Plastic Classic Forum

Quetzalsailor

Drip pans are dandy, particularly if you have a never-neverland under the engine like I do. Things you drop are gone forever. There's a nice new arrival in mine: a roll of electrical tape last Saturday. There's also a coil for an Atomic 4; there have been two diesels in the boat since there was an A...

Quetzalsailor

One coat, brush painted, Brightside Polyurethane. Certainly not wonderful but lots better.

Quetzalsailor

I'm sittin' here on Quetzal, on the hard, absolutely dawg tired having sanded, masked and painted the boottop. I think the boottop and hull are painted with Awlgrip. Normal floating height leaves the boottop about 2 1/2" out of water. Wakes and chop wet the boottop enough to grow stuff, particu...

Quetzalsailor

Don't fear compression posts. They're just posts, after all, not rocket science (once you've got the base and capital in shape.) Take a much more careful look at bulkheads, tabbing and so on - much harder to fiddle with. Ditto cores and reinforced decks. Ditto carbon steel components buried out of s...

Quetzalsailor

That dink looks very like one I was given by a fellow who sailed out of Worton Creek. I transported it to Rock Hall and after I determined that I did not need it I gave it away to a fellow Swan Creeker and told him I never wanted it to bite me back. That dink was very soft and I judged would only be...

Quetzalsailor

Hard to imagine termites in a fiberglass boat. They need to live in earth and travel to food 'under cover', that is with termite tunnels, etc. Google for amazing pictures of termite tunnels extending up from soil through crawl spaces and into joists. More common going up through porous masonry and i...

Quetzalsailor

About 12 years ago, I painted our little itty-bitty fiberglass dink with Brightside Polyurethane white, knowing that it would never be in the water for more than 10 days at a time. It was fine. It's been sun-baking for at least the last 5 years w/o being in the water and looks just a little bedraggl...

Quetzalsailor

Again, congratulations. You must be tickled pink!

Where, near Hogtown, will you be keeping her? (Note to the uninitiated, Montrealers were always dismissive of Toronto; however, it's a pretty wonderful city these days.)

Quetzalsailor

The only thing I would have suggested is working from below to preserve appearances of the non-skid. However, with your mention of previous repair and your current condition, think no more! It's a pretty miserable business, anyway, to work from underneath. Now, simply work to an easy shape to scarph...

Quetzalsailor

I eliminated the 'extra' battery switch. The winch breaker is in its place. All the winch wiring is done save for mounting the hard-wired control switch and the teeny 5amp breaker for the control circuit. The winch runs in the correct direction from the foot switch, the control switch and the wirele...

Quetzalsailor

Should'a proofed before submitting. That '2' pole was powered from the same connection on the ignition switch that the 'common' pole was. Means that if the selector was set to 2 nothing whatever happened.

Something to be said for clipping everything out and starting over.

Quetzalsailor

I've spent a couple hours trying to understand what was going on. I failed, but this is what I found: The upper switch was powered on the 'common' pole by a heavy wire tagged to the hot side of the ignition switch. The '2' pole was powered by an inline fuse/breaker/??. The '1' pole had the ground si...

Quetzalsailor

We're on the same page. The charging system feeds both banks separately. The piece I don't understand at all is how (or if) the banks are isolated from each other. I've got a 100 amp Balmar alternator and their fancy regulator but that's upstream from the doubled mass of wire that feeds the batts. S...

Quetzalsailor

Here's the finished install below:

And the controller and wireless radio is mounted under the Vee berth:

Quetzalsailor

If it's dead and gone then I don't need the receiver, the antenna, the readout in the cockpit nor any of the connective wire. I have a particular fetish for removing unnecessary wire. Although the pictures in my other post doesn't seem to show it, much progress has been made.

Quetzalsailor

Mr Clippers-in-hand here again. I am approaching the electrical nerve center of Quetzal with the anchor winch cables in hand. I have fished from forward to alongside the engine. The battery switches are at the aft end of the engine and about three feet above it. So! Here's the question. There are tw...

Quetzalsailor

I don't know about y'all, but I'm pretty content in an old tee, down-at-the-heels Top-Siders, and ragged shorts. Can we not get that Dutch huckster off the Site?

