Brucel

I was hoping one of you epoxy guys would chime in. Using most forms of epoxy (two part chemicals) usually make me sick, head ache and nausea. I have trouble using Bondo, too long or to much exposure and I start to feel it. I would take Don's advice Red, all I do is scrape, sand, and paint.

I don't know how much time you have to invest to keep this site running but do know that I appreciate all that you do. Thank you!

Frank, is there any way I can delete or otherwise block the viewing the spam that just happened. Spam irritates me and I would really like like to zap it personally. I am looking for satisfaction like you get when you eliminate a rat. Die evil spam, die.

Frank is fine, always has been. I just got back from my desert property and we have limited access to the internet out there, so I'm late replying to your post. In catching up on the website I noticed Frank is going to change the forum software so he is still in the game. As a "much older brother" I sometimes don't notice what he is up to

I would start by sanding the rough spots and corner smooth then use a high quality varnish. If it blends in nice and looks good then you're done. I have no experience using epoxies so I can't address that. I did refinish a fiberglass on wood boat (see Restoring Aslan) and I found I could make it look good with quality varnish and paint. Someone with epoxy experience might be able to chime in with their knowledge.

I have no objections or suggestions, do what you have to do. I'm sure there's enough of us that will help notify of any problems with the new software

Just for fun I thought I would post the inspiration for my color choices for Aslan. My TV lives in a cabinet and above the TV sits this model of a gaff rigger I got at a thrift store. I look at this model every day and I liked the color combination. While I liked the combination there was something not right. In Dana Point Harbor there is about one million sailboats with a white hull. Boring. What if I flipped the color scheme? White cabin, red stripe, blue hull? I downloaded a drawing of a Weekender (the drawing in the printed Weekender builders manual) and used a photo painting app to paint up the drawing. I liked it, Cindy liked it even more. We bought some sample colors at Home Depot and tried them on the boat. That is what we were looking for. I would recommend any one having trouble deciding what colors to use on their home built boat to go through the same process. Find an image, drawing or photo, use a photo painting app and get an idea on how it will look. It doesn't have to photo perfect, just an image with the main colors. Then get some paint samples (about $6 each at Home Depot) and confirm your choice on the boat. If it turns out ugly you can always paint over it. We are using a name brand, quality house paint on Aslan. That's what Frank Hagan (the builder) used back in 2001 and it held up for 25 years. You won't need marine paint if you store your boat on the hard like we do.

Aslan is back on the trailer for now. The bottom of the hull is painted except for the bottom of the keel and some holidays on the sides of the keel. I'll have to crib up the entire boat to get those spots. I built a mast crutch that bolts to the inside of the cockpit. It's held by two bolts and wingnuts and is very rigid and it only takes about 3 minutes to install or remove. I'll keep the crossed sticks in the boat and throw the new mast crutch in the truck when I launch. I've got most of the standing and running rigging installed as best as I can remember it. I'll have to raise the mast to fine tune and correct any mistakes I've made in the rigging. If I dismantle half of the roof on the canopy I could raise the mast today but I'll wait until after our desert trip. I'm going to take the old trailer out to the desert and that will free up my side driveway to pull Aslan out from under the canopy. Yeah, I'm that lazy.

I figured out a way to paint Aslan without having to raise the entire boat. I put a bottle jack between the boat and trailer on one side, lifted it a couple of inches, then blocked it up. I dropped the bunker board down and that gave me enough clearance for a small diameter disposable roller. After the paint cures for 24 hours I'll raise the bunker board to the original height then repeat for the other side. Then all I have to do is paint the spots where the block is holding up the boat. This is a very stable setup.The one side is a single point of contact but the other side is covered by the entire bunker board and the keel. Kind of a tripod type setup. The drawback is you can only do one side at a time. That's fine, I can take a couple of days to do this; I'm retired and I live in earthquake country. In Southern California you never crawl under a rickety setup. To do the bottom of the keel, I'll probably crib up both sides and a single point near the bow. I'll only need a couple of inches between the trailer and keel just like the bunker boards and bottom.

Here she is, almost ready to sail. I still haven't finished the bottom of the hull, I have to figure out how I can raise and crib the boat above the trailer. I'll need to raise the boat about one foot above the trailer to get in there and paint. I positioned the motor mount towards the corner where the transom is a little stiffer. When using the motor I lock it in the motor in the straight ahead position and use the rudder to steer. That is why the less mainsheet in the way is better. I'm going to attach the mainsheet to the boom and run it through the two pulleys as shown in the first picture. If I need more mechanical advantage I'll tie in the pulley with the becket as in the previous post. Still have to do all the legal stuff such as register the boat and trailer, get a license plate for the trailer, and get insurance and go through the quarantine for the lake. Our city lake is a mile away and requires a quarantine to keep some invasive mussel out of the lake. It's worth the hassle because we can be at the lake in 10 minutes. The last picture is Aslan at our city lake in 2009. The lake just big enough to sail in, a mile long and half a mile wide. Dana Point Harbor is about eight miles away if we want to sail on the ocean. We'll be sailing this summer.

