Pennsylvania MKI SJ21

[Tbs54]

I bought my boat 2 years ago and it was in rough shape (had been sitting out x 10 years w/o a hatch cover). I have been slowly trying to get her into the water but ran into various life situations that kept putting my plans on hold but I am determined to get her into the water this year. My sail number is 263. I started a blog to document my restoration plans (http://sanjuan21restore.blogspot.com). I would appreciate any helpful comments about getting her into the water.
Tom

[cklamp]

Tom, welcome to SJ21 community!

It looks like you have your work cut out for you, but so did I when I bought Mizu #897, and she's a really fast boat now.

Personally I suggest you throw her in the water... at a dock of course... with a friend or two, and make sure she floats first before you go to all the work that you have to right now. There is at least one story out there floating around, or not floating:) of another SJ21 owner who bought a second SJ21, took it home, rigged up, went to put the boat in the water, only to find it taking on water as the previous owner had drilled a hole in the hull to drain all the water that built up inside:) Not a hard fix by any stretch, but you might want to make sure the hull really is sound before you dig in.

All the other things you mention on your blog are fairly simple/easy fixes, though they may take a little time, patience, and research to make sure you do it right.

Keep asking questions, lots of knowledgeable owners here.

Later
C

[cklamp]

Also, afaik most owners have gotten rid of the wire/rope halyards all together, and gone with nothing but rope, no wire. Modern line's are so much better than in the past, I think you'd do well to just replace it with one really long line.

Also, some would disagree with me, but you could just cut off your current backstay and use a nicro press style of wire binder to shorten your rear backstay to install an adjustable one. I did that myself, and it seems to work just fine. Some people don't trust those, and prefer getting a fitting swagged on. You could do that too fairly easy. Both would likely be cheaper than a new backstay assuming the one you have is in good shape.

Later
C

[Tbs54]

Thanks for the reply - do you have a picture of your back stay assembly I could view?

[cklamp]

I don't have any pics, but it's fairly simple to figure out how to do it. I just cut off the backstay where I wanted to install an "eye", looped the cable, and put on some of those crush sleeves. Again, some people don't care for nicro press, and prefer a swage, but both options have their pluses and minuses. I really don't think either is any better, but swaged ends are "Cleaner", that's the only plus for them I can find over a nicro press style.

http://www.bing.com/search?q=nicro+pres ... c4b718a68a

I actually bought the tool at Home Depot or something since I figured and have used it for other things. It's about 30$ then the cost of those crush sleeves as I recall.

The backstay in the pictures here noted as being on "Wooglin" is pretty much identical to what i'm running.

http://www.sj21fleet1.org/tips-and-tric ... -adjusters

Note that wooglin uses wire for the cascading portions of his adjuster so he doesn't have to run a wire safety line as per class rules. I use normal line, so I have a wire safety running from a pendant on the end of the backstay to the tang on the boat.

You can also see on the 2nd link Stephen Jensen's old setup, which is more similar to what I think you're wanting to do.

Later
C

[pennwolf]

You know something else you may want to add to that trailer is a extra bow roller in that gap between the winch and the first hull roller, did wonders for the stability on mine, but my trailer doesn't fold any more. someone welded the neck.