Year Two of Owning a DS I

Topics primarily or specifically about the DS1. Many topics are of general interest, so please use forum sections on Rigging, Sails, etc. where appropriate.

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Re: Year Two of Owning a DS I

Postby jalmeida51 » Sat Mar 13, 2021 6:04 pm

To find out more about blisters and how to repair them, go on line to westsystems.com This guide tells you how to diagnosis, repair, prevent blisters.
It might be a good idea to check the rest of the bottom with a moisture meter to find any other blisters.

Good Luck, John
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Re: Year Two of Owning a DS I

Postby reedd » Tue Mar 16, 2021 1:40 pm

jalmeida51 wrote:To find out more about blisters and how to repair them, go on line to westsystems.com This guide tells you how to diagnosis, repair, prevent blisters.
It might be a good idea to check the rest of the bottom with a moisture meter to find any other blisters.

Good Luck, John


John -Thanks. I've been digging through the West Systems manual. Very helpful. Quick question: how fancy a moisture meter do I need. There are 50 dollar versions and 500 dollar versions. Probably not going to shell out 500, but would a $50 version provide useful information?
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Re: Year Two of Owning a DS I

Postby jalmeida51 » Tue Mar 16, 2021 4:57 pm

I never owned a moisture meter. But I was told by a marine surveyor that the real cheap ones aren't very good for finding moisture.
You could hire a surveyor to check for moisture but that wouldn't be cheap either.

Before doing these things. I would buy a small phenolic hammer about 1/2 of lb. Gently tap the bottom of the hull. Solid glass will make a solid sound a void will make a rather soft sound. This might give some you peace of mind. If you find a lot of soft spots I would get a marine surveyor to check it out with a moisture meter. You only want to do this dirty miserable job one time.

Maybe others might have some other ideas on this subject?

Best of luck, John
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Re: Year Two of Owning a DS I

Postby Slim » Wed Mar 24, 2021 6:23 pm

I would not worry too much about a moisture meter and that sort of thing. My boat was covered in blisters and cracks and what I did was while it was careened on its side went over it with edge of a dullish chisel and my paint scraper. Anywhere that was weak or blistered gave out. If it does not show any signs of weakness with gentle pressure of a sharp edge I don’t think you need to worry about it. I don’t think moisture is a big issue with our boats because the layup of fiberglass is so thin. There’s just not a lot of space for moisture to be trapped. What you need to be worried about is weak spots and if they don’t show up with a little brute force they probably aren’t an issue
DS #2077
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Re: Year Two of Owning a DS I

Postby GreenLake » Wed Mar 24, 2021 9:45 pm

I'm with @Slim here. I think most of the advice you find on this is appropriate to boats that are much larger, where hauling them out, and doing a full bottom is a major undertaking. Also, how worried you should be depends on how you store your boat. If you keep it in the water, the process of osmosis that leads to blister formation can continue. If you dry sail your boat, there's not as good a source of moisture (it would have to come out of the air) and the process should be much slowed down.
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Re: Year Two of Owning a DS I

Postby reedd » Thu Mar 25, 2021 9:30 pm

Thanks for the advice on the hull. Clearly have my work cut out for me there.

My current project for the weekend is repairing the centerboard. I'm going to use Quikfair to fair it up, and to square the hole. The challenge I've run into, though, is that there seems to be a pretty big separation on the edge of the cb. Here are a couple of pictures:

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My question is: Can I plug this up with Quikfair, or do I need to peel back the fiberglass and lay down new cloth? If I did that, it feels like I'd have to peel back about one-half of the lower part of the cb. That seems a bit extreme. Are centerboards generally hollow? If so, then it seems like plugging up the space here makes sense.

Any advice welcome.
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Re: Year Two of Owning a DS I

Postby GreenLake » Thu Mar 25, 2021 10:13 pm

Quickfair is perhaps not as strong as you might like on the edges. (It's better on flat surfaces/cracks).

I've used 3M High Strength Marine Filler (or whatever the current precise product name is) which is a Vinylester resin filled with chopped glass fibers. That one is definitely strong enough for situations where it "sticks out" well above a surface, or where it provides a new edge.

You can then use the Quickfair for minor fairing.

Alternatively, you do rough fairing first, then put a layer of cloth over any parts that require a bit of strength/abrasion resistance.

You can also make your own goop of epoxy and chopped strands; unless you have a thickener, it may be a bit runny, so you may have to find a way to hold it in place.

