Thread: Restoring a Rainbow 12' scow

I crewed a Rainbow for two years at the Port Adelaide Sailing Club. That would have been in the 1950s, the first year was, possibly, 1957/58 season. The boat was an old timer, then, called Skite.

Nice little boat to sail provided the sea didn't get up too much. They flew down wind, to the point of being scary.

skippered my rainbow in port lincoln (sa) up until 1990 i think..
until it self destructed and started sinking that was probably
the last year of rainbows in port lincoln as everyone moved to
the much better 125 class. i think port lincoln was one of the
last fleets?? http://www.plyc.com.au/newhistory.htm#Rainbow

Thanks Shane
I had seen the plyc website and I sent them an e-mail last week regarding any further information they may have or contacts but as yet I haven't heard anything from them.

I found this about an hour ago an American site selling plans.
http://www.dngoodchild.com/5365.htm

The picture is very close to mine. My sail no. is V 62 and so plus or minus a year they would be the same age.

Wanted Information on the Rainbow Class
I have recently acquired an early 60's Rainbow in excelent original condition. If anybody used to sail one, still sails one, or knows absolutely anything about them please contact me via e-mail or 0408 378 708
Posted By:[email protected]

Hi Adrian,

This was all I was able to dig out - and I suspect it might be you anyhow!

Good luck.

Boatmik

Yeah thats me......
None the less thank you.

dont know how much info you will get off plyc... its been a while
since rainbows have raced. prob the only things they would have
are championship results over the years. probably the only reason
rainbows lasted so long at port lincon is its large well protected bay.
keeps conditions pretty flat, which you need in a rainbow
my old rainbow was given to an uncle who did it up, still going
i think... not too bad for a circa 1970's racing yacht...

Here is where I am at.
All of the varnish has been stripped off the hull and deck using a heat gun, I am still finishing the cockpit. Here is my first question. Due to the discoloration of the timber from either the coverage of the varnish or the lack thereof I dont think that it would be feasable to varnish it again and so I will look at painting it. What I need to know is; Does the timber have to be sanded back until all color of the varnish has gone? The heat gun and scraper have removed the actual varnish but it has left a stain where coverage was still thick and healthy. Will this affect either filler or undercoat from adhereing to the timber? And so do I have to sand until I get the appearance of new fresh timber or is that going too far?

Adrian

Adrian,
Wait for someone really clever like the Micks (boat or journeyman)... in the meantime chew on this:

I'd take all the fittings off before doing anything else. There are signs of a bit of water penetration through some of the fixings (the black stain in the timber), so I'd drill them a bit oversize and fill all with epoxy filler (You'll need to drill new screw holes later).

I would sand all the goo off (I emphasise the "I" there, because it's what I'd do, and I'm not an expert!), go slowly and try not to go through the top veneer of the ply though.

Then I'd give it a few light coats of epoxy (see boatmik's post on the Cadet dinghy thread), before making up my mind. Despite the odd waterstain, I think you'll find it will look pretty good and varnish will be fine.

To answer your question though, you'd no doubt get away with primer and paint over the existing surface, as a general rule if the paint is stuck to the substrate, as long as you use a compatible product, it'll stay stuck.

I'm looking forward to seeing more progress!
Cheers,

P

Ok well hmmmm
This pic was taken day before yesterday, and since; I have removed the mast step which was mounted on a strip of malthoid(?) and the are no signs of water damage to the timber beneath it. The inspection ports have been removed ( had to drill the heads of the brass bolts holding them on as the nut had seized to it ). The forward stay attatchment point remains because I am unsure whether the three stainless screws holding it in place are in fact self tappers or if they have a nut on the otherside, if the latter is the case I will need arms 7 foot long to get to them.
As for epoxy........
This part of discussion was going to come later, but...
This boat is original and as was when built thus I am the first one to mess with it. When constructed it was done with copper nails and resourcinol ( unsure on spelling ) and the only epoxy / glass used that I can find is under the decking to the gunwhales. The big thing I have is this. To use epoxy and glass in the restoration would this be deemed as restoration or modification? Remebering that I want to keep it as authentic as possible.
I have resigned myself to the fact that I will have to use an epoxy based filler on both the deck and hull, as the darker grey areas you se in the picture are where the varnish has cracked and peeled leaving the timber exposed and it has pitted ( if thats a wood term, I am far more familiar with steel ) . The pitting has resulted in grain of the top veneer of ply open up and there are dips in these grey areas as much as 1.5 mm deep and so they will need to be filled and faired to acheive a smooth finish. I want to glass all the seams ie. along the gunwhales, the chines, the deck to the transom and the square edge from cockpit to deck to give the glue a chance to keep doing its job but I am unsure whether this would be deemed as I said a restoration or a modification.
The biggest fear I have is destroying something that has lasted this long with my cack handed ness or poor decisions.

