#426 Refurb/Rework Thread

So after numerous consultations with experts, and influenced by my general abhorrence of fiberglass mat, I decided to use just 6oz cloth.

I got a few yards of 38" wide 6oz fiberglass cloth from Jamestown Distributors along with a Gallon of Polyester Resin, 4 oz. of hardener, a gallon of Acetone, and some "Captain's Blue" resin dye from New England Marine and Industrial.

When the Marine Tex we put over the straps and in the cracks had cured, we sanded everything down and cleaned it with Acetone. we then laid the rudder on a large piece of fiberglass cloth, and cut out the shape of the rudder plus about 4" extra to wrap over. We cut some reliefs and made a plan, and mixed up our first batch. 16oz of Resin was plenty for each coat. We put some blocks in the middle of the rudder with some double-sided tape to stand it up off the cardboard, and coated the wraparound pieces of fiberglass with resin to keep the cloth in place. We then flipped the rudder over and did the entire first side with a foam roller and paintbrush. We waited for that coat to harden a bit (about an hour or so), then repeated the process. We left the rudder under heat lamps and out of the rain for the night. You can see the results in the first and second pictures.

The following day, we came back and sanded down the side upon which we laid the 4" of extra cloth, leaving the side with the full coat on it untouched. You can see the results in the third picture. We then laid that side down on another full piece of cloth, and cut out an exact size panel, leaving no extra for wraparound. We flipped it over, and did two coats on this side, again leaving it under heat lamps for the night.

The following day, we sanded down any rough and bubbly spots around the edges. The worst spots were the area where the rudder posts should rest, and the prop cutout. After some deliberation, I completely blew those areas out with a Dremel. We decided that there was absolutely NO WAY the brass rods would fit into the radius if we left the fiberglass in place. We decided to hit those areas with a strong coat or two of evenly painted resin only.

We then cut out a number of ~4" strips of fiberglass tape, which by the way was a godsend. The edges are "singed" so the cloth doesn't unravel when you try to work with it. Using the acetone, I wiped the edges in order to make the resin tacky again. I then laid the strips around the edges with slight overlap, using the tacky resin (almost like spray mount) in order to keep them taut. We then mixed up one more batch, and covered all the cloth tape and holidays (mostly the outer edge, crown, and prop cutout) with a coat of resin. We also used this opportunity to coat the rudder shaft areas with some resin. You can see the results of this step in the fourth picture.

The last steps will be to do some touch up sanding, cut out the hardware pockets with an X-ACTO knife, put all the hardware back in with the shafts, Marine Tex the pockets and shaft-rudder junctions, Cover the hardware pockets with some fiberglass cloth tape + resin, and slap on some bottom paint. I'm pretty psyched with how it's coming along!

Hi All,

I'm getting closer to my launch date, and still can't find a good resource for rigging advice. Does anyone have any high quality photos of their rigged up Ariel? Any handwritten instructions or anything like that? The previous captain of my boat is unable to guide me through my first season due to health reasons, and I don't want to mess anything up! Any info would be much appreciated, and could be emailed to me: JurisG@Ximedica.com

Thanks!

She's in, and running fabulously. 426 is back in action and the rudder is holding strong. Took it for an epic sail on Tuesday night - the GPS was reading 7 knots on one good tack.

I have a classic story, and a question. First the question.

I want to purchase a Loos Rig Tension Gauge because I once sailed a Catalina 22' whose mast snapped off in a Gale. No one got hurt, but we got lucky. Does anyone have any tension numbers for the Ariel? How can I figure out what to Tune to? Unfortunately, the manual is on the boat so I can't check if the numbers are in there, but I don't remember seeing them.

Now the story. One of the last things I did before she went in the water was to check the sink drain. It looked good, but I was so nervous about it that I fastened a pipe clamp and some chain to it with a clip on the end. I then screwed a door handle to the wooden frame piece the sink is mounted on and connected them. Just in case.

When she got dropped in the water, I instantly began having engine troubles; it was cutting out after starting and running for about 20 seconds. After using my starter motor to get to the nearest dock, we determined the carb needed replacement - it was gumming up. In order to access it, we had to remove the entire wooden frame upon which the sink is mounted. You guessed it, as soon as we pulled the sink drain, water started pouring into the boat as predicted by the Association's manual. But, due to the mod I put on there at the behest of the manual, we were able to bungee the drain tube up through the hatch to one of the stanchions, keeping the water out of the boat while we did the work. Check out the image below.

Also, since it's her first time in the water in a couple of years, I have heeded the advice of the last newsletter (regarding ethanol's solvent properties) and have about 6 filters on board. I've already gone through three, which were FILLED WITH CRAP that the ethanol cleaned off the inside of the gas tank. As soon as the engine stalls once, I know it's time to swap the filter. I'll get past it eventually.

To the Association, thanks for all the hard work putting this useful information together. I absolutely love this boat!

Calibrating between the Loos gauges is questionable, given the "accuracy" of the gauges themselves. In other words, my gauge might read 22 while yours might read 25 for the same shroud's tension.

Our gauge's reading are, however, used as an index to repeat the tension we previously set -- such as after we remove the wires to re caulk the chain plates, and because we loosen the back stay after sailing/racing to lower the pressure on the system.

Bill, I don't have my manual with me (it's on the boat). Are the numbers you use as an index in the manual, or do you have them elsewhere?

BOAT WRECKED SEE:

http://www.pearsonariel.org/discussi...-Marshfield-MA