The Carrboro Yacht Club

Cassidy Sold!

2009-02-04T22:49:00.002-05:00

Schoolwork has been taking up the bulk of my time and I've not been able to hoist Cassidy's sails in quite some time. Deciding to sell her was a difficult decision, but obviously the right one. Hopefully her new owners will be able to spend more quality time at the helm. Couldn't have gone to nicer folks and I know that they will treat her well and enjoy sailing Kerr Lake here in NC.

So, it look like a single-handed, single-handed-launch dinghy might be in my future. We'll see.

Found a cool blog post that combines my two loves: geography and sailing. Essentially they used opensource GIS and statistical tools (GRASS and R) to analyze GPS tracks obtained while sailing a Hobie 16. Very cool stuff, and something that I'm anxious to try. A GoogleEarth/Maps mashup would be the cat's meow!

Disaster Averted

2008-07-09T18:18:00.003-04:00

That isn't mud on the wheel.

Well, here it is, the post of shame. This is the short story of how a tiny piece of metal, or the lack thereof, really changed my Independence Day and the following two days.

So, before we left for the lake on the 4th I inspected the trailer, as I always do, and noticed that the Bearing Buddy had come off the hub on the right (starboard) side of my boat trailer. The spindle was exposed but there was plenty of grease in there, so I thought that it would be fine. Big mistake. On the way to the lake I noticed I was low on fuel and decided that I would fill up on the way. Well, I forgot to fill up. Trust me, that part is important.

We got to the lake, had a wonderful day on the boat. We packed up and went along our way home. It was then that I remembered to fill up with gas. While I was filling up I noticed that the trailer hub was smoking. Hmmmm.... not usually a good sign. Upon closer inspection it was clear that there was no longer any bearing inside the hub and the wheel was riding directly on the spindle of the axle. We had been going 45-50mph down a two lane highway with nothing holding the darn wheel on other than the downward force of the boat! Thank goodness for smooth NC highways.

I limped the boat down the road to a boat ramp so we could take a closer look and leave the boat overnight if necessary. When we jacked the trailer up the wheel literally fell off! Literally fell right off the dadgum axle. I can't believe how incredibly close we were to a very, very big mess. It was a two lane road, the only road to and from the lake, and it was very busy with 4th of July traffic. I have horrific visions in my head of an O'Day 22 on it's side in the middle of the road, traffic as far as the eye can see, flashing lights of firetrucks, towtrucks and police. Truthfully though, that would be the best case scenario, what if a car had been right behind me when it fell? What would have happened to the truck? It's not pretty.

So, the next day Aaron and I decided that we'd just press new bearings into the hub and slap it back on. Since there were no bearings left on the hub, it was guesswork to pick out the right size bearings. Well, we guessed wrong, but it didn't really matter because we realized that the spindle was so marred from having the wheel ride on it that it would be unusable. So, we wasted all day Saturday figuring that out. We decided that the only thing to do was to replace the whole axle and hubs. I could've gotten a new spindle pressed in the old axle and a new hub, but once you price both of those things plus labor... better off with a whole new one. Where to find an axle on Sunday morning? Luckily, Tractor Supply came through in a pinch and had the right part... or so we thought. I happily drove to the stranded boat (all 45 miles from my home) with the new axle, foolishly thinking that I'd just bolt it on and be gone in half an hour. Not so, turns out that my axle had 71" spring centers. Modern sizes are 70 and 72 inches. I had gotten a 70". Aaron, always thinking on his feet, decided that we could modify the brackets with an angle grinder. So, off to his house to do that. Back we come, this time more confident than ever that we'd bolt it on and be gone. Foolish. Now the problem was that the U-bolts which hang the axle were too short. Apparently they were for a shorter stack of leaf springs. Hmmmm... two options: find longer u-bolts or remove the bottom two leaves on the springs. Off in search of u-bolts we went. Lowes, Home Depot and 3 auto stores later... no u-bolts. We found about every other size than the ones we needed. So, I got some c-clamps and we decided to modify the springs, no reason for this trailer to have a 6-stack of leaves anyway. In fact, the darn thing was so rigid who knows how much force we were imparting to the wheel bearings, not to mention the boat. So, we pulled off the bottom two leaves and the axle went on like it was supposed to. That felt good, really really good. Oh, forgot to mention that it thunderstormed on us everyday. We finished the repair at 8:45pm in a thunderstorm that had been kicking for the past two hours. We were soaked, tired and very, very happy. Big thanks to Aaron without whom I wouldn't have been able to repair the trailer.

I can't stop thinking about how horrible it would've been if I had remembered to get gas on the way to the lake...

