Saving an old El Torro

[war dog]

A few weekend ago I picked up an old El Torro(it has been sitting under a tree by Tomalas Bay for 6+ years) for my kids 5 & 9. It seems to have all of the parts and we are in the process of replacing all of the rotten wood. The thing is neither my brother or I never sailed on one (we went from Sunfish to Lasers) and don't seem to agree on the stock configuration. So anyone have some info that will help us put this old dog back together? Big questions right now, Floatation, Mast step, and basic boat layout. Also the mast top has some wood Beatle damage at the tip we have soaked it in a thin expoy mix but now there is no flex do we need to replace it?
Any thoughts tips and or hints are welcome and no this boat will never be raced in any form it will live under the cabin in Inverness when done and at best used 6 or 7 times a year until. The kids are ready to move up to the old beat up Laser my brother and I sailed for years as kids.

Thanks,

WD

[familysailor]

Try: http://www.eltoroyra.org/contact.htm
Next time you are at RYC cruise the storage racks and shed in the small boat yard. Lots of different way to rig a Toro.
I've got three and spare parts....

[war dog]

Thanks FS that is just the info we needed to put this old dog back to use!

[familysailor]

Welcome.

[SexyFmaleForedeck14]

WD... I taught el toros for 13 yrs now... LET ME NEED MY HELP

[Sanity Check]

Ahoy, all. I've been messing around in a club El Toro and I'm ressurecting this thread rather than start a new one. The dinghy in question has no built in positive floatation and I was looking at information available on the above-mentioned site for ideas.

In the manual for building a stitch-and-glue version on page 7, I saw that positive floatation chambers are added all around the chine which would seem to be quite good for helping maintain stability when the boat is partially flooded.

http://www.eltoroyra.org/How to buil...oro manual.pdf

An idea I had which I was looking for validation on, is that simply by enclosing the bow area the dinghy can be made self-rescueable. My theory is that a swimmer-sailor could step into a loop in the bow painter to force the bow down and lift the stern upward thus emptying it from any water. Any thoughts?

Ideas I've seen where positive floatation interferes with crew area and in particular the ability to "hike out" without sitting on the gunwale... because from past experience the water is cold and such activities are best left to the young and spry (and small) who also have a rescue boat nearby in any case... are not so appealing.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

[The Flash]

At the club where I teach, we ask the families to just install inflatable bags used for the optis. If you capsize, even if the boat will float, if you're a big fella you will resink it upon re-entry. You need enough floatation to get the daggerboard trunk top above the waterline with you in the boat.