Sanding...

After making her first french toast breakfast (by herself) the kid and I went out to the boat early this morning.


She was doing her workbooks while I tried to find something useful to do. I knew I had to do some sanding/prep work on the deck, the main bulkhead and the hull, but because the kid was around and the boat looks so nice and clean now I didn't want the dust to go everywhere. So I made my self a poor mans Festool sander by connecting my orbital to the shop-vac thats been on top of the boat for the last 6 months. Now I can sand away with out worrying about any dust bothering me, the kid or making a mess in the boat.

I started with the bulkhead which looked so bad that when I first got the boat that I was thinking about putting a veneer over the bulkhead or even painting it. After a little elbow grease today though it looks great inside and out.




Then it was on to the hull. It looks so much better/cleaner and now I can start fairing/filling any scratches or nicks before painting.



The other thing I was going to day was cleaning up the ports. The caulking comes off easily but it takes patience to do a good job of it so I'll do a little at a time.

Another CL Flyer restoration project...

I found this today...

See it here.....

http://www.boatartgallery.net/gallery/CheoyLee

Thoughts on the new decking...

With most of the port lights finished I'm on to thinking about the next step which will be the Deck.

The first step in prepping the area for work was to tackle the apparently dangerous** task of removing the rub rail from the sides of the boat. The reason to remove it is because there are some bolts which were loose anyways and that created some space in places between the rub rail and the boat, which allowed some water and "stuff" to work it way in there. The other reason is because in an effort to make the deck to hull joint as strong as possible I want the fiberglass of the deck to extend past the edge of the deck down over the outside of the deck to hull joint. I'll use the bulwark/toe rail to cover the edge of the fiberglass as well as the new rub rail. It should make for a really strong and stiff boat.

With this piece off now, its onto sanding grinding the existing deck to a surface that will adhere well to the new epoxy/decking/glass. This means purchasing more epoxy, marine ply and glass which is made complicated because of the recent household order that calls for a temporary stoppage on all boat related purchases.

The deck currently has a 1/4 inch of ply down and I want to at least double that. The PO didn't finish the decking job and kind of left it , like the rest of the boat to weather. I want to at least double the thickness of the deck and bring it up to the right height. Then I'll attach new deck to the old deck with carriage bolts and large washers. This will hold it down flush and tight. Once this is on, I'll start the glassing. One, maybe two layers in the main field and and extra layer or two where the hardware/stanchions, winches etc will go.

I would like to get started on the deck this weekend. We'll see if there is a creative way around the fiscal freeze.


**In removing the rail last night, I ended up whacking my self in the bridge of my nose with the board which was under a lot of pressure and resulted in a lot of pressure being put upon my nose.

Portlight Progress....

FINALLY BACK TO WORK ON THE BOAT!!!!!

After a busy month of visiting friends and lots friends visiting us, I am back to work on the boat.

I got started with the portlights. This morning I scraped any left over/old caulking off of the portlight openings with a chisel, then I "primed" any areas of bare wood with Epoxy. The Boat life caulk I was using to bed the glass cautions against using it on bare teak because of the oils in the wood and recommends sealing it/priming it with something first. Since I had used West System on the rest of the cabin house as a base coat for the varnish, I decide to keep things consistent and kept on using it. A couple of the glass pieces were slightly off from the templates I sent to have cut. I had to chisel out any high ares to make room for the glass. **

The next thing was to apply generous amounts of caulk on into the openings, put the glass in place, push it in place, squeezing out the excess caulk, then apply more caulk to cover any possible gaps, next I put the trim pieces on over that and screwed them down tight to again squeeze out the excess caulk and sealing the glass in.



A shot of the trim pieces, caulk, the new glass (wrapped in paper) and a jar full of bronze screws
a few weeks back I had stripped, sanded and put a couple thick coats of epoxy on the trim pieces on both sides turning them into rock hard pieces of plastic that look like wood.