Close Hauled on Independence Day

2008-07-05T11:56:00.004-04:00

Courtney and I went to Jordan Lake with our friends, Aaron and Laura, to celebrate the Fourth of July. I was expecting it to be a madhouse. Indeed, our normal put-in was closed b/c it had reached capacity. We found a new put-in that may become our new default. I don't know where all the boats were, but it seems there were five trailers in the parking lot for every boat I saw on the water. It didn't seem any different than a normal weekend day on the lake. In any case, it was a great day though nearly everything that could go wrong did. First, the motor quit as soon as we had cast off the busy dock. It was low on fuel, but there were additional problems. Luckily, Aaron is "The Motor Whisperer" and tended to the outboard while I did some evasive sailing maneuvers to clear the dock and boats. Turns out that it was low on gas, flooded and the spark plug gap was too big. After Aaron tended to this it ran like a top... only the prop was slipping. Hmmm.... back into the cockpit came the Tohatsu. When we removed the prop we discovered that the pin that kept the prop in place had sheared. This was most likely related to me wrapping a length of 5/16" Sta-Set around the running prop until the rope had sheared. Could be... but no way to tell for sure ;) Luckily Aaron was able to fashion a new pin out of two small cotter pins... brilliant! Problem solved. We sailed about for a while and drank some "Appalachian Mimosas" (lemonade and champagne... err... sparkling cider... yeah, that's it). The sailing was nice though the wind was variable. I somehow got the new Windex set right on the first try. This helps quite a bit. As you can see from the above picture, we were able to point 32.5 degrees off the wind with the sails trimmed down nicely.

Then, something else bad happened... I'll keep you in suspense until I get pictures this afternoon. It ain't pretty, but everyone is OK thanks to a bit of luck.

Something that is pretty though: my new all rope halyards! I replaced the old wire/rope halyards (must've been originals) with 1/4" Sta-Set. Now the head sail and main sail halyards are color-coded for easier handling. I spliced the old shackled onto the new line as they are quite nice captive pin Schaefers. No sense in spending an additional 50 bucks. I whipped them... whipped 'em good. They're wonderful, if a bit stretchy right now. The initial stretch should be gone shortly though.

Algae Threatens Olympic Sailing

2008-06-30T10:43:00.004-04:00

Here is a NYT article discussing how algae blooms in Qingdao could pose a serious problem for the Olympic sailing competition scheduled to take place in six weeks. Officials have begun clean-up efforts and are confident that the waters will be algae free by July 15th. Small boats are scooping the algae from the water and using it to feed animals on local farms. To be fair, China has promised a "Green Olympics".

Algae growth can be accelerated by a combination of conditions including sea temperature and nitrate concentrations. Chinese scientists identify seasonal warming in the Yellow Sea and increased precipitation as responsible for the most recent bloom. However, the common practice of dumping raw sewage into surface waters in China would certainly tend to increase the nitrogen content of the coastal waters. Furthermore, runoff water rich in minerals due to soil erosion and agricultural fertilization supply additional N to the mix; an effect that would be exagerrated by increased precipitation. Interestingly, this phenomenon (nitrogen eutrophication for my nerds out there) has been linked with fish kills in the estuarial waters of North Carolina and other Atlantic locales.

Some interesting things from a political perspective:

"Media reports estimate as many as 20,000 people have either volunteered or been ordered to participate in the operation, while 1,000 boats are scooping algae out of the Yellow Sea."

"On Tuesday, [Beijing] will begin removing 300,000 high-polluting vehicles, mostly trucks, from local roads. Later in July, the city will institute temporary restrictions to remove half of all vehicles from the streets."

"But air quality remains such a problem that officials also are preparing contingency plans that could force temporary factory shutdowns across much of northern China if conditions warrant."

Zac Sunderland's Circumnavigation Attempt

2008-06-17T08:50:00.002-04:00

On Sunday, June 14th Zac Sunderland began his quest to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe alone in a yacht. He left Marine Del Ray in CA in his 1972 36' Islander Intrepid.

Zac has a lifetime of sailing experience and is saltier than most. Wish him luck and keep track of his voyage on his blog.

How to Take a Dog Sailing

2008-06-14T18:20:00.002-04:00

You will need:
1) A Dog
2) A Sailboat
3) A Dog PFD

Helpful tips:
1) Get a PFD with a handle on the back, you can tie a line to this, just in case
2) Ice Packs: the refreezable kind can slide underneath the dog PFD and helps to keep them cool
3) Bring plenty of ice water and a dog bowl

Axl did much better than I thought he would. Other than being really hot, I think he had a really good time. He's not big on swimming... but he's good at it. The handle on the back of his PFD (Outward Hound is the brand) allowed us to dunk him in the water to cool down while under way. It is also good for tying a line to.

It was Courtney's first time on the boat since it was finished. We had a great time and got off the lake before a storm blew in. The wind was inconsistent and mostly still, but it wasn't nearly as hot as it has been. Lots of powerboaters and jetskis. I've decided that the only people that like jetskis are the folks riding them.

