<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=Windows-1252">
<META NAME="Generator" CONTENT="MS Exchange Server version 6.0.4630.0">
<TITLE>Noteworthy Luders Restoration</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<!-- Converted from text/rtf format -->
<BR>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">NOTE: This was sent to the Luders Newsgroup 26 hours ago and rejected as consuming two many mega-somethings. I am resubmitting without photographs which we will forwarded independently..</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">As copied from the April 7, 2005 ELLSWORTH AMERICAN, Ellsworth, Maine</FONT></SPAN>
</P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><U><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Out with the Old</FONT></U></SPAN>
</P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B><FONT FACE="Arial">L-16 UNDERGOES MARVELOUS TRANSFORMATION</FONT></B></SPAN>
</P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">By Aaron Porter, The Ellsworth American, Ellsworth, Maine</FONT></SPAN>
</P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">BAR HARBOR - Jim Elk's shop has become the clinic and counseling center for sailors afflicted with the recent mania for aging L-16s.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">His Bar Harbor shop has been the site of a number of resurrections since the Southwest Harbor Fleet revived racing of the elegant little sloops in 2002. Last week, another restored classic Luders was pulled, gleaming from the shop. But ANDVARI is different from the others. First of all, she's not going to be staying in the neighborhood. The Reece twins, Nat and Brooke, who summered on Mount Desert Island, will keep their restored sloop in Padanaram, Mass. Secondly, she's not made of wood.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">"This is the first fiberglass boat I've ever worked on, "Elk said. Looking at the boat, his preference for wood is obvious. ANDVARI, which arrived from her competitive past in Mississippi was less-than-beautiful when she got here. Her yellow hull, originally built in Louisiana in 1972, was pocked with blisters from water damage where the molded seats were attached to the hull and around the chain plates.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Elk said the hull was brought into the shop in October, and he immediately ground the blistered areas to allow them to dry. But there was more water in the aging hull. The void in her keel was filled with water. A hole had to be drilled to drain it.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">The deck had been made of balsa wood sandwiched between layers of fiberglass. Water had made its way in there, as well. Elk said panels of soggy balsa had to be cut out and replaced with new wood and fiberglass. A nonskid that had been molded into the original fiberglass deck surface was ground off, and the entire deck was puttied, along with the hull, in preparation for finishing.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Her new deck surface is painted white with a full dose of nonskid for traction. IT looks as much like a painted canvas deck as a fiberglass deck can. The hull was hand painted with Awl grip to a glossy blue finish. However, Elk's real accomplishments can be best seen in the custom woodwork that graces the revived fiberglass hull.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">The most notable change is the distinctive rounded trunk cabin that sits on every L-16. The fiberglass model sat like dull-panted bubble just ahead of the cockpit. IT had no ports nor bulkhead between the cockpit and cuddy. Looking at ANDVARI's wooden sisters in Elk's shop, it is easy to see that there had to be a change. The classic L-16 sloops had the same curved cabin only they were made of laminated mahogany and were raced with two ports cut into the side. Elk ground the fiberglass housetop, and cut mahogany laminates to fit over it. Using epoxy, he essentially sheathed the trunk cabin in wood.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">To install a bulkhead in the boat, Elk was able to use one he'd taken out of an old wooden Luders as a pattern to make a new one. It marries beautifully to the aft end of the cabin he sheathed.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Working aft, the cockpit was next to see major changes. The thin wood coaming that had passed for elegant trim on ANDVARI's previous incarnation proved to be inadequate. Again, using the coaming from an old Luders as a form, Elk was able to make a jib on which new coamings could be laminated. Using three layers of quarter-inch mahogany, he created new coamings for ANDVARI. The boat's original molded seats were thrown out and replaced with elegant mahogany bench seating, all varnished and well matched to the new coaming and cabin.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">"Basically, it looks like one these wood Luders now," Elk said, walking through the few hulls still in his shop, some awaiting rebuilds, others resurrection.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">He pointed out the weakness of the original laminated L-126's that were made of mahogany veneers glued together with a heat-cured glue. The hulls were literally baked in a vacuum bag. Over the years, the hulls stayed very strong unless they got water soaked up into the laminates. Specifically, an area of the hull just forward of the fin keep shows the frequent failures.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Elk is very familiar with what has gone wrong with the wood models, but the fiberglass hull was new to him. And white he doesn't relish fiberglass work, he said he's proud of the transformation of ANDVARI.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">"I almost got more satisfaction from that one than working on the wood ones, just because it was so ugly when it came in, ":he said, looking out at the new ANDVARI as she waited for her owners just outside his shop.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">SH note: Aaron Porter is the Paper's very prized waterfront reporter. He is the great nephew of famed late photographer Eliot Porter and his brother, </FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">painter</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Fairfield Porter. Aaron still summers on the family's large island, Great Spruce Head, on Maine's island-dotted Penobscot Bay. The island was the subject of many of the two brothers' finest work.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">No less than four Luders are in one of the photos. A 5th is out of view to the rear.</FONT></SPAN>
<BR>
</P>
<BR>
<BR>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">---<BR>
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.<BR>
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (<A HREF="http://www.grisoft.com">http://www.grisoft.com</A>).<BR>
Version: 6.0.841 / Virus Database: 572 - Release Date: 1/21/2005<BR>
</FONT> </SPAN>
</P>
</BODY>
</HTML>