Not Much Work on TOPOSS Lately

I've been working on the O'Day and our backyard wall so the S2 has taken a backseat. The wall has the brown coat on and the finish will go on the end of May. Plus the O'Day spent a week in San Diego with the SoCal Potters.

I got a little depressed after corresponding with Geno about centerboards. He has sailed an 8.0C a lot and knows the performance CB down and CB up. With the high free board I never expected the boat to go to windward as well as our O'Day but It's a cruising boat right. Plus I've got 30 HP and 20 hours of fuel if I need to get to windward if we are in a hurry. Oh yea, Geno tells me his diesel gets 4.5 hours to the gallon. Maybe we will install a ...... ouch, stop Lee, I was joking.

The lack of CB has my brain thinking and researching, maybe a couple of those curved lee boards or two bilge mount high lift boards mounted at an angle so the windward one is clear of the water at 10° heel and I retain shoal draft.

Anyway the floor board is drying well and actually becoming stiffer. The soft spots are almost gone. I'm going to get to work on the bottom tomorrow after a bicycle ride and run the engine a few minutes because it starts so well and sounds so smoooooth with no vibration. Take that you diesel guys.

Well anyway here is a video by Geno who sails the Great Lakes and the Caribbean with his S2 just so our readers know what this boat can do..

 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU0ULUxG-rI&google_comment_id=z134tpeg2tb4jl4u423eydfg0zb4zt1hy04

Water Where It's Not Supposed to Be

This boat has a sealed (supposedly) bilge under the floor boards. It also has a deep bilge in the aft section of the keel. These 2 are not connected. I kept seeing moisture around the ice box drain hose where it entered this bilge area.The only way I can see for water to get into this area is from rain (hatch left open at some point) and through a small opening around the ice box drain hose. This hose continues through and into the deep bilge.

I drilled a 3" hole into the floor and found the bilge full of water. I drilled about 10 more holes sucked all the water out then ventilated it for a few days. I then filled the bilge full with bleach to kill mold and mildew. Dried it out again and filled it full of antifreeze to kill rot bugs in the wood. Removed this and have been ventilating the area for a couple of weeks with forced air. The plywood floor lamination's are still good from checking my hole samples.

The sole (floor) has started to firm up and not flexing as much with the wood drying.

I also continue to remove paint from the bottom in hopes of getting a barrier coat on before it gets to hot.

Lee has more fabric samples and is beginning the process of measuring for new cushions.

We also found someone to correspond with that has an 8.0 C.