem with the cabinet that I never thought through was that once it was in place, there was no good way to build a front-face template. I tried doing it by measuring all the proper angles and lengths. This was a bad idea in that a 1-3 degree mistake could result in a 1/2" gap elsewhere. I tried to make a template with sheets of paper, but it sagged and my angles never looked right. I tried with cardboard. Cardboard was OK, but it’s hard to manage in such large pieces. My final solution was to overestimate the piece of wood I needed. I placed it in such a way that only the bottom edge was exact. Where it overlapped, I was able to draw an exact outline of the cabinet....and it worked! I took a jigsaw to the newly created outline and cut away what did not match. Wha-lah!

Next I positioned my doors where I wanted them and used a skill saw to slice out the openings. To save time at the sacrifice of aesthetics, I simply refinished the old doors vs. making new ones. No sense in adding more work where it is not required. Finally, I built a drawer to fit under the cooler. There was dead space there, so it made sense to make some use of it.

Some things to think about when planning to build and install a drawer in a sailboat. First realize that there are few 90 degree angles. The key is to pick one corner that is square in all directions. If you don't have a corner to base your measurements from, that snazzy rhomboid-shaped drawer will never slide easily in and out. Secondly. I thought that since I had a minimum of 21" in depth, I could make a 21" deep drawer. Negative, Ghostrider. Make sure you measure the distance from the cabinet to anything across the walkway. I only had 19" to play with. DOH! Lastly, do it like the pros and build a box with five sides. Once you have realized your vision of a box that moves freely in and out of its slot, only then will you attach the faceplate that matches your cabinet. I cheated a bit here, but you'll get the idea.

BTW, I did not put cabinet rails in. Rails will rust. I wanted the drawer to stick a bit so it would not easily slide out should it be left open in heavy seas. I did grease the bottom of the drawer with ivory hand soap, a old trick in anyone's book. You should also think about how it will lock. All drawers and cabinet doors need to have a locking mechanism.

Next I tackled the top. With the cooler in place, I installed hinges because the old brackets were shot. I next bought some laminate flooring to use as my countertop and a cover over that nasty looking cooler door.

With a LOT of careful cutting and measuring, I managed to build a faceplate for the door.

Lastly, I had to fit the remaining pieces such that everything was flush against all facing edges and the curved hull. I used the marker taped to a compass to get the curve right.

I will be putting l shapped trim around every edge at some point. This will give it a clean look, I hope.

The trailer:

In my effort to resolved the loading and unloading issue I'm planning two changes. First off, I realize that I have neither the tools nor the engineering prowess to completely pick my boat up from the trailer in order to cut down the supports, as I earlier intended. The prospect of performing vigorous work under it while it is suspended above me is not within the 'acceptable risk' quotient.

Instead I've complete the first of two tasks. That being to install vertical supports to the underside of each cradle that will enforce the natural bow the cradle needs to hold once the boat's weight is off them. These supports, made of 1/4"x 2" aluminum strips are first bolted to the trailer then screwed to the underside of the planks. They are also over-bent such that there is always a positive down-pressure.

The 2nd element will be comprised of a roller just under the bow of the boat which will not allow the bow to dive below the trailer hooking mechanism. Other CM owners have complained of the same problem. When loading the boat, buoyancy factors do not allow the prow hook to line up with the trailer's bow stop. When pulling the trailer out of the water, the boat settles into the cradle and prow shifts away from the trailer prow stop.

Stancheons

2010-04-12T23:05:00.000-05:00

I neglected to talk about rigging for as much time I've spent messing with it. The mast head only proved to be a challenge in that I neglected to think through all the required parts until I tried to raise the sail in the front yard. It was at that crucial moment that I realized my mast only had the hardware to raise the jib. Everything except for some misc parts I received in a box was either missing or unrecognizable.

To start with the main, except for a rope with is now my main, there was no hardware to speak of. I figured out that the main had to run through the mast head such that it would not interfere with the rear stay or the Jib pulley. From the picture you can see that the main line run through the mast head, across two pulley that have to both keep the main alligned with the sail and rotate freely to allow for smooth function. I took an broken pulley mechanism I had been using for a sailfish and used the wheel to provide something the rope rolled over. With a bandsaw, I cut four (2 for each pully) spacers that fit to either side of the pulleys. They acted to keep the pulleys in place and, since they were bigger, they also acted as guides.

Here youcan see a bottom view of the mechanism. I have to replace a few of these bolts eventually, they are not stainless steel. I know that they will eventually rust up.

The most time consuming activity was the placement of the stancheons. I bought them off a guy who parted out old boats. Picking a spots for them was hard in that I'm fearful I've made some mistake. I suppose when I get it back out on the water, I'll figure out what I did wrong. In the meantime, they are installed at last.

Part of the challenge of getting them installed was the knowledge that they had to be beyond a doubt able to hold anyone's weight. To meet this requirement, I bought (way too much) lengths of 2"x1/4" alluminum strips. I cut 7-8" lengths and carefully drilled out holes to match my stanchons. With great trepidation, I drilled through the deck of my boat. Per Mike's guidance (Rock Star's owner from Hungary), I cut rubber seals to fit between the deck and stancheons. I put the aluminum plates on the underside of the deck and bolted it all together. You can just see the black rubber peaking out from under the stancheon.

