O'day 39 project boat

[Panta Rei]

Best O'day upgrade ever.

Thanks for the Tip Mich222

Ted Clucas an east coast Oday 39 guru turned me on to this. I found working on the back side of the circuit breakers nearly impossible. Ted showed me how he cut out the panel and placed a hinge on the bottom. Latches at the top open in a snap and give you all the room you need without extending any wires. This may be obvious to many of you. For me it was God sent.
The photos are really bad since I disconnected shore power and batteries just in case I nicked something. I now can get at this birds nest a get things a bit organized.
My next step is to back the panels out of the wood panel and finish it, install the hinge and latches then snake the electrical panels back into the wood panel.

 

[Panta Rei]

New LED ceiling lights

I replaced the standard surface mounted lights with LED fixtures. I likely could have just replaced the bulbs but the fixtures were tarnished and in my eyes rather dated. I replaced them with http://www.sailorsams.com/mall/star_8507LEDS.asp
which are chromed plastic at $33 each. I could have gone with the Hatteras units that are metal but look similar for $110 each. I chose to use the money I saved to purchase the better reading lights and wall lights (see photo a few posts up) replacing the plastic O'day supplied units. My thought is that people handle and redirect the reading lights and the stock units were very flimsy. I purchased Warm white lights. I feel they make the boat interior look much better slightly whiter (not as yellow) as incandescent lights but not the blue look of some LED.
I will also be using recessed mounted LED lights in the overhead panels above the table and galley areas. These too are plastic and cost about $30 http://www.sailorsams.com/mall/nova_8778_LED.asp

 

[Panta Rei]

Small indirect lights.

I installed three small LED lights for indirect floor lighting as well as one infrared red over the nav station. See website http://www.magnalight.com/pc-45215-...volts--90ma-draw--courtesy-or-down-light.aspx

They were $27 each. I spent the day working on the boat. Working on the electrical panels, cleaning up some wiring and a lot of sanding of the interior teak. With all the lights now converted to LED the batterys held up all day even with the sander running. I see no need to figure lighting into the battery load.

Photo one is the red one over the Nav station. The third photo is a shot looking down at the galley floor. The light is mounted to the kick board. I have another illuminating the the center isle and another under the settee. At less than one watt each I can leave these on when I am away from the boat so I can return later without stumbling to find the light panel.

These lights produce a very clean white light. A bit whiter than the warm white surface mount overheads I talked about in the previous post.

 

[SailingCal21]

Thanks for the surface mount LED info. Been looking for suitable replacements and have not been excessively satisfied with bulb only replacement. It's more effective to have the fixture and LED designed as a unit to deal with the differences between LEDs and incandescent technologies.

On Karma, I replaced the cheap plastic reading lamps with Alpenglow lamps. Their pricey, however IMHO well worth it, they look as good as the day I installed them and provide excellent light color and intensity.

 

[Panta Rei]

Nice products. ...http://www.alpenglowlights.com/ A huge improvement over the plastic lamps.

 

[Panta Rei]

Winter is setting in so I'm removing components so I can work on them in the warmth of my garage.

My landlord's stainless fabricating shop has my bow pulpit on their layout table to straighten up a clean-up some welds.

I'm removing the anchor well hatch , lazarrette hatches as well as the propane locker hatches. Theses pieces are all microcosms of the entrire boat with deck cracks, gelcoat chips, in both the non-skid as well as the smooth areas. The gelcaot is badly faded and the non-sikid paint is chalky. Note the chip in the Non-skid and the wonderful work on the hinge mounting holes.

My plan is to remove any traces of the polyglow the previous owner had applied at one time. The cockpit has blotchy areas that I think is remnant of Polyglow. I understand I need to get rid of it before a do any buffing.

I'll then try Joe's (25 year later) recommendations Aquabuff for the gelcoat and and Mas Epoxies flex mold to repair the no-skid. (I have only small areas to repair) and Duraglass to fill the cracks after I open them up.

I will be repainting the non-skid. I think I will be going after a color nearly identical to the gelocat (O'day off white) I know I should have a greater contrast but I want to keep the deck as cool as possible. Comments anyone??

