Refurbishing a Classic

The Need to Sail

I learned to sail on the Long Island Sound when I was a kid.  I had many great days on my little 420.  Many years passed after I moved to the Hudson Valley before I got a sailboat  again.  Crossing the Kingston-Rhinecliff bridge, I could see sailboats and windsurfers on the river below.  Its not the Long Island Sound, but hey...they're out there!  I knew I had to get sailing back in my life.


Action Adventure

I love action adventure.  When I was ready to get another boat, I had to make a choice.  I don't want to be lounging on my boat.  I want to be physically involved with a high adrenaline factor.  The 420 was a fun boat to sail but not comfortable when there was a lull in the wind.  Larger mono hulls looked boring to me.  I got a Nacra 5.8.  A 19ft catamaran with dual trapeze.  Wow...what a fast and fun ride!

Making the Step Up

I went to my high school reunion and got an invite to sail on my friends 30ft Hinkley.  I hadn't had much opportunity to sail on larger boats.  I thought it would be a great way to spend the afternoon.  Patti's boat was built in the sixties, but was beautifully restored and looked new.  We sailed on the sound that summer day, then again in October.  When the boat healed, I got the rush.  Not bad for a mono hull, and with comforts.  The bug was planted. Thanks Patti and David!

I started eying auctions on ebay and postings on craigslist.  I was in no hurry.  My Nacra cost me next to nothing to maintain and sail. Not having deep pockets, I had to get into something on the cheap.   I looked at a few boats with small price tags and was amazed at the poor condition of them.  I read discussion forums for advice on buying an older sailboat.  It became obvious that most of the cheaper boats would cost more to repair than they'd ever be worth.  I didn't want to spend my sailing time working on a boat, I want to sail!


The C&C Redwing

In late spring of 2011, I saw a craiglist ad for a C&C Redwing.  I did my research.  The Redwing reviews indicated while not the fastest boat by today's standards, it's a respectable boat with fin keel and spade rudder that's solidly built.  I drove down to the marina in New Hamburg where it was docked.  The boat looked pretty good in comparison to the others I'd seen.  The interior looked decent and well arranged.  The Atomic4 engine started and ran.  I could actually sail this boat as is.  I made a cash offer and bought the boat.

Back home I began preparing for my new acquisition.  The boat had the name "O'Canada" on the transom.  I did a quick search on the computer and found it!  It turns out the boat had recently been sailed to the Caribbean by two MIT students.  They lived on the boat for eight months!  One of them, James Meridith, had a blog of the trip with photos and videos (blog has since been removed).  Very cool seeing my new boat in clear blue water with dolphins swimming along side.

I sent James an email and found out a little more about the boat.  James replied with the following:

Hi Mark,

Good to hear the boat's on the move again. Another guy, Sean Davis, and I bought the boat in late Sept '09. We only owned it for the trip you read about; selling it again in Aug 2010. That was the only adventure we took it on but it was a long one. As it stands, the blog is incomplete. We ended up getting all the way to the BVI's, then turning around and sailing it back up the coast. The whole thing took 8 months and covered around 6000nm. We bought it from a guy named Gregory Lawrence. He's a lawyer from Marblehead who bought it as a project boat but didn't go through with it once his wife saw it. We got it at a steal. Apparently, he got it from a learn-to-sail program for underprivileged children. I think they had it donated to them. Hard to believe it was tossed around so much given its proven seaworthiness.

Anyway, beyond that I have no idea. Nothing but the sail number to go off of for that I'd think.

The keel never took any serious hits although we did run her aground a couple of times. Inevitable in a long trip, I'd think. Always in sand or mud. It felt awful but I never heard a crunch. The keelbolts were brand new when we got her so they should still be in pretty good shape.

The spare tiller was only used for the rest of that run to palm beach. We got the tiller that's on there now sent down from a friend. The original is either on the boat under the port side bench or someone threw it out. It was in rough shape. It looked like this (http://www.cncphotoalbum.com/reviews/redwing30revp034.jpg) only the laminated layers had completely come apart and it cracked in half.

While we owned it, we:
-sanded down the bottom and applied 2 coats of epoxy bottom sealant. 2 coats of hard bottom paint and 2 coats of ablative
-resurfaced the cowlings
-resurfaces all the exterior wood (twice)
-remade the main hatch cover
-resealed all the windows and the front hatch and the port side gunwhale (moderate success on the last)
-repainted interior
-added the gps and ssb
-replaced the electronic macerator with a hand pump (much more reliable!!)
-plus a ton of other stuff

Anyway, the big thing to look out for is the starboard side bullhead that the main hatch goes through, there is delamination of the fiberglass from the wood core (sandwich construction) and it was starting to act up.

She's a great boat and I hope you get a few more adventures out of her. I'd love to hear where the boat ends up.

