Both boats are on the freighter and we’re flying home. Quite an abrupt ending of our sailing adventures. We were on the water for almost 4 years and sailed tens of thousands of miles to sunny warm places.
Our choices to buy the Nonsuch and having her shipped left us no other choice than to end our journey. We spend our reserves and are on our way back to jobs, traffic jams, stress, making money, rainy winters and rainy summers. Still, I can’t complain because 4 years of paradise is something unforgettable.
During our 8 hour flight home, I start planning and calculating once more, like I did on my earlier project rebuilding the ketch. Yes, that project I promised myself never to take on again. Selling that ketch leaves me with a budget to restore the Nonsuch. That might take one or two years. How much can I save up while restoring the Nonsuch and working fulltime? What’s the year we will sail her back to where she belongs?
Non boating and more practical questions are; where will we live? We have no house and no home anymore once the ketch is sold. Minor problems.
Anyway, two weeks later the boats will be unloaded in IJmuiden. That’s about 2 to 3 long daytrips away from the place we live. We decided to sail one boat at the time. It’s only inland waters and it’s fairly crowded. It can’t go terrible wrong without someone to help nearby.
Some of you asked about boating in the Netherlands. Obviously I could tell you all about it but for now I thought it to be appropriate to share the photographs of a Canadian Nonsuch in typical Dutch surroundings. Enjoy.
The very next day we arrived in our home marina, we unstepped the mast and lifted the Nonsuch on the hard. The journey is over but the work can’t begin yet. I’ve made a deal with myself that I start investing in the Nonsuch as soon as the ketch is sold and not one day earlier. I’ve spend to much on boat projects not to make the same mistake twice.
Luckely for the Nonsuch, selling the ketch did not take long. She was on the market for 3 months and sold very close to the asking price. Good old boat, hated to see her go.
The work on the Nonsuch can begin! I started working on her interior. Yes yes, I know: that’s the wrong way around. It was wintertime and the Nonsuch stayed outdoors, covered under a plastic cover, so nothing much I could do else. I stopped the interior work as soon as we could get indoors. I’d like to start this restoration tale at that moment.
So, as soon as the boat was indoors we started to dismantle anything and everything that screws on a Nonsuch. Windows, hatches, handrails, cleats, railing base stantions, fill caps, vents, deck hardware. You name it, the whole nine yards.
I took extraordinary joy in getting rid of the portholes in her hull. The idea of windows is great but that’s about all I liked about them. So the first little project I’d like to write about are those bronze portholes.
This project I actually prepared the best because I thought of what I would do to solve my annoyance even before I bought her. I guessed that rebuilding the holes that would appear once the portholes were out would not be easy. So my solution was to replace the portholes with something that looks great. Something out of a Lagoon 380 for example. A lagoon 380 has portholes in her hull that are meant to be there and that’s obvious because there are in recessed frames out of the mold.
So why not arrange the parts of the hull of a Lagoon 380 that hold the portholes? Flipped over wrecked cats to spare in Paraquita bay and for sure I can work something out with someone.
So to speak, so to do… I glassed in the recessed portholes out of the hulls of a Lagoon 380 in a Nonsuch 36 following all the rules 1:12 epoxy matting etc. There you are, as if they were ment to be there.
Gave me lots of energy to take on the rest of the project! Stay tuned.
Sorry that I haven’t been updating this thread. Kinda busy fiddling around with fiberglass and rub rails. The total refit job is not done so I’ll post a side project: the cockpit locker hatches and the main hatch “garage”, yes the one on the roof covering the main hatch.
I don’t know if any other Nonsuch owners have had problems with theirs but mine were pretty bad. Blisters, rotten balsa and cracks. Deformations and numerous small nicks mostly caused by air pocket in the original laminate.
Fist picture I’d like to show is of water intrusion by the hinges. Note that the squares on both sides were probably meant to be in the spot where the hinges attach. To bad they missed! This one was badly delaminated and full of moisture. I’ll spare you the photo’s of the rest of the hatches but they were not much better.
Yet to be sanded smooth, faired again and sanded again until good enough for spraypaint.
Lesson learned: Your cockpit locker covers are probably balsa cored. Make sure that anything penetrating the fiberglass ie hinges etc is fully sealed from moisture.
And so, the story continues… How about those ports and hatches? Yes, neglected leaky and not so shiny. Most of them are hard to look through. Obviously I’m not shipping them to Hoyle and Atkins for a refit. First, because I can’t afford their prices and second because I think that this job is perfectly doable yourself.
As you might have seen in the previous pictures, I removed all ports and hatches from the boat. They came of without much trouble. I used an oscillating power tool (Fein) and a sharp knife. The polycarbonate “glass” came out even easier, just cut the silicone lute and out comes the window. That left me with some awful looking frames with lots of remnants of what was once a protective layer and sealant.
Actually, Mark, I do have a question for you. Did you replace the “glass” with polycarbonate or actual glass ?? I ask because I heard (and this may not be correct) that polycarbonate (Lexan ??), while very tough, etc., is not suitable for a salt-water environment and one is better off with plexiglass (or glass).
Wow those look incredible Mark. What glue did you use to stick the rubber(?) gaskets back into the groove? I have had trouble finding one that works well. Thanks. Tim
Hi Ernie, I used a material that’s called “cast acrylic”. I guess that the original material was polycarbonate because it was damaged by the sun so much.
To my understanding “Plexiglas” is one of the many brand names of companies that sell acrylic materials. Same goes for “Lexan” only their busyness is polycarbonate.
I doubted to use polycarbonate because that material is a lot stronger. In the end it’s not really necessary and it’s not as UV resistant as acrylic.
Hi Tim, You are absolutely right: it’s not easy to glue sponge rubber. The absolute best to use is superglue, try it! Yes, the 1-second stuff indeed. Problem with superglue is, that it will not bond to high gloss paint nor anodized aluminum for that matter.
I made several test pieces and came with a solution that involves a little more work but it works perfectly.
So this is wat I did. I “glued” the sponge rubber into place with 3M 5200. After curing, I pulled the sponge rubber of the 5200 with little force, leaving behind a perfect bed of 5200 material and a clean gasket. I applied superglue and pressed the sponge rubber into place. Done.
I hope the sponge rubber gasket lasts a long time because it’s now absolutely impossible to remove without tearing it apart.
From only 3 out of 10 windows the springs were OK. The rest had snapped. I can not imagine that this doesn’t happen to other A&H windows of the same manufacturing area. The springs of the big hatches are all OK
I googled torsion springs A&H and came up with “a few” hits. A&H sells them for about $40 a pcs >> not going to happen. So I had them made for a lot less
3M 5200 kinda sticks to sponge rubber or neoprene but the bond did not satisfy me. I’m not familiar with the Silaprene product and I’m very curious about it’s contents. Could you please inform me the exact type of Silaprene was supplied by A&H? Was it for instance M6325?
And if you would try to pull it apart, what would happen? Would the glue let go or would you tare the gasket apart?
Another project that I’d like to share is removing anything and everything from the under water area of the hull. I’m sure that many Nonsuchers and other boaters face the same project. let me tell you how I tackled it.
Evidence of a previous drying period emerge. With the antifouling I also removed the preventive coating that was probably applied after this period. My guess is, that it was an epoxy-tar product. It did it’s job well, not much moisture in the hull measurable!
A clean bottom! Finally! Not done because the uw hull will be roughed up (lightly grit blasted). The lead part of the keel will be grit blasted completely.
