Plastic Classic Forum

Tom Young

Two of us Listers are vacationing in Rockport next week. I understand that there has not been much snow there, 'pathetic', but I surely look forward to the respite! We expect to see some of the locals and hope to see others. We'll have computers along, and internet access; get in touch! . What will...

Tom Young

pjesus wrote: I kinda understand what you're saying but the snowboard on your feet doesn't necessarily make you a hooligan. Of course it does. National statistics show snowboarders are 6.5 times more likely to commit the following crimes: 1. Flattening the mogul fields because they don't know how t...

Tom Young

Where sailing and skiing meet for us is at the top of our local Camden Snowbowl. You can look out over Penobscot Bay and islands beyond to the North Atlantic. I often linger on this part of the mountain taking in the view. And of course, I think of sailing my way through the islands below. Mary Ann ...

Tom Young

I'm impressed with how strong this mahogany rudder built in 1961 still is. Don't coat it, don't cover it. Let it sway in the water in season, and swing in the breeze all winter. After taking it apart, I don't think the halfway point is reached yet. http://949.reno2.com/download/file.php?id=134&m...

Tom Young

The bolts may just be threaded rod Bryon and they could end short of the last piece. In that case, you may find a little dutchman sort of wood patch covering the other end. They would likely be oval shaped to leave room to turn a wrench. Here's my rudder before reassembly. There not the same constru...

Tom Young

I'm sure that would work but I'd be inclined to do what tpi suggested, especially if the drifts or bolts are easy to get to. The tiller generates quite a bit of torque where it meets the rudder, especially in heavy conditions. Those bolts handle that torque keeping the tiller and rudder working as o...

Tom Young

when I began removing my stanchions for covering the boat acouple years ago. And speaking of stanchions, this old design of bronze stanchions that slide into their bronze bases with a heavy cast dovetail fit, seem just about perfect to me. They're locked with a 1/4" screw at the base but in fac...

Tom Young

I helped a friend put one in his Cheoy Lee 31. I had one on my last boat and we loved it. He liked the idea so I helped him design it and he built it in. He thinks it's really improved his boat. The CL31 is narrow but it's comfortable for two adults or a few kids. http://lh6.ggpht.com/_ASREr4k7ZNQ/S...

Tom Young

Good question. These boats like ours did have in mind a good sized crew when the seating arrangements were designed. But that's not the best for two, which is how many boats are used. My first thought is to reduce the table as you suggest. One of the few changes I made to my boat was to cut the cent...

Tom Young

I don't really know. Because it lives under a cover, I've never stripped that boom in the 10 years I've owned the boat and simply add a maintenance coat every spring. By the looks of the thickness, that's been going on for at least half the life of the boat which was built in 1961. Some varnish is v...

Tom Young

That's a good logical explanation Tim. The lift is also felt raising the board close hauled. It takes some muscle to get it moving as I suppose it's pinned against the slot. It takes no effort at all while anchored or motoring or headed off the wind. I also put a new pin in this spring (went back to...

Tom Young

Does anyone have one? The Alden Challenger like many CCA designs from the era, has a long keel with a bronze centerboard. It's not unusual to hear owners say they can't really tell a difference between having the board raised or lowered. I can understand that as this is not the dramatic situation su...

Tom Young

I've made a few trips to the Fox Island Thoroughfare in western Penobscot Bay lately, just to sail it. We're usually running through it headed east or west along the coast. It's a remarkable stretch of water that dog legs between North Haven and Vinalhaven Islands. The sailing through appears to be ...

Tom Young

and made his way to Rockport. We don't see many transients, off the milk run, no stores, and a little exposed, you have to be adventurous to spend the night in Rockport Harbor. So the Allens are, they rowed over to my mooring to introduce themselves this week. Very nice folks. I took this shot as th...

Tom Young

Always a good feeling.

Tom Young

Although the Alden Challengers are glass hull and deck, the rudders were built of wood. One bolt had sheered off and another was just hanging on to what was left of the bronze after nearly 50 years. After removing the old parts, I got what I needed in new bronze at Rockport Marine in town. All in al...

Tom Young

Try it in very light air first. It sounds like you'll have to set it from the mast. The biggest problem with a chute from a turtle bag (no sock) is wrapping the headstay. For that reason, I like the chute on a broad reach. I'll set the pole end and guy where it want it leaving the sheet a little loo...

