Time to move on

Mercedes is equipped, prepared, and set up to my standards for asymmetrical spinnaker racing and cruising, and her keel/hull joint is sound and secure (unlike when she left the Tartan factory).  So, it is kind of crazy that I think about undertaking a new challenge with another boat!  Nevertheless, I feel like I want to experience one more boat before finally being done with sailing.  

I am looking for a sailboat that has a few more creature comforts like wheel steering, roller furling,  self-tailing winches, maybe refrigeration and propane, is practical to sail shorthanded, and is competitive for racing.    

I have decided to advertise Mercedes for sale and hope to find a good home for her with someone who will take care of her like I have.  Here is a personal listing in SailboatListings.com...
https://www.sailboatlistings.com/view/97640

Here is an information file with description, specifications, equipment list, and more pictures.  I just reduced the asking price by $5000... 
https://functionalhomesinc.box.com/s/sx2me6os24z4upww35pv0zqav4j0wwqo

If you can, please pass the word should you have any prospective leads for Mercedes.  There is no broker nor broker's fees involved yet, saving me money that I can pass on to a potential buyer.  

Thanks!  - Chris

 

    

Nice Wednesday evening race

It turned out to be a fun race on Wednesday evening off St. Joseph, with a little more air than was forecast.   Thanks for these pictures, Chelsea!

  

Sunset sail

Beautiful Memorial's Day weekend sunset sail with Aaron's family, along with Dave, Karen, and I.  It was the maiden sail for Mercedes for the 2022 season.  

Thanks to Karen for masterminding wonderful food and drinks!  And thanks to Maya for volunteering to go up the mast to retrieve the jib halyard!

Launched

Anchor's Way launched Mercedes today.  All routine.  No leaks.  The engine started right up and ran smoothly.  Had to wait for all 3 bridges to open to get down river.  The boat is safe and secure in her slip at West Basin Marina now. 

Boat preparation, racing schedule, sailing instructions

Mercedes has a launch date of Tuesday, May 17, 1:30pm, at Anchor's Way.  No substantial prerequisite projects to prepare for launch this year, especially compared to the nightmare last spring rebuilding the grid mounting structure for the keel, re-bedding and torqueing the keel bolts, and re-installing the hoses and wiring!  

The launch prep tasks are described on the Maintenance tab above, and I will keep the daily schedule up to date in the Upcoming Events sidebar at the right.

St. Joseph River Yacht Club just distributed their 2022 racing schedule, and I have placed all the dates on the Schedule tab above.  Plan ahead!  The only major change from last year is that the Michigan City PHRFection race in August has been discontinued.  The out-of-town and distance races are tentative, depending on interest of the crew.

Also, this year's SJRYC sailing instructions are linked on the Racing tab.  There are very few changes to the conduct of the racing program from last year.

Evening sail

Beautiful evening out on the boat with 6 knots of breeze was perfect for perfecting spinnaker gybes!  

Thanks for the great pictures, Chelsea!

Launched!

Mercedes launched today (August 10) at Anchor's Way Marina and found her way to her slip at West Basin Marina.  No cracks opened up on the keel when the boat was picked up from the cradle - nice gratification for all the work in rebuilding the grid structure and re-bedding the keel bolts. 

 Although most of the racing season is past, there is still a lot of sailing and racing to be had!

Keel reinforcement project

 Here are some pictures of the keel reinforcement project underway, in chronological order, older to newer, top to bottom (updated August 7, 2021)...

Sole boards lifted; hoses and wires still in place.

Hoses and wires cleared.

One compartment of the hull liner cut out.  Lateral stringer floors that were molded into the hull liner were obviously twisted and bent from forces acting on the keel.

Looking aft, from the area of the mast.  The furthest aft keel bolt is toward the top of the image.

Two forward compartments of the hull liner cut out, opening both the shallow (aft) and deep (forward) sections of the bilge.

All the fiberglass bits cut out of the liner except for the lateral ribs which I cut out intact in case I needed to reuse them.  (I did not.)

All 8 keel bolts removed one at a time, and mounting surface cleaned, washers replaced, 1-inch studs re-bedded with 3M 4200, and nuts torqued to 300 ft/lbs per specifications.

9 stringer floors cut from 3/4" structural fiberglass composite Coosa board, Bluewater 26 formulation, laid out with their cardboard templates.  Wore out 4 jigsaw blades making the cuts in this tough material!

Rough fitting of the 9 stringer floors.  So far, so good.

All 9 stringer floors shaped carefully, laid up with fiberglass, and bonded to the hull and keel stub, including a double board fit tightly under the mast step for extra support and one board forward under the lip of the hull liner (not in view here).  The forward section of the lightning wire was cleared through the access hole beneath the mast step.  For the bonding, I used a methacrylate (MMA) two-part structural adhesive, a generic version of Plexus (which I could not find available in stock) named Infinity Bond, formulation 310.  Let's hope so.

Stringer floors tabbed in to the hull and keel stub along their full length, and then reinforced with multiple layers of woven glass mat.  I used West System epoxy resin with slow hardener (because of summer temperatures here in Michigan), and supplemented the epoxy with 404 high-density adhesive filler for strength.

Longitudinal braces cut, shaped, bonded, tabbed in, and reinforced with multiple layers of glass.  All access holes for wiring, bilge pump and drain hoses, and for water evacuation were drilled and sealed with multiple coats of epoxy.  The width of support boards for the bilge inspection sole board required deviating from nice alignment of the longitudinal braces, but their strength was not compromised.  I prioritized function over form.  

Fiberglass preparation primer and 1 1/2 coats of white Pettit epoxy BilgeCoat paint applied.

Lightning dissipation grid with 10-gauge bare copper wire connected to bow, shroud bases, engine, and keel bolt.  Bracket holder for water sensor installed in a way that is removable for cleaning.  Bilge pump hoses run and fittings connected.  Head sink drain line and icebox drain line run.  

The first compartment aft of the mast contains a WaterWitch electronic water sensor to turn on the power bilge pump when set in the Automatic setting.  It is not yet wired to the panel.  In the second compartment aft is routed the pickup for the power bilge pump with gross and fine strainers.  This pump is mounted in the engine compartment.  The third bilge compartment aft has the pickup with anti-backflow valve for the manual bilge pump mounted in the cockpit.

Maybe just a few more pictures to come...