Brining back weathered wood

[jsmall]

I'm purchasing a project Challenger. It has quite a few faults (no cockpit sole, lifting glass on cabin top, and a "challenging" {Ar, Ar} interior). The cabin sides are in good condition but weathered gray. What is the the best way to get back to a varnishable mahogony? (sand sand sand?)
Jimmy Small

 

[TomY]

Hi Jimmy, welcome to the board!

Please tell us more about the Challenger you're buying. There is alot of help on this board.

Loving these beautiful boats as much as sailing them can cause a conflict. A Challenger is brightwork, a mysterious art(or so it appears before it's understood). The DIY owner needs a plan, he(she) needs confidence. We need a system. I felt strongly enough about this that I wrote an article.

"Brightwork, a Sailors System",will be coming out in the May issue of Good Old Boat magazine, in late April. If you apply the more aggressive steps I include in this article, you may well find a beautiful cabinside under the grayed wood. If you remove the window trim(rebed glass), upper(to repair fiberglass) and lower(to stop cabin leaks) mouldings, this could be easier than you think but please read the article, the danger is in damaging the wood through this process.

Many of these cabin sides were neglected to the point of no return. If you think you have a chance to save it, try it.

In the meantime, tell us more about your Challenger.




[/i]

 

[Anonymous]

The hull is great, topsides painted, westerbeke 4-107 rebuilt with 0 hours mostly installed, deck is solid and painted, aluminum masts, wooden boom. The interior is a mess, the cockpit sole is gone all of the exterior wood is gray(but not previously painted). It needs a good deal of work. I have some pictures from my inspection visit if you guys have a way of posting them.
I don't have a boat number. What I guess is the build number is carved into some wood below the companion way it is [Net 12 No.529395].
Does this number offer any information? When I get the boat home in a few months I'm sure I will have many questions.
JimmySmall

 

[David]

posting pictures and NVDC

Hi Jimmy. Sounds like your challenger is a bit like mine.

Email the pictures to me and I'll post them. Send them to david at reno2 dot com.

The number carved into the wood is the coast guard id number, not the hull number. If your vessel is currently documented with the Coast Guard (http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/vdoc/nvdc.htm) or if you want to document it, you'll need that number.

Where is the boat now and where is home?

 

[jsmall]

The boat is in Tampa FL. I live in Fork Union VA., between Richmond and Charlottesville. We currently sail a 1966 Pearson Triton in the Chesapeake Bay.
Jimmy Small

 

[rtyszka]

CG documentation information "Kittiwake"

Data found in historical database no longer in Documentation. Vessel Name: KITTIWAKE USCG Doc. No.: 529395
Vessel Service: RECREATIONAL IMO Number: *
Trade Indicator: Recreational Call Sign: WYZ6828
Hull Material: PLASTIC (NON-REINFORCED) Hull Number: *
Shipyard
and Address: *
* Year Built: *
Hullyard
and Address: *
PORTSMOUTH, ENGLAND Length (ft.): 38.5
Hailing Port: * Hull Depth (ft.): 6.1
Owner: Hull Breadth (ft.): 11.3
Gross Tonnage: 13
Net Tonnage: 12
Documentation Issuance Date: * Documentation Expiration Date: February 28, 2001

Previous Vessel Names: No Vessel Name Changes Previous Vessel Owners:
CHARLES F LIENSENFELT

 

[Dave Richardson]

I'm now rebuilding my cockpit - from the hull to the bottoms of the seats - and it is an interesting task. I've made a few notes and taken photos, and hope to post my thoughts, if I ever get it done. The drawings from Alden are nothing like what actually exists in my boat, and I think much of what I tore out was original. Rot got to much of the wood in the forward corners; the transmission linkage has been bastardized, and the copper tubes that were designed to drain the seat gutters were just hanging.
Also, since I'm just 70 miles south of Tampa, you are more than welcome to come on down and look at 949-EE when you are in the area.

 

[Anonymous]

Speaking of shaggy cockpits, does one of you have Gypsea, or know what became of her? We've seen Alarm in City Island but chickened out; ditto for Gypsea in Texas but even had a contract on her. What became of Freyja, another worthy challenge? (If it'll make you feel any better, our Quetzal, built by Le Comte who built a bunch of the Challengers, needs work to her cockpit floor, too.)

 

[Dave Richardson]

Gypsea - 949-EE - is now Essay and in Port Charlotte Fla, with her cockpit opened wide but filling nicely with new wood, paint and buckets of sweat.

 

[Anonymous]

Would gluing veneer to cabin sides that were too far gone be a possible solution?

 

[Anonymous]

I'm tickled to hear that Essay (exGypsea) is coming back! And Alarm, too. The previous post re: veneering the cabin top reflects a thought I'd had. Essay's forward-facing cabin top was so much reduced in thickness that the drifts showed, additionally, the corner posts no longer fit and the joints were open. It seemed to me that laminating a new thickness of mahogany onto the face of both might be easier than the traditional 'tear it out' approach. I had thought that 1/4" thick would be about right and would bring the thickness, and structural strength, back to what Alden intended. The first step would be gluing a wedge into the crack, like Tom described in one of his articles, so that the existing wood is one piece again. A big negative is that the 'layup' is assymetrical, that is the interior original wood is, say, 7/8" thick and the outer lamina might be 1/4"; the gluline is toward the outside and the assembly will tend to warp. The epoxy won't absorb moisture like the two volumes of wood which will add to the forces. I've got screws showing on the inside of our teak toerails and would laminate 1/8" or 3/16" new wood to 'em before I replaced 'em. The problem there would be where to stop.

Doug

 

[Dave Richardson]

Thanks for the thoughts on Essay's "nose." Not sure what I'm going to do but I have a chunk of 8/4 mahogany that I keep eyeing. Actually, my wife found it and thought I might need it. Honest. That project is down the road. Cockpit gets finished first.