O'day 39 project boat

[Panta Rei]

Here's how I repair spots that have glass showing: I feel something was wrong if the gelocat pops off and bare fibers are showing. The gelcoat should have adhered better to the fibers. Therefore I feel putting more gelcoat into the spot is not a sound fix. I use lightly filled epoxy (nearly liquid) and fill the spot with it, filling the chip to the point just shy of over filling it. I do this with a stick or syringe. (use lacquer thinner to wipe up or smooth out the epoxy). The epoxy will wet out the fibers very well and bond well to them. You can use just about any two part epoxy kit you find in any hardware or other store. It's all good enough for this job as long as it is nearly liquid yet thick enough to stay where you want it.
Allow the epoxy to cure. Wax the area and grind the epoxy down to the point where it is just below (1/32” or so) the lowest point in the pattern. You do not need to feather out the gelcoat. The patch will stick to your new epoxy. The nice thing about this process is that you can do it or again if you don’t like the way it turned out. Just grind what you don’t like away and try again.
Most importantly: Even a less than perfect repair will look many times better than that old chip and most guests have no idea that a deck crack is nothing but cosmetic.

 

[Indysailor]

Sounds great- the non skid pattern pieces they send can be re-used?

 

[Panta Rei]

Sounds great- the non skid pattern pieces they send can be re-used?

Yes, I use a mold release but I believe they say the flex mold has permanient release. (check with them)

 

[25yearslater]

Dam, the student becomes the master. I will be trying the patch on the few spots I am obsessed with when warm weather arrives. Are you using a mold release wax Todd? I tried a standard carnuaba wax on one small area and wasn't really pleased with the results. Hey indy, the only thing I might add is, for complete reprints the tricks are to get that sheet down by liberal application of the squeegee and insure it doesn't catalyze too quickly. I used a 60% gelcoat 40% Duratec mix with MEKP 9 at 2%. The Flex Molds come with polyvinyl alcohol release that appears light green. I too used a mold release (Pol-ease) between applications as the PVA will eventually pull free leaving the mold white in color. Just a light misting was all that was required.

 

[Panta Rei]

Indysailor has awoken the Zen master of deck repair and all things gooey and sticky.
Deck Zen master speaks well of great things in the world including Duratec.
Go forth and seek all that is good from Composite express in the land of the Viking gods. (Minneapolis)
It will also allow you to impart great things onto gelcoat repairs on the smooth portions of your boat.
Seek the Zen Master at (so it begins…)for more information repairing smooth gelcoat as I will not dare
spray magical substances in my attached garage for the fear of the god of my better half threatening
loss of my manly parts. (I’ve got this planned for spring)
I'm off to distant lands until Wednesday

 

[Indysailor]

I welcome the awakening of the gel coat zen master. Last I checked, he had rounded the bend and started posting pictures of some young guy he claimed was himself. The idea of being able to keep the original deck non skid texture is really nice.

Just to mention, I was reading up on using polyurethane injection to repair balsa deck problems, recently. Some people like to use Gorilla Glue to fix balsa core, but since it expands there can be bulge problems. A different method is detailed here.
See:
http://www.sailtraininginc.com/repairs/balsacore.htm
http://www.sailtraininginc.com/repairs/balsacorerotsummary.htm

Also, there is an interesting application of 5200 on the second link, which of course is also polyurethane.

My conundrum is wondering whether to get overly concerned about fixing problems on a boat that I use mostly in light winds to transport beer and our children to an anchorage. I'm doing the bulkheads right now, which will be rendered impervious with CPES, so maybe that deck work will wait until next year.

 

[25yearslater]

Master Yogurt sayeth right are you on young guy. I wish I was still flexible like that guy. I will be updating And so it begins with the winter festivities in the very near future. Suffice it to say I have been spending an inordinate amount of time upside down inside YOT.

 

[Panta Rei]

It's time to take a breather and see where I've been and where I should be headed. I will try to make this as comprehensive as possible.

This is going to be a bit long so I’ll first start with what I’ll cover:

Where the project sits as of March 1, 2012

What has been done.

What is next.

What was done right.

What has gone wrong.

Recommendations for others who follow.


Where we sit…
As of March 1 2012 the boat lies about a mile from my home in the back yard of a stainless steel fabrication company. I cover the boat each winter with a cheap tarp from Menards using ¾ PVC tubing for structure. This holds up well each year.
It’s now seen two winters and is quite dry. Batteries are charged occasionally so I have plenty of power to work with.
I’ve removed the lazarrette covers and propane tank covers to practice the procedures required to refurbish the deck and hull. I’ve got many items ordered so I’m just about ready for spring.
The hull still has a crack at the leading edge of the keel hull joint as nearly every O’day 39 does. I have been following and discussing how others have been repaired. Process seems rather easy.

