May 02 2009
Project “P.A.Y.”
Ok… It is time to face facts. Sailboat racing is not exactly compatible with the insane schedule of a young family and a career in technology. In a few years I can drag my kids along as crew, but it has become as clear as the reflection in the Americas cup that for the time being I need to seriously pull back on my commitment to racing if I wish to keep my family and sanity intact. So if I am only going to go to the occasional race/regatta I want to make sure to make the absolute most of every single opportunity. Thus I have undertaken project “Perfection Attained Yachting” a.k.a Project PAY. Which will entail making Limpet absolutely perfect for the few short days/hours I can reasonably commit to sailing. Project PAY won’t be cheap… oh wait I have a San Juan 21… Maybe it will be after all.
The fist step in project PAY will be to attain a perfectly burnished & smooth racing bottom on Limpet. For a normal keelboat this would entail days or weeks spent in the boat yard incurring a litany of expenses with titles such as: Hauling, Storage, Environmental Cleanup, Water Recovery and Disposal , & Aesthetic Impairment Surcharge (this one gets really expensive for Macgreggor 26 owners). As a San Juan 21 owner & member of Fleet #1 I had another option. I helped my friend Christian set up the lift which Stephen Jensen built for Fleet #1, then we took turns leaving our boats hoisted in his driveway for a few months.
I started by striping all the old bottom paint with some chemical striper from West Marine on 50% discount… total cost about $40, and I only used half the tub. I rolled it on with some left over rollers and covered the whole thing with wax paper while the paint slowly dissolved into green goo. “Better Life Through Chemicals!”
After the striping Limpets bottom as naked as a new born babys butt. I fixed the half dollar sized gouge which had developed on the leading edge from trailering without a keel bunk (The keel bounced up and down on a metal crossbar). To do this I used high density structural filler from West Systems that I had left over from my deck through hull core efforts. I also did a quick cover with fairing compound to fill the nasty gouges which had developed from 35+ years of being trailering. Then I painted the keel with 4 coats of Interlux VC Performance Epoxy bottom paint which I picked up from BoatersWorld bankruptcy clearance for about $15… Normally $70 per half gallon (let’s hear it for the depression!). Finally I wet sanded the painted keel down to a 600 grit shinny burnish.
Then I turned my attention to the hull. After pulling off all the bottom paint I realized that Limpet had likely been beach sailed for some period of her live. The gouges were many, but not to deep. I decide that I would make an attempt at revitalizing the gel coat before I pulled the trigger on a painting. So I got some help from my Dad and we sanded with 100, 150, and 220 on power orbital sanders. This took 90% of the gouges out and left the gel coat in most places so I decided to call it smooth enough for San Juan 21 racing.
Christian suggested strongly that I paint “If you can read this please HELP” upside down on the hull right near the keel. I decided this would be begging the sailing gods to smite me down so hard that I actually needed it.
The final touch was a new Mylar keel gasket from Gene Adams and some Teflon polish also procured from the BoatersWorld implosion. Limpet now has a racing quality finish for the first time since I have owned her, I am not sure how much impact it will have, but it sure looks pretty.
Andy should be proud of his handy work on the bottom of Limpid. between the bottom work and new sails his hard work is paying off. The boat is fast and Andy is doing a good job sailing it.