Anyway, I guess that's the way it's going to be now, sailing logs and pics only. A few more projects that I could post about (electrical, cabin aesthetics, etc.) but those are low on the totem pole since I can go sailing. One thing I will be doing shortly is replacing the halyards (wire and rope) with all rope (probably 1/4" Sta-Set X). I learned how to make an eye-splice and an end splice in preparation for this. My first one came out beautifully! There is a link on the right where you can find instructions. They are good, but I would definitely recommend reading them through once or twice before beginning. It is easy to get confused when you start threading the pieces into each other. Also, I was able to do a good job with 1/4" Sta-Set without a proper fid. I used a long steel finishing nail with the tip ground smooth.

Splash!

2008-06-07T23:18:00.003-04:00

Went to Jordan Lake with some friends for the boat's "new inaugural" voyage. Wind was nonexistent most of the day, but picked up to a consistent 5-6 knots for a little while.

Done!

2008-06-05T19:04:00.006-04:00

Well, as much as any boat is ever done, that is. Which is to say, there's always a list of projects. I have finished all of the projects that I started over a year ago and the boat can finally be sailed. The last push involved reinstalling a handful of cleats, clasps, hinges and the stemhead (at least that's what I think it's called). I also had to reinstall the rubber rubrail insert. This was great exercise for the hands! I also decided to paint the cabin interior with white paint, as I had removed the old vinyl liner. In fact, the paint is still drying as I write this.

Reinstalling the Stemhead

The stemhead had an interesting aspect of reinstallation. The problem was that the two forward bolts went through an uncored portion of deck and the aft bolts through a cored section. On the underside this created a ridge. The original installation procedure used what appeared to be very stiff cardboard as a backing plate. Once torqued this material conformed to the ridge. I was not satisfied with this and felt that since this component received a great deal of force it should have a proper backing plate. The obvious problem is that a properly stiff backing plate wouldn't sit flat on the underside of the deck owing to the cored vs. noncored ridge betwixt the fore and aft bolts. I decided that I would fashion a custom backing plate out of fiberglass and use thickened epoxy to fill the void between the underside of the deck and the plate. I layed up around 12-14 layers of medium weight fiberglass (sorry, don't remember the actual weight) over several days. The glass was kept smooth by squeeging it between two layers of wax paper. I then created a pattern of cardboard which I test fit and then cut the fiberglass to shape. I thickened West System epoxy with colloidal silica until it was a nonsagging, frosting consistency. I waited until it was slightly tacky so that it would hold the plate into position and fixed it into position. The cardboard template and duct tape was used to hold it into position while the epoxy kicked. I was happy to see that the epoxy had completely filled the gap and oozed up through the bolt holes. I then redrilled the bolt holes and installed the stemhead in the normal manner.

Wrapping It Up
So, I am really looking forward to blogging about sailing this vessel instead of working on it! In truth, working on this boat has been a real pleasure, and I purchased it with full intentions of doing just that. I suppose that things got slightly out of hand and ended up taking much longer than I thought they would. Someone gave some advice to a new boat owner on the SBO forums which was something like, "don't set a time frame, you will overshoot it and become frustrated." Never a truer word has been spoken. If you ever decide to do something like this, just enjoy the adventure and don't cut corners. In retrospect, I might have been better served by starting one project at a time and not starting another until I had finished. Oh well, we live and learn and I've had a blast doing this.

All that's left to do is test raise the mast to readjust the standing rigging and commissioning the outboard. Tohatsu's are tough little motors and I don't anticipate any problems with it. It's a two-stroke after all, basically an underpowered chainsaw attached to a prop instead of a chain. I plan on removing the sparkplug and spraying WD-40 into the cylinder to overcome any starting friction. I have also pulled all of the electronics and am busy rewiring them. Several of the panel switches are bad and need to be replaced. Also, the wiring was not well organized or labeled, a problem that is easily remedied. I am consulting Nigel Calder's Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual for boat wiring info. I highly recommend this book, my father gave it to me as a gift and it has been very handy.

Hoisting the sails.

Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated

2008-05-28T10:40:00.023-04:00

Having not posted anything in nearly one year, it seems an appropriate time for an update.

I've nearly finished all of my projects. The boat is repainted and the boat has been mostly reassembled.

For completeness I will run through the projects that have been completed since I last posted:

Reinstalling the Cabin Sole

The top fiberglass "skin" of the cabin sole was fastened onto the new balsa core with a ketchup consistency mixture of epoxy and colloidal silica. The fiberglass was held in place with many, many sand bags and a few bags of concrete. I am guessing that I put between 350 and 400 pounds of weight on the floor. Seams were faired with a frosting consistency mixture of epoxy and West System Microlight 410. I couldn't be happier with the way this turned out. The floor is super solid now and looks great. I painted the sole with the same Interdeck nonskid that is on the decks. I can't seem to find all of the photos of this process.

