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Depending upon what you intend to use the boat for, the wooden one will be faster, lighter, stiffer, stronger, and if in otherwise good condition less likely to go wrong than an old single skin grp hull.
I’m not a fan of the old glass boats for anything other than pottering purposes. And even then it needs to be an exceptional example these days! Most lost their floorboards decades ago and as a consequence have leaky buoyancy. Then you get those that are over tensioned (remember, highfield levers were not standard in this days, you used a horn cleat and hook rack) either pulling out the shroud anchorage or breaking the boat’s back under the mast.
A really good one will be an excellent cruising boat. but these are very few and far between!
I’d sort the wooden one, especially if its by a good builder and in otherwise decent order.
If we are talking about a wooden mk1 boat I would be wary about installing screw bungs or even socketed plastic bungs. The bottom of the transom is a notorious rot spot and the holes drilled into the bottom that accept corks or rubber bungs will remove water almost down to the last drop. If you install a screw bung you will move the bottom of the hole up several milimeters and will trap a surprising amount of water on top of this vulnerable area. The push in plastic ones are better but it’ll still trap more water than leaving as is.
Tight fitting corks in my experience are fine 🙂 I can count on one hand the times ive had one come out in 20 years of dinghy racing
FRP/GRP doesn’t necessarily mean low maintenance – just different maintenance.
Even relatively new FRP boats have a lot of ply in them in key areas to add reinforcement for fitting attachment, local high stress etc. These can and do rot out (Poor coating) and can be quite expensive to put right. Look closely for signs of this, the through deck sheeted boats have a particularly awkward piece where the Genoa track sits under the deck and is a common failure.
You will struggle to find an entry level series 2 FRP hull that doesn’t have some gelcoat damage similar (But not as extensive) to the one you’ve seen. GPs tend to be built with a thick gelcoat layer and polyester resins and gelcoats shrink over time which leads to cracking and star crazing especially on the decks. If you press the panel and its stiff this is nothing to worry about (And if you fix it it’ll probably come back weeks later) if its soft this is definately structural damage and will need to be sorted.
Hmmmmm.
I would say that this isn’t structural actually (Sorry Oliver), but is certainly not a 5 minute job to put right if you were wanting to do it properly.
This looks to me like classic UV/heat damage where the boat has either been left uncovered or sweating under a PV cover. There is an old repair in the middle of the photo, but this is not the root of the problem.
To fix it you would need to remove all of the affected gelcoat and re-apply, or – significantly easier -paint the decks. There shouldn’t be any need to apply glass, this only affects the gelcoat.
Does it need doing? No, not really
Would it bother me? Yes.
Would I buy this boat? No.
Hope this helps 🙂
I’m going to throw a curveball in. I have no idea of your budget, but what about a Hartley12? Have a look on the Hartley Boats website.
I have sailed Wanderers all be they especially old and decrepit examples that had been sailed almost to death by the Birmingham Schools and then by my sailing club. They were exceedingly heavy to handle ashore, you stand little chance of moving them around the dinghy park by yourself depending on the nature of the dodgy back. They are more roomy inside and are more cruiser than racer as already mentioned.
The GP I believe to be lighter than the Wanderer depending on the GP in question. Some of the Series 1 hulls are very heavy, the weight rule is a minimum and some builders made little effort to acheive it! Ive little experience of the early plastic GPs but I know that the single skin plastic Solos and Merlins were way overweight to get the panel thickness strong enough. Of course a GP has a lot more weight to play with but this needs to be considered.
If you’re not looking bargain basement I think you stand a better chance. Most Series 2 hulls were down to weight when built of done by a decent builder, though poorly stored examples “soak up” a surprising amount (My resurrected Duffin “lost” 4 kilos between being finished and the start of the world champs last summer!!). Also newer examples have around 10kg lead correctors which if you’ve no intention to race the boat ever can be removed – 10 minutes will put it back when you sell the boat.
Weight of course is not everything you should consider but it’s important to know that you’ll get what you think you’ll get. My previous club bought 3 Laser 2000s as they were supposed to be lighter than the existing wayfarers – they weren’t, Laser were very creative with the hull weight on their marketing!
The GP will do what you want, but please have a look at the Hartley website as I think the 12 will tick more boxes for you. I hate the plastic pop outs but in your case I think its up your street. I think the mast *might* be two piece too, though it wouldn’t need to be garaged.
This would have had a double inline pulley to take the halyard through the tube and exit into the luff track. You wont find a new one.
I would suggest – depending on your intended use – that you get a younger Proctor mast with spreaders. This may seem drastic but your boat will perform better, be easier to rig and sail. The IYE masts were nothing more than a wooden mast made of aluminum.
I can help with a mast if required.
Mine is very thin dyneema 1.5mm ish, certainly thinner than the more usual 2mm. Its terminated at each end with an eye splice, the spice at the lower end is adjustable and it has elastic sewn through it to take up the slack under tension.
The crux of this is what is the forestay actually for? In the somewhat unlikely event of a jib halyard failure the mast is going nowhere due to the gate. On a racing boat it seems that the sole purpose is to support the mast in the dinghy park. Wire is over the top for this load wise, thin dyneema is both lighter and gives less windage over the Genoa.
On a cruising boat where weight and windage are of less significance and the boat might be used under mainsail only something with more meat is probably advisable.
Thats frost damage.
You shouldn’t need to treat it, it should sand out after you’ve stripped the varnish back.
Oxalic acid is the stuff to use to bleach out black water staining. It comes in crystal form that you dissolve in water. It is poisonous so wear gloves and stare carefully.
It wont touch colour change due to UV exposure – thats 80 grit and elbow grease! On an 80s boat there should be plenty of veneer to play with provided no-one has hit it too hard before.
On a wooden mast you will never get anywhere near break loads but 3mm 1×19 stainless wire would be usual. Roll swaged terminals are unnecessary on a wooden spar, standard copper ferrules/thimbles (Hard eye) will be perfectly adequate.
I’d use the same on your forestay as it will be supporting the jib. Again, you’ll be nowhere near the breakloads.
The bolt rope on the luff of both mainsails has shrunk. A local sailmaker will be able to help either by complete replacement, splicing a piece on the end or if the manufacturer has left a tail sticking out just dragging the sail down a bit.
This happens with age, not use.
re the foot – the same can happen here too, but ive rarely had a sail on any class that pulls right out.
Theres a wooden mast hanging up in my workshop. It needs completely refinishing, and probably splitting in two and reglueing. This will be easier Tham making one from scratch, and should give a perfect mast.
It isnt mine to sell/give away, but I want it gone! We are North Birmingham, UK.
Email me if I can help – paramedic3602ATyahoo.co.uk
If you need to know anything specific to your boat Glyn Walker probably built it and works at SP Boats. He’s very helpful and likes to hear about his old boats.
Keelbands.
These are probably 1/4 inch half round brass, very heavy, and by now very much more copper than brass. If you take them off they will probably break, the screws too will be very brittle.
Now, if they are still bare metal it may be as well to leave well alone, mask them out and repaint.
However if -as is likely – they have about 12 layers of paint on them i would take them off with a view to cleaning them up and replace with new aluminium band if they break up. New band is available pre drilled and ally will be much lighter and will not tarnish.
I dont like keel band thats been painted over, it looks horrible and is a bad water trap.