Fair winds

James

So the boat was sailed in Massachusetts and had been donated to a sailing program for underprivileged kids.  It was  purchased as a project boat by a lawyer who never took to the project.  A couple MIT students bought it on the cheap and sailed it from Massachusetts to the British Virgin Islands for an eight month voyage.  It was then sold to the fellow I bought it from.  He sailed it from Massachusetts up the Hudson River toward Albany and apparently had engine trouble making it as far as New Hamburg, where he stored it for the winter.  He sold it to me early the following season.

I registered the boat and found a 300lb mushroom anchor and mooring ball on craigslist.  The following weekend the seller helped me rig the boat,  I filled the gas tank, and my friend and I  motored north to Kingston.  I set my mooring in the cove just below the Kingston Lighthouse. 

 
I guess I'm lucky I made it!


Getting to Know the Boat

I discovered the hull # after reaching out to another Redwing owner, Andy Hooker, who owns Battlestar Pegasus.  Andy told me I could find the hull # by looking at the underside of the companionway stairs.  Found it!

"O Canada" was the name on the transom, and though I do like Canada, I decided to remove the old name.  Under the old name I could see the original name.."Carrot Top".

I sailed the Redwing all season.  The rudder-stock was loose and sloppy.  The sails were worn.  When the boat healed, water came inside the cabin along the toe-rail.  The engine was temperamental and often overheated.  The cockpit sole was soft and rotten near the companionway. There were numerous soft spots on the deck.  I still had a great time with it.

We took the boat out during the tail end of Hurricane Irene with up to 60mph gusts on the flood stage river.  That's when I found out what the boat would do in a big wind, how far she will heal, and what happens.  We healed so far we took water over the coaming, into the cockpit,  and down the companionway.  I reefed and found the boat controllable again.  Now that's the kind of action adventure I'm talking about!


Preparing for Refurbishment

The boat was fun to sail as-is, but I know what happens to these boats when they're not properly maintained.  I saw enough neglected boats while I was looking to buy.  The decks are made of balsa wood sandwiched between fiberglass. Once water starts getting in, they gradually turn to mush.  At the other extreme I have this image of Patti's beautifully restored Hinckley.  I wanted to bring the Redwing back to her glory.

I did my research.  I bought books.  I wanted to do it right and not have to do it again.  For a proper job, all the deck fittings and bright work had to be completely removed, soft spots repaired, deck to hull joint sealed, deck and topsides coated with epoxy primer and finish painted, then re-installion and re-bedding of all the fittings and bright work. 

I've suffered enough trying to work on a car or truck outside during the winter.  This is a big job and I need some control over my work environment.  I purchased a new 36'L x 14'W x 15'H portable garage for almost as much as the old boat cost.  The marina I found for winter storage had no problem with me setting up my garage near a power supply.  Thanks Vince at Hideaway Marina!

The boat was out of the water and under shelter by early November.  A mild winter provided me with ample good work days.


Down to Bare

It all came off!  Boat parts everywhere except on the boat!

Deck to Hull Joint

The deck to hull joint leaked.  James Meridith made reference to the wetness in his blog during their eight month trip.  It must have been pretty uncomfortable.  I saw the water slosh around the cabin floor when the boat healed.  When I wasn't using the boat I had to keep the cabin cushions away for the hull to keep them dry (less wet).  I want a dry boat inside.

The deck to hull joint failure is a common problem on a boat this age.  Past attempts to prevent the leakage with globs of silicone along the toe-rail were apparent but ineffective.   With removal of the toe-rails and any remaining bolts underneath I was able to remove the rub-rail gasket and butyl sealant that was sandwiched between the deck and hull.

It wasn't easy getting all the butyl sealant out.  Once I had the joint cleaned, I opted for a permanent fix....epoxy and fiberglass.

I should have taped below the joint so the epoxy wouldn't make such a mess on the topsides.  That cost me days of hard labor.


Deck Core Repair

With the boat stripped down, I inspected and marked the decks for soft spots.  There were plenty..the cockpit sole by the companionway, the stern, the bow and by the chain plates. Then out came the small circular saw set just deep enough to cut through the top layer of fiberglass.  I cut open the deck and removed the fiberglass skin.   Then I removed all the rotten waterlogged core and left it open for roughly 3 months.  It was a mild winter.  Each day the sun warmed up the shelter and the remaining core dried.  Sorry...lost those pictures!


Free Boat Parts

Earlier in the season I acquired a Columbia 30 for free.  It was a boat I looked at before I bought the Redwing.  I guess no-one else wanted it either.  When I saw it re-listed on craigslist for free, I took a chance.   I took title and paid one month dry storage at the marina where it was located and began stripping.  I pulled the sails, the running rigging, Harken blocks, roller furler and the Atomic 4 engine.  After I stripped the boat clean, I junked it.  The kids did a great job helping me with the roller furler. I know have a large selection of used sailboat parts.

