Great you are here, Tom & Maggie!
This is a VERY interesting site, loaded with tips and inspiration.
And tomfoolery as well!
Sounds like you are in the Service.
Faith, Ariel 226 is in charge of Craig & Rose.
Craig retired from one of the Services
and went cruising after spiffing up his little ship.... that's close to your Ariel's year.
Must be something there for you guys, as starters.
Another good start is to get Bill Phelon's "Ariel Class Association Manual".
It will take a lot of the mystery out of owning an early production fiberglass sailboat.
On the sailing side of owning an Ariel,
begin by looking up everything you can find in the Discussion pages (Technical, most likely)
that Ed Ekers has contributed. All gold.
Here are a few photos do 239. I've got lots of cosmetic work to do. I would love it if some of you could throw out ideas. This repair was done poorly but is somewhat strong. Looks like a stanchion pulled out
I typed most of a page this morning, and then it disappeared. Not new to discussion forums I know better.... Mostly just repeating things you can find here anyway.
This place (and these folks) are a really great part of these boats. I have spent a lot of time aboard mine, and am a boat delivery captain. There have been times underway in other boats that I have wished I was aboard my Ariel (Faith).
What a great deal you got! I think you are in a great position, I would encourage you to try to avoid shortcuts but there is no need to spend tons of money to get sailing.
There are many more knowledgable then I, but even I can do excellent repairs to fiberglass with some patience. Great posts here, very knowledgable folks. Wrt your stantion problem, basically just grind out the "bad" until you get to the "good" and feather the edges... Get some fiberglass, a bit of epoxy (pick up the west system guide pamphlet at west marine, even if you don't use their brand it has good instructions)....
Please do be careful, even a reasonably safe product like epoxy can be dangerous. Use a respirator, and gloves... I learned the hard way to respect these chemicals and am very very lucky to be alive.
Some elect to strip out all the wiring and start from scratch. I would not do that, especially since it looks like there is a fair amount of new wire in the picture. Faith still carries some of her original (1964) wire... Try to sort out what works and what does not. If you find bad connections, replace them.... Target your repairs and unless it seems worse then it looks in the picture you can invest your time and money in other areas.
The long wires hanging down from the entrance to the vberth are coming down from the mast. They are often left long to make it easier to step and unstep the mast. Just tie them up out of the way for now....
The really great thing about these boats, whatever you spend in time or money is well invested. You simply can not find a combination of great looks, seaworthiness, and all around class as you have in the Ariel (ok, and in the Commander)....
You are really going to love the way she sails... I know I do.
Fair winds,
Last edited by c_amos; 10-17-2013 at 04:41 PM.
Reason: Posted and saved as I went to keep from loosing post...
I'm glad to hear the wiring is not going to be the nightmare I thought it might be. I agree with your comment about the lines. When I saw her for sail my first glance glance said that is going to be a beautiful boat. This is my first "full size" sailboat. I can't wait.
I finally got some time to work on A239 and as I was cleaning I noticed water puddleing by the transom. On closer look I think the deck may have settled ( for lack of a better way to explain it) Has any else run into this problem.
Could be one of Pearson's little glitches . . . probably happened on a Friday. Unless, of course, the transom was rebuilt at some point, and in the process, the aft area was built up a bit too high. Early boats did not have the scupper notched at the stern, but your hull number is well beyond that. You might want to check for repairs under the deck at the aft end of the lazarette.
On A338 aft scuppers were quite high, like yours, causing puddling. I ground and filed them down.
The wedge build-ups were merely added inhouse Pearson white bondo filler - not structural.
This material, when discovered what it was, could be knocked out wuth a chisel.
However, the transom s.s half round molding cannot be put back as Pearson has it.
The original i/2-round s.s. goes side to side across the transom and scuppers - covering the hull/deck join.
(Can see a bit of it in one of your pics.)
The wedge-like buildups are there to accommodate this trim piece
- which otherwise will stop flow thru the scuppers.
If you are keeping this cross 'rub rail', and still want to lower these scuppers to deck level, you'd have to cut the ends short.
When I rat-tail filed the drainage down to deck level
they actually ended up BELOW THE SEAM of the hull/deck join.
You could see thru to inside the transom.
But it was simple to fill the holes in, from INSIDE, with a couple gobs of epoxy-cabosil-chopped strand mix.
You need access to the quarters.
Remember, I could reach in by partially crabbing one arm (and head) through the OB well from below! Boat on the hard, of course.
By the time I was brave enough to cut custom SIDE scuppers into A338's toe rail (#371, ebb's gallery),
I remembered that deck edge scuppers should have a SHARP lip,
and also be left slightly HIGHER than deck level.
Want to CUT the water at the scupper's edge so it will not continuously siphon down, staining the hull.
Imco, a bit of puddling here is good.
Dew, condensation, mist, rain, hose water, dust and dirt won't constantly run out of the scuppers.
You notice in the pic of the aft drains that the edge is not as 'sharp' as it should be!
If your Ariel has true draining THRU-DECK scuppers (actual holes in the deck opposite the cockpit coaming,
running down to the waterline in Pearson molded fiberglass half pipe on the INSIDE of the hull)
you can understand the extent of the effort Pearson took to keep water from puddling the deck.
They knew they had a problem.
I suspect those two rather yachtsy-fartsy, and labor intensive, deck drains
(ending in port and starboard exit holes THRU-HULL at the waterline!)
were meant to take care of the problem caused by the ramp buildups at the transom corner scuppers.
Thanks for that great info Ebb. I do have the draining scuppers (now that I cleaned them out) I feel better now. I will clean that area up and put a little epoxy there as the fabric is showing and not worry about it
Hey Tom, not a unique problem. A-414 also puddles back there. It's not much of an issue for me when the boat is out a being used, but it does collect when you're on the hard...
Thanks all I thought I had missed something bigger than I wanted to mess with........
Now back to the clean up. Going to try to get the sails up this weekend for the first time........wish me luck.
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Not new to discussion forums I know better.... Mostly just repeating things you can find here anyway.