Down the Cafe refresh rabbit hole
 

So what started as a decision to learn about fiberglass and repair some damage to the hull bottom and chines has ballooned into a much bigger project, as these things do. The boats sat for 26 years on a lift behind the house, never had it in my yard because my driveway has tight turns and stone embankments... no one even thought it was possible but after an (*&^%$ effort its now literally 4 feet from my front door which opens a whole new world of options on getting my hands dirty. The list is quite long, im just not yet sure if im going to work all through the summer or break it into parts so I can keep boating next the season...tbd



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started ripping into things...
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I know im going to have a bunch of cig specific questions so rather than bombard the board with a dozen threads over the winter I'll drop them here as they come up. Here's a few to start:

I want to fix the wooden threshold which has cracked, and varnish all the wood trim & cabin table while im at it. At first I thought these trim pieces were held in place with pegs but are those actually wooden plugs that I can just drill out to find screws underneath?


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Anyone know a reasonable source for the cabin door rollers?
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I'll post more pics & questions as I get to them, right now most of the effort is going into hull bottom and chine repair, trying to get as much done as possible before it gets cold and I move to stuff I can do in the garage.

Sweet!! Just getting down with our cafe.

Whats the outside of the boat look like? Paint.

what’s the problem with the bottom?

She looks great from 20 feet away but showing her age up close. The paint if I recall correctly was called a champion stripe. Part of me wants to update with the same motif and part wants blue hullsides with a silver stripe, we'll see what wins out eventually.
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A few things. Gelcoat is worn down on a 4 foot section of the keel from beaching, plus a good number of small chips along the keel. Boat got on top of the anchor in shallow water one day and gouged one of the chines pretty good. What really worried me was a 2 foot crack right along the hard chine on the port side, middle of boat, which I found late in the season. I ground it down and found a quarter inch deep, 3inch tall patch of filler running along the vertical edge of the hard chine beneath the gel. It appears to be under the original paint so I *think* it came from the factory like that and finally after all these years started pulling away from the glass. I probably should have fixed that with glass and epoxy but still reading & watching videos on how to do it, and in the meantime I used 3m premium filler which I hope was sufficient.

Lots stuff going on here that I'd never done before, but that makes it both a challenge and kinda fun too.

Looks familiar. As I recall this one or one with the exact paint was for sale at Martin Marine I believe around 99/2000. Good looking ride. Some TLC should be right as rain. Interesting about the delam. Weird. Ours has some chips in the chines and scratches on the keel from beaching as well. Plan on getting them fixed too.

as far as the wood framing around the door those are plugs that cover the screws that hold them down.

looking forward to following your progress.

For when you tear into that section if you are going back to original, you will need a countersink bit and a plug cutter sized to the bit (sized tot he screw).... youtube will have a vid if you look up plug cutter

also if you want to update the look take the teak wood out and use it as template for making them out of poly board like the new ones

26 years on the lift!!!!! Holy smokes.

I’m interested in following your progress. What year is your Cafe. I have it’s sister! Mine is 1989 and all original so if you need pics or measurements let me know.
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Cabin door roller - Lip-Ship (Not cheap)
Lip-Ship Performance -- Cigarette Racing Team

I'd replace the teak with starboard. Use the teak pieces for a template. really updates the look if you are going down the rabbit hole anyway.