manderson Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 I started talking about this over in the Maricat forum, but thought I would bring it over here. I have an old Maricat 4.3 I acquired and am planning on doing her up over the next months and have her ready for next Summer. Here are some photos of her in her current state. I have already bought a new tramp for her and have had the trailer altered. Next step is checking for leaks and patching. http://www.mdastudios.com.au/maricat/mystic.html There are a few photos on there of the place where the rudder mount joins the hulls. Can you see the small cracks in the glass? I have sprayed soapy water on them and had a good blow up the drain holes, and didn't get any bubbles. Should I still be concerned about these cracks? If so, any clues on what to do about them? It's hard to tell how deep the cracks are. Thanks for your help Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manderson Posted January 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 Started on fixing up the trailer today. It had a lot of surface rust, so I am taking it back to bare metal and starting again. Method was just using a wire cup on the grinder and persevering for hours. Still quite a while to go, but it is coming up nices.y. Here is the BEFORE image. Mark [ATTACH=CONFIG]109[/ATTACH] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manderson Posted January 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 Can I just clarify, Is anyone interested in progress updates and photos etc? Or doesn't anyone really look at this? Just wondering, that's all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iOrion Posted January 29, 2011 Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 Those cracks just look like paint/gel coat cracks. I don't know much about this sort of thing but I'd reackon you could probably sand it back and cut it in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manderson Posted January 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Cool, thanks for that. I was thinking the same, cause they seem only superficial. I'll give it a try with the ideas the guys over on the Maricat formum gave me. Thanks Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madboutcats Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Your transoms look okay, are the bottom of the hulls okay? if they havn't used beach rollers you should check to see the gelcoat hasn't been scraped off by being dragged on the beach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manderson Posted January 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Unfortunately I think it has been scratched off the bottom in some places. Does that mean I am going to have to redo the whole lot? Or just the bottom? How long can it survive (in use) with the gel coat damaged on the bottom) Thanks for the assistance! Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QB2 Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 mari repairs and maintenance Use a knife to find out how deep the crazing is and if in doubt sand back to the glass and check for fractures or weakened sections -re glass and gelcoat. re gelcoat the keel lines or where needed to stop the glass delaminating the more water is allowed to directly contact the glass the worse the area which will delaminate so See if you can post some images of the mari cleaned up .. look for cracks near the beams and shrouds - I'd replace the shrouds as a matter of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manderson Posted January 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 Hi QB2, Thanks very much for the input. I'll check the depth of the grazing out over the next few days if I can get away from work early enough. I'll also get some images through in the near future of Mystic all cleaned up. I still have a little work to do on her though before I can do that. Regarding the beams - they look to by silicone'd on, as well as bolted - should I be removing all of this and dismantling her to check for cracks through the connecting area also? Thanks Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QB2 Posted February 1, 2011 Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 Mari maintenance i would have a look as silastic only lasts for a year or so and really needs to be replaced annually. Considering the age of the cat i would suggest you have a look at the beams and check for inner corrosion or cracks in the gelcoat or fractures for example in the dolphin striker attachment point. i would check everything and look for problems before they get out of hand. Ask yourself why the former owners used silastic in the first place!. Correctly tightened bolts should mean little or no leaks. i had a rear beam pull out and the starboard hull fill up one day just as a race started- No warning and no external sign of cracks, but as soon as you looked at the bolt housing you could see major fractures. You can get salt buildup between the halves of the bow shroud castings, which hides corrosion between the alloy and the SS bolts. Get into them with some spanners and a screwdriver and pull them apart and clean them out. the swage on the dolphin striker is corroded- if it lets go you could lose the front beam .. if in doubt replace the cable and all the rigging. drill out perished rivets and replace with new ones on the mast and boom. Fittings can let go when you least expect it and especially on an older boat so when in doubt replace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manderson Posted February 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 Thanks very much for all that advice! That really is great to know. I'll make sure I do that. Might even pull her apart this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manderson Posted February 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 [ATTACH=CONFIG]111[/ATTACH] This is one of the chainplates (pretty sure that's what you call it) on my maricat. As you can see, it would appear that it may have pulled away on one side. Am I safe to pull it off and check what is going on in there? If it has broken up the fibreglass/plastic, is that repairable? Thanks Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manderson Posted February 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 Have had a fair amount of rain the last few days and alas the half stripped back trailer has been out in it. I