Hughes 26

[Juanvaldez]

Hello

Any owners out there? Getting ready to launch next week. I have a 1980 that I will sail on the North Channel of Lake Huron. Interested in seeing other examples of this boat and not much comes up on an internet search. Couple pics of mine as we cleaned it up. Boat was sitting covered for several years but cleaned up pretty good.

Got most of it figured out, wiring still a mess but everything works. Other then fixing a few leaks not much to do. Rebedded a few fittings and redid the thruhulls. Butyl appears to have been used everywhere and assumed this was original. If so it has held up well for 40 years. Made removing things extremely easy!!

[GRIT]

Looks good!
We sailed a Hughes 35 to Trinidad and back to PEI back in the 90's.

Cheers.
Paul.

[Orion Jim]

Interesting anchor roller/running light sprit.

[Juanvaldez]

Ya its custom lol

[SuW]

Yep, we had one of these many years ago. Congratulations!

They are a comfortable cruiser for the size. We had a lot of fun on her and she taught us a lot, in repairing the woodwork, sewing the sails, installing a roller furler etc.

The only thing we had trouble with was the main mast support under the cabin floor. The mast was compressing the floor! For a while we didn't understand why we kept tightening the rig more and more!

The wood support had rotted and sagged because the limber (drain) holes in the frame were blocked with what looked like sawdust (presumably from construction).

We used a very thin epoxy (penetrating epoxy) to reinforce the wood through drilled holes and faired it up with heavy epoxy filler (MarineTex).Basically a full replacement of the wood wasn't possible without pulling the boat apart.

The gelcoat in the cockpit was in poor shape, but there's not a lot you can do about that, short of painting it.

The only other trouble we had was our fault for not winterizing the engine immediately after haul out!

There are a few Hughes boats in our boatyard, including a 38 in great shape. Most have been neglected. If you have found one in good shape, that's great.

Happy days!

[SuW]

Yeah, butyl is actually very good stuff. Our Bayfield has it iall over the place.

There's a brand of butyl tape that I highly recommend made in the US: Bed-It butyl tape. It's fairly solid at room temperature and can be cut with scissors to shape.

We've been using it to bed things on deck that we may want to take apart (everything!) particularly for our new portlights.

(What ever you do don't use the cheap white stuff that they sell in chandleries... it remains sticky and smears everywhere).

[Matti Mukkala]

I just purchased a 1976 North Star 26 in excellent condition. It was very well maintained. Her name is Windfall, hull number 190, she was out of Monroe, Michigan, USA.

I'm hoping to be able to connect with other owners of the North Star 26 or Hughes 26.

Windfall has an 8hp Yanmar diesel and folding prop.

I'll be doing all of my own maintenance and some pretty serious electrical upgrades. I'm also looking at buying or building a trailer, maybe even to launch the boat.

Any input, tips, or tricks would be much appreciated!

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Matti.


NORTH STAR [Hughes] 26 ➥ https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/north-star-26

➥ http://sailquest.com/market/models/hugh26.htm

HUGHES BOAT WORKS → Northstar Yachts Ltd HISTORY
➥ https://nautipedia.it/index.php/HUGH..._WORKS_HISTORY

[LittleWing77]

Originally Posted by SuW

There's a brand of butyl tape that I highly recommend made in the US: Bed-It butyl tape. It's fairly solid at room temperature and can be cut with scissors to shape.

We've been using it to bed things on deck that we may want to take apart (everything!) particularly for our new portlights.

(What ever you do don't use the cheap white stuff that they sell in chandleries... it remains sticky and smears everywhere).

She's absolutely beautiful, Juan! What an amount of work you've done on her!

Regarding the Bed-It Tape, for future reference, you'll (eventually) be able to purchase it from Rod Collins through his Marine How-To website. He also has a write-up about Bed-It in his "How to Rebed Staunchions" article, which I think is the most popular article on his site.

Marine How-To
https://marinehowto.com/

As most of us know, he had a stroke in September, but as you'll see, Rod got home to his family for Christmas and is on the mend.

Marine How-To is a great resource, if you don't already know of it.

Fair winds,
LittleWing77

[SuW]

Originally Posted by LittleWing77

Marine How-To
https://marinehowto.com/
As most of us know, he had a stroke in September, but as you'll see, Rod got home to his family for Christmas and is on the mend.
Marine How-To is a great resource, if you don't already know of it.
Fair winds,
LittleWing77

Thanks for letting us know about Rod, LW77.

[SuW]

Originally Posted by Matti Mukkala

I just purchased a 1976 North Star 26 in excellent condition. It was very well maintained. Her name is Windfall, hull number 190, she was out of Monroe, Michigan, USA.
I'm hoping to be able to connect with other owners of the North Star 26 or Hughes 26.
Windfall has an 8hp Yanmar diesel and folding prop.
I'll be doing all of my own maintenance and some pretty serious electrical upgrades. I'm also looking at buying or building a trailer, maybe even to launch the boat.
Any input, tips, or tricks would be much appreciated!

Congratulations!

Having a decent engine like that in this boat is a really great thing! I'd be interested in seeing how the Yanmar is installed.

With any boat this age, it's all about the maintenance and the care taken by the former owner(s). It's not so big that you can't do everything yourself.

Launching a fixed-keel boat from a trailer is not easy without use of a crane. Taking the trailer down any ramp of about 12-15% means you have to go a long, long way to float the boat!

However, a trailer is useful for moving the boat and for storing it when out of the water (need something in the North). Just make sure that you support the boat mainly on the keel with side support on the hull at the bulkheads.

[SuW]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Matti.
NORTH STAR [Hughes] 26 ➥ https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/north-star-26
➥ Hughes 26 - Used Sailboat Market in Canada
HUGHES BOAT WORKS → Northstar Yachts Ltd HISTORY
➥ https://nautipedia.it/index.php/HUGH..._WORKS_HISTORY

Gord's last link has a reference to this page which has a good list of projects performed on a Hughes 29 over the years.

There was a comment there about the boat having a lot of weather helm. We found the Hughes 26 suffered from a lot of weather helm too.

[Matti Mukkala]

Thanks for the great info!

[Matti Mukkala]

I'd be happy to show you how the engine is installed. A friend has a 12hp Yanmar diesel that's available to me as well, if it seems underpowered. We'll see what happens after I've run it this coming season. I like sailing in stormy weather sometimes, so I'm looking forward to how she handles a bit of weather.

[SuW]

Originally Posted by Matti Mukkala

I'd be happy to show you how the engine is installed. A friend has a 12hp Yanmar diesel that's available to me as well, if it seems underpowered. We'll see what happens after I've run it this coming season. I like sailing in stormy weather sometimes, so I'm looking forward to how she handles a bit of weather.

I'm fairly sure your motor will do what an auxiliary is intended to do - get you in and out of the marina, and help when anchoring! For the rest of the time, it's a sailboat.

If you sail in stormy weather, you will presumably figure out how to reef the sails to overcome the weather helm. And, of course, work out how to "heave to" when you need to take a break, or make coffee!

The H-26 was our first keel boat and she taught us a lot! Lesson 1: Figuring out how to dock and anchor was (in retrospect) hilarious...not so funny at the time!