Fourteen - TA DA! Here "HE" is......

11/18/08 - That is about all tonight except that you have not seen the final boat. Here she is, except she has been renamed from her 9-month drydock name of MissFits II to.....wait for it......Lazarus! Raised from the dead after 10 years in the grave!

Thirteen - Almost done

11/17/08 - Here are some final touches we installed on our project boat, to personalize and get the most out of little space.First of all, we have very little storage on this 20 footer. With only one cockpit locker we had to look elsewhere for some more storage. The inaccessable bow area under the v-berth which was full of styrofoam has been turned into some extra space. Since a bilge pump was installed and the fact that we are capable sailors, the styrofoam was yanked out of this area. Here are some shots of inexpensive storage lid ideas using scrap plastic sheeting and zip ties for hinges.

There is another storage area cut in the vertical panel behind the portoilet area.I used some leftover halyard line to make a salty looking anchor bracket. I made a prototype telescoping mast crutch out of PT wood for now and will convert to aluminum sections after I work the bugs out. The rudder now stays on the boat while trailering in the upright position making a slot thru the rudderhead for the crutch to raise and lower, also a place for the fore and backstay to store.

As I mentioned previously, all of the original teak was shot. All has been replaced with the faux deck material sold at HD and Lowes. The buklhead was too thin to allow access to wiring and grounding terminal blocks, so I made a baseplate to pull the switchboard from recessed to surface mount and still look good.

Twelve - Pimp My Sailboat

For those of you who missed this months meeting, I asked anyone who had some boat improvement ideas to bring them to share with the group. I also brought to the meeting some pics of some final touches I installed on our O'day project boat, to personalize and get the most out of little space.First of all, we have very little storage on this 20 footer. With only one cockpit locker we had to look elsewhere for some more storage. The inaccessable bow area under the v-berth which was full of styrofoam has been turned into some extra space. Since a bilge pump was installed and the fact that we are capable sailors, the styrofoam was yanked out. Here are some shots of inexpensive storage lid ideas using scrap plastic sheeting and zip ties for hinges. Her is another storage area cut in the vertical panel behind the portoilet area.I used some leftover halyard line to make a salty looking anchor bracket. I made a prototype telescoping mast crutch out of PT wood for know and will convert to aluminum sections after I work the bugs out. The rudder now stays on the boat while trailering in the upright position making a slot thru the rudderhead for the crutch to raise and lower, also a place for the fore and backstay to store.As I mentioned previously, all of the original teak was shot. All has been replaced with the faux deck material sold at HD and Lowes.The buklhead was too thin to allow access to wiring and grounding terminal blocks, so I made a baseplate to pull the switchboard from recessed to surface mount and still look good.That is about all tonight except that you have not seen the final boat. Her she is, except she has been renamed from her tempory drydock name or MissFits II to.....wait for it......Lazarus!

Eleven - Part 768934.007

No pics for you till she is ready to splash. Windows are back in, new rubrail is on, mast and boom have been bulletproofed. This week is new running rigging, the motor mount, battery shelf, and I start making the wood topsides parts (drop board guides, hatch guides, and toe rail). Almost there!

Five.4 - (out of sequence) "Fighting Lady Yellow"

07/06/08 - In a town where I was born, lived a man who sailed to sea. And he told us of life, in the land of "Fighting Lady Yellow submarines... Hey it must be the fumes from this stuff and heat stroke getting to me! Two down, one more coat to go!

It is finally getting there. I am sanding between coats with 320. I did roll and tip the barrier coat of primer and 1st coat of color on the bottom and decided no more of that. I am using an inexpensive gravity feed gun at about 45lbs of pressure and the paint thinned to the max of 10% by volume. The gravity feed gun is cumbersone under the boat, I think I will switch to the siphon feed for the final bottom coat

07/13/08 - Final coat of yellow went on today! Woo Hoo! No more pics till it's back on the trailer.My welder is coming over tomorrow to install the new spring carriers and cross supports on the trailer. I hope to be slipping the trailer back under next weekend.

Ten - Teak Items

09/29/08 - Yellow going GREEN - The O’day 20 teak items on the deck and cockpit (consisting of cuddy drop board guides, sliding hatch guides, handrails, and toe- rails)were badly worn and too far gone to save. After searching for a alternative to teak or Brazilian cherry, I have decided to go GREEN! I do not really care for use of "Starboard" material since it only comes in white or black, is cost prohibitive, and I think is less than 3/4" thick. I picked up a plank of the synthetic decking that HD sells, to see what the working characteristics were like. This planking is embossed with a wood grain on side and small grooves on the back side, both of which can be removed by sanding or running it over the jointer, which leaves a favorable texture and a color of weathered teak. This material machines well through the table saw, jointer, and router. I countersunk some screw holes and made some plugs from it on the drill press, glued the plugs in with Superglue and sanded the plug flush, and you could not find the plug! Have the boat gods smiled down on us for an alternative to using real wood requiring hours of maintenance sanding, masking, and varnishing... maybe so!!! If this stuff is being marketed as decking, then it should hold up to just about whatever we can throw at it right? Well time will tell, I will let you know. In the mean time it's starting to go on the boat tonight!See pics of some of the parts.