Help. In an effort to remove that big iron motor mount for something smaller, lighter, and simpler I've come up with maybe a problem. The second picture shows the "main sheet line" in the original configuration. From the eye on the port transom to the sheaves. In that configuration will get the main sheet tangled around the motor no matter whether it's up or down. Now I need help from people that know rigging better than me Does the main sheet need to be split between the corners of the transom? I've seen configurations with a single attachment point in the middle and travelers that shift the attachment point from side to side. Would it be possible to attach the main sheet to the starboard corner? I've rigged two possibilities, attached to the boom for a two point system and a sheave with an anchor point for a three point system. I don't see a problem with either alternate systems but I'm not a boat builder or a real sailor. TIA for any information and knowledge you can provide. I could always remount the big iron motor mount but I'd really rather not. Thanks again.

How she'll look. I finished up the red paint on both sides, what a PITA. I think I'm going to swear off of masking tape forever. I believe I can do better with careful cutting using a pinstriping brush. With all the paint bleeding under the tape I have lots of fuzzy edges all over the place. That area between the rub rails just screamed red so I had to do it. Of course with a white (ice blue) cabin and a red stripe she had to have a blue hull. I've always liked red, white, and blue. I still have to paint the bottom, starboard side, transom, and bow but this is what she will look like. I still have rigging, bits and pieces of trim, and some stern repair before I can splash the boat. The interior can be done after I sail her a bit. All in all, I'm happy with the look. She looks more like she does now than she did when I got her.

OK, instead of painting the hull I decided to install portholes. Simple job, right? First I didn't get a big enough piece of plastic for all portholes. Fine, I can start with 4 portholes and make two more later. I cut out four 5 5/8" disks and decide to use an automatic center punch to transfer the hole pattern. Using an automatic center punch on plastic sheet cracks the plastic. Crap, back to using a pencil to mark the hole pattern. The holes drilled I go to mark the cabin and drill pilot holes. All my remaining drills are too big except for a 1/16 drill. I drill my 1/16 pilot holes in the cabin and put a bead on silicone on the plastic. I stick the plastic on the cabin, making sure the holes line up with the pilot holes. I align the bezels with the holes in the plastic and try to install the first screw. I can't find my pilot holes with the screws, the pilot holes are too small. Aarg! Peel off the plastic, countersink the 1/16 pilot holes, stick the plastic back on aligning the holes and finally aligning the bezels with the holes and start the screw. First porthole is installed, the next two portholes are finished without all the drama. I'm going to the hardware store today and get another piece of plastic. And some properly sized drills.

Just finished working on the rudder box. Had to do some minor repairs and paint. The blue is the color the hull will be painted when it's all done. I'm starting to run out of things to repair and re-finish before painting the hull. I'm putting off painting the hull because it's going to be a pita. Everything is down low and I'm going to have to paint upside down and the trailer is going to be in the way. It would be nice if I could block the boat up off the trailer, I'll have to do some Google for ideas on that. Maybe I'll just glaze the portholes and install the trim rings.

Yes, they are 4" truck brake light bezels as per your link. They were less than $4 each, made in Taiwan, and the inner diameter is recessed to fit the plastic I'm going to use for glazing. They're cheap, easy to find on the internet, and can be replaced if the chrome ever goes bad. I started on the tiller finally. The top layer of wood was half peeled off so I went ahead and peeled it off and re-glued it back on. I'll do the usual scrape, sand, and 3 or 4 layers of varnish. I'll post a picture when I get it done. Starting to try and figure out how I'm going to block the boat off the trailer so I can paint the bottom of the hull. Cindy says to just paint the sides which I might do and consider painting the bottom at a later date.

Just for fun I wanted to show the smallest Praying Mantis I have ever seen. I was going to show the plastic chrome rings (thanks Frank) I'm going to use for the portholes when I thought I saw a mosquito. I was going to smash it but i realized I've never seen a green mosquito. Looking closer I saw that it was a Praying Mantis. Wow he's tiny, that is a 1/4 inch braided in front of him. I installed almost all the deck hardware and ran a trace line to check the alignment of the blocks and guides. Everything looks good and seems to be as I remember it should be. I need to glaze and install the portholes and I think the topside will be done. The bowsprit and trailboards will be attached after I finish painting the hull. So Much done but still so much to do.

Big change for Aslan. The deck was finally repaired to the point of painting and this is the result of the first coat. I'm planing on two coats as the first coat still has some holidays and thin spots. The color is very light blue, what I call blue ice. Behr calls it Waterfall but it doesn't look like the color of a waterfall to me. It's going to look like white in the full sun so sunglasses will be required when sailing on sunny days. It also looks like the RV tape will take paint and that picture shows the blue color compared to white. I had a cave in with my mast crutch (crossed sticks) which gave me a bruised arm and a ding on the boom. I bumped one of the sticks off the deck cleat and it all came crashing down on me then the top of the companionway. I have designed a "crossed stick" mast crutch which would pinch on the boom and prevent the sticks from spreading and collapsing. I'll post a picture after I make it and if it works like I think it will.

