I’ve always wanted to learn more about sailing and fixing sailboats. This summer that opportunity presented itself to me in the form of this boat:
Would you buy this boat?
I found an inexpensive Flying Junior from 1968 at a local boatyard. It was available with sails, mast, boom and trailer. All I had to do was get the trailer licensed, have a towing hitch installed my car, repair fibreglass damage above and below the waterline, sand and varnish all the wooden parts (seats, centreboard, tiller and rudder), select and install new hardware and I’d be on my way…
I purchased this boat on July 6th, and made an agreement that I could work on the boat where it was stored until the end of July before I had to move it to the Glenmore Reservoir in Calgary where I would store and sail her.
Already looking better after draining out the foul water, temporarily patching the biggest holes and giving her a bit of a scrub.Let’s do this!The biggest area of damage to the boat. Start by cutting away the damaged fibreglass. Sand down the surrounding area for good adhesion of the new patch.Laying fibreglass on the horizontal surface.Sand down the cured fibreglass and resin.Cut patches of woven and non-woven fibreglass for further patching.Mix up your resin and hardener. Complete the patch.
I had 2 very small holes below the waterline. These were tricky because I had to make them much larger to be able to insert some plastic pulled forward with dental floss to be able to apply fibreglass patches from both sides for greater strength of the repair.
Left hole cleaned out, right hole first layers of patches applied.All done after several layers of patches and sanding. This project would have been near impossible without a new power sander.And it’s trusty operator of course!The wood turned out to be of excellent quality, and came back to life after sanding and varnishing.Planning out the new rigging at home.And putting ideas into action in the boatyard.Preparing to drill into the boom, which strangely had very little existing hardware.Very satisfying.Invest in a high quality rivet tool.Attaching a bail (metal strap) to the boom so that mainsheet (rope) blocks (pulleys) can be attached.Main sheet ratchet block.Time to get this boat to where she belongs – on the water!Purchased on July 6th, ready to launch on August 1st.Not the tidiest boat on the water, but she floats.And looks quite nice in the sun!Ready to go.Sometimes the water is calm.Sometimes we get steady winds and sunny days.And that makes the skipper happy!
Jan Thomas Rossiter 