Time for a rebuild?

[BarryE]

Ok, so the season ended yesterday and I securely locked down my last place status and I think it's time to start work rebuilding the old girl. What prompted this, you might ask? Well, it might have been all those races looking at our class president's transom in the distance, or it might have been the fact that the Boston's boat Frequent Flyer now renamed Radio Flyer moved in a few slips away making my boat look really shaby by comparison, but more likely it was the fact that yesterday for the first time, I felt a little give, just the slightest of deflection under foot as I took off the sail cover. It seems that the mast step gremlins have found a home. So, this winter I will be mounting an expedition to excavate and restore the mast step and the cabin top forward of the mast. Since the boat, #11, is one of the oldest, I'll be looking at doing a lot of other things as well. The centerboard/keel has never been out of this boat, and has become hard to raise, the list goes on and is virtually endless. I'll try to document as much as possible and post when I can. Stay tuned.

[AJ Oliver]

Dear Barry -

Here (I hope) is a link to this site's posts on the mast step repair. Not to brag, but my machinist crew guy came up with what I think is a brilliant solution to the water intrusion problem - replace the aluminum plate with stainless, and weld studs to it that protrude UP through solid glass to which the mast step plate is attached (see photos). (We decided to go with solid glass instead of Coosa Board.)

http://www.sail79s.org/board/viewtopic. ... t=15#p6363

Be sure to take careful measurments of the step area so you can properly locate the plate as you rebuild. Might want to make a template.

Compared to what a pro charged a buddy of mine, I saved three grand by doing it myself (with the machinist's sage advice).

It really isn't that hard . .
Fair Winds, AJ Oliver, #445, Sandusky Sailing Club

[BarryE]

Thanks A.J. I've looked at the forum and I've seen the pix. It looks like a good fix. I've I friend who has a machine shop who does custom work cheap, so no problem there. I'll be sure to jig everything up for correct fit , placement, and originality. While I'm at it, I'll rebed all the stancions, and all othe deck hardware. I'll be checking for other soft spots as I go. Mast and boom need a repaint, and some work, outhaul is jammed and hasn't been used in a couple of seasons. I'll need a new mainsail, the old UK tape drive main is delaminating and in the right wind I swear, I can hear it whistling through the tapes. That's probably not very efficient. I'll be calling Spike soon I expect. Should be fun.