DaySailer.org Forum

After meeting with a bunch of talented sailors this weekend (not all Daysailers but almost all have had one in their lives) and after reviewing this old project boat, which Inow see has been drug around this forum before - it seems that all is not doom and gloom for this old boat. Since the boat was basically just a few bucks - any monies under $1500 will be well spent.

I think the tore up forestay and foredeck are the only large obstacles. And I have a plan for that that involves wood deck (see photoshopped ideas) , or since I have a cousin in Waco with a giant computer aided cutting machine, perhaps I will mill out some fiberglass or composite sheets and just laminate the the deck. (one piece on the top and one on the bottom (cuddy ceiling)

Attaching the forestay thing to me is no big trick - the darn thing was just screwed to the deck anyway - I plan on getting a wood block or aluminum frame beneath bow and attach to the same bolts as the bow eye

Anyway, check out my visual for the wood deck - met a guy this weekend who actually replaced a jacked up foredeck with wood, I'll attach that example also

Once boat is sailable I'll donate to the Sea Scouts! I just can't stand by and watch it die.

Boat is now in Waco TX and I'll be taking it back and forth between there and Dallas. Rebuilding the trailer too!

The other Daysailer I just bought is ready to go now that I'm done some bottom work so I can spend some time on the 'Ol Blue. I tried to sell the thing for $200 and no one was brave enough to take her on Challenge accepted. The Sea Scouts will love it

https://www.flickr.com/photos/124201309@N04/14196676398/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/124201309@N04/14379940981/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/124201309@N04/14360353826/

Save the Spindrift Photo Album
https://www.flickr.com/photos/124201309 ... 680468118/


Sail On!

Bill
{fixed it for you, changed the "img" tags to "url" ~GL}

Bill,

I would not suggest that approach. It's a ton of effort and results in something that will need a lot of maintenance.

Using a fiberglass repair would be more practical.

I assume that you may have problems actually reaching the repair area from underneath?

Why not cut a generous access hole out of the deck? There are two strategies. One would be to cut a round hole so you can put a deck plate in, the other one would be to cut a "random" sized hole, save the piece you cut out, and fiberglass it back in as final step of your repair. Given the shape of the gelcoat as it appears in the pictures, I wouldn't necessarily opt for restoring the gelcoat, but instead plan on painting the deck - or at least the foredeck.

Given that you now have access to the repair location, I would clean the "tip" of frayed laminate and glue it back to the hull with epoxy. (Add an L bracket to connect bow eye to stem fitting). After that, reinforce the joint with a layer or two of fiberglass and epoxy. Once that's done, the tip (with L bracket) will hold the forestay loads, the rest of the deck just needs to be strong enough to let people walk on it. For that, it might need some added support.

For added support, I would laminate a "backing plate" to go underneath the repair. Something that you can insert through the hole and then glue in place. To hold it in place, drill some holes and thread lines or wires that you can pull tight from the top. Might need to make the plate in two narrower sections so that they fit through the hole.

You can even use half a paper towel tube (glassed over) to give your backing plate a "rib" for extra strength.

When that is in place, and spans the hole, connecting the remaining deck to the "tip" you can glue your cutout back in place. If you've first beveled all the edges, the final step would be to fill those bevels with fiberglass to get a single surface. Grind, fill, fair and paint.

Sounds involved when written down like this, but isn't actually all that complicated. It's a variant of the repair I described here.

It certainly would require less work than a fancy wooden deck. I like working with wood, but in your position I'd most likely pursue an alternative along the lines I wrote down here. If the wooden boat bug bites you really hard, you might find that building an actual complete boat is more satisfying. Or, alternatively, restoring such a boat.

Good advice, I was looking at the L bracket idea too - I know some folks who work in Stainless steel - or I could find one of a junk boat and modify it -

I'll continue to put ideas to paper and weigh time, money. effort vs. relative awesomeness

Warmest Regards,

Bill

Racelite makes a stem fitting that ties to the hull for more support. I'm sure others od as well.

http://www.racelitehardware.com/rl387stfi.html

I agree with Greenlake about the repair. Also I like your idea of a custom L bracket, I would suggest one extended in both directions about 12" to strengthen the entire bow section. Yes I do tend to overdo it sometimes. I can also feel your pain about not letting a boat die. I was just given 'Tiny Dancer' to restore.

