New Com-Pac owner, old Com-Pac rebuild

[Jordan]

Hi all,
I have been watching this site for a while and getting ideas for my new old Com-Pac.  I thought it would only be fair if I shared my experiences with all of you and asked some questions along the way.  I bought a 1975 CP 16 this December from a craigslist ad and have been delighted to find that this is such a interesting boat with a major following.  I had never heard of a Com-Pac until this one, although that might not mean much because of my limited experience.  Anyway this CP 16 was in rough shape, the best I can figure out is a tale which is not that uncommon for these old beauties.  It was used well and then at some point someone put the boat away and didn't protect it from water.  Water sat in the boat, rotted through the bunks, seeped down into the keel, froze, expanded and contracted and cracked areas of the keel and put small voids in most of the keel.  I bought the boat from a guy who had planned on fixing the boat and became overwhelmed with the task.  He had cut out a portion of the front of the keel on both sides, glued the cement together and at some point it looks like someone cut a 1/4 inch hole in the back of the keel, put the boat up and let the water drain out for an extended period of time. Here are some pics of the boat as I originally bought it and some of the destruction I found.












I prepared the keel for epoxy by sanding it down and put the cut out fiberglass back in with epoxy. We added a layer of new fiberglass and have been adding more epoxy and fairing it out since, I am close to being finished with this portion of the keel repair.



















The next phase of my rebuild involves removing the deck from the hull and then replacing all of the wood.  All of the hardware and trim was removed, all rivets drilled out and 5 of my closest friends and family came over to pick up and move the deck.  I then pulled out all of the wood and cleaned things out. These pics are of my dad, brother, son and myself cleaning it out.






So..... this is where I'm at in my project.  I am going to buy some plywood in the next week and some foam board to use as a template for the plywood.  My dad who is the foreman on this project insists that I should use 5/8 in luan for plywood, my neighbor insists that I should use birch.  Bottom line my dad says I should use the best quality exterior plywood I can buy and not worry about buying marine grade plywood because I will cover it in clear epoxy and I won't expose it to water like the previous owners. I tend to agree with him. I don't expect to have this wood submersed at any time, but wan't to be protected from water as much as possible.  My mantra for this boat is "It's a 16 foot sailboat, it can't be that hard to rebuild it" and I keep telling myself that. I wanted to remove the deck because I wanted to do the best job on the interior and I don't like the idea of working in a coffin.  I also wanted to be able to re-seal the flange between the hull and deck.  I plan on replacing all of the wood except for the wood on the front of the bunks which is in relatively good shape minus some rot on the bottom which I plan on reinforcing with epoxy.  I plan on re-painting the interior, placing the deck back on the hull and securing it, then painting the gelcoat on bottom and top minus the non-skid areas. I will finish the hull repair for any visible cracks, fill the voids by drilling small holes and then injecting epoxy into those areas and then repainting the bottom with a high quality bottom paint.  My thoughts/questions are, does it matter what plywood I use? Can I use 3/4 instead of 5/8 if it is more easily available? Does paint over the gelcoat sound okay or is that sacrilege? Do I need to fill the voids (hollow areas between cement keel and hull) or is this an unnecessary step?  Any thoughts on my project or advice would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks for keeping such a great site!

Thanks for the help posting these photos.  More to come as the project evolves....

The most recent photos of the hull and demo on the interior...

[Salty19]

Welcome to the forum  Sounds like you're doing everything right on the restoration. Fun stuff!

Yep, these are great little boats.  Very safe for their size, well built, affordable and better performers than most think with good wind and some simple modifications.

Having never fully restored one, I don't have much to offer in the way of tips like plywood depth.  Some folks here will pipe in. Only thing I'll say is if you are putting new ballast in, note that it will sail better with ballast concentration just a tad forward.  If you're not replacing ballast, no biggie just put a battery or heavy stuff forward. 