 

[Panta Rei]

Electrical nearly complete

Warm rainy day today so I used it to complete the electrical work. Panel is now hinged at the bottom and has a locking hasp on top. The inverter is fully functional and has a remote display mounted on the main panel under the battery switch.
Also on the electrical panel is a Sirius satellite radio, and old cd player, the four LED Dimmers (in the lower center)and a stand alone depth meter that I came uninstalled with the boat. I replaced the battery switch with a heavey duty model and ran oo cable to and from it.
The wiring is still a bit of a birds nest but it is getting better with every wire I re-route. Many,many loose connections and bad crimps. The electrical panel has been worked on and added to many times. I can tell from the wire and proper strain relief that some work was done professionally. Other work was done with speaker wire or anything they could get their hands on. It makes it easy to spot the stuff that should come out. I soldered all connectors because I don't have a nice crimper and just don't trust the crimps.
The labels will come in next week so that will complete the electrical panel.
Next step is to remove all the hatches and send them off to be rebuilt.
Should the weather hold up, I may get a chance to complete the few spots in the interior that are not completely stripped. This would leave varnishing the interior, upholstery, blast bottom and barrier coat, buff out deck and paint nonskid as the remaining major projects.

 

[Panta Rei]

Cleaning up the gelocat

Started the winter project list today. My wife cringed when I backed the cars out of the garage. I promised she'd have here garage back in a few days. She's happy.

I removed the cover from the foam mattresses. The boat was full of mold so I want to be sure the foam is OK. I sumerged them in 2000 ppm Chlorine Dioxide and hung them in the heated garage to air out and to drain. I waited until the heating season to do this. The mattress will add a good deal of moister to the house once I bring them in (tomorrow)

The weather here inn Wiscosnin is in the 40's so I went to the boat and picked up the hatches , lazarette seats and such. I tested a few products to clean them up. You can see in the photo the preveous owner attempted to restore the gelocoat with Polyglow. Note the splochyness in the gelocoat on the one on the left. I used some Crazy Clean that I found in the boat. It is a caustic cleaner very similar (my guess) to acrylic floor wax strippers. (Polyglow is expensive floor wax) The old Polyglow came up quickly.
Contrary to what I have been told, stripping the polyglow is very easy. I'm thinking of using Polyglow in place of compounding and waxing. I see no downside, gloss is better , less work to apply, and stripping is very easy.

Next , I will send pictures of the soon to be swim platform. I'm making it out of Iron wood.

 

[SailingCal21]

Thanks for the info concerning Ploi Glow. I've heard of many people applying it, but never a comment concerning ease of removal and decision to reuse it. I'm not detailed oriented enough to get into the compound, polish, wax repeat habit. I've often thought of using Ploi Glow, but have been concerned with the reported, by some, difficulty of removal and reapplying it.

 

[Panta Rei]

Buy a janitor a beer

Hi Cal,

I have Polyglow on my boat now. The previous owner applied it. It's coming off in the cockpit but looks great on the hull.

I have a fellow oday 39 owner I consider my mentor. He has had his boat from day one and both of our boats were once sitting side by side on the production floor. He is a great resource. He HATES Pollyglow and threatens to disavow me if I use it. He's a great sailor winning his share of races with his 39 but a lousy janitor. That's why he hates Polyglow.
If you search the net on Polyglow you will read someone claiming the stuff is no more than Acrylic floor sealer. Duh... whats wrong with something that is designed to keep a gloss something that is walked on and abused every day? How often do you see spiked heals at the marina?
Water based Acrylic coatings have long been known for good UV resistance and incredibly tough durability.
Here is my review of the pros and cons I found on the web using my 40 years experience as a paint process engineer and running a paint company as a filter.

Adhesion issues: This is completely a problem of bad prep. Don't use rubbing compound to prep the surface unless you are sure it does not have have silicones or waxes. It's safer to chemically clean the surface or wet sand. Use the water break test. Spray pure water onto the prepped surface. It should wet out completely soaking into the micro pores of the gelcoat. Look for water breaks (areas where the water repels or beads up) hit them again with cleaner. What cleaners to use? First either wetsand or use Polyglow's Polyox to remove all oxidation. Then Ployglows cleaner or read the MSDS and find something similar. Your local janitor will have a great cleaner that he uses prior to coating the floor.

Contamination trapped under the Polyglow. Really? this is a problem people blame Polyglow?
The same guy complained about a lump in the new carpet he laid. He also mentioned a reward for his missing cat.

Life expectancy:
I read Practical sailor's review of all restoration products. Polyglow is one of the best. About 3 years. I understand that you can extend it by recoating each year. I'll likely do that on the hull. Topsides are just to easy to strip and start over. I'm going into this fully expecting to strip the Polyglow the third year. I feel I'll still be ahead with labor saving over compounding/waxing. My Janitor says I'm pushing it but I figure UV will be less on the vertical sides of the hull. One side facing South may get redone sooner.

