High C

Holy mackerel that looks good! Love those decks.

Bravo Ed! What a beautiful boat. Hey, you'll be sailing backwards in no time! 8)

Ahh, I must refer you to the man who built the hull, Bruce Kershaw. The rudder assembly is his work. I was planning to paint the rudder, but now that I see how it looks with a coat of clear epoxy on it, I think I'll do it bright. Not very practical, I know, but the contrasting laminates look great. Bruce still lurks on this board. I bet he'll see your post. If not, let me know and I'll nudge him via email.

Thanks Frank. I've noticed that, how much easier it is to make something shorter than it is to make it longer! And it always seems to be the most costly things that you end up cutting short. Actually I was surprised that tiller was only $50. It'd take a lot of time to make one as nice, with the laminates and all. Now I have to figure out how to attach it to the rudder post. http://www.jtservices.net/fd08beca.jpg.orig.jpg.htm (picture of my rudder post) Once I have it in hand it should be easier to figure something out. Thanks again

Thanks Bill. I ordered a tiller for the Cataline 22 today, $50 from boaterworld. That should do nicely 8)

I remember reading somewhere that there is a tiller handle for one of the Catalina boats that fits the Weekender nicely. I seem to remember it was either the Cataline 22, or the 25. Does this ring a bell with anyone? Thanks

Hmmm, I don't think the anti-freeze idea was being touted so much as a preservative, as a means of killing existing fungus. There are all sorts of ways to protect wood from rotting in the first place, and to restrengthen rot damaged wood, but it sure is hard to kill the "virus" once it's in there. I like the logic of the water solubility, too. It's the water that spreads the fungus, and if the attacking "medicine" is also water soluble, it stands a much better chance of going wherever the fungus has migrated.

Yes, Dave's articles are all fascinating. I wish he lived next door to me! Living in a swamp as I do, I was particularly taken with his talk of using automotive anti-freeze to kill rot and fungus. The only thing that holds rotten wood together around here is a crust of fungus, followed by several coats of mildew. I'm using his method to inject anti-freeze into one of the 8x8 posts that my timberframe house is founded upon. It has begun to rot about a foot above the ground, with no apparent moisture source. It's under the house where it's dry, and bolted atop a massive concrete footer. Very strange, and very alarming. I've drilled it full of small holes to inject the green miracle juice into its innermost regions. I've managed to soak in about a quart so for and will do more from time to time. Here's hoping!

Mike, I'm sorry to have put words in your mouth. :oops: I suppose I combined your advice to avoid primer and "marine paint" with the advice of a chemical engineer named Dave Carnell who wrote an interesting article on this topic. http://home.att.net/~DaveCarnell/articles.html#A1 Robert, your advice is much appreciated, though that pine pollen is really coming down now. The boat was starting to turn yellow, and it is somewhat sticky, so I was anxious to get it off of there. I guess the best thing to do at this point is to wait out the pollen deluge another week or two, then resume the painting. After three coats it's still pretty transparent, so I imagine it'll take two or three more. For the decks and cabin top I'm using a white that has a tiny bit of yellow in it to soften the glare. I've updated my site with some new pics. Thanks All!

I've just begun to paint the bottom of my upside down weekender, 3 coats so far. As per the advice of the Stevensons and others, I'm using 100% acrylic latex exterior paint, Behr brand, with no primer. It's semi-gloss, and navy blue in color. It looks great, but when I sprayed it with the hose to wash off some pine pollen, it changed colors wherever the water hit it! It looked like I had just poured wet paint on it. The color was much lighter and ran down the side in streaks wherever it was wet. The paint was dry, about 24 hours, and it wasn't actually coming off, but it looked awful. As it dryed the color returned to normal. Maybe this will stop as the paint cures longer, or ??? He'p, me please, he'p me!

Yes, a door would be great, but bear in my how important that bulkhead is in terms of structure. It keeps the mast from breaking loose! I'd keep the cutouts no larger than those in the plans, and similarly located.

The holes in that bulkhead also serve to ventilate the forepeak space. Every cavity in the boat should be ventilated to prevent meldew and rot in an enclosed space. The area behind the seats, too. It would look nice and ventilate well to install a couple of vents, or grates in that bulkhead. It also may be handy sometimes to be able to reach in there to get something from inside the cabin without going up on deck. My Weekender Site: www.jtservices.net/boat.htm

Practical Sailor recently did a varnish comparison test. They found a surprisingly good varnish in West Marine's store brand Skipper Varnish. If at least three coats were applied, it equaled or beat anything else for lengevity. I've used it on the teak on my Hunter for a couple of years and am very pleased with it. I'm not super careful, either, though I do use real china bristle brushes. They level so nicely. My Weekender site: www.jtservices.net/boat.htm

Thanks guys. That's pretty much what I figured I'd have to do. I was just hoping to paint the bottom now while she's upside down and easily accessible. Tomorrow will be the final fairing, with epoxy and West 410 filler, then painting next week! Woohoo.

Does anyone know where I could find an accurate idea of where the waterline lies on the Weekender? I'm considering using real bottom paint so I can leave her in the murky bayou behind the house sometimes. But I don't know where to draw the lines. Any ideas? Also, I've posted a couple of new progress pics on my Weekender site. www.jtservices.net/boat.htm Thanks

Wow! She really looks good. You're giving me ideas how to handle my rubrails and deck trim. The sides of my boat are cut flush with the deck, too, and I'm not sure how I'll do all that yet. :?: Three pieces on each side, looks time consuming, but very attractive.

Tim, Yep, it's going well with the Weekender. I cut the cabin back about two feet and extended the cockpit seating a like amount. I'm leaving the back of the cabin open, sort of like a fixed dodger. It looks good that way, good scale. I'm almost thru glassing the bottom. I finally got the hang of it, and have started to smooth it out with lightweight West 410 filler added to the epoxy to make fairing compound. This stuff seems perfect. Goes on easy and levels nice and smooth! Much easier than Bondo. Maybe I'll be ready to turn her right side up in a week or two!

I'll second the "NO SILICONE on a boat" advice. And don't use 5200 on anything that you may EVER want to undo in the future. The stuff is permanent, and will destroy whatever it's attached to before letting go.