Workshop Fever!

[edjeep]

I'm suffering bad from workshop fever!

I'm chomping at the bit to get the boat in the water for my 2nd season of sailing.

This spring I pulled the keel out, knocked off all the rust, cleaned her up, primed and painted and put it back in (Not as tough of a task as I had anticipated. It actually went back in so much easier than I had anticipated. No swear words involved in reinstalling keel!)

Fresh Bottom paint for the boat. I pulled the rudder for repair, fair and repaint. I also am installing a new tiller handle, ( I bought a tiller for a Santana 22/27 and had to trim and customize a bit, but it looks like it'll work great!)

The trailer also recieved some needed attention this off season. New spare tire carrier, tongue jack and a bolt here and there!

We've decided that May 3 she goes into the water. Any repairs needed before then take priority and then of course we can do certain tasks while in the water.

After in the water, I plan to install a permanent mount for the battery switch, battery charger, and small inverter. Also a little paint in the cockpit that was skipped last year and I will be happy!

I absolutely love having a spring to fall slip for the boat. I'm looking forward to many afterwork sails, and hope to only tilt the mast up one time this year!

Just thought I would share my excitement.

Ed

[Rich]

So where in Portland do you keep her? Also, are you going to be mooring her, or trailering in and out?

What did you change about the tiller? I've been thinking about shortining the tiller and then putting a tiller extension with a universal on instead (that dang tiller is just so long, you can't sit too comfortably, as it's always where you'd like to put your legs) Any ideas?

[edjeep]

Hey Rich. I guess I over looked your reply for a while here.

Last year I slipped my boat at Harbor 1 on the Columbia. Planning on putting it back same place next weekend. Last year I trailer and launched about 3 times before I decided I liked the idea of a slip.

The original tiller in my cockpit was obviously some custom/hack job. In my opinion the tiller was too short. When I got the boat the tiller was split pretty badly. I pulled it and attempted to do a nice wrap with fiber and epoxy. It looked strong and fealt string but quickly split again. The day it got the worst, I happened to have my cordless with me, so I drilled some holes and used 1/4" T bolts I had on board to jury rig something, which lasted the rest of the summer. I also did install a universal extension last year, although I seldom used it. What I did for a universal was purchase the fitting and then searched long and hard for the best fit tubing I could find. I ended up settling temporarily for a 1/2" copper plumbing pipe about 18-24" in length. It worked well, but I am sure looks terrible about now.

I'll let ya know how the tiller works out, but I trimmed about 5" off the Sanatana 22/27 and then had to shim the sides out to fill the 2" bracket space. Every tiller available at West Marine was between 3/8" and 1/2" to narrow.

You keep yours up in Olympia, right? I would absolutely love to get a look at another 22, because so much of mine is missing and I am restoring/creating, sometimes with little idea what the original was. One of the upcoming summers I do plan to trailer up to the sound for a week, or maybe longer, maybe leave the boat up there.

[Michael O'Brien]

Our tiller was deteriorating, and a brother-in-law with a wood shop duplicated it, laminating ash and mahogany. I substituted with a modified wheel barrow handle while it was off, and keep it for a spare. For a small fee, he might be persuaded to create another. It seems that West Marine could order one from their Far East supplier, but it had a long lead time. I've since used his technique to build a duplicate transom mount, using marine plywood. The fun is in the finishing. MHO

[edjeep]

That is funny about the wheel barrel handle, because the next after I bought the Santana Tiller from West Marine, I was at Costco and saw a nice wheel barrel.. That handle looked pretty sweet!

Had I fealt the need to have a custom tiller made, I am confident that a wheel barrel handle would have worked great for a while.

But as it is, I am happy with what I have. I did the final fitting and mounting of the tiller today. I am very pleased indeed. Give a week or two and I'll lte ya know how it actually sails!

[Rich]

Hey Ed, I do keep my Chrysler 22 up in Olympia, moored. Any time you think you may be going up there on a weekend, let me know, and we can see about meeting up. I don't actually live in Olympia, I live in Salem, my family just has some vacation property up there with a couple travel trailers on it, and the community where the property is has a private marina, which we keep our boat moored in, the docks are kinda run down, no shore power, but hey, the yearly slip fees are almost the same as montly fees at regular marinas.

[boatgals]

Our boat came with a axe handle!

We did buy a West Marine tiller and it was slightly narrow, but we just clamped the bolts tight and 3 years later she still works great, (knock on wood.)

[squint]

hahahaha my boat has a wheelbarow handle on it now! It also has the rudder mounted on the stern.