If you could do it all over again...

MnM20 · Post by **MnM20** » Thu Sep 14, 2017 12:49 pm

I just bought hull 20 (inboard) and will be doing a full refit over the next year or two to get the boat into race-ready configuration. This boat is mostly configured as it came from the factory 35 years ago with little in the way of mods done. There are a few minor soft spots that I will be addressing over time, none of which are in major structural locations. The rest is mostly cosmetic and modernizing the rig/setup.

My question for the group: Assuming you had a clean slate or if you could do it all over again, what are some of the lessons learned from projects you did to the boat? How would you do things better or different?

Thanks,
Mitch
Chicago, IL

SailingUphill · Post by **SailingUphill** » Mon Oct 16, 2017 7:13 pm

I'd do mast mount instruments or a pod over the hatchway... instruments almost always get blocked by crew.

upgrade primaries to self-tailers.

Setup windward sheeting car right.
Paint the mast white (not black)
screw gelcoating the hull, and just paint the darned thing.

Otherwise most of my upgrades were pretty good.

alanhsails · Post by **alanhsails** » Mon Oct 30, 2017 6:25 pm

Upgrade primary winches to self-tailers and move them back to just a little bit forward of the traveler. However, the location change is due to the fact that I singlehand a lot, and might not be important to most skippers.

I want a stern pulpit...don't have one yet. I need to repaint my mast (it's white)... my boat has holes all over the cockpit for now-nonexistant instruments. They're covered in white plastic with plywood backing. I'd like to pretty much permanently seal those.

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Tue Oct 31, 2017 2:43 pm

I did the same repair to fill large holes in the back of the cabin. If you're handy at all get some foam coring material of the correct thickness (1/2" if I recall) and some fiberglass cloth and resin. Glass it in , sand it, it's virtually impossible to see the repair. I'm sure You Tube has many videos on doing the work if you're inexperienced. I took my cockpit locker cover to a local body shop and they color matched a pint of paint. You'll be surprised and pleased with the result.

BarryE · Post by **BarryE** » Tue Oct 31, 2017 6:40 pm

I just finished repairing the mast step and the core forward of the deck organizers where water had infiltrated and core had rotted. While the core replacement and glasswork went well, I made the mistake of not thoroughly and completely masking off the entire boat while making my repairs. This became visibly apparent when I, unknowingly, stepped into a puddle of epoxy/with filler and proceeded to track it all over the deck. Take care to be very, very careful in prepping and masking off anywhere. This winter I'll be filling the usual bulkhead instrument holes, and under a few stanchions. Hopefully, the work will be uneventful. Since you say that your boat is essentially stock, there are a few changes that have become fairly universal among 7.9 owners. 1) Some sort of fixed vang support, boom-kicker or such. This will eliminate the boom topping lift. No more slapping on the sail, and you can use the line for reefing. 2) The deck mounted turning blocks behind the winches. Most have removed them. They're not really needed, and they're a pain to sit on. You've got an early boat like mine (I have #11), check the pintles on the transom, the mounting hardware on mine was way under-sized. Also on some early boats, the spreader hounds, (where the spreaders meet the mast) was two separate pieces. The single piece that wraps around the mast is preferred. Check your rudder for any slop, fore-aft, side to side, you may have to re-sleeve the bushing. Some of the more hard core racers have removed or replaced the stock steaming light, it sometimes snags the jib when tacking. I should also mention that I completely under-estimated the time it took to make the repairs. Working in a pole barn in Michigan I learned that the temperature in the barn was either 15 degrees hotter than ambient, or 15 degrees colder. This left me with some very narrow time windows when doing the rebuild. Good luck, you've got a great boat.

MnM20 · Post by **MnM20** » Wed Nov 01, 2017 4:39 pm

So far i've attacked the rudder. Lots of carbon added to hopefully make it bullet-proof.

MnM20 · Post by **MnM20** » Wed Nov 01, 2017 4:48 pm

One more photo...

Stef · Post by **Stef** » Thu Nov 02, 2017 7:10 pm

I did something similar with my rudder. Put (2) 1/4" x 2" x 20" stainless steel bars from the near top of the head into the blade. Buried them in below waterline epoxy.