Another Newbie in Deep water!

[Bhacurly]

Hello,
Just wanted to introduce myself and commend the site administrator. I've been doing lots of research lately and this is the nicest site I have visited for interactive info regarding my recently accquired C22. My "links" list is getting bigger and bigger.

I live in Spokane WA, and used to sail a lot in a 16ft sloop "Peregrine" made in Nova Scotia. Nice lil boat. The C22 met my needs for a trailer sailor we could spend some mutli day trips on. I have 3 large lakes near by and look forward to getting wet all next year.

The boat is a '79 I believe, and is in , well, pretty good shape. After getting it in outta the recent heavy rains, I opened up every lil cubby hole to let it dry and air out. I was surprised at how much water was inside the cabin area.

I'm gonna be doing a lot of work all winter on it, and have never done a project like this before. Fiberglass work will be a new experiance for me. To date I've only worked fiberglass tape in drywall...

I have blisters, cracks and a broken hinge area. The keel and most hardware is coming off. But, if I had the weather and hadn't started, I would have been sailing in it already. I'm glad though, it will be much nicer knowing everything is up to snuff and give me a chance to know my boat inside and out when we launch next Spring. After seeing some of the hardware and how flimsy it has become, I may have been asking for trouble had I been out in any wind at all. Patience...

In short I'll be reading much, and asking questions. Today I took 112 digital picts to document the start of my newest project.

Again, a very nice site here, and thanks now for the info I've already obtained.

Billy

[cjreardon]

Billy:

I played with fiberglass before I worked oh the boats. I have a C-22 and a deep V motorboat which I have worked on the glass of both. Get a basic automotive body book at your local auto parts store. The material I use I get at NAPA, mostly for good selection. Briefly, there is two types of glass resin with fabric and chopped putties. Choose them based on the type of repair and the strength you need. I used the matt fabric in three layers to repair my cracked mast step, long strand fiber to biuld up the mast support on the transom, jelly for spider cracks etc.

The resin is mixed and worked into the fiber, of which ther is two types, cloth and matt. cut the fabric, mark points where it goes with a sharpie marker (on matt and boat because when it's wet you can't see diddly) Place the fabric upside down on wax paper, work in mixed resin and handling the wax paper, place on the sanded marked area to be repaired, after the glass starts to harden with the consistency of hard rubber, peel the wax paper off. "TIP Work the fabric and resin smooth with your hands or a speader through the wax paper. This will get out most of the air bubbles make a better bond and smooth the surface which will cut down on sanding." The putties are applied as a finish or a filler of a hole. The fiberglass putties come in three types at NAPA long strand, short strand and the wonderful but not always in stock jelly. The jelly is great for small cracks and a finish layer on the other materials. I like Dupicolor 1689 white primer and Diplicor T200 pure white is about the best match I have found for old fiberglass. I hope this helps.

Carl