Let's get started!
First view ... of the Harpoon 5.2 sent to me by the previous owner. The first 7 pictures and a few more are courtesy of him as well.
The topside had already been painted more than once previously and needed to be repainted again.
Lots of TLC required ... The previous owner only had the Whaler a few days and decided that it would take too much time to restore. Additionally he determined that he did not have adequate help. Intially, I didn't want to to take that on either,but, we don't see many Whalers near Colorado for sale so we decided to give it a try.
Wood work and interior, ... "before" ... The wood work certainly needs replacement. The thwart and centerboard block plate were all that could be salavaged.
On a roll ... Not! ... Notice the rear roller is not even touching the boat. And also notice the skid marks from the front roller, which was totally non-functional. The other 2 didn't function much at all either.
Oh Crud! ... This pic is of the crud that proved to be worse than expected. It was actually clay imbedded into the gel coat. A previous owner had let it sit in a private lake that had receded.
Crack ... rarely a good thing ... This is a starboard side crack right at the front end of the starboard seat well. There was a smaller one on the port side as well.
Cracking good time! ... This crack was in the aft portion along the edge of the "cooler support" between the bailers.
Night sailing ... The night we got her home we did a driveway sail just to check out the rigging and to inventory what else needed to be repaired or replaced. This shows the winch and bow stop TOTALLY mispositioned ... what's up with that? Not even close! (We strapped her down well for the ride home to keep it from moving fore and aft.)
Scum on the transom ... and on the centerboard and rudder, turned out to be clay imbedded into the gel coat. Notice also the peeling paint (above). That was the same stuff that was topside.
Ugly ... Just a sample from the trailer that needed lots of help.
Trailer Madness ... We sanded all the rust we could and primed with a paint that "turns rust into primer." (requires overnight drying, bummer. ) Then we shot it with a hammered metalic gray finish.
Looking good! ... New wheels were a gift from my wife. (Previous wheels had different size tires and one was not serviceable due to cracks ... and one wheel was bent.) New rollers were on order.
Rudder Levitation ... And the sanded hull is in the background. A camara malfunction caused us to lose a lot of the early pictures and detail of the bottom repairs. There were 3 through holes and some blisters. We repaired them per instructions we found in the Whaler web pages. Then painted with well rated bottom paint, Interlux VC Performance Epoxy with Teflon.
Trial Coat ... Was not sure if my HVLP gun would shoot the Interlux VC Performance Epoxy with Teflon. It was borderline-too-thick to shoot, but ended up OK.
Shot Centerboard and Rudder outside and moved them inside to harden (not "dry", it is 2 part epoxy). The hull here has a partial second coat. I took the pic before refilling the gun to complete the coat.
Final Coat ... came out well. Some words about Interlux VC Performance Epoxy with Teflon ... don't believe their "pot life" times. This stuff sets ups much sooner than they state. On the flip side it is INCREDIBLE. It sticks to everything and is VERY durable. Clean up soon and well though. It is hard to get this stuff off anything it touches. (And will not come off your hands and fingernails for weeks, oops!.)
Now the Topside ... Stripping ... a forever and a day task. This was ugly! Two and a half gallons of stripper, dozens of sanding pads and a couple wire brushes. This is an ugly job that never seems to get better.
Discovery ... not a good one. A previous owner had obviously painted the topside of the boat. Once we started stripping we noticed that in the edge of the gullies there was some fiberglass repair work. It appears that a PO had used an "aircraft" stripper and it had damaged the gel coat in some areas along the gully edges ... lots of them.
More stripping ... Son Jesse was an inspiration. He kept me going, and I him. Stripping was the hardest thing we did. Second was sanding the hull. (Notice more "stripper etching" on the top of the port side gunnel from previous stripping ... drippings from the can I would guess.)
Look what we found! ... the 5.2 boat number stenciled in the center on the inside of the transom. Decided to not paint over it again so we masked a window for it. This confirmed what Boston Whaler had told me for the related HIN number (which has no relation to the boat number). We are #485!
After sanding ... we topcoated the bad areas, where the POs stripper had eaten through, with some clear resin. In these areas we had also left a fair number of sanding and wire brush marks.
Stripping and Repairs done ... This was the starboard crack, filled with premix fiberglass mash and then overcoated with mesh and clear resin. The camera malfunction prevously mentioned didn't allow us to provide more details.
