1963 Alcort Sunfish CHIP 06 May 19 New Bottom Panels THIXO

06 May 19:

Trimmed edges of bottom panels. Attached with TotalBoat THIXO dispensed from a High Thrust caulk gun. Marked nailing lines and nailed with 3/4 inch silicone bronze ring shank nails.

Removed centering strip before adhesive dried and installed keel strip with THIXO and silicone bronze wood screws.

Cleaned excess epoxy with a paint stir stick.

Used marking jig to mark pilot holes for the silicone bronze ring shank nails.

Laid out the panels for the best fit, put on some alignment marks, then flipped them over to apply the THIXO.

Scarf joint 8:1, 2 inch offset on 1/4 inch plywood.

Rolled on a coat of TotalBoat Topside Primer.

Log of CHIP.

Alcort Super Sailfish ZSA ZSA 18 Nov 18 Plywood Bottom

18 Nov 18:

Cut the A/B marine plywood panels lengthwise.

Set the circular saw to cut just past the depth of the panels for the cleanest cut.

This is how our CHIP's panels were key scarfed, we will try to duplicate that.

Scarf was about 1 1/2 inches long on each panel. Made several passes with the circular saw at 1/16th inch to cut away the bulk of the scarf, then cleaned it up the jack plane, finger plane and rabbet plane.

The plywood is A/B, meaning there is a nicer side with with fewer patches. This B side had several patches. Marine grade plywood has more veneer layers and is glued together with waterproof glue. The A side can have patches also, just fewer of them, they are faired with putty and sanded.

Used the old keel strip to set the spacing on the bottom panels. Tacked the bottom down with ring shank nails and strapped the bow and stern down to pre set some bend.

The Sunfish keel strip was not as deep because that hull has a deeper V. It also overlapped the panel edges. We will make the new keel strip for ZSA ZSA deeper so she will track better, with the overlap to protect the panel edges and help seal up the keel seams.

ZSA ZSA's Log.

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.