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The Rig
The rig was complete when I purchased the boat. The mainsail and genoa were in decent shape. There was a storm sized jib that came with the boat that appeared to have been unused. There was a serviceable spinnaker. The stays however were old. Exactly how old was anyone's guess. The roller furler was an ancient Furlex model of suspect reliability.
No big changes were planned for the rig. Some early Tritons had forward lower shrouds added after manufacture but these are generally recognized today as being unnecessary. I added them anyway just because I have heard they help with mast 'pumping' and because they are really quite easy to build in and they provide an increased level of security.
When I first launched and cruised in 2005 I used the old shrouds. The only rig issues I had was a fitting off the end of the boom that let go with a loud bang sending me down below to change my shorts shortly thereafter. Everything else held together but I fretted every time the boat heeled over. To make myself feel better I took the shrouds to a local rigger, North East Rigging,, that enjoys a great reputation. One quick look and they pronounced them garbage. I don't have their knowledge and skill but I had to agree. Just having the piece of mind from knowing the age and history of my new shrouds made the purchase price worth it. There really isn't much to say. I handed the riggers my old shrouds and they handed me new ones. At one point I was tempted to make my own shrouds using all mechanical fittings but after doing some research I found out that the rigger could sell me new shrouds cheaper than I could build them myself. Since I didn't feel like my workmanship would surpass the pros I didn't spend any more time worrying about it. The new shrouds have mechanical fittings and toggles on the bottom and swaged fittings on top. All stays are 3/16 inch 1x19 stainless wire except the forestay, which is 7/32 inch wire.
Roller Furling
I had never used a roller furler before this boat and I have become a convert. I now love them for several reasons. 1.) Pure laziness which is pretty self explanatory. 2.) The ability to stay back in the cockpit and not fight a flailing genoa up and down in a stiff breeze. I am not really such a weenie but it is nice. Plus, knowing that I can easily bring it back in means I am more likely to try it out. 3.) I can unfurl the sail to catch a breeze lasting only a few minutes. With hank on sails, I would wait ten minutes to see if my efforts would be worth it-most likely missing the short puff. 4.) These new furlers are pretty reliable and many blue water cruisers that I respect are now using them. Old school cruisers still eschew the furler but these are more ancient, watery, curmudgeons as much as respected sailors. Its time to get out of the sixties people! Furlers rule! 5.) Finally, I was concerned that I was going to be stuck with the one headsail. I like the idea of matching the headsail to the conditions and while a roller furler can furl (duh!) I would prefer a properly sized sail to a half rolled up one anyday. It was my sailmaker that pointed out that, "you can still swap out the sails by hoisting them up the foil slots just like hank-ons if you feel the need". I selected a new Harken MkIV Unit 0 to replace the old Furlex that I simply threw in the trash. I was too worried about the liability to give the old furler away.
Mast Support
A common problem with Tritons is the mast support structure. Many, if not most, Tritons have had the beam that goes under the mast step reinforced at some point. On my particular boat, this beam was better looking than most but it did show a minor crack.
Once I had pulled off some trim pieces on the forward edge of the beam it got more interesting.
The top of the beam did not lie flush with the under surface of the cabin top so only one edge was actually in contact. The screws that secured the mast step didn't go into anything substantial at all.
I had seen Nathan Sanborn's Triton with a replacement laminated oak beam and I really liked the look; solid, substantial, classy, and stronger by far than the original so I set about copying it. By Nathan's own admission his beam is much bigger than it needs to be so I chose dimensions somewhere between the original and Nathan's massive beam. I think mine is an inch wider and taller than the original.Getting the beam out was surpringly quite easy. It is screwed from the front of the main bulkhead and lightly tabbed in. Taking out the screws, a few careful cuts, and the whole thing pops right out. Cutting up some 3 inch oak into 1/4 inch strips, I epoxied them together in a jig. The jig was simple to make. I laid the original beam on a piece of plywood and screwed blocks every six inches against the bottom surface of the old beam. I used these blocks to clamp the new strips together as shown in the picture here. I wish I had a better picture however.
One issue I had was glueing the new beam up in my driveway. The direct sunlight really sped up the epoxy and I had to hurry to clamp it up before the epoxy kicked. After the epoxy had cured I took the beam out of the jig and cleaned it up with my belt sander. Then with just a little more belt sanding I got the beam to fit back up where it belongs. Now I have a bigger, stronger beam that because of the fact that it is laminated is much less likely to crack. The new beam is also a much better fit and the entire surface is now in contact with the coachroof providing much better support. I sanded the paint off the vertical beams on either side of the V-berth entrance too. I like the look. Interestingly, I guess I had always assumed the beams would sit firmly on the hull and distribute the pressure from the mast and rigging directly to the hull that way. Not the case at all. On the starboard side the beam sort of touches the hull. On the port side it stops at the toilet 'sole', really just a lightly supported piece of plywood holding up the toilet. The vertical beams are actually screwed into the main bulkhead and it is the main bulkhead that transfers the load to the hull. The vertical beams play just a minor role apparently. They look strong and stout and that is nice I guess.