Hatch Repair

The forward hatch was cracked in the middle of its forward edge. I decided to put a fiberglass "band-aid" on top of this area. The repair is mostly cosmetic, but should add a bit of strength. I decided to reinforce the back edge in the same manner. Around four layers of fiberglass were applied (each piece successively larger, see Don Casey's books for more info). The repair was faired into the rest of the hatch and the area was sanded.

Deck Repair

I found a bad spot on the starboard side around the forward portion of jib track. There were a couple of leaking pieces of hardware there and that had ruined the core. I found the extent of the rot by drilling holes outward from the bad region, I then cut the top portion of fiberglass off and dug out the bad wood. New balsa core was epoxied in place. I then layed up a new fiberglass deck in this area. This was my first experience with fiberglass and I didn't find it to be too challenging. As with everything the key is good preparation. I did many layers, many more than I thought would be necessary. It should be very strong here.

Painting

The entire painting process took forever. It is an endless cycle of sanding, sanding, cleaning, painting, sanding, sanding, painting... ad infinitum. I put on two coats of primer, three coats of Brightsides, and two coats of Interdeck. I used the "roll and tip" method for the Brightsides and got a reasonably shiny finish, there are many many variables in getting a good finish but the most important are: substrate preparation (sand and clean) and the paint/thinner mix:

Masking out the non-skid areas was a very tedious task. I didn't get it exactly perfect, but I think it looks respectable. I got some vinyl fine-line tape from an automotive store and outlined all the non-skid areas. I then masked out the rest of the exterior with normal blue painter's tape. Corners were radiused by tracing a quarter and cutting the tape, an idea I borrowed from Tim's excellent restoration of Glissando.

So, that was painting. I don't think I've ever been so happy to be done with something. It looks pretty good, but the true test will be to see how it holds up. I wouldn't do this again if I didn't have access to an indoor painting facility. It took forever because I was a limited by weather. Warm enough to paint = warm enough for copious amounts of insects here in the South.

Putting it back together

I first reinstalled the windows. I spent a long time cleaning these up in my shop. The aluminum frames are not in too bad shape, pitted here and there but in decent condition. I used a synthetic steel wool (real steel will leave deposits that will rust) and aluminum polish to make them shiny. I used 3M 4200 to bed them back in their openings; the frames were tightened just enough to make the 4200 ooze out. After the sealant had cured for a few days the frames were tightened fully.

This is essentially the process for the entire deck, rebed the equipment in sealant, snug them down, wait for the sealant to cure and then crank the hardware down tight. After the deck had been painted it was impossible to see where the hardware was previously installed from above. In some cases I drilled a small pilot from underneath to locate the hardware. I consulted photos of the rigged cockpit I had taken previously just to make sure things were going where they belonged.

There weren't any real surprises throughout the deck rebuilding process. The only problem is that it is mostly a two person job, one on the bolt and one on the nut. In some cases small pieces of hardware were previously installed with screws. I have replaced all of these with bolts all the way through. Backing plates were installed on some hardware and very wide washers on others.

A point of interest is the new mast step/organizer plate combo that I got from Rudy at D&R Marine. I bought the new SS tabernacle to replace the original cast aluminum piece. The original used one large bolt through the center of the cabin roof with two screws to hold it in place. At some point in this boats life the screws had been replaced and three medium sized bolts held it in place. It was not a pretty setup as the bolts went through the cabin top at an angle and had broken the headliner. The new tabernacle uses four bolts. Unfortunately the bolt patterns for the halyard organizer plate and the tabernacle didn't line up. Three drill bits and a lot of cursing later I had the two pieces mated. Additionally, the tabernacle pin on the mast had to be relocated to accommodate the new equipment. Drilling this hole was nerve wracking and I spent a lot of time measuring and remeasuring prior. Getting the alignment right for the tabernacle itself was equally critical and challenging. Boats this old have changed a lot over time and are twisted, warped and contorted in subtle but important ways. In my case the headliner centerline and the boat's true center were not perfectly aligned, this makes the measurement process tricky. In the end, it went in beautifully and I am really proud of it.

The cabin was also reassembled. To my happy surprise the compression post went back in nice and snug (after jacking the cabin roof up about a quarter of an inch). Unfortunately, during this process I managed to put a crack in the floor. It is along an area that has no core and will not receive any weight. This is going to have to wait to get fixed. Disappointing, but it is hardly noticeable and should not affect on the structural integrity of the cabin floor. I then set about reinstalling the bulkheads and putting the galley back together.

