New Guy questions :)

8dust

New Member
Ahoy,

Super glad to find the forum! I'm the very proud new owner of an '87 Capri 14.2 Mod 1.

Couple of new-guy questions. This is my first boat with any woodwork. For the teak spray deflector & hatch guard, what is the best treatment for this wood? Mine looks to actually have been PAINTED at some point, but luckily 95% has now flaked off. Would it be better to use spar varnish or some type of oil finish? Left to my own devices, I lean toward the penetrating oils, but want to do what would be best here. I live on a lake in the Nashville area and this will be subject to fresh, albeit green, water only, and fairly moderate temperature swings.

Second question, sail battens... My center 30" batten is missing. Went to West Marine to replace and saw that they had a lot of "tapered" (in thickness) battens which I had not seen before... Does the thin end go toward the belly of the sail? Any reason to use/not use these? The replacement batten pack on Catalina Direct shows 5/8" uniform thickness battens... It also looks like the pockets on my sail could hold 1" wide ones, or at least 3/4", is it better to use ones that would be more snug than the 5/8" ?

As you can probably tell, I don't have a great deal of formal sailing education. Been loving it on/off for more than 30 years, but pretty much with all seat-of-the-pants training. That's probably one of the things that appeals to me so much about sailing, really, is that it is at its root, such a simple and ancient endeavor.

Anyway, delighted to be aboard, and thanks in advance for your advice!!!

Fred

OHL.jpg
 
fhhuber is correct. But since it is painted and peeling off, consider sanding all the paint off and then treat it with a marine teak oil, once a year. On my boat I sanded it all down and applied 15 coats of Zspar Captians varnish, it has a mirror finish and looks outstanding, but my boat is always covered, if the teak is varnished and not covered when not in use, it will peel quickly. Good luck
 
Also, consider installing a Hobie Baby Bob masthead float. Without it the boat will turtle and be nearly impossible to right when you flip it, because the masthead will be stuck in the mud. I have flipped my boat on purpose twice, once without the mast head float and in less than a minute the boat was upside down. I was lucky because I was at the launch ramp and had lots of help turning it back over. The second time I had the masthead float installed and it kept the boat from going upside down. Also, without a boarding ladder installed on the stern, it is nearly impossible to get back aboard when you do right the boat. By the way, I am 69 years old and I raise the mast by myself and sail alone all the time. This boat is a great boat for one or two people.
 
Holy smokes... they should call ya Greg 15 Coats... Sounds pretty. My boat will be living outside, but has a cover. Even though I'm the king of differed maintenance, I think I may give it a rub of oil as it looks really really bone dry.

I'm 49 with a teenager and he & I consider it a personal challenge to survive joint projects. Mast & sail raising have been... well, we got the job done and nobody abandoned ship or mutinied...

The boat came with a ton of fantastic extras in addition to the cover like a trolling motor, marine battery, boarding ladder, boom kicker, and these yellow inflatable fabric sausages you raise in with the main sail. Low visual impact, mostly out of the airflow, and have to be at least 20lbs of lift if you tip.

It does, however, have the world's most crappy painted OSB hatch cover which is next on my list to replace. I have been looking for just the perfect piece of scrap and was within a 1/2" of an ideal piece of PVC sign board, but then saw where somebody in another thread suggested a cutting board... BRILLIANT! It's a little heavier than would be perfect, but since it's covering that 30ish Lb. battery, whose going to notice.
 
Hey Ho,

Any thoughts out there on my batten question above in OP?

Thanks, Fred
It makes sense that the skinny end goes into the pocket first (streamline the sail shape).
You would need to consult the class rules to see if tapered battens are class legal. Perhaps you don't care...
 
Interesting question. I have no idea which way is correct. Personally, I would tend to put the thin end in into the pocket first. The thin end is more easily bent/formed by the sail making the transition from unsupported sail to supported sail a smoother transition. This puts the thicker/stronger part of the batten all of the way out to the edge of the leach. This would provide a smooth transition on one end and added support to prevent the leach form curling. The idea is to support the leach to make the sail perform better.

Just my thoughts...
 
Well, I think I've finished the last of this season's projects... my cuddy door.
Pretty darn happy with it if I do say so.
Best part was the most expensive piece was the $12 Walmart cutting board. I'm also super happy with the latch as it works great and at ~ $2 in parts, came in WAY ahead of those fancy Perko ones for $45. Probably works better too. It's certainly more adjustable. The cutting board material proved to have several advantages in that it was fairly strong for its thickness (also perfect for the grove it slips up into), but also somewhat "self-lubricating." I had planned to use some Teflon washers to cut down on friction, but they seemed unnecessary in the final install. The only element you can't see in the photos is a 7/16" aluminum bushing that penetrates the board and should keep the threads of the eye-bolt from wearing on the plastic. The bushing is also a froghair longer than the thickness of the board and allowed me to really tighten down on nuts without the fender washers getting too snug to board. When I turn the eyebolt, the washers and bushing rotate as a single unit inside and against the board but since they're smooth I don't anticipate any wear. It's all tight enough the latch plate has remained in registration with the knob, but in this version it could slip if things loosen up any so a winter upgrade may be to file the hole in the plate square, file square flats on the 1/4" eyebolt, and then slip some little brass shims in between the two when reassembling to ensure the latch plate always remains parallel with the head of the eyebolt.
As with most such jobs, the final fit was all the result of making a rough pattern, fitting it and noting adjustments, making a second good pattern, fitting it and making adjustments, and only then moving to the final material. On my '87 Mod 1, the sides of this recess are not parallel, nor do they taper in at the bottom consistently. The radius corners are also not 3" as noted on another thread, mine are closer to 2 2/8". I get the feeling that when these were laid-up, it was a fairly loose operation, and that whatever the original Mod 1 door looked like (I've never seen one) it likely overlapped the hole so any inconsistencies weren't visible like they can be with a fully inset door.
You can also see in one of the photos where my trolling motor battery mounts. I can't take credit for that, but it's pretty slick, and a handy spot for loading it in and out. There are wires that run under the port-side seat back to a plug right next to the motor mount, very tidy.
Last thing I'd like to add is a mounted halyard bag, but for now I'm hanging something from the mast base.


20161111_113526.jpg
20161112_120306.jpg
20161112_120417.jpg
20161112_120520.jpg
20161112_120528.jpg
20161112_120559.jpg
 
Nice job Fred! That is on my winter list. Half done and now you gave me good ideas for the latch. Thanks. The old door does fit inside the lip so it is flush. See attached pic of my original old one.
IMG_4840.JPG
New in progress.
IMG_4939.JPG

IMG_4940.JPG
 
nice wood panel, Al. Are the stripes inlay? I wonder how it's going to weather?

So that's the original door then? latch looks about the same as what I did. I wonder if those thumb screws come in SS? My hardware is just plated, but I'm only in fresh water so I think it's going to do fine. If I have to replace at some point, I think I can muster another .5o c
 

Back
Top