Part 2 - Columbia 29 refit, in the Rocky Mountains

[406Columbia]

Originally Posted by newhaul

A little red sewing machine fell into my lap
M10-two
https://youtu.be/KJFi9UYXe-k

Just saw the video, she sure runs nice. Tell you what If I ever get the hankering for a diesel or sail drive or something other than our outboard Iwill come up your way!

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by 406Columbia

Just saw the video, she sure runs nice. Tell you what If I ever get the hankering for a diesel or sail drive or something other than our outboard Iwill come up your way!

Just give me a couple weeks lead time to find something for you

[406Columbia]

Had a couple hours of fairing today, hit the v-birth and hanging locker hard. Also was able to fair the few spots on the hull that needed attention. Last spot was the outboard well before I Linex it white, at least that's the plan right now.

I also was able to finally test fit the winch pads from Minney's and was so pleased they fit nicely. Saved a significant amount of time in fabricating. Now I just need to plug weld a couple dozen holes in them and polish them both up.

Cant wait to spray the hull!

[Calif.Ted]

Won't the winches cover most or all the holes ? If they don't show they're "drainage" or "lightening" holes aren't they ?

[406Columbia]

Originally Posted by Calif.Ted

Won't the winches cover most or all the holes ? If they don't show they're "drainage" or "lightening" holes aren't they ?

Honestly I haven't tried to mount the lewmar winch to them. My thought was it makes the base weaker with all the holes. Likely strong enough but I cannot live with myself to put something on my boat in such condition. I just can't do it haha, it's the sickness.

[Orion Jim]

Originally Posted by 406Columbia

Honestly I haven't tried to mount the lewmar winch to them. My thought was it makes the base weaker with all the holes. Likely strong enough but I cannot live with myself to put something on my boat in such condition. I just can't do it haha, it's the sickness.

I’m with you. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing I had mounted my winches to winch stands that resembled Swiss cheese. When I replaced my primaries with self-tailers the hole patterns didn’t line up perfectly but two of the holes could be reused so I had to drill three new ones. That’s a far cry from your situation.

[Calif.Ted]

Originally Posted by 406Columbia

Honestly I haven't tried to mount the lewmar winch to them. My thought was it makes the base weaker with all the holes. Likely strong enough but I cannot live with myself to put something on my boat in such condition. I just can't do it haha, it's the sickness.

I'm trying to keep my OCD under control with drugs and alcohol, with all those holes maybe you'll hit the lottery and one set will line up perfect.

[406Columbia]

No such luck, one hole lined up. One option would be to simply cut out the top part, weld in another piece of plate and polish it up. Then drill fresh holes that fit perfectly.

On another note, went into Minnnie's and got a few treasures and unloaded some stuff we have decided not to use. First, a stern rail or pushpit. It looked close so I traced the shape of our stern onto cardboard and cut out the piece and took it with me. Laid it out and it looked pretty good.

Got the rail section onto the boat today for a test fit, very pleased. Not originally what i had intended but lovely. I will need to cut off maybe three or four inches on the longest legs and re-weld the base on. That is all pretty easy though and saves time spent fabricating.

Also found a couple Perko clam shell vent covers in the fifty cent bins. I figured two can be used on the chain locker drain holes and two for the whaler I have on the back burner. Also found some very nice winch pads for a few dollars. Hopefully one will fit the contour of the mast so I don't need to sand a piece of wood or starboard by hand down.

[406Columbia]

Sometimes I wonder if there is more to life than fairing? Got the stern rail long legs cut, not need to mock it up and weld. Will end up putting a slight bend into two tubes any suggestions?

I'm hoping to not take it into the shop and use a bender. Not sure if using a little torch is best of maybe just putting a strap on it and pulling it with some mechanical advantage.

Will end up making some mounting blocks out of starboard, essentially a wedge for the bases that are not sitting perfectly flat.

[Don C L]

I really hate seeing your photos
Seriously, great work! I am wondering, if you are going with mounting the engine on the transom if the pushpit stanchions will be in the way? As shown, with my mount, I think it would still be ok, but you may think about it. Looks super strong.
About wedges, if it looks tough to figure out how to cut Starboard wedges there, you might consider wrapping the stanchion base in saran wrap and then putting white marine-tex under the base, kind of dammed up so it doesn't flow out, and once it kicks, and is soft, you can trim it if needed, but it can make a nice perfectly formed pad under the base (and the saran wrap keeps the marine-tex off the base of course.)

[406Columbia]

Originally Posted by Don C L

I really hate seeing your photos
Seriously, great work! I am wondering, if you are going with mounting the engine on the transom if the pushpit stanchions will be in the way? As shown, with my mount, I think it would still be ok, but you may think about it. Looks super strong.
About wedges, if it looks tough to figure out how to cut Starboard wedges there, you might consider wrapping the stanchion base in saran wrap and then putting white marine-tex under the base, kind of dammed up so it doesn't flow out, and once it kicks, and is soft, you can trim it if needed, but it can make a nice perfectly formed pad under the base (and the saran wrap keeps the marine-tex off the base of course.)

Don,



Excellent idea, I appreciate it and will likely buy some of that marinetex. I think life-lines would be better from aluminum for weight considerations but hard to say no to stainless. Ahh well, back at it tomorrow.

[406Columbia]

Well more fairing final touches in the v-birth, head and hanging locker then some glass work. Laid out some large fillet seams of thickened epoxy around two thru-hulls for the galley. Once that was done I was able to lay out some chopped strand. Once that was kicking thought I would save some time and put on a bit of fairing.

Pretty much done fairing now just to get to the final sanding. I also need to glass in the last two thru-hulls for the cockpit drains. They are very large backing plates so it will be a lot of material.

The little tube below the two thru-hulls might be from the factory and had some electrical cables running thru it to the other side of the boat. In removing the paint I ground it down thin in a few areas. Ended up priming, adding some thickened on low spots and then laying up a bit of new glass on that also.

Final update was to get the outboard mount back on until I'm able to rig something more like Don has.

[Don C L]

Do you want to the photos and measurements of my engine hoist? It's still off the boat and sitting in my car. I am not getting things done as quickly as I HAD HOPED!

Oh forgot to mention that WestMarine has their own (less expensive) version of marinetex. I have never tried the other marine epoxy putties but they may work well too. And the West System thickened epoxy is probably good too for that application.

[406Columbia]

Originally Posted by Don C L

Do you want to the photos and measurements of my engine hoist? It's still off the boat and sitting in my car. I am not getting things done as quickly as I HAD HOPED!

Oh forgot to mention that WestMarine has their own (less expensive) version of marinetex. I have never tried the other marine epoxy putties but they may work well too. And the West System thickened epoxy is probably good too for that application.

Yes please Don.

Got lots more fairing done, tabbed in one area that was damaged from the blasting and rolled out some paint.

[406Columbia]

Two more paint, well primer photos. Trying to get the old girl into the water asap.