The initial survey identified some suspect core under the mast step. This seemed about right since a hole had been cut through the deck for the mast wires and no provision was made to protect the balsa coring. Water seeped in and migrated its way around. My mast was sitting on mush - as was obvious when I cut out the top layer of skin around the mast step.
A little more investigation with a drill revealed that water had migrated forward and to starboard around the edge of the forward hatch. Drilling is a great way to investigate what is going on and it is easy to fix with some thickened epoxy. Never be afraid to drill.
After scraping out the rotten core, I replaced the core under the original circle cut with solid glass and epoxy. I started with 1.5 oz. fiberglass but that was obviously going to take a very long time so I switched to 14 oz. biaxial cloth. I laid 3-4 layers at a time and no more so I wouldn't get excessive heat build up. I think it took about 2-3 days to get it all in. I put a layer of cloth on top to make it smoother and then I applied epoxy with fairing filler and sanded. The area is now slighly 'humped', which was intended. It gives a look of strength I think and let's you know something substantial is there. The core away from the mast step I simply replaced with new balsa core. I re-used the old skin but the added fairing that was needed to blend it in didn't make it worthwhile. Next time I would not re-use the skin.
Chainplate supports
The upper shrouds connect to chainplates that go through the deck and attach to the main bulkhead. The lower aft shrouds on my particular Triton go through the deck to 'knees' about 16 inches aft of the main bulkhead. All of the chainplates showed signs of leaking through the deck at the initial purchase survey and was one of the first projects I undertook when I got the boat. Keeping the rig up where it belongs is a high priority for me. Here are pictures of the original chainplate knees after removing some of the interior paneling and gaining good access.
The chainplates were bolted into place and after removing them I was able to probe around the boltholes to determine the condition of the structure and see if any water damage had occurred. As it turns out, the main bulkheads don't actually meet the hull, they stop about an inch short and the heavy fiberglass tabbing takes the full load. I know this because after removing the bolts I found a lot of air. The holes for the chaiplate bolts missed the bulkhead and went through the gap between the bulkhead and hull or just grazed the edge of the bulkhead. That seemed fishy to me but on the other hand the boat was 40 years old and showed no signs of suffering so I decided not to worry too much about it. The tabbing is really very thick. To add some support I injected thickened epoxy into the boltholes and when it set up I drilled new holes for the chainplate bolts. Now they have something to squeeze against besides air. Of the bulkhead material I could see there wasn't much deterioration so with solid epoxy around the holes I called it 'Good'.
The aft chainplate knees were not so lucky. Fishing around in the boltholes I found only soupy mush. I was quite worried at the time but I have since learned that, as with the case of my main bulkhead chainplates, the fiberglass tabbing is actually what is taking the load. The center section is really only there for support and to give the tabbing a place to form around. Since this project happened in the very early stages of the project, before digital cameras and long before the idea of a website emerged, I didn't take good pictures.
What I did was this: Using a hand chisel I cut the tabbing next to the hull and peeled off what was left of the knee. Using the knee as a pattern (and in my usual way, making it slightly bigger) I cut a new knee from some 3/4 inch marine grade okoume plywood I had from another project. Then, using thickened epoxy, I glued the knee to the hull. Once the epoxy was set I smeared in epoxy mixed with filleting compound in the corners between the knee and hull. This filleting compound made a nice curve in the joint for the fiberglass cloth to form around. I also rounded the outer edges of the plywood knee so that the cloth would wrap around smoothly. Then I consulted some experts and was told that 3-4 layers of biaxial cloth would be sufficient for the job. So, in my first real fiberglass job, I cut out and applied 5 layers of biaxial cloth to the hull and wrapped around the knees.
The next time I would do a better job. For starters, I would not have made all the layers exactly the same size. I would have varied the sizing so the edges didn't all line up. Its both a cosmetic thing and something West System recommends to avoid concentrating stresses on a single point along the edge. I think I would have changed the shape of the knee to an equal distance from the hull; top to bottom. The top of the knee is wider than the bottom and this made laying the cloth around it tricky as it wanted to bunch up at the battom where it has less area to cover. I also would have done a neater job. In this case the supports are so over-built that I am not worried about it. It was a part of my learning curve. After cleaning everything up with my grinder, and filling a few small areas that didn't lay down as flat as I would have liked with more epoxy (top and bottom edges) I painted the area with gray Bilgekote paint.
Much later in the project I went ahead and installed chainplate support knees for forward lower shrouds. I used basically the same methods but was happy with just 3 layers of biaxial cloth this time. The shape for these knees were determined simply to match the aft knees as much as anything else. They don't- or shouldn't- take much strain and the forward lowers are only there to provide limited additional support and help hold the mast if the forward shroud is ever disconnected.
More details coming...