Plastic Classic Forum

Taking a look at Bill's excellent Bolero project reminded me that it's fun to read these pages, especially in the off season! I've gotten a lot of help here on the forum, so it's only fair that I share what we've done with our boat. A year ago we bought a Shields in bad shape, with the intention to ...

Way to go! She looks really beautiful in the water. The best part is yet to come; sailing these boats is amazing fun.

Recently had a bit of personal experience with this kind of thing: http://shields88.blogspot.com/2008/05/we-are-almost-having-fun-yet.html We used awlgrip all around, and mixed their medium gray 1:6 with matterhorn white. It was surprisingly dark, but we liked it a lot. I guess what I'm trying to sa...

Just had the same problem on our Shields' hull/deck joint. Was faced with an extremely unattractive prospect of grinding it all off in a tight space. Instead I broke down and bought a fein multimaster, which made a long dirty job fast and easy (like 4 hours) The tool has a flat saw blade that seems ...

All,

Ended up waiting until the boat was outside and the yard used their forklift to bring the boat up while we put wood blocks under. This was easy as we have a single point lift.

http://bp1.blogger.com/_ifoPhvg9GMo/R_Q ... G_2355.JPG

Cheers,
Kristian

Had to cut out an oval section of 1 1/4" G10 fiberglass for a mast step support today. Tried using a high speed steel metal cutting blade, which did fine for about the first 1/2". Even resting it and trying to keep it cool the blade burnt out after about a minute of cutting. Instead of bur...

1x19 is plenty flexy for lifelines. 5/32" 1x19 coils onto pretty small spooks just fine, with no kinking or loss of strength. Think about upper shrouds passing over a spreader tip and making that sharp bend. Or 2 legged backtay adjusters (like j22). The only thing it won't do is replace a gate ...

I sure do like the idea of an internal 4:1 or 5:1 outhaul for your boat, but it means you're likely going to have to install an exit block, make a wire pennant, new small blocks, another exit (unless you can go through the gooseneck) and a cleat. If you're up for that, you can make a great functioni...

Sorry, been away for a while and just checked this. But heres my after the fact thoughts. Sounds like you're doing right by replacing the mast. The crack can be prevented from propogating by drilling as Tim described, better yet welded. The corrosion under the spreader bases isn't terrible, but woul...

A couple thoughts on lifelines: Spectra lifelines: I would not put these on a cruising boat, nor any boat that goes offshore. They're great for small racing boats (like said M24, although you can make a case for that being a Hiking Line) , as they're light, strong and easy to replace, but UV and cha...

Discovered today it also softens interlux brightside which has been applied in a single coat over unsanded gelcoat (long story on how that got there) I had a little overspray yesterday and today it softened and wrinkled the paint. This is a good reminder to always test a product on a hidden location...

I also had an old tube of 5200 lying around, so I glued up a couple test samples for more testing. More on that later.

You can get the stuff at Hamilton, among other places.

http://store.hamiltonmarine.com/browse. ... 5.659.html

Was removing the jib tracks from Shields 88 today, and found to my chagrin that some malevolent bastard had 5200'd them onto the deck. Seemed like a good opportunity to try out the can of Debond I picked up a while back. I used it once on a hydraulic panel, but there was barely any 5200 there. Our j...

Long toggles are very new, and just made it into the manuals/parts lists in Nov I think. Should be available everywhere by spring I'd imagine. Rigging Only usually has good people working there so I'd imagine they just haven't gotten any in yet. Confused on material differences between MkIV and Crui...

Surprised to hear that they're not recommending the Cruising version. The changes over the past year have been the replacement of the single MkIII line with MkIV and Cruising lines. The differences between the IV and the Cruising furlers have to do with the luff grooves and head and tack swivels. Di...

Since the turnbuckle body is 3/8" you can swap out the ends for threaded toggle jaws. These would give you the 3/8" pin size and a toggle instead of a fork. IIRC the hayn part is 38TJRH or LH (right and left hand threads) and each costs around $14. A new toggle/toggle turnbuckle would cost...

Once the yard reopens in Jan, I think I'll try and get the boat out to the crane and just lift the boat. If thats not possible I've got a few weeks to try and figure out how to get the boat up by jacking the trailer. The backs easy, as the boat overhangs the trailer by about 10' in back, and the aft...

Why Dyform? If using Hi Mod fittings, be aware that they don't yet make a comp. eye fitting for 3/16" wire with a 5/16" (MS) pin. You can get a swaged aircraft eye for that, but that kind of defeats the self sufficiency aspect. So I would think 3/8" turnbuckles are a better fit. It lo...

Our Shields is on a trailer, and the keel sits in at the bottom of a narrow U Channel, about 12" wide and 4 deep. Take a look at shields88.blogspot.com for any number of boring photos of the keel. Im trying to work on the keel, and need to reach the underside, which is pretty much impossible wh...