Lockdown Project

[Don MunroParticipant @donmunro72517]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum and model boating so I'm reaching out for some help. I have just taken on a project for winter/lockdown. It is a 50" long model yacht and is 'double ended', the mast is over 80" tall. A fin and heavy bulb but no rudder. It's in a bit of a poor state and I hope to get her back on the water sailing. There are no servos or radio kit. The sails are old and discoloured and the lines are missing or worn.

Could the forum offer any suggestions of her age and class? Also where could I go for sails and kit and diagrams to set up the control lines?

Thanks

PS how do I upload a photo so you can get an idea of her condition?

[Don MunroParticipant @donmunro72517]

restoration of a model yacht

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Welcome to the Forum Don,

I see you have already created an album. You can bring album images into your posts by clicking on the camera Icon (top row on the right) and choosing the one you want. If posting more than one image leave a line between them.

Colin

[Gareth JonesParticipant @garethjones79649]

HI Don,

Given that your model yacht is 50 inches long I would suggest its almost certainly a Marblehead class model. Based on the double ended shape I think a possible design would be Kokanee. I have attached a copy of the drawing I have below. Even if it is not an exact match to your model, it is in the same class and from the same era so should give you a starting point for its restoration.

The full sized plan may still be available from Sarik, although I could not find it when I had a quick look a few minutes ago. If you need any further help please come back to the forum or send me a personal message.

There are several potential suppliers of sails and fittings, such as Nylet, PJ Sails, Sails etc. and others.

Gareth

[Don MunroParticipant @donmunro72517]

Gareth, that is the boat, thank you.

I have attached photos. It will useful to get the plans as I need to fashion a new rudder as the previous owner lost it!

I have also been in touch with the suppliers you mentioned and am preparing my lengthy shopping list. Sorting out the rc stuff will be fun as its not my forte but nothing ventured etc and lots of guidance on line.

Again my thanks

Don

PS the keel fin is loose in the bulb as filler/sealant has 'rotted' away but seems to be fixed in with a pin, I presume it would be sufficient to pack the gaps between fin and bulb with araldite or similar?

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

The plan is still listed by Sarik but it is in the 'X Plans' range which are not fully catalogued.

**LINK**

You should still be able to order it.

Colin

[Don MunroParticipant @donmunro72517]

Thanks Colin I will order it, I've also found on eBay the Model Boat magazine from 1977 with an article on the build, may not have the plans, I'm checking with the seller. Cheers Don

[Gareth JonesParticipant @garethjones79649]

Hi Don,

Glad I managed to find the correct drawing.

With regard to fixing the keel weight Araldite will be fine, just clear out any loose material first. There are usually one or two bolts or pins to locate the weight on to the keel.

For a sailwinch and rudder servo installation there are lots of ways of doing it. We usually use a drum type sailwinch with a closed loop line under the deck, to which the sail sheets attach. The pictures below show a couple of installations, one in China Boy which has a self contained winch assembly that can be removed and inserted through a central hatch. The other in Phaedra shows a separate centrally mounted winch with a return pulley at the aft end..I have done a few articles on radio control for vintage yachts for the Turning Pole, which is the Journal of the Vintage Model Yacht Group. If you send me your email address by private message I could send you copies.

I have a photo album on this site called Sailwinch installations which illustrates some other options. Sailwinch installations

Gareth

 

 

Edited By Gareth Jones on 07/01/2021 16:39:55

[Don MunroParticipant @donmunro72517]

It has been a busy couple of days. The mast has had all fittings removed and the light surface corrosion removed with wet and dry then good old brasso to shine it up! Deck fittings were a pain to remove as either nuts and bolts rusted or bolts araldited under the deck. Some careful filing or hacksawing of heads cleared them all. The hull has polished up ok with some rubbing compound but the deck is either short of gel coat or lacking paint as shadows showing through the white. Question, to repaint with brush or spray can?

A mix of brass and aluminium fittings

Rudder pintel removed and you can see bend and when dropped by previous owner sheared off where heat was used

I thought it was sensible to make a diagram of all the mast fittings ready for the re-assembly.

[Don MunroParticipant @donmunro72517]

also, sails were soaked in the bath overnight, potential divorce proceedings as filthy tide mark resulted, much hard work resulted in cleaner sails and sparkling bath!!!

Q, any thoughts on removing rust stains from what I presume is dacron sailcloth?

[Tim RoweParticipant @timrowe83142]

Hello Don

There are proprietary products containing oxalic acid for removing rust stains. They are commonly used for removing rust stains from polished gelcoat.

I am re-using some 50+ year old dacron type sails and they were similarly dirty. I got a very good result by lightly scrubbing with Vanish (the pre-wash brightener version).

Check carefully that the stitching has not perished. Mine had and I had to re-do all the hems using polyester thread.

Nice to have the originals.

Seeing as you have all the deck fitting off, masking up will be simple and personally I would spray paint. Word of caution: I have some paints of uncertain composition (from a Spanish hardware shop) that work really well but like a decent interval before re-coating. I have had a few instances where the new coat has bubbled up the previous coat and that means a lot of work to rectify!! Patience is sometimes required to build up a reasonable thickness of paint that won't wear through, the first time you go to polish it.

Tim R

[Don MunroParticipant @donmunro72517]

Lockdown continues but work on Kokanee has slowed due to cold weather and no heating in garage! Sneaked indoors to glue and laminate the rudder. A sunny day allowed me to prime spray the cleaned deck fittings. Next job is a respray of the deck and starting the refit, lots of new fittings ready to go.

