Hull #153 getting full overhaul

[Josh]

Hey everybody,

I'm new to the board and the class. I recently purchased #153, Danger Zone, from Mark Barton at Grande Maumelle Sailing Club. Haven't even put her in the water yet as we are doing a number of repairs.

1) Cut out, re-core, and re-glass rotten mast step
2) Replace bulkhead behind toilet and forward bulkhead
3) New deck hatch and port windows
4) Removed original carpet from interior, sanded adhesive off, repaint
5) Remove all through deck hardware, epoxy hole, repaint and non-skid entire deck
6) New trailer brakes and runners

Should have all of this completed and be seaworthy in 4-6 weeks from now. Any advice on new electronics would be great! (wind, speed, direction, depth) Any tips on best locations for deck hardware once it's time to reinstall would also be appreciated. And if anyone has some 1-2yr old competitive sails that they'd be willing to part with let me know. I will likely get a new main and jib this summer, but would prefer not to have to buy 4-5 new sails at once.

As soon as this is all done I'll see y'all on the water!

[AJ Oliver]

Wow, you work fast !! It took me longer than I care to admit to do all that.
If you have not finished the mast step repair, one of my Machinist crew guys came up with what I think is a brilliant solution.

Here is a brief description from an earlier post of mine. Looks like the 7.9 server ate the photos. Let me know if you want to see them. I think I can dig them out.

"For the mast step repair, we decided to replace the aluminum base plate with 3/16 inch stainless steel, and to weld studs to it that would protrude upward through solid glass layers to the mast step. The mast step will then be attached to the studs with nuts. Using this method, we will no longer have to screw bolts down through the core material into the aluminum base plate.
Hopefully, this will solve the problem of water intrusion below the mast step, as well as corrosion problems due to the aluminum/stainless interface. Let me know if you want more photos or information.
See attached photos.
It sure helps to have talented machinists on the crew!!!
Fair Winds, AJ Oliver # 445, "Class Struggle"
Sandusky Sailing Club

[Josh]

We cut a 3/16 stainless plate as well, but we are looking underneath the mast step. My compression step was delaminating and hollow for the top 8-10". So we have cut that away, filled it with coosa board, and are putting the mast step plate between it and the bottom of the mast step as we reglass that in. We also used a piece of coosa inside the reglassed area on top where we pulled the rotten piece of plywood out that had sat on top of the corroded aluminum plate originally. With how light and strong it is I considered using sheets of coosa instead of plywood when refitting my bulkheads. It's an amazing material to work with.

[Josh]

Ok.....so the repairs have taken a good while, but are finally complete. The deck is getting a new coat of paint and non skid this week. Which leads me to my next question. Any suggestions on hardware placement on deck? We have refilled all holes before painting the deck so I will truly be starting with a blank canvas. Pictures are welcome if you've got them.

[AJ Oliver]

Hey 153 -

I'll try to get some pics for you. May take a few days. Do you want photos of everything?

I made several changes after the core/mast step repair
put in new Lewmar clutches - lined them up carefully with the turning blocks up by the mast and the winches.
shortened genoa track - unless you fly a class illegal giant genoa, the tracks can be shorter.
removed turning blocks on the coamings - now run genoa sheets directly from jib cars to winches.

Dr. Skip, Sandusky Sailing Club

[Josh]

I'm definitely interested in seeing how much you shortened the genoa tracks. The less through bolts I have to put back into this thing the happier I'll be. Also about to place an order for all new running rigging. I'm using the document on the main site for lengths. Any suggestions on lines that work the best? I'm not planning on doing any splicing on my halyards. I'll just tie a bowline to a clasp.

[AJ Oliver]

Hey Josh -
Here are the pics. I did not want to cut off more of the track and thus put big loads on just one or two screws. This length has worked well.
See also where I took out the jib sheet turning blocks - don't miss them a bit. To me it's more comfortable with them gone, and works just as well - or better.
And you can also see the lewmar clutches all lined up. I like them because they can be released under load, unlike some others.
Can't help much with halyards, I just get what West Marine recommends (they do price matching). I don't use shackles - just tie a bowline to the sail from the halyard. You're able to use a bigger sail that way (class legal, of course!!) ha ha

Hope this helps some, Skip Oliver # 445 Class Struggle
Sandusky Sailing Club

[Josh]

About to pull the boat for a week's worth of work. Bottom already has a vc17 cover, but going to apply a new coat or two. Anyone know how many quarts to cover? The website says 4 qts for a boat our size, but can't tell if that is including a basecoat which I already have. Also, the main reason to pull her is to attempt to repair the delaminating keel. I wont have anything available to pull the keel, so will have to attempt the repairs with the boat up on pads. Only the bottom few inches are delaminating so far. Any thoughts on which techniques and epoxies will work best for this?

[SailingUphill]

You should be able to stretch 1 quart per coat with VC17... If you are overcoating, I'd say do 2 coats.

4 quarts from bare barrier coat, leads to 4 layers of VC17m... that was my experience anyway.

[Josh]

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately I already ordered 3 quarts, but I'll save one and do another coat next summer/fall. Hoping to have her looking good and moving fast two months from now in Nashville.