The Cape Dory Board

You have to take notice of a hurricane that hits Mexico on the Pacific coast and reforms itself to end up in New England as a nor'easter. Could have an impact for sailors along the gulf and the entire east coast. A few days earlier or later, it might have also had an impact on Roberto's beloved Red ...

Finito,

I finished working on the cabin top with a final coat of paint and then kiwi grip yesterday. The weather turned overnight and it is likely that this is the end of any significant work on the exterior of the boat for this season. https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/services/mediarender/THISLIFE/00901136...

I hope the teak block is big enough for both. John, there looks to be enough material to use for the base of two cleats. Holes can be filled with epoxy thickened with wood flour and no one will pay any attention to it. I finished installing the starboard cleat yesterday. The block isn't the full le...

"The Thing" looks in good condition for its age. I see no evidence of rust, discoloration or deterioration in the perpendicular member that is welded to the plate and fiberglassed to the hull. The plate itself looks sound. The rust on the starboard side may be water intrusion along a bolt ...

On a tangent, there is an excellent watch & clock museum in Western Connecticut off I-84, Bristol. https://www.clockandwatchmuseum.org/ They have a large collection, including chronometers and even this atomic clock (which I could fit on my 28 in a pinch for celestial navigation). Loses one seco...

csoule13, my first foray at epoxy and fiberglass was recoring the cockpit sole. I guess I jumped in at the deep end, but it is not as intimidating as it might appear. Lots of helpful information online, the people on this forum are a great resource and I would be happy to answer any questions that I...

Hi John, I walked around the marina and checked out where other boats had their midship cleats. With that information and taking into account some constraints specific to what I have done on my boat, I selected a position that "felt" right. As John and Jim have suggested, the cleats ended ...

This was the last area that pegged the moisture meter. I drilled out a sample and the balsa felt slightly damp and certainly not wet. There was no delamination and it was a struggle to pull the deck away from the balsa. I know that I should have ignored it (dumb dumb dumb), but I could't bring myse...

A u-channel offers superior structural support over a flat bar, especially when there are bending loads. Probably isn't significantly better than a flat bar, for these short lengths as backing. G-9 is commonly used in electrical applications. It has properties similar to G-10 along with excellent ar...

Are the side decks wide enough for this to be easily avoided while moving around deck? I keep thinking of this for my 27, and then think there's a broken toe in my future. If memory serves me, the deck is about 18" wide here. At 3" width, the base for the cleat has the same width as the s...

I'm adding 8" open base bronze cleats midship. I would like them to be secure enough to handle storm lines. With the cleat above the uneven deck joint, the backing plate took some creativity. I first filled in any voids with thickened epoxy. https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/services/mediarende...

I can’t remember the cost of a new one but I recall it made me gasp...thus, I kept looking for a used one. Cape Dory Sailboats have sold for less than the cost of a new bronze ratchet-geared windlass. There is no doubt that a Stone refurbished windlass is mechanically sound and a good investment. I...

John, ratchet-geared windlasses are still being manufactured in the US by the RC Plath Co. in Oregon (over 60 years). I was fortunate to find an Albina 7B windlass on eBay, for little more than the price of shipping. When I received it, it would only ratchet in one direction. It turned out to have a...

To right a list in my 28, Cape Dory added a battery shelf on the starboard side and encapsulated about 70 lbs of lead into the base. I also found six lead bricks (they look like bricks and were painted red), under the starboard settee. I subsequently moved the fuel tank from port to starboard and pl...