Hi all,
Just a quick update on the status of "Peregrine", the M35 I bought 3
weeks ago here in Santa Cruz. Thanks to all who sent info to me
before the sale, it gave me a good idea of what to expect. Some of
the work I'm doing: replacing the centerboard system of hollow pipe
and a single long cable with a 316 rod milled at both ends, connecting
to a Vectran
line running to the board, and SS cable running back to
the wire
winch in the cockpit. I also removed/faired/ filled the
board, and found a good amount of water trapped in the fiberglass. I
(very briefly) considered making a new board, and instead just drilled
some drainage holes that I will fill just before I splash.
Also, I found some water trapped between the lead of the keel and
the filler that fairs it out to the hull. Taking more or less the
same approach, draining it then filling it, in lieu of grinding away
5+ square feet of heavy filler and redoing it. Also, my cutlass
bearing was shot, someone had jammed some kind of fiberglass materiel
into the first inch of it, which not only killed the bearing, but also
wore a nice hourglass shape into my shaft. So, new shaft as well
(sheesh). To pull the shaft, I had to either pull the engine, or the
rudder. I opted for the engine, so I'm doing a mini-rebuild on the
venerable Yanmar 3HM while it's out. Basically just pulling apart the
cooling system and cleaning out scale, but also replacing zincs,
flushing transmission, and doing a general engine service. One of the
mounts had worked loose, and allowed the engine quite a bit of play
under way, which in turn had snapped the port forward mounting
bracket, so I rewelded both of the forward brackets, and added a
gusset to beef them up for next time.
Other stuff I'm doing includes removing the handrails that had been
sanded so many times that they were less than a half-inch wide, and
replacing them with stainless rails (they look really nice and shiny)
Also I build a new engine room door and new bilge covers out of nice
teak & holly 1/2 inch plywood. While the engine is out, I reglasses
the starboard side of the engine room (the bulkhead was sagging into
the engine room after 37 years of steering cables pulling on it).
That was probably the worst job so far, lying in the engine room,
grinding and laying up 6+ feet of wover-roven glass. I had a
thermal-expansion problem (mixed the resin too hot, and layed it up
too thick) and everything started smoking while I was in there. Kind
of a bad moment, as I was considering exactly how I would get out if
it caught fire. Anyway, all ended up OK, and I painted the whole area
with poly-core (a mix of gel-coat, MEKP, and wax) so now it's a
pleasure to get in there and work.
I had to replace the forward head discharge thru-hull, the previous
owner had wrung off the handle in the closed position, thus making it
rather difficult to flush the head. I ground out the old thru-hull,
glassed up a 3/4 pad, and mounted a flanged seacock. I think you
could now pick up the boat by this thru-hull - probably overkill, but
I feel better about things.
Next on the list is a re-
rig, I need to replace all the standing
rigging (going to be my most expensive item, I think) and new sails.
I should have the hull painted by the end of this week, and the bottom
in the next few days. Today I'm putting on a Monitor wind vane, if
all goes well. Anyway, wish me luck, and any suggestions are welcome.
Also, if anyone has a mainsail for a M35 in decent condition, I would
be interested in getting it - mine is very bagged out.
Thanks to all,
-Jesse
Linear Mode
