Now that we have our girl home and tucked away in the garage for a 7 month nap my mind turns to skiing and winter projects on the boat. Granted, now that we have new sails, new paint, every piece resealed, new interior, trailer rebuilt, you get the idea, there isn't much to be done but there are a few things that I want to do just because I don't like how they were originally done.
One, I hate the Meriman thumb nut adjusters on the shrouds. They are so darn frustrating to get them tight. Usually I have to tighten the lee shrouds while were under sail just to get them close to being tight. I just want them to go away! So I will be measuring the shrouds and sending them off to have them shortened and threaded ends installed so I can install open turn buckles on them.
Next on the hit list will be the lifeline stanchions. We love the life line but it is like the mounting of the stanchions on the boat was an after thought for Hunter. They are merely screwed into the fiber glass lip of the side deck above the rub rail. There is a small piece of wood under the rail to "stiffen" it up but we don't dare touch the stanchions as they are just too darn weak. So my plan is to add a re enforcement to the stanchion above the mount. I would like for it to have two ears that go down to the deck and mount in. I have seen this on many other stanchions on other boats and we really need something like that as well.
Third on the hit list is I would like to remake the starboard side chain plate bulkhead and make it go all the way to the ceiling of the cabin. That would give more privacy to the head and help divide the cabin. We went back and forth on this idea but in the end we both think we will like that setup better. If we don't I will just put the current on back in the boat.
The last on the list really should probably be number one as it is a carry over from the window project a few years back. I really need to trim out the cabin windows on the inside. Our factory windows were so crazed that there was no way I was going to put them back in so I made new windows out of tinted plexi and attached them to the outside of the cabin. They look great and are so much nicer to look out of but I still need to make wood trim for the inside of the windows.
Finally after 4 years of owning our boat I will finally get my spring back as the last three springs have been consumed with boat projects. It should not take me long to do the four items I have listed.
That will give me time to work on our new boat, a 1964 Mirror sailing dinghy we got from the original owners. Meet Miss Friday
She was built in 1964 in England by the grandfather of a friend of ours. His parents inherited the boat and sailed her as often as they could. She was brought over when his dad was transferred her for work and has spent the last 20 years hanging in his Dad's garage. His dad recently passed and his mum is moving into a condo so the boat had to go. She really wanted it to go to someone who would sail her again. That is where we come in the picture. We went out and checked her out and she was all there. I had her rigged and ready to sail in about 10 minutes. The sails are original but really pretty nice and more than adequate to use. I am a sucker for a story so I had to have her. Once they told me what they wanted for her I almost felt guilty but I knew that she was probably going to need some TLC as she was starting to show her age. We loaded her up and took her home. His mum was in tears when Adrian told her we were going to sail her again and she was welcome to go with use anytime.
Well she has a few issues as any 50 year old wood boat will but she is all there. I made a few quick repairs to her hoping we could at least give a her a test sail before I tore into her. We loaded her up and took her to a local lake to give it a go. Had I been thinking I would have sat her in the water to leak check her first but instead we rigged her up and then set her in the water.
It was short lived as water was running in around all the nails that had been used to hold the toe boards in the bottom of the hull. Just as I feared. Oh well, it was good practice. She is now sitting along side the Memory Maker patiently waiting to be brought into the work shop for a complete hull strip then re-glassing with epoxy. Back when they built them in 64 they only glassed the seams and then varnished the hulls. I will use 6 oz cloth over the entire hull and West Epoxy over that. Cindy wants her to be a light blue on the hull so she will get her wish. I will build a small trailer for her to ride on and by next spring we should have a neat little boat to sail on lakes closer to our house. Plus with grandkids now we have a boat we can infect them with the sailing bug!
She is a really neat little boat. The gunter rig is really slick but I need to add topping lifts to it to keep the boom from clunking us in the head when we drop the main. We both are really looking forward to playing with her and really wish she was able to sail now as October is probably one of our best months to sail. It will be so nice to be able to drive 15 mins to a local lake, spend 10 mins rigging the boat and get to sail in the evening or a nice fall afternoon.
