1973 V17 Resurrection

[sclarkitect]

Greetings All,

I wanted to share my recent find and work in progress. I managed to aquire this V17 for free from a lovely couple on craigslist. The boat sat unused for at least 10 years and for 4 or more years without cover. The hull, rig, sails, and deck hardware are all in remarkably good shape. Those are in sharp counterpoint to the interior which sat full of rainwater for who knows how long. The boat seems to have additional trim that I haven't seen in photos of other restorations, all dark laminate. Everything lower is shot but the trim around the deck joint appears solid enough. As of last night I've pulled out everything that's easy to get to from the interior. I still have to cut out the ends of the quarterbirths which are under the cockpit.

The keel winch was rusted through also. I have ordered a new zinc coated Dutton Lainson 800lb brake winch from Amazon. ($76) I'm replacing the keel winch, cable and bolt also. The keel on this one also appears to be entirely cast iron so farl. I've begun scraping and chipping off the paint and rusted areas. I'm planning now to just hit it with rustoleum rust reformer and a few coats of black enamel to get it going. I'm planning to pull the pivot bolt for inspection and drop the keel this weekend.

For the interior, I'm going to focus on replacing the structural pieces for now. Those being the cross bracing at the centerboard box and the support for the mast. Unfortunately as I removed the rotten quarterbirth plywood I discovered the hull stiffeners that run underneath them are entirely soft. Looks like the fiberglass is good but the wood is rotten inside. I'm wondering if I can split those open, pull out the rot and replace with new wood then fiberglass tape and epoxy over the top. Has anyone else had to do this?

I hope to have the boat in the water within the month. I'd appreciate any comments for feeback from anyone who's done a restoration on one of these.

Thanks!

Steven

How I found her:



Album of all the current photos here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/127633153 ... 701364245/

[topcat0399]

Welcome to the 1970's Venture club.

Looks like you are going into this with eyes open and have done some research on what its all about.
Not everyone does that (like for example - me). At least your sails are in good shape.
Ours weren't and still aren't.

We are 5 years into our restore of our V224.
The number one issue for you I'm thinking is that boat sitting full of water for so long.
If the "stringers" (hull stiffeners as you call them) are totally soft from front to back I'm sorry to say that is
THE biggest problem you have.

Those are the main support for practically everything else. I have seen where if only small
sections are bad they can be cut out and new wood can be glassed in.
If they are all soft - I don't know, I would probably be ripping them totally out
and glassing in new ones. A huge pain I'm sure.

Another question is how did all of the water get in? For us our old boat had many sources of leaks from topside.
Every deck fitting and window leaked and almost every core in the boat was soaked and/or rotted.
I have since replaced them all starting with the cockpit floor. All leaks have finally been stopped and properly sealed.

You have the makings of a sweet little boat and its nothing that a little determination and effort can't fix

[Ixneigh]

It's amazing how much stuff is the same on thst boat vs the later boats like mine. Rigging. Hatch board, hatch slides.
But anyway best thing to do is take everything out and redo it using good quality plywood and fiberglass. Nice thing about that is you can make "bone deep" mods such as different seating, storage options, or more structural strengthening depending on how you want to use the boat.
Ix

[sclarkitect]

Yep, stringers are my new main priority. I think I will open them up first and gauge how big of a job replacing the wood is vs cutting it all out and starting over. My two biggest concerns are my ability to work on the portion under the cockpit without pulling the deck (really don't want to pull the deck) and with the boat sitting on the trailer if I cut the stringers out what happens to the hull shape as it sits on the bunks? I don't want to glass in a deformed shape. I was also hoping to not have to replace the quarterbirths right away but I'm wondering how much they add to the longitudinal stiffness of the hull. I have to find a balance between absolute performance and my very tight initial budget.

My eyes were half-open, maybe. I am finding surprises like the soft stringers that I definitely did not anticipate. The very clean $1200 V21 I saw on craigslist after I picked this up is starting to look like a steal

Thanks for the warm welcome.

[Catigale]

You probably have three months full time work to get this back on the water, unless you have done this work before and know what you are doing with respect to FG, epoxy, woodwork, etc.

It does sound like a reprint if "fixit and sail"... That guy spent 300 bucks for his boat and did the tear out, too.

That's a great boat once you are done though!!

On edit...just saw your photo gallery. You know what you are doing, obviously. The best part is you aren't letting you restore get in the way of sailing!!

Sorry for the Debbie Downer post, carry on.

[JohnCT]

Nice to see the older boats staying alive.

More available affordable boats on the market means we can attract more sailors.

Take someone sailing