Rescuing a Compac 16!!!

[Smier]

Hello everyone!  My name is Scott and I am from Easton, Pa.  I am currently in the process of rescuing a 1980 Compac 16 from an older sailer who unfortunately has been battling cancer for many years, and understandably the 16 fell into a bit of disrepair.  It is completely filthy from being parked under a tree, but in surprisingly good shape under all the dirt, leaves and lichens that are growing on it.  The hull and keel are in remarkable condition, the only issue is that there is some cracking in the fiberglass around the bolts that mount the mast (step?) to the boat.  I will post some pictures of the boat and the damaged area in a restoration thread later, I will need advice on how to repair it properly.  I also need to clean the cabin of all the peeling paint, and make a new cabin door for the hatchway, the current one is shot and starting to rot.
 The boat is complete, with newer sails, all the rigging cables and lines were replaced, and before he became ill, it seems like he had taken great pride in his boat.  This will be my first boat, I have only sailed with friends who have sailboats before, so I am really excited to finally be getting my first sailboat after over 20 years of dreaming about getting one!  I just ordered all new tires and wheels to replace the dry-rotted and rusted set on the magictilt trailer, as well as a new waterproof LED light kit to replace the originals on the trailer.  I'm probably going to install bearing buddies because we will be dragging this thing back and forth 330 miles to the in-laws lake house up in Canada.  I was really excited to get a boat with such a shallow draft, because their dock is in a cove that sometimes only provides 2 to 3 ft of water depending on the level in the lake.  
   For anyone who is interested, my other addiction in life is Chevrolet's K5 Blazer, my tow rig will be my '91 Blazer with a fuel injected 350 and a soft top.  I've been resto-modding it for about 3 years now.  There's nothing like cruising to the lake or beach in a 4 wheel drive convertible!  I'll try and get my photobucket account working so I can post some pictures, more to come...

[jthatcher]

hey there, welcome  and congratulations on your find!   We are just north of you -  wilkes barre area, but our boat is in jersey - barnegat bay.    there are a number of compac owners who sail on nockamixon - just south of quakertown.  are you familiar with that area?  that might be a good spot for a test of the trailer and the boat before heading north to canada.    i think that you will find the group down there to be friendly.   http://nockamixonsailclub.com/content/about-nockamixon-sail-club

you might also want to get in touch with Marty - he is on this site and has a boat in southern bucks county..   we met up with him last fall at nockamixon and had a great sail.    if you happen to find yourself in the poconos, you are welcome to stop by to chat about sailing.. we just got our boat last spring, so we have a lot to learn yet, but we had a great time and met some wonderful people on this site as well as at the marina in jersey where the boat stays..   good luck!  jt

[shamblin]

good project

consider making the cabin door out of plexiglass, for an open feeling.

consider putting a milk crate on a rope down at the ends of the inside bunks for extra storage.

a kerosene lantern is a good anchor light and if you paint the cabin bright white a candle will give light and heat.

consider cross boards in the cockpit that give storage in the footwell and a bigger sleep-outside bed.

consider a milkcrate kitchen box under the cockpit boards for backpacker kitchen and food. no fuel in cabin.

a 2hp engine and a 13lb danforth are big enough.  8-)  bill in nc   

[Smier]

Thanks Jthatcher,  I actually live very close to Lake Nockamixon, the original owner actually had the 16 in a seasonal slip there for many years apparently.  According to what I was told, the cracking around the mount for the mast occurred during a severe storm while the boat was docked on the lake...  The previous owner is a really neat guy, and has actually been helping me get the boat and trailer back in shape.  He is actually giving me the boat and seems thrilled that my family wants to save her.  I'm glad to hear there are other knowledgable members that live  in the area!  I have a lot to learn, and would love to see what others have done to their boats.  

Here's how I found the old girl... It's not as bad as it looks!  Most of the crud washes off easily.

Here's one my other projects, my tow rig:


Shamblin, thanks for the great ideas!  She's pretty much a blank slate, and I want to make the most of the cramped quarters.  I plan on doing some overnighters eventually.

[kickingbug1]

    you couldnt have picked a better boat to restore or a better bunch of people to advise you on how to do it. hope to see her ship shape soon

[Smier]

When I first saw her, I almost got back in my car and left, but since I was already there I figured it was worth a look.  I'm glad I stayed, because she was in much better shape than my first impression and gut was telling me.



The damaged area...