think I'll end up having to go over all of the bare metal again. Had hoped to get back to it, and get it coated, but unfortunately work got crazy. Hopefully will have some time this weekend to do some more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QB2 Posted February 12, 2011 Report Share Posted February 12, 2011 Pull the chainplate off and the rubber strip and have a look. if the bolt holes have been opened up or have indeed pulled loose at one end dig out the broken bits and put down new fibreglass, then re drill and put the chainplate back on. Do all of them so you can see if there are any cracks or fractures that may need to be fixed up . Those are the original cast plates, the newer version is two stainless steel strips which you can probably get from Bris cat centre if you don't want to reuse the originals.they looked okay however so you should be right. grind away broken/fractured glass with a grinder and then build up layers with new glass and resin to the original level so you spread the work area into a oval shape. Have a look online about the right way to do a fibreglass repair so that you strengthen the area with different sized layers of glass. Mark 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manderson Posted February 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2011 Thanks Mark for the replies! I was intending on giving her a good clean with 30 seconds this weekend, but unfortunately the mowing called in first priority. and of course this coming weekend is full too isn't it. Typical. Oh well, oneday I'll get a life. Anyway, thanks for the reply and the tips. I'll have a look around for tips on glassing. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darcy1945 Posted February 24, 2011 Report Share Posted February 24, 2011 Mando give me a call, (02) 43591729 I have repaired/rebuilt countless Maris for friends and club members, and know all possible problems and their causes, advice free. No need to reinvent the wheel it is much cheaper to learn from someone els's mistakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knobblyoldjimbo Posted February 27, 2011 Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 As to the trailer, try a good rust paint, I use POR15 (I've heard of RustBullet and there's a 3m product that you paint onto flakey rust and it covers it. I've done stuff that I've roughly removed the flaking then painted POR15 and it works well. It doesn't dry by evaporation so you don't get the pinholes that often allows rust to restart. It's not very UV resistant so you should overcoat it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manderson Posted March 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 If you are interested, I have decided to write a blog as I go about fixing up Mystic. You can follow along here http://maricatmaintenance.blogspot.com/ - no promises as to how often it will be updated, but hopefully it can become a good resource for people looking to do up a Mari at a later stage. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phoenix Posted September 30, 2011 Report Share Posted September 30, 2011 I'll be interested to watch this thread, I'll be doing the same thing to what is now my mari soon I hope. Just need a trailer to get her to my place. Keep up the good work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darcy1945 Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 Hi Phoenix, looks like Mark has put the Mari on the back burner or in the to hard basket (nothing recent on his blog). Keep us informed, on this site, of your progress, I'm currently racing a reclaimed/rebuilt Mk1 and find very little difference in its performance compared to current model and it is almost bullet proof in comparison, looks like it could go another 40 yrs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manderson Posted February 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2012 Hi Phoenix and Darcy, I am sorry for my lack of updates. Things have been crazy busy with our business and I have barely come up for air. You will be pleased to know though that I have made some progress on rebuilding Mystic. I am now about 2/3 through fixing up the trailer and have cleaned her up completely. I am also now involved with the local sailing club, who have offered to help me fix up my mari as soon as I can get her on a trailer and down to their club meetings. They are all quite happy to help ouot it seems. So, I have been focussing on getting the trailer repaired so that I can move her. Indeed, I haven't updated the blog in AGES! I do have a lot to put on there though, so I will endeavour to do that soon. I will let you know when it happens. Also, Darcy, I will probably take you up on your offer soon and give you a call to chat about the repairs. As you said, i would rather learn from your experience than make the mistakes myself. Thanks again guys. I look forward to hearing from you. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manderson Posted February 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2012 Actually, you may be interested to hear too that I was contacted recently by someone who i THINK used to own the very boat I have. I am trying to get back in contact with him, as I think that would be VERY interesting. He said he used to own her about 30 years ago. If it is the same boat, imagine the story we could piece together of her life. I'll keep you updated. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manderson Posted February 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2012 If you are interested, I have done a new blog post about my work so far on the trailer. There is a photo in there too, though it is a bit dud. Comments are always appreciated http://maricatmaintenance.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/catamaran-trailer-repair.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
korwich Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 Thanks for the update Mark. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manderson Posted January 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 We have finally made some progress on the trailer. Stripped all the old paint and rust off yesterday and primed it ready for the top coat etc. Photos here: http://maricatmaintenance.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/progress-on-trailer.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.