I think that I can get the boat ready to sail in one more push. There is only one somewhat major piece of hardware to reinstall: the stemhead. This has a challenging aspect to it that I will describe soon. Other than that it is mainly cosmetic stuff inside the cabin and a few odds and ends like the compass and some cam cleats. In a fit of frustration I also pulled all of the electronics out and bought a new battery. I am going to redo this at my leisure as lights aren't required on a vessel this size anyway.

So, that's it. It's nearly time to go sailing.

A lot of work done

2007-06-23T09:45:00.000-04:00

I have been spending way more time working on the boat than blogging about it, but since it is raining I will post an update. I don't know where to start, but here is a quick summary of what has been done since the last post:

* cabin sole close to completion: new balsa core installed, fiberglass skin installed, seams glassed, currently fairing the seams
* starboard deck repair completed and faired.
* entire deck faired with epoxy fairing compound.
* rubrail removed, insert soaked in cleaning solution (hot water and Simple Green), insert scrubbed with synthetic steel wool
* cockpit sole issue addressed: core gone here too (didn't know that); not going to replace it b/c I want to sail, instead I drilled many holes and injected epoxy, faired these repairs flush
* entire boat sanded multiple times, wiped with Interlux 202 wash and primed with PreKote
* PreKote primer sanded with 150 grit, washed withe Interlux 333 and primed again
* Second coat of primer sanded again with 150 grit, wiped with 333, and the first coat of Brightsides applied.

This is where I'm at right now. Again, the weather has been my main adversary in this process. I get prepared to put the final coat of paint on and then I hear the rumble of an approaching thunderstorm. I have to wait for a weekend morning to finish the job, but the end is near! I can feel it.

Here are some pics (they were taken with my phone so they are poor quality):

The balsa core installed

The solid epoxy ring I created surrounding the inspection port. This was the source of the original water intrusion, so I made sure that wouldn't happen again

The cockpit prepared for painting. The "swiss-cheese" holes that were filled with epoxy can be seen:

The cockpit after one coat of primer

Finally an update

2007-05-01T08:40:00.000-04:00

After a long hiatus from boatwork (due to the weather being too cold for epoxy to set up) I have returned and completed a lot of work. It is actually starting to look like this project may come together.

I ordered the supplies to paint the deck:

As you can see, I have chosen to use the one-part Interlux product: Brightside and its associated primers and surface prep. We are going to use Interlux Interdeck for the non-skid parts. This is a one-part polyurethane with texture already mixed in. The texture paint is beige and the other is the plain white (who knew that there were 1500 different shades of white?).

Hopefully the deck will be ready soon for the paint. They have been completely stripped of hardware (a much bigger job than I anticipated) and all the mounting holes have been 'potted' with epoxy. This is the process described by Don Casey in his book "Sailboat Hull and Deck Repair", which has become my personal bible. Essentially you remove the hardware, dig the core material out about 1/2" to 1" around the hole, fill with unthickened epoxy (to "wet it out"), drain the unthickened epoxy, inject thickened epoxy (I used West System 406 colloidal silica filler), then sand flush with the deck. Some fairing is generally required after this, I have been using the West System 410 low density fairing filler for this.

I have also sanded the entire deck with 60/80/120 grit sandpaper on my random orbital sander (thanks Courtney!) which is pretty much my favorite tool. This was a ton of very nasty work. The no-skid portions of the deck had to be completely sanded off so the paint would apply correctly. I know that some people choose not to do this, but I wanted a very finished look. Unfortunately, there is more sanding in my future because getting a mirror finish will require sanding the two coats of primer with 220 to remove any sags/drips/brushmarks. I keep reminding myself that this will all be worth it.

So, before I can paint I need to finish fairing the decks. This is mostly touch up work with the exception of one major portion on the starboard side just aft of the sidestay chainplates:
Surprise! When I was potting the mounting holes for the starboard jib sheet track I realized that a large portion of the deck was rotten. Luckily, I had a lot of leftover 3/8" scored and scrimmed balsa core material from the cabin sole replacement (pictures and narrative coming soon) so I started emergency open deck surgery. First I drilled exploratory holes radiating outwards from where I first found the rot to determine the extent of the damage. I then used my circular saw (thanks Dad!) to cut the top portion of fiberglass off. It did not come off nicely like the cabin sole, so I knew that I would now learn to fiberglass. I scraped out all of the rotten core material, sanded the repair area and sealed the edges of the good core with thickened epoxy. I cut/sanded/cut/sanded all of the balsa pieces to fit snugly in the repair area and then troweled some thickened epoxy in the repair area. The pieces fit like a glove, it is so easy to work with this balsa core material. After this had kicked I covered the entire surface of the balsa with more thickened epoxy and faired the surface. Then it was time to fiberglass. I layed down three layers (cut in increasingly larger sizes), waited for the epoxy to gel, then I layed down three more. I was using 6oz fiberglass cloth which when wetted out with epoxy becomes very, very thin. The next day I layed sanded down the repair edges to a nice bevel and layed down three more layers of fiberglass cloth. I believe that three more layers, for a total of 12, should bring the surface close to fair with the surrounding deck. It will then be faired with thickened epoxy and sanded in preparation for painting.

