My first boat - Lysander 17 - advice needed!

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Jarrad355

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Hi,

I’ve had the exciting opportunity to get my first boat, it’s a Lysander 17 boat project, the boat is in pretty bad shape but it’s workable, we’re a team of about 6!

I’ve attached some photos of the project at this stage.








So as you can see it’s a bit of work, hopefully ready for the summer I’m already expecting around 100 hours of labour really!

I’m looking for some tips on what order to do things. I’ve picked it up last week and have since covered with tarp to prevent any further damage to the wood.

I was first planning to protect the wood but I’m not sure how long to wait from now to start. I was going to cover with Danish oil a few weeks prior to working on.

Then I was planning on fixing the soft spots which can be seen in the photos of the cracks, I’m not totally sure how to go about this yet so am looking for advice. I know to get marine grade plywood, but the position looks a little difficult.

After, I’m planning on sanding it all down and applying paint and epoxy combination. Then working on all the cosmetics on the top. The biggest help I need is on the hull and making sure the boat flats and is safe, I don’t know much about boats yet as this is my first project.

Thanks!
 
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Hope this won't sound too negative, but your photos indicate a ply boat in its final days. The basic problems with Ply is that not only does it age and delaminate as the glue fails, but this accelerates once any water gets in such as through the cracks that you are seeing. Almost certainly once you start cleaning them up you will find extensive rot and delamination, probably in whole panels. While you can deal with small areas by scarfing in new wood or even in some cases using epoxy glass, anything more than that could need a whole panel being replaced. Marine ply is no longer cheap - a sheet of 6mm basic marine ply is over £40.

Suggest you spend some time stripping the coating off and assessing the extent of delamination before investing any time and money on materials. Tapping with a small ball pein hammer will give you a basic idea of how sound the ply is. Good ply will ring and delamination or rot will sound dull.

Worth going on the Wessex Resins website (West epoxy) as they have lots of information on repairs using epoxy.
 
Tranona said:
Hope this won't sound too negative, but your photos indicate a ply boat in its final days. The basic problems with Ply is that not only does it age and delaminate as the glue fails, but this accelerates once any water gets in such as through the cracks that you are seeing. Almost certainly once you start cleaning them up you will find extensive rot and delamination, probably in whole panels. While you can deal with small areas by scarfing in new wood or even in some cases using epoxy glass, anything more than that could need a whole panel being replaced. Marine ply is no longer cheap - a sheet of 6mm basic marine ply is over £40.

Suggest you spend some time stripping the coating off and assessing the extent of delamination before investing any time and money on materials. Tapping with a small ball pein hammer will give you a basic idea of how sound the ply is. Good ply will ring and delamination or rot will sound dull.

Worth going on the Wessex Resins website (West epoxy) as they have lots of information on repairs using epoxy.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, It’s not too much an issue about how much the work is as I picked it up for nothing, however, I only really want the boat to drive and float for this summer only, it’ll be from May - September. So it being in its final days isn’t necessarily too much of a worry as I’m not expecting it to last. All I need to know is that it will be safe and will float for this summer.

So what would you suggest I do to strip everything down to see all the damages, do I sand it all before applying anything? I’m prepared to spend a couple of hundred on ply if need be.

I have gone over the whole hull with a small hammer and it seems 95% good aside from those 2 points photographed...
 
Jarrad355 said:
Hi,

I’ve had the exciting opportunity to get my first boat, it’s a Lysander 17 boat project, the boat is in pretty bad shape but it’s workable, we’re a team of about 6!
Click to expand...

Best of luck with it.

My earliest experiences of sailing were in a Lysander which my sister her husband built in the early 1970s ........ in the walled back garden of a terraced house in North London.

You'll find it a bit cramped with 6 on board !
 
The cracks are on the chines which are the most vulnerable bits. Rather depends on how long they have been open, but in my experience the supporting framework also rots very quickly. One advantage of having the potential damage there is that if the chine and any frames in the area are sound it is easier to scarf repairs in, perhaps using a batten to support the new panel. Stripping the antifouling off using one of the chemical strippers would help to investigate how far the rot has got into the panels. There is quite a lot of twist in the chine areas which can be a challenge if trying to do short lengths of replacement. Don't recall if it is 6 or 9mm, but if the latter you might have to laminate in 2 thicknesses.
 
I once got involved with a similar chine boat. The stringers, which back up the change of angle at the chines, had got rot in them in places, as had some of the ply in that area. Probably caused by rainwater sitting in the bilge and on the ledges. To be honest it was a nightmare. I hummed and hahed about cutting out the soft stringers, shaping up replacements with the right angles and then scarfing them back in.
The owner, who was a chum, and I had a chat and decided in the end to put in a few patches of marine ply and to epoxy over all the dodgy bits with cloth, inside and out.
I wasn't really happy with such a bodge and wish I'd told him to put a match to it
 
It turns out the beam in the middle (I think the keel??) is severely rotted so I may have to bin this project early on as there’s such a compromise. It falls apart and is like a sponge of water. If any suggestions for a cheap repair are around I might consider otherwise I think I’m sadly having to rethink my first project!
 
Jarrad355 said:
It turns out the beam in the middle (I think the keel??) is severely rotted so I may have to bin this project early on as there’s such a compromise. It falls apart and is like a sponge of water. If any suggestions for a cheap repair are around I might consider otherwise I think I’m sadly having to rethink my first project!
Click to expand...


I started with a similar boat and managed to get a season out of it. These boats were much younger then and therefore, potentially in better overall nick. As you are likely to find other problems with the rig, sails, topsides, engine etc it may well be better to cut any losses or walk away, if you are not yet committed.

Something in GRP is gettable for very little money.
 
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