Hi Ron,
I would like to introduce myself as a new member of the Dolphin 24 community. I recently purchased DOL FYN from Mark Wagner in Parsonsfield, Maine. The DOL FYN will find her new home waters on the Hudson River in Poughkeepsie, NY.
This winter will involve some restoration and redesign of her interior. She will likely retain her navy blue and red bottom color scheme, and will no doubt become one of the most beautiful vessels on the Hudson. I am thrilled to join such a passionate community, and so many enthusiasts of a classic Sparkman and Stephens design.
Thank you for providing the resources available through your website. I look forward to connecting with other Dolphin owners, and perhaps the DOL FYN will sail alongside MARIONETTE one day.
Fair winds,
Brody Karn
WELCOME ABOARD BRODY!
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Dear Ron,
Checking in with the DOL FYN, unknown hull number but most likely, 27. She is undergoing what was originally meant to be a refit, but has turned into a restoration.
The principal project that I endeavor to resolve is the infamous sheer clamp issue. DOL FYN currently suffers from a wet sheer clamp, as well as a rotten bulkhead on both her port and starboard sides, where the chainplates are bolted. Clearly, this is something that must be resolved before she can be sailed again.
The moisture ingress appears to be from the toe rail fasteners, which I have removed. Unlike other Dolphins, the clamp is a piece (or several scarfed pieces) of 2x2 wood, into which the toe rail is fastened. My plan is to take the fiberglass at the deck joint down at the offending section in order to ascertain where the problem parts are. I intend to drill holes into the clamp and apply penetrating epoxy in an effort to restabilize the clamp, and then fiberglass the entire deck/hull joint together as one unit. I intend to use 6 inch wide strips of biaxial glass over the joint fore and aft.
With respect to the toe rail, I want to minimize the number of thru-deck fasteners needed in order to alleviate future water ingress. I believe each toe rail had around 25 screws through the deck and into the clamp, and I intend to reduce that to 10. To compensate for the strength of the toe rail, I may epoxy it to the deck with West System, perhaps applying a small fillet inboard on each rail.
I need to rebuild the main bulkhead, which I intend to do with ¾ inch marine plywood, treated with Smith’s penetrating epoxy, and then fiber glassed over. I intend to install the bulkhead into the spot where the old bulkhead was, and fillet both connection points with epoxy and then tab it in with fiberglass.
DOL FYN’s bulkhead was reinforced at the midship section of the beam for mast support at some time with two other pieces of marine ply bolted around the bulkhead, creating a sandwich of plywood. I think this was done when she was called RASCAL, based on my research on your page. This seems to be a very strong king beam, and I think I am going to replicate it in my reconstruction. I am also considering a similar technique of using white oak posts and beam to widen the portal to the v berth, inspired by Halsey’s work on the ELIZABETH. (We have Dolphins of similar vintage.)
I will continue to keep you updated on this project, because I understand that the early Dolphins are plagued by this issue.
Kind regards,
Brody Karn
Postscript: Addendum to my above email, I encourage any insight, criticism, and suggestions as to my proposed method of remedying the sheer clamp issue. I would love other early Dolphin owners to provide insight into this matter
Thanks,
Brody - brodydkarn@gmail.com
Webmaster Note: Cruising thru the Technical Section/Repairs http://dolphin24.org/technicalindex.html is a good resource
Postscript 2 - January 13, 2022 DOL FYN is currently at White's Hudson River Marina in New Hamburg, NY, downriver from Poughkeepsie. I will provide more photos as the project progresses! Hope you're staying warm this week..
Pending photos from Brody we'll use this 'file' photo of DOL FYN
