Restoring Jouët Caprice 75

Lil' Mule II continues on YouTube

Ryan — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 21:55:00 +0100

Though the restoration work will continue, the modifications are minor and the purpose of this blog has achieved.

The sailing adventures of Jouët Caprice 75 will continue on her YouTube channel (click here).

See you there!

Sail trial after the restoration

Ryan — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 20:27:00 +0200

I took her out this afternoon for a trial sail. There was next to no wind at all, and I admit using the motor to get from one pocket of wind to another. It nevertheless allowed me to see how she was under sail - even if it was with the small headsail.

Motor trial of Jouët Caprice 75 after the restoration

Ryan — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 19:36:00 +0200

The day after the launch, we tried the sails to see how they were. The mainsail is about one meter too short, and missing about 50 centimeters along the foot. It is also completely warped out of shape and so I can forget about any performance from her. I'll need to get a mainsail with the true Jouët Caprice dimensions soon.

Later on in the evening (no wind) a couple of us went out for a tour on motor:

The motor needs some tuning, however, as it tends to choke a bit.
I hate motors ;)

Launching Lil' Mule II

Ryan — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 19:04:00 +0200

This saturday I launched Jouët Caprice 75 at ASM Voile with the help of a bunch of guys from the club. It went perfectly and without a hitch. Here's the story.

I started by showing up early in the morning and getting the block and tackles set up. That was a feat in itself, as they were really quite heavy.
We then put some straps under her and started to hoist her up. Noticing that she was end-heavy, we added some concrete blocks to her nose, which evened things out a bit:

We then fitted her on to a trailer (merci Gilbert!):

Next, we positioned her under the crane:

And...in the water!

At this point I ran around frantically inside, checking for any possible leaks. Yup. all the holes were plugged ;)

All that remained was cutting the halyards and refitting them to the new roof. We then lifted the mast with the crane, which held it there while we did all the fastenings.

To finish, we found a spot next to Eric's Jouët 18 (the photo at the very top). I may change this spot, as it is hard to maneuver into place, given the tight angle that you need to do, which is difficult for her turning radius.

Here is a video of the launch:

The restoration is done

Ryan — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 21:24:00 +0200

With the installation of the oak hatch sliders, and the base plate of the mast, the Jouët Caprice 75 is finally able to have her mast put back on and be launched again.

The restoration project began in ernest on November 7th, 2009, though the project began in October, so the adventure took almost exactly 2 years. There still remains a lot of work to do, but I'd consider the remaining work to be routine maintenance or improvements.

Next weekend I'll be adding a final layer of antifouling and doing a quick review to be sure everything is in place.

Last-minute fixes

Ryan — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 21:16:00 +0200

Today I finished a bunch of little stuff, mainly all the last minute preparations for her launching on the 24th.
I got the last of the hardware on, and so I was able to take down the tent.

I don't have much to comment on, as the fixes were a bit tedious and all over. So I'll just share the photos of her without the tent.

Full frontal with the hatch open :)

Marco Polo mast rigged, handrails on, and name added

Ryan — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 20:53:00 +0200

This morning I installed Lil' Mule II's stainless steel & leather-covered handrails; yeah, now she feels like a respectable woman :)
I also put the Marco Polo mast back together, and got the lettering on for her name.

See the original Jouët Caprice rigging instructions at http://www.jouetcaprice.com/jouet-caprice-guide.html

The oak rail that you see in the above photo is the unfinished rail for the sliding door. That's tomorrow's job.

I ran all of the rigging down the mast by pulling it through to the pulleys at the bottom. The only real surprise (and an unhappy one) was that when I rotated the internal pulleys at base of the Marco Polo mast, they touched, and so it was not possible for them to go in as-is. I needed to get out the grinder and Dremel and remove some bits.

Putting the mast head back on only took about 10 minutes:

Here you can see the halyards coming out of the base of the mast. All these lines will run to the roof and will be able to be handled directly from the cockpit. And again, this is just the absolute minimal amount needed to sail her:

Then, Serge, the president of the ASM Voile yacht club and owner of Neo Visuel made the name for Lil' Mule II. I chose a Helvetica font using the legal dimensions for sailing at sea for a boat this size in France:

Her name was put on the transom, and above it will go the ASM Voile yacht club logo sticker. You'll see that around the anchor plate for the outboard that it is a bit messy - yeah, I know, I have not gotten around to cleaning that off just yet:

The "SB" that you see is where Lil' Mule II is registered (the port of Saint-Briac), and required for sailboats with more than 2 ton displacement.

finally, I adjusted my spreaders and got the shrouds tightened. Here is a photo of the famous screw that caused the accident with Nightwatch:

This little plastic screw could possibly come loose and cause the demasting of the sailboat, so I will see if I can't come up with a redundancy option for the spreaders as a safety precaution.

