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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Rivet Nut Setter
The rivet nut setter is used to compress rivets inside a hole. The nut is threaded and takes a machine screw, which is what was used to hold the splashguards in place on early fiberglass Sunfish.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Sunfish Race Rigging
Took some picture of a race rigged Sunfish, it had adjustments for outhaul and a cunningham. Sails are tied on. Sheet hangers. Wind vane. And it has a racing sail.
Nice watch. Big numbers, count up and count down timers.
But racing postponed for weather :(
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
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Nice watch. Big numbers, count up and count down timers.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
But racing postponed for weather :(
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Sunfish Pickin Pensacola Merci Beaucoup
Bought a sail, mast and spars last year off Craigslist, seller had a hull that needed a lot of work, we passed on it at the time. Fast forward to 2013 and we had all the parts needed for a boat except the hull, so we decided to give this hull a chance. Called the seller and he was willing to donate the hull, grabbed the trailer and headed over to Pensacola. Here is the boat. Coming out of the yard, she whispered her name to my wife, "Merci" Beaucoup.
Merci has been outside for a while, resting upside down on a piece of tin. That may have helped keep her foam dry. Today we found her deck side up with a few leaves in the cockpit. She is an AMF Alcort boat, pre 1972 based on old style rudder deck and keel holes. Data plate is gone from deck so we will not be able to determine exact age, but based on the fact that she 2 inch double stripes foredeck (after 1966) and had the old style rudder (before 1972) she is a late 1960s boat. The good news is she is well built from superior woven roving fiberglass, these years are the best hulls out there.
2 people were able to lift her and put her on the Small Boat Restoration pickin trailer, she feels like she is around 145-150 pounds.
She road home beautifully. Once home we took a few "Before" pictures. The original pre 1972 rudder fittings are gone,now there is some sort of block screwed to the stern with new style gudgeon. You can see the notch in the deck trim where the old style fittings side to be located.
Merci weighs 144.5, not bad for a 40+ year old boat. She might have come out of the factory with extra foam and fiberglass. We will try to dry her a little,but this is a good starting weight.
Did a walk around to assess work needed. Start off with a hole in the bow where bow handle used to be.
The deck gelcoat is not in horrible shape, boat has been painted, that paint may have acted as a shield for 20-30 years.
Nautical archaeology, there are labels applied to the deck just forward of the cockpit that say Port and Starboard. Looks like Merci had a swivel cam cleat at one point also.
All the deck fittings are gone but deck is in decent shape, plus trim is still intact and sheet hook remains installed.
The keel is in awful condition. Multiple cracks, a botched repair, gouges from over sanding and worn paint.
Took Merci up to car wash for a pressure wash, interested to see how much grime and paint would come off.
Good news, mast step held water.
We hoped that this blob would come off.
Back from the boat wash. A lot of old blue paint came off but blob remains. We are concerned that it might be wet fiberglass.
Here is a shot inside the stern, 10 screws holding the makeshift rudder plate to the transom. Not sure why they didn't use a backer plate.
Hull will need sanding, fairing and paint.
Shot inside stern looking forward at port foam. Gelcoat gone, fiberglass remains intact.
Merci hanging out with Belle.
Here is shot inside bow, that fiberglass at the top is the holder for the bow handle backer block, which is nowhere to be seen.
Started sanding, blob on stern came off and blue paint coming off.
Turned our attention to the rudder fitting. A new style gudgeon was attached to an aluminum block and then screwed to the transom. In order to remove it, I had to grind off the screw heads and drill out the screws. Then use a screwdriver to loosen putty.
Transom cleaned up, ready for repair with epoxy putty.
Continued test sanding, chine will need fairing compound.
Sprayed a coat of blue, this will help me find peaks and valleys in hull gelcoat as we sand.
Also removed damaged bailer. 60-80 grit on a random orbital sander worked great to remove big chunks, switched to 220 grit once I got through top layer to gelcoat.
Placed a tarp over the hull, left inspection port open, to let sun warm and dry the hull for a few days.
Next we worked on the hull:
Our boat Merci has ridden out several hurricanes, had a botched repair attempt, poor paint job and looks like she spent some time rubbing on some rocks. Other than that, the loose foam block, multiple hull punctures, ripped out bow handle and the homemade rudder attachment, she is in fine shape. There is damage to the hull gelcoat down to the fiberglass, so we are starting out with some exploratory sanding to see how much damage needs to be removed. Once we assess that we can draw up a game plan on whether we will need to fair the entire hull with a compound or just the seriously damaged areas.
Started cutting holes for blind patches in bow, keel forward of daggerboard and keel under the cockpit, using a rotozip. Make sure the bit is set shallow so it does not cut into cockpit tub.
Found a lot of dirt in the hull, used to be mud.
Also found port bow flotation block is loose, tried to push it back into place from theis cutout but the old foam is in the way. Merci must have taken quite a tumble in one of the hurricanes to dislodge that block. This changes our plan for blind patches, as now we need to split the hull in order to remove the old 2 part expanding foam and reset the block.
Here is about 5 pounds of dirt that we have vacuumed out of the hull so far.
There are several experiments going on here.
