San Juan 21 partial recore?

[dohcdelsol93]

I'm looking at picking up a pretty cheap San Juan 21.

Needs some fiberglass work, mostly cosmetic but needs a partial recore.

Is this a task a novice with some fiberglass/body work experience can take on at home?

Looking at doing the entire top/bottom coat myself at the house with the help of some large industural straps and the aid of a front end loader while i'm at it.

I purchased my paint gun to paint one car and need an excuse to use it again.

The painting/cosmetic stuff will be time consuming but easy....even a fun. But the partial recore sounds a little scary to me.

Any help would be great! I really like the san juan as it seems to be a pretty light/trailerable/fast boat but don't want to sink an arm and a leg into a boat that ends up being more trouble than it's worth.

It comes with new main/jib and a 2 good spare mains. Also needs some hardware (haylards)

Also comes with a trailer in good shape.

For a little over $500 i can bring this boat home next weekend. Any ideas?

[Catamount]

Here's my "blog" from the re-core I did on my San Juan 21 a few years ago: http://sailing.thorpeallen.net/Quasar/

I did this one working from the inside/underneath -- I subsequently did a re-core job on a larger boat, working from the outside/top. (see: http://sailing.thorpeallen.net/Greyh...-01/index.html

If you're going to to a re-paint job anyway, I would do the latter, and re-paint the deck -- although then you'll have to think about your non-skid treatment. For that, I can only say that I've been really happy with the KiwiGrip I used on the larger boat.

I would say a re-core poject on a SJ21 is definitely do-able by a handy person with limited prior experience. Go for it!

Tim

[Tellie]

I had a MKII years ago. I heard they are lake boats. Good thing someone told me that after I got rid of it. I made many a trip to Bimini, Andros and the Abacos on mine. Sailed the Keys and got tossed about in it on more than one occasion. Lots of great memories.

[dohcdelsol93]

i will be using it mostly in the lake but the inlaws have a place on the coast where i plan on using it on the protected waterways and out on the open water on nice/calm days but never stray far from cover in case of the afternoon thunderstorms. This will be after i get some sailing miles under my belt and some lessons.


I'm going to go check out the boat a little closer, make sure there is no hull rot. Owner says only the deck needs recored but i'm willing to bet i'll find more.

Thank you guys for all the help, any tips on finding more areas that need recored other than just feeling for soft spots?

[Catamount]

IIRC, the hull is solid fiberglass, no coring -- except probably the transom. Besides just feeling for soft spots, you can take a plastic or phenolic hammer, or the handle of screwdriver, and tap all over the deck. Where-ever the deck is solid and in good stead, you should hear a solid report; where-ever the deck is de-laminated or rotten you should hear a dull thud or other hollow sound. Once you've identified a bad spot, you can drill into it and study the drill cuttings to assess the degree of damage. Anything other than light-colored dry balsa wood is indeed bad, and you'll need to get in there to replace the core. If it's dry and not rotten but just de-laminated, you can pump epoxy in there and drive some screws or thru-bolts to clamp it (filling the holes later).

Good Luck!

[dohcdelsol93]

thanks for all the help!

Any recomendation on the rigging?

I beleive this boat needs sheets and haylards. I'm looking to set it up for single handed sailing since most of the actual "sailing" of the boat will be done by me and my 3yr old son.