The Atomic 4 Engine

One of the things that drew me to this boat was the Atomic 4 engine started right up.  It turns out the previous owner had engine problems and used an outboard to get the boat to New Hamburg, apparently having trouble as the prop lifted out of the choppy water.  He cleaned the Atomic 4 water jacket enough before selling to allow that impressive startup.  As I used the boat over the season, the engine became plagued with overheating problems and became unreliable.  I barely got the boat to the marina at the end of the season.

I pulled the engine from the boat.

I brought it home to my garage and set it next to the other Atomic 4 from the Columbia.  Now to choose which engine to put back in the Redwing.  The Columbia's Atomic 4 looked much better, but looks can be deceiving.  I did a compression test on both engines.  Compression on the Columbia engine was near perfect.  The Redwing engine had weak compression that varied on all cylinders.  The Columbia engine looked good and compression was good. But what if it wasn't properly winterized and the water jacket was cracked.  I performed a pressure test on the block for leaks in the water jacket.  It held pressure.  No leaks.  My engine choice was made.

There was one problem with using the Columbia's Atomic 4.  It had a v-drive and the Redwing engine didn't.  I had to pull the transmission with v-drive off the Columbia engine and installed the transmission from my old Redwing engine.  I replace all the engine gaskets except the cylinder head gasket (compression was good so why mess with the cylinder head gasket).  Then I primed and painted my new engine.  What a beautiful thing!

The Columbia engine had newer motor mounts.  The Redwing engine mounts were just flat plates which were significantly corroded.  I wanted the newer engine mounts but that required modifying the engine stringers for the engine to have the same alignment as the old engine.

Molded Non-skid

The C&C Redwing has non-skid that's molded into the gelcoat.   The books I've read describe a method of painting the deck in sections by taping around the non-skid and and repainting the smooth sections, then taping over the smooth and repainting the non-skid.  That sounded reasonable, until I spoke with a local craftsman, David Sior who runs a nearby boat restoration business called Constructive Hands.  David shook his head and said remove all the molded non-skid, prime and paint the entire deck, then tape out the non-skid and apply extra non-skid paint layers for the non-skid areas.  That turned out to be great advise.  After grinding and sanding all the non-skid down to fiberglass, it was obvious I would never have properly prepare the molded non-skid which was a diamond pattern of cracks in the gelcoat.

Notice the patched areas where the core was replaced.


The Paint Finish

After all this labor why cheap out on the paint.  I paid the premium and bought the Awlgrip. 

I sanded and faired...and sanded and faired....and sanded...and sanded...and sanded.....

Then came the epoxy primer with more sanding between coats.

I was racing against time.  Boats were being launched while mine was still in pieces.  I was setting up for the first finish coat when I smelled something burning.  While taking progress photos I discovered a heat lamp had dropped face down onto the deck.....

I was luck it happened while I was there and not overnight.  I taped the damaged area off and painted the boat with the roll and tip method.

 Next came the non-skid....

Brightwork

Over the winter while the core was drying, I took all the teak brightwork home to my garage. I stripped and sanded all of it.  There are various opinions on the best way to treat the brightwork.  I really like the look of finished teak.  Despite some of the arguments against, I felt with all the teak removed, I was in a good position to utilize epoxy.  I opted for fully encapsulating the wood with epoxy, then applying numerous coats of varnish over. I had quality time with my kids when I put them to work varnishing.  The brightwork was ready and waiting by the time I painted the boat.

Misc. Repairs

In addition to the work mentioned above, I also:

Tighten keel bolts.
Repaired keel smile.
Repaired gouge in hull.
Filled bolt holes for outboard mounting bracket.
Replaced rudderstock bushings.
Drilled out all fitting holes and filled with epoxy.
Refinished the window frames and installed new plexiglass.
Replaced the cutless bearing.
Refurbished and repacked the stuffing box.
Painted new bottom paint.
Painted storage lockers (ok...my kids did this).
Rewired everything.
Replaced rub-rail with rope rub-rail.
Re-bed everything.

Back in the Water!

I pulled the boat out of the water at the beginning of November and launched by mid June.  The season started early do to a mild winter.  I watched the marina empty as all the boats around me began launching in April.  I was in serious work mode.  I worked almost every night and every weekend from April until I launched.  It's hard to get perfection when your in a hurry.  I wanted my boat to be as nice as Patti's Hinckley, but I also wanted to be sailing.  I didn't get perfection, but I got a decent sailing vessel that has a new life.

I know my boat inside and out now.  I have comfort in knowing the condition of everything.  Now it's time to sail!