Primered ... Interlux recommends using a contrasting primer so you can see the coverage. I would NOT do that again. It served that purpose well, but is shows scratches too easily. (Yes we have quite a few that we got from our first travels and outings. Our processes improved and we have gotten fewer in subsequent outings.)
First coat of Interlux Brightside. This stuff goes on well with HVLP, but ends up pretty thin when sprayed so you need multiple coats. And, it does take time to really harden well, like a week or more. Warning! Vertical surfaces run easily on subsequent coats but are easy enough to repair ... but only the following day. You cannot sand the mistakes the same day. You CAN wipe a run immediatly and reshoot with some degree of success, but not perfectly.
Gray Hair ... is from the afterspray :-) ... I wish.
Jesse ... took a hand at shooting as well and did well. The Interlux "BrightSide" gets sticky fairly quickly, so cleaning the tools is important. We even had to do it some between HVLP loads because of afterspray on the gun.
First Topside Coat Done
Repairs look pretty good ... hope they hold up.
Final Topside Coat after sitting ... It gets shinier as it dries.
Bailer area ... repair here looks good as well.
Waterline ... Had to reflip boat to do this because the paint had been on back-order.
Rubbed out the remaining bottom Gel Coat with 2 layers of compound. Nothing fancy ... automotive stuff ... Rubbing & Polishing compounds. Then did the stripe, logos and lettering. (Purchased from Magic Brush in Deland Florida - magicbrsh@bellsouth.net 386-736-1142).
Logo - Stripe - Letterering ... Ordered from Magic Brush, DeLand Florida. Nice folks @ 386-736-1142.
Looking good ... decided to do the rubrail as well. The other had just gotten too beaten up in taking it off. It was brittle and it had stripper stains. Had to fill and sand previous holes. Instructions say to push old rivets through. In a dream maybe. I chose a hand grinder after trying unsuccessfuly to push most of them through. More words of advice: Bring one or two friends (or even three) when remounting. This is NOT a one person job. Heat gun was required (i.e. hair drier) for the nose.
Garage Toys ... Had to get in a picture of my other baby. It was a bit of a pain, logistically, to keep moving the bike in and out of the garage. It also collected a lot of dust ... but no afterspray, I was very careful. (Yes, it is kind of a young bike for a late 50s guy like me. It is a 1995 Buell/Harley pre-production hand built signature model.)
Wood work ... Did not have time to redo the woodwork this season. That is a winter project. Did however salvage the thwart. Planed off the old stuff. The other woodwork needs to be totally replaced however.
Temporary Woodwork ... Belt sanded the snot out of the old woodwork and wasted a quart of poly on it. Just needed not to get splinters. Worked out pretty well. Pictures look better than it actually is. And yes, that is snow peeking in the corner of the picture. More on that later.
Back together and on the trailer ... All the parts put back in their place ... some of them wrong. We put back the spinnaker hardware that was on her when we got her, but it turns out some of it was not the correct stuff ... the gunnel cleats were incorrect type. No worries though, we are a season or so away from a spinnaker anyway.
Transom View ... Did not put the motor mount back on until we get a motor. Transom sure looks better than in the previous picture, huh?
Nice View ... glad we did the rubrail! Total for that was $121 including shipping from Twin Cities Marine. Super nice and helpful folks.
Polishing her up ... Cleaning the dust off and getting ready for first day out. Told my project partner Jesse that it will probably never look as good as this again
Wow, looking Great! ... Even I was surprised at how great she looked. At this point still hadn't redone all the running rigging, which took longer than planned (And I do mean ALL. We got new EVERTHING that looked like line). And, this was getting late on a Sunday ... wanted to hit the water if possible, therefore picture quantity suffered. And, notice the SNOW on the bushes? Had 6 inches 3 days earlier.
Rigged and ready ... Finally! ... this is early afternoon on a Sunday. It is at Union Reservoir near Longmont Colorado.
And yes ... we know the Jib is set too high. We were expecting guests after an initial cruise.
Maiden Voyage ... Yes, we were moving with the water like glass. If you look farther out you can see where there is wind brewing. It did pick up and we had nice shakedown sails. The dock crew shown were waiting for their turn.
Après sail ... things went well. Learned some things, got some scratches.
All the repairs held ... the ramp was not very steep which created some launch problems ... the winch line was too short making things a bit more challenging when pulling her out. One of those little things I just didn't think to check.
