Hello, sorry about the lengthy post

Tim Huss · Post by **Tim Huss** » Sun Oct 03, 2010 5:03 pm

Hi all, I have a 1977 c26 full keel.

It started out as a "buy it now" ebay boat. I paid 1 dollar for it and
a gazillion dollars later and twice as many man hours I have a decent boat!

Gutted the inside, redid the galley and all cabinets, and changed the compression post to 4" galvanived square tube. New sails, electronics, new sole, holding tank, lavac head. The bilge has all been regelled to help clean it up.

As I tore the sole out, I found the ballast was water logged and as I dug deeper, it turned out to be over 2000lb of lead shot with a little cement/ resin tossed on top.

I removed it all a scoop at a time; reglassed the interior of the keel; mixed the lead with west system and reset it. Who would have thought the lead would act like a heat sink and keep the epoxy from setting at its normal rate?

A week later with lots of applied heat I had a one piece keel! It suprised me that it was just loose shot for ballast. If it had been hulled it would have all ran right out the bottom.

The outside was a total mess from the water line down. It had a bad case of blisters. I ended up grinding the hull down to good and used west system with a barrier coat and faired it just like new. Above the water line was in good shape, so I was able to grind, fair it, and then painted it with imron and it turned out great.

The deck was not bad so I gave it a quicky. Redid the windows. I built window frames from star board. They turned out great, except I had a hard time keeping them sealed. Nothing seemed to stick to them. The deck seem to keep leaking no matter what I do, so after 4 years of that, I am currently bonding the deck to the hull glassing inside and out. That should take care of the leaks.

The windows I made a mold from the outside frames of star board and pulled grp parts glassed the outside to the cabin. The inside, I think I should be able to use the inside star board frame with a neopreme or butyl gasket to stop those leaks,

My toe rail was bent and had been pieced, so I have thought of glassing a short rail and put a track on it? I havent really got that far yet. The other unknown is my chain plates. I think the best place would be to move them out and bolt them thru the side hull? Not sure what that would do to my trim though? One thought was make them out of composite material I really dread mounting them the way they were, another potential leak?

I am open for suggestions, the work is obvoiusly not a problem this is the last time I intend to work on this boat so I dont mind over building

Thanks for any sugestion or comments as there will be a lot more questions to come.

Tim Huss

hp18carr · Post by **hp18carr** » Sun Oct 03, 2010 5:48 pm

Tim

I feel your pain... and I thought I had a tough row to hoe.

Welcome to the forum and as always photos please.

Terrence
Wilmington N.C.
Chrysler 26 1980
Pandora (for now)

Mario G · Post by **Mario G** » Mon Oct 04, 2010 4:28 am

Hey Tim Welcome I also have a 77 C-26 full keel , still new to me. I would be interested in information as how did you know to look in the lead shot for water? everything seems very dry on mine. I can see the top of my lead shot.

Any pictures would be great , I need to redo my galley to more functional and always looking for ideas. mines not stock.

LOL it has nothing to do with the length of your post but to what I might be facing on mine.

Hope you get to enjoy yours soon.

EmergencyExit · Post by **EmergencyExit** » Mon Oct 04, 2010 5:10 am

Excellent post and info - when I've read that the ballast was "lead pellets encapsulated in concrete" I assumed a mixture of the two as opposed to them being loose and "topped off" with a concrete lid.

Have also always read that the earlier C26's were lead bars in foam, but that may not be so true, or it may be different for the fixed keels.

Either way, welcome aboard, and great post !!

CaptainScott · Post by **CaptainScott** » Mon Oct 04, 2010 11:18 am

Welcome aboard Tim!
Glad to have ya here!!!

About your question about how the boat would handle if you moved the stays outside of the hull. The first thing that comes to mind is you will lose some of your ability to point to wind if you move the stays further out. Not that our Chrysler are racers or anything. Just keep in mind you will not be able to sheet in the jib as tight as you used to!

No worries if you are OK with it! Just don't need any surprises!

Scott

sauerleigh · Post by **sauerleigh** » Mon Oct 04, 2010 1:48 pm

Welcome. You've certainly been busy. I've been thinking about the chain plate business myself lately and I'm still undecided. Pointing will be affected somewhat, my half a Catalina 25 has inboard stays but the cars and blocks are mounted on a rail at the edge of the deck and the main limiting factor in sheeting close in are the spreaders. The side decks are narrow and the shrouds are so close to the lifelines, it's easier to go inside the shrouds then to pass between the shrouds and the lifelines. The Cat has a fairly flat cabin top but the C26 is much more rounded and the footing may be more difficult.
I'm not certain about composites though. Glass is great stuff but I think SS would be the way to go for something like this. Post some pics if you can. Good luck.

Bhacurly · Post by **Bhacurly** » Mon Oct 04, 2010 5:18 pm

Welcome aboard Tim!

I have a project boat also and am interested in seeing your windows, so please, get some picts up, we all love to see the work!

Here is a link to a guy working on an Erickson 27 that has moved his shrouds to the hull, you'll have to scroll down a bit:
http://www.plasticclassicforum.com/view ... &start=100

Billy