I have a little Capri Omega 14, built in 1982. It is an open fiberglass boat from bow to stern. There are bench seats built in along the sides. The bow seat is great for lounging under way and is a favorite with the kids. There is a bow locker that has enough room for day sail provisions. Since it has high sides for it's length it looks a little tubby but it is normally a dry boat to sail about 8-9 months of the year around here. The floor is above waterline and usually isn't very wet. It is possible to go out in whitecaps with 4 adults and a cooler and have a picnic. I find this boat to be a good daysailer and it is faster than it looks. Over time I enhanced these sailing abilities by adding a whisker pole for the jib and a boom vang and a tiller extension for single handing. I added a transom fold up boarding ladder that I made from aluminum bar stock with ABS Plastic steps. I am 62 years old and weigh about 160lbs. I am experienced with a good variety of small sailboats. I have no trouble singlehanding the Capri 14 in winds up to about 16mph. Above that I douse the jib and sail on main alone. I have a reef in the mainsail but don't use it very often. I have turtled this boat a few times and I can just manage to bring it back upright with my weight alone. Usually it is very well behaved and easy to handle in the gusts. For the calms I made a pair of oars that have curved shafts that fit neatly in the bottom along the benches in brackets that I bent out of aluminum strap. The oarlocks are fixed because you can't feather the curved shafts while rowing. They fit into brass sockets that I turned and mounted in the sides just aft of the adjustable jib cleats. The boat rows well with the mast up as long as there isn't strong wind. This fall I will have a 20 lb thrust electric trolling motor to play with. Might be good for fishing up the creeks. The motor will have a clip on plywood bracket to augment strength of the transom. I salvaged it about 12 years ago and carefully rebuilt the mahogany wood from the scraps that remained. The sails were good and the lines were fine. The mast is not original. I replaced the bent mast with straight one that is 8 inches taller. This allows the boom to be raised higher over the crew. We discovered that it is possible to raise and lower the mast at anchor as well. This means that you can quickly launch at a crowded boat ramp, row out a ways, drop the anchor and rig the boat for sailing. All in all this boat grew in favor with me over the years and my family considers it a "keeper" because it can do so many things beyond just racing.
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Fred Rose
Transom repair
The great thing about fixing fiberglass is that if you goof it up you can just grind it out and start over. Try not to put wood in the mix. Polyster resin and wood don't mix that well I think. ( Although I do use Bondo with wood to fix wood rot) Besides, the wood can rot out if it gets wet repeatedly. Usually I choose to use epoxy rather than polyester to fix things on the boat. It is stronger and won't dissolve some of the plastics that I use to reinforce or give shape to areas being restored. Epoxy will not dissolve styrofoam for example. I once epoxied a "beer cooler foam" Sea Snark sail boat. It trippled the strength of the hull. Foam can be used to back up the areas you want to repair or shape out new ones. Feather sand the old hole in the material to get a good surface for the repair. Just be certain to get enough cloth layers and resin on the patch. Then clean and paint over the epoxy to protect it from UV. I just recently used this technique to fix some holes in a friends beach cat. Sorry about the slow reply, I'm new to this forum. Fred
The great thing about fixing fiberglass is that if you goof it up you can just grind it out and start over. Try not to put wood in the mix. Polyster resin and wood don't mix that well I think. ( Although I do use Bondo with wood to fix wood rot) Besides, the wood can rot out if it gets wet repeatedly. Usually I choose to use epoxy rather than polyester to fix things on the boat. It is stronger and won't dissolve some of the plastics that I use to reinforce or give shape to areas being restored. Epoxy will not dissolve styrofoam for example. I once epoxied a "beer cooler foam" Sea Snark sail boat. It trippled the strength of the hull. Foam can be used to back up the areas you want to repair or shape out new ones. Feather sand the old hole in the material to get a good surface for the repair. Just be certain to get enough cloth layers and resin on the patch. Then clean and paint over the epoxy to protect it from UV. I just recently used this technique to fix some holes in a friends beach cat. Sorry about the slow reply, I'm new to this forum. Fred
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Fred Rose
Cracks in fiberglass
Cracks in fiberglass can be just superficial and not amount to much -maybe just gelcoat deep. On the other hand if the surface gives when you push it then you have a problem with the matting underneath and a weakened structure. You probably will have to cut out the bad area and rebuild it with fresh stuff. See my previous post. The hardest part is getting the correct shape to laminate over and blending in the repair with the other surfaces. I sort of "repaired" an Airex foam backed hull on my Laser that had quite a few long stress cracks from being bounced badly on trailer bunks. I let the hull dry out over the winter and then before getting it wet I went over the hull with the best Jet Brand gap filling cyanacrilic instant glue I could buy (at the hobby shop). It worked! I also ground and filled some of the worst cracks with a hand grinder (Dremmel tool) and epoxy paste. The only leaker left to fix is the mast step.