I guess I can kiss another spring good by. Darn boats!!!
Sam
One, I hate the Meriman thumb nut adjusters on the shrouds. They are so darn frustrating to get them tight. Usually I have to tighten the lee shrouds while were under sail just to get them close to being tight. I just want them to go away! So I will be measuring the shrouds and sending them off to have them shortened and threaded ends installed so I can install open turn buckles on them.
Next on the hit list will be the lifeline stanchions. We love the life line but it is like the mounting of the stanchions on the boat was an after thought for Hunter. They are merely screwed into the fiber glass lip of the side deck above the rub rail. There is a small piece of wood under the rail to "stiffen" it up but we don't dare touch the stanchions as they are just too darn weak. So my plan is to add a re enforcement to the stanchion above the mount. I would like for it to have two ears that go down to the deck and mount in. I have seen this on many other stanchions on other boats and we really need something like that as well.
Third on the hit list is I would like to remake the starboard side chain plate bulkhead and make it go all the way to the ceiling of the cabin. That would give more privacy to the head and help divide the cabin. We went back and forth on this idea but in the end we both think we will like that setup better. If we don't I will just put the current on back in the boat.
The last on the list really should probably be number one as it is a carry over from the window project a few years back. I really need to trim out the cabin windows on the inside. Our factory windows were so crazed that there was no way I was going to put them back in so I made new windows out of tinted plexi and attached them to the outside of the cabin. They look great and are so much nicer to look out of but I still need to make wood trim for the inside of the windows.
Finally after 4 years of owning our boat I will finally get my spring back as the last three springs have been consumed with boat projects. It should not take me long to do the four items I have listed.
That will give me time to work on our new boat, a 1964 Mirror sailing dinghy we got from the original owners. Meet Miss Friday
She was built in 1964 in England by the grandfather of a friend of ours. His parents inherited the boat and sailed her as often as they could. She was brought over when his dad was transferred her for work and has spent the last 20 years hanging in his Dad's garage. His dad recently passed and his mum is moving into a condo so the boat had to go. She really wanted it to go to someone who would sail her again. That is where we come in the picture. We went out and checked her out and she was all there. I had her rigged and ready to sail in about 10 minutes. The sails are original but really pretty nice and more than adequate to use. I am a sucker for a story so I had to have her. Once they told me what they wanted for her I almost felt guilty but I knew that she was probably going to need some TLC as she was starting to show her age. We loaded her up and took her home. His mum was in tears when Adrian told her we were going to sail her again and she was welcome to go with use anytime.
Well she has a few issues as any 50 year old wood boat will but she is all there. I made a few quick repairs to her hoping we could at least give a her a test sail before I tore into her. We loaded her up and took her to a local lake to give it a go. Had I been thinking I would have sat her in the water to leak check her first but instead we rigged her up and then set her in the water.
It was short lived as water was running in around all the nails that had been used to hold the toe boards in the bottom of the hull. Just as I feared. Oh well, it was good practice. She is now sitting along side the Memory Maker patiently waiting to be brought into the work shop for a complete hull strip then re-glassing with epoxy. Back when they built them in 64 they only glassed the seams and then varnished the hulls. I will use 6 oz cloth over the entire hull and West Epoxy over that. Cindy wants her to be a light blue on the hull so she will get her wish. I will build a small trailer for her to ride on and by next spring we should have a neat little boat to sail on lakes closer to our house. Plus with grandkids now we have a boat we can infect them with the sailing bug!
She is a really neat little boat. The gunter rig is really slick but I need to add topping lifts to it to keep the boom from clunking us in the head when we drop the main. We both are really looking forward to playing with her and really wish she was able to sail now as October is probably one of our best months to sail. It will be so nice to be able to drive 15 mins to a local lake, spend 10 mins rigging the boat and get to sail in the evening or a nice fall afternoon.
I guess I can kiss another spring good by. Darn boats!!!
Sam