This is Jesse: my youngest son, inspiration and partner on the project. We would have never finished this season if it weren't for his effort and encouragement. We did have some rough times, surprises and challenging temperatures. My tools and garage took weeks to clean up afterward. I love this picture in that you can see the snowcapped mountains in the background. It had snowed 3 days before we launched. But this is Colorado where you can have snow in September and a barbeque on New Year's Day ... Anyway, It doesn't get much better than this, does it?
This is my daugher Beth who hadn't been in a sailboat since she was 4. It was just her and I on a nice day the Sunday before Thanksgiving a Cherry Creek Reservoir. As you can see she got some helm time and did very well, at both helm and as crew. She and I went out again on Thanksgiving with her mom and my wife Kathy. Big winds. We ran reefed with no jib most of the time! ... and were too busy for pix :-) . Also Jesse and I went out the day after Thanksgiving. BIGGER WINDS ... Started out reefed and no jib. We chased wakeboarders and Jet Skis off the pond. We took on water (which the redone bailers evacuated well) and got soaked. Great way to end our first season ... wet, cold, tired, and smiling!
Thanks! That is gbragalone@yahoo.com
My Previous Restoration ... A WOODEN Star Olympic Class boat ... in 1967 (yes, that is me and I was a very young 21). Redid inside and out. Also, stepped in a new (laminated 31' wooden) mast. Sailed this out of Jackson Park Harbor in Chicago. (paint stripping hasn't changed much. Still is not fun.) Learned to sail on this boat. Not really for beginners. I guess what doesn't kill you does make you stronger! :-)
First, I removed the screw and spacer from the top of the rudder head assembly. This head is made well enough that this screw is really not needed for strength (There are three other well placed spacers, plus the one used for the rudder pivot.). This, in turn, serves to allow the tiller to be flipped all the way back. (If you do nothing else, this alone will make the assembly easier to handle.) .
PVC pipe fit PERFECTLY though the holes in the rudder head. A double threaded piece of pipe and screw on end caps probably would work as well, but I found the plastic to bind a bit depending on the temperature so went with the clip.
Here the rudder is folded back, Flip if forward for running obviously. Note the PVC pin position, which keeps rudder elevated for launching and driving to and from ramp.
The rudder shown here in down position. (the driveway keeps it from going all the way down. It does when in the water.) The PVC pin stores in the position shown for sailing making it convenient when lifting and locking the rudder for trailering.
I slide the bag over the assembly and remove it from the boat. I set the back/bottom end on my foot (or the ground) while I cinch up the bag.
In the bag and ready for travel. I usually lay this on the boat floor and tie the drawstrings to the inside transom lifting eye to keep it from moving forward. I am fortunate enough to be able to store my boat indoors so it stays there. The bag is a simple construction and would be easy enough to make.
There always seem to be questions about rigging a 5.2. The following are rigging pictures of my Boston Whaler Harpoon #485. I know some things are not original and over time some things had changed.
Main Sheet Rigging - The main sheet should be about 32 feet long to accommodate a full running position (BW recommended 30.5 ft. I found it a bit short for a full run.)
The boom vang arrangement is shown above. I used 14 feet of 5/16 line. I have seen and read about other arrangements on Harpoons. This one came with my boat, and works well.
This picture shows the lower BoomVang connection and the coiled Jib Halyard in the running position. Convention has it for sloop rigged boats that the Jib Halyard is cleated on the port side of the mast and the Main Halyard is cleated on the starboard side of the mast. Also, if colored lines are used, or lines with tracer colors in them, the jib halyard color should be red and the main halyard should be green. (BW recomended the main halyard should be 52' of 1/4" braid pre-streched with shackle, and the jib halyard to be 48'9½". The jib halyard is very long, but the length is needed to accommodate its use in raising the mast by oneself.)
This picture shows the running of the "Cunningham". By hauling or easing the line, the tension in the sail's luff can be changed, thereby shifting the point of maximum draft of the sail forward or aft, optimizing sail shape and therefore performance. My boat has a fixed gooseneck and luff tension can only be controlled by the halyard, which can be difficult to change in any kind of breeze. The Cunningham certainly helps with sail shaping. Some Whalers have boom downhauls and sliding goosnecks (which I hope to have sometime soon), to further help with sail shaping. Think of the use of the Cunningham as fine tuning. The Cunningham cleats are also used in "reefing" the main sail, addressed in a later picture. (Line length addressed later.)
