The start of a new adventure

[wes]

Update: it's always darkest just before the dawn.

I have seven weekend days invested (so far, probably two more left to go) in completely stripping off every shred of rigging, deck hardware, teak trim, through-hulls, rub rail, etc. And I do mean everything. Done right, I believe deck and hull painting requires this, and it's a colossal pain in the a**, especially due to the liberal use of 3M 5200 to bed all this hardware at the factory. I think 3M should raise the price of 5200 to $100/tube, which would encourage people not to use it (or to use just a little). So far, I've gone through three cans of Debond Marine Formula getting it all off, and just ordered three more cans for the remaining work and then the cleanup of all that hardware on my bench at home.

With luck I'll be able to scrub her with Interlux fiberglass prep soon (to remove every trace of old wax), then start the sanding process. All of this is comfortingly familiar from my 19 project not so long ago. The 27 is like a big friendly shaggy dog. For the most part her cavernous cabin and bilge areas, plus the use of larger hardware, has made this process much less painful than on the 19. Everything seems so easy to get to, with plenty of working room. There is really not all that much more hardware than on the 19.

Probably the biggest and most pleasant surprise was the amount of empty space around the engine. I swear you could sleep a family of four down in those bilges. I've never owned a boat of this size, but I've read plenty of issues of Good Old Boat, and it's my strong impression that engine access on the CP 27 is astonishingly easy. You really have full, unrestricted access from all four sides. As a result the PO was able to keep the engine compartment spotlessly clean.

A few photos below. More to come!

Wes

Almost bare foredeck (it's totally bare now; need an updated photo). Note I am getting rid of that pesky mainsheet traveler inside the cockpit; will install a new one on the cabin top.



Edson 335 pedestal being disassembled. The original Aquameter binnacle compass is completely shot. Edson recommends a Ritchie Navigator replacement, which I'll order. I stumbled across great Ritchie prices at www.vikingcompass.com. Much lower than Defender - wow, that rarely happens. That Edson steering system is solid as a rock, though. The chain and cables look brand new despite 25 years of use. Got to figure out what to do about nav instruments. Leaning to moving my Garmin GPS from the 19 to this boat, since I rarely use it for daysailing, and getting that really cool Garmin GMI 10 universal display with a depth transducer. The GMI 10 talks NMEA 2000 to the GPS, the transducer, and in the future maybe to other sensors like masthead anemometer. So the entry price is a little steep but in the future you just add more sensors; same display can talk to all of them. 



Bowsprit back home on my bench. Sad state of all the teak due to years of neglect. The bowsprit is very saveable though; I'll sand and refinish it.



More to come! Off to the DIY boatyard again on Saturday morning.

Wes

[Koinonia]

lots of room is nice to have around the engine, granted you dont realize how small a M12 is untill its sitting on your utility trailer.   Good to see the progress, are you going to be using awlgrip, imron,  or interlux perfection on the boat?

[wes]

My only experience is with Perfection, so that's what I plan to use again.

Wes

[Koinonia]

its good paint, very much like imron and I love both.

[Koinonia]

Hey wes, could you do me a little favor.  Im going to make a removable keel guide for my trailer just for getting the compac on and off easier.  Can you tell me what the keel thickness is?  I know your frequenting yours out of the water at the moment and it would be a big help, thanks!

    Josh

[wes]

Sure, I guess you mean the width at the widest point near the center of the keel? I will be out there this weekend and will get this info for you.

Wes

[wes]

Keel width at the bottom is approx. 9" at the widest part. This is on the 27 of course.

[Koinonia]

Thanks Wes, that will help with my removable keel guides!

[Koinonia]

Wes, how is the boat coming??? Pictures?

[wes]

Family and work stuff (plus the ridiculous amount of rain we've had in NC this spring) have kept me away from the boatyard for over a month. So nights and weekends I've plugged away at the never ending job of turning a basement full of dirty old deck and cabin hardware into a basement full of nice clean polished and restored old deck and cabin hardware. Latest task: stripping down the Lewmar ST16 winches, cleaning, lubing, replacing pawls and springs. They have a few more parts than the familiar Lewmar 6's on the 19, but overall this is comfortable territory for me after my 19 rebuilding project a couple of years ago. Note the conveniently located bottle of Pinot Noir.



Yesterday, at last, a break in the rain and therefore a boatyard day. I spent it building a better tent arrangement so I can continue working when it rains, get some shade from the brutal sun, and waste less time dealing with the tarp at the beginning and end of every work day. Here's a valuable tip: renovate a boat small enough to fit in your garage  

A-frame structures at bow and stern. The three verticals are 2x4x14', crossed at the top to form a seat for the mast. 2x4x8' cross braces at the bottom to tie the legs together. 50 lb. bags of play sand to hold the thing down.



The boom is just leaning there for storage - no structural purpose! As a 19 guy I am still in awe of how massively big the 27's mast and boom seem.



As you can see, the bottom paint has been sanded off and the hull is bare. I have a wee bit more teak to strip off (the much maligned eyebrows, and the coaming tops which seem to have been glued down with about a quart of 3M 5200 each; I despair of ever getting them off. More photos over the coming weeks, if the rain ever stops.