What I would not contemplate, just for the edges, is a complete new layup. That seems overkill.
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Re: Year Two of Owning a DS I

Postby reedd » Sat Apr 10, 2021 3:20 pm

So, a combination of work, cold weekends and other activities has slowed work on the centerboard repair. But that will be tomorrow. Just for an update (if anyone is interested) I opened up the bulkhead last weekend and pulled out the waterlogged styrofoam. Not completely waterlogged, but a few bricks felt really heavy. The fore bulkhead produced about 1 and 1/2 large garbage bags full -- my guess it it weight 10-15 pounds. I'll do under the seats next. Will put in the observation ports later and pool noodles, but now just letting things dry out before I seal the hull. If anyone is interested, here are some photos showing how I did it.

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Tomorrow, tackling the centerboard repair.
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Re: Year Two of Owning a DS I

Postby GreenLake » Sat Apr 10, 2021 3:49 pm

Very nice!
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Re: Year Two of Owning a DS I

Postby reedd » Thu May 20, 2021 4:22 pm

Update on repairs, etc to get my boat back in the water: Lack of time and space means I'm having the boatyard put on a barrier coat and anti-fouling bottom coat, while fixing the few blisters that are there. The inspection ports are mostly done and the centerboard just needs an afternoon and then a quick paint job. Which leaves me to my next big question for the experts here: the standing rigging seems really loose and the turnbuckles don't seem to tighten enough. I've measured the rigging and it seems as though it is the newer 3/16ths rigging, so that's good.

But here's a photo showing the floppy rigging:
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These shrouds seem pretty loose to me. So I tried to tighten up the turnbuckle, but they have a real hard time turning. One of them is slightly bent, as shown here:

2870.
The top nut can't go beyond that slight bend in the threads, so I can't pull up the slack and turn the thumbscrew.

So I have this new part from the previous owner that would seem to replace the bent threads, but I have no idea how to put it on the rigging:

2871

Any thoughts?
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Re: Year Two of Owning a DS I

Postby GreenLake » Thu May 20, 2021 7:15 pm

If you have a boat yard, they may have or know of a rigger.
I think there may be a press-fit involved, in which case you have to have a specialized tool.
Any competent rigging shop should be able to help you out.

I have that style rigging, but it's not supposed to be adjusted under load.

What my DS1 has is a mast jack. There's a massive 1" threaded bronze rod that sticks out from the mast step and a big circular nut that can be turned to move up or down. That way, you connect the loose stays when the mast is down, then apply tension by turning the nut on the mast jack.

The individual adjustments in the fittings are just to "balance" things, that is to set the lengths such that with tension applied by the mast jack, the rig is centered left/right and has the proper forestay tension and mast rake.

Just a way, essentially, to ship replacement rigging w/o having to cut it to size for a specific boat.

What does your mast step look like?
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Re: Year Two of Owning a DS I

Postby jalmeida51 » Thu May 20, 2021 9:19 pm

The fitting some call it a barrel needs to be swaged. Insert the stainless wire into the barrel and using a swaging tool you compress the barrel around the wire. You will need to cut off your old barrel so be sure you have enough length of the shroud. You will have to find a boat yard or a rigger that has a swaging tool. You might have to go to a rigging shop due to the cost of the tool. Don't go to your local West Marine what they have are the tools to do nicro-press fittings. Not for swaging. Find a rigging shop that has a Kearney Swaging tool. A properly done swage is stronger than the stainless steel wire. Give Rudy a call at D&R Marine, he makes up sets of shrouds. I should have said sells. I don't know if he makes the shrouds or a local rigging shop? He is a great source of information.

You can go online to UTube and there is a video on using the Kearney Swaging tool that might explain the swaging process better.

John
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Re: Year Two of Owning a DS I

Postby GreenLake » Fri May 21, 2021 2:27 am

Thanks for adding those details.

I want to see whether @rreed has a mast jack!
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Re: Year Two of Owning a DS I

Postby reedd » Fri May 21, 2021 9:00 am

No, no mast jack. The mast just rests on a plate (I do have a tabernacle). Is that something that you can add on? Ie, does Rudy sell them?

I'll check out the local boatyard and see if they do rigging. What's the going rate for this sort of thing?

Thanks for all your help!

Doug
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Re: Year Two of Owning a DS I

Postby jalmeida51 » Fri May 21, 2021 10:23 am

Doug,

Try your local boat yard and if they don't do swaging maybe they can recommend a local rigging shop?
West Marine has 8 rigging shops around the country, give them a call and ask them for a price. Most West Marine Stores don't have the tools needed to swage.

I had 3/32 shrouds on my Daysailer 1 and they were so stretched I couldn't get the right tension on them. I ordered 1/8 shrouds and turnbuckles from D&R. If your shrouds are original I would consider making a upgrade to 1/8.

John
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