Tom Young

I'm starting to put some Epiphanes Classic varnish on the locker doors I stripped and sanded this winter and am wondering about everyones approach to adding coats. Do you sand lightly between every coat or just after a couple to help flatten to surface? I know what it says on the can but it also sa...

Tom Young

alot. Too much. With our crew now 17 and 18, they still come aboard for a week or two with us for a summer cruise. We run our laptops on two seperate small inverters. One I think is just 150 watt or so. The only problem is running down the house bank in a hurry. That's been giving me some insight in...

Tom Young

So when you mount it by fastening the screws into the edge of the plywood, you hold it down to so the edge tightens onto the laminate. It forms a good fit. The pieces on my boat are welded and also rim the companiionway ladder which is let into the coutnertop. How were you able to post that photo? I...

Tom Young

I talked to my friend who does the stainless work......For a modest price of between $9.5 and $11.5 K you too can have a stainless galley similar to that in the photo providing you are willing to do all the measuring and provide him a full set of drawings. Ohhhh yeah, you must also do the installat...

Tom Young

This system is clearly a little suspect for serious cruising work. It can be improved mightily by improving, or ensuring, the quality of the filler. The filler could be solid 'glass drilled and tapped for machine screws. The solid glass could be pre-laid up stuff from McMaster Carr and bonded into ...

Tom Young

The only other option that's been suggested that appeals to me is to go frameless. A lot of boats have their larger windows mounted this way, and I think I'm leaning towards this approach. I just don't know how it is done. Anyone have insights into this? Is an interior flange created, with the wind...

Tom Young

It takes folding a section at a time. Then export them as images to my CAD program and "paste" them together. You can see the faint seem at the boom here. At any rate while these ports are not applicable, I suppose it just shows how Alden balanced them out. I love these old pencil drawings...

Tom Young

Tom, That is a little too much like a commercial kitchen to suit me, but I must admit that finding that kind of craftsmanship is next to impossible these days. I am in the process of collecting dutch delft tiles with boats and canal scenes on them in hopes of doing my galley counter in the future. ...

Tom Young

Custom Stainless work. This Walstead built boat a friend is refurbishing has a galley counter that's like a sink within a sink. Although it's dusty in this shot (they're working below), it appears just like new despite alot of hard use since 1966. Too bad we can't get stuff like this done reasonably...

Tom Young

[quote="Rachel"]Edited to say: I'm sorry, I cannot figure out why this is stretching out so far to the right and making everyone scroll. The image urls are short. Huh?! The listing says it is 1 of 24 built in Sweden. Were there non-Halmatic Challengers built there? Perhaps with a fiberglas...

Tom Young

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk90/Quetzalsailor/SS34.jpg [/img] Well, tried again. Traced onto yellow sketch roll from downloaded and printed picture; obviously quick sketch; scanned w/fiery and Photoshop; uploaded .jpg to Photoshop, entered here. Bottom edges parallel to sheer and about the ...

Tom Young

Dave: I don't think the existing ports were too far off, but I don't think they quite "fit" right. Funny thing is, with them ripped out the holes look better than the ports did. Here is a pic that shows a closer look at how they looked before removal. Part of the issue is clearly the plas...

Tom Young

I would not hesitate very long, given my skills and general bone-headedness to make ports. Look at the early Hinckley B-40s or any old Tripp design. The 'glass rolls into the opening and the glass is sealed to the inside with (the right) goo and a wood trim ring. This is well within the capabilitie...

Tom Young

Okay, longtime lurker – So, my questions are as follows: 1. How important is it to have opening ports in this location for ventilation purposes? The standard design of this boat (the U.K. version) had fixed windows in this location, similar to a Triton (mine is not “standard” in that while it was b...

Tom Young

I don't know if you have them, but I like telltales on my mizzen as well as main and genoa. You'll hear (or read on the internet) alot of misinformation about mizzens, especially on yawls. Some of the best info is available in older books from the era when the rig was more popular. I think of my miz...

Tom Young

the season before last. It's one of the few good anchorages left on MV now with Edgartown closed inside.

Tashmoo is one of those anchorages where you know you can really relax, the boats not going anywhere.

Tom Young

but with our two kids now 16 and 17, it was expected. We still got the four of us on board for a week downeast though, and had the wonderful time we always have together. Wavelength studio shot us coming out of Stonington headed homeward with this shot. http://lh5.ggpht.com/_ASREr4k7ZNQ/SR14DNqP7JI/...