Main Sail Outhaul line / Picture 1 of 3 - this shows the rigging of the aft end of the boom and the outhaul, which controls the "foot" tension of the sail. (BW recommended this line be 3/16" braid; 9' 9-1/2")
Outhaul / Picture 2 of 3. This shows the connection of the outhaul line to the boom on the starboard side. (My boat manual has this reversed from my actual boom hardware for that function).
Outhaul / Line - 3 of 3. This shows the line running to the cleat near the crew position on the boat on the port side of the boom.
Aft Reefing line for the Main Sail - Picture 1 of 2. This shows the booms aft connection of the reefing line to the port side of the boom. (I've removed the "out haul" from the picture for clarity)
Aft Reefing Line for the Main sail - Picture 2 of 2. This shows the turning of the reefing line through the cheek block on the starboard side of the boom. The line goes forward to the cleat near the crew position as does the outhaul, but on the starboard side of the boom. (see outhaul picture 3) BW recommended this line be 3/16" braid 14'1")
Reefing hook (variation) - My boat's gooseneck is equipped with a reefing hook for reefing (shortening) the sail in high winds. The cringle (grommet) in the sail can also be used with a line using the Cunningham cleats (next picture) for reefing purposes.
Reefing the Main - The same cleats used to provide the Cunningham function are used as cleats for reefing the main sail in high wind conditions (where you don't need a Cunningham function.)
Small pieces of line can be used to keep the excess sail near the boom when the Main sail is reefed. It is important to keep in mind this is for gathering the sail and NOT for holding the sail down. The ends of the sail are all that are needed for this function. The cringles/grommets used for this may not be strong enough to bear high wind loads. These are for gathering the sail only. Some folks knot these on either side of the sail and let them ride there when the sail is not reefed ... I don't for performance/drag reasons.
Jib Sheet - The above picture shows the running of the jib sheet. The jib sheet (while recommended to be 22 feet long WHICH IS TOO SHORT) should be least 25 or 26 feet long giving at least 1 1/2 to 2 feet more per side when the jib is in a "wing and wing position" ... that is, on a downwind run. This one line provides BOTH port and starboard jib sheet functions. It is fastened at its middle to the jib.
The Jib sheet should have a figure 8 stop knot on the end to keep it from running out of the fairlead on the cleat when on the opposite tack.
The foot of my Jib came with a hunk of line affixed to it for anchoring it to the forestay chainplate. I use a carabiner. This eliminates some of the flexibility in adjusting the height of the jib. But, I have not found a need to do that during most conditions, especially when racing. (It might be helpful to use just a line if you want to allow the jib to be raised when you have lots of people on board and don't care about performance. )
Jib Halyard - My Harpoon does not have a cuddy, so the halyards come directly down the mast and are affixed to the mast mounted cleats. See next photos for securing and dressing the line.
Coil line starting from the "inside" leaving about 6" between the mast and your coil. Make 8-10" coils. (next picture)
Reach through the coil and grab the line that runs to the mast and pull it through the coil. (next picture)
Bring the line through and hook it to the top of the cleat, hanging the loop.
Complete. You can now quickly unhook and drop the loop if you need to and it will unwind untangled. Another option is to make the loop and just tuck it behind the tightened halyard. It is less likely to fall out that way. Try it both ways.
The Topping Lift - The line I love to hate. I added this connection to the aft end of my boom for the running of a "topping lift". This line keeps the boom from falling on the gunnel/transom when the sail is not lifted. The other end of the line is attached to the top of the mast. It helps managing the setting up and taking down of the main. It is also a pain. While running, mine once got caught in, and lifted, a velcro flap to one of my batten pockets. I noticed this just as the batten floated off into the water never to be see again. If you make the topping lift line too long, underway it is unmanageable and can do as mentioned above. Too short and it can keep you from bringing in the main sheet and tightening the sail. I usually take mine off under way, bringing it forward and attaching it to the vang bail ... but I often forget and the boom comes down on the transom or gunnel when the main sail is dropped. It is sometimes hard to undo while running or to reattach when at the dock.
Parking the Halyards - there are cleats on either side of the mast top "park" your halyards when not in use. The halyards should be parked, in your hand or attached to a sail at all times. Otherwise a halyard can get pulled and the shackle can rise above your reach ... which most often means you will need to drop the mast down to reach it.