Baysailer wrote:Racelite makes a stem fitting that ties to the hull for more support. I'm sure others od as well.

http://www.racelitehardware.com/rl387stfi.html

The point with that fixture is to be able to attach it to the hull from the outside. If one has access from the inside, creating a separate bracket that is bolted on the inside and bolted to the standard stem fitting is just as good. At that point it becomes a matter of taste, really. @Swashbuckley's idea of extending an interior bracket has some merit, particularly because in this case, the deck fractured fairly far forward. A longer bracket could serve to strengthen the necessary repair.

At the same time, no need to overdo it, and at some point, a good fiberglass backing plate would add more strength and distribute it better, as far as fixing the deck is concerned. Just something that is best evaluated on site with all the options in mind.

Oh I can have access - with that top piece peeled back I can get all the way down to the bow eye bolts - below deck way up front is a sort of a triangular chamber, and what I would want to do is measure, fit, and install any device I come up with using that access space, then make sure whatever it is can be flush with the top when I glue it back down so it supports the forestay from below. I would gurantee once done it will be stronger than any other spindrift

With just this one fix for the forestay, and all the asthetic stuff and optional interior repairs aside, this boat will rig up and sail!

Found lots of great ideas on the web, this seems to not be a rare event on sailboats

Here a few visual ideas

This one is a piece that would attach to bow externally, and the forestay would also be braced from below deck. The front piece would have to be long enough to go all the way down to the bow eye.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/124201309@N04/14396711872/in/set-72157644680468118

This one is based off a wooden boat style - not really wanting this one but it was an alternative idea
https://www.flickr.com/photos/124201309@N04/14211485030/in/set-72157644680468118/

This more like what I had visualized - or close to it - using the bow eye connection to really keep that forestay secure
https://www.flickr.com/photos/124201309@N04/14394714881/in/set-72157644680468118/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/124201309@N04/14394714461/in/set-72157644680468118/

I can't find the top view pic, but I think it was very heavy duty, sort of a large triangle with an added bow piece - excpet I would be tying it to the bow eye
https://www.flickr.com/photos/124201309@N04/14374952646/in/set-72157644680468118/

This piece is a bit overkill, but the idea is the same, bow adds strength
https://www.flickr.com/photos/124201309@N04/14211452188/in/set-72157644680468118/

My idea that someone else thought of too
https://www.flickr.com/photos/124201309@N04/14394711051/in/set-72157644680468118/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/124201309@N04/14394711051/in/set-72157644680468118/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/124201309@N04/14394709621/in/set-72157644680468118/


Your brother in water,

Bill

Bill, you have here an embarrassment of riches. About any of these solutions would solve your problem and improve the boat. About the only thing I haven't seen is a solution that doesn't use SS but galvanized, or non-metallic.

So, let's discuss those options. With the fitting out of the weather and with the ability to oversize it a bit, the way I see it, there's no reason to require SS. If you encapsulate, you might even get away with mild steel (my '63 DS 1 does have rebar encapsulated in the edge of the cuddy opening and that worked for 50+ years).

With any reasonably sized backing plate you should also be able to go directly into fiberglass. If you added about 1/4" under the backing plate and then tabbed that into the two sides of the bow, while making sure that there are gradual transitions and no hard edges, it would seem to me that you could successfully transmit the loads in question without having to add a metal piece. The geometry in some ways is favorable for that, because you could build up a reinforcement that is more three dimensional than a simple L. (The downside is that you'd have to work with the "tip" in its final position, so you'd need an access hole).

Finally, you could fit a block of hardwood, glued to the sides and also tabbed in by glass. Again, if it's dry and well encapsulated (in epoxy) there should be no issue about it rotting (you would have to make sure to seal any bolt holes). This would give you the same 3D support and you could possibly install it before gluing the "tip" on top of it, therefore not requiring an additional access hole).

I think it comes down to cost and your preferred material to work with - those are questions that we can't really help you with.