When I restored W1037 I stripped the paint down to bare wood and epoxied the outer hull, without much consideration for the state of the original fixings. If I was to do the job again, I would certainly recommend epoxying in the screws as Dave Hansman has done. What I found is that 3 or 4 years later, some of the screw head filler, particularly in the bow area which takes the brunt of pounding wave action, was showing through the paint finish.

I think Hans Gottschling (hansg@gottschlingboatcovers.com, phone 905-277-3306) )would certainly recommend paying attention to the centerboard case. He typically removes the entire case to re-seal it and check for rot. I didn’t in my restoration, thinking the outer coating of epoxy would cure any leaking at the centerboard case/keel. For the first two years this worked, but sure enough, water started finding its way in at the joint between the case and the hog after the stresses of the centerboard on the case caused the joints to start opening. I solved this problem, with some difficulty, from within the 1” wide centerboard slot, by routing out a groove on each side of the case where the plywood bottom panel is sandwiched between the hog and keel. This groove was then filled with thickened epoxy and covered with a layer of glass tape. So far the repair has held up well.

With respect to reinforcing the chines with glass tape – I wouldn’t do it, unless the boat is going to be beached a lot, or is showing signs of rot at the chine. I did this once to another cottage dinghy I own, recessing the thickness of the tape and epoxy into the plywood core. It’s a hell of a lot of work to do it properly, and the resultant taped joint is never totally invisible or as sharp edged as the original wood.

Regards,

Kit Wallace W1037

Hello Al.

 ...  Been trying to gather a list of local Wayfarer / CL16 owners (got about 6 so far) and hopefully arrange a local regatta next year!  Cheers.