Wes

[Salty19]

Wes,

After much consideration and thought over years of playing the "Wouldn't it be cool if..." game, I really am digging your labor of love project and wish I could endeavor
to own a 19 and 27 as well.  OK, OK, I want another 16 too, but that would be for quick winter sails, reserving the slip for the bigger boat.
Alright, who am kidding, I don't have time to maintain 3 boats! 

Unfortunately I'm not near big water, and don't care to own a boat 2 1/2 hours one way at Lake Erie, so with 25' slip local restrictions, the 27 is out of reach. For now anyway.  I'm going to look into getting some bigger slips on the lake, but doubt that will happen.

But the 19 as you know is one fine boat too, and I'm having a blast with her sailing the local lake.  For what I'm asking it to do, it takes me there in luxury, safety, and style. But oh boy wouldn't be the 27 be fun!

So until then, I'll following your journey and just know it will be really something special when you're all done with it.

[wes]

Salty - that's a thoughtful response and I'd like to share my own thinking. I love my 19 and don't think I'll ever be able to part with her. But I grew dissatisfied with trailer sailing after a couple of years. Our lake in central NC is small compared to yours. I was spending 45 minutes to an hour driving to the lake, then 45 more to rig and launch. That's 3 hours or more lost from every sailing day, and some hot, sweaty work in the summer. Some days I'd do all that work and then: no wind. A slip wasn't an option; the lake is a state park with one marina that has a two year waiting list.

Then I discovered coastal sailing on the rivers and sounds of eastern NC. The environment is beautiful and unspoiled, the wind is consistent, and there are lots of destinations for day sails or weekend trips. Slip rentals are plentiful and cheap. The drive is 2 hours and 15 minutes, but when I get there I can go sailing; no mast to raise and no powerboat shenanigans at the ramp. Life is good.

Except that my Admiral is a nervous sailor, and when the bigger coastal wind and waves pick up she's very unhappy.

I don't want a huge boat with all the attendant costs and hassles - just something that will handle 20 knots of wind and a couple of feet of chop with, shall we say, less sense of adventure. Keeping my fingers crossed that the 27 will be a good fit.

Plus: I just love fixing up older boats.

Wes

[brackish]

I don't want a huge boat with all the attendant costs and hassles - just something that will handle 20 knots of wind and a couple of feet of chop with, shall we say, less sense of adventure. Keeping my fingers crossed that the 27 will be a good fit.

Want to know how that turns out for you.  I too am thinking about a change.  When we move to the coast (working on the house right now to get it ready to sell), I need to decide between going up in size, the rationale being similar to your thinking on the 27, or go down in size, to make it easier to single hand and set up.  I thought I would travel with the 23 more so I didn't want to be slip bound, but the truth is I don't travel that much with it and it is a hassle when I do.  So it is either larger with standing headroom for my back and an enclosed head for the Admiral, that stays in a slip all the time, or something smaller and easier to rig and launch. 

Right now, I have to travel 35 miles each way to either sail or work on the boat, and that is a pain.  Additionally, I have to retrieve it and bring it home to do any serious work because the marina limits what I can do on their property.

When I lived on the coast before, it sure was nice to drive five minutes to the harbor, step on the boat and be off.  And there were several marinas within a days sail that would let owner labor take place.

I think you may have the right idea.  Keep them both.

[wes]

So far this summer the weather gods have offered two choices, sometimes changing hourly: torrential rain or brutal heat. Sometimes just for variety they provide both at the same time.

Doubtful anyone would mistake me for Don Casey based on my boat repair skills, but modesty fails me when it comes to my tarp tenting skills, which are are the envy of the boatyard:



As you can see I've now supplemented my mast ridge-pole rig with two easily movable 2x4x12' "poles," so I can lift one side of the tarp at a time, allowing me to work on the boat in relative comfort regardless of weather, if by "relative comfort" you mean 95 degree temps, 99% humidity, and mosquitos the size of Yorkshire terriers.

Just finished my 4th straight weekend doing battle with Satan's Adhesive. So far I've used seven 12 oz. spray cans of Debond Marine Formula, which combined with temps in the 90s is doing a good job of defeating all that old 5200. This weekend in addition to removing huge quantities of it under the old Bomar hatches, I also pulled out all 144 hull to deck bolts - the sanding, masking and painting will go easier with the bolts out. It's tedious work but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. One more weekend should do it, then it's on to the next steps: dewaxing the hull and then sanding.

Amusing side note: after placing my latest order for Debond, the owner of the company actually called me up and said "Hey, I've noticed you're buying a lot of my product, I'd be glad to save you some money and sell it to you in cases of 12 cans, at the wholesale price" (about 40% off retail). I LOVE small companies. You're not going to get a call like that from West Marine.

Not so amusing side note: The Mssrs. Hutchins must have been drinking in the tiki bar with Jimmy Buffet the day they decided to glass in the interior of the hull to deck joint and in the process embed the genoa track nuts under a layer of fiberglass. Especially since only half are accessful from the bilge area, and the others require disassembling a LOT of teak trim inside the cabin and head. Did I mention the heat and humidity inside that boat? A miserable task. A rare mistake by my boys in Clearwater. But they are still way on the positive side of the Karma Ledger in my book. This is a nice boat.

Wes

[MacGyver]

Working on a  ComPac sure gives one an appreciation for the build quality of their boats.

Glad to see it still coming along Wes, keep up the good work!

Mac