Repair of my LS13

[Alan]

I bought a LS13 at the end of last summer. I thought it was fine but it then began to leak around the levers for the lee boards so I haven't been able to sail it. I brought it to a marina but they say they cannot get the replacement parts. It appears that all it needs is a proper fitting gasket. Has anyone had this problem and how have you fixed it? I have the boat on Keuka Lake (one if the Finger Lakes in upstate New York). Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[mikepaddle]

You have my total empathy as I had the identical problem with my LS-16. After an extensive search online and everywhere else I could think of, I decided to make my own parts. I removed the blige board handles/shafts and luckily, one gasket still had it's full original shape. I then went to a local plastics supplier and found a remnant of sheet plastic very similar to the original material. The old gasket was used as a template and I drew out numeous duplicates on the plastic sheet. Each piece was then cut out on my jigsaw and then I did the final finishing and smoothing out with my trusty little Dremel mini drum sanding attachment. The gaskets installed without a problem and I am now leak free.

The first set lasted for over forty years. With my extras, I am set for maybe another 120+ years!!!

I hope this helps with your dilema!

Mike

[Martin O'Connor]

Alan, consider yourself lucky if all you need are new gaskets. I bought a 1969 LS-13 a few years ago and had the same problem. A little investigation revealed one of the few weaknesses in the LoneStar 13/16 design... the fir plywood cores in the leeboard trunks were insufficiently isolated from water. I suspect this led to the demise of many otherwise solid Lonestars out there. When the plywood swells with moisture, the hastily layed-up fiberglass trunks may crack or partially separate from the rest of the hull and the screws in the aluminum mounting flanges for the pivot levers will strip out of the rotten wood cores. The best long-term repair is to remove some fiberglass and excavate all the rotten wood, replacing it with either a strong waterproof core material or well encased quality plywood. If the mounting screws are still threaded into solid, dry wood, all that is needed is to ream out the exposed wood around the hole for the pivot shaft and seal the new bore with epoxy. Then you can make your own pressure plates & gaskets out of 1/8" thick UHMW Polyethylene sheet and a properly sized O-rings. The polyethylene can be cut using a scroll saw or CNC. The O-Rings should be sandwiched between concentric rings of UHMW and a pressure plate of the same material, and can be adjusted to provide the correct amount of friction to hold the boards in any position.
I bought my UHMW though MSC at the following page http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNSRIT?PM ... O=26129159 to make replacements for the gaskets on my LS-13, but I also had to cut away the inner shell of the bilgeboard trunk around the core and replace the plywood. The core swelling and sloppy factory assembly required me to repair cracks around the base of the trunks with epoxy fillets as well.
It was well worth the effort, because my hull has been bone dry ever since, so long as I keep the lee rail above water when heeling and remember to install plugs before launching.
I have lots of detailed before and after photos, but right now I'm having too much fun sailing to properly upload, organize and caption them. Hopefully I will have a nice slideshow summary in the future, but until then, feel free to browse the images I've posted at http://homepage.mac.com/martinoconnor/PhotoAlbum5.html and
http://homepage.mac.com/martinoconnor/PhotoAlbum13.html
If you have further questions, you can post them here or email me using the button at the bottom of each album.
Hope this helps.