Quetzalsailor

With clippers in hand, assure me that Loran is dead; turned off; discontinued.

Quetzalsailor

You could experiment with sandbags. Try a stack on deck or in the locker, or down below. I similarly 'proofed' the roof structure of our dining room bay when Sue wanted a hot tub up there; I bought enough garbage cans and filled them with water. Of course, failure would have been something important...

Quetzalsailor

I think the sail tracks on Quetzal are bolted through the toe rails. I think the toe rails were bolted more sparingly for assembly where the tracks were to go and then tracks were bolted at closer spacing.

Quetzalsailor

Geeze! For $2500. you shoulda' gotten the whole Elk! A moment on Google will give you $80-100/sf: http://www.crazycrow.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=545-200-000 Good grief! Even available on eBay: http://stores.ebay.com/1-Source-for-Leather-Distant-Drums/Elk-Buffalo-Moose-Leathe...

Quetzalsailor

No one has anything to chat about on such a lovely Sunday? Yeah, I know, my long-suffering wife made me work in the yard!

Quetzalsailor

Dave, I understand that a combo chain-rope gypsy is pretty standard these days. And, I can add the drum any time. The chain and rope is spliced together so that it will pass through the gypsy without incident. Additionally, I bought a new pre-spliced chain and braided rode. The braid is supposed to ...

Quetzalsailor

Yes, Rachel, multiple cross-cuts is an old trick for doing dadoes or making tenons on the end of something, or half lapping; whatever. It's a bit sloppy, but an effective way to make such a reduction in thickness with a table saw or a radial arm saw. Even a hand-held carpenter's radial saw can do su...

Quetzalsailor

Now I tell you...you coulda' laid the cloth into your first coat on the wood. Then subsequent coats are applied to fill the weave as necessary. You would add a cloth layer for the same reason that the stripper canoe builders do. The cloth ensures that the covering is less damaged when dinged and ens...

Quetzalsailor

Progress: Picture 002-r.jpg Milling a taper with a simple jig. Shop vac collecting chips and dust. Held the workpiece with a push-stick. Picture 003-r.jpg Finished milling. Picture 005-r.jpg Belt sanding both faces. Picture 006-r.jpg Rough-cut, ground the perimeter. Hole-saw and sand the interior w/...

Quetzalsailor

The only time there will be a drippy mess is when you are wetting out the hole. I vacillate between taping a bib around the hole and just sneaking up on the hole with a Q-tip, small stick or nail. The filled filler will be conveniently thick and only needs a little tape encouragement to stay put. Th...

Quetzalsailor

Got my McMaster-Carr slab of fiberglass today and roughed out and epoxied the two thicknesses for the base. I'll mill the taper tomorrow (it's to be raining) and we'll have a look at the thing again on Wednesday. A concurrent project is freeing up the sliding settee. It had gone from difficult to mo...

Quetzalsailor

The most important bit of the previous answer is the filler that makes the epoxy thick. I don't know what Cabosil is, but if you will be redrilling and mounting hardware through the holes, the filler you choose should be intended for strength. If you're just filling and moving the mounting somewhere...

Quetzalsailor

Case, thank you for the comments. Sadly, the winch cannot go on center as my eye would suggest is appropriate, because the existing roller is to port and the majority of the winch is to port of the pull. Jack, your and Case's comments re damage by bouncing chain suggests that the forward position is...

Quetzalsailor

Figue, why say you 'Move the vent?' The winch has to go somewhere along the string as it projects straight aft from the roller. I will admit that I knock the plastic hat off nearly every time I anchor; nothing holds it on but a little friction and I'm remarkably clumsy. If I'd had a say in it, the a...

Quetzalsailor

Ahh, yes, the photographs:

Quetzalsailor

Below are pictures of Quetzal's chain locker and foredeck. We have purchased a Maxwell RC8 winch which mounts through the deck; motor and transmission are below deck. The instructions are picky about fairlead and orientation of the winch with respect to the rode. +/- 5 deg horizontally and zip verti...

Quetzalsailor

Doesn't look like a traditional recore. Looks like plywood affixed to the underside of the deck. Anyway, the decoration issue is the same: what's the easiest, cheapest, and most suitable to your aesthetic desire that's possible? Painting means making the surface preparation good enough while working...

