Metal Filings Everywhere

The trailer build is underway. Most of the things on my drawings and in my head are working out. I had to cut the tack welds loose on the tongue box and move it about 3/8" to one side. The last cross member was off by 1/8" which put my string off at the tongue by the 3/8". A 4x4 and hydraulic jack took care of the alignment on the rear cross member. Trump cost me an extra $300 on steel so his standing with me is worse than before. 75% of the steel says USS and the other is Canadian.

The blisters have been filled and the barrier coat on the bottom of the keel has been started.

Lee has removed the interior laminate panels and started sanding the wood. It's impossible to sand plywood smooth so another laminate will be used to replace the old cracked laminate.

2 new pieces of firm foam arrived yesterday so Lee can get started on the cushions. Where else do you let compressed foam air up but in the living room.

Well back to work.

Moving Along Ever So Slowly

It's been months since we updated the blog even though we have been working on the boat. We sold BareWithUs so now have the funding required to get Toposs in the water. In 2 weeks we have spent over $3500 and it would all fit into a Smiths shopping cart.

Running and standing rigging, roller furler (minus the headstay tube), engine thru hull/seacock, fuel tank hoses, ventilation fan and duct. The new fuel tank should be here any day.

Initially I was going to grind out and fair the large blisters on the hull but decided not to half ass the job and did them all. If the gelcoat was raised at all I ground it out. I found every one by going out at night with a strong flashlight and looking for the shadows.

Brent is going to come over and give me a hand with the fairing compound so we should be able to knock it out in short order. Then comes the almost $600 worth of barrier coat and bottom paint.

I'll spend the next few days, between parties and sailing with friends, fairing and coating the bottom of the keel. I've had to order more epoxy resin and hardener to refinish the rudder. I've got 3 gallons coming so if you need epoxy or cloth, come talk to me.

Lee has decided on fabric for the interior cushions and should get those going in a week or so.

Once the bottom, rudder, fuel system, rigging installed, water pump rebuilt and a few minor things are complete we will put the boat in the water and see how it sails. If I wasn't the procrastinator that I am, the boat could be in the water in March but...

Then on to the interior...

What did I hear you say?  Yes we will have thousands of $$$$ more in to the boat than it's worth but we all have to remember, these are FUN $$$. I've never regretted any of the fun money I've spent in the past 50 years. Makes for a great life.

A Milestone Today

The weather has been perfect since we returned from Flagstaff so I got back to work. I finally finished removing the old bottom paint and some coating that was probably an attempt at barrier coat. I found a few more blisters but none were harming the skin out mat under the gel coat. About 20 total and the largest was the size of a dime but most less than a 1/4". A little clean up of some areas and the boat will be ready for a new barrier coat. I'm going with the Sea Hawk Tuff Stuff like I used on the O'Day. It goes on a a little rough (light orange peal) but I'm going to try a new method of application. The barrier coat is going to have to wait until the temps drop, probably mid October.

The other good news, the family accountant said she would like to get TOPOSS sailing before we part with the O'Day. New running and standing rigging will be ordered by the end of the month. I'm trying to decide if we want to raise the boom before we order a mainsail. We will lose about 9% of the mains sail area but it's a cruising boat, right. We are going to get a VX One for our go fast boat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0j8cJrlTtA

In The High Country

We went home a few days ago and the old S2 was just sitting in the sun waiting for cooler weather. If the trailer was fit for travel I might have brought TOPOSS to Flagstaff and worked on it here in the maintenance yard. The weather is perfect, except for some rain. We may bring the O'Day back with us next time and head up to Lake Powell for a week or so after our job is over.

The vacation from the S2 is really making me want to get home and get it in the water.

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.

We are still working on TOPOSS

Raised the mast for standing rigging measurements. Biggest question was mast rake. I've decide to measure with no mast rake and order the head stay a little long, turnbuckle closed 2/3 instead of 1/3 for plumb mast. This should give me the ability to rake the mast about 14" if my trigonometry is correct.

The prop shaft was cleaned and checked for straightness. I installed a new stave bearing (cutlass), and hose between shaft log and packing gland, and GRU (not the Russian spy agency that got...) packing into the cleaned gland.

The hose had to be sanded a little on one side, to get it to fit in that tight area. Hopefully I can get a strap wrench in there to tighten the packing nut.

The prop is installed loosely so Kim (my neighbor) can take it off and shine it up for me in his spare time.

Oh the rudder...

The repairs that someone had started were, lets say, HALF ASS. I'm stripping all of the old repairs off (easy since they aren't laminated very well) and opening up the edges to dry. I will dig around the shaft on the lower end here and check for corrosion at the weld for the blade structure that sticks into the rudder (to keep the shaft from spinning inside the rudder). Wish me luck.  What do you think of the new South Dakota license plate design?

Almost forgot about the teak project Lee is working on.

She pulled about 40 pieces from the interior (Just the forward cabin) and meticulously labeled each one. Well... she found out how good that teak cleaner, in the picture, does it's job. She now has a jigsaw puzzle when she goes to install her nicely brightened teak. Yep, took  that Sharpie ink right off. At least one side has counter sunk holes so she know which side faces out. Good luck Wendy.

The WALL is almost ready for stucco so after that we can really get going on the boat.