Lastly, I was faced with the problem of how to tie cable off to the bow. This I resolved with a brute force solution of a eyehole bolted through the hull. To add some additional integrity to the solution, I place aluminum plates above and below the anchor point.

I know that there's supposed to be a way to connect this to the bow spirit. I just could not find the hardware to do it.

Also, every connection is generously covered in warerproof silicone. No leaks, let's hope

If you have to do cable work, look for the connector I have shown. They are awesome. They simply clamp onto the cable and are held in place when you screw it together. No more smashing aluminum joints to get a loop!

I don't know if the rest of you have this problem, but it seems the tiller stick is trying to eat it way through the hull. I'm testing out something that may or may not work. Those super-slippery pads that slide over anything and are good for moving furniture...you can see that I've installed them on both surfaced. I tested it and no matter how far I swing the rudder, there is no way to catch an edge.

Now I don't have to reglass that back edge!

When I was out last weekend, my in-laws have a camp at Cypremort, LA (look for it on a map). A little gator took up residence in our slip. Apparently, it is good eating in our slip because he was there the entire time.

He was only ~4-5'. He's only take off a finger or two if you messed with him. NBD

1st time out - Lessons Learned

2010-04-12T15:10:00.000-05:00

I've had the boat out from under the carport and had it in the water a couple times over the last two weeks. Getting it ready to actually sail has been a challenge. If you are smart, you will piece togther your boat, to include putting up the sails BEFORE you get anywhere close to the water. I can't tell you of how many clips, pins, cords, lines, snaps, bolts, and other pieces-parts I had to come up with the day before I was scheduled to take her out the first time.

From a boat-restorer's point of view, here are a few things I've learned from my first times out on the water:

1) If you have a bolt going through the hull at any point close to the waterline, assume you did a crappy job of installing it. You are likely going to have to get to it again, very quickly. I thought I had that aspect of this boat so well taken care of that I managed to seal over a keel bolt in my arrogance. True, I could see the bolt, but that was as far as it went. As soon as I got it off the trailer and in the water, I had to immediately put it back on the trailer when a rubber washer failed. The pannel over the winch, something I carefully built out of cypress, had to be chiseled off while sitting on the ramp. I ended up splitting it in two in order to get at the bolt behind it. So much for that four hours of work.

2) Think ahead in respect to how the sails are packed and just how it all connects up. We got out into the bay with 15-20 knot winds (I sailed in worse before). As my 1st mate kept the boat into the wind, I realized I had the main and jib rolled up vs folded. I had to unroll it and then manhandle it onto the deck, only then to figure out what else I had not thought of. I lost my hold on the main halliard and spent 15 minutes standing on the rail trying to catch it again.

Also there was the challenge of keeping the pigtail in place. once I connect the boom to the rear stay via a pig-tail that clamped on to the stay, it promptly slid down until it was useless. Lesson here: double check your connections for reliability.

3) Check and recheck you motor. Mine quit on the way out from the launch on my 2nd time out. It was something minor but it took me hours to figure it out.

4) Tie it down. If its not tied down, it will go flying or rolling, depending on how quickly you turn. I left the dock with an interior that was fairly neat. When we got back, it looked like an egg-beater had been at work.

5) Pumps - Make sure your bildge pump works and that water can get to it easily. I negelcted to punch one hole through a bulkhead. As such, I found myself pumping water out of the boat with a hand pump. My bidge pump never got wet. And you may think it silly, but buy a NICE emergency pump. Mine was worth the extra money.

6) Pin it! - If it can shake apart it will. I lost a turn-bucket off the forward shrowd. I had neglected to put pins in to keep it from spinning and it spun completely off. I had a spare, but it was still an annoying lesson.

7) Keep some plugs handy. Each and every through-hull could pop loose from whatever connector is holding the sea at bay. You should have a plug tied to a line/taped to an adjoining hull next to every through hull. Water blasting in through a broken fitting is not a good time to try and find a correctly fitting plug someplace in your spare parts bin.

8) Everyone complains about balencing the boat. My interior is nowhere near completed and I should have had a problem of it leaning to port. I could not feel any issues with balence. Maybe a proficient sailer will have a different take.

Additional work and painting

2010-03-21T20:42:00.000-05:00

I'm at least getting to the point where I have to think about final finish work. I've got most of the cabinet back in, the bow is completely roughed in and there is only one small piece aft of the cabinets that needs to be put back together.

From this Pic you can see that I have almost everything complete with the framing the cabinet.

I pulled the whole thing out of the boat and reassembled what I could in the carport. This was to make sure everything matched up and I could work on the various seams without going through contortions once it was back in the boat.

Everything was covered in epoxy and screwed back together to be man-handled back into place. What I had to figure out on the back-end was how to engineer a drain into the fridge. It will eventually drain to the right of the cabinet via a cap I'll mount flush with the wall.

Here I'm getting ready to apply massive amounts of fiberglass resin to the the edges of the cabinet. This was dicey since I had to slap it all on there quickly enough to be able to get it on every edge, position the cabinet back into its original spot and the use my putty knife to clean up the spatters. All this I had to do in a very short window of time, else it will set up before I'm finished.

I found it is best to get the main parts and then come back later with fresh resin later for everything I missed.

Back into place and never going to move again. Notice the floor. I've got enough resin splatters on there to act as hull reinforcement.

Thank goodness for paint.

