Commander #65 "Lucky Dawg"

[Lucky Dawg]

Sailed Lucky Dawg to Muskegon Friday - about a third of it in the rain. I was in a borrowed slip in Grand Haven waiting for a convenient time to move her north to Muskegon and they rented the slip "You need to be out by noon" - I think they believed me to be a squatter. Anyway, it turned out to be a really nice sail once the rain stopped. In all of my sailing years, that is actually the first time I have left port in the rain. Luckily the sail was a beam reach at hull speed all the way, so the rain from the main wasn't dripping on my head as it would have close hauled. I offered to take Sadie out of school for the day to accompany, but "uh, Daddy... it is raining..." (with a very teenager sounding "duh!" in her 6 year old voice.)

Got to try out my new automatic bilge pump system, hardwired GPS, new electrical panel, and upgraded prop with 8 vs 8 1/2 pitch. Also discovered that chromed winches don't work very well in a downpour, and that, though I don't fancy a bimini, some sort of canvas hatch cover could be helpful while underway in the rain. Upgrade pictures to follow.

p.s. looking at the main page, I see I have now highjacked 3 out of 4 sub-forums. Sorry!

[Lucky Dawg]

New panel. Added an auto / man bilge switch - my original (from PO) just plugged via duplex and a lighter plug into the 12v; a battery meter through a 3way SPDT switch that will accomodate a second battery at some point - stays in the center-off (non draining) position unless needed to check battery level; and a simple West panel. What you can't see is the 3/8" pilot light that illuminates on the reverse side of the bulkhead when the bilge activates. A Don Casey idea that made sense to me. Wire over the top of the box is my hardwired GPS cable that reaches the GPS bracket on the bulkhead. I am quite pleased with my first shippy electrical project.

picture 1 - the mess that was inside the box - complete with wire nuts... and some interestingly connected circuits....
picture 2 - lots of extra notes and ID tags so I could remember what was what - and of course my handy dandy owners manual at my side
picture 3 - finished product.

[mbd]

Ummmm... yikes!!! Kurt, glad to hear you and Katie Marie made it through OK. The crew dogs too, I hope.

[Lucky Dawg]

Clearing Lucky Dawg's deck for sanding and painting gives me the willies. I just keep reminding myself that it's been done before.

With all of the alligator cracking in my deck paint, it had to be done, but sheesh!

[Rico]

Ahh LD - good to see you back!

If you have any gel-coat cracks make sure you go in deep after them... or they'll be back before you know it!

[Lucky Dawg]

Hey Rico,
Thanks for mentioning that. I had been looking at C227's tackling of the cracks. Looks like he did it before sanding. Still figuring out to what depth I need to sand. I need to take off the non-skid, but do I need to sand to the point of all gelcoat being removed or just to a solid, crack free surface? I will be pulling out my Don Casey bibles and doing some searching here, but if you care to weigh in on the subject before I get there, I'm open to any feedback!

p.s. I sent you a PM about your aluminum mast base, but it is sometimes hard to see that indicator of a waiting message - so you may not have noticed. I did get one manufactured for about $350.

[carl291]

Kyle, my understanding is you want to open up the cracks with say an old can opener dragged through the crack to clean out the crud and make the edges abraded to hold the filler. If you try to sand down the crack you'll have a deck as wavy as the lake. I think I got this from Mike Goodwin's repair tips on this site. Check with the site masters though. Carl

[Commander227]

Kyle,
No sailing for you for awhile. I'm in the same boat as you though. The Princess is currently in many pieces.
Sorry for the slow reply, I have not been on the site for awhile.
I think a gallon of each is about right. I think I did have to dip into a second gallon of the white Awlgrip (I think less than a quart) to finish the non-skid.
(I just burned up some more of the second gallon with my mast rebuild project. I'll try to get some of that up soon)
The crazing you just need to buzz down and fill, its the stress cracks you need to route out. A Dremel would work fine to route out the cracks, I used a 1/8" pointed carbide bit in a 90 degree air grinder. You need to get all the way trough the gel coat. I can't remember right now but I think I filled with Duraglass.
I'll get you the info on the Vynalester paste Bob used on C299. He put it on thick and worked it into the crazed deck with a thick nap roller, rolling from all directions. It worked really well and seems to be holding up nicely. I don't see anything telegraphing through.
Mike
C227

[Commander227]

P.S. ... Don't stress too much, there is no magic to any of this. Just don't cut corners in the prep work and it will turn out great!!

[Lucky Dawg]

Mike and Carl - thanks for the feedback. I am presently drilling out and filling hardware holes with epoxy and addressing a couple small wet spots where stanchions were (and will never be again...) The deck is in remarkably good shape, it seems. Sanding off non skid is pretty time consuming. That stuff is strong!

Mike, I would be interested to hear about the Vynalester paste from C299 - whenever you're free. I know this is a busy time of year at a marina.

Had a couple detail questions for the refinishing people at Torresen's, so we went up and looked at our new slip for the season - I do presume I will make use of it - I am bow to bow with this boat. Another Commander knockoff - the Quickstep24. Details here and some yachtworld pix here

[Lucky Dawg]

Boy did I speak too soon. Something didn't sound right and I drilled an exploratory hole..... HOLY$%^# Soggy deck down the stbd side and patchy sogginess on port. My humidity meter said 15-18% humidity on the hardwood setting. That seemed bone dry compared to ambient humidity. Apparently 15% means soggy. I haven't even started exploratory drilling on the foredeck. (wet inside the marker) I presume I will be sawing away the deck and replacing the core now... Ug. That's really my only avenue, right?

[mbd]

Is the core "brown mush" that you're removing? Is the deck skin delaminated? Does it give when you walk on it?

If 'no' to all of the above, you may be able to get away with drying things out, resealing the holes, and then sealing up all the avenues of water ingress before you paint.

On the other hand, since you're repainting the decks already and have everything removed, this may be a good time to do a recore and have that job behind you. It sounds like you may only have to do a couple of spots anyway, not the whole thing.

[Lucky Dawg]

Hey Mike,
Thanks for the reply. Yes, definitely juicy brown mush. Re the decks, that's the strange thing. The decks don't seem to give / creak / make a sound and they have a sharp response to them when sounding with the butt of a screwdriver - not to say I am an expert in sounding the decks. Under the stanchions is definitely a "thud" vs a sharper tone elsewhere.
KW

[mbd]

I had the best luck doing just what you're doing, that is, drilling out from the bad spots until you get to good clean core material.

http://www.pearsonariel.org/discussi...3820#post13820

Sounding the decks for me was always sketchy, unless I was in a big bad spot, then there was no doubt it was a "thud".

With the drill method, you can isolate your repairs and just fix the sections that need it. It's a real pain to try and pull deck skins off that are NOT delaminated! No need to go overboard and cause yourself more work than is necessary.

[Commander 147]

Well Kyle....

Your certainly not alone with the soggy core. I'm starting to wrap up the interior work (at least in the forward end of the interior) and will be starting my lower deck recore soon also. I can tell you that for the part of the cabin roof that I recored it was far easier work than a lot of the interior work I have done so far. So I'm hoping the rest of the deck recore goes the same.

Please post lots of progress pics so I can get some hints from your job and maybe save myself some headaches.

Good luck with the project.