Anyone for Applejack? incorporating 'Adventures of Applejack' ®

[GeeW]

Having been lurking for the last 6 months I though it time that I showed my hand so to speak.
Having bought our 1991 CP16/3 ( #2767 'Applejack') back in the late Autumn of last year it has been a relief to be finally able to get cracking with the refit.  That "Real Life" stuff really spoils the important parts of out lives at times?
The first thing we did was strip her out to reveal the full scope of works required. The usual culprits were all there...hull to deck joint, a cracked fore-hatch, stanchion base damage, saturated keel...oh what fun!
Removed the woodwork and have been rubbing it all down and re-coating it. Final few bits should be finished by next weekend unless some more of that "Real Life" nonsense gets in the way as it is apt to do.
Once the rubbing strips were removed it revealed that she was bolted together rather than riveted which has made the reworking of the hull-deck joint a bit easier. Several hours work using an oscillating saw with an old blade, soon had the joint nicely cleaned out. A couple of tubes of 3M 5200 later and job done...well all except the obligatory swearing getting the rubbing strip back where it ought to be !
A good search on t'internet soon had a new fore-hatch located and at a very sensible price for a change. Last weekend had the old one ousted and the new one fitted. Today I refitted the inner trim piece. Looks good. Well I think so.
Before we put her into storage (my partners daughters garage 200 miles up the road) I drilled a couple of M6 holes into the keel to let the water drain out. Quite a bit of water came out over the first month, but nothing since. The boat has been parked out on her trailer for the last couple of years prior to our purchasing her. Another  cause of the water ingress was revealed to be some damage which had been poorly repaired round a stanchion base just forwards of the cockpit. That is looking like next weekends 'fun' task, unless I can find something better to do.
The main hatch washboard is going to be replaced, so as I was at my favourite wood-yard today I bought the ply for that. I am thinking of splitting it 60/40 as it is often useful due to the famed Great British Weather......ie 11 months of rain followed by a month of bad weather.
Once we have completed the above then it is onto the interior, which as always, we hope will not take to long <hands up all who believe that ?>

When we do eventually get to float her it will be in Chichester Harbour and the Solent, that is the patch of water that keeps the Isle of Wight the right distance from the rest of the UK which is a great sailing area.
Gordon

[Craig]

Ah, "Believe me my (young) friend nothing, absolutely nothing, is is half so worthwhile as messing about in boats" Written by one of your countrymen and never said better! Welcome to the forum! Nice to have you here. Keep us posted and hope to see some pics! Chichester Harbour and the Solent....legendary sailing grounds. Very cool to have a Compac there!

[GeeW]

Craig
Thanks for the reply. I will get round to the images bit shortly.

[GeeW]

Quick update.
The previous owner had drilled through the hull to mount both log and depth senders. I have an aversion to holes being drilled in the bottom of boats so both of these were removed and repairs scarfed  and laid in. It was not the most pleasant of jobs laying head-first in a bunk using a mini grinder to get the scarfs about there. Laying up wasn't much of a laugh either now I think of it. But hey, one bad day to make a thousand good days possible...well worth the effort!
As my other job is mending composite sailplanes  I am quite at home throwing glass about, and it was a joy not to be worrying about the weight all the time for a change!
Bow light and stern lights have been replaced with new wires led to the base of the compression post. Mast rewired and deck plug and socket replaced.
Rudder foiling is coming along. Hope to be glassing it this weekend if I can keep the Admiral off my case long enough (c;

Getting to the stage of thinking once the rudder is finished we'll go and throw it in the water for a weekend before we finish the interior as the summer goes so quickly.

Gordon

[GeeW]

Yet another update!
Rudder glassed, filled and faired, first coat of primer applied and rubbed back. The glass went on far better than I had hoped and was an easy job.
Halyard eyes re-spliced. Last job of today was buying a couple more cans of primer.
Also managed to do some more on the interior in that we managed to sort out the ditty bags which are used for mobile phones and other personal junk that we always seem to have on board.....

[GeeW]

Progress continues well.  If we can get a basic boom tent sorted this Sunday then, weather gods permitting, we will finally get to go for a sail next weekend. for a shakedown sail and to enjoy our boat at last.
Assuming that happens then I promise some images.
Gordon

[deisher6]

Hey GeeW:
Sounds as if your C-16 is getting the loving care it deserves.
How about some pictures?
regards charlie

[MKBLK]

Best of luck with your "new" CP16. I understand that the Solent is quite an intimidating body of water with huge tides and currents. I know that you Brits are kind of stuck on an island and have no choice but to deal with it if you want to go anywhere. I would think that your choice of a ComPac Yacht is an excellent one. You'll not find a sturdier craft, for sure. Nice to "hear" from a fellow CP owner over the pond. Please keep us advised of your adventures.

