Well as some of you know I went ahead and bought a sailboat because I've always wanted one, had a chance to sail on a few boats and fell in love so for the past year I've been looking for sailboats on the various for sale outlets out there.

 

So about two weeks back I finally came across one of the sailboats I've been looking at a Rebel 16ft sailboat. It was practically right in my backyard stored at South Shore marine in West Milford. The seller only wanted 300 dollars and said it came on a trailer with sails and all the rigging. Based on the price I knew it was going to be in rough shape. So I went over there and checked it out and it definitely was in rough shape. But the fiberglass was all solid with no soft spots. I had my friend who works at the marine check it out and he said the same thing. So I emailed the lady back, got her down to 225 and the following week I was the proud owner of a sailboat.

 

I knew right away before I would be able to get the boat home I would have to replace both rims and tires along with at least one side of bearings. So today I went to the trailer place and picked up all the needed parts. I just spent from 6pm til 9pm working on one side of the trailer. The old bearings were completely disintegrated without a single needle bearing to be found. The inside part of the bearings were rusted solid onto the axle to which I had to actually cut 90% through them and then use a metal chisel to snap them apart in order to get them off. Then putting the new bearing races into the hub was another disaster but I finally got it to happen so I now have one side of the trailer with all new parts.

 

Tomorrow I plan on doing the otherside and bringing the boat and trailer home hopefully!

 

Will post pictures either tomorrow when I get it home or Thursday when I step the mast up to start to take inventory on all the rigging that I'm actually missing that the lady said was there.

 

I'll also keep a running tally of what I have spent on the boat to date.

 

Boat/trailer/sails - $225

Tires & Bearings & spare tire - $191

Misc sanding supplies - $55

Assorted rigging & new centerboard - &225

All new lines & some rigging components - $223.39

Various rigging components - $150.71

 

Total invested - $1,070.10

 

Whewwww boy there goes the budget!

Sounds fun - is this a little 2 person boat?

It's raced by two people, it can be sailed solo but it can hold up to 6 people for a day sail if wanted.

 

So far I'm having fun and all I've worked on is the trailer so far. It's been a while since I've wrenched on anything now that I don't have jeeps and fast cars anymore so this should be really fun. I'm hoping to have it back in the water by September for the good fall winds we have here on greenwood lake.

 

My plan is to sand down the whole boat and repaint the bottom in a blue color and the top in a white color. Marine paint isn't cheap, looks like its going to cost me about a 100 bucks for each color of paint because I need a gallon of each. That's painful!

Congrats! It will be a fun project. I just recently went through such a restoration with my father. We used an epoxy barrier coat under the bottom paint. It's probably not a good idea to do that if the fiberglass is thin and prone to flex. While it's held up on the 27' Ericson, it might crack on a lightweight racing boat.

 

Getting the old bottom paint off was a real **** to say the least. Chemical strippers span the gamut from adequately effective (and ridiculously toxic) to "just makes things worse". If it says "green", it probably doesn't work I say the best way is to use a vacuum sander... and wear respirators. Buy LOTS of sanding discs as it clogs them quick. While you're under it you might check the packing gland, and consider replacing it with a dripless if you have the cash.

 

Also, the scuppers went to a through-hull that was too high, so water often ran into the cockpit. If you anticipate needing to move the through-hulls or shorten the hoses, best to do it now.

 

Resist the urge to shave the keel a touch for a bit of reloading lead

 

Good luck!

I'll also keep a running tally of what I have spent on the boat to date.

 

Boat/trailer/sails - $225

Tires & Bearings & spare tire - $180

 

Total invested - $405

 

Don't kid yourself Matt. You have only BEGUN to flush money into that boat. That is what Boats do. But we love them anyway. Enjoy!

Well I already know I have to spend 125 dollars in blocks for the rigging, another 200 dollars in rope for the rigging.

 

Looking at expoxy paints it looks like the underside paint is going to run me 180 and the topside paint with undercoater is going to be about 120.

 

The rudder I got with the boat will be useable for the summer but next year will have to be replaced with a new fiberglass one so I'll be dumping about 400 dollars there.

 

The sails are in decent shape, i give them a few years but replacement cost will be anywhere from 1400-1800 dollars for new sails.

 

The top side of all of this is, to get the boat back in the water this year with the purchase price of the boat I'll be looking at somewhere of 1200 dollars. After I've replaced everything a similar boat in this market will cost north of 2000 dollars.