Speaking of paint, this is the prerequisite before picture. I spent two grueling hours with my disk sander knocking down every rough edge, folded fiberglass seam, an errant bump in every surface I could find.
Even then, as soon as I started painting, I found more that I missed. I guess the lesson there is that there is no perfect solution unless you do this for a living.

Here is the 1st coat of primer. It already looks better. The storage areas I never cleaned up with the sanders. It was just not worth the extra effort. Besides, who's going to look at that besides me?

One planning factor I need to consider is if I'm going to install weep holes to the port of the swing keel. Those storage areas will get water in them at some point and it has to have a way to get back to the bilge pump.

The head platform, you'll remember, I first built out of cardboard and then cut into the proper pieces of wood.

Here I've glassed in the wood pieces. Given the cramped space, I must say this is my least elegant work yet. I figure I'll have a great time with the sander cleaning this mess up.

Opposite the head platform will be more storage.Since the forward berth has to function as both a privacy compartment while you are doing your business and a sleeping compartment, you have to have room to step and sleep. As such I will be fabricating a panel that will fit over this area so you can stretch out while sleeping. When it is not a sleep chamber, the panel is pulled up so you can shuffle step to the Head. I suppose it can also be used for storage.

Roughing in the inside- Cabinets

2010-03-07T23:04:00.000-06:00

I started this weekend with the intent to finish up the bow area. Besides finish work, things that need to be roughed in yet are the platform that head sits on and the sleeping platform extension. I'll explain what that is exactly later on. Its easier to show it than describe it, but not today.

This first pic is of the empty space where the old head platform was cut out. I cut cardboard into the shapes I needed. I've tried to simply measure and then cut, but I always get an angle off, so I've settled for making stencils.

I then took the cardboard and cut out the final pieces from 1/2" treated plywood. Everything I have put asside to be covered in epoxy.

The real challenge I've been putting off has been the cabinets. Since I could not come up with a better use of ths space than what was originally installed, I've relented and made an effort to put it back the way it was originally designed...with a few modification of course.

The first thing I had to do was place the 1x6 board that ran the length of the cabin. Notice that it does not follow the line of the hull, but is pushed back a bit. Like your kitchen, you want to be able to stand close to the sink, so you need room for your toes. This I did not plan to do until I thought the original design through. The orignal plywood was the hardest hit of any piece on the boat, so I'm planning on fully encasing it in epoxy to stave off the inevitable.

I placed the first vertical piece which will be the side to the storage cabinet on the left and a side-splash for the sink.

After a lot of cutting, fitting, re-cutting and re-fitting, I've gotten to this point. Getting all these pieces to match the contours of the hull has been a process of discovery. I had to eventually fall back on something I saw an old carpeter do while on a summer job when I was 22. He used a compass to trace an irregular wall onto the edge of a new cabinet which he then cut to perfectly match the wall. After much trial and error, I eventually figured out how to to this.

Here you can see what I'm talking about. I taped a marker to a compass....I know: REALLY high-tech,huh? Key to a successful trace is to keep the compass at the exact same angle throughout the trace. Here I have it pointed down and at a slight angle away from the carboard I'm going to use as my stencil.

After I did a Vertical trace to get the hull countour correct, I then did a psuedo-horizontal trace to get this curve correct. Notice it took me two tries to get the curve right. No one's perfect, so don't get irritated if you mess up a few times.

On the left is the finished stencil. The plywood has been traced and is ready to be cut. The thing on the right is the original forward berth devider that I'm replacing. The irregular edges are all that is left of the rotted wood so you can see how much was missing.

Just to prove to the masses that I AM doing all this work, here's a picture of me cutting out that panel. This is my 2nd jig saw. I had a Black and Decker which I burned up. I'd like to remind all would-be garage carpeters that decent tools are worth the extra money. Don't scrimp. This Dewalt I'm using is infinitely better than that 2 year old, smoked B&D.

Upgrading to a Craddle

2010-02-10T16:09:00.001-06:00

One of the things I've been advised on several times is to remove the rollers from the trailer and replace it with a cradle. The reasoning is that as the boat is allowed to roll on and off the trailer, the hull flexes and breaks free anything that was connected to it within. This may have been the source of how the rear platforms originally blew their seals and let water in. It could have been the origin of all my ills for all I know.

In the first picture, I was thinking about how to build a cradle that was shaped properly to the hull. I picked the boat up from the trailer and placed a 8'x3/4" board in between the rollers. The intent was to trace this bow onto another board which I would cut and fasten to the trailer supports somehow. The more I stared at it and consider the challenges to this plan, the more I realize that any plan involving the rollers themselves was not going to work. Plan D was hatched this weekend. You don't want to hear about Plans B-C. They all surpassed my abilities to fabricate the proper materials and/or visualize how I would accomplish them without getting squished in the process.

Since I am believer in Wood as the ultimate material....and I lack any skills in welding, I decided to stick with treated wood as my medium.

The first step was to remove the rollers. The were connect to the up-rights via 3/4" rusty bolts who all wanted to stay where they were at. Three grudgingly gave up the fight with the use of excessive torque and a blowtorch. The last simply snapped in two. At the end of the day the count was Blaine 3, Bolts 1....and I only have four semi-serious gouges in the back of my hands to show for my work.

I figured out how to run a bolt through the old hole left by the roller mechanism and bolted in two pieces of wood. Those two pieces I screwed the planks to. Eight deck screws later, whalah! All I need now is some all-season carpet and I'm set. That I will do later.