1. empty opening


2. dry fit and shaping the opening to fit the new glass


3. applying plenty of caulk probably alot more than I need


4. adding the trim pieces then screwing them down tight



Plenty of caulk here too


This is an inside shot of opening portlight

Just about finished with this project. Only one more to go. I need to let them cure for a few days before trimming off the excess caulk, bung all the screw holes, clean up any mess and move on to the deck

**I think if the glass were to ever break, it would be from not having enough room to move in between the cabin house and the trim pieces. the glass fits so snug in the groove in the cabinhouse that if the wood were to swell much, it could out a lot of pressure on the glass. This is the way its been for decades with this boat and I know that the wood has expanded plenty over the years with out breaking the glass so it will probably be fine.

Green 68 Flyer...

There is a great looking Type III Flyer on the Yachtword website. Its a 68, all fiberglass and probably a really strong boat. Except for the color of the cabin house, the boat looks to be as original down to the Volvo MD1. Still has teak decks too. The seller's add has a lot of great pictures for me to use in the restoration of Jack a Roe**.


I notice that on this Flyer the Back stays are attached to the deck rather than to chainplate-like straps on the earlier ones.


Nice shot of the cabinet side. They made the opening for the plates etc larger too, probably to make it easier to get the stuff in and out of there. The shelves are deeper than I've seen on the 65-67s. you need to make the best use of every inch of space on boats this small. I like the way these cabinet tops fold out over the swinging arm extension. I have a couple of these arm and want to work them into the new design for the counter tops....we'll see.


Nice stove. Something I've thought about but probably not a design like this one and no time soon. The table is different, I wonder where they stow it when not in use.

See the add and lots of pictures here...
https://www.yachtworld.com/core/listing/boatFullDetails.jsp?boat_id=1746802&ybw=&units=Feet&currency=USD&access=Public&listing_id=1438&url=


** I dont post these pictures of other Flyers to sell or promote but to use only as a visual resource for my own and maybe other people's projects on building/rebuilding these boats. Because there isnt many left its always good to see what others have done. I seem to post these other Flyers when I dont have much of my own to post.

Too busy for the boat...

The boat is only 10 feet from the house and somehow I still haven't managed to work in there in almost two weeks. Well, I've been in there, but to just stare at it, admire the progress and to picture whats to come next...For example, I have to try and come up with a nice way of finishing the counter tops using the old teak decking and I'll also need to make a couple of small things in the dry locker, like shelves etc. Basically though, none of the projects left to do on the inside are that big of a deal and none of them need to happen anytime soon. What I really want to get done before the weather gets too cold is to put a new deck on, get the port lights back in (I ended up having them all remade now while their out instead of doing it later. Should be interesting when that bill come in [have I mention lately how great Maki is?] ) and to refinish the outside of the hull. All of these things will take the better part of a day and I just haven't had any great length of time to work on the boat except for a couple of hours here and there at night, in the dark. So while I'm out there once and while admiring what been accomplished so far, I'm not doing much of anything new these days.

What we have been doing is traveling and seeing friends and family...

Last weekend we went to NYC to see Maya's Uncle Dan , Aunt Priscilla and Cousin Lucas. They live right in Manhattan and there's never a shortage of things to do and see. The kids had a great time visiting the natural history museum, playing in the parks, shooting hoops at Dan's building, playing with the largest collection of trains owned by anyone under the age of 3, visiting Rockefeller center and going to the "Top of the Rock"Maya went to bed each night exhausted with a smile on her face and is still talking about what a great time she had.

Playing with the dinosaurs

Playing in Central park

Rockefeller Center

I'll get some more pictures from the NY weekend up in a little bit....

This weekend were not going anywhere but we do have some old friends coming in from out of town for a long over due visit. The good thing is that because they really know this area well, there no need to feel like we have to entertain/show them a good time. They'll just do what they want to do... sort of. Maki's going climbing up north and will get Brooke to go along too. I have to make up for lost time, so I'll enlist Brandon to get those port lights back in, finish the deck etc...

Maya's looking forward to seeing them She remembers Brooke (it took a while for her to warm up last time she was here but now their tight) and Maya only remembers Brandon as the guy who made her favorite pillow. (it's got boats on it...good job Brandon)

These are this weekend's visitors...

Brandon (in the middle) and us down in the islands. (Brooke took this picture)

Brooke, The one on the right, with her Mate, Paul. Kind of a crazy look in her eye.

We'll make sure to take plenty of new photos when their here.