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| The next morning,
before
I found help to step using the non-captive
mast base. This was modified a few weeks later to a captive mast
base kit. |
Very visible patch-job on a hole
in the starboard hull. This got
immediate attention and was sanded,
re-filled with gel coat and faired. |
Repaired damage to the port
stern, was
also sanded and faired
to be
much less noticeable. |
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Although there was
still much work
to do on it, this didn't stop me from
taking her out for a sail almost every opportunity I got. |
Sailing this boat is a total blast, even
with a
dozen to two major problems to fix.
Like: lines were oversized
and did not work smoothly in the blocks
and cleats on the boat. |
The rudders were badly out of
parallel. (crossbar adjuster added thanks to
Airborne) Above one of my favorite shots
taken at
sunset
after a day of sailing. |
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At a rest
stop on Rt. 81 north, on the
way up to camp on Lake Boneparte. Sadly, while sailing there
that w/e I flipped and bounced off the boom, but oddly didn't feel anything. |
At Lake Boneparte,
taken with the orig. main, just before the sail which cost
me my boom. My misfortune coincided almost perfectly with Bill's
(Airbone on thebeachacts.com) Luckily we
had exchanged a number of emails previously and he told
me of his boat's demise, right after I lost my boom. |
No pics right
after the sail, but here is
what it looked like on my living room floor.
(Thanks again Bill, for the boom, tiller crossbar, adjuster, the
tramp and all the other spare parts you sent me last month. I
bought a second
Pivmatic Assembly for my other tiller arm
and now have auto-pop-up rudders.
Whew, what a relief. |
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Parked at the top of
the 17' x 12' wide
ramp leading to the top of a 4' high seawall
with rises from the water and serves a
perfect
spot to pull the drain plugs
for hull draining. |
Summer ended, fall came
and sailing
continued, with wetsuit and booties.
And thanks to Bill's parts, it
continued without major costs. |
As the fall wore on, the hulls picked
up more lake grunge, but that would
be remedied next year. |
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| My 2007 season ended on
November 14th with a quick one-hour sail in great winds. |
Here is an annotated
Google map that outlines that last sail, but if I had found a
willing crew on Nov. 22nd I might have reset that record. |
This was actually taken after our first
snowfall before Nov. 14th. Check out the two hot-blooded swans
beside the birdhouse pole. |
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recapped here
Spring 08 |
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April 2008
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This was prior to
replacing fixed clam cleats
with two
Pivmatic Assemblies.
Rather than
come about and stall I attempted to pull up both daggers, and
reach back to uncleat the rudders. At the speed I was
approaching, I ran out of time before I hit the ramp. Just as I
turned to check for the ramp my port hull slipped off to the
left and hit the seawall dead-on. |
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That spring I was
anxious to hit the water, and with spring winds, sailing was
anything but disappointing. On my 3rd sail, while approaching my
ramp, I realized that my daggers were down
and so were my rudders. |
This brought my spring
sailing season to an abrupt halt. Now I most certainly had the
time and motivation to take on the job I was no not looking
forward to. Re-Gel Coating my boat. Here is where my post
really begins... |
After cutting away the loose flap, this is
what my bow looked like. I researched repairs and found some
useful articles, both on
www.catsailor.com and
www.thebeachcats.com as well as a
dozen or so other sites on spraying gel coat.
(a brand new venture) |
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My first impulse was to remove
the top deck so I could get to the
bow from within. |
I used the instructions
posted by Vernon Greene on Catsailor. I did
actually get hold of once by mail & once my phone,
but never reconnected to confirm
some unanswered questions I had. |
One hour later and it was off.
