Launched! - but it's only plastic so don't get too excited

[Noah]

Woo Hoo, it's time to go sailing. It was a very long road, but she looks pretty good and I'm happy as a clam.

The biggest success was the engine. As you know, when I purchased the boat it was agreed that the engine was toast. Well, I acid cleaned it which helped, but the real culprit to the overheating was the raw water intake hose. It looked new, but the inside liner had separated from the jacket, and was getting sucked in on it's self. I motored a couple of miles to the mooring at full speed (7 knots, not bad for a 22hp diesel pushing a 52ft boat) and the engine stayed right in the middle of the gauge the whole time!

I also finished painting the decks - in the end I used Interlux Perfection 2 part paint, because it means when I repaint the cabin house I can use a 2 part again, and not worry about a 1 part getting eaten by the chemicals.

The Stern and bow were both very dinged up (down to the roving in places) so I filled both and re-gelcoated. I got very very lucky with the gelcoat. I randomly ordered Oyster White cause I figured it might be close (no color chip provided) as well as a bunch of tints. It turned out that the Oyster White was the exact color match of my 30 year old boat. After plenty of buffing the original gelcoat looks amazing. I have a few more places to fill, fair and re-spray, but I'm confident it will look amazing when I'm done. I used one of those little "Preval" sprayers for the gelcoat. I put it on pretty thick, then wet sanded and compounded it down to look right.

I overhauled the saildrive and it works great as well. Smooth shifts and no vibration - not bad for a 30 year old engine and saildrive.
http://www.morebutter.com/Swede/sail_drive.jpg

http://www.morebutter.com/Swede/in_lift.jpg

http://www.morebutter.com/Swede/in_water.jpg

http://www.morebutter.com/Swede/in_water_side.jpg

The rig was very easy to step, and we had it up in about an hour. I still have all those little details to attend to, but perhaps sailing tomorrow.

[Chris.]

Wow - quite a transformation! Congratulations.

[bamamick]

Wonderful to see her wet. I hope she likes her northern home.

What DOES she rate, anyway?

Mickey Lake

[Kim Whitmyre]

I can see the grin on your face, Noah! We await your sailing report. . .:cool:

[brad9798]

Nice!!!

[rbgarr]

ROSINA, Queen Of The Lake !!

[George Ray]

Wonderful!

[The Bigfella]

Fabulous Noah - I was wondering when we would get this news just a few days ago. Congratulations. When do you want us all to turn up?

[Noah]

Thanks for all the comments. PHRF rating will be around 75-80 I'm hoping. If we were doing off-shore work it would probably be lower but here on the lake I'm not so sure.

[rbgarr]

I just got my PHRF number. It's 171 vs 177 for the J22s, so I have to beat them by a couple of boat lengths in the one mile beer can races.
I think you'd finish more than a hundred seconds before me in one of those races, thus saving your time.

[Noah]

My competition in A-Class here on the lake will be:
J-120 at 51
Aerodyne 38 at 54
2 J-109's at 66
multiple J-35's at 72
J-33 at I can't remember
Benne First 41.7 in high 60's
multiple J-35's at 72
Beneteau 36.7 at 75
C&C 110 at 93
J92s at 96
Melges 24 (that I race on) at 99

I really don't think we will do very well for the first few years. I intend to race with a 100% jib, and in the often light conditions I think we will get hammered. To be competitive I would need a light #1 @ 155%, #2 @ 135, #3 @ 100%.

I'm hoping we have a couple of good distance races with some long reaching legs, or at least high winds, and we will do well.

[John B]

good news.

[bamamick]

You'll need some bigger headsails. You don't see too many Dragons or 30 squares sailing with the small jib. But you are also right in that you should be very fast on any waterline legs with the right sail combination up.

But your boat is so much more than a racing boat. Easy to sail with a small crew. Comfortable. Beautiful. I am happy for you.

How does the one-day-to-be Mrs. feel about it?

Mickey Lake

[Hwyl]

Glad to see it, did you ever get the surveyor thing sorted (I did call)

[brian.cunningham]

purdy boat
Best of luck at the races!

[Tom Lathrop]

Noah,

Pretty boat, plastic or not. Did you say what it is? Looks like one of the Finnish H boats to me. If it sails like the 28 and 33 that I have seen, you won't need a large jib most of the time.

[John B]

Its a Swede, Tom. Noah had a couple of threads as he was considering it and then actually buying it.

Whats the condition of the existing sails like Noah?( got the same problem:rolleyes: )desperately need a #2, but I do have 2 kites and a gennaker

[Noah]

Sails are brand new Doyle Dacron - with full battens, but they aren't racing sails. I will be fine in a smaller range of conditions than I would want to be. I figure over 10-12 and we can compete. Under that and we will get clobbered.

[John B]

I have some sort of exotic #1( or 2 1/2:rolleyes: ) with my boat but its got a funny shape. Supposedly a good sailmaker and its only been used 5 or 6 times, but the draft is all weird around the head and aft around the leech.

[Noah]

Modern sails actually shrink with age, not stretch, so you can see some pretty funky stuff happen, though the cloth still looks ok.

We blew up the Carbon jib on the Melges in 25-30 knots the other day. About 1.5 years old. After a fast ride down wind we douse the spin head up wind, and bang...nothing really left but some expensive carbon shreds...fun stuff.