1) I did some light sanding on the chine and sprayed it with blue rustoleum, to see if the paint would cover any of the scrapes. Answer is no. But now when I sand I will know I am getting to good base materials, through all of the chips, scrapes and gouges when all of the blue spray paint disappears.
2) Same idea with the red Interlux Brightside, how much would it cover? Not Much.
3) the white area is epoxy putty, would it fill in the gouges and smooth out the crunchy spots? Nope.
I sanded a test area with a random orbital sander and 80 grit pads, lots of them, from the port bow back about 6 feet. By watching where the red paint was disappearing from the valleys while sanding, it was easy to see where I needed to sand more. I left 2 hand size areas partially sanded, then rolled/tipped the area with Interlux Brightside Bluglo White. The fully sanded areas came out looking great, the partially sanded areas will need to be completely sanded down through most of the gelcoat. The great news is that the crunchy areas do not go into the fiberglass and epoxy and will not need to be faired! We will be able to see some dips in the gelcoat but the surface will be smooth.
I'll get a better picture, in this one the newly sanded area is so smooth and shiny that it picked up the reflection of the pine tree overhead. I'll also get some picture of how the sanding progressed, down through the red paint and gelcoat to the fiberglass and epoxy.
Built a work cradle that will support boat hull side up and deck side up, with removable bunks, it also has rollers and the sawhorses will come out if I want.
Split the deck/hull seam to get inside for hull repairs. For more information on splitting a deck,see the post on Foam Repair.
Here are the areas to be repaired from inside. As it turns out all of the backer blocks are decayed, completely gone and will need to be replaced, so having the hull split will make that easy. The fiberglass hangar stuck to the deck is for the halyard cleat backer block. The pegs sticking through the hull in the background are the securing rivet nuts (rivnuts) for the coaming. The backer block hanger for the bow handle is broken and needs to be repaired. The hanger for the halyard block backer block is gone also.
INTERMISSION
This piece needed to be cutout, that is crushed and punctured fiberglass where the epoxy is clouded. It needs to be replaced.
Cutting out a fiberglass cloth patch for the inside. Make it bigger than the repair area and cut out 4-5 layers. We only did one at first and it was not stiff enough.
I cut out the damaged area and taped this keel section back in place.
Epoxied the backer patch into place, 4-5 layers would be optimum. I was able to reach the area with a long handles brush, but needed to tape a stick to the mixing cup in order to get the epoxy poured.
Cut out a backer patch for the bow repair.
Made a backer patch for the keel repair under the cockpit. I used the cut out piece as a form, wax paper so I can remove the backer and slide it inside the hull.
Used cardboard and string to pull the backer patch tight inside the hull. Epoxied everything into place, tied it up with paint sticks while it dried.
Keel patch is drying, it will need fiberglass cloth added where damaged areas are cut out. Completed first sanding to see what areas need to be built up some more.
Added five layers of fiberglass to build up the bow repair, then sanded.
31 Oct 2013: Added 3 additional layers of fiberglass inside for the keel patch just ahead of daggerboard trunk.
To reach this area I needed a paint stick to position the cloth, a cup on a stick to pour the epoxy resin and a long handled brush to embed the resin.
I used one of the foam blocks to prop open the deck.
Also put 4 layers of cloth under the bow handle hole...
Then 4 layers in the hole and sanded. Test fit the bow handle.
...and then let Merci get a little sun.
While the deck was open we replaced the backer blocks for the bow handle, halyard cleat and halyard block. The old blocks were rotted away. This backer blocks are held in place by adhesive and a fiberglass strip.
I cut new backer blocks out of rot resistant cypress.
Secured new backer blocks with 3M 5200 Marine adhesive sealant.
Found one bridle eyestrap backer block in the hull, so those will be replaced also.
Finished the foam reset and epoxied the deck and hull back together. See Foam Repair for more pictures.
The bridle eyestrap used to go here, in fact the old one is there in the bottom right of the picture.
Went throught the inspection port on the stern and tunneled through the foam to install new bridle eyestrap backer blocks, held them in place with screws while they dry.
Finished sanding the deck with 80 grit.
Flipped the boat and removed 2 coats of old blue paint and gouges in the gelcoat, had to sand through the gelcoat in a few areas.
Finished the port hull!
Finished the starboard hull.
Reattached the keel section with fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin.
After epoxy dried, troweled on first layer of marine epoxy putty.
Made a blind patch with cardboard, 3 layers of fiberglass cloth and a coat hanger.
Epoxied the blind patch into the hull, pulled it tight with the coat hanger.
Added 4 layers of 6 oz fiberglass cloth, bonded with West System 105 Epoxy resin and 207 Special Clear hardener. Polyester resin would bond better, epoxy resin is a little stronger. I used 207 Special Clear hardener because that's what I used for Zip's clear sealant coat. The 205 Fast hardener or 206 Slow hardener would work as well, but may have an amber tint. Buy cheap brushes and wipe up runs to reduce later sanding.
Chine patch drying.
Sanded the chine patch and added a layer of Marine Tex to fill the gaps.
Filed down the excess epoxy around the daggerboard trunk with a 4 in 1 file, then test fit a daggerboard.
Sanded the cockpit keel patch.
Filled gaps on the keel and hull patches with Marine Tex.
Dec 2013: First coat of Pettit EZ Prime rolled and tipped. It went on great and covered a lot!
Testing Pettit EZ Fair epoxy fairing compound. I really like how it dispenses in equal amounts from a caulk gun, mixes easily, spreads like peanut butter and the tube can be resealed.
I faired all of the patched areas and as many of the pinholes as I could find.
Second coat of primer. Used an Ace trim brush and 3/16 inch nap roller, worked very smooth. Also won a Pettit sweatshirt in a facebook contest.
Need to hit a few more areas with EZ Fair, sand and then we'll be ready for paint on the hull!
12 Jan 2014: Float test for Merci, she did great, no leaks!
She liked being ON the water vs being filled with it.
04 Feb 2014: Somewhere along the way I decided that I wanted to honor ALCORT founder Al Bryan and his service in the Army Air Corps by finishing Merci to look like a Army Air Corps Stearman flight trainer. They have a nice blue fuselage and yellow wing, with Air Corps insignia.
Roll and tip using Pettit Easypoxy Ocean Blue, Seafit 3/16 inch nap roller and Ace 3 inch tapered trim brush.
Pettit Paint donated the paint Easypoxy Ocean Blue 3248 and Sunflower Yellow for Merci and asked us for a review. Bottom line, buy some! It rolled well in 72 degree temp/60% humidity, and the bubbles tipped down to a smooth surface. I did small 18-24 inch sections from the keel down to the deck/hull seam, and the brush would drag a bit as the paint set up pretty quick. The Pettit Technical Representative says I can try the next coat using 5-15 percent thinner.
I used a Seafit 3/16 inch nap roller and Ace Hardware 3 inch tapered trim brush. I stirred the paint but my local Ace has shaken cans for me before.
Wiped down the hull with a towel.
First coat took me about 25 minutes, I did the port hull first bow to stern, then back out the other side. The port side still shows some hurricane character marks from riding on the rocks and extreme gouging, but we are ecstatic about the finish from the first coat. I could see my reflection from 20 feet away and it was impossible to get a shot without clouds and trees reflecting in the surface.
Keel repairs came out great!
Caution: Camera angle is off in this video, and it looks kind of like a "Brush Cam" shot. Watch at your own risk :)
Started sanding a daggerboard, the 1960s style with the oval tip. Removed old varnish and applied a coat of Minwax Polycrylic. The finish isn't as nice as I hoped, so I'll use a polyurethane stain/varnish OR this board may be painted yellow to keep with the Stearman theme.
Sanded with 80 grit.
19 Feb 2014: Sanded with 120 grit
and applied second coat of Pettit Ocean Blue with a 1/8 inch nap roller and tipped with a 3 inch brush. I liked the 3/16 inch nap roller cover from the first coat better.
It was 70 degrees outside, 60 percent, used Pettit 120 Thinner to thin about 10%, that made it a little runny but it rolled on great. Next time I'll try about 5%. We plan to sand one more time and put on the hull finish coat.
20 Feb 2014: We picked up Merci's Army Air Corps sail, brought it home and lashed it to the spars with 1/8 inch line. We like the look of the marlin hitch and retro feel versus the plastic sail clips.
We can't decide whether to put on the US ARMY letters, like the wing of the Stearman trainer, so we will leave that decision up to the buyer.
21 Feb 2014: Learned something new, the factory installed rudder fitting backer plate that fits the old style fiberglass transom is threaded for a machine screw. Alan Glos mentioned it in a post on the Sunfish Forum, the factory worker drilled a pilot hole and then they put in a self tapping screw. In case you're confused, the original fiberglass hull had an indentation in the transom for the old style rudder carriage bolt. When ALCORT/AMF switched to the new style rudder fitting they kept the notch in molds for a while, and eventually flattened out the transom. So now there are two types of backer plates, one with a hump for the old style mold, one that is flat for the newer molds.
Since Merci already has an inspection port on the stern from previous repairs, I'll probably add stop nuts as well.
Getting the deck ready for paint. Drilled rivet heads off of the cockpit trim, removed it and sanded off the old paint, corrosion and dirt using 80 grit pads on a random orbital sander.
Sunfish Archaeology, what is that? That is the wooden backer block that was fiberglassed inside the keel for the old style rudder latch plate. It is almost petrified :)
Here is the deck BEFORE shot. There are still some areas to fair with Pettit EZ Fair but I want to get a base coat of paint down so I can see where the biggest areas of interest are. I can't see some of the areas until that first coat goes on.
Tip: I remembered afterwards that I wanted to try mixing primer and paint, but today I didn't have primer so I just used the paint to see what areas need attention.
Today's experiment, Pettit Easypoxy Ocean Blue, 16 ounces thined with a capful of Pettit 120 Thinner, rolled with a West System High density foam roller cover, tipped with an Ace Hardware 3 inch trim brush.
I roll the paint on in two directions, just looking for uniform coverage and a thin coat.
Roll a section small enough that you can tip with a brush before the paint starts to get tacky. The warmer it is, the faster the paint sets up. Thinner will help slow that down, but too much thinner or too much paint will lead to sags and runs.
The rolled section will have bumps and bubbles. Wet the end of the brush with a little paint, then lightly go over the rolled section, moving the brush from the dry part of the deck towards the previously applied sections. If you can see a line where paint is drying before the new section is blended in, work in smaller sections. Here you can see the tipped section and the area that has not been tipped yet.
Base coat, let's go sailing!
Sanded the daggerboard and rudder with 80 grit random orbital sander,
then put on a protective coat of West System 105 Epoxy Resin and 206 Slow Hardener. I plan to paint the rudder red/white stripes, not sure what I am doing with the daggerboard yet, maybe yellow. I should have stained it first, to even out those blotches, in case I decide to leave it wood finish. If I change my mind I can sand back down to bare wood.
03 Mar 2014: Faired some gelcoat cracks, sanded with 120 grit and put on a layer of Pettit Undercoater, tinted with Ocean Blue. Thinned the mixture a bit, then rolled and tipped it with a foam roller.
04 Mar 2014: Rolled and tipped second coat of Pettit Ocean Blue, used a 9 inch Sea Choice 3/16 inch nap roller for this coat, and like it a little better than the foam roller. One tip is to use the bigger roller, it lets you apply the paint fast so you can get it tipped before it gets tacky. I covered about an 18 inch wide section at a time, worked from bow to stern and stood on a chair so I could reach opposite side of the boat and save multiple trips from side to side.
That is Merci's Air Corps sail rolled up and laying on the Drascombe, I like the way the blue and yellow contrast each other.
The splashguard is missing a chunk on the port corner and has a crack on the starboard corner. I will rebuild and reinforce with fiberglass cloth, West System 105 epoxy and 205 Fast Hardener.
Pensacola Boat Store (PBS) has great prices and an online store. I picked up paint, woven roving and hardener there today. Check them out at PBS
05 Mar 2014: Made backer patches for splashguard repairs, epoxied them into place and put on a basecoat of Pettit Easypoxy Sunflower Yellow.
Installed the gudgeon with a notched and threaded backer plate.
Added cleats and a spring plate to the ebay daggerboard. Also a retaining bungee.
Sanded mud and old paint off deck edge trim, installed trim and added deck hardware.
Painted cockpit yellow.
Checking out rudder paint scheme and stripes, used tape for the mockup.
06 Mar 2014: Cut and installed bridle.
This splashguard is held on by machine screws into a rivet nut. Later splashguards are held on with a rivet.
Sanded and repaired the splashguard repairs.
Test fit the splashguard.
Saved the vintage AMF ALCORT logo. That hook and trim were the only parts left on Merci after years of riding out hurricanes.
Painted the rudder stripes. Yes, that's upside down, I hung it that way so the rudder cheek would not smear the wet paint.
Test fit of swivel cam cleat. This vintage cleat came off of Sunshine, another Sunfish that was salvaged after Huricane Ivan. Her parts are spread over about 4 boats now. It is bent from a stucco wall collapsing on top of it, we will get it straightened out
12 Mar 2014: Installed rudder pin, tension springs and tiller.
13 Mar 2014:
From Right to Left, this is how a 10-32 .020-.130 grip steel rivet nut, closed end ribbed, compresses inside a 5/16 inch hole and secures itself to the fiberglass deck. The inside of the rivet nut is threaded to receive a 10-32 machine screw.
The factory hole for the rivet nut is 1/4 inch, the new rivet nut requires a 5/16 inch hole because the outer wall of the replacement rivnut is thicker, just a bit more stout than the factory rivnut.
The rivet nut (rivnut) secures a 10-32 x 3/4 inch machine screw. 13 screws are used to secure the splashguard. I also put a thin bead of 3M marine sealant around the base of the rivnut to keep water out. And the rivnut itself is closed end, so water will not get in that way.
Ordered from Jay-Cee Sales and Rivet, www.rivetsinstock.com: 1 39300 Nutter tool and 100 RN1032130SLR 10-32 .020-.130 grip steel rivet nut closed end ribbed
Drilled holes in repair area to test fit the splashguard.
Counter bored holes in replaced section.
Pettit Sunflower Yellow.
Bow line for Merci.
14 Mar 2014: Screwed on the splashguard.
Installed a swivel cam cleat that came off the Sunfish "Sunshine", hull was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan but parts were salvaged.
Drilled holes just aft of the lip.
Installed screws, washers and nuts.
Installed the cockpit trim.
Every Stearman trainer themed Sunfish needs Port and Starboard navigation markers on the wingtips :)
19 Mar 14: Merci is ready for sea trials. Rigged he up and sailed acrss the Bay. She sailed great and the sail set real nice. Air temp 68F, water temp 68F, light winds 6-8 knots, partly cloudy skies. We are very happy with the restoration and tribute to ALCORT founder Al Bryan's U.S. Army Air Corps service.
C'est fini!
23 Mar 14 Merci sold today and is reporting for duty as trainer for 8 year old Skipper and her First Mate Dad. A wonderful day for all, we were a little sad to see her go, proud parents and incredibly happy to breathe a Second Wind into her. Bon voyage!
03 Jan 17:
News from Poland. Awesome scale RC model of Merci was crafted by Marek Stala. Merci is the 1968 Alcort Sunfish that we restored a few years back, and finished in Army Air Corps Stearman trainer colors.
to be continued...
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Merci has been outside for a while, resting upside down on a piece of tin. That may have helped keep her foam dry. Today we found her deck side up with a few leaves in the cockpit. She is an AMF Alcort boat, pre 1972 based on old style rudder deck and keel holes. Data plate is gone from deck so we will not be able to determine exact age, but based on the fact that she 2 inch double stripes foredeck (after 1966) and had the old style rudder (before 1972) she is a late 1960s boat. The good news is she is well built from superior woven roving fiberglass, these years are the best hulls out there.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
2 people were able to lift her and put her on the Small Boat Restoration pickin trailer, she feels like she is around 145-150 pounds.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
She road home beautifully. Once home we took a few "Before" pictures. The original pre 1972 rudder fittings are gone,now there is some sort of block screwed to the stern with new style gudgeon. You can see the notch in the deck trim where the old style fittings side to be located.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Merci weighs 144.5, not bad for a 40+ year old boat. She might have come out of the factory with extra foam and fiberglass. We will try to dry her a little,but this is a good starting weight.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Did a walk around to assess work needed. Start off with a hole in the bow where bow handle used to be.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
The deck gelcoat is not in horrible shape, boat has been painted, that paint may have acted as a shield for 20-30 years.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Nautical archaeology, there are labels applied to the deck just forward of the cockpit that say Port and Starboard. Looks like Merci had a swivel cam cleat at one point also.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
All the deck fittings are gone but deck is in decent shape, plus trim is still intact and sheet hook remains installed.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
The keel is in awful condition. Multiple cracks, a botched repair, gouges from over sanding and worn paint.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Took Merci up to car wash for a pressure wash, interested to see how much grime and paint would come off.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Good news, mast step held water.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
We hoped that this blob would come off.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Back from the boat wash. A lot of old blue paint came off but blob remains. We are concerned that it might be wet fiberglass.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Here is a shot inside the stern, 10 screws holding the makeshift rudder plate to the transom. Not sure why they didn't use a backer plate.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Hull will need sanding, fairing and paint.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Shot inside stern looking forward at port foam. Gelcoat gone, fiberglass remains intact.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Merci hanging out with Belle.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Here is shot inside bow, that fiberglass at the top is the holder for the bow handle backer block, which is nowhere to be seen.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Started sanding, blob on stern came off and blue paint coming off.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Turned our attention to the rudder fitting. A new style gudgeon was attached to an aluminum block and then screwed to the transom. In order to remove it, I had to grind off the screw heads and drill out the screws. Then use a screwdriver to loosen putty.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Transom cleaned up, ready for repair with epoxy putty.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Continued test sanding, chine will need fairing compound.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Sprayed a coat of blue, this will help me find peaks and valleys in hull gelcoat as we sand.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Also removed damaged bailer. 60-80 grit on a random orbital sander worked great to remove big chunks, switched to 220 grit once I got through top layer to gelcoat.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Placed a tarp over the hull, left inspection port open, to let sun warm and dry the hull for a few days.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Next we worked on the hull:
Our boat Merci has ridden out several hurricanes, had a botched repair attempt, poor paint job and looks like she spent some time rubbing on some rocks. Other than that, the loose foam block, multiple hull punctures, ripped out bow handle and the homemade rudder attachment, she is in fine shape. There is damage to the hull gelcoat down to the fiberglass, so we are starting out with some exploratory sanding to see how much damage needs to be removed. Once we assess that we can draw up a game plan on whether we will need to fair the entire hull with a compound or just the seriously damaged areas.
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Started cutting holes for blind patches in bow, keel forward of daggerboard and keel under the cockpit, using a rotozip. Make sure the bit is set shallow so it does not cut into cockpit tub.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Found a lot of dirt in the hull, used to be mud.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Also found port bow flotation block is loose, tried to push it back into place from theis cutout but the old foam is in the way. Merci must have taken quite a tumble in one of the hurricanes to dislodge that block. This changes our plan for blind patches, as now we need to split the hull in order to remove the old 2 part expanding foam and reset the block.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Here is about 5 pounds of dirt that we have vacuumed out of the hull so far.
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
There are several experiments going on here.
1) I did some light sanding on the chine and sprayed it with blue rustoleum, to see if the paint would cover any of the scrapes. Answer is no. But now when I sand I will know I am getting to good base materials, through all of the chips, scrapes and gouges when all of the blue spray paint disappears.
2) Same idea with the red Interlux Brightside, how much would it cover? Not Much.
3) the white area is epoxy putty, would it fill in the gouges and smooth out the crunchy spots? Nope.
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
I sanded a test area with a random orbital sander and 80 grit pads, lots of them, from the port bow back about 6 feet. By watching where the red paint was disappearing from the valleys while sanding, it was easy to see where I needed to sand more. I left 2 hand size areas partially sanded, then rolled/tipped the area with Interlux Brightside Bluglo White. The fully sanded areas came out looking great, the partially sanded areas will need to be completely sanded down through most of the gelcoat. The great news is that the crunchy areas do not go into the fiberglass and epoxy and will not need to be faired! We will be able to see some dips in the gelcoat but the surface will be smooth.
I'll get a better picture, in this one the newly sanded area is so smooth and shiny that it picked up the reflection of the pine tree overhead. I'll also get some picture of how the sanding progressed, down through the red paint and gelcoat to the fiberglass and epoxy.
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
Built a work cradle that will support boat hull side up and deck side up, with removable bunks, it also has rollers and the sawhorses will come out if I want.
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
Split the deck/hull seam to get inside for hull repairs. For more information on splitting a deck,see the post on Foam Repair.
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
Here are the areas to be repaired from inside. As it turns out all of the backer blocks are decayed, completely gone and will need to be replaced, so having the hull split will make that easy. The fiberglass hangar stuck to the deck is for the halyard cleat backer block. The pegs sticking through the hull in the background are the securing rivet nuts (rivnuts) for the coaming. The backer block hanger for the bow handle is broken and needs to be repaired. The hanger for the halyard block backer block is gone also.
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INTERMISSION
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
This piece needed to be cutout, that is crushed and punctured fiberglass where the epoxy is clouded. It needs to be replaced.
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
Cutting out a fiberglass cloth patch for the inside. Make it bigger than the repair area and cut out 4-5 layers. We only did one at first and it was not stiff enough.
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
I cut out the damaged area and taped this keel section back in place.
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
Epoxied the backer patch into place, 4-5 layers would be optimum. I was able to reach the area with a long handles brush, but needed to tape a stick to the mixing cup in order to get the epoxy poured.
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Cut out a backer patch for the bow repair.
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Made a backer patch for the keel repair under the cockpit. I used the cut out piece as a form, wax paper so I can remove the backer and slide it inside the hull.
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Used cardboard and string to pull the backer patch tight inside the hull. Epoxied everything into place, tied it up with paint sticks while it dried.
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
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Keel patch is drying, it will need fiberglass cloth added where damaged areas are cut out. Completed first sanding to see what areas need to be built up some more.
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
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Added five layers of fiberglass to build up the bow repair, then sanded.
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31 Oct 2013: Added 3 additional layers of fiberglass inside for the keel patch just ahead of daggerboard trunk.
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
To reach this area I needed a paint stick to position the cloth, a cup on a stick to pour the epoxy resin and a long handled brush to embed the resin.
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
I used one of the foam blocks to prop open the deck.
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
Also put 4 layers of cloth under the bow handle hole...
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
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Then 4 layers in the hole and sanded. Test fit the bow handle.
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| From SBR 2013 |
...and then let Merci get a little sun.
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
While the deck was open we replaced the backer blocks for the bow handle, halyard cleat and halyard block. The old blocks were rotted away. This backer blocks are held in place by adhesive and a fiberglass strip.
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I cut new backer blocks out of rot resistant cypress.
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Secured new backer blocks with 3M 5200 Marine adhesive sealant.
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Found one bridle eyestrap backer block in the hull, so those will be replaced also.
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Finished the foam reset and epoxied the deck and hull back together. See Foam Repair for more pictures.
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| From SBR 2013 |
The bridle eyestrap used to go here, in fact the old one is there in the bottom right of the picture.
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| From SBR 2013 |
Went throught the inspection port on the stern and tunneled through the foam to install new bridle eyestrap backer blocks, held them in place with screws while they dry.
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Finished sanding the deck with 80 grit.
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Flipped the boat and removed 2 coats of old blue paint and gouges in the gelcoat, had to sand through the gelcoat in a few areas.
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Finished the port hull!
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Finished the starboard hull.
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Reattached the keel section with fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin.
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After epoxy dried, troweled on first layer of marine epoxy putty.
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Made a blind patch with cardboard, 3 layers of fiberglass cloth and a coat hanger.
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Epoxied the blind patch into the hull, pulled it tight with the coat hanger.
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| From SBR 2013 |
Added 4 layers of 6 oz fiberglass cloth, bonded with West System 105 Epoxy resin and 207 Special Clear hardener. Polyester resin would bond better, epoxy resin is a little stronger. I used 207 Special Clear hardener because that's what I used for Zip's clear sealant coat. The 205 Fast hardener or 206 Slow hardener would work as well, but may have an amber tint. Buy cheap brushes and wipe up runs to reduce later sanding.
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| From SBR 2013 |
Chine patch drying.
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Sanded the chine patch and added a layer of Marine Tex to fill the gaps.
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| From SBR 2013 |
Filed down the excess epoxy around the daggerboard trunk with a 4 in 1 file, then test fit a daggerboard.
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| From SBR 2013 |
Sanded the cockpit keel patch.
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| From SBR 2013 |
Filled gaps on the keel and hull patches with Marine Tex.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
Dec 2013: First coat of Pettit EZ Prime rolled and tipped. It went on great and covered a lot!
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Testing Pettit EZ Fair epoxy fairing compound. I really like how it dispenses in equal amounts from a caulk gun, mixes easily, spreads like peanut butter and the tube can be resealed.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
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I faired all of the patched areas and as many of the pinholes as I could find.