Unfortunately, the reach to
the bow was too far to patch
from within. |
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The good part was that I found
three splits in the longitudinal
brace. |
These got copious amounts of
resin and glass, but from what I could see the stringers and
bulkheads were all solid. |
After injecting some resin and
clamping the bow back in place
I was ready to repair the hull. |
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Glass strips attached to the
inside. Here I must apologize
for not breaking to take more |
pics, the time taken to
clean up and
grab the camera was too valuable. Here is
the same side of the port hull ready |
but first there were four spots where
a previous owner got a little too forceful
with the ratchets on the hold-down-straps. |
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| On both hulls, there,
ahead of the front crossbar and at the
sterns there were stress cracks which had to be sanded |
down to the glass. New gel coat allowed me
to blend it without
the top deck in place. |
A couple more patches were
installed after beveling the
exterior. |
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| And another from a
mishap done while approaching the shore. |
Now solid as new. |
A layer or gel coat to level
it off. Once
the whole boat was faired & sanded with
80 grit, the hulls were ready to spray. |
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I wanted to be spray
from top to bottom without moving the hulls, and here is
where some cleaver brainstorming |
came in. I got 8 large
screw eyes to fit
the strap bolt holes and suspended the hulls from 4x4s
between the beams. |
Before attempting to spray the hulls I
decided to shoot the boards and rudders
first. (also hung, so both sides were sprayable) |
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| Even with
Prestec
mixed
50/50 with the gel coat, I still managed to get a fair amount of
orange peel. While sanding I found why
the boat came with three rudders. |
The cracked rudder was
replaced with a non-shaped one. The sides were flat with no foil
shaping. And this is when I decided to
repair the damaged one. |
The rudder was badly
split at the trailing edge & internally. So I injected
resin between the split layers of glass & clamped, then filled
with glass and resin. |
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| Repaired and ready to shoot. |
Now I was ready to
shoot the hulls. I started on the keels to build up extra layers
to cover the new glass and resin that I added. Again, time was
critical, |
and I had all I could to to get the
gel coat on 20oz. at a time, without stopping to cleanup and pick up the camera, but
here they are finished, |
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now I faced two days of
sanding. 1st
with 240 dry on the air file and block, then 500 wet, 1000 wet
then 1200 |
wet before buffing with Finesse It. Great
stuff, and I only went though one 16oz. bottle
for the hulls,
rudders and daggers. |
Shot above shows one sanded and buffed hull on the
grass, the one on the horses, was next. |
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After buffing and
polishing both hulls, daggers and rudders, it was time to
reassemble. |
With Bills
tramp, minus the center bar tunnel, I needed remove the front casting, where it clearly blocked the
pocket. The rear remains with main traveler cleat & as a
long-reach foothold. Legs are still too short to reach it
or the
bar with my butt on the hull. |
I also drilled out the
fairleads for the jib
block cables & moved them under
the
tramp, where they belong. The new
tramp has slits for the
blocks to attach to the cables. BTW
never drop a rudder tip
down onto a concrete floor. |
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| Once back together, it
was time to rig her and take her for a well deserved sail. |
The boat sails great,
it is nice to have the kick up rudder feature, which I missed
from my H16 although the Hobie system is much nicer. |
Another sail today
8-5-08. Two hours in 8 - 12 knots. The 12 allowed me to get out
on the wire, "the only way to fly." |
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| Days later the wind was blowing more like 20+ on in the channel, here in the bay it looks more like 12 or 13.. |
Wireless weather
station attached to the light pole. Wind vane and anemometer are
at the top. A digital display is inside. |
Here's that port stern
again, the one in the third thumbnail, came out pretty nice. |
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| And another, note the
highlight, something totally void from the boat I bought
last year. |
New up haul arrangement
for the rudders, I actually copied this from someone's shot
posted online, THANKS. I also found a good use for those cheap
plastic corks they're using on wine bottles. (rudder kick-up
bumper) |
A shot of the new tramp
with jib block cables under it, only surfacing for a few inches
to connect the blocks. |
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| And another look at
those sleek sexy hulls. Not too shabby for a 25 year old boat?
If you have any questions, you may reach me
here. |
Went out again
Wednesday the 6th. The winds were blowing 20 to 25 from the NW,
(prevailing winds) by the weather
station on the shoreline, but on in the channel the waves were a
good 2' or better. More than enough wind to double trap. |
I also found a great
spot to beach Tuesday, in a bay where boats often anchor to swim &
relax, not more than 15 min. from my home. Looks like I may
have to join them on occasion. I am really loving this boat,
especially now that she looks so great. |
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