Professional BoatBuilder - December-January 2018

28 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER

REFIT: Rybovich Rebuilds

new deck to. at hull-to-deck joint

was then reinforced from the top with

berglass that lapped onto the hull

laminate.

For the house structure Bandy digi-

tized the original they had from Timid

Tuna, which turned out to be 6"

(152mm) longer than Butterball’s had

been. Working on a jig cut by a CNC

router, the house structure re-creates

the Rybovich curves and proportions

almost perfectly, though Bandy added

7 " (178mm) to Timid Tuna’s cabin

height to accommodate his own tall

frame, and raked the sides in slightly.

Pulled from the jig, the inside of the

house structure was glassed on the

shop oor, and reinforcements and

stringers were added before installing

the entire unit on deck.

e crowning detail of the rebuild

in modern materials is the flying

bridge. Made as a slavish copy of the

original in form, Bandy replicated

(1.1m) apart and correspond with

overlaps of laminates on the top of the

deck, which Bandy says makes a nice

structural element. Installed in the

boat, the sole is glued to r cleats that

run fore-and-a, spanning between

frames, to which they are mechani-

cally fastened. is interface between

the wood structure and the composite

allows the latter to be fully supported.

On the foredeck Bandy used the

original structure as a mold for the

new. Because he wanted more camber,

he laid a couple of stringers on the old

deck and let the Corecell drape over it,

naturally forming the crown that

Bandy was looking for to add some

headroom below. He hand-laid the top

laminates right in place and then

turned the structure onto the shop

oor to glass the underside and install

stringers. Meantime he removed the

old foredeck, leaving a 4" (102mm)

ange of original material to glue the

With the engine installed and the

240-gal (909-l) fuel tank in place,

Bandy set to work on the cockpit sole,

accommodations, and cabin house.

His comfort with modern composites

came to dene this part of the project.

To make the boat lighter, Bandy built

all the secondary structures he could

of Corecell structural styrene acrylo-

nitrile (SAN) foam. Working almost

entirely with 1" (25mm) stock between

laminate layers of 17-oz 45/45 and

0/90 berglass, he installed transverse

frames and bulkheads; built a sealed

cockpit sole with a slight crown; a

curved foredeck; a complex cabin

structure, including some furniture;

and a ying bridge.

e sole was straightforward con-

struction on the shop oor, applying

two layers of glass to each side of the

foam, running foam stringers on the

bottom side, and sealing the edges

with glass tape. ose stringers are 42"

RybovichRefit170-AdFINAL.indd 28 10/31/17 2:25 PM