When I dropped the boat back onto the trailers, the 10'x6" board bowed just a bit, but still did just what I wanted by distributing the weight evenly along its length. I give it 4 years before I may have to replace it. By then it may be someone else's challenge. Let them cuss me as they fit.

Jacking the boat up and trailer issues.

2010-01-18T20:22:00.000-06:00

There was a question as to how I'm managing the underside of this galoot. Beside my reckless disregard for safety, I have managed to figure out how to pick it up without serious threat to myself, dog or children who happen by.

By chance I built a work bench capable to some serious stresses. The intent was to use it for all manner of abusive work requiring a lot of pounding, sawing and for it to be able to carry a heavy load. When I realized I needed a mechanism capable of picking up my boat, the table proved to be a perfect tool.

In the first pic you can see how I used my floor jack to first lift the rear of the boat.

The 2nd you can see how I stabilized the boat. What you can not see is that the prow is firmly hooked to the trailer. As I pick it up, the entire boat pivots on the prow cleat. That is one tough cleat!

Here is a side view of the table with the wood stacks.

For whatever reason this picture insists on being imported sideways. The styrofoam is prefect for weight ditribution and to avoid gouging the paint.

Here is my crusty keel. I'm planning on sanding it as best I am able where it sits. I don't have the tools or readily available pool of foolish friends to help me muscle this thing out of the housing. Besides, it's not all that rusty. Just a few minor blemishes....at least that is what I'm telling myself for now.

What I don't get is why the keel is red on one side and green on the other. I suppose if I turtle it, the other boats will know which way I'm drifting. Idunno....

Another point of concern. When the previous owner did its last bottom job, he did his best to get rid of the critters. Unfortunately, I have lots and lots of these quarter-sized divots in the hull. I am now challenged with the prospect of sanding the entire area below the waterline, fill in all these pock marks (gelcoat blisters?) and repaint.

Another trailer flaw that is eating at me is the fact that I have rollers vs. a cradle. My first inclination is to simply remove the rollers at their pivot points and use the remaining hardware to support a cradle. My issue is that I've no easy way to build a bowed cradle to match the hull contour.....time for my questionable engineering skills to manifest themselves. Don't quote me on this just yet, but if I take off half the rollers, connect my flexible planks where those rollers used to be, I can gain support along the entire length and still benefit from the end rollers I've left in place.

Maybe this picture will better depict my intent. Remove the left wheel, attach the board and stiffen the board along its length. When it is complete, I would expect the board to be several inches thick so that it can freely support the boat's weight.

Wish me luck on that.....I anticipate some problems down the line.

Since I have never launched this thing yet, I'm even wondering it it is too tall to get on and off the trailer without a seriously deep ramp. THAT I will only find out when I go to launch it.

Sanding and little more

2010-01-06T09:37:00.000-06:00

It’s been a bit since I waxed poetically of my obsession. Holding up the show is the fact that it is too cold to work with epoxy. That and Christmas and New years and College Bowl games....and me just being lazy. They have all conspired to keep me from my work. I've also figured out that every task I have planned takes four hours. If I don't have four hours free, I may as well not start anything serious. As such I'm just dinking around with small details and reading about the successes of others.

The biggest task I'm avoiding is sanding. Not much to show for my work, unfortunately. I'm using an angle grinder with a sanding wheel to take off the sharp edges and then coming back with a palm sander to clean things up. I invested in a particle suit from Home Depot. It works ok, but I still go to bed itchy after throwing particles in the air for more than 30 seconds. That stuff goes EVERYWHERE.

Once I make some more progress I'll post more pics, but the before and after shots look identical for the most part.

When I get bored with this, I'll probably take on the SB cabinet work and forward SB wall. I'm considering adding a real fridge and some other enhancements. That will require I think ahead on my wiring plan and the means to power it all. This desire has instigated an on-going argument in my head. Do I settle and build it out as a day-sailor only, or do I build it out like a mini-yacht as others have done? Money will probably decide this issue. I have lots of time given the horrible weather.

As for the wiring, I would like to place some conduit and run everything through there vs. string it along the underside of the cabin. That will be first since I've no desire to cut up my work after I've installed it.

decisions....decisions....

Central seating and Keel work

2009-12-21T10:31:00.000-06:00

The logical thing to do next was to take on the Keel since it is critical to the mobility of the boat. (duh!)

To get the keel's crank in shape, I have to first rebuild the rear seat which functions as a support for the keel winch. Here is an ugly before pic of the untreated wood pannel. I could punch through it with my fingers, it was so rotten. Note the bottom hole. I'll get back to that again.

Here is an after pic of the new pannel in place. It is made from some old Cypress I got from my father-in-law camp which he is rebuilding. ~40 year old Cypress. It still sands up nice, but it has a tendancy to stain a little to dark for my tastes.

Getting the pannel to fit precisely was nearly impossible. there are almost no right angles to measure from. The crank hole had to be precisely placed and shallow enough to allow the winch to protude. This required unplanned for routing to reduce the pannel thickness without compromising its loadbearing capacity. The inside, since I'll never know if water were to get between the pannel and the the keel housing, I coated with =epoxy.

I want to point out that getting the cable guide was crucial. I replaced the bent and pacially cut 3/8" pin with a 1/2" one. I also crawled under the boat and fastend a tube around the pin to act as a rudimentary bearing. I also inserted two latex washers on either side of the tube so that there was no way it could ever act as a saw and cut into the keel housing. It is not what I wanted, but I could not see how I could fabricate a proper pully mechanism which won't eventually jump its track and negate my work.