Looks splotchy as it ages:
See my previous post. The lazarrette seat looked terrible. It took a minute to clean up using a scouring pad and Krazy Clean. (An alkaline solution with Butyl Celusolve as a solvent)

Here is a product recommended by my favorite janitor: http://www.floorscrubbers.com/store/Qstore.cgi?CMD=011&PROD=001546 I checked the MSDS and ist is very similar to Krazy clean. He also says there is a Johnson wax product that works just as well. Some strippers only strip wax, Look for a comment like (Also works on most Acrylic sealers)

Here is a big issue:
These strippers are caustic. They can burn skin at full strength. I plan to spray on the solution using a bug sprayer and let it work. Then scrub with a diluted mixture. I found that ist is very easy to see the film lifting up as it is scrubbed. I might use a orbital buffer with a scotch pad on it.

I must add this: Short of reapplying gelcoat (25 years later), wet sanding and applying a true Clearcoat (as in automotive clearcoat) is by far the best way to restore a gelcoat. It should last the life of the boat. Anyone with a boat on a trailer should consider Earl Scheib.http://www.earlscheibautopainting.com/Other-Locations.html.

Our small lake here in Wisconsin is still open. My neighbor is mounting wheels on his iceboat.

 

[25yearslater]

I am going to agree fully with you Todd. Regelcoating a boat is a massive undertaking in labor. I will be exploring options down the road when YOT begins to fade. The 200 plus hours of wet sanding and another 50 plus of buffing not to mention the touch ups are a once in a lifetime endeavor. I can't imagine doing anything larger than what I have. Looks like Polyglow is a viable alternative.

 

[Panta Rei]

I'm waiting on color card from the paint manufactures. I'm planning on painting the non-skid a shade or two lighter than what it is now (factory finish) I'm also ordering some gelgoat and tint to patch up deck cracks and gouges.
In the mean time I'm building a swim platform out of extra ironwood I have left over from a deck project.

Here is the rough platform ready for glue. It's 4 1/2 feet long. I'll trim it to 4' 3" after the glue sets. My boat's landlord will make four stainless brackets. They will be simple brakeformed pcs. The whole project should cost $100. I'll shear the blanks. I get the run of the place now.

 

[Panta Rei]

After researching the Polyglow and testing on a few pcs , I have decided to polyglow the entire boat. Hull, deck (smooth Gelcoat) and deck (non-skid).
I made this decision based on the ease of stripping the existing Polyglow on the boat. It's really not very difficult to do and compared to compounding, polishing and waxing it's a snap. I have three different products I'm using. I will wait until I do the entire boat this spring to give you recommendations. For now, polyprep works well but so does nearly all floor strippers. Red Max from Lowes is very inexpensive. SC Johnson Professional Deep Penetrating Floor Stripper works very well. Please let me know if anyone has other suggestions.

I have sent off the Propane locker hatch cover to have the gelcoat matched for both the crean and the darker non-skid. I hope to get back to that project next week or so fixing deck cracks and chips.

In the mean time, it's time to tackle the upholstering. I''ve disinfected and washed the foam and allowing it to dry in the dry indoor January air. I would never do this in the summer time. It would take forever to dry.
I'm off to Menards to buy 1/2 plywood for cushion bottoms.

 

[ruidh]

I should look into this Polyglow. My topsides are badly worn.

 

[Panta Rei]

The boat came with a partial bottle of Polyglow. I can send you (or anyone) a sample if you want to do some testing this winter. We will all soon be in the same boat with weathered older boats. We need to develop and test options. Joe sure is doing a great job with the re-gelcoating option.

 

[ruidh]

Joe exhibits much more dedication than I possess. In order of importance safety comes first, then Sailing, then comfort and lastly appearance.

 

[25yearslater]

Thanks ruidh. Dedication is a good word. Stark raving loony might be more appropriate though. I'm with you on safety first. The primary reason YOT might not hit the water this year is ease of working on it at my home. I have everything I need to complete the project at the ready. No doubt about it though, this was a one more owner boat. It was either a recyle to a new life or a few seasons of sailing and scrapped. Pretty much all of us are going with the former. But darn I want to go sailing.

 

[ruidh]

In the almost 5 years that I've owned my '71 O23, I've slowly worked to make her safer and more comfortable and I'm just getting to the point where I'm beginning to do some cosmetics. I read the messages about head liners with interest as I don't have any and it appears this boat has never had any.