Running rigging done

Ryan — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 15:03:00 +0200

I got the running rigging all done this afternoon, and it is ready to go on when I raise the mast here in a couple weeks.

See the original Jouët Caprice rigging instructions at http://www.jouetcaprice.com/jouet-caprice-guide.html

I made some changes, notably replacing the flexible stainless steel (#106 below) with 100% 5mm Dyneema line. In the photo above you can see for example where the halyard's 10mm line (105 below) meets the Dyneema half, which connects to the sail.

Below is the rigging for the Jouët Caprice to give you an idea:

I also modified the backstay's goose feet (#96). Rather than just a flexible stainless steel line with a shackle on one end, I replaced it with the Dyneema and added triple becket block and tackle:

I also replaced the stainless steel line for the main sheet lead (#118) with Dyneema. I didn't like having this steel wire cutting across the cockpit, so now there's something a bit softer:

I am only rigging Lil' Mule II with the absolute basics for now:

Bumper trim, table, and motor on

Ryan — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 21:24:00 +0200

Today, I finished all that remains that I need to do with the boat out of the water. The rest can be done once she is afloat.

This morning, Mathias from the club came to the rescue, and together we managed to put the bumper trim back on:

It was a horrific process, and at times I thought it was about to all fall apart. In the end, however, we managed to get it on, nice and solid.

I took a minute to finally add the locks for the table, and so it is now fixed in place:

Looking into the main cabin from the aft cabin, you can see the general state of the inside. The stairs need to be done, and the trim needs to be put on, as to the doors for the cabinets, the mattresses, as well as a bunch of other finishing work and wiring, but she is good enough to sail now at least, and those projects will be for this winter:

Tomorrow I will be going there to work on the sliding bits for the door, as well as install the last bits of the locking mechanism. Also on my to-do list is to reinforce the transom a bit.

What's left?

Ryan — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 20:12:00 +0200

This afternoon saw the addition of the new windows, the fixing of the traveller, and some other fine tuning.
The installation of the Lexan windows was rather straightforward. I just drilled out the holes from the inside, and then placed the Lexan over the holes, and then drilled from the outside.

Then I just stole the équipier of Team Lipstick to help me out in putting in the bolts:

I'm about fairly pleased with the result. The cleanup will occur later, once it has cured.

You've probably noticed that I am able to only have the tarp on the front end. This is because everything else is waterproof now :)

On a side, I started fitting the oak sliders:

Not quite in the final position in the photo (and note that the new sliding door needs one more layer of paint). But it's coming together now.

So very very close!

Traveller rigging on + sliding door done

Ryan — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 19:19:00 +0200

Today I finished the sliding campanionway door, and put on the hardware for the traveller.

See the original Jouët Caprice rigging instructions at http://www.jouetcaprice.com/jouet-caprice-guide.html

In the end, the ida to make a mold for the sliding door out of IKEA dresser was not such a great one. I spent a lot of time carving and patching it to make it work. In the end, it is true that it allowed me to finish this last part rather quickly, however, I don't think I'll go that route again. Here is the back side of it:

The other thing that I did today was to add the hardware for the new traveller, once again steeling freely from Nightwatch:

I changed a couple of things though. First of all, I angled it upwards to a natural position for pulling. With one hand on the tiller the other can grab and pull the line at a perfect angle with regards to my shoulder and the pulley. The blocker is also right at arms length, so I can grab a maximum amount of line and it is easier to unblock.

Windows cut out and the slider fitted

Ryan — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 19:59:00 +0200

This afternoon I got the Windows cut out and ready for mounting, as well as the new cabin entryway sliding hatch fitted. Not with out effort.

So spent a pretty penny on the windows, but I am more than pleased!

Rather than using plexiglass, I ordered some 4mm thick Lexan. Never heard of it?

From Wikipedia:

Lexan is a registered trademark for SABIC Innovative Plastics' (formerly General Electric Plastics) brand of polycarbonate resin thermoplastic. Polycarbonate polymer is produced by reacting bisphenol A with carbonyl dichloride, also known as phosgene. Lexan is the brand name for polycarbonate sheet and resin in a wide range of grades. (...) Common usages include space and sports helmets, clear high performance windshields and aircraft canopies, and bullet resistant windows. (...) In the 1960s, NASA used Lexan brand polycarbonate for astronaut helmet assemblies and visors which became known as "bubble helmets", including those used by the Apollo moon astronauts.

This stuff is really weird to work with, as it cuts with just a regular saw, and does not melt or crack like Plexiglass. I had some trouble getting a feel for it, so was pleased to let a professional take care of the finishing work, who happened to be working on his boat right in front of Lil' Mule II. In fact, to test it's resilience to bending and cracking, I gave it my best shot:

Ok, perhaps a bit overkill for sailboat windows, but very very cool.

