Luger Leeward Restoration Thread

[Dave Custer]

Well I finished taping everything and got all my trim lines painted. The scrolls aren't perfect but I am pleased with the job considering no previous experience.

[lonesoldier0408]

Originally Posted by SkiprJohn

You can see the triangular piece on the aft end of this trunk. I'd add one forward too. The description called it an angular piece to help stabilize the trunk.

This is a very helpful picture. I have a Luger, "Southwind," 21' with center board housing issues. It is slid up through the hull, then attached with screws around the housing. The top can be moved from side to side. It holds no water out or in. :-(


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[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Dave,

Are you still checking in with the forum from time to time?

I know its been cold over that way so maybe you're inside huddling by the fire.

I liked your bottle opener and it looked just like a roadrunner to me.

kind regards,

[Dave Custer]

Hey folks! Thanks for checking in SkiprJohn!

You are right, it has been COLD! Gah! Cold COLD!

Anyway, I do have some updates, but they are going to be somewhat ahead of my last posts. I don't have access to all my pictures right now, but here are the latest and greatest.

I put the center board housing back in. It will be braced further with the mast supports and with triangular deck supports. I used the 2x4's and clamps to hold the housing in place while the 3m 5200 set up, then I glassed extensively on both sides.




And here are some photos of the top painted. I had to repair the area where the forestay will be attached, and that went fairly well. You can tell it is a repair area, but it looks good, blends well, and is extremely strong. Plus it is supported by a new, solid, white-oak breashook.




I have one more picture, but I'll have to upload it right quick.

[Dave Custer]

This is just a teaser of the topper in place. I still have to construct the mast supports before I reinstal the topper for good. I also painted the interior, but I don't have any pics of that right now.

[lonesoldier0408]

Looks good.! :thumbup:

[SkiprJohn]

Originally Posted by Dave Custer

This is just a teaser of the topper in place. I still have to construct the mast supports before I reinstal the topper for good. I also painted the interior, but I don't have any pics of that right now.

You are doing a great job. She'll be the "prettiest girl at the dance."

Remember in the sunshine that the dark foredeck can get hot in bare feet. You'll want to have a very much lighter color where you'll sit or stand.

I'm sure that the Lone Soldier will want some photos of those triangular supports when you get them installed.

[Dave Custer]

The interior of the boat is painted white, and the seats will be painted white as well.
The flooring is going to be cedar (cut from our own property with our own sawmill,) and the bracing and mast supports are all white oak.
I have one more coat of clear coat to put over the red, then I need to sand and paint the seats, and begin to install the mast supports, decking, and CB housing supports.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by lonesoldier0408

Looks good.! :thumbup:

+1

[Dave Custer]

Well, we have been blessed with some absolutely beautiful weather here the last two days. Yesterday I was able to put the second coat of clear coat on the top-sides and this afternoon, after church, I took advantage of the great weather to install some of the wooden parts that I cut a while back. I also reattached the topper. I haven't finished putting all of the screws in yet.

[SkiprJohn]

Looks great. You're doing a really good job.

[No Salt]

Ah, this thread brings back memories. I built one of these from the kit back in the early 80's. It was the first boat I owned.

Looks good so far. Keep at it.

[Dave Custer]

Greetings folks! I have been really busy over the winter and spring, so I have not been able to work on the boat a ton. Mostly during the winter, it was too cold to do much of anything. We had a rough winter. I spent most of the time curled up between a coal forge and an anvil....well not really curled up...more like standing swinging a hammer.
Art shows, tons of business, and lots of other great developments related to my business, have kept me on my toes since my last post.

Our annual family vacation to our Grandparents home in St Pete Florida is coming up very soon. I am planning on taking the Leeward down there and do some real sailing.
This means completing the boat, and doing a test run on the local lakes. I'm only hoping and praying that there are no major hick-ups in the test run, because I only have two weeks to wrap this sucker up.

First a question before pictures. I need to get some good running rigging ordered. I just pulled up a few websites to do a price check. I have to check on some of the mast hardware, but I'm thinking of using 1/4-inch lines for halyards, and 3/8-inch lines for sheets. Thoughts on this plan?
Second question I have is name brand recommendations.
Right now I have two pulled up. The first is "Samson Trophy Brand," and it is about 10 cents cheaper per foot than the other brand I'm looking at, which is "New England Sta-Set."
I am open to recommendations.

Now for pictures. I'm working on decking, seat facings, reinstalling cleats, pulleys, trim, etc. I made new chainplates, making them much stronger than the previous ones. I used through bolts through the hull, sealed with 3M5200.
Here is the decking. It is cedar, cut from my family's property, and milled on my saw mill. It has three coats of CPES and three coats of gloss varnish.


These are some misc flooring pieces along with the new oak center board toper.




This is the original trim work. I had wanted to replace the original trim, but time and finances say otherwise. I'm running all of the original pieces over my bench buffing wheel to try to clean them up a bit.


more trim

[Dave Custer]

I didn't pay much mind to my boat for a while, during the spring, so when I checked on it all, I found that the birdy birds had discovered and left their approval all over my boat.
She's a mess right now, but will clean up nicely when I pull her out, wash, and wax her down.




I'm reinstalling the original cleats and pulleys as they are in fairly decent shape.




This is the interior view of the new chainplates.

[Dave Custer]

Hard at work all day yesterday working on the boat. I made good progress, including ANOTHER run to TSC to buy misc SS hardware. (Third trip so far, and need to make another today after church.) There are just so many miscellaneous tiny parts at this point.

Anyway, yesterday I put the boat on the trailer, installed all of the decking and remaining wood parts, installed the CB, and installed the first seat. It's is great to see it coming together after 10 months, tons of hours of work, so much learned, and so much invested. (Somewhere around $1500 including the original $300 purchase price.)

Anyway here are some pics.


The aft side of the CB housing is going to get a triangular stainless steel bracket, that will screw down to the decking, into the two small cheek boards on either side of the housing, and bolt into the center board top piece. It should tie everything together nicely.




I used s 1/2-inch stainless steel bolt, with large, shop-made stainless steel washers. The washers are bedded in 3M 5200.


And in case everyone was wondering, here is ME!


And here is a bit of what I do for a living; custom, hand-forged, decorative and functional iron-work using both traditional blacksmithing and modern fabrication techniques.


That's all folks......at least for now!