As for planning ahead, I did cut a small hole from my new pannel to allow me to take this bolt out again should something go wrong with my engineering effort. ...may as well plan for the worst, right?

To avoide water intrusion, I put a barrier in place to move water than came up through the cable housing, and force it to the Port where will be able to get to the sump. I understand this is a necessary evil with a swing keel.

I first cut and placed dry fiberglass into the space, being careful to cut a piece large enough to allow water to freely flow to the Port.

Using gratuitous amounts of colored epoxy, I saturated the fiberglass in place and let it dry. I came back with a 2nd coat later to get the pin holes. I'll inspect it again and probably go for a third coat, just to be sure.

The forward seating shows my frame-work for the storage and flotation compartment. Everything is covered in epoxy and then screwed/epoxied into place. Like the orignal configuration, my intent is to save this space for storage. Did I mention I'm using galvanized deck screws? I think it important that nothing be able to rust/corrode even if it is encased in epoxy. Water ALWAYS finds a way. I would have used brass screws, but they usually strip out when I'm screwing them in.

Once the foam has been crammed into the enclosed space, I smeared Epoxy around the top edge and dropped the top pannel into place. I then screwed it down to get a good seal. In this pic, I've cleaned up the edge gaps with lightweight filler and cut the fiberglass strips to fit in preparation for the epoxy.

Here is the semi-final view of the forward seat. All seams are filled and sealed. I also came back with a sander at the base of the forward bert wall. I had managed to spatter material all over the wall in the construction of the seat that I now needed to clean off. Prior to the final coat of epoxy, I taped an edge along the base of the forward berth wall parrallel to the seat with masking tape. This gave me a clean line. The Blue on the support post is all that remains of the the tape after I had taken the majority of it off.

To get a feel for where I was before, here is an old pic of the rear cabin seat as I was taking it out. Epoxy was flaking off. I also found critters in the wood. Not many, but once they begin to make a meal of plywood, there was no saving it.

This is an after pic. The wood within the holding compart will be painted. It is covered in epoxy, like everything else.

Just so there are no high expectations, finish problems I scratching my head over include clean-up of the various lines and bumps associated with applying fabric. Here you can see the line that is created when you place saturated fiberglass sheeting along the edges. I'm going to have to come back to every seam, wrinkle and bump, sand it down, and clean it all up with lightweight filler for a professional look. I am NOT looking forward to that phase of the project. On the plus side, I am planning on installing high-end wood sheeting on my vertical surfaces to improve its looks. Making stencils will be a snap after all that I have gone through to get to this point.

I imagine an investment in a nice filtering mask will be something I should think about.....

The sailboat restoration plunge

2009-12-14T13:34:00.000-06:00

Someone asked that I review where I came from vs. where I am at:

(cracking knuckles) Here goes.....

After many hours of checking multiple web sites in search of the perfect buy, I decided to get off the fence and just buy what worked versus what I thought I needed. I am now the proud owner of a 1974 26' Clipper Marine sailboat. I got it for a very good price, so good, I could not resist.

I also got a number of problems. All the primary parts are there with the exception of the aft stay which is unraveling, a missing crank, some hardware for tee Stays and some misc pins and clips. The big problem is the interior. It is in need of a complete rebuild. The intent of this Blog was to document this project from start to finish, or at least start to when I throw my hands up in disgust.

I don't know all that much about rebuilding a sailboat. I do know woodworking and have some experience doing fiberglass work on my other two boats, a 1985 Hobie 16 and a 1960? sailfish. The sailfish I got as a bonus when I picked up the Hobie. It has proven to be almost too old to keep repaired, but that is another story. The sailfish HAS given me ample opportunity to hone my fiberglass skills, so that is something.

My intent is to start by first documenting just how hosed I really am.... Based on my initial assessment, that rabbit hole will go VERY deep. I hope someone in the know picks up this blog and provides me some insight. If not, I suspect this will be a well documented, slow train wreck for everyone to enjoy.

The beginning:

I found the Clipper on an auction. It did not sell the first time around so I contacted the seller to see what he would take. Mike, a nice guy that he is, sold me the boat he bought earlier this year for the same price he picked it up for. He had it in his possession for only a few months. In that time, he started to clean up some of the woodwork, but only got a few handles done before handing it over to me.

Since I live in south central Louisiana, the trip to Diane, TX took five hours to get there, and six 1/2 hours to get back. The borrowed 1991 Ford F150 did a valiant job of muscling this brute home, even with the trailer brakes completely fried.

Mike and I exchanged money via PayPal after I looked it over. (yes, it was a sailboat, I confirmed) I was surprised when PayPal called me within minutes of making the transfer asking if something was up. Kudos to PayPal. Someone is doing their job over there.

After picking up the sails, wires, and other misc parts, I hooked up and proceeded with furrowed brow down the twisty back roads of Texas. I waited for at least one of the dry-rotted tired to blow and dump the whole mess in the ditch. After I made it Lowes in Longview, I bought two new trailer tires for $210 and slapped them on. Now I had peace of mind for at least the next 300 miles. I was not disappointed. The Pic above is in the Lowes parking lot after the two front trailer tires had been swapped.