Marty K.
81 CP16 Pegasus

[GeeW]

Thanks for the comments and we did achieve the target of getting boom tent sorted.
We will be looking seriously at weather on Wednesday evening to make go/ no-go decision. Fingers crossed.

Gordon

[GeeW]

Well, it happened, and jolly good it was too....even the bit I misjudged ever so slightly...you'd never know really except for the images showing the evidence!

Easy launch at our usual slip, although unknown to us they had added another steeper slip next to the old slip. We used the shallow slip to launch and the steeper one to recover. We will be using the steeper one to launch next time...it was so easy. The time honoured rituals upon the launching of a 'new' boat were duly observed.

Saturday we launched at HW (lunchtime), motored down Mengham Rithe and picked up a mooring to give us a chance to sort the boat out and stow all the gear. Then off we went for a sail up Emsworth Channel in about F2. We even had the company of one of the harbour seals for a short time. At the end of the afternoon I decided to pick up a vacant mooring in Mill Rithe as it is very quiet, given we haven't been there for the best part of 7 or 8 years and the bar across the entrance moves ......can you see where this is going yet???

Motoring in gently we didn't even feel it decelerate and stop in the ultra soft mud.

We were then treated to a couple of hours on the putty whilst the remaining tide went away, and came back. It did make for a nice unhurried afternoon tea. We even had our own little island for about half the time so I managed to go walk-about to get a couple of images of my 'Faux Pas'.

Once safely on a mooring the boom tent was given its first airing. Mostly good, a couple of minor mods required before our scheduled weeks sailing in about a months time.

Sunday we sailed up to Emsworth, which is a delightful old town  http://www.emsworthonline.co.uk/history.htm . In the afternoon we were lucky enough to sail in company with 'Terror' which is a local restored Oyster boat built about 1880. Always nice to see her out and about. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terror_(boat).
Spotted the only other ComPac that I have seen in the UK a CP23 on a mooring at Emsworth.

Monday  a bit more wind, SW top of F3 so we went out of Chichester harbour and had a really nice sail round the Eastern end of the Solent. Much of the time we achieved 4.5 to 5.0 kts (corrected for tidal stream) with occasional bursts of about 1/2 knot faster. The little CP16 handled the usual Solent chop quite happily.

Tuesday very little wind so had a lie in and then a gentle sail back up to our slipway. Packed up and came home.
A great  long weekend shakedown cruise.

My impressions of 'Applejack' are that it's a great little boat. We had no trouble packing for 4 days. The cabin is great so long as both of you don't want to do to much at the same time...about the same on all trailer sailers really.
The foiled rudder was well worth the effort.
Speed and leeway were OK, having sailed quite a lot of small trailer sailers I would say it's comparable with plenty of others.  The admiral was impressed with the stability.
If someone can post images on my behalf I would happily email them over.

Regards

Gordon

[GeeW]

Tim
2x e-mails sent.

[MKBLK]

C'mon Tim, I can't wait to see those pics!

Marty K.

Thanks Tim, photos from Gordon are super. Nice to see the Com-Pac in its element.

[Tim Gardner]

Pics posted here in the original post from Gordo.  Sorry for the delay.

Great pics Gordon!

[GeeW]

Tim
Many thanks for adding the images on my behalf, much appreciated.

Regards

Gordon

[GeeW]

We spent this weekend lining the cabin, having been re-assured that there are now no leaks.
The master pan is for a weeks sailing  later this month.
Option 1 is to trail up to the Norfolk Broads , those familiar with  the Swallows & Amazons series of books (Big 6 and Coot Club) will already be familiar with the scenery!
Option 2 is a weeks sailing along the UK south Coast starting from the Solent...which way we go will depend on the weather gods.
Option 3 is to trail down to Plymouth (from whence the 'Mayflower' departed...one or 2 of you may recollect the name....) and have  a weeks sailing in the Sound and other bays local to that.
We will of course be taking camera and GoPro so will report back with images/vids...unless it rains all week in which case Option 4 is to sit in a selection of rather nice olde worlde pubs all week.........
Quite fancy option 4 myself but we will see what the Great British Weather has to offer us first!

Gordon