Nine - Unmasking of Misfits Two

August 10, 2008 - Well the hard part is over..WHEW!I finally found a good use for blueprints (beside building stuff) it makes great masking paper!And if I knew who invented blue(easy release) masking tape, I would put him on my Christmas card list! Its been about 6-weeks since I masked off the nonskid to paint the topsides, and I had no problem getting the tape off today, after installing the last coat on everything except the nonskid.I will tape off and roll the top coat of 2-part with flattening agent to highlight the nonskid this week, then its wide open to start bolting everything back on! These will be the final picks to bore you with till she's fitted out.The mast will all it's bruises and bumps wanted to get freshened up as well after the straightening process. Several of the dents required drilling a 3/8" hole on the opposite side of the mast, which allowed access for a rounded-off punch, to carefully push out the dents with a few blows of the hammer, stopping and checking often with a straight edge. These access holes (along with all the extra holes installed over the last 30 years) were then epoxied to close (epoxy with colloidal filler). After fairing the epoxy this week, the will get wet sanded with about an 80 grit to get some 'bite' for the primer, then 2-coats of 2-part urethane, as will the boom. I had not looked forward to tackling this mast with all its problems, I really contemplated canning it. But when you see it you will never know how bad it was, and I do not believe it's strength has been compromised.As a sidenote, almost all of the rivets used from the factory on the mast hardware are rotten to the point where the rivot top just fell off when the drill bit hit them? So all the rivits have been drilled out and will be replaced with SS rivots for most hardeware. The cast aluminum masthead and foot will be tapped for machine bolts. The old rivits were not aluminum, if they were SS then the salt air must have really corroded them (the boat was primarily sailed in the gulf before I got it)This afternoon we pulled out the original Neil Pryde sails to look at them again. Margaret said "your not putting those old rags on that boat are you"! So I guess we are ordering new sails this week! (I think she found a quote I got a few weeks ago from Mack Sails!) I measured the old sails and will be listing them on the classified section on www.Odayowners.com. The jib has some rust stains and repairs but usable an dhas a window. The main if cleaned and re-conditioned is definitely usable. Has the original Oday 20 insignia.She will be on the water soon!That is all for now, I have to go to work to rest tomorrow!

08/11/08 - The nonskid received primer and one coat of topsides color. I masked it off for the other 2 coats so the nonskid would not get "filled-in" too much. The flattening agent will dull the shine on the last coat to somewhat highlight the nonskid and help it be non slick. Without the flattening agent the nonskid when wet gets pretty slick with shiny paint on it. Much slicker than just gelcoat.

08/12/08 - You better believe that hull/deck joint is sealed like a drum and bullet proof!The old rivots had thick cast heads on them like drive pin heads. I wonder if using a Permatex form-a-gasket would work to stop corrosion under SS rivots and bolts to aluminum?I'm talking with Mack Sails about ordering the jib (125%)with a wire luff and use a Harken small boat furler drum and swivel and tension it with a magic box. I would still have the standard forestay. We could always roll it up and fly cruising spinnaker off the forestay. What do you think? The small furler drum may not accomodate enough line for this size sail?

08/13/08 - I like the idea for a quick release to tension for and aft, but I prefer it at the backstay where it can release for downwind. The wire luff jib would cancel the need for a furler extrusion, which I do not want on this small boat. The sail just furls on the wire. I found a Harken drum/upper swivel unit last night which is sized for up to 20'boat, which I did not know they made. The O'20 is fractional rig, and this one never rigged for spinnaker, I will have to see where the factory rigged the top hardware for spinnaker? I guess you could go to the masthead with the spinnaker even though the boat is a fractional rig for the jib, why not?

Eight - Mast predicament

August 5th, 2006 - So... no one wants to chime in with mast straightening suggestions eh??I have the mast in the jig and bent back the opposite direction twice the dimension of the bad bend, with the pressure point right at the bend. It does not seem to be accepting the persuasion. I was told today do not put any heat on aluminum. I took a block of wood and a rubber hammer to it while under pressure to help untension the metal, but that is doing is pissing off the neighbors! Uhg.

After August 5th - UH, OHHHH - Well, I spoke too soon!!!I went back to it after leaving it under pressure for about an hour, and with 1-1/2" of deflection in the opposite direction of the bend, over a 7' section and it is almost perfect!! So the other minor bends should be a piece of cake?