I have also been refinishing the exterior teak. The wood was severely weathered and the varnish, what was left of it, was flaking off. It was in horrible condition. After a ton of sanding I got the grab rails, hatch sliders, companionway sliders and toerail down to naked teak. Unfortunately, this removed a lot of wood, but not enough to significantly weaken the parts. I went to Home Depot and bought some Watco teak oil and applied three heavy coats to everything. It has been drying/soaking in for about three days now and is nearly ready for a few more coats. It looks fantastic! I think it will take around eight coats of oil in the end. What a difference:
The above picture compares a grabrail with one coat of teak oil to a bare hatch slider. The Watco gives a somewhat darker appearance then I had hoped for. I am not sure if the oil is completely to blame as 30+ years of UV exposure would certainly account for some of the darkening of the wood. At this point I am conflicted about whether I should varnish after many more coats of oil or just plan on wiping on some more teak oil on a regular basis. Most likely I will opt for the latter as I am growing tired of spending major $ and time on this project and would really like to go sailing.

I have also begun to remove the entire rubrail from the boats envelope. I have contemplated replacing the entire rail and insert (it is very weathered and brittle) but that will cost an additional $150 to $200. I think that I will just clean it up as best I can and remount it with some fresh caulk (3M fast cure 4200). Using 4200 (as opposed to 5200) will allow me to remove the rail in the future if I decide to replace it. I also intend on remounting all of the hardware with the 4200 compound (with the exception of the portlights which should be reinstalled with silicon).

I have ordered new sidestay chainplates, from D&R marine, because the existing plates were of the homegrown variety (3/8" SS eyebolts through aluminum plate backers) and I don't trust them. There are many horror stories in the OdayOwners forums about losing the stick due to failed sidestay chainplates. I also ordered a new SS mast tabernacle because the original aluminum casting is very cheap/flimsy/crap. Since I am replacing the mast step I am going to go ahead and install a halyard organizer plate underneath with the intentions of running the halyards aft to the cockpit. This will require new halyards, which the boat needs anyway (I think the existing ones are the originals and I really wouldn't like to douse my sails unintentionally!). The plate was also ordered from Rudy at D&R marine. The new mast step will be great and hopefully I can mount electrical connections directly on it as opposed to on the deck where they are easily tripped over. I am not having much luck finding a four lead deck connector though(I would like to combine the steaming and masthead lights wires into one connection).

It looks like at least another few weeks of work to get her in the water. Left to do:
*finish the starboard deck repair: more fiberglass, fairing, sanding
*complete fairing the deck
*one last sanding with 120 on the entire deck
*epoxy the top 'skin' of the cabin sole back on, fiberglass the seams, fair and sand
*remount rubrail
*paint the decks and cabin sole: prime, prime, sand, wash, paint, paint, tape off no-skid, paint, paint
*remount all deck hardware with 3M 4200 sealant: craft new SS backing plates for most hardware, drill new mounting holes, rebed the hardware, finger tighten, allow to cure, fully tighten
*install new mast step with organizer plate and electrical connections
*remount the portlights with silicon sealant
*learn how to crimp coaxial cable for the VHF antenna
*replace halyards with new all-rope halyards long enough to be led aft
*clean the hull interior and carpet the cabin walls. (this might have to wait)
*reinstall the bulkheads and cabinets in the cabin
*drop her in the water and hoist the sails!

How an O'Day Loses Its Sole

2006-12-04T08:01:00.000-05:00

I finally started the process of repairing the cabin sole. This is necessary because the balsa core was rotten due to an unsealed cut in the floor. In order to cut the top skin of laminate off I was going to require access to the entire floor area, which meant I had to remove the galley, bulkheads and compression post. The first step was to disassemble the galley. This was an exercise in contortion.
With the galley fully removed it was time to get the bulkheads and compression post out. This required the cabin roof to be jacked up slightly. I rigged a satisfactory device from a 2x4, 2x8, some towels and my truck jack.
It worked really well, and I was able to free the compression post with less than 1/2" of lifting. After removing the post I was surprised to see very little compression of the floor or roof. I would later find out that the core underneath the post was only saturated and not completely rotten. The bulkheads were removed by unbolting the chainplates and unscrewing the settees.

