SJ24 Refurb

[T and J Racing]

My lovely and longsuffering wife decided to surprise me for Christmas this year with a new set of sails for our trusty little Wasabi, through Dave at Bellingham Sails and Repair. Since we'd put quite a lot of miles on Wasabi in the last 3 years, I figured it was time for a more critical look at things. I'm sure everyone reading this knows how the next bit went on a 45 year old boat. Since I'd picked up a thing or two during my stint at the boatyard a few years back, I thought this would be a great opportunity to get some work done that would simply not be worth paying someone else to do. I don't have $500k yacht finish carpentry skills, but San Juan 24? All day and twice on Sunday.

Some of the problems:

Now that I've learned a bit about what I'm looking at, this is a bit of a mess:

The keel stringers had rotted and detached from the bilge, allowing a bit of keel wiggle:

The port chainplate was totally glassed over, making inspection impossible:

And the starboard chainplate gusset/cabinet side was wet and soft:

 

[T and J Racing]

The more I looked at, the more I realized that all the wood would need replacing, including the compression post:

 

[T and J Racing]

I started by cutting a new teak compression post, flared at the top to at least look like it's trying to support the mast foot:

Then a new bilge cover from 1/2" teak veneer plywood with epoxy over teak oil:

6 layers of glass cloth wetted with epoxy onto the port chainplate anchor gusset, which will double as part of a future cabinet:

And epoxy on the starboard chainplate anchor gusset. Also here I'm in the middle of oiling the compression post.

 

[T and J Racing]

The old chainplates has tiny scratches I couldn't polish out, so I assumed they were cracks and made new ones from 316l. I also made proper beefy backing plates for them to help spread the load.

I know, they have tool marks on them. I don't give a shit, they look great installed and they're 3 times stronger than they were when new.

 

[T and J Racing]

I put in a temporary 2x2 compression post and pulled the old one, and the old shitty bulkhead:

There was a notch cut into the bulkhead to accommodate a deck organizer bolt, so I relocated the deck organizer, plugged the old hole and cut the new bulkhead cleaner.

Here's the old port side chainplate gusset. Not all the way rotten, but definitely not sound:

 

[T and J Racing]

Installing the port side chainplate and anchor, filleted in with West epoxy thickened with colloidal silica. It got tabbed in with glass cloth and epoxy after it cured.

Now's when I started wondering what to do about the V-berth (and whether to just sink the boat and call it a day):

SJ24 life hack: cardboard patterns.

May as well take a look under the bow cap too, right?

Cutting all this bullshit out SUCKED but I was glad it got done:

 

[T and J Racing]

While I was at it, I built a new table from 3/4" marine plywood with a nice looking teak veneer. I ripped new battens (I know that's not the right word) from teak strips left over from the compression post and rounded the edges on the router table. The resulting effect was nice.

After much measuring and many many dry-fits, I cut the new plywood bulkhead and oiled it according to the excellent instructions in Rebecca Whitman's book:

This also seemed like the time to varnish the old oak tiller:

 

[T and J Racing]

Cleaning the V-berth wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, it took about 4 hours total:

I just wiped it down with some 202 and went right over the bare weave with a nice semi-gloss marine enamel. It looks amazing, for a San Juan 24.

Putting it all back together was really fun:

 

[T and J Racing]

Meanwhile, she got a new masthead and new sheaves on the base:

New antenna and wire, new jib halyard restrainer plus new cap shrouds, forestay and backstay with proper toggles from Kent at Northwest Rigging:

New wire lifelines too. Not sure about these yet, we'll see how well they hold up.

FINALLY

 

[T and J Racing]

I just had time to take her out once before leaving for overseas work. Luckily it was a great day and I got to really put little Wasabi through her paces. The new sails are really different, I can see a few things I was doing with the old shagged sails that don't work as well. It's gonna be a great year for Wasabi and us, and she has a new lease on life.

 

[jlightning]

Nice work...Looks great!!!

What was done to fix the keel stringers and the bow cap?

 

[T and J Racing]

Keel stringers I replaced with 4 of these made out of oak from Lowe's:

Filleted in with epoxy and colloidal silica:

Then tabbed in with glass cloth wetted with epoxy resin:

I cleaned up under the bow cap and sealed the tiny separations and screw holes with epoxy resin:

I cleaned, inspected and re-bedded the forestay tang with new hardware and cleaned up and repaired the bow cap before replacing it. 

 

[PeterRoss]

Great job, really nicely done!

 

[SloopJonB]

Very nice job. Those boats are "modern" classics. It's good to see this instead of seeing it get cut up in Lynden.

 

[Steam Flyer]

Keel stringers I replaced with 4 of these made out of oak from Lowe's:

Filleted in with epoxy and colloidal silica:

Then tabbed in with glass cloth wetted with epoxy resin:

I cleaned up under the bow cap and sealed the tiny separations and screw holes with epoxy resin:

I cleaned, inspected and re-bedded the forestay tang with new hardware and cleaned up and repaired the bow cap before replacing it. 

One suggestion before buttoning it up... I know there is very little room under the cabin sole, but putting a T or hat section over the top of those bilge sump stringers (they would more properly be called "floors" as structural members IMHO) will really strengthen the whole area of the keel root. This is one of the weak points of any fin keel boat and these are no exception.

Last thing, have you already, or are you considering, a new improved rudder blade design? The SJ-24 is a fun little boat but it's a classic broach coach.

FB- Doug

 

[SloopJonB]

 (they would more properly be called "floors" as structural members IMHO)

No opinion about it - transverse members are floors.

Stringers are longitudinal.

 

[Steam Flyer]

(they would more properly be called "floors" as structural members IMHO)

No opinion about it - transverse members are floors.

Stringers are longitudinal.

Gimme a break, I'm tryna be nice.

Don't get me started, you know what I can be like............

FB- Doug

 

[SloopJonB]

We pedants have to stick together.

The whole fuckin' world is against us.

 

[snubber]

Great work and impressive skills. Awesome. One note: I have not had luck epoxying red oak (also purchased from a big box store). Not sure what type of oak you used for your transverse-stringers-floor-beams. Might keep an eye on them over time, esp if they are red oak. I had a beautiful tiller I laminated from strips of red oak and pine delaminate on me on a stormy day. Again- beautiful work.

Snubs