 

The biggest plus is, the lake I live on has a club that actually race this boat and those people have been phenomenal with helping me out and getting me into it. This Saturday one of the guys is actually going to put me in his boat and let me race with him to teach me the ropes.

 

The only downside to this boat is it can't be used as an over nighter. When I originally was looking I wanted something I could sleep in overnight if I wanted to. Now it seems the chances of me doing an over nighter are slim to none, so I'm happy I went with a more racer style boat instead of a cruiser.

 

Robot, do you remember exactly what kind of paint you guys used for the bottom. I'm looking at the Pettit Vivid for the bottom which is 180 dollars a gallon I almost had a heart attach when I saw that. And Pettit Easypoxy for the top side at about 80 dollars a gallon and also requiring an undercoater at 50 bucks.

Good luck with it, I have never worked on a boat but, restoration work is always very difficult and it includes lots of unpaid hours of hard work to the person who owns it. I restore military vehicles for my collection all the time and everything always cost way more then expected.

Easypoxy is an inexpinsive topside paint, you will have to keep it waxed and take very good care of it to keep it from chalking and growing mold on it.

 

It is not hard to take care of as long as you do not let it go..

 

orpine wash and wax works very well to keep this paint looking good.

 

Just be carefull waxing areas you walk on, you can also add non skid to paint that will be walked on.

Congrats, my wife just sold her Vagabond so that is one less vehicle I have to maintain. But she swears it was fun while she had it.

 

I actually have some 3M Marine compound and wax if you're ever in the neighborhood you can have it.

Congrats Matt! As you've already been told: Boat = Hole in the water into which you pour money, but you already knew that. It's been close to 40 years since I sailed last, but those summers are looked back upon fondly. Used to crew on a Thistle - probably similar in size to what you have. IIRC, the Thistle was 17 feet long and carried 175 sq ft of sail. Used to race them at Lake Glendale in Western PA. There was also a large fleet of Flying Jr's and, of course, the ubiquitous Sailfish & Sunfish.

 

Is the Rebel a centerboard boat? At that size, I assume it carries a mainsail and a jib - did you get a spinnaker with it also? Not familiar with that model, but it certainly is nice that you have a fleet of them at your local lake. Good luck with your project.

 

Adios,

 

Pizza Bob

Hey Tony can you recommend a paint that is sort of maintenance free. I hateeeeeeeeeee maintenance lol

 

Dreck I may definitely take you up on that offer thanks!!

 

Bob it is a centerboard boat but it was designed only to run a mainsail and a jib no spinnaker or anything extra like that. I believe it's got something like 150 sq ft of sail and they supposedly get moving pretty good if you have good wind.

 

Everyone I've talked to always says they have great memories of sailing so that's what I'm going for.

Everyone I've talked to always says they have great memories of sailing so that's what I'm going for.

 

Matt - as usual, you are late to the party. Your boat will be ready to go in the water right about December 25th if I calculate correctly...

Matt - as usual, you are late to the party. Your boat will be ready to go in the water right about December 25th if I calculate correctly...

There's always next year... or the year after.

Actually I work on projects quite quickly. I work quick on anything I enjoy working on. So I pretty much guarantee this boat will be in the water by Sept 1st.

 

The other benefit is it doesn't need that much work. The thing that's going to take me the longest is sanding down the existing paint to get the boat ready for paint. Hopefully I can get some space at my buddies auto body shop possibly to speed up the process.

 

M

Matt, make sure you put bearing buddies on the trailer and keep them greased and you should never have to mess with bearings again! Congrats on the boat. Sounds like a fun project, too bad you live so far away as I would have volunteered to help a bit. So, if this is a trailer boat, it does not need any antifouling paint, right? I used to work at Boater's World before they went under, it was a fun job and I used to get fantastic discounts on all my botom paint, waxes, compounds, zincs etc.

 

I think I have a gallon kit of Petit Epoxy Barrier Coat in the garage but that would not help you if you are not putting on a bottom paint. Idealy, you should shoot the boat in Awlgrip if you can get it into the body shop (you really need a positive pressure respirator to shoot that stuff if you like your lungs). Interlux Brightside gives good results for do-it-yourselfers and only has to be waxed twice a season to keep it shining. Orpine stuff is top shelf! I also like the Meguar's Boat Wax in the black bottle for detailing our big boat.