It was then time to prepare the sole for removing the top skin. I purchased a circular saw blade with the most teeth could find (155 finish blade). To prevent splintering and reduce the amount of fiberglass dust I taped the area to be cut with duct tape. I set the blade depth to about 1/2" and crossed my fingers. The circular saw did fine, but couldn't get the corners because of obstructions. I used a hand saw to deeply score the corners and then lifted the top skin off. To my happy surprise the scored corners snapped perfectly with no splintering. Now the rotten core was exposed:As you can see, much of the floor was rotten. I used a 4" putty knife to scrape the rotten core out. The only plus side of the wood being this rotten is the ease with which it comes out. Some of the core was not rotten, but all of it was completely saturated. In fact, water was splashing in my face when I hit it with the knife. It became clear that I needed to cut even more skin off, so I cut all the way forward to the vee berth and pulled this skin off. The core under this area was not rotten but soaked. It didn't come out very easy (I took this as a good sign) but I managed to pry all of it out.I was pleased to find that I had managed to get all of the wooden core out of the sole. The sole is solid fiberglass a couple of inches inward of the berths (the fiberglass can be seen in the top right portion of the above photograph). Also, it seems there is solid plywood underneath the footing for the table leg. Strange that this area (very little compressive force) would be reinforced with a solid material when underneath the compression post was not.

So, now the rotten wood is out and I am allowing the area to dry out while I track down a suitable replacement material. The original material was scored 3/8" end-grain balsa with a thin fabric backing. This material is available from a number of suppliers and it's price is comparable with the same area of 3/8" marine grade ply. I can get the plwood in town but must order the balsa core. I am also investigating the possibility of foam coring such as Divinycell. Anyway, I will post again when I have the materials and it is warm enough here in NC to cure epoxy.

Pirate Hunting with Mikey

2006-11-19T20:31:00.000-05:00

Sailing twice in two days! Mikey and I took the boat out to Jordan Lake again today. The conditions were a bit better than yesterday. This means that we had 3-4 knot winds for about two hours. We were able to travel under sail for about an hour and a half until everything became completely calm. Even though we didn't keep our sails full for very long we were still able to travel further on the lake than I had ever gone.
Mikey thought he saw a large Pirate ship in the distance so we went to investigate. Luckily (for them) it was a false alarm. Mikey was itching to fire our cannon. Turned out to be a large party barge (think MTV spring break). Another would be pirate ship turned out to be a loon. After the winds died down we decided to explore the lake using the iron jib. We motored out around an island and into a few coves. I scoped some nice places for Courtney and I to anchor and spend the night.

Courtney called me while we were on the lake and said that she and her friend, Katie, were on the dock waiting for us. We picked them up and went for a short ride before it got dark. The boat wasn't crowded at all with four of us in the cockpit, I was pleasantly surprised. Katie took the helm and piloted us for a while before we let the autohelm take us into the dock (well, almost all the way in). Breaking the boat down with four people is great! Everything went much quicker with four sets of hands. All in all, a great two days on the lake. Courtney and I might get to take her out once before we head to Morehead City for Cassidy's first salt water trials.

Yachting with John

2006-11-18T23:29:00.000-05:00

Today John and I went to Jordan Lake. I was expecting the wind to be fairly calm, but hoped for at least a constant 5mph. It was a beautiful day, about 57 degrees and partly cloudy. There were lots of fisherman out taking advantage of the weather.

John and I stepped the mast and rigged her up in record time. She was floating in no time. Of course, as soon as we were ready to motor out, about five fishing boats lined up right behind us. No problem, just made it a bit tighter there. I think the fishing boats expect my boat to be as nimble as theirs... it is not. Anyway, we launched without managing to ram or tick off the other boaters and we were off. Motored out a bit and raised the sails. We got in the slot and were cruising at a good clip in 5-6 mph wind for about thirty or forty minutes. Then the wind completely died and the lake surface turned to glass. We decided to make the best of the situation by dropping the sails and motoring about for a while.

I thought it might be a good time to try out the autohelm. It worked like a charm! I don't know what I expected but this thing is a dream! We pointed her at the dock from about half a mile out and both stood on the bow as she cruised for about twenty minutes. The picture shows what a simple setup it is. The mainsheet system is also visible in this shot, it really makes for an open, uncluttered cockpit.

Wish we had better wind, but it was fun anyway. My friend Mikey is in town so we are going to go again tomorrow. Hopefully we will have more favorable conditions. Also, Courtney and I are taking the boat to saltwater on Dec. 8th. We intend to cruise the Outer Banks near Hatteras Lighthouse for a day, but more on that later. This will likely be Cassidy's last sail for the winter. I am busy planning my winter boat projects and am anxious to start.

First Sail on the New Boat!

