Good news then ...

Posted By: Gene Bragalone - #485/5.2
Date: 5/25/07 3:25p.m.

Report: outside forum guidelines

In Response To: shameless confession (link) (Paul--Lawrence, KS)

Paul, sincerely that is a really nice boat!! Neither the bottom nor topside have been painted, which is awesome. It just needs some TLC. Please do it justice and take care of her. You should/will be proud. I would not at all be concerned about that "guy" that came loose. The force you put on that by pulling on the forestay could easily strip out those screws, rotted or otherwise, based on the leverage that was created. If and when you run a spinnaker, then you should be more comprehensive about checking, especially the blocks. After sitting in the weather LOTS of screw holes develop rot around the threads, just from moderate seepage over time. You should probably go over ALL of the screws on your deck, especially the block mountings. Because it is a guy and not a real load bearing point I might even consider just putting some wood slivers in the holes and retightening the screws, probably adding some sealer under the guy. (That is sure to generate a flurry of OMGs!) I agree with Bob, the thwart can be saved. A few passes on a planer and mine looks almost like new. I am sure if you used other than ply on your seats whomever planes those pieces for you would do the thwart reasonably as well. Or, you could probably sand yours, but you would look like Popeye when you were done, even with a power sander. And I don't think it would look as "finished" (manually sanding a lot of thickness over a large area usually ends up looking a wavy.) I also agree with Bob on the wood. What was used was Honduras Mahogany, now hard to get and very expensive. The African Khayla is very close and comparatively cheap. You pretty much must use ply on the verticals to create the bend, And 1/2" is fine. And it will finish beautifully and match the thwart well. That crack, to me, actually, looks like it is punched through, unfortunately. If it not below or near the water line ... try pool patch or duct tape (preferably white) to get you through the season. But it should be fixed properly at some point. These things hurt because you have to do more damage to apply the fix. In boating we sometimes have to break the doctors Hippocratic oath of "first do no harm", to make things right. Jenny has posted some shots of a hull repair she made and she did a great job. Your's would be significantly easier and should turn out well. Buffing and waxing the hull would be a good thing to do. Topside, scrubbing with a low abrasive like Bon Ami with a brush should clean it up quite well. Then applying some type of silicone sealer. (I would not wax because it tends to clog the patterns in the gel coat.) This worked well on an O'day DaysailerII that I had.