Winter of 2008-2009 Updates

• New Rudder (and tiller); I loved this project.  It required some creative thinking for getting the profile right.  I used thinner strips of wood for the nose section where the profile changed height more quickly, selection of wood to show contrast, fiberglass to add strength to the trailing edge and water proofing.  The fiberglass cloth was folded and stuffed into a groove in the trailing edge which was then clamped closed with a special homemade 4' long clamp.  The clamp was two sheets of 1/2" plywood 2'x4', hinged on the long side.  After applying the resin and glass and more resin, the trailing end of glass from each side of the rudder were forced into the grove, wax paper laid on the wet epoxy on the grove, and then the grove between the slightly opened plywood sheets was put on top of the wax paper.  Each end of the plywood was pulled down slightly to pinch the grove with the glass closed.  The produced a trailing edge less than 1/8" wide.

• Refurbished grab rails;  After several coats of CPES, epoxy and varnish, they finished up pretty well.  The lighter colored area on the end of each loop indicated the wood absorbed the finish.  That is what I eventually used the epoxy for; to stop the absorption.  See Eucalyptus Trim picture below for the final result.

• New Bottom Paint  What a battle it was.  Thank God this was over.  Can you see the relief on my face?

• The Teak trim was replaced with Eucalyptus trim.  This is a decorative piece along grab rails. The Euc was first saturated with CPES (from the Rot Doctor), then varnished.  CPES is a two part epoxy sealer that penetrates the wood, and hardens.  If you varnish just before it cures (still a bit tacky) the varnish forms a permanent bond with the CPES and wood and should provide years of service.

• New Cabin Cushions (micro fiber faux suede, foam is a combo; 1.5" visco-elastic, 2.5" standard)

• Patch leaks from Floor Planking screws gone bad/too deep. The planks you see are Philippine Mahogany.  They were in bad shape and have been removed.  I plugged the holes with polyurethane glue and made a new cockpit sole plate.  I intend to resurface the seats and sole with Treadmaster anti-slip decking.  See Treadmaster at Defender.com.  Most of the water that entered the cabin came from these holes.  I am looking forward to a dusty bilge.

• Repaint mask on depth gauge display (Done)

• Repaint Compass Bracket (Done)

• Sails Cleaned, Patched, and Repaired (see http://www.linthicumsailmakers.com/ )

• Tell Tails added to Genoa and Mainsails (Linthicum)

• Forward Hatch made water tight (half done)

• New Port lights (1/4" Smoked Lexan):

• Update Schaefer Model #97 Furler.  Bought and installed a new Alado A0 Rolling Furler (www.aladous.com) .  See the finished installation on the Misc. page. 

• Repair/Fill Cracks in the deck/topside gel coat. (Next haul out).

• Re-bed life line stanchions, refurbish life line hardware.  (Next haul out or a slow day when the wind is not blowing).

• Profile Keel to NACA0015 or some other appropriate profile (next haul out).  I don't know the exact profile ratio that I'll use until I've done some more measuring.  As an FYI, 0015 is NACA's code for a 0 skew, 0 offset, and the thickness of widest part is 15% of the chord length.  I have a NACA0015 profile image on the new rudder page.

• Refurbish throttle and gear levers (Done).

• Installed a new Garmin 440s sounder/chart-plotter.  Also installed a Pyle PLMRKIT52 stereo system.  See the Misc. update page.

Final view before rigging:

Rigging the boom with mainsail: