Tuesday, February 27, 2018

1950s Alcort Super Sailfish ZSA ZSA 27 Feb 18 Weight Reduction

27 Feb 18:

We pulled all the bottom nails, we can reuse a few but ordered a pound of #14 silicone bronze annular ring nails from Jamestown Distributors. There were no extra nail holes so that must have been the original bottom. We also removed some keel batten screws and will replace those.




We are pretty sure this was a kit boat from the factory, and the assembler added some extra bracing and foam when they put it together. We took out the extra lumber and will add back a better butt block for the plywood deck seam.



Restoration Log of ZSA ZSA.

Friday, February 23, 2018

1980 AMF Sunfish SUGAR 2 23 Feb 18 Sea Trials Complete

23 Feb 18:

SUGAR 2 flew through sea trials, ready for a new Coomodore! She's available in Pensacola, FL for $1600 USD.







Craigslist Posting with contact info.

Restoration Log for SUGAR 2.

1950s Alcort Super Sailfish ZSA ZSA 23 Feb 18 Bottom Ply and Foam Removal

23 Feb 18:

ZSA ZSA came off the rack today and we moved her onto the finishing dolly. We towed her around front to the carriage house



We continued removing the bottom. We used an old chisel to open the seam and pry the plywood loose. I pried up to keep the outer edge of the oak side as square as possible, the oak is pretty tough and is in good shape.


Someone added foam to the design. They also added extra framing. The foam is not closed cell or factory, so we are removing that. We also will remove the extra framing and use 1/4 inch ply for the new bottom. When we are done, the boat should weigh 20-25 pounds less and be back to factory specs.




Restoration Log of ZSA ZSA.

Thursday, February 22, 2018

1982 AMF Sunfish PHOENIX 22 Feb 18 Leak Test and Deck Repair

22 Feb 18:

Phoenix needed a little TLC, she had a few leaks and we did an air leak test to figure out where the trouble spots are. We found several, the 2 big culprits being in the bailer hole seam and the daggerboard trunk. The funniest was Mt Vesuvius blowing out the rivet hole in the coaming.





We sealed up those areas with Pettit Flexpoxy, and we also put Marine-Tex epoxy putty over several areas where gelcoat had chipped.







We also sanded the coaming in prep for paint and installed the aluminum cockpit trim that our buddy Alan sent us.

Log of PHOENIX.

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

1971 AMF Alcort Sunfish SASSY

Sassy is a 1971 Sunfish with the "new style" rudder and triple stripes, with the stripes just on the foredeck. She did not have the storage compartment and her deck had a touch of cream color to it, went well with the deep red stripes and cockpit. She also had a nice old 5 panel Ratsey and Lapthorne sail. One interesting leak developed on SASSY after I had a hard time removing the old metal bailer. The seam between the cockpit tub and hull opened up, which lets water seep (or gush) into the hull. We fixed it by using a syringe to inject thickened epoxy into the gap, then lightly clamping while it dried.



The halyard cleat needed to be reinstalled, so we improvised for the test sail.


1980 AMF Sunfish SUGAR 2 21 Feb 18 Hull Repair and Inspection Port

21 Feb 18:

Sanded the splashgard with 120 grit and gave it a coat of Rust-Oleum.


SUGAR 2 deck gouges from the boom bolt, almost all the way though the gelcoat.



One of our old standbys, Marine-Tex epoxy putty. We used this today because it will be a close match to the gelcoat on PHOENIX. It will be a little too white for SUGAR 2's cream colored deck, but may fade over time.


Marine-Tex applied.



Fiberglass damage in SUGAR 2's daggerboard trunk.



Mixed up Pettit Marine Paint Flexpoxy to repair fiberglass damage in the daggerboard trunk. Totaloat THIXO is a good product for this repair as well. Used the half wide paint stick to trowel Flexpoxy over the damaged areas, anywhere the outer layer of polyester resin has flaked off. Also injected epoxy from a syringe into the seam voids we found a few days ago.


Inspection port installation between the daggerboard trunk and splashguard. The tape protects the deck from the jigsaw footplate.


