Red Pepper

[c_amos]

Well Craig.... "the man with the saw" is not in any hurry. I wouldn't want you to make a special trip, but if you coming up this way sure I'd love another opinion! I'm only 20 miles out of Birmingham. Let me know!
mike

Ok folks, who is local enough and able to do this?

  I have commitments for the weekend of 1-2 Oct, but could come up during the week, or a later weekend.  I am posting this here, rather then PM because I wonder if there might be anyone else here who would like to get in on this?

  If we had a couple gallons of epoxy, and maybe some balsa / foam core and could knock out some of the big scary stuff fast the rest might not look so bad>?

  Maybe you could post some pictures of the cracks (many of us know only too well what the decks will be like already).

The lay up on these boats is so significant that it is hard to imagine anything that can not be fixed structurally fairly quickly... maybe a 'tiger team' approach would help take the edge off of the trouble with getting it going alone (daunting at times, I know).

[Tony G]

Mike, Craig

I wish I was within a couple hundred miles and I would be there for a long weekend or two.  Just getting a good bite out of the project would help see her through.  Realistically, I don't have much to offer except good wishes.  If there is anything, let me know.

[mbowman]

Ok guys I'm still not sure about what I'm going to do with "Red Pepper". At the moment I'm leaning towards biting the bullet and fixin' her up. But I still have a couple of sails to sale. I have mid weight Genoa and a very light Drift sail for sale. Both have a Luff of 30, Leech 29, Foot 17. Both are in "good" condition. Both have small stains and a little corrosion on the rings. The price from Second wind sails for these are $400 each. I'll sell each for $200.00. or make me an offer. I'll post photos and more details on the "General/OFF topic" side of this forum.
Let me know if anyone is interested.

[Rico]

Go for it Mike!
You'll be very glad you did when you get her out sailing. You know that...
Having a bit of help will do wonders. When you work on a boat, there is always a LOW spot to reach before it starts to feel better.



BTW - a Comment on 180% (17' foot) Genoas in General. (my experience)

I have one of these puppies - almost exactly the same dimensions. It seems that these were common on Commanders somewhere on the east coast (some light air location) at some point...

They are HUGE!

I do not use it very often at all, but that is only because we have plenty of wind here in SF bay. I really like it during the few calm breeze days that come during the winter months. They do wonders in light air!

They will do a great job up until you get into the 10-12 kt range when they clearly get you overpowered. I have very happy memories while using it in a very light air day during a race. We were on a nice reach in maybe 5-6 kts - flat water... and passing a dozen or so 30+LOA boats in about 1/2 mile! They thought I had my engine on!

Mine is made of a very lightweight Dacron (about 2-3 times as heavy as spinnaker material... but Dacron - so it is not a drifter). It still folds-up into quite a small 'package', so I always have it with me.

If you generally sail in light conditions one of these might come in handy...

[mbowman]

Yeah, I'm keeping my light 180% ! the guy who had the boat 20 years ago had outfitted it with 13 sails! I'm keeping the light weight 180%, the 110%, storm jib and a spinnaker. I think those will serve me well! Do you think the price is ok for those two?
By the way hows the sails I sold you last year working out?