Nicholson58
I’d Rather Be Sailing My Tornado
I have a really old Sunfish I got for next to nothing or zero. long time, can’t remember. Hull only, no spars, rudder, CB, or sail. I bought new spars, sail. No longer free. The old spring loaded bronze kick up was in tatters. I welded up an aluminum piece that included pintles and made gudgeons for a home built rudder. The CB was easy. I had lots of white oak so I made both rudder and CB. These I made a bit over long and went pretty vertical on the rudder. I never pretended these parts were OK for class but the hull was ancient anyway.
over the years I’ve tried a few things for fun. I stepped my Cape Dory 10 vertical lateen mast with a small Genoa Tacked to the bow handle. That was way cool and garnered a lot of attention as I outsailed several boats.
Now, the rudder fix is banging 30 years, OMG I’m old. I’m modifying my slab of oak to accommodate the new form rudder bits. It will be a mostly vertical fin. I was never keen on the original back swept form. It imparts a lot of load to the hardware and makes the boat head up severely while tacking. ALSO, I will be adding a couple of 4” ports by MarineTex to the hull for inspecting and drying the inside. I will use one probably to buck up the transom for the new rudder bracket. A bit of fiberglass and a backing plate. I also found a self bailing scupper to replace the very old and non-working original.
I seem to have a thing for old fiberglass. We live aboard our 1984 58 foot Camper & Nicholson ketch October to June In the West Indies. During hurricane season we are in Traverse City, Michigan where we sail the Sunfish, a 1968 Tornado and a 1957 Rebel. The Rebel is another formerly free boat with $1600.00 new class sails and other not free stuff. The Tornado is on its second refit with new decks, paint, and shore station.
over the years I’ve tried a few things for fun. I stepped my Cape Dory 10 vertical lateen mast with a small Genoa Tacked to the bow handle. That was way cool and garnered a lot of attention as I outsailed several boats.
Now, the rudder fix is banging 30 years, OMG I’m old. I’m modifying my slab of oak to accommodate the new form rudder bits. It will be a mostly vertical fin. I was never keen on the original back swept form. It imparts a lot of load to the hardware and makes the boat head up severely while tacking. ALSO, I will be adding a couple of 4” ports by MarineTex to the hull for inspecting and drying the inside. I will use one probably to buck up the transom for the new rudder bracket. A bit of fiberglass and a backing plate. I also found a self bailing scupper to replace the very old and non-working original.
I seem to have a thing for old fiberglass. We live aboard our 1984 58 foot Camper & Nicholson ketch October to June In the West Indies. During hurricane season we are in Traverse City, Michigan where we sail the Sunfish, a 1968 Tornado and a 1957 Rebel. The Rebel is another formerly free boat with $1600.00 new class sails and other not free stuff. The Tornado is on its second refit with new decks, paint, and shore station.