The inner plate makes a good template for the inspection port hole.


Marked the hole, drilled a 1/2 inch hole inside the circle to insert the jigsaw blade. Cut on the line with a DEWALT jigsaw.




Inside the Sunfish hull, daggerboard trunk.


Inside the Sunfish hull, mast tube and wooden backer block on underside of deck for the halyard fairlead. White blocks are the structural and floatation foam, yellow foam is the expanding adhesive foam. The fiberglass strip at the top is the strap that used to hold the wooden halyard cleat backer block. It rotted and fell off.


Someone moved the halyard cleat at one point, probably to find better purchase on the old internal backer block. We used the cleat to predrill the 2 screw holes, then epoxied the block and put it inside the hull in the original position. Then we used the drill bit to find one of the screw holes and line up the block for the first screw. Once the first screw was in place we removed the drill bit, swiveled the cleat and inserted the second screw. The epoxy oozing out of the wrong screw holes is good news, means we had plenty of adhesive contact between the block and the hull.


New halyard cleat backer block, made from rot resistant cypress and coated with epoxy. Held in place by thickened epoxy and screws.


We pre drilled all of the machine screw holes using the ring as a template then removed it and put a bead of sealant around the port hole. The port was put in place, then twisted a 1/2 turn to evenly spread out the sealant. Machine screws were reinstalled and secured with nylon stop nuts.


Installed a swivel cam cleat. Test fit the coaming.


Restoration Log of SUGAR 2.

Saturday, February 17, 2018

1965 Alcort Catfish SMEDLEY 16 Feb 18 Bottom Damage

16 Feb 18:

Put SMEDLEY on the trailer but before we did that we put him on his side to assess bottom damage. Several of the areas look like gelcoat cracks but a few are deeper into the fiberglass. Most of the damage appears to be from improper trailer supports.






We are having a trailer made so we'll work with Eddie English to make sure the boat is properly supported. Eddie has been building boat trailers for a long time so we know he'll come up with a great design.


Restoration Log for SMEDLEY.

Friday, February 16, 2018

1980 AMF SUGAR 2 16 Feb 18 Leak Test and Hull Cleaning

16 Feb 18:

Boy I don't remember SUGAR 2 being so grimy but it has been a scummy season for pine pollen and rain on and off. We needed to do an air leak test so while we had the soap out we decided to clean up the hull. This also gave us a chance to note any areas that were going to need epoxy attention, either THIXO or Marine Tex.

We did the leak test by taping over all known holes except for the vent hole on the forward cockpit bulkhead. Yes, that's a vent hole, don't seal it up. And don't let water fill up the cockpit during storage, or water will get in side the hull through the vent hole. We pressurized the boat with low volume, low pressure air and sprayed all the seams and hardware locations with Dawn dishwashing detergent, then looked for bubbles. We found leaks in the daggerboard trunk, deck edge seam and just over the gudgeon. To get a better leak at where the deck edge seam was leaking, we drilled out the trim rivets with a 1/8 inch bit and gently tapped off the aluminum trim.


Once the trim is off we can usually see an area where dirt has collected, that is usually the leak spot where water is flowing in and out of the boat. The seam gets damaged from collisions and rough handling during storage.



We used a few chemicals next, please read the Warnings and take proper protective precautions before using these chemicals. After the leak test we sprayed the boat with TILEX to get rid of the mildew. Then we rinsed it well and sprayed it again with Iron Out, let that sit a while and wet sanded with 1200 grit to release the stain. The boat also had paint overspray on it, and the wet sanding helped remove that. Once we are finished repairing leaks and cleaning up old repair areas, the boat will get compounded and waxed with 3M Fiberglass Restorer and Wax.



SUGAR 2 has some interesting gelcoat spider cracks on the bottom, below the cockpit, pressure points from where expanding foam was used to adhere the bottom of the cockpit to the inside of the hull. The fiberglass underneath is fine, we are going to leave those tiny cracks alone, unless we start to see gelcoat chipping off.


Dolly fun.



Restoration Log of SUGAR 2.