Craig

Well done Sir. Nothing like that feeling in all the world. Almost like having a baby. Beyond the hard work and $$ this links you to the few over the centuries who can take raw material and make something useful of it with little or no outside help. Congratulations and welcome aboard.

Jake when I built the Saralee I did a life cycle cost analysis with a design life of 5 years. I estimated sails; trailer and motor would salvage at 50% of cost and then depreciated the boat over the 5 years. She cost about $12k finished and God only know what I have spent on modifications. Elimination the cost and salvage values from above I am looking at a build cost of ~$8500. She has 7 seasons on her this year. $8.5k divided by 7 gives $1250 per year of real life cycle cost at the end of this season. I figured on the design life of 5 years so that worked out to $1750 per year for the five years, still not a bad cost in these terms. I really expect with the repairs made to date that she should last at least three more years at the current rate of deterioration. If I keep up with first class repairs she will go much longer than that. Once your design life cycle cost reaches $0 the rest is profit. If you add modifications that increase value or usability then that cost must be added to the basis and the annual cost to own/operate recalculated. We tend to over estimate the market value of things because they cost so much in the first place. Another interesting twist to do as an exercise is to see how much money that old truck is making for you! Saralee has an old Cadi that she will not part with and I drive an old Dakota well past it's prime but still very much serviceable. Both vehicles have exceeded their realistic life cycle and most people would have traded them years ago. Given the life cycle costs are now zero except for maintenance and repair we must compare these coats to the costs of replacement vehicles. Money saved being money earned these are making me ~$15-20k per year in moneys not expended. If you look at the cost of your boats in this way it is a lot easier to see what the true market value may be. A chat with Devlin and some of his surveyors will help too.

Thanks Frank. I have always wondered why that happened to a perfectly good bolt and nut. I used all SS on the Saralee and have had gauling problems. No problems with the structural screws and crevice corrosion however. This is going on 8 years now.

That sounds like a good project for the kids. Let them cut out the rot back to new wood and butt scarf in new structural members and just re-skin the plywood. Scab patch it like a combat aircraft and let them tell Prate stories.

CJ I just read through those threads. I had missed all of them. The masts are easy to build. Mine took three evenings of about 1 hours work per to lay up a three layer mast on a foam core. This top mast will be stayed so I am not concerned with it's flexibility. I tried for a wood tone under the good varnish you recommended. I used that gel stain that is supposed make steel doors look like wood. Ya, well so much for advertising. The damned stuff will not dry right out of the can. I had to cut it 50% with lacquer thinner to get it to dry. It still takes two days in full, hot, sun. Tomorrow I will try to even up the color a bit and start with the varnish. Hope to have all ready for BEER and a few sails before as well. Thanks again for the tips

I just remade my topmast in carbon fiber. I forget the name of the outfit I bought the sleeves from. I will post it later. The mandrel was a steel conduit covered in pipe insultaion foam. The foam stays with the mast and slides off the oiled pipe. My 8' top mast weighted in at 8.5 lb when made in 1/4" fir staved and dropped to 2.5lb with the carbon epoxy version. You may ask around the maintenance yard of your local power company for broken pieces of fiber glass poles. Here is the materials link, www.aerosleeves.com See boatbuilder for a tutorial on small carbon fiber masts

Roger check out the Gaff Rig pages of this site to give you the information and drawings you seek.

And what is the problem with rip stop sails?

Then use the 5200 on the interior and epoxy filets in the cockpit and lazaret joints.

Steve we are praying for you both! Good luck.

Chad these are not like hobies, you have to drop the sails to get them up. At least point the nose into the wind so if you can get some wind under the main it will help tp lift the boat. Sounds like quite a day. What is't apparent right now is how much you learned about handling the boat even with the sad capsize. Hang in there it ets better. 8)

I am glad it worked out for you. It is fun to do isn't it? One more thing for your bag of tricks Scott. Are you bringing her to beer? I would love to see her in the flesh, or the varnish if you perfer. 8)

Charlie I went to the 2015 on your recommendation. I can't speak to the weather resistance yet but the application was a real piece of cake. Nice even flow and rapid drying in the protected environment of my boat she.., er, her garage. Thanks or the tip. 8)

I forgot to mention drilling through the pipe every foot or so to run coat hanger wire through to keep the wood sorta centered in the steam flow. A bit of angle down toward the steamer will recycle a lot of the water too. Sorry Scott. :oops:

The keel rot that you can see is only the least of the problem. It indicates that the glue joints are not tight in the laminated keel and water intrusion has allowed the wood to become saturated and the rot to establish a foot hold. I think you will find the rot to extend many inches in either direction from what you can see. Fixing the keel is a BIG JOB and is one you will be doing more than once with that boat. Don't ask how I know this with such certainty. Looking at the leaves allowed to pile on the deck ( they will hold fresh water to the wood) I would expect to find a few more

There is extra material. At last years BEER we rebuilt JT Weigands rudder box with wood stripped from the boat! From what I understand the temp repair is still working.

