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Special Lightning Sailboat

Well, I've decided to make a couple changes. I never liked the bench style seats and the "floor boards" . These are as the kit instructions showed and were ok with the client.


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The cockpit is somewhat out of perspective as the bottom of the hull up to the design waterline was ground off so it would look as if it were in the water on his diorama thingy. So, the floorboards are too elevated (can't do anything about that), the seats look too close to the floorboards (same problem), and the bottom part of the centerboard trunk is gone.

Before I get too much more rigging in the way, I'm gonna try to "pop" the seats and floorboards off and make new ones that should look like 1 X 4 or 1 X 6's. Maybe even 1 X 2 or 3 for the duckboards. They might be tough to get off as they were glued directly to the "raised" replacement bottom which is now flat. Will still look better if I can do it. Also, I don't like the mahogany supplied as the grain is very coarse. I'll try basswood or something stained mahogany color for a tighter grain look. The pivot pin for the centerboard trunk won't show because it's below the bottom, but a pin used to lock the centerboard in the raised position will be there.

Wish me luck getting the old parts off without damaging anything else.

EJ
 
The seat boards "popped" out pretty well with no damage. The floor boards however are really glued down. I'm gonna paint the existing mahogany panels and make new "boards" in mahogany color to lay over them so it looks like slatted duckboards.

Got the boards laid out for cutting.


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This is what I came up with for the centerboard. The boat I saw had two lines, one to raise the board, one to lower it as sometimes the board would not go down on it's own when underway.

Very rough drawing, but you get the idea.

I'll have to do what I have to do. As you can see, about 30% of the bottom has been removed to waterline it, so the lower part of the board and trunk, including the pivot pin is gone. It is what it is.


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EJ
 
Got "boards" ripped for the seats, and a pile of narrower ones to make the "duckboards", and some skinny ones for cleats.

Ripped the strips from sheet stock on my new inexpensive MicroMark table ripsaw. 10 minutes work. NICE! The seat boards were cut on the scroll saw and sanded to finish size.


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EJ
 
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Well, I think they look mahagonyish. Said so on the container. Penn Stain - mahogany. I used to use this on cabinets and trim work.

This was the original kit wood, clearcoated.


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The slats for the duckboards; under fluorescent light,


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the seat boards, under 5000K LED light.


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From real life, to camera rendition, to computer, to Imjur rendition, to your computer screen, colors can change a lot, BUT, they sure look good to me.
 
Thanks guys.

The seats are done and installed.
Used the plank seat as a building template as the plank one fit perfectly.
Planks cleated together, upside down on a glass plate, weighted, letting the glue set overnite.


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Installed. Slipped right in, perfect fit. Not even any sanding to adjust.


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I like it much better than the kit method.

EJ
 
A bit more done.

4 coats of real marine spar varnish. I got the deep rich color and gloss of a well cared for woody.


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The stern and bow under-deck space of the boat I saw had been fitted with doors that could be locked. There had been some equipment turn up missing several times and he wanted to lock the stuff up on board instead of unloading it all and storing it in the dock box every time. When sailing, they could be lifted off the hinges and stored on the dock, although he said he rarely did that. When sailing, he usually just hooked them in the open position.

stern -


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Bow -


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The cleat is for the end of the mainsail halyard (the rope that raises the main sail). The other end goes thru a block at the top of the mast and back down to the head of the sail (top corner), just sticking up from the sail cover at the mast.

You can see just barely, a bit of the tackle for the vang (pulley/rope/ etc) to hold the end of the boom in the connecting hardware on the mast, to keep the boom from lifting out of the connection. Most of it is covered by the sail cover. I forgot to take pics of it.


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The mainsail was mostly left on the boom, covered with a canvas cover when not in use.

The jib sail was taken down and stored in a canvas sail bag, usually in the forward underdeck storage space. I "stitched" this bag with white glue, and yes, there is a jib sail carefully folded in the bag.


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An overall shot of where I'm at now.


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Next, a bit more rigging for the jib sail.
 
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