I have made nearly every mistake imaginable when rebuilding boats. I continue to make them, and continue to learn from them.
The seat frames hangers have been Dremel cut free from the coming.
MISTAKE: I miss cut one of the bow seat hangers too close to the cockpit rim and sliced through the coming with the Dremel blade. I’d love to go back and cut that one correctly, especially since shop partner Joby was standing on the other side of the boat telling me “No, not there, that’s too close to the coming” as I proceeded to ignore him and cut it badly.
The side I cut correctly and left a little long is exactly where the utility thwart will be positioned, and that extra depth inside the coming would be helpful for glassing the utility/sail thwart in place.
CORRECTION: Repaired with 2” glass tape and resin, but woulda, coulda, shoulda listened to Joby. He needs to be less gentle in his persuasion; just grab the Dremel out of my hand next time dammit.
The floor mounted Wenonah bucket seat is in.
MISTAKE: I didn’t have enough peel ply to cover all of the dynel and fiberglass tape subfloor. I did manage to peel ply the seamed edges of the tape and some of the dynel, but the rest of the dynel is rough-surfaced and not in easy places to sand.
CORRECTION: I sanded what I could and top coated the rest with more resin. There are some places I simply can’t reach to sand, and the extra resin added no strength. The real correction is that I bought enough peel ply to last this boat and the next. At 80 cents a square foot that is almost certainly the stupidest cost/benefit ratio mistake I’ll make.
The old worn rope handles have been cut off and the holes filled with pigmented resin.
MISTAKE: I should have packed the holes with PC-7 epoxy first and top coated that with pigmented Gflex - the rope remaining in the holes drank in resin.
CORRECTION: I kept adding blue pigmented Gflex until the holes were filled.
New carry handles are attached. I marked out the extent of my arms reach inside the hull and resined in lengths of 4” glass tape (and peel ply!) to beef up the decks at the carry handle locations.
MISTAKE: I went one section further back with the position of the stern carry handle, so there is no glass tape under the rear attachment point of that handle.
CORRECTION: The handles are attached with short machine screws, washers and nylocks; I can go back I next time the hull is upside down, unscrew that handle and add the missing glass tape.
The seam tape between the hull and deck was missing, although the groady adhesive remains of the OEM tape were plainly visible. I ran 1” black Gorilla tape around the seam, hit it with a heat gun and smoothed it out with a insulated glove. It is amazing how much better the hull looks with that seam taped.
MISTAKE: I sanded down the bumpy seamed edge before laying on the tape, but I missed a couple of rough and raised spots.
CORRECTION: The rough and raised spots under the heat-pressed tape are plainly visible. Live with it.
The Surf-to-Summit back band was installed using four pad eyes.
MISTAKE: Time will tell; those were some very awkward places to install pad eyes.
CORRECTION: I’m hoping none is needed, the first test paddle will tell.
I beefed up the locations where the foot pedal rudder controls will be mounted with layers of 2” and 4” glass tape and resin (and, of course, peel ply).
MISTAKE: None. Maybe I’m getting better.
The OEM rudder was massive, and functioned crudely. There were no rudder retraction controls, the choice were simply to have the rudder down or to remove it from the housing. Not exactly convenient for on-water manipulation.
I designed and cut a new flip-up blade from aluminum stock that will work with the existing rudder hardware, patterned after the shape of the blade on the Monarch.
I would prefer a Feathercraft type rudder that flips up onto the back deck, but a new/modern rudder would cost more than what I paid for the boat, so I’ll make what I have work. Old rudder 15oz, new rudder 10oz.
That may not be the last word on the Optima rudder size and shape. Since the rudder blade is simple to unpin and remove from the pivot housing, making a new one would be as easy as cutting another piece of sheet aluminum.
Being able to remove the rudder should be handy for transport as well; I have occasionally whacked my head on rudders when walking around the truck, despite having them all stripe-painted and reflective taped to better catch my attention.
MISTAKE: I did not have clevis pins sized for the antique rudder housing.
CORRECTION: I used a couple of stainless steel cotter pins as a temporary solution to hold the cables to the housing and true up the rudder controls.
I have a variety of rudder control pedals and sliders available from past rebuilds, including the peculiar OEM gas-pedal style controls from gutting the Optima.
Even though they are the heaviest of the lot I’ll used the Yakimas, they are fairly bombproof and seem to bind less than all-plastic controls.
I needed to have shop partner Joby on hand before installing the rudder cables and foot pedals. That is a two-man job. And a two brain job; with both of us thinking and talking out the sequence and methodology we got that part done right.
I attached thin bungee cord to the front end of the sliders. That bungee runs through a nylon cable clamp under the deck with a cord lock on the bitter end for easy tensioning adjustment. That bungee keeps the sliders from falling out the back of the Yakima track and auto-centers the rudder if I take my feet off the pedals.
MISTAKE: The thin bungee I had was way too thin, but for truing up purposes it’ll do.
CORRECTION: Replace it when I have the correct bungee.
I needed to drill a hole through the deck for the cable clamps underneath, and so I married the hole to nylon pad eyes on top of the deck. A third pad eye centered and forward gives me a place to run a ^ of bungee cord atop the deck.
I don’t like gear on the front deck, for wave shedding splash reasons, and the decks on the Optima are quite peaked, but I do like a bungee run positioned there to shove a paddle blade under (hence the wooden ball – it’s easier to get the blade under the ball than digging away between the deck and a tight bungee.
MISTAKE: I didn’t have any reflective bungee, which I prefer.
CORRECTION: I used what I had, and when it stretched out beyond being reknottable I’ll replace it with reflective bungee (if I can find a source).
I ran the retraction cord for the Kruger-style rudder through a closed cleat on my dominate side. I installed a pad eye on the back deck to keep the retraction cord from drooping too much when uncleated, and added a wooden ball to the bitter end of the cord so it is easier to grab and can’t run out through the cleat when released.
MISTAKE: I tried holding a washer on the rivet shank under the deck and squeezing the pop rivet gun left handed. Don’t try that at home (unless you are left handed).
CORRECTION: After drilling out the fugly pop rivet I called for a second pair of hands.
I don’t like gear on the bow deck, but the stern deck is another matter. That’s a good place to strap down excess lightweight/bulky gear if need be. “Strap” down is the operative word; securing something like a dry bagged Therma-rest under bungee cords quickly stretches out the bungee and isn’t very secure.
A couple of grommet straps provide secure locations to run a length of webbing and ladder lock. Grommet straps work better if they are located in a position where the slot if slightly raised and easier to pass the webbing through, not flush with the deck.
MISTAKE: I have a couple of grommet straps left and remember thinking that I needed to add them to the stern deck of some boat. But I don’t remember which one.
CORRECTION: I’ll have a look later. And buy more grommet straps.
The funnest and fastest part of putting a boat together is installing the machine screwed or pop riveted outfitting, especially if you know how and where you want it.
Every re-build or retrofit poses new challenges, and I make new mistakes every time. Some people scratch their heads at Soduku to keep their grey matter active. I puzzle over boat rebuilds and try to learn from my mistakes.
Time to clean the cluttered shop benches of parts, tools and materials, and make a list of what still needs to be done in sequence.