Southeast events are open to anyone who wants to come. If you are in the southeast area just show up and Kieth, Scott, Bud and the gang will insure you have a good time. As soon as you regester for the BYYB board you should be able to post. Welcome to the maddness...

Scott no one has mentioned this so I will toss it out. When I build Tom's cover for his 55 footer we used a solid mold with the spring back accounted. We achieved very good results on a 12" radius 90 degree bend. The only problem was some of the edges splitting a bit following the growth rings. By banding the out side of the curve with aluminum straps between the wood and the clamps it bent perfectly and none of the stock split. The wood was 3/4" fir presoaked and steamed in a poly sewer pipe steam box. Larger radii pieces of about 8' length were also bent. The larger pieces did not require banding. Large pieces are better handled using two workers, one to bend the stock onto the form and the other to set the clamps. The steamng was the fun part of the project. You can do a lot with it.

Joel you ae very welcome. The main hatch is a weak link in this design. I don't like the way it is done either but so far have not came upon anything better that is not way over kill. Kieth made his differently but I have not looked closely at it. I am redoing my cover again now where the ends want to split.

Joel, use oversize runners for the hatch cover, say 1/2" too tall. When attached run a straight edge from the rear top edge to front top edge of the runner and mark a line on the inside of the rail where you can get a full line run front to back. Do the same on the other side at the same height from the roof. Plane down to the line and both will be fair and true. Seal with three light coats of epoxy on the runner edge. Paint or finish to taste. Now make the cover match the runners. Put the stop water ~ 2" in front of the hatch cut out about 3/8 to 7/16" high. Make the cover to ride the rails with the aft(cockpit) edge meeting the door boards and the front end stopping at the stop water or just before. Put stop blocks on the rails to keep the aft end of the cover from slamming into the stop water. Inner hatch rafters must be trimmed to clear the stop water. Your hatch must be made to fit the boat with all measurements taken from the existing structure. Do this and you will never see the variation. Can't see it on mine can you?? Happy building Joel.

Thanks Charlie, ya learn something new everyday. I used FIber Glass Coatings Epoxy and some of it wet out really well and some was dry as a bone on the bottom when it failed. I have to admit that back then my technique left a lot to be desired. All epoxies aren't the same I suppose. Guess I will spring for West's at the higher cost if I have another job needing the mat. Thanks for the tip.

Joel it looks like the arch is too flat on the center beam. Lay a stiff batten from the aft edge of the hatch opening straight to the front of the roof and see how much variation you have in the curve. If too much rework the center beam. If not too much install oversize hatch rails and plane them down until they are true. Next build the hatch so it will follow the curve of the roof on the rails. Don't forget the stop water at the front of the hatch opening has to be protected by the hatch cover when in the closed position. It doesn't took too bad inthe photos. Let us know how it works out....

Never, ever use the mat and cloth with epoxy! The binders in the mat are made for poly or vinylester and the epoxy will not wet out uniformly. I have been fixing rot and delaminations in my keel for 6 years now because I used mat and cloth with the epoxy. Use a penetrating epoxy if you must but no glass on the keel. The shoe is a fine idea however for rocky lakes. Yellow pine is also a poor choice for the keel. Use fir, ash, or cypress they resist rot and don't warp when wet as bad as that SYP. I saved $100 over fir and have spent that much three times over in repairs.

Seems like it was ~370lb cast into 1" plates that overlapped the mast box from each side. I cut a 2x4 to wedge in front of the lead to keep it in palce. Don'rt turn the boat over!! Just make a plywood box the size and shape you need. Remember you need to carry this piece so keep the number up and the weight per piece down. Ray cast bulbs for his keel and through bolted them. His seemed to work real well too. Search over at BYYB for that or maybe his web site. I don't know about the spring messabout Brian. If they don't cancel this program I will be flying every weekend for the next 3 months. Too soon to tell you know?

Dingo I would suggest it's time to start drawing up the next boat, that is unless it's you writing hand that is cut. If so Saralee and I would love to have you fly over to clean my work area. In fact if you promised not to build next to her Cadi she may keep you and send me down under!