I also got the sliding hatch fitted. I ran into one problem, which is that for whatever reason I made it 3 centimeters too wide!
So I cut out a strip from the middle and fit it precisely to the width of the opening where I then fiberglassed it together while in place thus assuring a nice fit.
Here it is in place, with the fairing putty hardening. I'll be sanding and painting it next time I'm at the club.

Mess anyone? Funny enough, there is a sort of organization here.

Quick photo of the cockpit, showing the new carbon fiber tiller in, as well as the nameplate. Dirty and dusty, but you get the idea:

Finally, I put a layer of resin and milled fiber to the nose of this old canoe, which I'll be fixing up a bit:

Cabin hatch almost ready

Ryan — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 19:09:00 +0200

So I finally got the last layers of fiberglass on the sliding hatch last night and today started working on fairing.

To help remove the mould for the hatch, I filled it up with a bit of water, and it came right out:

For the oak boards on each side of the hatch, where it will slide into, I just used a circular saw and cut out a groove. Of course I would have liked to use a table saw, but I don't have one of those unfortunately:

Building the new sliding door

Ryan — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 17:44:00 +0200

I'm going to have fun with this one :) I found an IKEA dresser in the garbage downstairs. I found a roll of duct tape. So I naturally thought: "hey, I can make the sliding door from this!" :)

Starting out with the measurements of where the sliding door will go I made three ribs that define the curve:

Which I then covered with strips of the back of the dresser to form the mould.

I then covered it with 4 alternating layers of roving and mat fiberglass:

Now it's time to sand it to get the curve just right and build it up to the desired 4mm thickness by additional layers of fiberglass.

Marco Polo mast head removal

Ryan — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 22:53:00 +0200

This afternoon I removed the masthead from the marco polo mast used on the Jouët Caprice to see what condition the pulleys were in and to run the lines inside the mast.

Removing the masthead was simple, just unbolt the two bolts that the shrouds are bolted to:

Here you can see the profile of the Marco Polo mast. I was pleased to see the styrofoam in there for buoyancy:

A side view of the part:

I removed a a couple of pulleys prior to this photo, but this is essentially the part. I now need to find some replacement pulleys for the ones that are stuck.

Otherwise, today I added some more hardware, as well as got the templates made for the new portals.

Detail work and lifelines

Ryan — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 18:34:00 +0200

This afternoon I added a nice stripe across the top, inspired by Nightwatch. Also, I put the new lifelines back on, and they are nice and tight with adjustable tension this time.
Also added, is the brass through-hull for the anchor cabinet drain, and at the back, I added the stainless steel plates that the backstay attaches to.

Back in black

Ryan — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 18:41:00 +0200

Lil' Mule II got her antifouling and rudder this afternoon.

After installing the new rudder and tiller, I got Lil' Mule II's antifouling (International Cruiser Uno) rolled on. There are two coats along the waterline, and one overall. I'll add a final layer right before the upcoming relaunch.

A photo of the new rudder in place:

What is left before the relaunch?

- Putting the trim on
- putting the portal plexiglass on
- building and installing the sliding door
- putting some of the hardware back on.

Not a heck of a lot! Of course there remains some work in the interior, mainly the fore cabin, which I have stopped working on and needs a lot of work (not on the ceiling, just the lower surfaces), and the electronics. These, I will save for the winter.

Final coat of paint on the hull

Ryan — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 15:33:00 +0200

I finally got the third and final layer of paint on the hull of Lil' Mule II.
While I'm not totally happy with it (despite my best efforts, some dust settled on the transom, and some brush marks are visible, etc.), I'm going to have to call it done. I can't guarantee that a 4th layer would be any better given the painting area. Anyway, it's time to move on to other things and get her in the water!

Nice ass

Ryan — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 17:05:00 +0200

Been a while since she's heard that;)

Today I added the second coat of Perfection to the hull, going after a smother finish than the first coat.

It has been a long time since Caprice 75 had a glossy hull. With the second coat of paint, it is starting to look much more acceptable.

This morning I did a good sanding of the first layer with 400 grit sandpaper, and then rolled and tipped the second layer. This time I did not add any thinner, but it was just a bit too thick for my taste. I'll probably add 3 percent tomorrow, as the conditions will be the same.

I'm not totally happy with the finish, but painting outdoors next to a gravel road, above a dirt floor, and under a tree close to the landscaping crew mowing the grass , I'll take what I can get ;)

Today's pics:

A photo of the side. Here you can see the imperfections well. I'll try and get these reduced for the final layer tomorrow:

The Heineken boat of love

Ryan — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 18:24:00 +0200

I got the first layer of the new paint on today....and how awesome is that choice of color. ;)

A quick word about this layer, there was a very odd sort of color bubbles. I have no idea what that was about, and I am really unhappy about it, anyway, I anticipate it looking much more beautiful once I get this layer sanded, and the next one on.

(UPDATE: after checking out Perfection's troubleshooting, it appears that the problems (they refer to it as fisheye) is caused by surface porosity underneath.)