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Supercat 20 Tall Rig Restoration

Documentation of bringing a Supercat 20 back to life. it had been sitting under a tree for several years, and was starting to fall apart. luckily the previous owner had put all the important parts inside for safe keeping. a tree had fallen across one of the sterns, both bow tangs were loose, the decks were sperating, and there were a couple holes min the side from lawnmower throwing rocks at it. I passed on it after seeing it for the first time, but eventually went back and bought it. I was worried I wouldnt be able to do the repairs, but ended up learning a lot and now have a lot of confidence towards repairs.

The boat is a 1980. The previous owner refit it for racing in 2003 and parked it in 2005 due to the loose bow tangs and other interests. in '03 he bought a new ARC 22 mast with the double diamond spreader set up from Aquarius Sails (bought the Supercat company). He also got a new set of sails through them from Saber Sails in Florida. The main is from the ARC 22 design and the jib is a Supercat 20 TR design. In addition he added a self tacking jib and bag launch spin set up. The spin was made by Smythe Sails. All the equipment was stripped off of the boat and put in storage, so its like new, with only two race seasons on it!!

Date: 08/03/2012
Owner: Mac
Size: 38 items
SC pickup

SC pickup

picking it up on my Dads pontoon trailer. perfect fit with the beams compacted. i got an old expanding trailer mwith it that I'm still working on.

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1240
bulkhead

bulkhead

bulkheads cut out. The old plywood had delaminated from the sides of the hull making them loose and ready to pull out undwer load. SC's have deck lids over the bulkheads from the factory. i used a Dremel like tool to cut the lid out. I then unbolted the t

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1208
old and new bulkheads

old and new bulkheads

here are the old bulkheads and one lid along with the new bulkheads and lids. Note how much bigger the new ones are and that they are composite so no fear of rotting. i ordered all of this new from Aquarius Sails, great to deal with and helpful.

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1033
bulkheads fit

bulkheads fit

got the bulkhead installed. used a pair of vice grips to hold everything in place while setting up. I forgot to take pics and measurements of the tang positions before removing. i called Aquarius and got approximate positioning which was raked towards

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1151
bulkheads glassed

bulkheads glassed

i used epoxy and 6 oz fiberglass for the repairs. i used 4 strips on each face, should be pretty stout.

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 892
bulkhead glassed

bulkhead glassed

used a grinder to get the shape i needed for the new lids. I had a 'shelf' in the hull from the factory where the old lid was so i juyst ground until I got to it. I then fit the new lid and glassed it in. I used epoxy for this as well.

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 757
bulkhead faired

bulkhead faired

bulkhead faired in

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1175
bulkhead faired 2

bulkhead faired 2

the other bulkhead faired in

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1082
stern damage 1

stern damage 1

stern damage from the tree limb falling on it.

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1006
stern damage masked

stern damage masked

i masked off with wax paper to keep down the mess. I repaired the inside first with glass and polyester resin. I then ground the outside damage, fit it back as close to possible and glassed the seams. I thickened some of the resin with some torn up fib

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1017
stern damage ground

stern damage ground

I then ground the outside damage, fit it back as close to original as possible. I thickened some of the resin with some torn up fiberglass matting and pushed it into the worst part of the damage. after everything i feels like its a good solid repair.

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1090
stern glassed

stern glassed

I thickened some of the resin with torn up fiberglass matting and pushed it into the worst part of the damage. I then cut strips of glass building the repairs out. after everything cured it feels like its a good solid repair.

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1036
stern bondo

stern bondo

spread the filler over the repairs to fair it in. I used a bondo type filler, Evercoat, for the fairing. A friend who does lots of glass work recommended I use it. He has always used it and has never had any issues with it on boats. I got better at ski

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1031
stern first faired

stern first faired

after the first fairing

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 971
stern second faired

stern second faired

after the second round of fairing...Wasnt happy with the first results so i skimmed again and went back to sanding! toi fair i used 80 grit paper and an air orbital sander. when i got down to where i thought i was close I switched to an long flexible ha

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 972
delam

delam

here you can see where the main deck lids are separating and a small delamination spot I found.

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1051
delam sized

delam sized

The delam was about the size of a quarter. I sanded around it and marked the perimeter with a sharpie

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 957
delam drilled

delam drilled

I fixedd the delam the same way you would a soft spot on the deck. I drilled through the top layer of glass and injected slightly thickened epoxy resin into it.

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 997
delam taped

delam taped

after injecting....

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 945
decklids fixed

decklids fixed

for the seperating deck lids I sanded back to where the seperating stopped. I then used a putty knife to open the cracks and put some thickened epoxy into the space. a throwaway paint brush worked well for this. I used colloidal silica to thicken the e

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1046
deck lid glassed

deck lid glassed

after the epoxy cured i ran a couple strips of glass over the repair for sme added strength. I used epoxy on this as well.

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1102
decks faired

decks faired

after the epoxy set up i faired the reapirs

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1015
beams removed

beams removed

I ended up removing the beams for painting and to fix a small crack under one of them. I happy to find that the beams unbolted pretty easily and the saddles were in great shape. The locator pins were also in great shape.

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1005
beams

beams

the telescoping beams after removal

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1054
masked for painting

masked for painting

I set the hulls up on pipe satnds and used conduit to keep them in the air. I masked off the non skid area because i was going to put soft deck on. This was a mistake. I should have jnust sprayed it all and then sanded the soft deckl area.

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1023
primed

primed

before priming i went over the whole boat with 80 grit paper on an air sander, then 120 on the air sander, 220 on an electric, scotch brite pad, wiped it down with solvent, and finally a tack cloth.

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1127
painted

painted

Top coated. I used a 2 part industrial high build polurethane for the top coat. I do industrial sandblasting and painting so I'm used to this typre of paint. In hind site I would have used something different like Awlgrip. The paint I used is super to

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1022
painted 2

painted 2

top coat

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1064
stripes

stripes

next are the stripes and decals. I ordered the stripes and had a local guy make the Supercat lettering for me. The stripes were hard to do. I did whats in the picture by myself, had the girlfriend help with the rest.

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1067
soft deck template

soft deck template

On to the soft deck. To do this I made a template of the area with wax paper. I took this and placed it over the soft deck material and traced it on the backside of it. The template worked for both hulls, just had to flip it.

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1068
softdeck

softdeck

i used contact cement to apply the soft deck. A super imporatnt tip I got waqs to put a sheet of wax paper between the hull and the soft deck material. when contact cement touches itself it s there! the wax paper allowed me to get a good fit started, p

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1005
softdeck 2

softdeck 2

top view. After it cured I took a razor knife and trimmed it some. The directions said to let it cure out of direct sun/heat for 72 hours. I was able to for about 48.

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1052
rigged

rigged

finally made it to the water!!!!!!

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1134
complete no spin

complete no spin

during the rigging. The 38 1/2 foot tall mast was a bear to step.

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1165
complete

complete

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1121
complete front

complete front

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1123
complete rear

complete rear

I may have room for a couple people on that tramp!!

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1195
complete side

complete side

Date: 08/03/2012
Views: 1213
   
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