A buddy’s old Sabot has been in the yard this month. He’s looking to get this boat from barely floating to something his daughter can begin sailing lessons this summer and not have it fall apart, i.e., a cheap fix.
Well, of course the more you dig into a boat the more you find that is wrong with it. Basically all the wood on the boat except for the transoms were dry rotted and had to be removed. That left a bare hull that had no foam, just fiberglass. So, it basically had no structure. As my friend had set a budget for this one but I wanted to be sure his daughter would be proud of her boat, I glassed in a new mid thwart and bow thwart, repaired the cracks in the aft thwart and replaced the aft knees. The mast step was pretty solid but much of the mid section was rotting. So, out came the rot and it was filled with epoxy as was the bottom of the mast tube.
He didn’t want it painted but I spayed “webbing” gelcoat into the bottom to make it look nicer. The transom and knees got a new paint job with high-gloss paint and, with the new teak rails, it is certainly an improvement. See before-and-after photos below:
Also, making sure the leeboard fitting was alighted properly should make this boat just fine for a beginner. It will be great to see his daughter out sailing the boat this summer!
-don