Restoring Aslan

[Brucel]

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.

[Frank Hagan]

The "turtle hatch" really looks good. I didn't think you could restore it to look that good, to be honest. It was pretty far gone!

[Hirilonde]

Bright work is looking good. In the old days, the spars were often the only item done bright. This was done so that rot or other damage could be easily observed before they broke. The masts being vertical receive less UV than any more horizontal surfce and booms and gaffs were usually covered with the sails when not sailing.

[Brucel]

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.

[Frank Hagan]

Save any sanding dust? You can sometimes use it and glue to mix up a wood filler that looks better than Bondo. It still is noticeable but not as bright as Bondo. 

[Brucel]

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.

[Frank Hagan]

The vent tape should work fine for the mast boot. I think I used an ace bandage and then painted it. It works, but weathers too quickly and needs to be replaced too frequently. 

[Brucel]

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.

[Brucel]

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.

[Brucel]

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.

[Frank Hagan]

I think it's looking good! That plastic on the mast boot might take paint later after its aged a little bit, but even if not, it doesn't look bad in white. 

[Brucel]

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.

 

[Brucel]

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.

 

[Frank Hagan]

Those chrome rings are the truck light chrome rings? It's always great to find off-the-shelf stuff to make these hobby built boats look good without spending $300 each on bronze port lights. 

[Brucel]

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.

[Brucel]

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.

[Brucel]

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.

[Brucel]

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.

[Brucel]

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.

[Frank Hagan]

You should be fine with the main sheet rigging for the lake sailing. The extra blocks and three point attachment helps in two ways, one to make it easier to handle the main sheet on larger boats (not really an issue on a Weekender) and it's more secure in a hard blow (probably not a problem on Lake Mission Viejo either!) I think the original Weekender sail plan had the main sheet attached at one point, on the centerline of the lazarette. 

 

The port rings look good. Plus, no blood on them that I can see.