Any other forum as helpful?

[mdevour]

Hi folks,

I'm sure this has been asked before, but back then I didn't know I'd need the answer...

In February my sailing buddy of the last several years died suddenly of colon and liver cancer. Actually he died from the surgery, but we won't go into that. :(

It turns out that I'm the new owner of an early 60's vintage Hinterhoeller designed Shark 24, hull number 69.

http://www.eskimo.com/~mdevour/other_pictures/shark.jpg

As fiberglass boats go, it actually has a fair amount of character. Being an early hull, and one of the first designs ever produced in 'glass, it's built like a tank by modern standards. There's also a fair amount of wood: rub, toe, and hand rails, coaming, traveler thwart, companionway hatch & boards, and interior. Later Sharks had plastic liners and next to no wood on deck. I also happen to know the rudder is a gorgeous slab of mahogony, as I helped Dick build it a couple of years back. smile.gif

I'll be spending this season getting settled in and figuring out what I want to do over the coming years. The boat needs some work, of course. There are some cracks starting in the cabin top that will need to be fixed before they become a serious problem. The toerails ought to be renewed soon. I want to re-equip the cabin for weekending and light cruising.

I was not ready to own this size of boat this soon, and I'd have chosen something in wood if I was, but I can see that it will get us out on the water and keep us sailing until the perfect building or restoration project comes along someday when we're ready.

I've found the Shark 24 class association web site, and a couple of other owner sites. There's a fair bit of info out there, and even quite a few parts and accessories still available, but not a whole lot of activity on the handful of forums for the class.

Do any of you know of a forum that would be anywhere near as helpful and knowledgeable as this one is, for the maintenance, repair and restoration of older fiberglass boats? Any books I should invest in? Useful sites?

Would the occasional frozen-snot-boat question be tolerated in Building & Repair? ;)

Thank you my wooden boat friends.

Mike D.

[Bob Smalser]

Lotsa professional and high-end glass and metal folks live here, but it's not as active a forum as this one:

http://boatdesign.net/forums/

Otherwise the difference between your plywood-cored polyester boat and the epoxy-encapsulated strippers that are common as mud here is moot to me....'cept yours is probably better made than most, as the gents who made yours were almost surely wood professionals before they had to switch to glass to survive.

[bamamick]

There are all kinds of boat folks here. I myself own two 'glass racing boats, and three nice woodies. It's a love of wood that brings us here, but many of us either own or have owned 'glassers.

I have never sailed on a Shark, but I understand that they are huge around Toronto. I think that the Worlds are scheduled for RCYC next summer. Check their site out and see.

I am sorry about your friend. I am glad that you got the boat and will make it your own.

Mickey Lake

[shoal_draft_fantasies]

from talking to my brother that owns a shark in the toronto area most of the dialog is on the dock and in the clubs, and on the water.

They have very active fleets.

If racing your new-to-you boat isn't your "thing" yet, try and get involved with a local fleet as a shark crew for a few club races; you'll learn a ton of stuff about setting them up right (rake and sheeting angles and stuff), and what to watch out for as an owner.

I suspect the boat you have is a gem within that community. My brother's has a cabin liner and he wishes it didn't - it is an extra few hundred pounds on the boat that he doesn't want.

From the photo, and your rudder comment, I think your boat probably is fairly fast; Shark owners are irrationally neurotic about underwater drag and just plain silly about the issue of asymmetry in the factory keel in later boats (spending more than they paid for the boat to get the keel faired into symmetry).

http://www.shark24.org/ is the main site, and a pretty "clunky" one at that.

If my brother is representative of the class owners:
1) They will be on their boats rather than scanning a web site
2) They operate with a list of email addresses of fellow sharkowners on their blackberries.
3) Avoid offers of "a few beers" in exchange for "a little wetsanding" unless you like beer and like using 800 wet&dry overhead.

[mdevour]

Originally posted by Bob Smalser:
Lotsa professional and high-end glass and metal folks live here, but it's not as active a forum as this one:

http://boatdesign.net/forums/
That looks to be a decent site. Thank you.



'cept yours is probably better made than most, as the gents who made yours were almost surely wood professionals before they had to switch to glass to survive.Absolutely. According to the history I've read, the first 5 or 6 examples of this hull were made of "plywood." I interpret that to mean cold molded, though I haven't confirmed that yet.

Then a customer insisted he build him one in 'glass, so the molds were made and they were glass forever after.

Hull 69 was produced while Hinterhoeller was still building them under his own name. Later he formed another company that built many more.

I'd love to get a look at one of the wood ones. I wonder what the deck and cabin looked like!

Mike D.

[mdevour]

Originally posted by bamamick:
... I understand that they are huge around Toronto.
Sounds like an excuse for a road trip! :D



I am sorry about your friend. I am glad that you got the boat and will make it your own.
Thanks, Mickey. The boat will be a welcome addition to our family's recreation. I'd still prefer to have my friend to continue teaching me (and pay the bills! :eek: ) for a lot more years.

Mike D.

[mdevour]

Originally posted by shoal_draft_fantasies:
If racing your new-to-you boat isn't your "thing" yet, try and get involved with a local fleet as a shark crew for a few club races; you'll learn a ton of stuff about setting them up right (rake and sheeting angles and stuff), and what to watch out for as an owner.
One thing I'm pretty sure of is this boat won't ever be racing in class again, unless somebody decides to do a complete restoration. My friend replaced the mast with a beefier extrusion and made a new boom from the old mast. Definitely wouldn't pass muster.

I would like to see how they're supposed to be rigged, though, and restore some of the controls that are missing now.

Dick wanted a day-sailer, basically, and left things pretty simple.



From the photo, and your rudder comment, I think your boat probably is fairly fast; Shark owners are irrationally neurotic about underwater drag ...
That certainly did not describe my friend! smile.gif He did his cruising and racing when he was younger. He wasn't much interested in that nowadays. The less work it was the better!

Still, it is a fast design. I've seen us pull away from boats that were larger and carried more sail and lots of fancy equipment. :cool:

Anything I do to restore the rig will improve performance, but I don't foresee that becoming an obsession... I hope! :eek:

Mike D.

[Scott P]

Welcome aboard, posting a few questions in the repair section shouldn't get you in too much trouble I've been doing it for a while and no one has shown up at the door with tar and feathers yet. Your boat sounds like a good one, I happen to have a 69 Yankee Dolphin which is also a fiberglass boat with an acre of teak trim to maintain of which I just finished instaling new toe rails. A book I would highly recomend is Don Casey's This Old Boat it seem to be a good general guide to just about everthing for a fiberglass boat. PS before you guys come with the tar and feathers, I want you to know I have seven boats four of which are wood and made by me! PSS I am also sorry to hear about your friend.

[ 05-13-2005, 02:19 AM: Message edited by: Scott P ]

[Ron Williamson]

SWMBO's dad had a Shark for too long.Especially since it was such a dog.It was heavy to start with and loaded up with all of his spares it was awful.
He had it going 14 kn. surfing down Lake Huron,with a reef in, a coupla times,so they're pretty stout boats.
The story I heard was that the first ones were plywood,not lumber.
R