Have had the yacht for 7 months now so I thought it was about time I updated this thread. The most obvious change is the colour & the removal of the decking material that I disliked so much, The deck covering was sticky backed plastic, which was warmed up using a hot air gun & peeled off. Unfortunately it left most of the glue on the deck, which was removed using a spirit based cleaner & a plastic scraper.
While the deck was bare, I moved the front sheeting tube as far forward as possible, to allow a longer sheeting line run. This gave me twice as much sheet movement than was required to open the rig fully, so I ran the sheet through the eye on the boom & attached it to the eye in the deck. So now for every inch of sheet movement I get, the boom only moves half on that distance, allowing me better fine control over the rig.
All the wood on the boat was in good condition, so it was rubber down with 320 grit paper & given 2 coats on 2 pack primer. Once fully dry, it was rubbed down with 500 grit dry. the bottom of the hull was painted metallic black & the deck was painted with a rainbow pearl silver, which flips several different colours when the sun hits it. The whole boat was then given 2 coats of 2 pack laquer, which I over thinned by 300%. i.e. instead of adding 20% thinner, I added 60%.
Once dry the whole thing was wet flatted by machine using 4000 grit & polished, again by machine, using G3 compound & then 3m’s Finesse It, to give a mirror finish.
The changes to the sheeting have worked well, giving much greater control over the rig, especially noticeable when pulled in tight.
Sailing & setting up a swing rig has been a steep learning curve ( & still is ), but I am getting there. I can honestly say I haven’t missed a weekends sailing since I bought this boat & have also done several week day sessions too. This is without doubt the best £80 I have ever spent.
Cheers Glenn