Finally the Luger holds it's own weight!

With all the distractions this season my only real goal for the Luger was to get the hull strong enough to hold it's own weight before the winter non-building season set in. Made it with a few days to spare. Originally I was thinking of just two fore/aft stringers but the point load when I lowered it on to the flat trailer still caused the centerboard area to hogged inward. So I added (6) six inch long diagonal stringers, one aft and two forward of the CB slot each side. This works fine. Eventually a couple full and partial bulkheads will be added and the hull will be plenty strong. But for now she is in winter storage waiting for spring. 

Looking at slightly bigger boats :)

My wife and I took 2 week vacation to England ostensibly to deliver our niece to a semester at Pendle College at Lancaster University. Our niece is majoring in Statistics, she is one smart cookie!

These boats were a wee-bit to big to get into the overhead racks on the airplane.

1860, HMS WARRIOR iron-sides. 

WW1 HMS M.33'S PEOPLE in original Dazzle paint scheme.

This English ship should need no introduction!

New camera is pretty good. But the Crazing is awful.

I received my new to me, i.e. refurbished, Nikon S6800 today and had a little time to see how it worked. First it takes great macro pictures. This pic shows the extensive crazing on the topsides of the Luger. Every square inch of the topsides and transom are crazed like this but not the bottom or deck. I can only guess the parts were manufactured on either a Monday or Friday. Traditionally these days for car builds were bad due to workers being either hungover or distracted looking forward to the weekend. Well except for cars built between about 1973 and the late 1980s, they where all pretty much junk. I suppose this applies to many manufacturing industries. I don't think Luger would have been skimping on resin or gelcoat on a kit boat built in 1969, prior to the Arab oil embargo. 

Then I tried a short video mainly to check the microphone. On the S6200 they were located on the top, on this one they are located on the front. Seems to work fine and the zoom is nice and smooth. 

The stringers aren't glassed in. :( Turned out I had much less of the 6inch wide tape then I thought. It'll be a few weeks to get back to the boat though due to travel and house projects. Gotta knock out some house chores to keep my wonderful wife happy. But really I have nothing to complain about since she is super supportive of my addiction. :) 

The part I hate the most in boat building, GRINDING

With the Luger slung from the overhead to allow the hull shape to return to normal it was time for strengthening/stiffening the hull. First step is to tent and set up a dust containment/collection system. A simple box fan with furnace filter, shop-vac, and plastic did a pretty decent job keeping dust in check. But eventually common sense(my wife's) got me to lower the boat and move outside to finish up the grinding. 

My major mistake was not putting on a Tyvek suit anyway.  My arms were itching so much I had to stop after only on side and take a shower. 

Also I'm changing the stringer configuration. The originals were wood laminated in with CSM(Chopped Strand Mat) laid out diagonally to the centerline of the boat. I've changed to longitudinal(front to back) stingers made with foam forms but the strength is from Stitched Biaxial-1708 fiberglass tape. I've used Raka.com for my glassing supplies for several years but I have no financial ties to them, just a happy customer. 

My nice Nikon S6200 died after only 4 years so I used my 8 year old Kodak C613 which for the time had great high res(not)  VGA mode.  So here is a low res walk about the boat update. 

Luger Leeward Rebuild part 1

I spent a few hours with an old but sharpened wood chisel and a cheap dead blow hammer and began attacking the loose hull stiffeners. I learned quick enough to wear gloves as the fiberglass edges are knife sharp and pointed. I suppose I'm a slow learner since I been cutting myself with fiberglass scraps for a few decades.

Another interesting find in the paperwork folder was the original invoice for the boat($799.20), trailer kit($155.70) and other items to build and go sailing for a grand total of $1116 in 1969 dollars. Of course the investor side of me immediately checked the devaluation, aka inflation, since 1969 to 2016, so you would need $6662 today. Yes you can thank the Federal Reserve and congress.

Anyway back to boat work. The biggest problem so far seems to be where the bow was never competed when a tree fall caused damaged. I think the topsides and transom were "off" a bit because I have a gap between the deck and the topsides bow when they are pulled together.

Back in the paperwork folder I found the this  two page ad in the Luger catalogue for the Leeward. It show a 400lb ready to sail weight, but on sailboatdata they show 650lbs. My guess is that from 1962 - 1969 the Leeward used plain steel plate for the centerboard and rudder blade. My boat came with a very warped steel CB which probably weighed about 45lbs, I did not weigh it but picked it up once. I have the steel rudder blade and cast aluminum rudder head which weighs in at about 25lbs. In 1970 it appears they changed to (cheaper) marine plywood for the CB and rudder but that difference alone certainly doesn't account for the 150lb difference. Maybe Luger had one of those special dieters light weight scales back then. :)  

When cars had Character!

I found this in the paper work that came with the new to me Luger Leeward 16.  It dates back to a time when cars had character. Looks like a 2 year old 1968 Dodge Charger.  

This is the catalog that the Leeward was advertised in and this sweet Charger with Lugers "Sunfish like" sailboat, called the Flying Cloud. 

It's sad that a company once proclaiming itself the "World's Largest Manufacturer of Kit Boats" is just a distant memory of so few people today. Until I saw this Leeward in Bob's back yard I'd never heard of Luger Boats. 

The newest addition to the ST Norther Fleet has made it home. This kit was bought from Luger Industries back in 1970 and partially completed. The owner Bob G. then sat it aside to raise a family and battle the Evil Empire in the Cold War. The boat sat in the back yard all those years, but being fiberglass she is still here while two nearby wood dinghies are in the dumpster. The cool part is NOS sails and rigging, much wood and SS was kept in the basement.
Here is a video and talk. 

Luger Leeward Intro

Here is one of our security cameras catching me in the act :)



Now I need to come up with a cool name to connect the boat to that that classic German firearm.