Fred
03-04-2010, 07:18 AM
Compilation of a thread I posted over on the Hobie Cat Forums last summer, super fun project, this summer will involve a lot more sailing now that its all together.
Spring project: Repair all the remaining leaks and old damage, and refinish and rewire the trailer.
Day 1:
Well I'm back up in MI now, after a really fun week-long road trip from Florida.
Went out to the farm today, really more of a survey trip, to see what I'm in for to get the family H16 back on the water. (OK finally got the pic size issue taken care of...)
Background - My dad bought this boat around about 1986 or 87 by my best guess, but it might have been earlier. I was a really little kid at the time. Finding the serial number on the transom today reveals that it is indeed a year older than me (CCMP2964M80I). We sailed it fairly often on Lake St Clair, and inland lakes here in MI and in Minnesota for a brief stint. Then back to MI for most of the 90s.
After I got into college, my dad and I really didn't get much time on it anymore, he was crewing on bigger boats and I was away most summers on internships or foreign studies. So instead of storing it alongside the house, we moved it to the family farm where it was out of the way. The last year it was in the water was 2002 as evidenced by the most recent tag on the hull.
Here's how I found it today:
Fortunately my grandfather keeps a shed back there stocked with a decent array of tools necessary for tackling the vines and low branches that have hemmed it in - my weapons of choice for the afternoon's "yard work":
Mast is all aluminum, was the easiest part to extract from the overgrowth (my trusty VW GTI, from now on referred to as Sheila, was essential to my success today):
I remember it being a lot heavier...
So after spending the better part of an hour cutting the hobie out I was able to start rotating the trailer, strapped the boat back down to it, and pulled out the blocks that were holding the wheels off the ground. It moved, but was reluctant... (more on this in a bit) so I figured more muscle was needed, and I pulled Sheila around.
Here's where the fun started: Even though its been parked about a quarter mile from the nearest road, under dense trees, and behind a cornfield... dear old Dad locked the hitch...
So I improvised (Sheila will be the 3rd VW towing this boat, we had an 87 Golf and Jetta back in the day, but mine has about 3x the HP and Torque... having a turbo make towing fun!):
And here's the culprit for the reluctance to move:
I figured the tires would be toast, the right one is totally rotted out along part of the sidewall, the left appears to be OK but will also be replaced next week for good measure (and safety).
So I put the pads back on the trailer for the mast, the clamp on the back, and loaded it up there for the time being.
I felt around on the hulls, tapping, listening, and all appears solid. I'll do a much more thorough inspection when I get started on the cleaning (possibly tomorrow, but more likely Monday), which will take a few days at least. I pulled the tramp and all the lines out of the sail box (which has been in Dad's garage nice and dry, and out of the sun, all this time), and that is looking good at first inspection.
So next step will be the cleaning and surveying what needs attention before I start putting the rigging and tramp back together.
Day 2:
Took a while to make it back out, got tied up with a lot of family stuff this past week.
Good news though, was that I found the keys to the lock on the trailer.
First thing in mind was the tire swap. We had a good spare still in the garage, so that replaced the flat. The other tire is, as suspected, toast as well, but still holds air so until I'm ready to hit the road, it will do. (still planning on buying two new tires)
I sprayed the lugnuts with some WD40 so the wouldn't be an absolute nightmare to remove, and let them sit while I moved on to the cleaning.
I had considered the pressure washer... but renting one will run $80+ a day... and I didn't really think it was necessary, so I went with the orange dish soap to see how it would do.
Perfect! Most of the port hull's topside came clean in about 30 minutes!
At that point I replaced the tire, and pulled the trailer up within range of a hose for the rest of the cleaning. Spent most of the afternoon on it, I'd say 95% of the moss and grime is gone. I reinstalled the rudders as well.
Several Days later:
Further inspection of the bearings and seals ended up with several days of hunting for new ones, tearing the old ones down, and fully rebuilding/repacking.
Put the mast up a few times yesterday with some family assistance for practice and to check the condition of everything.
This is on try 2... only to find the line for the mainsail was tangled up a bit up in the mast tip... so it wouldn't go higher than this. Took it down and got it all sorted...
Now I just need wind! Friday is the target day now, going to hit up Stony Creek Lake (closest park to where the boat is!).
And finally:
Got out on Stony Creek Lake yesterday afternoon for a few hours with my dad, wind report said 8-10 mph, which was a little generous I think, but we had some nice puffs which I'd say were above 10 but not much more. There was a H14 on the lake as well, but he came in as we were going out.
It was awesome to finally get back on the water... especially on this boat which hadn't been for 10 years (old license plate tag verified this). Practiced tacking and jibing, I don't think I'll have any trouble single handing with a little more. We didn't hook up the trapeze since the wind was so low. A couple of puffs had us laying down a respectable wake while reaching back and forth across the lake, which surprised me. Trapeze decision was right on, even in the heaviest puffs we didn't get anywhere near lifting a hull (our combined weight is just a bit north of 400 lbs, we're 6'1 and 6'3 respectively, he's taller).
As far as shake-down runs go, it went way better than either of us thought it would.
I need to do a lot of fine tuning, the rudders are a mess (I read the tightening instructions and will be doing this in the near future), and the trampoline needs tightening to align the hulls better. My dad and I like the rudders cavitating, it serves as a reminder that we're picking up speed and need to adjust accordingly... so I don't think I'll shave them.