It was not until the next day that I had time to climb through the interior to see what I was in for. Even with all the work I could see from my initial assessment, I could not help but get fired up about all the STUFF I would get to do over the next few weeks/months. Someone remind me to come back to this post next May. I am SO setting myself up for a self-recrimination.

So now this 110" tall boat and trailer is sitting under my 14' carport. My wife is already got one eyebrow up as her Honda Civic is now sharing space with something that looks like it may fall over any minute and squish her little car. Oh, and did I mention that I drive a Chrysler Pacifica? It pulls a Hobie Cat just fine, but this thing......if I try to hook it to the trailer, I'm sure to drive the shocks right through the back wheel wells. I always wondered what a low-rider would be like to own, though I kind of envisioned it being a 60-ish Chevy, not an '05 family truckster.

So I get the mast off and drop it next to the trailers where it will sit, killing grass for the foreseeable future. Oh, and that reminds me of the guy who lives around the corner. He's got a 28' Benetau that he picked up in Wisconsin for $8K. He worked like crazy five years ago to get it fixed up. 4 1/2 years ago he got as far as painting the bottom and moving the mast from the boat to the next handy spot: the roof of his house. Its still sitting there. How many hurricanes have we seen since then? Still the mast lies on top of his house. I even stopped by several times to offer to help him get it ready. ...Nice enough guy, but I don't understand his motivations. What is that saying, "some people like the idea of sailing better than actually sailing."

Inside - so begins the horror.

I don't know what the technology was like back in 1974, but it seem that instead of just building boat out of fiberglass, Clipper Marine decided to build the shell as you would expect and them build all structural components out of plywood. Said plywood was then liberally covered in an speckled epoxy. I image this was great for clean-up, but now, 2009, the epoxy is breaking free is so many places that I've begun to doubt I can put humpty-dumpty back together again. I figure it may be easier to cut out every offending part, and rebuild it from scratch. Yikes!

Here is a pic of where the epoxy is flaking off. Behind it is some rotten wood.

The forward berth is B-A-D. The previous-previous owner realized something was amiss and cut the platform free. I can see where his saw-job left a lip around the inner hull. Under that is a lot of rotten wood and deteriorated fiberglass. Oddly enough, this seems to be an easy job. Cut it all out and start over.

The Sink, cooler and cabinetry all need to be refinished. I think I can do most of that where it is. Under the sink is more cracked epoxy. I may choose to 'overlook' that flaw for now. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Uh no.....It has to go, too. I now see that I'll be ripping out all but the forward berth wall.

Under the cockpit is two matching platforms which I used for storage and sleeping compartments. One side still has the original (and only) cushion left on the boat. Its ripped and smells bad. I'm saving it for the purposes of copying it, then it goes in the trash. The most worriesome thing about this ship is these platforms. Both of them are split around the top edge their entire lengths. Inside I can see the original orange foam that the Clipper will rely on in the event of a water landing....in the event I screw the pooch so badly that I fill the cabin with water.

So, there is my SET. It is from here I proceed. Wish me luck, send epoxy, and all advice give is promised to be read...not understood and followed, of course.

Tools of the trade

2009-12-07T20:35:00.000-06:00

Someone complained that I have no pictures of me in this Blog. ....Well, you can stop yer complainin, Wog!
but enough of the lighter side, back the project:

I'm thinking that I've neglected to talk a little about the process vs the results.

First, let's look at the primary tools of the trade:
1) Treated wood
2) Epoxy/Resin
3) Fiberglass Mesh fabric
4) Resin Jelly w/ short hair fiberglass
5) Lightweight Filler

Super genius that I am, I deduced that it would be best if I cut the wood down based on a cardboard pattern I pieced together with tape. What I have learned here is that your pattern has to be p-e-r-f-e-c-t because once you hack up a board, it just does not adjust to the discrete contours of the hull like cardboard will. You basically end up with gaps. Gaps which must be filled with the Jelly resin.

The wood, though treated, I'm also encasing in resin. My theory is that water will eventually get in where you don't want it. Once there, it will get into the wood and do what it does best, help rot it away. If I have it sealed on all sides, water will just have to work harder.

This pic is where I resin up the panels. It is messy work. I recommend you plan on using a nice spot no one sees much. No matter how hard I tried, I ended up slopping some on the carport.
Nice work, Blaine.

I use the shorthair epoxy to bond the pannels to the hull and each other. I then hit each seam with the lightweight filler to smooth out the seams and fill in the remaining gaps. Once that all hardens, I sand away the irregularities and cover the whole mess with resin-saturated fiberglass mesh. Key to placing sticky fiberglass mesh is to use a cheap brush to spread a thin coat of resin, drop the mesh in place and then use the brush to force resin through the fiber and create a seal. For me this was not an intuitive process. My neighbor had to show me the brush trick a few years back when I was repairing a 1960-ish sailfish. Until then, I thought fiberglass and resin were aplied using gloves and a stick.

Back on the inside, This is a bad Before picture of the rear seat as you look aft . You can see the crank handle sticking out where the winch was placed and where it will go back to.

The 2nd is the after shot. The seat will have two compartments. One for storage, the other for flotation. Since I could not cut the old hunk of flotation out, I left it in place. It gave me a handy guide for building an enclosure around it. If you are wondering what you are looking at, a crowbar and towel are laying on top of the old foam.