Just took the camera out to the garage just now. This might give a better indication of where I am at. 1.As you can see the varnish it self has been removed but it has left the stain 2. This pic shows a bit clearer where the varnish has cracked and peeled

Originally Posted by bitingmidge

Adrian,
Wait for someone really clever like the Micks (boat or journeyman)...

Sorry Midge, I know next to nothing about this field

The only clever thing I can say about this, seeing most of the timber boat work I've done was on traditional planked hulls whilst working for others, is to get good technical advice. Find a marine paint supplier who knows their stuff and tell them what you have and what you want to achieve and get them to reccomend a paint system for your application. If you don't know of a good supplier then go to several with the same information, they may be selling different products but they should come up with paint systems that are fairly similar. Hopefully BoatMik can steer you in the right direction.

Mick

PS Midge, I thought my tip of throwing salt in the bilges (standard practice on timber hull trawlers etc but apprently a no no on ply and composite boats ) was a bit of a giveaway as to my lack of knowledge

when we did up my rainbow (looks pretty similar to yours stripped back)
we just sanded it up real nice then wacked on a few coats of marine
varnish. mine had alot bigger wave striker on the deck though? might
have been a bit of an updated design after they worked out scows in wave
get pretty wet up front. also mine had a nice tapered aluminum mast
too bad i was 6foot4 and looked like giant in the thing... had to just about lay down
to get thru tacks..

Originally Posted by shanefra

too bad i was 6foot4 and looked like giant in the thing... had to just about lay down
to get thru tacks..

Cripes Shane, you remind me of a bloke I know who wanted to go dinghy racing. He wound up on TS16s because they were the only boats where he could get under boom :eek:

Richard

Todays update.
I took the sails to a sailmaker earlier in the week and asked them to inspect them for me to find if they were still serviceable. I also asked if they could provide a quote on new sails that I could use while keeping the originals stored away. The concensus is that the sails could still be used but I would be better off replacing them " Nobody uses cane battens anymore cause they're crap." ( I have the complete set of cane battens to go with the originals.) The quote came back at $1630 which included main With battens, jib, and a spinaker. Is this reasonable? I had explained to them that I was restoring the boat and I certainly wasnt looking to race, but it would seem that I am being quoted on the latest and greatest.
Perhaps I could commision The Midge to cut me some sails from poly tarp (?)
Today I also received in the mail the class manual on Rainbows circa mid 60's from Nick Hutton at Sandy Bay Sailing club. This includes the history ( up to the 60's ), basic class specs on dimensions, sail plans, hull plans, construction plans and tips, timber requirements and tuning and sailing. Many thanks go to Nick for getting this to me. It was coincidental that it surfaced on the same day that I wrote an e-mail to Nick ( who heads the Sandy Bay Sailing Club ) requesting any information his club may have on the class, that an older member walked into the club carrying a garbage bag of books and sailing memoribilia which happened to include this manual!
Last night I also made contact with a Gent named Don Chaplain from SA who still owns and sails 4 Rainbows out of Largs bay sailing club. He suggested that I should be talking to his Son inlaw Mark who was apparently a state title holder and an organiser for the class here in Vic. Thus I made contact with him and spoke with him for over 30mins and he is keen to see my Rainbow in the flesh. I am appreciative of this as I realy need someone with knowledge of the boat to look it over and advise me whether I am being too precious about restoring it or if it realy is worthy of being resurected to it its original glory. I have sent Mark some pics via e-mail and I will put the boat on the van roof and take it down to him to inspect maybe next weekend.

No time to work on it this weekend cause I am helping a mate move house.
Still, the research continues.....