Quetzalsailor

I'm a little surprised to see that the main's split backstay appears to rub on the mizzen's shrouds (if that's really what's happening in your picture). Make sure you have them passing as they were intended. I don't see the mizzen's running backstays shown on the drawing. I think you're right that t...

Quetzalsailor

As noted above, stern tubes with cutless bearings have intake holes which you need to clean when the boat's pulled. The bearing itself has passageways in the rubber surface that collects and distributes water. Dripless seals used to be sold, in the smaller sizes, with no provision, beyond 'burping' ...

Quetzalsailor

I'd bet you could extend the Stimson bows to get the 10% increase in size that you'd like. Use better lumber. Make the web blocks a little deeper (so that the truss is a bit deeper). Reduce the spacing. Take more care with splices and fastenings. As for fastenings, think it through carefully. Bolts ...

Quetzalsailor

Well! I think you need a lathe! I need to get rid of my father's WWII era 13" 5' bed South Bend lathe. The best offer I got several months ago was $250. but I'd have had to move it to the front of the house which will cost $100. There's a drive (suitable for a bobcat or similar) around the back...

Quetzalsailor

Lovely work, Tom.

I've got the same task in Quetzal.

Quetzalsailor

I'll cast my vote with the no-filler crowd. That said, you can buy fillers in many colors. The filler does not have to change the color of the wood. You wipe the sludge on, let it thicken a bit as it begins to dry, then wipe it smooth so that only the pores are filled. You can then stain the filled ...

Quetzalsailor

Jim, I'm sorry that I have not gotten out to measure the Hinckley boom. Thinking of your description, I would not have much problem with the idea of scarphing on new replacement wood where the rotted ends are. Perhaps you could post some pictures and we all could see whether I'm on base. I've done s...

Quetzalsailor

I'd resist filling something like that with something I could never remove. And I would not go looking for trouble; watch for cracking or seepage. LeComte NE38 Mk I and Mk II's were/are a little iffy in that place since the hulls were moulded in halves and glassed together along the centerline. Pret...

Quetzalsailor

Tim, do you get a fair lead from chocks to the bitt? I read somewhere, so it must be true, that the worst peril for a nylon anchor or mooring line is caused by the amount the line stretches between the tie-off and the chock, as the load comes and goes. The line rubs in the chock more if there's more...

Quetzalsailor

Jeeze, I meant to write first that you're doing a great job!

Quetzalsailor

Some good tricks shown here. Always good to drill, rout, or otherwise provide long holes if and as the assembly allows it. I drilled each board of a solid wood countertop before epoxying the boards together. Since the threaded rods did not extend to the edges, like Robs' I assembled the bolts with t...

Quetzalsailor

Those of us who are 'height challenged' in the good direction sympathize with the idea of raising the boom. Really, unless you're racing and the idea of efficiency at each end of the airfoil is important, I doubt you'd loose much. After all, our little boats with dodgers and cabins are a pretty slop...

Quetzalsailor

Bill, Post some pictures. Despite this being the 'Plastic Classic' site, there are wood parts in our old boats and some awfully talented 'woodchucks' working on them. That moulding is a pretty common shape, right out of Classical architecture and a tradition that goes back a couple millenia (not tha...

Quetzalsailor

They're 'snubbing winches'. Not usually mounted with a jam cleat (at least, I've never seen one). They do the same job as a Harken ratchet block. My '50's Flying Dutchman has one made of Tuffnol. My dad's '50's FD had one too. Means that when you tack and throw the genny sheet over it, you've got a ...

Quetzalsailor

I understand that mat is used to fill space between roving and tighter weave material. Also to provide a lamina under the gelcoat that reduces the print-through of fabric. Since its lots less dense than 'glass you get a much poorer glass to resin ratio so it's not desirable for strength to weight an...

Quetzalsailor

We're in NOLA, that is New Orleans, Louisiana, or N'awleens, Loosyana. It's the festive week before Mardi Gras, and it's zoo-ey enough for us! Today's treat was the Krewe of Barkus parade. Haven't seen anything at all in the small, beautiful boat department, but the genuine French, Spanish, and indi...

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