It's OK to paint the hull. Lot's of these boats are painted..they look great in navy blue, bright red, dark green, black...you name it.    If you read back a little bit you'll see pics of various colors and various other ideas like stripes and trim work.  Now if you paint it purple with orange trim, we might start to wonder about you

Noticed you tried to upload pics from your computer.  Check out this link on how to post pics..it's easy once you learn how.  http://cpyoa.geekworkshosting.com/forum/index.php?topic=3763.0

Have fun and keep us posted about the restoration.  We love to read about this topic. 

[skip1930]

Jordan. 'GO PACK!' Looks like your about ready for the reassembly after doing all the heavy work. You can lift this thing off the trailer, on the trailer hull bunks, or hang it from the garage overhead with a few verticals. Even though the keel was messed up you did the right thing buy grinding her down and applying resign impregnated fiberglass cloth, smooth and fill it in, then paint her up.

The deck seam construction is covered very well in Bob Burgess's handbook of Trailer Sailing. As is the whole rest of the CP-16's construction.
In the water by mid summer? What water by the way?

skip in Sturgeon Bay.

[Greene]

Wow, looks like quite a project you have there.  It looks like the 16 that was for sale by Mendota Park in Madison.  I considered making that guy an offer as well.  I love projects, but I'm not a big fan of fiberglassing.  Glad to see you pulled the top off to do the job right.  Keep up the good work.

Mike
Madison, WI

[kickingbug1]

that thing makes my 52 restoration look like childs play. gotta tip you hat to a guy whos a glutton for punishment. cant wait to see the finished product.

[Jordan]

Thanks for the input, I am half way through the Handbook for Trailer Sailing and have found that book to be quite helpful.  I bought the boat from a guy in Green Bay who got it from another guy in Green Bay as far as I can tell.  I hope to have her in this summer by sometime in May.  Once the bunks are back in and the top is riveted back into place I plan on lifting her from the rafters to access the entire bottom of the keel, make sure there is no more damage and repair what I find on the bottom.  It is too flexible in its current state to lift to the ceiling with straps or anything because if it flexes too much we might damage the gelcoat or worse, the fiberglass.  I am sailing out of Green Bay and will be keeping her at Windjammers sailing club in Little Suamico when she is ready as I am a new member there this year.  Good to see so many members from around these parts, I figured all you guys were from down south.  

[skip1930]

" I picked it up for $600, what a deal " Opps. I hope that's $6.00 or you did get a heck of a deal.

It is possible to click on the 'Modify Message' and change anything then 'Save' to save and post the change.
If you make the change above, I can then blow this post away. Otherwise my post won't make any sense.

snicker snicker skip. The guy who wrote that book in on the Yahoo Com Pac site and has his CP-16 as the 'cover shot'.

[JTMeissner]

Welcome, Jordan.  I have a 1975 CP-16 also, any idea the number? 

I thought I had a good deal of work to refinish the concrete and such with my old boat, but the water issues for me seemed to only affect the top layer of concrete, no worries so far with the wood on the berths.  I am interested on the process of removing the top deck; maybe a conversation for another day when I figure out the timing and appropriate work space.

Since you have it all apart, maybe this guy's work might be of some inspiration: http://s779.photobucket.com/albums/yy72/tmdrozd/Com%20Pac%20restoration/

I have a few pieces of the woodwork at home to replace/work on.  Very interested to follow your progress, and seeing your work out on the water.

