Tanzer 16 Next Year's Projects (Winter 2015-2016)

Tanzer 16 Next Year's Projects (Winter 2015-2016)  -- March 28, 2015 We are planning to put the boat in the water next week and there are still just a couple of little nitty-nacky items to take care of. The new Genoa is on its way and will need sheets. While washing the boat yesterday, I found a few nuts and washers that need to be replaced. Our goal this year was to make things more efficient and make the boat faster. We think we have done that. But dang it! There is already a list for next winter

There are a number of little iron stains on the deck. I don't know how they got there; I'm very careful to never use ferrous metal around the boat. Plus there are stains under some of the stainless fittings. Plus there is the issue of holes from previous owner's relocation of the jib sheet tracks.


Moving the tracks was a good idea. It facilitates single
handing, but it left some ugly holes.


Thought I was careful to keep iron away from the boat, but there are
a couple dozen of these nasty pits.



These will probably come out with a little bleach and Softscrub.



The rub rail and deck areas around it are showing what happens when
you bump into things for 39 years. (#1306 was built May, 1976.)

Then there is the bigger issue. The starboard seat has always "oil canned" more than seemed reasonable. As it happened, I had to buy a little inspection camera for my part-time home repair business. I used it to take a look inside the seat.



The camera/light head doesn't articulate from the handle, but with patience
I could get a look at the inside bottom of the seat.

It was kind of obvious, but now I know for sure.  There is a crack.




I thought there might be a glass/plywood sandwich, but it appears 
to be just glass.

So next year's list:

• Repair or mitigate the crack in the seat. Right now crew Tony and I are thinking that we will cut a hole in the top and use low expansion foam to add some backing under the seat--as well as a little more flotation. If that doesn't work we will have to cut out the seat, fix it, glass it back in place, and then paint.
• Fill all the holes and paint the deck. The worst part of this job will be removing and reattaching all the hardware.
• Replace the rub rail. And of course clean up all the dings along the edge before repainting.
• Rehab the trailer. It has a new axle, but it looks pretty bad. Plus we need to add new bunks. The current bunks are just pieces of treated 2x4.
• Plus... all the stuff we will discover this season.

So it looks like the Miata is going to spend a few months out in the elements while we lend its space in the garage to the boat. We'll set the boat down on some mattresses to work on the deck, and the trailer can go out in the covered--but unheated--storage area for work.

If the hull ever gets painted, it will probably have to wait until the winter of '16-'17.