Too busy sailing

I haven't updated for a while because I have had a slew of other projects (and some sailing mixed in), but I am trying to finish up the banshee soon to make more room in the garage. See my latest project here: http://buccaneer18-restoration.blogspot.com/.

I am getting ready to start the gelcoat and have been fixing small imperfections and sanding A LOT. Here are some pics from this morning.



Note the hedge, aging beautifully.

transom in place!!

I have done quite a bit of work since my last post. I finished removing all of the remaining wood crumbs from the transom and fashioned a new one using birch plywood. I know it isn't marine grade but it was super smooth and I was planning on covering it in several coats of epoxy anyways so I am not too worried. My first step after shaping it to fit was to drill holes through the new transom board everywhere I needed them. I did this with a small bit using the existing fiberglass as the guide, removed the wood from the boat and then expanded the holes to be bigger than the screws that fit in them. I did this so that I could plug them up with epoxy so the holes wouldn't expose the transom to water either. Then I glassed the transom in place using some heavy duty cloth from west marine. I have put two coats of epoxy on so far, and sanded in between coats. I will probably do one or two more light coats of epoxy before moving on to gelcoat. I also had to repair the piece of wood that runs down the centerline of the boat, as it had rotted out where it was in contact with the transom. I decided to replace the missing piece with fiberglass since I had some left over after putting the transom in place. Here are some pics of the transom:


























Another piece of exciting news is that a friend of mine was able to procure me some Osage Orange (aka hedge) lumber. I had lamented with him on the high price of teak and he suggested I look into using hedge. I got the pieces yesterday and cut them to fit. This is some seriously hard wood. It has run me through my stock of 60 grit and it still needs a bit more work to get smooth. It is very beautiful though, and feels rock solid. Here are some pics of the existing teak I removed, and the replacement pieces I am still working on:

After the first couple days of work

I just bough a 1972 Banshee sailboat for $100 that I am planning to restore. The boat was in surprisingly good shape for the price, with no major damage to the fiberglass, plus it came with new lines, a new sail (that made it worth $100 right there), AND a decent trailer. I am going to try and document the restoration for the sake of posterity (and because I could always use another hobby).

First thing is first, I used my friend's powerwasher to clean things up a bit. This boat had been sitting bottom up outside for several years, and had a large accumulation of lichen and dirt on the hull, as you can see in the pics:

The boat cleaned up quite nicely, and the powerwashing also removed quite a bit of oxidation that was very prominent on the topdeck. I did notice a few scrapes and scratches on the hull that I will want to repair, but my initial impression of the soundness of the hull seems to be correct. (Sorry for the blurry photo, I had to use my camera phone for these)

A very common problem on these boats is the transoms frequently rot out, and this was definitely evident here. This will be the most major repair job I have to do. Last night, I managed to remove all the wood, while leaving the back laminate intact. In this case, it was a good thing that the rotting was so incredibly complete. Most of the wood came off fairly easily once I removed the laminate on the inner wall of the transom, It was still quite wet. My hope with this repair is to seal a new transom made of marine plywood with epoxy and then bondo it in to the hole left by the old one. Then I will have to finish glassing the seams, but I am hoping it won't be too difficult. Here is a pic of the transom with the wood removed (except for a very thin veneer that should come off with a bit of sanding.
Next on the list will be to do a few other minor repairs. The thwart and daggerboard cover need to be replaced, and I have some minor gelcoat repairs to do on the topdeck. The worst is around the mast step, shown in the picture.