The Fox and the Sailor

Since the new year is upon us, resolutions have come and I’m sure for some people resolutions have gone…but not in our household yet. My two main resolutions aren’t hard goals, but they are ones that require a lot of work. The first is everyone’s favorite…to lose weight. I no longer live the active lifestyle I once did and I haven’t been watching what I eat as well as I could. As of two weeks ago, that’s changed. I’m happy to report it seems to be working and I’ve lost 3lbs so far.

My other resolution was to get my boat home and start working on it. In the above photo it’s the one on the right, its a San Juan 21 foot sailboat that is rigged and weighted for racing. However that will change as Samantha doesn’t like it “tipping.” I have accomplished the first step of actually getting it in my back yard (and I LOVE having it sitting there, I look at it every day!) What follows is my plans for “Fox” read if you wish…

[tags]San Juan 21, SJ21, Sailing, Sailboat, Resolutions[/tags]

Fox was built by the Clark Boat Company in 1981, making it only a year younger than me, so it is not a new boat, she is decidedly well broken in and worn in some spots, however that is not to say she is disused. Boats this age tend to have gelcoat cracks and problem areas. I am fortunate to only have a few problem areas with “Fox” and none in troublesome spots. I have several areas of gelcoat that need to be renewed, but that is not a huge undertaking.

My plans thus far are:

Prerequisites:
1) Tools (need to purchase several still)
2) Erect temporary garage shelter (already purchased)
3) Supplies (will be buying these on a per-project basis)

To Do List:
1) Demast and derig the boat totally. Any external fixtures must be removed leaving me with a bare hull. After that is done I will be able to inspect the rigging and decide if it should be replaced as well as fill in all the holes through the balsa cored deck with epoxy. This will cure and form a watertight seal protecting the balsa from rot.

2) After accomplishing the epoxy filling, I plan on grinding back the gelcoat and renewing where it is needed, during this step I will also be replacing the old and leaking lexan ports with new ports (windows for you non sailors.) This will cure one problem area. The other is the front hatch, which requires a bit more work. I will have to grind out the hinges and the surrounding area down to bare fiberglass then fill it in with epoxy, balsa, and fiberglass. Once that is accomplished I can add a modern hatch which will not only be much more robust in terms of strength, but it will also leak much much less.

3) After all fiberglass work is complete the deck will be ground flush, erasing the non-skid pattern from it and paving way for painting. I plan on rolling and dry brushing the deck area white and the hull navy blue. This will be the largest project, the most labor and time intensive, but it will also be the most cosmetically pleasing project of the whole ordeal.

4) Upon completion of the exterior painting I plan on sprucing up the interior by grinding out old carpet glue that still exists in some places, painting the interior white, and adding some small accents as well as improvements that will make the boat a true “weekender.” These include cushions, a small table, a portajohn, and several modifications to the existing bunks and bilge space.

5) With the interior painted I will be able to drill back through the deck and remount all my hardware, winches, cleats, and the like. This will leave me with a sailable boat that looks quite nice. Naturally I will still have plenty of projects for the interior, but those can be done while enjoying the boat.

I will be making a separate section of this site dedicated solely to the boat so this will be the first and last post you see about it in the main section. (You can find that section here.) I am hoping to get the temporary garage erected this weekend and start in earnest with the first step. It’s cost is near nothing and I have just about everything needed to complete it.

Wish me luck!