I stated earlier that I had only the tiller to re-finish, but I forgot about the trailboards. I was going to just sand the top edge and varnish over the existing finish but what the heck, I have a belt sander! I ground off all the old finish except in the grooves which went much darker. I had hoped they would and they did although a little darker than I thought. I mocked up the bow area with the bowsprit and trailboards and I think it tones down the patch my son did on the rotted bow section. I'm glad he did the work because it was in such bad shape and I really hate working with fiberglass and resin. I don't know how Frank put up with all that glassing when he built the boat. The trailboards and bowsprit will be attached permanently after I sand and paint the hull and deck. I'm trying to cut down on all the taping and cutting I'll have to do around the brightwork.

The mast and spars are re-finished; but a lot of the hardware still has to be installed. The only bright work that is left to be re-finished is the laminated tiller. I have some re-glueing to do on it before I varnish it. I didn't bother to stain the Bondo wood filler on the mast but the varnish made it come out a cream color. It is noticeable but not as bad as something like white silicone. The Bondo has not cracked or separated like the wood putty did. I'm hoping that is the last time I have to deal with those big cracks. I'm going to try to redesign the mast crutch to fit the boom better. I need something that will keep the boom from twisting like maybe crossed sticks with a notch. I want to keep from stressing the universal joint where the boom attaches to the mast.

Here's the "mast boot" installed. It doesn't look like it can be painted over so I'm stuck with glossy white. I can make a real mast boot later if this doesn't weather well. I believe it's water proof or at least water resistant, should keep out rain but I'm not sure how it will work if the deck gets awash.

Sigh. I did not save any saw dust. However Bondo makes a 2 part wood filler that is stainable and paintable, I think I'll be trying that out. It's not supposed to shrink which is the trouble I had with the wood putty on the turtle hatch. The lower mast is finished and stepped. I installed wood shims and a wood wedge in the gap on the port side with about .030" to .060" gap on the sides to allow for expansion and shrinkage. I'm thinking of making the mast boot out of RV roof tape, very sticky, very water proof, and UV resistant. My 2017 trailer has that tape on a vent and it has withstood time without problems. I'm happy to report that the trailer is 100% finished; the blue bow stop arrived and is installed.

Thanks guys, that hatch cover was a lot of work but it looks good from 15 feet. I really liked the design with the flip up door so I had to save it. I promise to do better maintenance as long as I'm able. I am so waffling on the finish of the mast and spars. I have some longitudinal cracks in the 11 foot section of mast that I'm planing to bondo up. Paint would cover the cracks up and varnish would make the bondo stand out. I think the mast is still a solid piece of wood so I'm not worried about the strength, just the looks of it. The gaff is still the birdsmouth spar that Frank built and that looks good but the boom is just a stick (2x3 Doug fir) and isn't going to look good with either finish. Maybe I should have bought a gallon of varnish.

The brightwork on the cabin has achieved ta-da. The first photo is the "before" picture of the cabin brightwork. The last pic shows how the door fits in the companionway. I'm thinking the mast and spars will be painted the same color as the deck, paint won't be as fussy as varnish for maintenance. The tiller is the last piece of brightwork to be varnished but I have to repair the laminated wood first. It's getting to the point where the changes will be huge. We're thinking of painting the hull navy blue and the space between the rub rails will be red. The deck and cabin will be some kind of off white color. The mast and spars will probably be the same color as the cabin/deck unless I varnish them.

The companionway cover is mostly finished, this is how its going to look. I still have work to do on the inside; some mechanical and a couple coats of varnish. I'll be painting the companionway door when I paint the deck as it will be painted the same as the deck. The joints have been glued and re-screwed and seems as solid as when I first got Aslan from Frank. All in all I think it's a good save and it looks good from 15 feet away. You're right about the staining Hirilonde. Aslan sat outside under plastic tarps for about 10 years and you can see in previous pictures how bad I let it get. I've learned my lesson, maintenance is vital; for the boat and trailer.

More Aslan Salvage. The companion way cover. What a mess. I wasn't sure I could save it, I was thinking I was going to have to replace it with a plywood cover. I really liked the looks of it so I just got started on it hoping I could save it somehow. Scraped off the old varnish and completely disassembled it. Put it back together after cleaning and truing up the joints. Went to the hardware store and bought some cans of wood putty and filled the joints with the putty. Disaster. Most of the joints developed cracks between the wood and putty. It's going to leak if I don't fix the cracks somehow. Taking a cue from decks I've seen I decided to cut some mini dados along the joints and fill them with silicone. Looks pretty good and I cannot see daylight in the joints anymore. Still have to patch and sand the framework and then varnish everything. Hopefully the silicone will take the varnish.