[Don MunroParticipant @donmunro72517]

Been a while due to other projects and a bout of ill health. But the restoration is progressing well. Deck was prepared and resprayed and the hull polished.

Tried cleaning the old sails but to no avail so shelled for a new set from Nylet. Ordered a stack of boom and deck fittings and lengths of aluminium sections to fabricate new deck fittings and tubing for new booms.

First was laying up the sails, spars and rigging to get dimensions sorted and 'dry' fitting.

Have enjoyed using my old O level wood and metal working 'skills' to make up fittings, hooks, etc. and then putting it all together. Oh yes, made some new hatch covers!

So boat is rigged and next job is the servos and radio kit. A friend has suggested an alternative to the hatches using 1mm plastic sheet and electricians tape onto the comings.

Had an interesting exchange with some guys from the Canadian radio yacht association on the history of Kokanee Marbleheads. "Bill Van Dieran did the drafting design work. Bob Sterne, produced the plug and moulds. Kokanee was designed as a light air / minimum wetted area boat – a very simple design. Her immersed sections were effectively semi-circular and like all Marbleheads much depended on the fin and ballast".

More will follow.

PS, how can I rotate images from landscape to portrait format?

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Lovely paint job, perfectly neat and sympathetic to the original.

Rotating your pictures very much depends on what you use as an image editing program and what operating system you use. If you use Windows some of the versions have a picture preview where you right click on the file and select preview from the menu. You can rotate the picture in preview.

All image editing software will allow you to rotate a picture and resave it, including Paint. If you are still having challenges can you let us know what operating system you use and what image editing software you have.

Sometimes you can even do it in the camera, but again it depends on the camera.

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Hi Don,

I`ve been looking through various headings on the Forum and came across your blog on your Marblehead yacht.

Like you, I have aquired one in a bit of a stait but worth having a go at perhaps as a project through the winter.

My boat came as a complete fibreglass hull with a plywood deck in sections which had started to separate owing to water damage. ( It may have been stored outside ) I was given all the radio gear and two servos and two sets of sails.

I`ve removed all the decking in order to see what was underneath and I will need to take all the existing bits and pieces out so I can start with a relatively clean interior.

At the moment I`m trawling the web to try and find information on settind up sails and the radio gear as it`s totally new to me.

I`m impressed with how your getting on with your project and will be interested to see how it progresses.

There are a couple of pictures of mine on my album ( Surfury )

Regards,

Jim.

[Don MunroParticipant @donmunro72517]

Hi Jim, just seen your pictures and she looks in a similar state as my marblehead when I got her in January.

First thing I did was strip down the hull, rudder, keel etc and give everything a good clean, polished up or respray then started thinking about kitting it out. Also the sails that came with the boat were filthy and no matter what I used to wash them in they didn't clean up, so I got a new suit from Nylet. Mast and booms can be fabricated from off-the-shelf aluminium tubing from eBay and I made up a lot of new fittings with aluminium section (eBay) or modelling wire using my old O level metal work skills! For the engineered kit Nylet and PJ Sails have all the specialised fittings

I have now fitted the new RC gear and will post photos soon. There are others on the forum who will know more about RC kit but I would suggest 'bench testing' all the servos and the receiver and transmitter to check they are functioning and talking to each other. You don't seem to have a battery pack for the boat? I got my RC equipment from Howes Models, speak to John, he is their in-shop expert. I will share my rigging layout for main and jib sheets.

Keep posting progress photos.

Cheers, Don

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Hi Don, many thanks for your reply.

At the moment I`m about 75% of the way through my current boat build but when waiting for glue to dry etc, I have another look at the Marblehead

Unfortunately I have no way of knowing how mine was when new but I`m guessing it was an empty hull and all the timber support brackets were made by the owner. Of course, he may have had a plan to work to but there are some strange looking constructions glued to the hull which might take a bit of shifting.

A bench test will be on the cards at some point for the radio gear, as you say, to find out what works and what doesn`t ( maybe none of it ).

I`ve only managed to look once at the sails as the box they`re in is so heavy I don`t want to risk an appointment with the undertaker.! What I did see looked in reasonable condition but I need to learn all the terminology for the rigging etc, as I`m totally green when it comes to yachts.

I`ve had problems loading pictures on to the laptop lately but I`ll try again tonight and if sucessful I`ll post them on the album.

This project might take while but one I`m looking forward to as it`s totally different for me.

Cheers,

Jim.

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Hi Don,

Hopefully I`ve managed to upload some more pictures to show the current stait of the boat. Jim.

[Don MunroParticipant @donmunro72517]

sails look in good condition with booms and mast and standing rigging

[Don MunroParticipant @donmunro72517]

K4029, so she has been registered, internet research should give you the model design and then you should be able to find plans

[Don MunroParticipant @donmunro72517]

my blue boat has got rc gear fitted and working, next is to set up the running rigging

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Hi Don , thanks for showing your set up so far.

I`ve looked on the web for K4029 and it seems to cover several versions, unless I`m reading it wrong. I`ll keep looking.

If I can work out where everything went inside the hull, I`m thinking maybe just renew all the timber pieces as some of it is glued ( maybe Araldite ) to the hull and that would risk possible damage.

The five battery pack in your picture I have also but it will need replacing as it`s` in a not so good condition.

At some point I`ll see if I can get one of the sets of sails into the hull to see what`s what.

One thing that is a puzzle is an aluminium tube glued in the hull with a screw screwed into what looks like wax . It wouldn`t take much to strip the thread. No idea what it`s for.

Many thanks once again,

Jim.

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Hi Don. just had a look at the pictures on your album.

Your certainly making a nice job of your project. Thanks for posting the photos.

Jim.

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