Monaco 949 is the boat I acquired from Tom at Keyhaven (where you might have read the mastfoot of the blue 2427 Monaco gave way).
Thank you Tom for bringing the hull on Sunday morning at Keyhaven, and many thanks to you David for taking care of the damaged hull after we left.
damaged hull in Keyhaven
The hull is exceptionally lightweight, that’s wat I liked about it, that and the rather rare pale-green colour.
Closer inspection in the workshop revealed some issues that needed taken care of.
Major issue were the fasteners: All of them had to be replaced and embedded in a solid base. A lot of them were plain steel plaster panel screws, some could be removed but most of them (well corroded) broke near the head.
The hatch had seen better times so that one was removed, same was true for the mast collar ring and the centerboard gasket plate.
A new collar ring and gasket plate was made out of foamed PVC sheet, 4mm for the collar and 8mm for the gasket plate.
After having the mastfoot reinforced I closed the hatch cutout with a PVC sheet using PU sealant.
I don’t like hatches on closed hulls like Minisails, hatches will always leak and once an internal repair is done you don’t need easy access to the inners anymore.
The mastfoot was reinforced with two bracing pieces of wood (Azobe), glued in with PU construction glue.
During it’s 50 years career the hull was exposed to U.V. just a bit to much so the surface had started chipping (snakeskin like). Not only this rough surface will “eat” sailing clothing, the polyester mass of the sheet is exposed to water and it will absorb it like a sponge , resulting in a heavy hull.
I sanded it with light grit and covered it in two layers of clear Polyester paint. The rear of the hull wasn’t affected so I left that as is, showing the lovely patina of old gelcoat.
With much of the rusted screws sitting in soggy backing substance, what was left was hammered in and drilled to 8 mm holes. These holes would fit plastic hollow wall plugs. Each hole got 4 index-notches to keep the plugs nicely fitted. The plugs then were inserted using a liberal amount of PU sealant, and new screws were put in. Not entirely certain if it will work but testing these plugs on a piece of scrap hull showed promising result.
Next thing will be sailing the 949, let’s hope she doesn’t leak and I think the hull’s good for a few years of use again.
Building a wooden Minisail 