>I do have some unknowns coming up as I put this boat back together. The
>basic wood working and repair comes easy to me sense that is the kind of
>thing I do for a living. But when I get to the rigging I will be
>completely in the dark. I am no stranger to sailing but I can see from
>the list I have a lot to learn. Mainly terminology. So thanks for
>lending an ear. As far as the hatch is concerned I think it is stock.
>The cabin (lid) has a track on either side of the hatch opening to
>except the slots in the hatch lid witch allows the lid to slide from
>front to back. It looks stock to me. Now that you have questioned it I
>will have to go and double check. I'll let you know if I find anything
>different. I just checked the sail # and it is a P14 #283 My paper work
>says, built by HMS Marine.
Larry:
Apparentlly the change to a sliding hatch was a little earlier than #300.
The first HMS Marine brochure that showed a sliding hatch was illustrated
with a photo of HMS Marine's #300, but apparently they were already using
the sliding hatch when yours was built. My #234 has a solid cabintop, no
sliding hatch. The vertical cabin hatch on mine extends all the way to the
cockpit sole (deck, floor). Yours is probably closed off at the bottom, up
to maybe the seat level. That is good because it keeps water from flowing
into the cabin. (The rot in my cabin was caused by rainwater accumulation.)
I may add a bulkhead at the bottom of my hatch, but it will be then be hard
to get in and out without a sliding hatch.
> What I am about to do is build the (Jaws) that connect the mast parts.
>Fortunately I had some delaminated pieces of the old one to lay out and
>pattern after. Do you recommend rebuilding out of ply or hard wood? On
>hand, I have 5/4 clear fir and 3/4 mahogany.
I think mine were 3/8 mahogany plywood, but I can't find them to check. As
I said, I removed the jaws and used a gooseneck in a track. Incidentally,
the jaws don't exactly "connect" the yard to the mast. The jaws are
attached only to the gunter yard. They just straddle the mast when the sail
is raised and lowered. You'll probably want to drill a couple of small
holes in the jaws to attach a small line across the open end, around the
mast, although the original boat didn't have the holes or line. Without the
line, the yard can fall away from the mast when the sail is being raised or
lowered, although it is quite secure when the yard is up and snubbed
against the mast by pulling the halyard tight..
>One of the big projects I
>am putting off is replacing the plywood on the floor inside the cabin
>(in the bow) I think it is called the V birth. I understand it gives the
>hull strength. Glassing is one of my weak points. Just haven't done much
>of it. I got a book on the subject from West Marine along with there
>pump kit so I am going to give it a try. Any tips would be greatly
>appreciated.
Get the Goudgeon(sp) Brothers books on saturated epoxy wood boat builiding
and repairing that are at West Marine, probably in the materials section,
rather than the book section. I am not good at woodworking and even worse
at fiberglassing, so I can't help you much. I built a new v-berth deck and
the bulkhead at the front of the centerboard trunk out of plywood, using
lots of epoxy. My son added fiberglass to attach the plywood deck to the
sides of the hull and the bulkhead and to prevent water from getting under
the deck
I had hole sawed some holes in the previous v-berth deck and poured in
2-part foam for flotation. The stuff I used expands 10 to 1. I tried to be
careful, but on my last application I used a little too much. The deck
started swelling upward, accompanied by splintering sounds, as I
frantically bored more holes to relieve the pressure. The stuff is very
adhesive and made a nice solid, puncture-leak- resistant hull in that area,
but the cracks from the swelling allowed rainwater to get into the wood and
I had to replace it eventually. That gave me an opportunity to sand the
foam down flat before installing the new deck. I sailed the boat for a year
or so with no v-berth deck, just the ugly foam, and the boat remained quite
solid.
When you build the new deck, be sure to fill it with flotation material.
The original design depended on the enclosed air space for flotation. You
can either pour in the 2 part foam, which should be easy with the deck off
and the boat leveled, or use foam planks. If it rises too high you can
grind off the excess with a belt sander, as I did. Try not to spill any of
the pour-in foam any place you don't want it because the stuff is very
adhesive and hard to remove.
>Give me your views on talking (through the list) verses (side emails).
>My opinion is that some of this stuff is to detailed or complicated to
>fill up the lists time. On the other hand someone might benefit or at
>least, get a kick out of it. I understand you can't send drawings or
>photos through the list.
Generally, unless it's clearly a person-to-person message, post to the
list. Chances are someone else has or did have the same problem or project
you're working on and can learn or contribute something on the subject.
Regards,
Harry
P14 #234, Manatee
Mountain View, CA