Spring project: Repair all the remaining leaks and old damage, and refinish and rewire the trailer.
Day 1:
Well I'm back up in MI now, after a really fun week-long road trip from Florida.
Went out to the farm today, really more of a survey trip, to see what I'm in for to get the family H16 back on the water. (OK finally got the pic size issue taken care of...)
Background - My dad bought this boat around about 1986 or 87 by my best guess, but it might have been earlier. I was a really little kid at the time. Finding the serial number on the transom today reveals that it is indeed a year older than me (CCMP2964M80I). We sailed it fairly often on Lake St Clair, and inland lakes here in MI and in Minnesota for a brief stint. Then back to MI for most of the 90s.
After I got into college, my dad and I really didn't get much time on it anymore, he was crewing on bigger boats and I was away most summers on internships or foreign studies. So instead of storing it alongside the house, we moved it to the family farm where it was out of the way. The last year it was in the water was 2002 as evidenced by the most recent tag on the hull.
Here's how I found it today:
Fortunately my grandfather keeps a shed back there stocked with a decent array of tools necessary for tackling the vines and low branches that have hemmed it in - my weapons of choice for the afternoon's "yard work":
Mast is all aluminum, was the easiest part to extract from the overgrowth (my trusty VW GTI, from now on referred to as Sheila, was essential to my success today):
I remember it being a lot heavier...
So after spending the better part of an hour cutting the hobie out I was able to start rotating the trailer, strapped the boat back down to it, and pulled out the blocks that were holding the wheels off the ground. It moved, but was reluctant... (more on this in a bit) so I figured more muscle was needed, and I pulled Sheila around.
Here's where the fun started: Even though its been parked about a quarter mile from the nearest road, under dense trees, and behind a cornfield... dear old Dad locked the hitch...
So I improvised (Sheila will be the 3rd VW towing this boat, we had an 87 Golf and Jetta back in the day, but mine has about 3x the HP and Torque... having a turbo make towing fun!):
And here's the culprit for the reluctance to move:
I figured the tires would be toast, the right one is totally rotted out along part of the sidewall, the left appears to be OK but will also be replaced next week for good measure (and safety).
So I put the pads back on the trailer for the mast, the clamp on the back, and loaded it up there for the time being.
I felt around on the hulls, tapping, listening, and all appears solid. I'll do a much more thorough inspection when I get started on the cleaning (possibly tomorrow, but more likely Monday), which will take a few days at least. I pulled the tramp and all the lines out of the sail box (which has been in Dad's garage nice and dry, and out of the sun, all this time), and that is looking good at first inspection.
So next step will be the cleaning and surveying what needs attention before I start putting the rigging and tramp back together.
Day 2:
Took a while to make it back out, got tied up with a lot of family stuff this past week.
Good news though, was that I found the keys to the lock on the trailer.
First thing in mind was the tire swap. We had a good spare still in the garage, so that replaced the flat. The other tire is, as suspected, toast as well, but still holds air so until I'm ready to hit the road, it will do. (still planning on buying two new tires)
I sprayed the lugnuts with some WD40 so the wouldn't be an absolute nightmare to remove, and let them sit while I moved on to the cleaning.
I had considered the pressure washer... but renting one will run $80+ a day... and I didn't really think it was necessary, so I went with the orange dish soap to see how it would do.
Perfect! Most of the port hull's topside came clean in about 30 minutes!
At that point I replaced the tire, and pulled the trailer up within range of a hose for the rest of the cleaning. Spent most of the afternoon on it, I'd say 95% of the moss and grime is gone. I reinstalled the rudders as well.
Several Days later:
Further inspection of the bearings and seals ended up with several days of hunting for new ones, tearing the old ones down, and fully rebuilding/repacking.
Put the mast up a few times yesterday with some family assistance for practice and to check the condition of everything.
This is on try 2... only to find the line for the mainsail was tangled up a bit up in the mast tip... so it wouldn't go higher than this. Took it down and got it all sorted...
Now I just need wind! Friday is the target day now, going to hit up Stony Creek Lake (closest park to where the boat is!).
And finally:
Got out on Stony Creek Lake yesterday afternoon for a few hours with my dad, wind report said 8-10 mph, which was a little generous I think, but we had some nice puffs which I'd say were above 10 but not much more. There was a H14 on the lake as well, but he came in as we were going out.
It was awesome to finally get back on the water... especially on this boat which hadn't been for 10 years (old license plate tag verified this). Practiced tacking and jibing, I don't think I'll have any trouble single handing with a little more. We didn't hook up the trapeze since the wind was so low. A couple of puffs had us laying down a respectable wake while reaching back and forth across the lake, which surprised me. Trapeze decision was right on, even in the heaviest puffs we didn't get anywhere near lifting a hull (our combined weight is just a bit north of 400 lbs, we're 6'1 and 6'3 respectively, he's taller).
As far as shake-down runs go, it went way better than either of us thought it would.
I need to do a lot of fine tuning, the rudders are a mess (I read the tightening instructions and will be doing this in the near future), and the trampoline needs tightening to align the hulls better. My dad and I like the rudders cavitating, it serves as a reminder that we're picking up speed and need to adjust accordingly... so I don't think I'll shave them.