New-old boat that needs a bit of work

3literpwr

New Member
Recently bought my first laser after borrowing a buddies Zuma last summer. My boat came from a friends uncle who had these 5 ex University of Michigan sailing team boats. My boat is ZFS60960M78E and I guess its a 78' ??? Well for the most part it's pretty good and i didnt pay too much for her. The mast step is leaking a bit and I plan to get on that this week. The hull does have its share of gel coat bubbles and some spider cracks here and there, but it should still perform okay. There where a few mickey mouse repairs, such as the deck being revetted where there must have been some delam (about 2 feet long on port side) and crummy deck paint job.

Larry
 

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Looks pretty nice, actually - I'd say much newer than 78.
There is a post/guide on here somewhere about identifying the year of a boat based on the hull number.

Enjoy!
 
Looks good enough to me. Go ahead do your maststep repair, any cosmetic repairs, I'd also check for and address any other possible leaks.

Then just go sailing, rinse, repeat.

Good find, have fun sailing!
 
Well I cut two holes in the deck and the mast step is floating off the floor of the boat. The rest seem good, but there is moisture in the foam for sure... I decided to place my heat gun on its low setting near a piece of old intercooler tubing from my rally car to blow some warm air through her for the next few hours. Maybe I will do that on and off for the next few days. I have a thermometer in there to keep an eye on the internal temps.
 

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A few more pics.. Do you guys think I should try to fix the gelcoat blisters? Worth the time and effort?

Thanks for the help!
 

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On a boat that old I wouldn't worry about the blisters. Just enjoy (and you will have a good excuse in case you don't finish first).


PS: I agree with the others that this boat is in good shape for its age and the fact it was used by a college sailing team.
 
The boat looks good for its age. after looking at the inside pics, I am shocked that there is no bondo "donut" around the base of the mast tube. Either it broke away, which appears doubtful given how clean it is, or the worker who put the boat together in 1978 forgot to throw a dollop in the hole just before the hull and deck were joined. if this is the case, then it has been loose in there all this time! You will want to fill the void around the tube with thickened epoxy. If it were my boat and I knew the tube leaked, I would sand everything well and start filling with a very thick mixture around the forward-most half of the "moat". This way, the hole is sealed and the high viscosity will prevent the epoxy from leaking into the instide of the tube. The next application would be thinner such that it will run all the way around and level and bond well. After that, I would follow the repair method laid out at the Schroth Fiberglass website. Hope this helps.
 
Forgot to mention one other item. If you really want to dry out the inside, then use a vacuum cleaner. Remove the bag and suck air out of one hole which will draw air into the other.
 

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