Completing a Westsail 32

Happy Christmas

2009-12-25T19:33:00.001-08:00

Pictures from the "maiden sail" 6/7/09

Work is still progressing

2009-04-12T13:41:00.000-07:00

Since the last time we posted work has slowly been moving along.

Things that have been done are:
Gallows with boom crutch mounted, boom installed, wood trim around cockpit installed, cabin sole completed with edge trim, lifelines installed and lots of equipment purchased that will be installed as soon as we have a reasonable amount of good weather.

The documentation process has also been completed and the name lettering recieved.
Because of the 4" requirements for names on documented boats the name ends up being 5' long!! We hope it will look OK when on the boat.

Sails were ordered about 4 weeks ago and should arrive in 2 or so weeks along with sail covers. We ordered a new main and staysail from Kern in Newport Beach. Since we were down in Disneyland, it was nice to be able to drive to Kerns loft and talk to him (A 15 minute drive from Disneyland)

The color chosen is sky blue for the covers....... hmmm. Hope it does not look too ....um well you know.

Mast stepped and nonskid done.

2008-08-25T19:13:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since we posted and to be honest I have not been working very hard on the boat. Sitting on the couch seemed more appealing than painting and applying non skid!
The non skid is done - we used Interlux perfection and Interlux Intergrip polymeric "sand" ....It looks OK.
The texture is very good and the slip resistance is awesome.

We stepped the mast last Friday and took about 5 years off my life in the process. If it had not been for Lee's willingness to sacrifice his hands holding onto a thin nylon rope, the mast would have come to a sad end. Enough said.

She floats!

2008-06-26T17:06:00.001-07:00

Going in the water today!

2008-06-24T09:44:00.000-07:00

We will launch the boat today and finish her off in the water. 35 years ago she was laid up and today she will finally float.....!

Latest

2008-06-17T20:25:00.000-07:00

Things have been crazy what with trying to get everything ready to put the boat in the water. The past couple of weeks have been taken up with exterior wood finishing and cetol application....

Some shots of the new mast, bowsprit, cockpit etc etc

Topsides painted

2008-06-01T20:33:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we shot the first coat of Interlux Perfection on the topsides. It came out pretty good. Today the second coat went on.

The reason for the tent is that the Port Captain did not want to let us spray - someone painted their boat and ten cars last time he allowed it! What a nightmare. We told him we would pay for any cars that inadvertently got sprayed and then erected the tent in the hope that the overspray would be minimal....so far no irate Mercedes Benz driver has sought us out.

Mark Rogers Painting did the spraying. After trying twice ourselves and failing to paint the deck, Mark was a Godsend.

Got the non non-skid right on the deck!

2008-05-30T19:23:00.001-07:00

We used the flatting agent at a 1:1 ratio on the deck. Our concern was that the high gloss was going to be to "glary" on the water. It turned out a little flatter than I expected....but we think it will be OK. The color is matterhorn white and it looks almost grey....so we are going to do the non skid in a 50/50 mix of snow white and off white flatted at the same ratio as the other deck paint.

Painting

2008-05-13T18:31:00.000-07:00

Over the last week and a half we have been sanding and painting. There is only one word for all the sanding: Brutal!
These pictures show the barrier coat going on and taping after primer (two coats) have been applied to the whole deck. The areas that are taped off are the non non-skid areas (bulwarks and cabin trunk etc)
We had a problem with blushing with the first topcoat - apparently we painted too late in the day and dew caused the problem.

Sooooo....sand it off and try again!

Move

2008-04-25T22:16:00.001-07:00

We moved the boat to the yard today....mostly to get out from under the thumb of the owner of the space we were renting.

She looks very ugly without her rudder, bowsprit, (new thanks Dave) boomkin, (also new thanks Dave!) and other bits.
We have a shop full of nice shiny new parts to put on after the deck and topsides get painted.

Mast

2008-04-20T10:55:00.000-07:00

A mast did come with the boat, an Isomat. Isomat went out of business several years ago but parts are still available through Rigrite and Charleston spar.
The mast kept me awake at night as there were quite a few thing about it that concerned me.
The biggest concern was that the gooseneck attachment was 22 inches above the base of the mast. This meant that when working on the sail the boom would be somewhere around my knees. Not good.
The gooseneck could be moved but that would mean major surgery as the entrance gate to the slot would have to be moved as well..... a bit of a Frankenstein arrangement in my mind.
There were a lot of gouges in the mast - this would mean painting at the very least.
The spreaders were missing. New spreaders would be in the region of $600
The boom was an angular ugly thing.

I decided on a few exploratory Craigslist listings and also posted it on the Westsail owners board.
It was sold in short order to my amazement....for 75% of the cost of a brand new LeFiell which is what most of the Westsails use.

Engine install

2008-04-15T09:33:00.000-07:00

The motor that came with the boat (not installed) was a Bukh 24 HP. After talking with other W32 owners and the original Westsail general manager Bud Taplin, we decided to go with a 37.5 HP Betamarine engine. Its a bit much to ask a 24 HP motor to move the 20 000 lb Westsail around.
We were able to sell the Bukh to a couple from Canada, they came down from Vancouver and we loaded it into their station wagon.

All pictures are clickable.

The Bukh in our workshop.

This is what the engine bay looked like when we bought the boat (view from inside the salon, stairs removed)

And now after installing the Beta (View from the deck, cockpit not installed yet)

Cabin top repair

2008-04-15T09:18:00.000-07:00

Originally the interior deck beams were bolted from the outside through the cabin top. The bolts were countersunk and the area filled and faired. There has been some cracking around these filled areas where the original plugs were filled.
Fix has been to grind out a depression above each bolt and then wet out with epoxy, cut a small 6 oz fiberglass cloth patch and carefully tamp it down and then fill with epoxy. This picture shows the bolt areas.
The boat is covered by a tarp that covers a "tent" frame made from thinwall conduit.
It has held up surprisingly well considering the pretty severe storms that we had this last winter.

Deck work

2008-04-15T08:59:00.000-07:00

The gelcoat is badly oxidised from sitting in the Arizona sun for 30 or so years. This means the deck has to be sanded and repainted. I have decided to use 2 part interlux epoxy for the primer and have not made a decision yet about the topcoat. Probably Awlgrip or Interlux.

2008-04-12T19:14:00.000-07:00

Arriving in Brookings

Clearing the way to get to the boat with a hydraulic trailer

2008-04-10T15:54:00.001-07:00

Carport removed

Sand and dirt cleared away from cradle

Exterior pictures as found

2008-04-10T14:38:00.001-07:00

Interior pictures as found

2008-04-10T14:09:00.000-07:00

Finding our boat

2008-04-08T18:24:00.000-07:00

We found her in Tucson Arizona.....a 35 year old boat that had never been in the water. Well and truly anchored in a dusty backyard miles from any ocean.