But my top sides are badly worn and porous. Mildew gets in the pores and is hard to eradicate. But I'm just not willing to pull her for two years while I do a complete overhaul.

I've enjoyed your messages with interest. I repect and admire your perseverence even when it looks like tilting at windmills.

 

[Panta Rei]

Mildew in gelcoat, headliners, rebuilding settee

In the almost 5 years that I've owned my '71 O23, I've slowly worked to make her safer and more comfortable and I'm just getting to the point where I'm beginning to do some cosmetics. I read the messages about head liners with interest as I don't have any and it appears this boat has never had any.

But my top sides are badly worn and porous. Mildew gets in the pores and is hard to eradicate. But I'm just not willing to pull her for two years while I do a complete overhaul.

I've enjoyed your messages with interest. I repect and admire your perseverence even when it looks like tilting at windmills.

Wow , I'm glad you mentioned the mildew problem. I may have the same problem but I was not sure if it was mildew or the gelcoat being sanded through. This was a dilemma since sanding to clean up the mildew would be the worst thing to do if the gelcoat was thin. I'll see if a few favorite chemicals will do anything and then resort to sanding since I have more gelocat on the way.

Headliner: Check out these Videos. http://www.sailrite.com/Installing-Removable-Cabin-Headliner-in-a-Boat-Video and http://www.sailrite.com/Installing-a-Foam-Backed-Headliner-in-a-Boat-Video.
The guy doing them is a hoot. He obviously has many years of experience but is a bit of a hack. I can say that because I'm a lot like him. Watch the first video, the guy doing the voice over is constantly pointing out his bad practices and messy shop. The video gives you the confidence for taking on such a project. Watch him and you'll be saying ,"hey if he can do it" I love all of their videos.

Windmill tilting:
This weather has me doing things a bit out of order since I was expecting not to get on the boat until spring.
The work on perfecting the gelcoat and non-skid repair will wait until a get materials and cold weather since I can do this work in my heated garage.

I'm rebuilding the settees replacing the plywood bases foam (some foam was contaminated when the holding tanks burst)and upholstery.
I have removed the hand hold behind the settees. See photos of sister ship that still has the handholds.I think it opens the self up and gives it a bit more modern look. (comments appreciated since I can replace it easily) obviously the shelf will be useless at sea.
I will be using beige Naugahyde.

As a said a few posts back, I soaked the foam mattresses in Chlorine Dioxide. This stuff is great for sterilizing and eliminating odors from just about anything. Chlorine Dioxide can not exist in the atmosphere for more than a day so it's safe for bedding. I used the dry heat in the house to fully dry the foam. (don't do this in the summer time)
I am now using some sport carpet cleaner (Resolve) and lemon Lysol (it was handy) to clean up the foam. I spray the Reslove on the spots and spray the lysolve over everything working a few square feet at a time. I don't let it soak in since water runs through this stuff quickly. I then use my home carpet/upholstery cleaner to such it up. (rental units would work better)
See the before and after photo with the clean section at the bottom of the photo. I'm now comfortable reusing them. There is absolutely now odor other than the lemon sent that should go away in a day or so.

 

[Panta Rei]

Winter, Flexi-mold, Gelcoat and Velcro

Well it's below Zero and 5 inches of snow is forcasted for today. I'd say winter is here. Time to warm up the garage and get going on the winter projects.

I recieved the color matched gelcaot from Express composites. Great people, I sent in the propane locker cover and they matched it well.

I ordered a #301 flex mold pattern from Mas Epoxies and recieved #118 from Jamestown distributors. Way to many fingers in this pie. I received a confirmation email from yet anouther company. After the mix-up I found that Mas does not make the product. Gibco Flex mold makes it. Mas sells the product through Jamestown and other distributors.

Gibco's website is http://www.gibcoflexmold.com/process.asp

I 'll give them a changce to send the correct patern out but next time I'll try Gibco.

The original headliner was attached using screws with caps on them. It looked OK but I will use velcro since it allows for easy access to the underside of the deck.

As you may have guessed, I'm in the wholsale buisness and have accaess to some othe products needed for such a project. Velco or the generic (hook and loop) costs a ton through marine supply houses. The stuff is dirt cheap purchased in qualities. I will be buying rolls of self-aheasive and sew on. Prices are $20 to $30 dollars per roll. Rolls are 27.5 yards! long. Does anyone need a sizable qty?