Renegade Cruisers

Just wanted to share with everyone what showed up yesterday. This has been a long process for me to decide and to commit to such an expensive boat item but I don't regret it a bit. This is a 4 bladed feathering Variprop which will just fit in my small aperature. I can't fit a larger prop without building an entirely new rudder, Maxprop won't fit nor will any other feathering prop. Variprop modified their 16" by machining down the tips of the blade for me so I get the clearance I need. Quite a change from the 2 bladed prop which came with the boat. I am also changing the transmission which I have from a 1:1 to a 1:1.8 for this installation.

2,999 more items to work on and she's ready to launch!!

Here is a picture of the original inside of the cabin house. The teak was severely damaged by water intrusion. I have removed all of the trim and the teak.





Now here we are several months later. I had replaced all the teak with an off white/cream colored formica. I don't want to ever have any problems with water damage if a port is left open during a rain storm. All the teak trim is being stripped and re-varnished before I install it back again.



My next are of work has been the cabin top. I have added supports for the main sheet traveler - I don't like the metal brackets which are available so I have fabricated permanent supports out of marine plywood, lots of glass and west system. I have also fabricated a splash board for my dodger to attach to. I really want to be a dry as possible in a rain storm. The two smaller blocks are for the turning blocks for the traveller lines and the are angled to provide a clean turn of the line.





This picture is of the side windows, I have had new ones fabricated by Bomon and they are slightly different in shape from the originals. I have fiberglassed in the areas which need to be reduced in size. I used a router to cut into the original side by about 30% then laid up new glass in the routered area and continued to lay up glass till I was flush with the surface.



Next step was to grind the area flush.



Here's a shot of the finished corner ready for primer.



Here's a picture of me glassing the dodger splash board - All the glass work took me 6 hours and man was I a mess when I was done!



Next is a shot after the first coat of finish paint on the cabin sides. I am painting the sides grand banks beige and the cabin top and decks will be flat white with traditional non-skid.



Next step will be to install all the new ports and stationary windows. I am also going to work on the cabin top and hope to have it done by mid august.

Warbonnet,

The boat is in my backyard in Wakefield RI, inside a shrink wrap building we put up 2 years ago.

Been working for the last week ( took a vacation week ) on the Cabin. Finally we have some serious progress after many primers, fillers, sanding in 90 degree humid weather. The final coats are done in Interlux 2 part - off white flat for the perimeter of the deck and the white areas are Interlux flat white Interdeck paint. The cabin sides are Grand Banks Biege.

Juli and I have been having really a lot of fun this week. All 3 of our kids are gone so we were able to work and play anytime we wanted. After the RI Raftaroo we were very excited to work on our boat in the hopes that maybe, just maybe we might be able to get her in next summer.

Here's a picture of me sucking in my gut for the camera.




The rest of these shots are the finished product about 1/2 hour after pulling off all the tape. She will never look this good again.

Bose marine speakers, I am debating whether to paint them to match but for right now, I really don't care. Excellent music in the cockpit is very important to me and these sound fantastic.

Rb,



Are you nuts ?? If I kept track of the time and if my wife every totalled it up I would be screwed in more ways than one. I am doing this mainly for the fun of doing it, time is irrelevent. Money is another matter, I have a certain amount put aside for this and when it runs out, we launch and go sailing. So far I still have checks in the ckeckbook so I can't be out of money.

Spent a couple of months removing the old teak decking, no way am I putting that back on again. Just regular non-skid.

Here we go with another chapter. We've been working on the cockpit for the last few weeks. Here are some pictures of when we got the boat.




Now here we are a little later. All the paint was sanded, primed with epoxy primer 404 and painted with Interlux Perfection. I must say that this paint is a real improvment over the older Interthane paint. It flows out just like glass and has a much longer working time. You really can't screw this paint up and it works great.



The sides of the cockpit are painted Grand Banks Biege and the lower sides are off white perfection.


The main traveller has been removed from the cockpit and the area where it used to be is now filled in with teak and caulked to match the rest of the cockpit. You can see where the traveller used to be by the long teak piece just forward of the 2x6 mizzen mast.



Here's a shot of the cabin top with the new traveller and main sheet winch (Lewmar 48)



And here is a real beaut - who needs to clean brushes???? just leave them in the epoxy paint and remove at a later date.


Next project on the list is to install the Newport Diesel heater in the main cabin so we can work on the interior over the winter and not freeze our asses off. This should be completed in about 2-3 weeks, Juli is having some custom tile made as a heat sheild so we need to wait till it is finished before we can install the heater. Then we pull the engine up to do some work and start on re-wireing the entire boat.

Leigh,

Thanks for the compliments, Juli picked out the colors and I must say when I first saw the biege, I thought it was too dark and "muddy" looking. The longer I looked at the finished color, the more I like and now I love it. The combination of the off white and the biege really looks nice in person.

Thanks Duncan, The instrument panel is just temporary. After I made it Juli was very clear that it's "not up to my standards", it's OK but..........

So I am making a much nicer one to keep her quiet about it. As far as the tile work, Juli is at the shop now designing each tile and final layout. Can't wait till it's done cause it's getting frig'in cold !