Next I'll be detailing my Keel work. There are three bolts to contend with. One works as a guide for the cable to run against as you crank it up and down. The other is used to lock the keel in place once it is fully extended. The third is what the keel pivots on.

What I found was the locking bolt was snapped in two. (Top) The Guide bolt was bent and had been almost completely sawed in half.

I'm playing with some possible solutions. A couple forums have been hugely helpful. Especially trailersailor.com.

What I am not looking forward to is taking the keel off as some folks have recommended. That just seems like so much......work. Not to mention, I'll have to figure out a way to raise the boat off the trailer. Given that the trailer was never made for a sailboat, I'll have to fabricate a sturdy cradle and then trust it enough to crawl under the boat.

I can see my obituary: "Dipstick crushed by his own sailboat. Darwin once again proven correct."

Central seating rough in

2009-12-07T06:22:00.000-06:00

In that it is highly unlikely the wife is going to ride unless I have appropriate accommodations, I've decided to take on the central seating area next. Also, there is that little mechanical requirement of the keel winch. It must be mounted to something else I'm not going anywhere. For those not in the know, this has a swing keel. The winch holds the keel up while loading/unloading.

Since everyone likes a nice before pic....

I've learned that you HAVE to chisel out all the old ridges. They just don't help in any way, so out they came.

After fitting some cardboard cut-outs, I cut and trimmed in the 3/4" treated plywood. The intent to is have the wood facing out to be stained and varnished, but I've no idea how a treated piece of wood will take a stain. I may just put a thin vinear over it when I'm done, depending on how this shakes out.

After epoxying in the boards, I came back with mesh fabric to create a water-tight seal that I will eventually need. The space to the wall will be filled with foam

Forward berth semi-final

2009-11-30T08:14:00.000-06:00

The good news is that I puled together everything to get the motor running.

Note to self: If the previous owner give you a beat-up fuel can and tells you its never been tested, don't trust it. When I started to fill it with new gas, the first thing I found out was that it leaked. This required a dash to Wal-mart to find a replacement before I doused the fuel station.

Check out this rudder mount. It seems to be after factory. There is a bracket at the very bottom I've no idea what is is for. Also, why would this bracket be threaded? The boat did not come with a pin, so I checked the diameter and found a SS bolt. Fits perfectly in both the rudder and the bracket.

I also put up the mast. Besides not having any pins to connect the stays, only one side stay was missing the turn-buckle hardware used to tighten the rigging. Since this was a test run, I rigged a temp connection. I'll make a run to West Marine to get the required parts later. The one big cost will be the rear stay. It is unraveling. I can probably build one myself, but a professional job is usually recommended.

Don't be alarmed by the Pacifica in the foreground. It is only good for moving the boat around in the driveway. It protests whenever I've used it for the smallest task.

I've glassed the underside of the panels in the forward berth and have them in place. It is foam-filled and sealed around all the edges with epoxy. Getting the V sealed to all angles was a pain. I've gone through three sets of Latex gloves thus far. I've found that they simply break down after being exposed to the chemicals. Buy plenty.

After sanding and re-sanding the edges, I came back with colored epoxy and strips of fiberglass sheets. I discovered my work went well as I forgot to close the forward hatch and it rained hard over night. Water is sitting on top of the platform with no where to go.

This is a before picture of the forward rib. I was 1/2" plywood. If you look close, the bottom two inches are rotted through. Someone may have figured there had to be a better way to get water out of the forward berth and cut it.

Here is an after shot. I've placed the new rib. It was a treated 2x12 with an additional 2x4 underneath.

I used cardboard to make a pattern, being careful to match every hull contour. It buts up against the forward edge of the keel housing for an additional anchor point. Once I built it, I gooped on shorthair epoxy along the bottom edges and slapped it into place. Hardening time is about 10 minutes. With clean-up and repositioning, you have to move fast.

That was a new shopvac when I started this project. It is already starting to wheeze with the effort.

2009-11-27T21:35:00.000-06:00

Three things today: In the forward berth, I finished getting the supports and replaced the forward wall.

Odd thing I found was that there is an opening to the top of the boat that lets water in. It has a rudimentary cap, but I don't see any way to close it off.

Since water is going to come in, I have to make sure it can get out. The support running along the V of the hull has a black tube for drainage that I'm glassing in. I wonder if this is a design flaw.

I've got everything epoxied in. I'm also trying the paint additive per my neighbor's suggestion. I want the epoxy to be white.

I've done the same for the rear. On closer inspection of the aft platforms, I determined that the glass work I did around the edges may not be completely water tight. I went back over the entire seam with lightweight putty, contoured it and glassed over it again with the colored epoxy.

As you can see I've at last glassed over the rear support also.

Here is the bow where I removed all stanchions (I think that is what they are called). They were leaking around the screw holes.

I pulled them off, sanded, and sealed them up with clear silicon. The was the first job I needed help with, so I put the boys to work inside to hold the nuts in place while I took it off and put it back on.

2009-11-26T12:48:00.001-06:00

Here is a before image of the interior. Sinks on the right and seating on the left, all have to come out.

The forward berth. Rib is rotten as is the lateral support leading from the bow to the rib.

All ribs and supports have been removed. I just need to scrub the hull and begin my measurements for the new material.

Here is a look forward

Here is a shot of the SB cabinet coming out. I've taken off the front and am i

n the process of chiseling out the vertical cabinet walls and sink supports.