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Second coat of primer. Used an Ace trim brush and 3/16 inch nap roller, worked very smooth. Also won a Pettit sweatshirt in a facebook contest.
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Need to hit a few more areas with EZ Fair, sand and then we'll be ready for paint on the hull!
12 Jan 2014: Float test for Merci, she did great, no leaks!
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She liked being ON the water vs being filled with it.
04 Feb 2014: Somewhere along the way I decided that I wanted to honor ALCORT founder Al Bryan and his service in the Army Air Corps by finishing Merci to look like a Army Air Corps Stearman flight trainer. They have a nice blue fuselage and yellow wing, with Air Corps insignia.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
Roll and tip using Pettit Easypoxy Ocean Blue, Seafit 3/16 inch nap roller and Ace 3 inch tapered trim brush.
Pettit Paint donated the paint Easypoxy Ocean Blue 3248 and Sunflower Yellow for Merci and asked us for a review. Bottom line, buy some! It rolled well in 72 degree temp/60% humidity, and the bubbles tipped down to a smooth surface. I did small 18-24 inch sections from the keel down to the deck/hull seam, and the brush would drag a bit as the paint set up pretty quick. The Pettit Technical Representative says I can try the next coat using 5-15 percent thinner.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
I used a Seafit 3/16 inch nap roller and Ace Hardware 3 inch tapered trim brush. I stirred the paint but my local Ace has shaken cans for me before.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
Wiped down the hull with a towel.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
First coat took me about 25 minutes, I did the port hull first bow to stern, then back out the other side. The port side still shows some hurricane character marks from riding on the rocks and extreme gouging, but we are ecstatic about the finish from the first coat. I could see my reflection from 20 feet away and it was impossible to get a shot without clouds and trees reflecting in the surface.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
Keel repairs came out great!
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
Caution: Camera angle is off in this video, and it looks kind of like a "Brush Cam" shot. Watch at your own risk :)
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
Started sanding a daggerboard, the 1960s style with the oval tip. Removed old varnish and applied a coat of Minwax Polycrylic. The finish isn't as nice as I hoped, so I'll use a polyurethane stain/varnish OR this board may be painted yellow to keep with the Stearman theme.
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Sanded with 80 grit.
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19 Feb 2014: Sanded with 120 grit
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and applied second coat of Pettit Ocean Blue with a 1/8 inch nap roller and tipped with a 3 inch brush. I liked the 3/16 inch nap roller cover from the first coat better.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
It was 70 degrees outside, 60 percent, used Pettit 120 Thinner to thin about 10%, that made it a little runny but it rolled on great. Next time I'll try about 5%. We plan to sand one more time and put on the hull finish coat.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
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20 Feb 2014: We picked up Merci's Army Air Corps sail, brought it home and lashed it to the spars with 1/8 inch line. We like the look of the marlin hitch and retro feel versus the plastic sail clips.
We can't decide whether to put on the US ARMY letters, like the wing of the Stearman trainer, so we will leave that decision up to the buyer.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
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21 Feb 2014: Learned something new, the factory installed rudder fitting backer plate that fits the old style fiberglass transom is threaded for a machine screw. Alan Glos mentioned it in a post on the Sunfish Forum, the factory worker drilled a pilot hole and then they put in a self tapping screw. In case you're confused, the original fiberglass hull had an indentation in the transom for the old style rudder carriage bolt. When ALCORT/AMF switched to the new style rudder fitting they kept the notch in molds for a while, and eventually flattened out the transom. So now there are two types of backer plates, one with a hump for the old style mold, one that is flat for the newer molds.
Since Merci already has an inspection port on the stern from previous repairs, I'll probably add stop nuts as well.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
Getting the deck ready for paint. Drilled rivet heads off of the cockpit trim, removed it and sanded off the old paint, corrosion and dirt using 80 grit pads on a random orbital sander.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
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Sunfish Archaeology, what is that? That is the wooden backer block that was fiberglassed inside the keel for the old style rudder latch plate. It is almost petrified :)
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
Here is the deck BEFORE shot. There are still some areas to fair with Pettit EZ Fair but I want to get a base coat of paint down so I can see where the biggest areas of interest are. I can't see some of the areas until that first coat goes on.
Tip: I remembered afterwards that I wanted to try mixing primer and paint, but today I didn't have primer so I just used the paint to see what areas need attention.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
Today's experiment, Pettit Easypoxy Ocean Blue, 16 ounces thined with a capful of Pettit 120 Thinner, rolled with a West System High density foam roller cover, tipped with an Ace Hardware 3 inch trim brush.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
I roll the paint on in two directions, just looking for uniform coverage and a thin coat.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
Roll a section small enough that you can tip with a brush before the paint starts to get tacky. The warmer it is, the faster the paint sets up. Thinner will help slow that down, but too much thinner or too much paint will lead to sags and runs.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
The rolled section will have bumps and bubbles. Wet the end of the brush with a little paint, then lightly go over the rolled section, moving the brush from the dry part of the deck towards the previously applied sections. If you can see a line where paint is drying before the new section is blended in, work in smaller sections. Here you can see the tipped section and the area that has not been tipped yet.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
Base coat, let's go sailing!
