Sabre 28: Sailing!

We have been working on old boat issues and sailing when we can.
Here are some of the items we have addressed recently:
But first some Sailing!

1.  Removed a diesel/electric water heater.  It was taking up too much room and interfering with the engine circulation.
2.  Installed a big Rule automatic bilge pump.
3.  Removed the shore electric and a variety of abandoned circuits.
4.  Installed a battery cover for the 2 deep cycle batteries.
5.  Replaced the deck flood light and mast light with LED bulbs.
6.  Did the required glass work and reinstalled new/used stanchions to replace the 2 that were damaged in Florence.  We also rewired all 4 lifelines.

Hurricane Florence

Florence produced the highest surge recorded in Oriental.
There was 9'6" of surge that crested about 1am early Friday morning the 14th of September 2018.
Wind speeds in town were in the 70 to 80 mph range.
There was significant damage caused by tree fall and water and wave action.
We stayed despite evacuation orders.  I over-built our house and elevated it on masonry piers expecting this type of challenge.  I didn't expect it to happen so soon after we moved in. (Less the a year)
Our "new" Sabre 28 was prepped for the storm by removing sails and most of it's interior contents.
We removed the boat from our slip and anchored way back in Greens Creek.

Our Sabre held on.  We were happy to find it afloat.

Our set up dragged a bit but ultimately held.  Our boat received some stanchion damage from a boat that drifted.

We used 2 anchors on 1 rode. The primary is a 35 pound CQR and the additional is a midsize danforth on 6 feet of chain.

We counted 14 boats in the anchorage before the hurricane.
After it was over 6 of them were in the marsh and woods on the south bank of Greens Creek.
Here some photos...

Sabre 28: Mast inspection

My eldest son was willing to take a ride up the mast in a bosun's chair to inspect the mast.
The standing rigging is in adequate condition at present.  All the bulbs are burnt out. There are three lights on the mast: deck flood, steaming light and masthead.  He was able to open the fixtures and retrieve the bulbs.  We will find the LED replacements and have another trip up the mast.

Sabre 28: deck

Other than the chainplate penetrations, the deck is in good shape.
I replaced the solar fan with a new and larger unit.  We have been sanding the teak and varnishing our way around the deck.

Sabre 28: Standing rigging

Another water intrusion issue with the Sabre was the leaking chainplates.
It has been years since the deck penetrations were serviced and the bedding compound had dried out and shrank.  This allowed water to get to the top of the bulkhead and it started the rot process.
The straps each have 5 bolts through the bulkhead spread out over 12 inches.  The top 2 bolt holes were compromised on both port and starboard.

Here is the chainplate after the repair.

To address this I cut and fitted marine ply sections and epoxied them over the good wood after cutting out the rot and filling the void with thickened epoxy.  It has the added plus of fitting up tight to the heavy molded fiberglass deck house beam.  After the repairs are varnished, the bolts will be reinstalled.
Here are photos of the strengthened bulkheads and the cleaned up and refitted chainplates.
If there is a rigging failure someday, I don't think it will be here.

Sabre 28 Projects: Chain Locker

The chain locker on the Sabre has a drain.  It is a small hole right through the stem about a foot above the waterline.  The hole is about 3/8ths of and inch and was clogged for several years apparently.  Rain water filled the locker and eventually rotted the bulkhead.  It was holding water when I got it.  The first project was to cut out the bulkhead and replace it with marine ply.
Because the deck is inplace, the bulkhead had to be installed with a seam.  This was backed up with an overlapping butt joint and the locker side was glassed with layers of glass cloth set in epoxy.
The drain hole is clear and one of the regular maintenance items will be to check it.  Washing down the rode will be a priority.

The locker after repair and paint.

The bulkhead. The treated pine 5 quarter  thick strips are epoxied in and will provide a surface to fasten finish oak lapping to match the existing woodwork.

Sabre 28!

Oriental, NC  the land of milk, honey and boats.
A nice neighbor lady gave us sweet deal on a 1978 Sabre 28 Mark ll.
I thought it would be a couple of years before we managed to acquire a nice cruiser, but low and behold this beauty:

She was nearby all along!

McKee Craft Update: thar she blows

Last week we got some items we had ordered; steering helm, a destroyer wheel and new throttle and shift linkage cables.
It was so fun, I forgot to get photos of the installation.
The SeaStar helm was super easy to install and very well built.  It cost $139.  Total deal.
Our arrangement needed only a 9 foot cable.
The old Evinrude cables were shot.  It is awesome how you can order these parts for a 40 year old motor and get everything working like it is new again.
The Evinrude control box just needed a little cleaning and marine grease and It is all back together.
Today we launched the boat and gave it a shakedown cruise.  My son is trying out the navigation lights in the dark now.