The forward view of the cabinet after I took it all out. My initial intent is to replace this all with storage and seating. I may or may not put a sink back in. I don't really see the need for a sink in a boat of this size.

In the forward berth, looking aft, you can see the rot that has infected the vertical SB wall. It all has to come out.

The old and new tiller. The old was formed, layered. I don' t know what kid of wood it was as it has deteriorated beyond identification. I had some Purple Heart wood laying around for the last few years that was dying to be put to use. I imagine it will come out very nicely once I seal it.

Aft Platforms - rebuilding

2009-11-22T10:30:00.000-06:00

After stripping out all the old wood and cleaning up the hull for the new, I'm at last ready to begin rebuilding the rear platforms. Here it is mostly prep'd except for vacuming the gelcoat dust.

Note the angle grinder; a crucial tool for this job.

I've got the new wood put in place. The vertical supports are used to ensure the hull is the right contour. This is the exact spot the trailer cradle pushes up. There was a single plywood rib here. I replaced the whole structure with three.
Planning note: Make sure you DO NOT fiberglass your temp supports into place! Opoxy will run on you. DOH!

New floattion shapped and put in place.

At last one, job that was easy and did not involve carcinogens

This is the semi-final product. Epoxy coated, treated 1/2" plywood screwed down to the new wood structure.

the white sheet in my weak attempt to put color into the epoxy. Save your coins. It does not work on this large a scale.

Example of how the platforms are sealed. After srewing them down, I've used more fiberblass fabric to create a water-tight seal around every edge. Water can't get in as long as nothing cracks. With as much over-strength I've created, I don't think that is an issue anymore.

View of the primary rib. It is tripple epoxied in. I used short hair jell epoxy (green) to cement all wood to the hull. I came back and ran fiberglass sheeting around all the edges to ensure no water could get under it and re-start the process of eating the wood out again. Though it is not done here yet, I'll encase it in more epoxy as the final step. It it ever breaks free, it won't be for lack of effort.

Rear platforms

2009-11-15T19:37:00.000-06:00

Under the cockpit are two platforms that serve as storage area and sleep platforms. Since they are also form-filled, one would also deduce that they act as insurance against the “ah-sh*t” moments.
Here you can see the SB platform. The foam has expanded at some point. That, and the wood incasing it is mostly rotten.

They have to go. I started on the SB side, first taking out that little extension that butted up against the cabinet. Here I’ve cut the cabinet’s rotten lower quarter off and take out that extension. I’ve alos ripped the gelcoated wood from the frame. That job sucked. I have to use a grinder to cut the entire 6 ft. Once against the hull, the sencond run at the base of the vertical board. Nothing like sucking epoxy dust. The mask I wore did not help much. If you are considering this, buy a NICE face mask. I'm sure I up'd my chances at cancer a smal percentage.

Here is with foam stripped, boards out.

Picture of the vertical board in place. Check and re-check everything. This board had to be madeby eyesight plus a little measurments. There is little room to work in there, so I was not keen on rooting around in there with a tapemeasure.

Fabricated some lateral ribs. Note that I put two in vs. the original single ½” plywood.. I figured out the trailer was pushing up at that exact point, causing a bulge. The vertical board is temporary and holds the hull in place while I epoxy the new supports in place.

Here is a before of the Port side.

And a pic of the new port supports in place, mostly epoxied. Why three? I had a spare piece of wood. I may up the ante on the SB side. When I put boat back on its trailer, I’ll know if I was right, or if it was overkill.

Did I mention I'm using treated wood? I've covered it in epoxy, just in case. Someone is going to correct me at some point, but since this is a self-learn project, aka no parental oversight, the means may be questioned.

If you are planning to do this, make sure you plan on buying A LOT of epoxy and fiberglass sheeting. With just these two places done, I've already gone through 1 1/2 gallons of epoxy. Oh, and don't bother buying the colorizing agent. Buddy of my said to just use some paint. I'll test that threory shortly.

Initial assessment

2009-11-11T07:00:00.001-06:00

Going over this boat. The challenge has been to figure out what to fix first, kind of like going over a rotten fish, trying to see what part is the least likely to poison you. I don't know where I learned this saying, but it still holds true when starting large, distasteful projects:

When faced with eating a rat, always eat the big piece first.

Looking over my own rat, I was having a hard time trying to figure out which piece had to be addressed first. In the quest to figure that out, I made a bow to stern assessment.

"Rotten" is the word to describe any and all portions of the boat that extend 6" from the shell of the boat. This is an excellent example. The wooden stringer (I think that is the term) runs 3' from the bow. It is fiberglassed into place. The fiberglass is good, but water has worked its way into the wood. It is now a mixture of mold, pulp and remnants of plywood.

Here I've chopped it out, scraped the hull and its prep'd for the new piece. The question remains, do I put a treated piece of wood in there, or do I go with something less likely to need repair again? If I did go with an alternate material, like plastic, where would I get some that is big enough?

I may just stick with treated lumber encased in epoxy. Time to go research.

Looking into the forward berth, the problem of the cross-supports is evident. the threshold itself has rotten through. It looks like someone thought it more important that water be able to get out of the forward berth than to fix the problem of water getting in, so they cut a hole. The Hole has since then led to more rotten wood. Since this is a main support piece, I'm leaving it for now. No sense in tampering with structural integrity until I have to.

Since it all has to go, a wider view of the demo of the cabinets and wall to the forward bert. Why was this built with a sink?