• Ahoy and Welcome to the New SSS Forums!!

    As you can see, we have migrated our old forums to new software. All your old posts, threads, attachments, and messages should be here. If you see anything out of place or have any questions, please scroll to the very bottom of the page and click "Contact Us" and leave a note with as much detail as possible.

    You should be able to login with your old credentials. If you have any issues, try resetting your password before clicking the Contact Us link.

    Cheers
    - Bryan

Surprise!

I saw the crew sanding the hull and taping off the topsides yesterday. Seems like they were being careful!


.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Wow, and just like that, it's done! What was the decision the boot strip? I'm partial to a two-tone blue and aquamarine.
 
BobJ said:
This particular project is pretty scary, but I feel like she's in good hands.
Click to expand...

They do beautiful work there.
Hard to be a do it yourself-er there, because cool boats are moving in and out, and the yard effortlessly walks back and forth between centuries like it is nothing.
Highly distracting! ;)
 
Combining responses:

"and just like that, it's done" - It's been two weeks from the decision but two years that I've been thinking about it. Once decided, they do get on with projects at BMC!

"They do beautiful work there" - I was there just to get the bottom done but then they painted a Pearson Commander next to me. Ironically, they painted it Flag Blue. It's an older boat and Flag Blue shows every imperfection, but I went over every inch of it and it was just about perfect. That clinched it.

So Bob, sailing a not-blue boat, coming to waters near you. I've been boating for over 50 years and only two of the boats were white (although this is really not white). The other boats were yellow (2), light green, orange, red (2), blue (2), grey, and flag blue (2) - not including R/C boats.
.
 
Last edited:
BobJ said:
Rich Baker reminded me that I've fallen behind with my Surprise! posts and indeed, it's been a couple of months.

Sunday prior, Philpott came down the dock with Ed Ruszel and Melissa Trace in tow. Ed and Melissa keep their J/32 Flicker at Brickyard Cove and Ed has stopped by before. It was chilly and Philpott suggested that some tea would be nice. I fumbled around and finally remembered the sequence to turn on the propane and fire up the stove - except it wouldn't. The propane gauge showed no pressure and there was no gas reaching the stove. Philpott shook her head, took pity and walked back down to Dura Mater to make us some tea.

Surprise!'s propane system has been largely ignored and it has worked when I've wanted to use it. But I had recently noticed a trace of propane smell when I opened the propane locker. I keep the bottle turned off and the locker is vented directly overboard so I hadn't done anything about it. Now it was time to take a hard look. After my guests left I ended up ripping the whole thing out. Over the next few days I sourced all the components and last Sunday I rebuilt the system with better parts that won't rust out.

(Duplicative photos deleted)

I'll follow up with a small PSA: McMaster-Carr is my go-to site for project stuff. I LOVE that site! It's well-organized with drill-down detail about what you're ordering, you can buy small-project quantities, and the shipping is fast (though a bit pricey). This time I bought a stainless strip to make the bracket and thread sealant tape: PTFE with nickel to use on stainless steel threads (but it's also fine with brass). Amazon had the propane parts - the correct solenoid but made from stainless steel, a stainless pressure gauge, the regulator and a stainless MPT coupler.

We all know about Amazon but in case you haven't bopped around on McMaster's site, check it out.
.
Click to expand...

Hey Bob: Good news that I can get a S/S propane gauge to replace my rusty one ---- but I'm not finding yours in the McM catalog. I'm only seeing ones for other types of fuel, not propane unless I get one that comes with it's own regulator. Do you know the part number?
And thanks for letting us know Surprise! is stealth white now -- In the past I could always pick out Surprise! by hull color, now it will be a bit more challenging to keep tabs on you! Cliff, Rainbow

.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
BobJ said:
Combining responses:

"and just like that, it's done" - It's been two weeks from the decision but two years that I've been thinking about it. Once decided, they do get on with projects at BMC!

"They do beautiful work there" - I was there just to get the bottom done but then they painted a Pearson Commander next to me. Ironically, they painted it Flag Blue. It's an older boat and Flag Blue shows every imperfection, but I went over every inch of it and it was just about perfect. That clinched it.

So Bob, sailing a not-blue boat, coming to waters near you. I've been boating for over 50 years and only two of the boats were white (although this is really not white). The other boats were yellow (2), light green, orange, red (2), blue (2), grey, and flag blue (2) - not including R/C boats.
.
Click to expand...

So when do we get to see Surprise! in her new dress?
 
You're first after me!

When Surprise! was built in 1998, some bad gelcoat was making the rounds. It tended to go on too thick and would later result in areas with nicks, cracks and sags. Several of the Alerions and some J Boats (also built by TPI) had the problem. We couldn't just fill and paint over those areas - the cure required grinding them down and adding a layer of fiberglass. Those areas have now been re-sanded and Cole (formerly of Elkhorn Composites) is longboarding the whole thing. It's gonna be booteeful but it's taking time.

This is the longest I've ever gone without being able to get on my boat. I even did a bunch of tax work today to keep my mind off of it. Meanwhile we missed out on two more races - OYRA Duxship yesterday and the YRA's North-South DH race today.

Maybe another week?

Poor baby:

Topsides Repair.JPG
 
Last edited:
Julio is continuing to work on Surprise! this weekend. By now the cove and boot stripes are probably done. I'm completely happy with the color, which was selected simply by looking at Ruben's boat and saying "Yep, that's it!" Of course Greg's e-rudder bracket had to be repainted to match. They're narrowing the boot stripe since it was quite wide, especially at the bow. I also changed the transom lettering a bit - that and the fresh bottom will be done next week. We hope to splash on June 7th.

Julio is a perfectionist and takes his work seriously. After the new paint went on, Cree told Julio he had inspected the topsides and there was something wrong. The owner would not be happy. Julio was worried. "There's an old man's reflection in the paint!"

New Topsides 3.jpg
 
Last edited:
I was at the BMC today to do some simple fixits to the Wildcat, and lo and behold, Surprise! is getting her superfast sprayed-on bottom.

surprise!-spraybottom.jpg
 
You'll have to explain that last bit to me - Google didn't help. Is it like buyer's remorse?

I've done the flag blue boat thing for over 18 years - the fenders, fender covers, sailing gear, lifejackets, even the liferaft and inflatable boat covers are dark blue. As my dock mates can tell you, it became almost an obsession. And then one day I was looking at my desktop background (and who doesn't have their boat as their desktop background?) and it hit me - I'M TIRED OF FLAG BLUE!

The second reason is it gets hot inside. You could lay your hand on the hull and feel it - especially when Rags was down in the "tropics" of Hawaii.

The third reason is the most practical. The paint was the original Awlgrip and it was in poor shape and getting worse. A large area of the starboard bow was dull and a different color, even after we buffed it out; there were large dull patches where the fenders had rubbed on the paint on the side-tie in Santa Cruz, and then there were all the slits and tiny gouges through the paint from the bad gelcoat. As Jackie might say, it was not up to Bob boat standards.

Lastly, the rapidly-growing fleet of Alerion 28s at RYC is made up mostly of flag blue hulls. It was time to step out from the crowd.

I think she's looking simply divine! The "before:"


Stbd Bow.jpg Midships.JPG Thru Primer.JPG
 
Last edited:
Before Philpott clogs up the thread too much, here's a teaser of the "after." Still not quite done:

Port Bow.JPG


Stbd Beam.JPG
 
Last edited:
With reference to the very first post in this thread, this time Philpott didn't make me do it.

They arrive next Monday.

.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top