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Ericson 25 Hull Restoration

davisr

Member III
Some time ago I had finally had enough of the dull and pasty looking hull that I had inherited from the previous owner. Drawing upon the advice of Maine Sail in his Sailnet article on the subject, I compounded, polished, and waxed the hull. Some time later I did the same to the deck and the cabin top. There was a steep learning curve, but I eventually got the hang of it. I crank-out push-ups on a regular basis. Despite this, the buffer was a real bear, and my arms, neck, and back took a real beating. I'm no body-builder, but I can't imagine trying to do this without being half-way in shape. Tough, but worth it.

Here are a couple of pictures. The one of the deck shows what it looked like after I had completed the buffing - no polish or wax.

Roscoe
Ericson 25, Oystercatcher, #226
Charleston, SC

005.JPG006.JPG
 

Wysailer

Member II
Buffing

Roscoe,

Looks great and nearing the completion of your long project. Can't wait to see you get it splashed this spring or summer!

Scott B
WY Sailer 25CB
 

davisr

Member III
Thanks fellas. Yea, I was quite surprised to see that hull, now 40 years old, come back to life the way it did. The port side of the hull, i.e., the side pictured, was where I began this test of strength. Having read Maine Sail's warnings about being too aggressive with the buffer, I traveled lightly on my first journey from stem to stern, and I never buffed the compound to a point where it disappeared. I didn't burn up the gelcoat. That was a good thing, but I wasn't especially pleased with my work. There were many swirls of compound left behind. These I had to remove by hand. The next day I decided to compound this port side all over again. This time I was a little more aggressive with the buffer, removing most of the swirls with the machine and leaving very little to remove by hand, making sure to keep the buffer moving at all times. This did the trick.

Makita buffer, Makita wool compounding and polishing pads, Presta products, Fleetwax, and plenty of good instructions from M.S.

Roscoe
 

Fred Bowman

New Member
Looking Good

Roscoe,

All I can say is Wow... Oystercatcher is looking incredible. Seeing your pictures gives me hope and inspiration for my 41 year old hull. I have followed the posts on your web site and have enjoyed and learned from them, thank you. Your hard work, patience and endurance appears to be coming to fruition. Looking forward to seeing your continued progress and some future posts of her catching some wind.

Regards,

Fred
CB25 #108
 

davisr

Member III
Hey thanks for the compliments Fred. Thought it might be good to include a few BEFORE and DURING shots to provide some additional inspiration. The first picture shows the hull after I've rubbed it down with MEK, and after I have completed this first, not-so-good run with the buffer and compound (small patch on the upper side of the bow). The next two pictures show my continued work on the first run. As you can see, there was noticeable progress. That was encouraging. There was, however, a haziness that remained. Neither my mind nor my body welcomed a second day of compounding, and I can assure you that by the end of the day on Sunday both mind and body were in full rebellion. There it was, a gleaming beauty, but it took an entire weekend of work just to do the port side of the hull. The rest of the boat - starboard hull, stern, cockpit, and deck - was also tough and time-consuming, but slightly less challenging, since I had so thoroughly broken myself in on the port side.

Roscoe

http://www.ericson25.com/p/introduction.html

BeforeCompounding.JPGFirstRun001.JPGFirstRun002.JPG
 

Glyn Judson

Moderator
Moderator
That gleaming hull.

Roscoe, Do you travel and do you take your compounds with you? ; - ) Glyn Judson, E31 hull #55, Marina del Rey CA
 

davisr

Member III
Glyn,

I think the word "buff," as in "beefy," "ripped," or in more common speech "muscular," must have come from the realization by someone that the dogged, daily use of a buffer will lead the buffer himself to be, well, buff. I'm content with my modest physique, and so must pass on this offer for hire. I'm afraid that I would spend much of my wages on chiropractor bills, as this one boat led me to make at least two visits to the adjustment table.

Roscoe
 

Glyn Judson

Moderator
Moderator
Buffing is buffer.

