Peason Hawk 16 rebuild

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Pearson Hawk 16 rebuild

I have recently been rebuilding a Pearson Hawk 16, serial # 201. I plan on posting a number of before and after pictures here, as well as some details on the how and why.
If you plan on doing this yourself, feel free to ask questions.

These are some before pictures from June this year. Not shown are two big gashes under the waterline near the stern

 

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Anti-skid paint (with sand?) had been applied to most of the topsurfaces.
Most of the wood was weathered beyond repair or rotten through. It seemed to be mahogany.
The non-topsurface gelcoat had been repainted poorly several times.

Except for the gashes and minor dents and holes above the waterline, the hull was otherwise solid and rigid. The mast was original and okay, the standing rigging otherwisebeyond repair. There was no running rigging except for the sails which were old and out of shape but good enough to use while restoring. The centerboard and rudder were good enough to serve as templates to make new ones.

I decided to strip the hull entirely, repair the gashes and holes, remove all paint and remove all fittings. Then make all new mahogany wood pieces, repaint the hull with two or three component marine coating, make or replace all fittings.

 

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I am very pleased with the rebuild. Before I post the process, here is what it looks like today.

 

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Stripping the hull

 

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The boweye could not be removed as the bow compartment is inaccessible. The original gelcoat color, light yellow, is visible on the hull below the white paint.
The primitive anti skid paint will be a pain to get off.

 

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In order to repaint, the original 'white' plastic rubrail had to come off. After weeks of looking I was unable to find similar rubrail that would fit over the 5/8" flange formed by the hull and deck lips. You will later see that I fabricated new mahagony rubrail.

 

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Hull and deck entirely stripped, repaired and sanded. I used West System Epoxy 105 resin, 205 hardener, fiberglass mat and 410 microfiller to repair the gashes, holes, cracks and dents.
I gouged out most hairline cracks around fittings with a gouge. Filled with West System (205 mix and then 205 mix with microfiller) and then sanded down.
I used a Dremel with sanding discs to remove the anti-skid sand paint, because it was impossible to reach inside curves with the mouse sander.
I used 150 grit to finish sand everything.

 

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I left the inside of the hull for later

 

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I wanted the hull to look better than new. Apparently, when they built these in the early sixties, they were still developing fiberglass boat building. As others have reported, these boats are way overbuilt, with the hull thickness everywhere at least 1/4", and in the places where it matters, 1/2" or even 3/4" thick, without sandwich.
But, the outside of the hull is not fully smooth like new fiberglass boats would be. Here and there you can faintly see the original matt.

I like that about this boat, so decided not to completely fair every unevenness away. Instead I wanted the hull to be shiny, both for easier maintenance and because it looks better, IMO.

So doing a new gelcoat was out. Regular paint is too soft and in my experience chips away after one or two years.
So I was left with two- and three component boat paints.

I had Central Repair in Clinton, Iowa paint it. They sprayed on three coats of DuPont Nason primer (two component), and then three coats of DuPont Chroma One (also two component), in white. I rolled on the turquoise anti-skid areas myself in Chroma One, after cleaning with MEK.

The results were amazing, both in terms of hardness as well as shine. This picture shows a detail, unfortunately the only picture I took immediately after painting. Further down there are more pictures but with the trim on.
I have nothing but the highest praise for Central Repair.

 

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There were many hairline cracks on the deck primarily around fittings. I filled all of them with West System epoxy before the final coat of DuPont ChromaOne.

This is showing them around the port chainplate. I used a chisel to gouge the cracks into U shapes and then filled, sanded, filled and sanded with 150 grit.

 

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The interior of the hull was originally very bumpy due to the matt and the absence of a gelcoat. I sanded of the low quality paint that had accumulated over the years to the fiberglass. I had had very good experience with lining the tub of my Jeep with Monstaliner, because it has very good coverage, is naturally bumpy, and extremely strong and chip resistant.

I decided to use two layers of two component Monstaliner in white. It rolls on easy with special foam rollers that come with the kit.

 

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You can see that I had already started to restore some of the mahogany trim. The centerboard cover was good enough after replacing rotted parts with blocks and dowels. All the other wood trim had to be discarded, including the rudder and centerboard.

I made new gunwales, seat trim, helm, rudder, ruddermount and centerboard from mahogany. Where I could not copy I made it up based on old brochures.

After weeks of search, I was not able to find the plastic rubrail. Instead I made one out of mahogany to fit the flange between deck and hull (3/4"x1/2" groove in halfround).

 

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I made sure everything fit together with the right curves, including the bolt holes.

 

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Once everything fit I disassembled again and put on three thick coats of West System 105 with clear harder 207, sanding with 220 grit in between. I used wire to suspend all parts from the garage door so they were out of direct sunlight.
Thus, the wood is covered on all sides, all screw and bolt holes are entirely sealed and water cannot get into it.
When done, the surface was entirely smooth, with no wood grain, as if it was encased.

The mahogany rubrail was a problem because epoxy stiffens the wood, and I had to bend it wet to fit around the hull.
While still uncoated, I put it on as far as I could, sprayed it with water until soaked, and over days tightened the fit with rope, keeping it wet. Outside temperature was 90degrees which helped.
Once in the right shape, I let it dry out for a few days and then took it off and covered it liberally in epoxy on all surfaces. This hardens in a few hours, before the curves went away.

 

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I used three coats of Epifanes varnish to protect against UV light.

 

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I fitted the trim back on using 306 stainless screws and bolts. Silicone Exterior Caulk for mating. where not exposed to light.

The mahogany rubrail, looks very good. It is vulnerable however.

By then I had been working on this a few weeks and an owl had moved in a tree next to where the boat stood.

Ignore the Seagull outboard which I had restored also by then, that was not a good idea.