S21 reply

Posted By: Robert Denton
Date: 5/10/08 9:59p.m.

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In Response To: Santana 21 questions (Carol)

Hello Carol, For starters, I wouldn't worry too much about the traveler yet. Unless you are very serious about sailing, ie racing, the boat will do just fine without it. It would make a nice weekend project at some point. The three bolts are half of the keel bolts. Surface rust is not good, but not terrible. Lots of rust is a problem. The originals are galvanized. It would be best to replace them. Still the amount of rust is the biggest question. Soft places in the hull are a problem. You can repair this with epoxy and woven roven glass. The hull does not have a core, so the repair is simple. The 4 horse should be fine on a lake. As far as sailing goes, I wish I could answer that. I am in the middle of a rebuild right now. I ordered a main a couple weeks ago. So far, I have spent many many hours on the boat. Sense I'm going this far, I'll be be pulling the keel soon. One thing about the cable, unless the boat you are looking at is an older boat, with an access port in the keel trunk, you can't really tell what shape the cable is in at the attachment point, and around the block. That is the problem area. The serial number can be usefull for dating the boat. WDS00705-773S21 is mine. Hull 705, I was mistaken earlier this year. The 7 73 is month and year of build. July 1973. For what its worth, I am told all the time that these are great sailing boats. I'll find out soon.