What has been done…
· Engine has been run.
· Starting and charging system completely rewired.
· Installed a Walker Airsep on the intake of the engine. This should prevent any blow-by from fogging the engine room and runs the engine crankcase in a vacuum so any leaks should go away.
· New heat exchanger installed. New hoses everywhere.
· Inverter installed and wired into house wiring with auto bypass when on shore power.
· New led lights everywhere
· LED courtesy lights installed
· Leaking Holding tank system torn out.
· Boat completely power washed below. Treated with Chlorine Dioxide. Smell is completely gone.
· New (used) sails purchased
· Rebuilt pedestal and compass.
· Interior teak completely stripped.
· Interior doors and drawers finished using a few coats a varnish and Epephanes (SP??) rubbed effect.
· Swim platform build, stainless supports fabricated.
· All foam for births have been completely cleaned and sterilized. (chorine dioxide)


What’s next….



· New holding tanks installed . Two 20 gallon tanks. Odorguard hose.
· Will remove and polish the galley sink. I will be purchasing a new galley range that has a mirror finish. My landlord will have the sink polished at a cost much less than a new sink. About $150 to $200
· Open up any soft spots in the deck (I know of three so far) and replace core. Let it all air out for the summer.
· Repair all deck cracks on smooth gelcoat as well as the non-skid. Process has been tested in my garage.
· I will be using Polyglow to restore the gloss on the deck. I’m thinking of using polyglow on both the smooth and non-skid gelcoat. (pending final testing soon)
· Interior cushions for the main salon will be made and covered. Births will just be recovered.
· Interior varnished with Rubbed effect finish.
· LED Indirect lighting installed.
· Headliners installed.
· Deck repair and polyglow.
· Likely sand and spray hull with polyurethane (or acrylic) clearcoat. Alternative is polyglow but polyglow does not hold up well to fenders.
· Paint hull stripes as the new canvas that came with the boat is green and the stripes are blue.
· Soda blast hull. (landlord will perform)
· Repair hulls cracks forward of keel hull joint.
· Strip and finish exterior teak.
· Polish all stainless steel.
· Haul boat to Milwaukee to splash.
· Figure out how to rig it.
· Find out what else is wrong with it.
· Haul it for the winter and make finial repairs
· Spring of 2013 set sail


What was done right…
Transferring everything from the boat to my garage and letting it sit for 9 months allowed me the research all processes and find people Like Joe (25 years later) was the best thing I could do. I found the best way (for me and my boat) to proceed with the refirb. It also allowed me the get the smell out completely. (both holding tanks had ruptured) Letting it sit until my daughter’s wedding was stipulated (by my better half) prior to the purchase.
Stripping the finish down to bare wood. O’day is not known for it’s interior but the wood is truly beautiful once I got years of oil ,dirt, oil ,dirt, etc.. removed.

Placing the boat as close as possible to my home. I always seem to need the one tool I left at home.
Insuring the boat with my home owners company saved me big money and provided great service. (see what when wrong) My premium for a 39 ft. boat is under $200 /year covering the great lakes and eastern seaboard

Replacing all lights with LED. This takes lighting out of the battery capacity question. All lights on draws very little power. I used Warm white led. I’m happy with the color.

What went wrong…
Well the crane operator dropped the boat when he was unloading it. The insurance covered a complete survey and some minor repairs. Fortunately the boat dropped (about 6 inches) back onto the air-ride trailer. (we’ll soon see how the drive train faired once we get it in the water)
My insurance agent says that their is absolutely no concern about going back to the crane operators insurance company should we find more damage. No crane operator wants to sit on the stand and get grilled on why he dropped the boat.

My first landlord sold his shop to my new friends the Stainless fabricators. Unfortunately he divided the land and sold havlf to someone else. Two feet of my boat was on the wrong side of the line. $1000 to move it three feet. Think twice set once. Found a better crane operator!!


Recommendations for others who follow…..
Don’t start your refirb job too soon. Think it over. I would have done a lot more and got less in return had I started as soon as I got the boat.

Well… back to work. The gelcoat has set-up so I’m ready for another coat on the lazzarette cover.

 

[Panta Rei]

Deck crack repair using flex mold patterns

I'm practicing my deck crack repair. I now realize that practicing with that cockpit lazzarette covers is not the ideal place to start but fortunately you can repeat the process until you get it right.
Joe, I use an aerosol spray on cleaner/wax with carnauba. It allows for a good build-up. A stiff brush lifts up anything on the wax.
Indysailor… The deck process you found looks interesting. But if I could get at the underside , I would simply remove it, replace the core and put the panel back in place with a good amount of glassing to be sure it is sound.

I posted a video of the process a few posts back.

As back ground, here is the step by step

1. Wax the non-skid area , mask any areas outside the non-skid
2. Grind out the dings and deck cracks
3. Blow out the grind areas.
4. Match up the flex mold pattern to the deck and tape it in place
5. Add gelcoat
6. Cover with flexmold patern
7. Squeegee the area
8. Place a weight on it.


The gelcoat I purchased was not color matched well. I had to tint it.
I’m an old paint engineer so I’m very picky about the color match but I recommend that you have your geloat color matched by the company supplying it. Be sure they do a great job. A great color match will hide your imperfections. A poor color match will draw attention to your repairs.