-Justin

[jthatcher]

that is one inspiring set of pics..  thanks for sharing it with all of us..well jordan,   justin has really set the bar high in the restoration department!     actually, i think that your mantra makes a lot of sense, and it looks like you are doing a great job.. good luck with the rest of the project.   if i ever have to do this with Adagio, i hope that i am retired - not enough time at this point in my life to spend on a project like this - especially when i just want to be on the water!  jt

[JTMeissner]

jt, if only I could claim that work.  I don't know who the user tmdrozd is, I found his restoration when searching for refit ideas online.  It was also linked here a week or so ago http://cpyoa.geekworkshosting.com/forum/index.php?topic=3936.msg27313 Clicking through his profile will show you another boat, a Gulf Coast 18, getting the same treatment, and more ideas on how to solve problems (like hatch locking without leaving a sharp metal hasp to bang your head on).  Besides his ability for restoration, his shop space is a dream too.  -Justin

[Spartan]

Looks like a good project, I would highly reccomend Brian Gilberts book, "Fix it and Sail"  It has lots of info that is helpful for restoring.

Good Luck
Tom

[Jordan]

Justin- My wife found that restoration a month or so ago and those pics are what inspired me to take the top off, etc.  That guy did an excellent job and I hope to replicate many of the things he did.  Thanks for the link.

JT- not sure the hull number (where is it?), removing the deck was actually a lot simpler than I thought it would be, get a really good drill bit, drill out some 70 odd rivets, unscrew the mast step from the deck, cut the scuppers and peel it apart with a putty knife.  The peeling it apart was really easy because the adhesive was 35 years old and brittle.  Picking it up with 5 guys was a piece of cake, probably could have done it with 4.

All- I will keep updating photos as the boat progresses, I'm working quite a bit the next week, but plan on more progress by next weekend.

[skip1930]

Jordan; The way the sentence is structured, I assumed you were speaking about just the Hand Book Of Trailer Sailing...certainly not for $600.00, but $6.00.

And I again assumed incorrectly we were not talking about the price of the boat. Which I don't care about. Sorry. Boat/book they both sound alike. LOL.

Hull number is embossed into the starboard side of the outer transom. And again it may be duplicated under the starboard quarter birth cushion. Clear epoxied onto the wood.

skip.

[Jordan]

Skip, ohhhh, now I get what you are talking about.... duh. Anyway the hull number is ABV000590675 for anyone interested.

[skip1930]

This was posted before the first site crashed but the information may have become stale and lost. [and befor skip was banned from CPYOA].
Many of the sailors know this, some don't care, and others may give her a look~see. skip wrote on the USPS SailAngle Blog this intro. Then cut and pasted it here on CPYOA.

"Welcome to the Com-Pac Yacht Owners Association Group.
Those who sail Com-Pac Yachts, world wide: Ever wounder about the Com-Pac hull numbers??
Lets start here.
Hutchins Boat Company builds the Com-Pac Yacht Boats.

Say my Com Pac-19 Boat Registration reads--> HUTC [make].
This particular boat has it's number molded in the upper starboard area of the transom and is...ABV00588B696.
ABV=Hutchins [Boat Manufacture code]
00588=the 588th hull built.
B=*September. The month boat was built.
6=Day in the month this boat hull was molded.
96=The year the hull was molded.

*A=Aug, B=Sept, C=Oct, D=Nov, E=Dec, F=Jan, G=Feb, H=March, I=April, J=May, k=June, L=July.

So best guess for Jordan's CP-16, with ABV000590675 is...
Hutchins-59th hull built-month not clear-6th day? or 6th month?-1975.

When looking at the pictures again I noticed the following adders; that the bow light has been elevated off the deck and onto a wood block, cool. And the ports have a teak ring around them? Double cool. That chunk of sprayed in foam layed on top of the up side down deck is for sound dampining of the hull as the boat slams into the waves when beating to wind. I was going to suggest that the space under the cockpit sole could be left open for storage but then I realized that the sole probably lays very close to the bottom of the bilge.

A CP-19 has a blue carpet covered foam block to stiffen the cockpit sole and to prevent stress cracking of the glass. A guy could reinforce with a plywood or aluminum plate and have legs inside but along side the hull going down and glassed in to carry the weight under the the fiberglass and then remove the foam block for storage aft. Of course, if filled with sailing/camping/gear, this places more weight in her butt and that slows her down when sailing.

skip.