Rambling repair post...

[SailingUphill]

I thought I'd start a thread on the list of repairs I am doing to hull number 68.

Just so you know, this is kind of my thing. I keep from going crazy by working on my boat through the winter, because up here, our sailing waters turn solid for 5-6 months out of the year, so anything that keeps me focused on the boat when I can't sail it is, well NOT as good, but I suppose better than nothing. I bought this boat for a lot less than a fully outfitted/race ready boat to save money, and also to kind of allow me to build it as I see fit, a blank slate if you will.

Couple years back I had a Capri 25, that was pretty tired, and I brought her back to life, in basically 1 winter. When I sold her, she wasn't perfect, but she sailed real nice, and looked pretty good as well.

I bought "68," from her prior owner, and it was obvious to me she put a lot of work/time into the boat, but that the boat hadn't been sailed in earnest in probably 6-8 years.

So I've started my work on fixing, repairing and upgrading. Not sure how far I'll get (due to time and money constraints), but I'll post here pictures when I hit certain milestones, or anything that might be useful to anyone else attempting this. If I get parts from somewhere, or someone I'll try to reference that as well. I am by no means an expert on anything, so you can watch my triumphs and failures as I move along. Feel free to tell me I am an idiot, or correct me if I am making a HUGE mistake.

I bought the boat in September, plopped it in the water for a couple weeks then hauled it... so I sailed her "ugly" for those couple weeks to see what I needed to focus on... Here's a shot of her sailing ugly.

[SailingUphill]

Hauling out the daggerboard...

Painting the dagger...

[AJ Oliver]

Dagger board and what I can see of the trunk look mighty good!!
My DB was full of shark bites - took a while to fix.
Have fun !! And keep us posted - I'm sure we will all learn a lot.

[SailingUphill]

I know it's pretty typical to bash the dreaded prior owner, "PO" if you will. I have to say the PO obviously put a huge amount of time and effort into this boat when it was campaigned, and brought to several NOODs. The problems with the boat are strictly from age, and having really been sitting for a long period. The PO really put tremendous effort to protect the rudder, outboard, sails, cushions, and yes daggerboard. All of the above were stored inside (yeah they stored the daggerboard inside). Every time I look at something on the boat I find it's in better shape than I expected.

My next project is repairing the port cockpit seat forward of the traveler (and maybe AT the traveler)... the core is trashed there. This kind of fiberglass work is not something I've done before (yeah I've done a lot of reading about it, but I KNOW that's not the same).

[SailingUphill]

In the meantime if you are bored... here is a link to my work just 2 years ago, on my Capri 25.
http://tinyurl.com/pvtv6a2

[SailingUphill]

More work done today... Did I mention this was going to be picture heavy?
Transom after cleaning up the adhesive from the name (still very evident)...


Transom after wetsand, compound, and polish... still shows, but not as much... I might repeat the process... Don't wanna burn through the gelcoat though.


Ok... now the REAL work.
Traveler coming out... note I taped the traveler in place... if you don't the car comes off, and bearings everywhere!


Most of the bolts were in the lazarette.
Traveler off, then foot blocks.


OK, I cut a sample of my wet core problem where the traveler would sit, in case I chicken out... but no question its soaked.


In for a penny in for a pound... Time to cut out the trouble spot!!! You must work into a spot that is still good, so I cut further over than I needed to...


Its hard to see, but I've removed all the soggy core (end grain balsa), and removed all the way up to where the core wasn't easy to pull up... I even removed some of it that needed to be chipped out. This should be far enough to give some bite to the new core material I put in, but for NOW it all has to dry out.

[SailingUphill]

By the way, nothing better than a dremel and a reinforced cut off wheel... I've used that Dremel tool for so many things... just one of the best tools to have on a homeowners workbench.

[AJ Oliver]

You're gonna hate me for writing this, but my 7.9 (#445) has a solid glass cockpit.
Just to be certain that I was not going insane . .
I took the traveler off yesterday, and there was no core in there.
I guess at some point S2 caught on.
The traveler car I just took off is identical to yours - mine was getting pretty tired, and yours looks that way too.
(By "tired" I mean that when the wind built and put pressure on the main & mainsheet,
the traveler really did not want to move. In particular, the track had lots of dings in it
where the car could (and did) hang up.)
I'm replacing it with one of these . .
http://www.harken.com/productdetail.asp ... &taxid=473
and of course also replacing the track.
I'm extremely jealous of your pole barn - what a great place to hang out and mess around with boats when the world is white.
When you get her restored, bring her over to the Sandusky Sailing Club - free launch ramp & docking,
and from May througth October some of the best sailing in the world.

[SailingUphill]

This is the only spot I found on the boat that had soft core (and I tested all around to make sure), so I couldn't possibly hate anyone for not having this problem. Yes I also am not real impressed with this traveler, however I used it in 30 knot winds and had no issues with it, so it may have some life left. My prior boat was changed out to the harken Midrange traveler, and that was a stellar piece of hardware. If I have to replace it in the future, that'll be my first stop. I had the 1625 car so was able to get the windward sheeting traveler which I quickly found out I did not like. But the midrange traveler and car is a smooth bar, and the car is like 6 inches long... distributing the load nicely. The car you show looks like their small boat series, and I am quite sure would work well too. That's the one recommended for the Capri 25, and 22.

[dave]

The area under the traveler track on #298 is plywood.... Well, that is to say before it turned to compost years ago. Plywood may sound like a good idea at first but unlike balsa core, it's not end grain. Just as with the piece under the mast step, the grain runs side to side, making any water intrusion travel the whole length of that section from capillary action. Balsa may rot when it gets and stays wet, but at least the end grain type has a tendency to develop partial dams from resin soaking in between the cuts. A VERY thing!!! Even without this, the end grain aspect usually tends to slow the travel of water, even after many years of neglect.

On the mast step area: just because it's not "soft" doesn't mean it's not caving in. Plywood compresses over time, wet or not.

[SailingUphill]

My last boat was the same age as this S2, and it used Corecell core. The interesting factoid is the S2 is considered a "well built" boat for the era, but my Capri, was often termed a "Crapee." Now in some instances I can see the argument... examples of which were the lack of tabbing on the bulkheads... and the step area under the compression post.. but those boats rarely had "core issues." They more often had compression post, and bulkhead issues which frankly were much easier to address. I dunno, the fact is, at 30+ years old, these boats were really not expected to be still used this hard and raced this much. It's a testimony that many still exist and are still seaworthy (That's my story and I'm sticking to it).

[Stef]

The fact that these boats are 30+ years old and holding up the way they do is amazing. Good thing we have this class association and forum to share info on repairs and modifications.
I have wood core around my traveler. Don't know if it's balsa or plywood.
John, we need to take AJ up on his offer. I noticed a post last year for an around the islands race. Sounds like a lot of fun.

[SailingUphill]

I'm Game Stef... I'm about due for a road trip now that I have a more "Trailerable" boat.

[AJ Oliver]

The offer is totally serious . .

Here is the start-finish line. If get below four hours, you got me.
The photo of Kellys Island is too big to load here - you'll have to google it.

[dave]

End grain balsa is still the cheapest, strongest and least likely to fail core material out there. It's one Achilles heel is water. If everybody removed all of the deck hardware and overdrilled, filled, then remounted the same and did the same to the chainplates, that problem would be moot. It's also the only way to check EVERY hole for water intrusion and rot, then fix any problem areas while there. Of course this means ANY wood core, like under the step, traveler track and inside the hatch rails. Yes grasshopper..... You DO need to check these! They are a big problem area on any boat similarly built, and there are lots of them!