Tom Young

JohnS wrote:I was listing my reasons for sticking with my old wood spar in increasing order of importance. I could (and probably should) have left that one out. :)

You can replace it John with no more pinging halyards.

Tom Young

As for sea-kindliness, maybe I'm using the terminology wrong. There was an article in the Sep/Oct issue of Good Old Boat by Ted Brewer describing the difference between sea-kindliness and seaworthiness. In a nutshell, it states that more weight aloft reduces stability, but it also increases angular...

Tom Young

Of course, I'm foolishly thinking of varnishing the mast instead of painting it, which I'm guessing will require more frequent maintenance. At this point the seasons over as far as painting and epoxying is concerned. We might get an occasional warm weekend day between now and next spring, but I won...

Tom Young

Hey Guys, I need to move my coolant expansion tank, there's just no room to have it mounted next to the engine. The spot I'm thinking of, is on the other side of a plywood wall putting it under a counter. My question is this, does the expansion tank need to be higher than the engine's heat exchange...

Tom Young

I took advantage of last weekends gale to go across the bay to Perrys Creek for better protection than our south facing harbor would give. Waiting for the gale to arrive, I took a row up the creek that cuts deeply into Vinalhaven Island at dead low water. If the current in the creek ever stopped, it...

Tom Young

The fact it has the potential of a good and young engine makes it a a possible win project boat.

I wonder how bad it really is, up close, from the neglect of sitting out there uncovered?

Who's going?

Tom Young

Triton 185 wrote:
We anchored deep inside to enjoy the complete solitude.
Very peaceful. What type of boat do you have?

A 1961 Alden Challenger. Their first fiberglass hull and deck, the rest of the 50 or so boats were finished at various yards around the world.

Tom Young

Light air, calm water and bright sunshine made for pleasant sailing to Cabot Cove yesterday. We anchored deep inside to enjoy the complete solitude. No boats in the cove and few left in Pulpit Harbor outside. A nice northeasterly breeze took us all the way home. http://lh3.ggpht.com/165russell/SPPoH...

Tom Young

And like all boat heaters, I think it's all about the flue. We had the heater on a Cape Dory 28 for over a decade and used it spring and fall up and down the east coast and Maine. I believe the 1" flue is only capable of so much draft. With propane, it was hard to detect when the flue was not r...

Tom Young

hardware work at the mast? It looks like 3 through bolts all on the glue line. I'm used to seeing SS pockets for the spreader ends on spruce spars. These contain the ends and any bolting is usually minimal and perpendicular to these bolts. Of course the pocket takes the compression forces. In your h...

Tom Young

Mostly because my stuffing box (you are talking about adjusting the stuffing box?) is of that style that uses a special wrench to insert into holes bored into the lock nut and box itself. But it's round so a pipe wrench works fine and doesn't damage anything really. But a pipe wrench will allow almo...

Tom Young

Our North East 38 would not meet many of these criteria. Many other boats whose compromises are in favor of racing, local cruising comfort, or low cost have been around the globe. Neither would our old boat. But it's more than seaworthy enough for what we use it for. http://sims.myphotos.cc/%7Ewave...

Tom Young

Doing some research, I'm finding not only can this belt eating be annoying, it can lead to more costly repairs by over tensioning belts. An engine engineer suspects that may be what ruined my last engine. I had two alternators fitted, one a large frame with a 5/8" belt. The over tightening of t...

Tom Young

This one needs some work and upgrading but appears (I haven't seen it) to be intact and pretty well maintained. They don't come up for sale often especially in reasonable condition. Jan hasn't put an exact price on it but sounds very realistic about what the boat will sell for knowing what it needs....

Tom Young

BUT; I ran it for two seasons and I don't find a dramatic difference in charging time and state of charge with our coastal sailing between the ARS4, Xantrex, Ford. We tend to not get the batteries (house) up past about 80% charge after mid season. We just don't motor enough. This season I took the ...

Tom Young

I Hey! I like the idea of a Ford regulator ready to go. Wouldn't it connect right in to the Ford plug with no pain? Would it control the 100amp alternator w/o undue frying? Yes, it's pretty easy to install. I have a Balmar dual output 90 amp (I think) It (Ford) has spade terminals so I had to crimp...

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