802Projects

1972 Tanzer Sailboat

I purchased this sailboat from my old boss. It was in really rough shape cosmetically, but it floated and had good sails. The gelcoat was cracked, the lockers were spongy, the inside smelled awful, the wiring was a mess, and the wood was weathered. Add in a rusty trailer with dry rotted tires; it was not a pretty site. It took me a few months to restore the boat. I started it in late March so that when it came time to paint/epoxy/stain the weather would be warm enough.

I created a YouTube video of the process. I made a before/after video that covers most of the project. I'll post some in progress pictures below and a list of generalized instructions.

  1. Removed EVERYTHING that would unbolt/unscrew from the boat
  2. Sanded down the entire hull (featheredged any perfections, filled any holes with fiberglass, sanded factory antiskid down flat
  3. cleaned the inside with bleach/water
  4. Removed all the wiring from the inside
  5. masked around the areas where I wanted to apply a new antiskid surface. Rolled on Kiwigrip non-skid gel to these areas (Part#: KWG-1011-4-K)
  6. Thin and apply a primer to ther areas. I used Interlux 404/414 Epoxy PrimerKote as it fills crazing well (Part#: INT-0404G)
  7. Paint over the epoxy with white Interlux Brightside paint (Part#: INT-4359G)
  8. Mask and Paint the top blue stripe with blue Interlux Brightside paint (Part#: 4316 quart)
  9. Paint the West Marine anti-fouling on the bottom. (Part#: PAINT-B PCA BL GA)
  10. Sand down all the wood that was removed from the inside/outside. Use epoxy/sawdust powder to fix any imperfections
  11. Stain the wood and apply a clear poly. Make sure it's an exterior UV protectant stain
  12. Reinstall all the refinished wood
  13. Cut new lexan out for the windows. Install them with new silicone and new seals
  14. Fix the lockers. I had to cut mine open and replace the plywood in them as they were spongy. Then seal them with fiberglass resin
  15. Reinstall metal deck hardware
  16. redo the wiring. I used a marine breaker panel instead of a fuse system. I also installed a ground block to cleanup the install
  17. Check wheel bearings on trailer
  18. install new rims/tires
  19. Redo any carpet sliders on the trailer with new carpet

Obviously that is a really broad list of what I did. It was a lot of work. I bought most of the paint supplies from Jamestown Distributors. The Anti-fowling paint I bought from West Marine. The trailer parts I bought from Eastern Marine. All of the paint was actually applied with a high foam density roller. The Kiwigrip antiskid surface was applied with a special kiwigrip roller. I no longer own the boat as it was too much money to moor and I was not that great at sailing. Someday I'd like to restore an old yacht, but I will need a much bigger garage first.