Refit of 27' Tall Rig

[RockinD]

Hello all,As a newbie to both sailing and this forum please excuse any faux pas on my part in advance...That said, I have spent all winter on a complete bottom and hull job on my'78 tall rig, sanding, blister repair (a few big, many small), barrier coat, paint (Awl grip) and ablative painting. Whew! What did I get myself into? It's a boat.The biggest deal was allowing it to dry out completely for 6 months so as to insure a lasting hull. My project has so far entailed removing all windows (replacing all gaskets, tinting, polishing frames) and get-rotting, epoxying with clamps to bring all window openings back to uniform shape/size. Still fighting some leaks, however and with all the rain am making progress on slowing them down to a gusher. ha!There's more, but I'll save a breath and ask my question(s); First, Would I gain anything by installing the Catalina Direct circuit breaker panel upgrade and second, are the new SS angle shroud backing plates worth the install?Thanks again, RD '27 Tall S/V "Free Spirit II"

 

[Peter]

Upgrades

Wasn't able to find a circuit breaker panel for a C27 on C/D's site, but if you still have the original panel located under the sink by the companionway, you'll definitely need some type of upgrade in number of circuits, be it fuses or circuit breakers. Modern electronics require lots more circuits than the '70s minimalism. I've got 2 6-fuse panels in my '74, which is barely adequate. Wish they were breakers.The angle bracket chainplate bases are much better than the original eyebolts, which when tensioned down, have a tendency to cause the deck to pull up, and which can rotate, causing the shrouds to unwind, breaking strands in the shrouds. Not an expensive or difficult upgrade to do.

 

[Matt]

U-bolts

I just upgraded the eyebolts to u-bolts with the angled backing plate on my tall rig. It's relatively cheap (compared to 5 coats of interprotect), quick and would help with piece of mind. By the way let's see some pics.-M

 

[RockinD]

Thanks

to both Matt and Peter. I know that's a proper thing to do, I'll have to add it to my list and look again for those panels.Will post some pics soon, my good friend at the marina took some right before we launched on the 28th of April, but I didn't do any while I was working on her. (Can't afford a camera, lol) My thought was not to document what I was doing, just to see if I could. Don't know that I did everything right, just tried to do it in order with the goal of getting her back in. I have the dinette model Peter, but the panel is still on port side of companionway and I will want a greater # of switches since I ran new 5 wire down the mast. BTW, installed a new SS mast halyard plate under the tabernacle and had to cut the old wires (which were burnt about an inch up from the deck) and drill down thru compression post a re-ran more new 5 wire to the box. I epoxied all this in and Life-Caulked the undersized holes before putting in new SS lags. PO must have wondered why he had no steaming or all round lights cause the electrolysis on the underside of the mast step had eaten thru the metal!Talk soon, RD

 

[Peter]

Get a Camera!!

RD, it sounds like you have some idea what you're doing. Some advice from one whose BTDT (Been There, Done That): get a digital camera NOW and take pix of EVERYTHING, before, middle and after. I've owned my 27 14 years, and done a lot of improvements/upgrades over the years, a few of which I've described here. Some have asked me for more "visual" info on what I've done. Until about a month ago, though, I never took any pix; was too busy doing the work. Then I went thru the boat one afternoon and took about 40 "after" shots. Now I find a use for them once or twice a week, to show the "after" solution.When some questions occur either online or at the dock, sometimes I can't remember what the "before" issue was anymore. Wish I had more pix on the process....Also makes you feel good when somebody says "Wow - thanks; you've given me an elegant solution to a problem that had me baffled."(Not that I get that...)

 

[RockinD]

Electrical Panel

Here's the link to the circuit panel from CD: