TOPIC: N00b Intro And Sailboat Resto

Hopefully I won't be walking the plank for registering myself in a motorboat forum.
I'm in the middle of a sailboat restoration.
This is my first major fiberglass disaster. I have some limited autobody related glass experience but nothing as big as all this.





I was hoping to inform myself here so hopefully there's some old school sailboat love.
I am an ignoramus polliwog but I have determined that this is a 1930's design that was copied in the 50's and lasted through about 1980.

Welcome aboard, and good luck with your project! You will find a ton of useful information and advice on this forum. They have helped me more than I can say.

Hi Gashog,
The key word here is BOAT whether it is inboard, outboard, paddle or sail.
Also doesn’t matter if it’s wood, fiberglass, aluminum, metal, reed or cardboard. We are all interested in ours, yours and everyone else’s…
We love to see pictures…. Lots of pictures !
No question is too stupid. There are plenty here to answer any and all questions. If you get a “I wouldn’t do that sh*t if I were you”
Don’t take it to heart… take it as experience from someone who tried it before with less than stellar results ?
The collective genius minds here can get you over any hurdle, and when the going gets tough, or you’re about to die of boredom,
We are here to support and cheer you on, and get you back on track.
This site is our little safe haven, man or woman cave, to get away from the daily grind of the chaotic world.

So welcome, and enjoy the victory’s, the heartaches, and the eventual splash down !
Now get to work !!!!!

Kool! No walking the plank then!

I was going to strip the top skin completely but there is quite a bit of good wood despite the water and ant damage.
My original plan was to chop up a bunch of 1/2" AC plywood and glue it all back together with Bondo resin.
I've decided that this idea was stupid and that 12mm end grain balsa is my only sane option....also, since a lot of the deck is still pretty solid, it would be impossible to piece in anything but 12mm balsa and have the skin lay down without voids and pockets of thick epoxy.
That, and digging out good wood is 20 times harder then rot!
I bought a gallon of West System 105 and a quart of hardener.
I just need to bite the bullet and order some wood.
I will spot repair where the cleats, winches and other deck fittings attach. Haven't figured out exactly the best way yet. Probably the same way I'm attacking the bow, just on a smaller scale.
There is a boat on Craigslist here, with a broken mast and chunks ripped out of the deck.
It looks like a big gust of wind ripped the stays right out and the mast snapped the deck step off the compression post.
I don't wish to experience this EVER while under way!

I have resisted owning a boat (other then my 17' Grumman canoe and the kid's Rubbermaid kayaks) because of the money I've watched other people throw in the water.
An old friend begged me to take this boat so was unable to dodge the bullet this time.

So here I am. Restoring a pretty kool sailboat.

I'm at this stage now.
My boat is registered and I have a plate for the trailer.
I replaced the tongue with a new piece of box tubing.
It's a bit heavier then the original one but 20-30Lb isn't going to make any difference.
Plus, the new tube is much stronger then the original one so the trailer should be less bouncy.
I gave it a paint job with some off white Omni acrylic enamel left over from a couple work trucks I painted 5-6 years ago.
I preserved the original Tee Nee decals before I discovered that there is a fairly loyal following of these old trailers, and that repro decals are readily available.

A friend has made up registration number decals so that I can number my boat neatly (not like the mailbox stickers on the hull now).

I bought a piece of 3/4" poplar and whittled it to fit.
I wasn't sure what to use here but the local lumber yard sold me on it.



The bottom skin is half the thickness of the top skin. I think the deck was layed up upside down and then flipped over and glued to the hull.

I need to devise a way to bunk the lower skin so that it doesn't sag while I'm laying down new glass and core.

I'm back to 15/32" CDX for the core.
It fits and I have it on hand. It'll be fine.

I understand the physics of end grain balsa and I'm sure it was the best material for this application at the time.
At this time, however, I think good old CDX will work perfectly and last longer then me.

I'm thinking about drilling holes through the sandwich and clamping it together with 1/4" nuts and bolts through lath on either side.
I was going to bunk it from the bottom with bamboo and scrap pieces of the teak flooring but I think that clamping it will be better.

I thought about it some more and I think I'm going to epoxy and bolt it all together.
There are bolts through the deck into the splashes and cleats so a couple rows of nice stainless round head machine screws would tie it together permanently and look nice.
The plywood has higher compression strength, is more rigid and will restore the original contour to the deck. If I bolt it together, it can't delaminate (which is one of the two advantages of balsa, right?)

Welcome aboard! I think ALL boats are good, motor and sail... Should be a nice daysailer when you're done. What is it? Kinda looks like a O'Day, but not quite. Plywood will be stronger than balsa, but I wouldn't spend the money on epoxy resin. Vinylester is much easier on the wallet and bonds to wood almost as good as epoxy. Polyester resin doesn't bond to wood fer crap. when glssing the underside of the deck, the glass and resin should stick to the underside of the wood just fine. Its a messy job, though. I would glass the top of the deck first, and flip the boat upside down to glass the underside of the deck. Its not like you have a 40' keelboat there.
Larry

Thanks Larry.
I hadn't thought of flipping the boat.
It was all I could do to dry dock it. She's a good 800Lb+

I left the lower skin in tact....Mostly!

I would have liked to separate the whole deck from the hull, but it seemed to fragile and was glued on thoroughly.

This project is now in tandem with my new acquisition.