Seven - Tiller, Rudder, Mast

When last we met, I was waiting for paint, which i still am. I have given up on West Marine to get it in, and have gone to Defender.com which has the paint in stock for about 30% cheaper. My after school projects have been rigging and other items removed from the boat. I finished the rudder assembly, and will wait till I can mount it on the boat to install the rudder up line and hardware as well as a line to keep it down, which I am not sure I need since the ruddder is pretty heavy.The old original tilller was a good template for its replacement. I am foregoing any laminating of a tiller for another day. I had a slab of hard rock maple left over from a millwork project, so I used what I had to save some moolah. The closed grain maple version looks somewhat different from your average ash/mahogany tilller, but very strong. I did add my signature 'drip' on the handle end and added 4 coats of spar varnish.The mast has suffered a few accidental deflections in its length.... its bent! One bend is fore and aft where it free fell to the cabin top, according to the previous owner, this is the worst one. And another fore and aft at just below the spreaders, and another athwartship a few feet down from the masthead. I have made a bar clamp jig with thinwall 4x4 steel tube and will begin to persuade it straight this week. Pics to follow on the success of this technique. A replacement mast from D&R is over $1,245 plus tax and shipping! Yikes, I dont want to break it, which is very possible at the bad bend location. If there is anyone who has some suggestions on this issue, I look to your insight. With luck the final painting is this weekend and then it moves to storage at Lake Fairview Marina, and then comes home on the weekends for re-installing the nonskip coat, all the hardware, ports, rewiring, replumbing, and all other wrap up projects. Getting closer every week!

Jim

Six - Trailer Makeover

Well, the trailer was in worse shape than the boat. All the crossmember top flange were rotted from the salt staying up under the keel board, so I had new angle welded on top to give me a new base for the keel board. I lightly sand blasted the remaining galvanized finish to get a good bite for the 2-coats of Alumathane paint (aluminum powder suspended in urethane).New springs, mounts, axle, hubs, bunks, lights, wiring, wheels, tires, and fenders were installed this week. Here she is on the new trailer still waiting for her last coat of deck paint, I have been waiting 4-weeks for one quart of paint to come in from NC!

Five.3 - Rain, Rain Go Away

July 17, 2008 - Man this rain is cramping my after work projects. I was hoping to be sandblasting my trailer this week and prepping it for a coat of alumathane this weekend, but noooooo. We did welding of new crossmember braces, and new springs and axle installed. Looks like the weather is breaking for the weekend though. Our new cabin cushions were completed this weekend and I can't wait to see them in the boat, but that will have to wait till the windows are back in and some hardware reinstalled.

Five.2

July 1, 2008 - In last week's episode, the topsides received the 2nd coat of color, and is settling out for another round of wet sanding and final coat. The centerboard was final painted and re-installed as well.In this weeks show, I final prepped and primed the hull and bottom. The bottom received a rolled on coat of 2-part barrier primer.The original gelcoat water line varied from 3/4" to 1-3/4"in width, and meandered some, so I have masked off a better contoured line down to 3/4" wide which is more proportionate with the boat's wide stripe under the rubrail. The hull and bottom colors start going on this weekend.The new replacement rubrail came in from D&R Marine. They are suppliers of OEM O'Day and Pearson parts. The original rubrail was in tact but pretty sun beaten.

Five.1 - Topsides

The 1st coat of topsides color coat is done and wet sanded. The entire topsides including the nonskid got 2 coats of primer and then the 1st coat of color. I have masked off the nonskid for the balance of color coats. The nonkid will get final coat of same color but with a flattening agent to help footing. The nonskid is way to slick without the flattening agent. See pics below!

Five - "Putty & Paint Make it What it Ain't"

The 1st coat of primer is on the topside/cockpit. I wet sanded and puttied some minor blems tonight. She gets wet sanded again and then another spot prime coat on thin areas, wet sanded again and then the 1st coat of topside color goes on this weekend. The topside is getting Interlux Perfection "Oyster White" and the hull and bottom are getting Interlux Perfection "Fighting Lady Yellow". The water line and other stripe/accents will be burgundy. Still a long way to go!