[jthatcher]

 how close to nockamixon?  i grew up in quakertown..     it sure is good that you gave the boat a second look!  jt

[Smier]

I live in Easton, which is only about 30 minutes north of Nockamixon.  The boat is actually only 10 minutes from Nockamixon currently.  I'm probably only a little over a half hour or 40 minutes from Quakertown, and I'm sure that we will be getting to know Lake Nockamixon quite well in the near future.
   I'm tentatively planning to go transfer the titles and register the boat and trailer next week, and I hope to pick her up the following Saturday after I put the new wheels, tires, and lights on for the trip home.  He offered me the use of his pressure washer also, and a lesson on how to set up everything!  He's such a neat old guy, I kind of don't want to rush getting it road worthy to pull it off his property, I have really enjoyed meeting him and talking to him about the boat.
  Anybody have any good ideas of how to properly repair the cracking under the mount for the mast?  I want to do it right the first time.

[skip1930]

What's in the Quonset hut?

The trailer, is that a 'Tilt-Magic' trailer that can't tilt because of the tongue jack location? Why are the two square tubes one on top `O the other? Looks like they moved the jack to make room for the spare tire.

The damaged area photo, the tabernacle has been pulled out of the cabin roof top, so I'm guessing that the 3/4" plywood backing is a tad rotted under the glass.
So this calls for a big bottle of some Marine-Tex two part Epoxy and finish drilling clean through the wood and through bolt with 1/4"-20 ss bolts, finishing washers, flat washers, and either nuts or acorn nuts, the missing tabernacle down on the cabin top with copious amounts of Marine-Tex, let her ooze out and wipe up as it starts to set up. It's not necessary to make it any more complex than that if you don't have to replace the backing plate wood.

Why wouldn't the old greased bearings be in good shape? it's not like the grease goes away just by being parked in the grass for years. When the wheels stop turning the lube can't go anywhere. It just waits for the next revolutions to start. Pump a little fresh bearing grease into the wheel hubs and tow her home. Stop at the coin car wash on the way home. I held the control key down and tapped the + key to blow up your photos so I could better see the details, Tap - to shrink back down.

skip.

[Smier]

There waS surprisingly nothing in the hut, just yard tools and a lawn mower.  They should have had the boat in there...  On a positive note, guess what the UPS man brought me:



And...



I'm hoping for an uneventful drive home, hopefully the bearings are still in good shape!

[buckaroo]

You should probably repack the bearings before you take it any appreciable distance, just to be on the safe side.

[Smier]

My 8 year old son and I spent all day yesterday working on the boat, well, that's actually not true...  We spent all day working on the trailer.  We yanked the old girl out of the weeds and the holes that her trailer tires had sunk into from sitting for so long.  Then proceeded to change the wheels and tires.  Also popped the dust caps off the hubs and took a look at the bearings.  I tightened them up a little since they seemed too loose, with the intention of replacing them after they make the 15 mile journey home.   
   We spent the next few hours replacing the entire lighting system with the new LED kit I had bought.  What should have been an hour job at the most turned into several hours.  I learned a valuable lesson on where to place your ground wire on a tilt trailer... It works much better on the same part of the trailer as the lights!  Then proceeded to discover a previous owner wiring nightmare on the back of my truck that needed to be replaced and fixed...  We ended up leaving without the boat and trailer.  Probably won't get over to pick it up for 3 or 4 days.  My son was really disappointed that we didn't get to pressure wash and scrub the boat!  That was the one thing he was looking forward to doing.   I ended up fixing my father-in-laws boat trailer lights today, so I got to hook up to his trailer and rewire my truck, so we should be street legal on the trip home! 
   The day wasn't a total loss, we did transfer the titles for the boat and trailer, and I registered the trailer and the boat as well!  We will be all set once we do our repairs and polishing to get this old gal back into shape!  I also got a chance to look at the the sails, he wasn't kidding about only using the new main for one season, truthfully it doesn't look like it's been out of the bag!   He also gave me the original sails, which at a quick glance look to be in good shape as well. 
   I did make one huge mistake though....  I didn't take a single photo of our progress.

[Glenn Basore]

Smier,

Once you get the trailer and boat squared away I would suggest you put together a "trail box", anything that you can use to keep spare parts in for the trailer, such as Bearings and or hub (with bearings in place) bottle jack, spare bulbs, electrical wire and electrical tape, etc.

At least you will be most likely to make a road side repair if you have the stuff with you if you happen to break down.

I see a lot of trailers on the side of the road simply because the owners didn't prep the trailer from the year before and the boat / trailer sat until......."They got the urge to take the boat out" and are now stranded on the side of the road making their calls for help.

Glenn B.

[Smier]

We finally brought the S.S. Minnow home today!  My son and I spent a couple of hours pressure washing and scrubbing.  Still needs some more TLC, but we are off to a great start.  The trip home was uneventful thankfully.  On with the pictures!!!


Before:

After:

Before:

After:

[Tim Gardner]

She looks great!  From the pics it looks like you have your winch wire running over the rubber V wheel.  On this boat it probably should run under the V.

Looks like you could take her out for a sail right now.  The Minnow? - Remember, the Minnow was holed through and beached for ---- Gee, I guess it's been close to 50 years!!!!