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Sanded the daggerboard and rudder with 80 grit random orbital sander,
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
then put on a protective coat of West System 105 Epoxy Resin and 206 Slow Hardener. I plan to paint the rudder red/white stripes, not sure what I am doing with the daggerboard yet, maybe yellow. I should have stained it first, to even out those blotches, in case I decide to leave it wood finish. If I change my mind I can sand back down to bare wood.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
03 Mar 2014: Faired some gelcoat cracks, sanded with 120 grit and put on a layer of Pettit Undercoater, tinted with Ocean Blue. Thinned the mixture a bit, then rolled and tipped it with a foam roller.
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04 Mar 2014: Rolled and tipped second coat of Pettit Ocean Blue, used a 9 inch Sea Choice 3/16 inch nap roller for this coat, and like it a little better than the foam roller. One tip is to use the bigger roller, it lets you apply the paint fast so you can get it tipped before it gets tacky. I covered about an 18 inch wide section at a time, worked from bow to stern and stood on a chair so I could reach opposite side of the boat and save multiple trips from side to side.
That is Merci's Air Corps sail rolled up and laying on the Drascombe, I like the way the blue and yellow contrast each other.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
The splashguard is missing a chunk on the port corner and has a crack on the starboard corner. I will rebuild and reinforce with fiberglass cloth, West System 105 epoxy and 205 Fast Hardener.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
Pensacola Boat Store (PBS) has great prices and an online store. I picked up paint, woven roving and hardener there today. Check them out at PBS
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05 Mar 2014: Made backer patches for splashguard repairs, epoxied them into place and put on a basecoat of Pettit Easypoxy Sunflower Yellow.
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Installed the gudgeon with a notched and threaded backer plate.
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Added cleats and a spring plate to the ebay daggerboard. Also a retaining bungee.
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Sanded mud and old paint off deck edge trim, installed trim and added deck hardware.
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Painted cockpit yellow.
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Checking out rudder paint scheme and stripes, used tape for the mockup.
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06 Mar 2014: Cut and installed bridle.
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This splashguard is held on by machine screws into a rivet nut. Later splashguards are held on with a rivet.
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Sanded and repaired the splashguard repairs.
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Test fit the splashguard.
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Saved the vintage AMF ALCORT logo. That hook and trim were the only parts left on Merci after years of riding out hurricanes.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
Painted the rudder stripes. Yes, that's upside down, I hung it that way so the rudder cheek would not smear the wet paint.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
Test fit of swivel cam cleat. This vintage cleat came off of Sunshine, another Sunfish that was salvaged after Huricane Ivan. Her parts are spread over about 4 boats now. It is bent from a stucco wall collapsing on top of it, we will get it straightened out
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
12 Mar 2014: Installed rudder pin, tension springs and tiller.
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13 Mar 2014:
From Right to Left, this is how a 10-32 .020-.130 grip steel rivet nut, closed end ribbed, compresses inside a 5/16 inch hole and secures itself to the fiberglass deck. The inside of the rivet nut is threaded to receive a 10-32 machine screw.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
The factory hole for the rivet nut is 1/4 inch, the new rivet nut requires a 5/16 inch hole because the outer wall of the replacement rivnut is thicker, just a bit more stout than the factory rivnut.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
The rivet nut (rivnut) secures a 10-32 x 3/4 inch machine screw. 13 screws are used to secure the splashguard. I also put a thin bead of 3M marine sealant around the base of the rivnut to keep water out. And the rivnut itself is closed end, so water will not get in that way.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
Ordered from Jay-Cee Sales and Rivet, www.rivetsinstock.com: 1 39300 Nutter tool and 100 RN1032130SLR 10-32 .020-.130 grip steel rivet nut closed end ribbed
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
Drilled holes in repair area to test fit the splashguard.
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Counter bored holes in replaced section.
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Pettit Sunflower Yellow.
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Bow line for Merci.
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14 Mar 2014: Screwed on the splashguard.
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Installed a swivel cam cleat that came off the Sunfish "Sunshine", hull was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan but parts were salvaged.
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Drilled holes just aft of the lip.
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Installed screws, washers and nuts.
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Installed the cockpit trim.
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Every Stearman trainer themed Sunfish needs Port and Starboard navigation markers on the wingtips :)
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
19 Mar 14: Merci is ready for sea trials. Rigged he up and sailed acrss the Bay. She sailed great and the sail set real nice. Air temp 68F, water temp 68F, light winds 6-8 knots, partly cloudy skies. We are very happy with the restoration and tribute to ALCORT founder Al Bryan's U.S. Army Air Corps service.
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C'est fini!
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
23 Mar 14 Merci sold today and is reporting for duty as trainer for 8 year old Skipper and her First Mate Dad. A wonderful day for all, we were a little sad to see her go, proud parents and incredibly happy to breathe a Second Wind into her. Bon voyage!
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
03 Jan 17:
News from Poland. Awesome scale RC model of Merci was crafted by Marek Stala. Merci is the 1968 Alcort Sunfish that we restored a few years back, and finished in Army Air Corps Stearman trainer colors.
to be continued...
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