Four - Cabin Work

May 14, 2008 - While the new cushions are being made, and while we are deciding the exterior colors, I turned around the condition of the cabin. I stripped off the old foam back vinyl hull liner, sanded off all the loose glue and foam residue, and installed a commercial grade ribbed (like corduroy) wall fabric for hull liner. The material is 54" wide so there are few joints but a bear to work with in small places. Be sure to wear a mask when you are sanding off that old foam and glue mess, cause it is nasty!I also replaced all the dated plywood millwork parts (icebox lid, cabinet doors, etc.) with cabinet grade plywood and laminated the inside surfaces with white formica, and the exposed side with a coordinating mottled blue laminate to match one of the colors from the cushion material. Margaret picked out the colors of course. I edged the laminated pieces with a 1/4" roundover bit on the router and finishd the exposed edge with 4 coats of spar varnish. This is a pretty inexpensive way to edge new millwork in the boat. What looks like scratches in the face of the blue is the pull-off protective film that comes on most laminate when you order from wholesalers. I left it on thru the finishing process which should speed up cleaning off any varnish.The head liner is the original gelcoat finished liner and looks brand new still. I wet sanded and then buffed out with rubbing compound some of the hull liner around the molded in sink and icebox to brighten them up a bit. This got out some minor scratches.There is not much storage on a 20' boat. There is a dead spot at the aft end of the port qtr berth that I plan to finish off and make usable for overflow items.It appears forward end of the cockpit and cuddy bulkhead have settled some over the 30 some years. I plan to install some partial panels under the cockpit floor to bear it off the keel area.I also have to replace thea plywood floor in the battery storage area in the starboard cockpit locker (the only one). I will cover this new plywood with epoxy and glass so accidental water can't get to it.We will start painting the top of the boat when we return next week from the Tuscaloosa regatta.Jim

Three - Bottom Paint Removal

April 20, 2008 - Bottom Paint Removal: Not a job for the week at heart or back, and there is nothing fun about removing 30+ years of bottom paint jobs. But a sandblaster is the way to make the job less of a back breaker. Bill Bennett loaned me a simple siphon feed sandblasting gun, which simply siphons sand from a bucket or bag of sand thru a simple hose. It took about 100 lbs of air to siphon sufficiently and shoot the sand fast enough to remove the paint. Once I saw white I kept moving till I got a sort of mottled look thru the bottom paint. The next step was to sand off the residual paint with a variable speed random orbit sander. The key with sanding bottom paint is not to sand so fast that the sandpaper disks generates heat. A variable speed random orbit does the trick. My 5" Dewalt was too fast, so my visit to HD found a 6" Rigid brand VSRO sander with lifetime guarantee on parts and service for $129, and it is a powerhouse. I used (4) 60 grit discs for the entire bottom after sandblasting.With the 1st sanding complete, the next step is to sand the entire bottom again with 80 grit as the final sand prep for primer. There were some minor blisters which surfaced when sanding. All of these popped and sanded flush when the raised gelcoat was removed with the sander.I also removed the centerboard today to service the pivot and replace the control line. The pivot is in good shape, but the course thread SS screws (that mounted the pivot bracket to the keel) had deteriated under the heads to a point where they were very thin. I was able to back them out without breaking all but one.I will take the week nights off this week from work on the hull, and finish laminating the various new plywood cabin components like doors, built-in ice chest lid, and minor bulkhead parts. We picked out a mottled dark blue Formica laminate that coordinates with the Sunbrella material for the new cushions. I will sleep good tonight!

Jim

Two - Rudder Continued

Captains Log-Stardate 04-10-08 - 1:The ships rudder is still in sickbay. Doctor Jim has been working miracles and the patient is just about out of recovery. Today the doc installed a layer of 6 oz glass and epoxy on the roughed up and faired original gelcoat. A narrow strip of glass was 1st installed on all the edges and wrapped onto the sides of the rudder, faired out after curing, then the sides were installed. This thin new skin should stabilize the gelcoat cracks which appeared after the rudder's last battle with the Klingon rudder surgeons. The doc will apply two more coats of epoxy as final fairing to prep the rudder for 3 coats of 2-part urethane to match the ship. This coating will be installed later at the Starfleet Academy drydock facility in College Park. See pics below taken from the satellite outpost on Olympus 320."Make it so number 1"

Two - Rudder

April 3, 2008 - Rudder Repair - The rudder had succumbed to a disasterous repair of its innards at about 3" below the pivot bolt up to the top of the rudder. The original foam core inside the (2) fiberglass halves had been replaced with polyester resin in a previously unsuccessful repair. The resin by itself just broke in several area at the pivot point leaving the rudder as limp as an al dente' noodle! See 1st and 2nd pic.I gutted the old repair and removed all remnants of original foam down to solid foam. I faired a plywood filler piece to displace the original foam. This took awhile of fitting and sanding with a belt sander to get a fit loose enough to allow about 1/8" of epoxy between the plywood and fiberglass shell, and about 1/4" around the plywood edges. I clamped straight edges to the sides of the rudder to get the two sides paralllel again and made the final adjustments to ready for the epoxy. See 3rd, 4th, and 5th pic.I primed the plywood with epoxy and inserted into the primed rudder shell and filled the bottom section with epoxy. The upper section was another evening project. The rudder has now been faired with epoxy and fairing filler and awaiting a single layer of 4 oz glass and epoxy to cap all the gelcoat cracks from the previous flexing of the rudder. See 6th and 7th pic.I will followup with a final pic after glassing