 

Good luck with the project and keep us posted on your progress.

Hey John I am actually planning on using a hard antifouling paint as the boat is probably going to be kept in the water the whole season and then just trailered home at the end of the season.

Boat

From Urban Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Boat (disambiguation).

 

A boat is a hole in the ocean that you pour money into.

 

It is also a watercraft of any size designed to float or plane, to provide passage across water. Usually this water will be inland (lakes) or in protected coastal areas. However, boats such as the whaleboat were designed to be operated from a ship in an offshore environment. In naval terms, a boat is a vessel small enough to be carried aboard another vessel (a ship). Another less restrictive definition is a vessel that can be lifted out of the water. Strictly speaking and uniquely a submarine is a boat as defined by the Royal Navy. Some boats too large for the naval definition include the Great Lakes freighter, riverboat, narrowboat and ferryboat.

Hey John I am actually planning on using a hard antifouling paint as the boat is probably going to be kept in the water the whole season and then just trailered home at the end of the season.

 

 

Hmm, I'll look in the garage and see what I have. I would STRONGLY recommend using ablative bottom paint!

Oh yeah, and it is B O A T, as in Break Out Another Thousand!

Oh yeah, and it is B O A T, as in Break Out Another Thousand!

 

Bent Over A Ton

 

Bruised Once Again Thanks

I've heard for racing hulls the hard antifouling is the way to go compared to the ablative but I could be wrong.

 

And yeah I need to spend my money somewhere to energize the economy, might as well spend it on boats as well as guns.

A boat is a hole in the ocean that you pour money into.

 

 

Well there is a big plus, he get one more excited day from most boat owners.

 

#1, the day he bought it, that's a lot of fun

 

#2 the day he finishes, stands back looks at the great work and goes out for the first time on the water.

 

#3 The day he sells it and is done with it.

 

I do want to do #1 and #2 one of these day myself.

 

Harry

I have re-done several wooden boats over the years. One was a 16' Thomson runabout and another was a 1948 36' Chris Craft Sedan Cruiser. Lots of work and lots of fun! Plus I have worked on many fiberglass boats over the past 30+ years.

 

I am sure hard anti-fouling is better for a sailboat because you can polish it and it may give you a tiny amount of speed. The problem is when you have the boat out for the winter, it will oxidize and has to be repainted the next season to give you anti-fouling properties. Ablative does not oxidize when out of the water and can last two or three seasons before needing to be re-coated. so a. you do not have to paint the bottom every year and b. you do not build up thick layers of dead paint.

ahhh this is very important / interesting information! Thanks for the heads up John I will definitely have to now reconsider my options.

 

Tony I know your out there, what other paints should I be looking at both type and manufacturer?

 

Thanks

M

We used Interlux-- They make antifouling race boat paint that is smoother than standard bottom paint.

Well here she is, my shining star of a boat lol

 

 

 

 

I do believe I'm missing an autobailer here hmmmmmm

 

Look at that fine paint job!!

 

 

Tonight I had a friend stop by and we both went to town with scrapers and knocked off pretty much all of the flaked up paint. Then we broke out the sanders and started sanding and that's when we broke down in laughter and tears. This old paint just is not coming off with the sander.

 

Looks like tomorrow I'll be stopping at the hardware store and picking up some paint scrapers that have the built in razor blades to try and take it down to the gelcoat and then stand from there.

 

Also found a bunch of cracks in the gelcoat which I'm hoping doesn't go down into the fiberglass. Going to have to figure out what the best way to patch that up will be.

 

Will get some pictures of the progress up tomorrow after I'm done doing some work.

She sure looks like a worth while project! I almost got a sailboat like that earlier this year but somebody beat me to it.

 

Go to the Auto Store and buy a gallon of paint remover for fiberglass cars (corvettes). You can also get this at West Marine but it probably costs a lot more. Get some plastic sheeting, brush on the paint remover and cover with plastic sheets so it does not evaporate too fast. Then scrape off all the layers of paint. I have done several vettes (and a whole '63 Impala)that way. Took me all day to do the Impala!

 

Fill in small cracks with marine polyester body filler then sand and prime (or spray it will gelcoat).

I would hit it with the pressure washer just to see what happens...

Thanks for the heads up John. I will stop by my autoparts store tomorrow and see if they got anything. That would most definitely help!