RESTORING TWO SUNFISH

 Finishing the Trailer & Boat Two's Finish (kind of)

This weekend, 6-7 Mar, the Lord chose to bless us with gorgeous weather. Saturday it got up to about 70°F and it was WARM in the sun! we used that time to mix up some MarineTex white epoxy and fill in a lot of the little dents and divots in Boat Two. I also used a razor blade to remove the Idaho stickers from the bows of both boats. After it was applied, we shifted our attention to the trailer while the epoxy cured. The trailer has been approaching completion and on Saturday we spent some time mounting cross-braces on the As for supporting the buckboards, and then devising a method to mount the buckboards that would allow them to pivot with the boat while remaining securely attached to the trailer.

After cutting some angle-iron into 2½" sections and having lunch, the MarineTex epoxy had cured enough that we were able to spend some time sanding it. That was about it for Saturday. No pictures because I forgot my camera. I had also planned to add more coats of Urethane to Boat Two's rudder & daggerboard but I was unable to locate any more cans, even though I'm reasonably certain we have at least two more somewhere.

Sunday the 7th I went over to my friend's house about 12:30PM and spent some more time sanding the bottom of Boat Two.  Giving the entire bottom a 150-grit-smooth finish made me realize how many more places deserve a second look with the white epoxy. We'll definitely get back to that, since little chips out of the bow and some gouges here and there in the keel should really be filled better than they were on the first try. Nevertheless, I'd say that yesterday's filling took care of 60% of the filling and fairing needed by Boat Two. I estimate another 3-4 hours of attention to the bottom of Boat Two (plus painting or re-gelcoating, if my friend decides to go that route) will see it 95% complete. That would include a re-application of MarineTex in the gouges and scratches, searching for and repairing any remaining leaks (I think we've gotten them all) more sanding (to the 1000-grit point), and waxing/polishing. Below is a picture of Boat Two's hull taken early-afternoon, so this is it's condition as it currently stands:



You can see the MarineTex over the fiberglass repairs here


We also worked on the trailer quite a bit more, and I think you'll agree it looks pretty good! Today we did the bulk of the remaining work on it... attaching the 5/4 x 6 to each side with the bracket we built. We took the angle-iron brackets we cut yesterday, and then measured and drilled holes in them and the wood of the trailer for proper alignment. Obviously the side of the boat is curved, not straight, so we had to stress the buckboard while attaching it, which was not necessarily an easy task. One accomplished by sitting on a board that is only loosely - if at all - attached to a pivoting bracket and pulling down on it to further stress it (since I don't weigh enough) while the other person marks "drill here" dots on the wood with a Sharpie. Then we repeat the precarious process again after drilling to move the holes into alignment so that we can insert the bolts to hold the boards in position. Sound complicated?


It was.



One of the four brackets we made
Does the picture better help you understand?

The nearly-finished product: We put both boats on the trailer here, where they will stay for at least the next two or three weeks to try and get the buckboards to "remember" this bend.



Here it is! Not much left to do now!

What remains with regards to the trailer are the following:
• Cut the excess wood off the trailer (buckboards and A cross-braces.) (15 minutes)
• Attach some eye-screws so we can strap the boats onto the trailer  (10 minutes)
• Put carpeting on the As and buckboards to protect the boats (20 minutes)
• Figure out some way to prevent the boats from shifting forward/back while driving (not sure)
• Find a place to mount the PVC pipes we use for transporting the sails & spars (15 minutes)
• Wait a few more weeks and apply Thompson's Water Seal to all the wood pieces to protect them from the weather. The delay is to allow the treated 2x4s to dry out a bit more. (20 minutes)

We were originally planning to use some wire and turnbuckles to keep the As from rocking forwards and back, but the stressed buckboards provide so much strength to the frame that even pushing *really* hard, I wasn't able to get the As to rock more than a teeny bit. My friend and I agree that this setup is extremely strong. As you can see from the above, maybe another 90 man-minutes will see the trailer done!

Little or no progress will be made for the next two weeks because I'm driving with my girlfriend to Wisconsin to get my Hobie 16, which has sat in a garage unused for far too long. As I've been planning this trip since early January, it has made a natural point against which we might gauge our progress. We were hoping to be nearly done by now, and I think we've made some excellent progress. Let's review the goals I set in Part One, now that two months have passed:

Boat One:
• Refinishing the rudder, daggerboard, and associated hardware -- Completed - Rudder & Daggerboard finished and beautiful!
• Possibly anodizing and dying the rudder hardware -- We have yet to attack this
• Thoroughly cleaning the top and bottom of the boat -- Although the boat is fairly clean, it needs more attention
• Filling the abrasions and smoothing the hull -- We have yet to attack this
• Replacing the drain unit -- We have yet to attack this
• Removing the text from the top of the hull and possibly painting the top -- We have yet to attack this
• Re-painting the splashguard -- We have yet to attack this
• Installing one or two inspection ports -- Purchased one 6" port, not yet installed
  
  Seems like we haven't done much, huh? Let's look at Boat Two:
  
• Locating the rudder and daggerboard -- Completed
• Refinishing the rudder, daggerboard, and associated hardware -- in progress, awaiting more urethane
• Possibly anodizing and dying the rudder hardware -- We have yet to attack this
• Thoroughly cleaning the top and bottom of the boat -- The bottom is very clean albeit somewhat multi-colored. The top still needs a little work.
• Filling the abrasions and dents, and smoothing the hull -- In progress.
• Filling the drilled hole in the keel -- Completed
• Cleaning and smoothing the crack in the keel and filling it - Completed
• Repairing the split seam - Completed but we think it's still leaking a tad and it will get more attention when the inspection port is installed.
• Removing the text from the top of the hull and possibly painting the top - Partially Completed: text removed, no painting yet
• Re-painting the splashguard -- We have yet to attack this
• Installing one or two inspection ports -- Purchased one 6" and one 4" port, not yet installed

    From this, you could reasonably conclude that Boat One is probably 10% completed, but Boat Two is fully 60-70% done! Plus with the trailer nearly ready for road use,  we'll have one less thing to worry about. Hopefully you're all suitably impressed with our progress.  8)

On to part V.
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