Resuscitating a 1993 Precision 15' CB

[PapawBrett]

Thanks CB. First I have to 'Learn Me Some" fiberglass repair techniques from U-Stupid (aka YouTube). It'll be my first fiberglass repair. I think I might still have a small piece of sheet tin under the old workbench for backing. Maybe once it's fixed I'll think about rollers instead of boards and guide poles for the trailer....

[Quantico Frank]

Brett,

I was going to say, but Charles beat me to it so eloquently, that you need to follow this forum for a while, and you'll feel a WHOLE LOT better. These folks have bailed me out of so many jams with their advice over the five-six years I've been here, you wouldn't believe it. I have lee shore adventures I'll put up against anyone's, including the one when Fairfax Fire and Rescue pulled me off the mud flats leading to the Ft. Belvoir marina because Tow Boat USA couldn't get in there. And that's just one "story" I have off the top of my head— I have many more. One thing for sure is they all look better and funnier in the rear view mirror. Still, you learn from each of them, and they all go to improving your check lists for the next time.

[Riggerdood]

Brett, I agree with Charles and Frank. It's very easy to get discouraged on a first outing, and my first one on my DS was much like you described: getting blown all over hell and back, feeling out of control, etc. Heck, the dang boat didn't even have spreaders, because I didn't even know it was supposed to (after all, my Sunfish 30 years earlier didn't have them). I quickly found the DS forum, much like you have found this one, and immediately got answers to questions I had and ones I didn't even know I needed to ask. That's the power of a community of folks with any common interest: most of the members are more than willing to bend over backwards to help each other, because no matter the activity, they want others to find the same enjoyment they find in doing it. So don't give up Brett - you are on the most active group on this forum (and it's not even close), and you can find all the help you need here.

[Charles Brennan]

PapawBrett, I was going to let my response be my last; but a statement of yours, concerned me. 
"I think I might still have a small piece of sheet tin under the old workbench for backing."
I don't have a problem with mechanical backing, but I just hope you know just how easily epoxy fiberglass resins can leak, from ANYWHERE to ANYWHERE.   
You might consider bridging the hole from underneath with several layers of duct tape, and THEN a piece of sheet tin.

Just a thought,
Charles Brennan

[PapawBrett]

Thanks for all the words of encouragement. There is a sailing club about 1 hour and
20 minutes away at Lake Norman. They have annual dues for community sailing. I took their course last year, maybe I'll try that route next, just for some experience...

[Wolverine]

There is a reason my boat is named Miss Adventure. Every outing something goes wrong. We were launching one early spring and the floating docks had yet to be put in. I left the trailer winch hooked up, but let out enough strap so the boat could float off the trailer, then be pulled in. Well, the hook broke and I watched as the boat drifted away. I hesitated to jump in the cold water and she quickly caught the wind and headed out into the lake. I parked the truck and ran down the shoreline following her progress. She finally stopped when she ran onto some very large rocks along a distant shore. It took me a long time to free her from the rocks using a paddle and boat pole. Then the o/b refused to start. Raising the sails got me a quarter of the way back, but the wind completely disappeared. I wore the skin off between my fingers pulling on the o/b cord hoping it would start. My wife, still waiting in the truck at the ramp 3 miles away, asked 2 young men if they could check on me as she no longer had sight of me and there wasn't any cell service. The bass boat pulled up and the 2 young men found me moving from port to starboard attempting to paddle my way back. They towed me back to the ramp which now had boats waiting to launch. So, after a 2 hour drive to the lake, over 6 hours retrieving the boat, another hour and a half waiting at the ramp to pull the boat, and the 2 hour drive home, I was very surprised when my wife excepted my invitation the next weekend to go sailing. We did, and we had a most enjoyable time. Until, on our way home, a trailer tire blew out.