Cracks in fiberglass can be just superficial and not amount to much -maybe just gelcoat deep. On the other hand if the surface gives when you push it then you have a problem with the matting underneath and a weakened structure. You probably will have to cut out the bad area and rebuild it with fresh stuff. See my previous post. The hardest part is getting the correct shape to laminate over and blending in the repair with the other surfaces. I sort of "repaired" an Airex foam backed hull on my Laser that had quite a few long stress cracks from being bounced badly on trailer bunks. I let the hull dry out over the winter and then before getting it wet I went over the hull with the best Jet Brand gap filling cyanacrilic instant glue I could buy (at the hobby shop). It worked! I also ground and filled some of the worst cracks with a hand grinder (Dremmel tool) and epoxy paste. The only leaker left to fix is the mast step.
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Fred Rose
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Dan Vaughn
Best Choice
Fred: It sounds like I have some replacement to do at the transom and the best product to use is Epoxy since it doesn't eat up the foam within the lining. I have done a lot of glass work on sailboats but not a lot of epoxy. I have a West Marine Hardware near by and I will check with these guys to see what type of epoxy I should use. Thanks for the info. Dan Vaughn
Fred: It sounds like I have some replacement to do at the transom and the best product to use is Epoxy since it doesn't eat up the foam within the lining. I have done a lot of glass work on sailboats but not a lot of epoxy. I have a West Marine Hardware near by and I will check with these guys to see what type of epoxy I should use. Thanks for the info. Dan Vaughn
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Dan Vaughn
Restore The old ones
Hey Fred: The transom has cracks at the top. It appears that the tiller has been rubbing or smacking the top of the transom. I will probably have to remove the rubrail and reglass the whole top edge, buff it out and repaint. It's a lot of work but I enjoy this kind of stuff. I make a hobby of fixing old sail boats. My first project was a Catalina 22'. Greay boat for the money. I bought the Capri 14 for my girlfriend to teach her how to sail. I could not have found a better boat to teach her on.I am planning on repainting the topside, replacing the sails and rigging,revarnishing the tiller,rudder, and centerboard, then buffing out the bottom.then I should have a pretty clean boat. I think we are going to keep this one because I have not found another boat that has a clean design in regards to rigging, centerboard layout, simple running lines, etc. You have some4 great ideas for accessorizing the boat! Thanks for your help Dan Vaughn
Hey Fred: The transom has cracks at the top. It appears that the tiller has been rubbing or smacking the top of the transom. I will probably have to remove the rubrail and reglass the whole top edge, buff it out and repaint. It's a lot of work but I enjoy this kind of stuff. I make a hobby of fixing old sail boats. My first project was a Catalina 22'. Greay boat for the money. I bought the Capri 14 for my girlfriend to teach her how to sail. I could not have found a better boat to teach her on.I am planning on repainting the topside, replacing the sails and rigging,revarnishing the tiller,rudder, and centerboard, then buffing out the bottom.then I should have a pretty clean boat. I think we are going to keep this one because I have not found another boat that has a clean design in regards to rigging, centerboard layout, simple running lines, etc. You have some4 great ideas for accessorizing the boat! Thanks for your help Dan Vaughn
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Fred Rose
The Omega is no Laser
Hey Marvin, Sorry it took so long to post, I've been a bit distracted lately. Tomorrow I'm taking out the Capri probably for the last time this year. Temp will be 70 and winds S 14mph. Not bad for Nov 5th. and Global Warming. Anyway, I too have a Laser and the Capri is fun to have to trade crews between the 2 boats. As you might guess -despite the greater sail area of the Capri Omega 14, the boat weighs more than twice that of the Laser and will gradually get dropped in a race. On the other hand the CApri Omega is rewarding to sail if it isn't overloaded and it has a big boat feel compared to the Laser. Because it has more volume in the hull you can do more with the boat ( see previous posts.) The Omega will plane when the wind kicks up. Since I sail alone over half of the time I usually prefer to take the Laser if I can't find a crew. Happy sails, Fred
Hey Marvin, Sorry it took so long to post, I've been a bit distracted lately. Tomorrow I'm taking out the Capri probably for the last time this year. Temp will be 70 and winds S 14mph. Not bad for Nov 5th. and Global Warming. Anyway, I too have a Laser and the Capri is fun to have to trade crews between the 2 boats. As you might guess -despite the greater sail area of the Capri Omega 14, the boat weighs more than twice that of the Laser and will gradually get dropped in a race. On the other hand the CApri Omega is rewarding to sail if it isn't overloaded and it has a big boat feel compared to the Laser. Because it has more volume in the hull you can do more with the boat ( see previous posts.) The Omega will plane when the wind kicks up. Since I sail alone over half of the time I usually prefer to take the Laser if I can't find a crew. Happy sails, Fred
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