Fun on the water!

Helm with a John Deere ignition switch, nav lights and bilge pump switches.

An orderly stern.

Bilge pump with float switch.

The helm with simple accommodations.
(Treated Southern Yellow Pine 2x12)

Merriman Bros. winch

I picked up a beautiful deck winch at Oriental's Marine Consignment store.
It is a 1920's era Merriman Number 2 made in Boston.  It has smooth action and nice crisp clicks.
Alas, it is not headed for a sailboat.  I needed a finial for a newel post on our staircase.
You will be able to spin it as you round the landing.
We will hand polish it with use.

McKee Craft 14: Hatch lid replacement

The original lid, underside view.

The hatch lid that came with the boat is intact.  It was not attached.  It is in great shape but is exceedingly heavy.  The ply core is visible in one corner and doesn't appear to be waterlogged, but it must be.  It feels like it has a lead core.  We will stow it away under the house and deal with it later.  To build it's replacement, we went with a veneered marine ply, some bits of mahogany for the weather lip and a skin of 8oz glass set in West system epoxy.

Here are photos of the steps with captions.

The underside of the new lid prior to epoxy and varnish.

Corner lip detail on the underside of the new lid.  We traced the shape from the original lid.  After the glue set, the jig saw was used to trim the corner to follow the shape of the lid.

Gluing up the lip.

Adding a glass skin

The new hatch lid awaiting hinges and varnish.  See the new sole in foreground awaiting a top coat.

McKee Craft 14 gets a new sole

Chances are, this boat will get some heavy use and possible abuse at the hands of my 14 year old son and his friends. Therefore, the three objectives for our sole repair are:
Nice and stiff
Not too heavy
Not too exotic / expensive
This eliminates the possibility of a foam core structure for cost and abuse reasons.
Things quickly got narrowed down to a thinnish wood ply encapsulated in glass set in epoxy.
The Goldie Locks solution is 3/8 Fir ply.
Quarter inch is too flimsy and anything over 3/8 ths starts to get heavy.
We fitted the sole which is just shy of 4x8 feet.  So the ply dimensions are perfect.
Just a little trimming was needed.
After the sole was cut to fit, we drilled in holes that will allow us to add pour foam at a later date.  The foam will support the sole, add the missing flotation and stiffen everything up.
Next we added three cross braces to the underside of the sole in areas of most likely traffic.   The hull will eventually get one and possible two cross wise bench seats so bracing was placed elsewhere.
We fastened the treated 1 x 2.5 inch treated braces with Titebond 3 and stainless steel screws.

The original design included a recessed channel to allow the well at the bow to drain to the stern.  We plugged the well drain and abandoned the channel idea as un-needed.  We will be using the well for extras PFDS and line.  We will sponge it out when needed.

Here is the fitted sole. Next up is glassing the underside then reinstallation with tabbing all the way around.
The well area in the foreground will become a recessed sump for a bilge pump.

Here is the underside of the sole.   Today we glassed it.  The cross braces are visible.

McKee Craft: Project boat

We picked up a 1972 McKee Craft 14.
The previous owner discovered water infiltration into the foam floatation.
The boat probably weighed an extra 300 pounds.
Apparently there where breaches in the sole.  He cut out the floor and removed the waterlogged foam.  The boat then sat in his garage for 2 years.  Just recently he decided to let it go.
It is now super dry and with the dirty work done, we are looking at a fun project that won't take too long.
The McKee craft is a nice shaped boat that looks to be a derivative of the Boston Whaler.
It is slightly larger in all dimensions than the 13 foot whaler.
From what we can observe of this hull, it has sound gelcoat and a good thick layup of glass.  This is why it still has a fair shape after 46 years.
For other posts about this boat, follow these links:
https://seastatemarine.blogspot.com/2018/02/mckee-craft-14-gets-new-sole.html

https://seastatemarine.blogspot.com/2018/04/mckee-craft-update-thar-she-blows.html

https://seastatemarine.blogspot.com/2018/03/mckee-craft-14-hatch-lid-replacement.html

Catamaran: the connection

Here are photos of the big lift.
A temporary scaffold was built to support the connecting structure above it's final position.  In future sessions, this will be precisely lowered into place and faired to the hulls.
The excavator made quick work of it.

Catamaran: Some assembly required

Captn Mark is ready to start placing the connecting structures on his gargantuan boat building project.
I was happy to lend a hand.
We used a rotating laser and a steel tape to check for level and proper geometry of the hulls.
He had placed the hulls close to their final positions previously.  Today we were just moving the hulls the final few centimeters in several dimensions.

The connecting structure will be lifted by machine tomorrow.  I will try to get photos.
The boat is a Kurt Hughes design.