2006-11-04T18:40:00.000-05:00

The couple who sold us the boat were nice enough to take us out on a 'training run' today. Courtney and I met them at Ebenezer Point at Jordan Lake near Wilsonville NC. It was an absolutely beautiful day for a sail, a bit chilly but not shivering cold. They walked us through the rigging process in the parking lot and then we dropped her in the drink. She floated, so the first test was passed. The motor cranked right up and we piloted her out into the wind. The wind was mild and a bit inconsistent, but I think this was probably perfect for our first time out. Bob helmed her for a tack or two and then I took control of the tiller. I got the hang of it pretty quick, but like I said, it was pretty easy going out there. We tooled around with a few tacks and a jibe and then brought her in to drop off Bob and Poem. They were great and we really appreciate them taking us out. It must be odd to drive off with your old boat in the background, but they are racing J24's now so they are still active in the sport. I think that racing fast boats appeals more to Bob who is an engineer and is thus very in tune with the physics of the boat. I hope that I understand it as well one day. So then Courtney and I got our first one on one time with the boat. It went a bit better than I expected, and way better than Courtney expected. This boat is very forgiving and comfortable. We got through six to eight tacks and got better every time. It was a bit harder going downwind, especially because the wind kept dying and changing directions. Anyway, we got her back to the dock and up on the trailer without a hitch. It took us a while to derig her, but I think that we will get much faster once we both understand what we need to do. In conclusion, a wonderful day out on the lake! My face hurts from grinning so much, and Courtney liked it a lot more than she thought she would. We can't wait to take her out again (maybe tomorrow!).

Scrubbed and Stepped

2006-11-03T08:09:00.000-05:00

I have been pretty busy the past week and haven't gotten to spend too much time on the boat. I did spend a couple of hours scrubbing the deck and inside the cabin. She looks great now:

I went over every last inch of the deck with a sponge and several brushes. Not only does the boat look much better, but it allowed me to get acquainted with every little chip, crack or pit in the gelcoat. All in all, very good condition.

Invited John and Brian over to take a peek and step the mast:

The mast went up very easily, I don't think that Courtney and I will have any trouble getting it up by ourselves.

Tried out the running rigging, everything looks pretty good. This O'Day has the A-Frame style mainsheet system. Many 22's have a triangular plate on the backstay to which the mainsheet system is attached. This is good for a few reasons and bad for many others. I think I will be pretty happy with the current setup, but I may investigate the options for a traveler. Also considering running the halyards aft, should make singlehanding easier.

The sails look terrific, there are some on my flickr. Have a main and a 150 jenny. A normal jib would be nice to have at some point.

Anyway, don't have much time for a proper update. We are going sailing on Saturday with the boats last owners. I can't wait to helm her for the first time!

Welcome to the Carrboro Yacht Club!

2006-10-27T17:21:00.000-04:00

We bought this 1973 O'Day 22 on October 26, 2006:

Her name is/was "Y Knot", but we will most likely rename her "Cassidy"

This is our first boat of any type. Courtney and I have helmed only Hobies and Sunfish before, and only a limited number of times. We are looking forward to learning how to sail on this boat. We plan on documenting our experience on this blog.

We paid $3500 for the boat and trailer. After doing my homework, I came to the conlusion that this was a pretty good deal because of the condition of the boat and all the extras. The sails (main and genoa) are bright and very crisp, they are custom cut by Rolly Tasker and are less than one year old. The trailer is galvanized with good lights. The boat has a VHF radio, furling system, couple of year old 3.5HP Tohatsu, and both the standing and running rigging is in great condition. Everything looks very structurally sound.

We have owned her for less than 24 hours and I already am starting "to do" and wish lists. Aside from giving her a thorough inside and out scrubbing, I hope to be able to:

1) Paint topside: the original gelcoat is in good condition. There is no crazing on the hull, but the boat has lost its shine. We are considering color schemes, I vote for all white but Courtney favors a red or blue boat. I think Carolina blue would look great (go to hell Dook). We would also like to redo the no-skid portions of the deck.

2) Replace rubrail: it is a bit stained and old, if the rest of the boat is shiny it is going to stand out and look pretty bad

3) Replace wood on engine mount: the block is a bit swollen, no big deal and should be pretty cheap. Maybe I cand find a plastic one.

4) Paint the name: I have some ideas for a design. I will draw them up in Illustrator and post them soon. A sign shop could do a good job painting it on, or maybe I could get some sort of decal. I understand that changing the name is considered sacrilege by many sailors, but I plan on performing an elaborate renaming ceremony that I hope will level our debt to Neptune.

5) Replace forward hatch: this hatch install was DIY and has seen better days. It looks like this could be very pricey, probably won't happen for a while.

6) Reinforce cabin floor: a bit squishy in a few places, there are cracks in the gelcoat and it has oil-canned a bit. I have no idea what scale project this is, or how to go about it. I am looking forward to getting the Don Casey's Illustrated Sailboat Maintenance book.

I could probably go on, but I will stop here. This will be a good start, and I am sure that I will find many more things as we move forward.