 

[Panta Rei]

Swim platform brackets

A whole weeek of 70 deg weather. It's actually hot in the boat. The swim platform is ready to install. The photo attached show the brackets. I'm using the ladder to hold them in place. The ladder will be gone and the batckets will be a few inches lower flush with the bottom. The small backet is for the top step. the photos are high res.

 

[Panta Rei]

Swim platform installed

The ladder will be mounted on the Swim platform and another smaller step will be added just above Genesis.
This will make it very easy for me to get our 100 lb. Brown lab on board.

 

[Panta Rei]

Odor Safe sanitation hose installation

I found Odor Safe sanitation hose on line for a reasonable price around $6.50 per foot. The sailing publications say it’s got the highest resistance to odor permeation. I hope it lives up to its billing because it’s very difficult to install. I would estimate that it has a 9 inch bend radius. West marine says it has a 7 1/2 inch bend radius. My wife says she has not seen a hose that stiff in ten years. (Women can be so cruel)
Anyway… It’s is a monster to handle and the O’day 39 is no better than any other boat in access issues. I designed a simple system with a line leading to the holding tank from the head and one going from the holding tank to the deck pump out. The boat was originally plumbed with y valves and pumps to allow pumping out at sea. There is no way I could plumb such a system with the odor guard hose and the enlarged holding tanks I installed. The original holding tanks (according to http://www.iheartodays.com) were 15 gallons each. I increased both to 20 gallons.
I’m concerned that the extra stiff hose will put too much load on the tank fittings. I purchased my tanks from Trionic Corp. here in Wisconsin.(saving a bunch on shipping) I purchased tanks with 3/8" walls which are light duty tanks. They must be fully supported which I have done. I will find a way to support hose to keep the stain off the tanks. I purchased both tanks for $220 so I don’t mind the added work to make strain relief.
I found a great new use for my phone while installing the hose. Access was tight and all runs were blind so the camera allowed me see how to get past obstacles.

I'm using holding tank filters since I saw no possibility for short horizontal vent line runs.



The first photo shows the hose hitting a rough seam of fiberglass as it made a transition bend from vertical to the horizontal run in the grid pan.



The second photo shows it safely past the that point.


Third photo shows a sail batten stuck in the end of the hose helping it get over the obstacle. All this done blind. Could not have done it without the photos.


Fourth photo was used to check the attachment to the deck fitting

.

 

[DeniseO30]

Probably too late to suggest this now. But a heat gun to warm the hose would help allot. Or set in the sun on deck.

Jus sayin...

 

[25yearslater]

I'm wondering if the heat gun will work on the rubrail. There are some pretty severe bends I am going to have to negotiate.

 

[Panta Rei]

Probably too late to suggest this now. But a heat gun to warm the hose would help allot. Or set in the sun on deck.

Jus sayin...

Good point! Warming the hose could help.
It was 83 deg yesterday. That did not help much.

The manufacturer recommends dunking the ends in boiling water before sliding them on to the barbs. I'm heading to the good will store tomorrow to purchase an old electric percolator coffee pot.

Joe- I think Taco Marine recommends a heat gun when applying the rigid rubrail. I think they have instructional videos.

 

[DeniseO30]

Does the hose have "memory" like Pex tubing? Many kinds of plastics do.

 

[Indysailor]

I'm wondering if the heat gun will work on the rubrail. There are some pretty severe bends I am going to have to negotiate.

I experimented with a scrap piece and it works pretty well. You should be careful- it is tempting to heat it too fast and create burns. One concern I have is how to maintain the shape of the track while bending it. On the piece I tried it flattens out and the insert will be difficult to install.

 

[Panta Rei]

Does the hose have "memory" like Pex tubing? Many kinds of plastics do.

[FONT=&quot]Sure does, it remembers that it was molded straight and is rather suborn about it. I'll get some pictures of this stuff being bent. It's something to be aware of before you order since the store would likely not accept a return.[/FONT]

 

[Panta Rei]

Thru hull pugged

The hoses are attached . Heat gun worked great with one exception when we heated too far down the hose and the hose kinked when we bent it to slide it onto the fitting. Fortunately we had enough hose to cut the kink off and retry. From this experience,I would not suggest heating the hose to bend it. Better deal with the 7 1/2 bend radius and plan accordingly. Photos of the installation in the morning.

The previous owner must have been plagued with this for years. He said his girl friend over filled the tank and popped a seam. It looks like it was just a very solid plug of the vent. Photo take after it was drilled thru.

 

[Panta Rei]

Forward holding tank O'day 39

My phone died as I shot these photos so I'll add more next post. This is the forward holding tank. The line from the head is on the port side. line running to the pump out deck fitting on the starboard side. The pipe fittings were used to keep waist from sitting in the line running to the deck fitting. This should yield the same results as a top mounted dip tube at much less cost. This tank cost $120. Fittings $12.
The v-birth floor had two openings on each side for access. Not enough access for this job. It would have limited the size of the tank (Now 20 gallons) I cut a much larger access hole and will repair the damage after I fill the tank hopefully this weekend. It should be simple to do since I cut only the center support and along the aft edge. Filter an vent line will be added today.
The bottom of the tank is fully supported by two 1/2" plywood bulkheads with support and plywood sheets between them.