[quote=benedict]HEEEEEYYYY! This is so great to see new life on this and the other P-Cat threads.
So here's the status of mine:
I had to stop sailing it for a while because my wife had to have a craniotomy. She's all better now, but her neurosurgeon said that any sharp blows to the head (like getting boomed) could be fatal at this point. I gotta think eggshell. So she's voluntarily stepped off deck more or less forever unless I switch to a boomless rig. (Hmmm...)
But at the pleadings of my kids I'm keeping the boat rather than selling it. So far the only guy expressing interest in it wanted to rip the rig off, fit a motor, and use it as a fishing boat. Just hearing him say that made my blood curdle. So much of the life of this thing is in its unique rigging. (Motor my ass!)
So I'm trying to store everything really nicely until my kids are old enough to learn to sail and handle it. I'd take them out on it today except for the rigging part. Even with all the mast steadying hardware I built, it's a bear even with two people.
Kevin, Bob, Damon, ANYONE, aside from the obvious like a gin pole, what would you guys do to make a boat the size of the P-Cat ready for solo rigging and tear-down? Actually, go back... INCLUDING the obvious like a gin pole, what would you guys do to make it a solo-able boat? If I can make it so I can rig it myself, I can teach the kids to sail. If not, I'll have to find some way to store it until one of them is ready to take it as their own.
Thanks,
Tom
P.S. To those who built / sailed / raced these boats in their prime, if you wouldn't mind sharing stories and details about the boats and the folks who designed and built them, I'd appreciate it. There's a ton of history here that will disappear if we don't get it down.
P.P.S. One last question: The gel coat on my decks is cracked. It's not delam since there's no "lam" to "de" on these guys. I think it's just normal flex in the fiberglass. But the gelcoat became brittle over the years and cracked. What would you suggest for re-surfacing the deck? Something like a polyurethane? Or something like a roll and tip gelcoat job?[/quote]
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