I BELIEVE the best part about a forum is...
differing opinions. Without differing opinions we cannot take an honest look at anything and make our own considered decision. So let me say thank-you to you Mike and to Ebb and to anyone else that offers their opinions when I ask a question. Because the more view points that are presented the better the decision I can make.
Mike you make some very valid points. And the fact of the matter is I will most likely run out of boat money before I complete the refit. That is why I am concentrating on labor intensive projects where the material costs are low. This economy has my income way, way down and until it picks up some boat money is going to be scarce.
My personality drives me to make things as perfect as I am capable of doing. If I ignore something that is obviously wrong to me it drives me nuts every time I look at it from then on. So since I was planning to lay the 6oz glass on the lower part of the keel where the gelcoat was sanded through previously anyway I figured I would address the humps in the keel which was the very first thing I noticed when I first inspected the boat. My post was more about asking the correct approach to fair the keel than if I should do it at all. Trust me I'm nuts enough already and don't need a lumpy keel to look at every time the boat is out of the water to drive me further over the edge. :)
As far as glassing in the end of the ballast I had actually cut the biax to do exactly that first and then changed my mind at the last minute. But I may still follow your advice because I believe the foam around the ballast will do more absorbing of water than draining of it. And there is already a plug in the bottom of the keel installed by the previous owner but as he tells it he never got much water out because the foam holds onto the water so well and does not let it drain.
Mike I am VERY impressed with the work you have done on the Princess as I am with Ebb's workmanship. I will follow your lead on many of the things you have done most importantly the electric inboard drive. But my personality is a little differant from yours so I am pushed to do some things a little differant. I can't help myself it is who I am.
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Well it's been a while so I thought I would post an update.
The economy is taking it's toll on me but I'm still able to squeeze out some money here and there for the boat. Until recently the weather outside was so hot and humid that I spent time working in the wood shop which I could cool until the weather finally cooled down outside.
All the wood topsides will be new in this stage of the restoration. And I have most of the pieces fabricated to the point where final fitting, sanding and finishing remains. The new coaming boards are cut and fit but I want to inlay a reinforcement where they tend to crack at the inside corners where the board goes from the deck down into the cockpit itself. They are currently buried in my woodshed and I have not yet taken a picture of them so I will post that later when I install them.
The two pieces that transition from the coaming board to the cabin sides are made with the exception of the top cut. I want to fit them with the coaming board to make sure I am cutting them off on top exactly where they need to be cut. You can see the current stage of the parts in photo #1 below
Picture #2 below is the new companionway sill.
Picture #3 below is the are the boards that the companionway drop boards lock into.
Picture #4 below is the new handrails I've made which are thicker and slightly taller than the old ones.
And since I can only post 5 pictures per post I will start another post to show you what I have been doing on the boat since the weather cooled down. But I will need to post that later since I have Christmas decorating to do today.
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Some of the recent progress on the glasswork
First some time ago I decided to glass in the end of the ballast like Mike (Commander 227) suggested. My reasoning went like this. Unlike a boat that has no foam around the lead ballast that can drain easily to the empty back end of the keel, Destiny has foam all around the ballast and this foam sucks up water and dosen't let go of it. So I thought it better to try and keep water out of that foam by sealing the ballast in fiberglass. If water does get in that area what ever will drain out can go out the plug the prior owner had installed in the bottom of the keel when I pull the boat at the end of season. The first picture is of that job.
Next like most commanders the reinforcement for the backstay chainplate was very short. It left the top 8 inches of the chainplate unsupported. So I cut out and glassed in a new reinforcement for it to bolt to. The new one allows me to cut in half the unsupported distance of the chainplate. Also It is twice as thick as the old one. The second picture shows the old reinforcement.
The third picture is of the new reinforcement.
The 4th picture is of the glassed in new reinforcement showing the added bolt 4" higher than was previously possible. It also shows a couple of backer plates I glassed in for the hinges on the lazarette hatch. I glassed in several backer plates in this area but since I'm out of pictures again I will show you all those at a later date.
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A Commander mast step drawing
for those that wish to use a pivoting mast base. I just drew a cleaner version of the one Rico used to have his step made from. I left out the groove that is needed for the old style mast base where a crain is needed to step the mast.
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How many of you have a suprise like this hiding under your stem head fitting?
The first picture below is the surprise I found when I removed the stem head fitting. This boat had more leaks than a colander.
The second picture is a trapazoid I made out of 3/8" thick fiberglass panel that I glued in place with some epoxy last night. Tonight I cut some biaxial mat and glassed it in place (3rd. picture). The biax will not only hold the plug in place but it also locks the deck and the hull together better than it has ever been in that area. Tomorrow night I will cover the existing hole in the front of the bow with some mylar and tape and then drill a hole in the top of the deck where the stem head fitting will later cover it up. Then I will mix up some epoxy with micro fibers to strengthen it and pour it into the the area closed off by the plug I installed.
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Yea, imagine wiggling up into the inside point of a cone...
and you will get a feel for what it was like working up there in the point of the bow. I can't wait to start on the recore. I will actually for the first time be able to stand in an upright position to do the job at hand. :)
Ebb the first pictures may not have been easy to see but I did glass the trapazoid to the deck and the hull. The first picture below is the templates I used to cut the biax that I used. The Y shaped one went in first and the top dark brown part is on the bottom of the deck, the middle light brown part is attached to the trapazoid plug and the bottom darker brown part is attached to the hull where the bolts for the stem head go through. The smaller template was for the second piece of biax that tied the plug to the sides of the hull.
The second picture below shows the long bolt in place so you can get an idea of how it all fits together.
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Glued up the first of two tillers tonight...
Both of the tillers that came my commander were replacements and neither one worked very well. One was only about 4" longer than the original but instead of a slight rise it had a drop in it and it was a knee knocker. The other while it had a similar rise to the origianl it was about 12" too long. It took up a lot of cockpit space to use it. So tonight I cut up one of the old combing boards and resawed it into strips 5/16" thick. I built a jig to match the profile in the manual and glued the first one up. I figure it can't hurt to have a spare so I'm going to make two while I'm doing it.
If anyone wants the jig when I'm done with it and is willing to pay the UPS to get it let me know and it's yours.
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You know sometimes I act like a rank amateur
Just blissfully blundering along like I have never built anything before confident what I'm doing is going to turn out just right.......NOT.....
I know better than to build a jig and do a glue up before testing my template to verify it's really what I want. But did I do that?????? NO
So tonight after work I removed the glue up from the jig (first picture below) and was getting ready to surface the two faces so I could lay the template on it and mark the layout for the bandsaw, I all of a sudden realize I never bolted the template into the rudder head to make sure I was going to be happy with the final result. When I did my heart sunk..... I was sure after looking at the two tillers that came with my commander and looking at the layout of the original in the manual that I would be happy with the original. And that is why I blissfully proceeded without doing what I would normally do and test every step along the way to make sure I liked the direction I was going. But when I bolted it in I realized it was not going to end up at a comfortable height for me and I was going to have to go back to square one. :(
The second picture below is the two tiller templates bolted into the tiller head. The higher one is the one based on the manual and the lower one is the one I'm going to start making now.