Roscoe, Got it, I'll just have to keep writing checks until I screw up the courage to take something like this on myself. Funny that you'd talk about swirls, I recently bought vintage July, 1955 Craftsman dual head buffer made by the Cyclo Manufacturing Co, designed specifically to counteract swirls in one pass. Another interest of mine is the restoration of large Craftsman shop tools, the big stuff usually, circa 1945 to 1955. I saw this rare gem and couldn't resist owning it. Enough running off at the mouth. Cheers, Glyn
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Looks like you did a full restoration. Very impressive.

I'm curious about all those holes in the cabin house (pic 006, second one in the original post). What was that for and how did you hide them?
 
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davisr

Member III
I hear you Glyn. Those old Craftsman tools are works of art. For a long time I used an old Craftsman router that had been handed down to me. Loved that stainless steel look and feel. Christian, those tiny holes are of my own making. They're for the mahogany panel that I made for the mounting of the new compass. I had to drill a new hole through cabin for the new compass. The original hole was too small, and it was oddly off-center, as if no thought had been given to its placement by the driller. The mahogany thus hides the annoyingly sloppy work of the PO.

Roscoe
 

Afrakes

Sustaining Member
Hiding old holes

An alternate method is to use a 1/8th." sheet of Lexan. You cut the Lexan to cover the old holes and to accommodate the new instruments. Fine sand the "back" of the Lexan and spray paint with the appropriate color paint. Cut a Lexan back up plate with appropriate holes to mount on the inside of the cabin wall. Apply a light coat of clear marine silicone sealant to the painted back side of the exterior Lexan plate. Mount the plate and the instruments then use the back up plate and the mounting mechanisms supplied with the instruments to sandwich the cabin wall. That way the new exterior trim plate doesn't need to have any visible fasteners holding it in place. Makes a nice clean fix that does not need a lot of maintenance.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Yes, even a slightly off-center hole would have kept me awake nights too.

Maybe there ought to be a forum psychiatrist. We could all chip in.
 

Guy Stevens

Moderator
Moderator
Or you could watch this video

An alternate method is to use a 1/8th." sheet of Lexan. You cut the Lexan to cover the old holes and to accommodate the new instruments. Fine sand the "back" of the Lexan and spray paint with the appropriate color paint. Cut a Lexan back up plate with appropriate holes to mount on the inside of the cabin wall. Apply a light coat of clear marine silicone sealant to the painted back side of the exterior Lexan plate. Mount the plate and the instruments then use the back up plate and the mounting mechanisms supplied with the instruments to sandwich the cabin wall. That way the new exterior trim plate doesn't need to have any visible fasteners holding it in place. Makes a nice clean fix that does not need a lot of maintenance.

Or you could do it this way:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4OHQDs8NKk

The video is a bit rushed, and was my first production, but tell me what you think.

Guy
:)
 

davisr

Member III
Guy, I loved that video. That's exactly the sort of thing I was looking for back when I contemplated painting the deck and cockpit. I couldn't quite figure out how to make the patch nice and smooth. Ultimately, I decided to try buffing the deck first before painting it.

Al, I've never heard of the technique you describe, but it sounds as though it would be sound. I would definitely not have been able to use this technique on the starboard side, where I mounted a GPS. I had no choice but to through-bolt the mahogany panel to the backer mahogany panel on the interior. That's because the hole that I was filling was unusually large.

Given that bolts (or I should say machine screws) were necessary on the starboard side I had an uncontrollable desire to use bolts on the port side. Likewise, I had an uncontrollable desire to make the mahogany panels for both sides identical in size and placement. Yes, as Christian said, this must be some sort of sickness that many of us suffer from. I would call it philosymmetrimania. There's a sesquipedalian word, and perhaps a new one at that.

Attached are some pictures of the work I did on these holes and panels. Hard to believe now how dark and dingy that cockpit used to be.

Roscoe

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Afrakes

Sustaining Member
Big holes no kidding

I can now see why you have the wood panels. The method I described would not work for you. Some refer to the condition as "analitis". I have been accused of having this myself. I hear it is cured by the aging process. Nearing life's exit ramp has a tendency to refine one's priorities.
 
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