Working in the Yard Still

Been working the list pretty hard and progress is being made.  Somehow, we manage to add as many items to the final list as we check off.  "This week for sure" is our mantra.

 

Joan has been painting madly at the decks and it is making a big difference.

 

 

 

I have been working on getting the hatch frame build and the hatch mounted.

 

 

Taped the new paint off, and painted the first coat of anti fouling on the bottom.

 

 

 

 

Hatch install meets paint project. The red thingy is just a bucket stuck in the hole where the solar vent goes while we are painting.

 

 

 

This little jewel is the crash block, which is just a block of high density foam used to absorb the shock if we hit something with the dagger board. The wooden and fiberglass bits are used to attach it to the inside of the dagger board case so that it will be at the exit point of the dagger board case.



Installed, it looks like this when looking down inside the dagger board case.

 

 

Took a day off to rest, recuperate, and check out the America's Cup scene. It was easy to get right up next to the action, but we went to Leonard's to watch it live on TV. It was cold and foggy(surprise!) at the city front.

 

 

 

New graphics on the aft edge of the akas to identify us as a USCG documented vessel.

 

 

Front deck is freshly painted, the hatch, solar vent and bow roller will be installed as soon as the paint sets up.

 

On the list for the next few days:

Prime and paint sail drive unit with anti fouling.

Install rubber seal  between hull and sail drive unit.

Another coat of anti fouling on the hulls and rudder.

A fresh coat of anti fouling for the dagger board.

Install new radio and instruments.

Pick up and install deck guard to keep anchor chain from destroying all that lovely paint. This piece will be a piece of pvc conveyor belt glued to the deck between the bow roller and the windlass.

A few more little odds and ends yet to be described.

 

 

Yardwork, details, details

Making progress, thinking about sailing.  If we get down to the bay by the 22 Aug., the Americas Cup Cats will be having trials for a few days. Would be something to see, but not likely a life changer, more like another line in the sand.

The defining project has been the forward hatch replacement. As is the usual case, it is more detailed than the plan would indicate. I built a framework inside the old hatch, and cut some plywood to fill in the gaps. Took a while to find the right plywood, but there was a yard in Berkeley that stocks 3/8 inch marine plywood of good quality. Good reminder of how important having a car at our disposal is. The old hatch is 31 inches square and the new one is 20.5 inches square. The reason for a large hatch is generally to pass sails on deck quickly and easily. We have roller furling so mostly will not change foresails and would much rather have the security of a smaller more secure hatch. The old one was heavy and rotten, so that would be a little more incentive. Of course the above picture is the project as planned.

As the above picture shows there is a large patch of new plywood in front of the hatch area and a large area where the deck skin or fiberglass was not attached  to the old plywood. It has all been fitted and filled and coated with epoxy in this pic and will then be glassed over, faired with a layer of epoxy slurry, sanded and primed for painting.  .

One more pass with a sander, maybe a little more fairing slurry, and prime it. It seems like a lot of work, but we are used to doing it and the main impact is the delay each time we mix epoxy wait for it to set up. It takes about 4-6 hours for the filler to be sandable, so that pretty much eats up the day as the clock goes.

Gives us time to enjoy to enjoy the deer at Paradise cove.  They like the fresh pear more than they fear me. When it gets too hot or we get too worn out we go down to paradise to cool off and rest. We share the place with four or five black tail deer.

We have also removed the tape from the waterline and re-taped on the new paint so that the bottom can be painted. We had the yard sand the bottom, because we just have better things to do than lay on the rocks grinding toxic bottom paint overhead. Still have a couple of more details to do before painting the bottom. One of them is what I cal a crash block which is a piece of high density foam which I am glassing over to insert behind the dagger board in the trunk to absorb the impact if we should strike some under water object like the bottom. This detail was missing before and only a piece of worm eaten 2x6 was there. The board edge suffered a little damage from rubbing on this, so it will get a little patch work before we launch. It is not a pre splash project, because the board can come out anytime, but it is nice and dry now.

We have also removed the head for cleaning, installed the seacocks on the through hulls, run the wires from the mast back to the control panel, painted some of the decks, and a few other select little distractions.

The deck painting is going well, but not without setbacks. The window each day is small as the decks are very wet early in the morning and the grey primer gets very hot after a few hours in the sun. We like to add to our suffering when possible, so I decided that the sand we use for non-skid felt too much like sand paper and bought some course sand to try on the back deck. It feels like walking on tiny spikes. We now have to scrape that off and go back to the fine sand we have on the ama. the process is several steps, apply the first coat of paint, sprinkle it with sand while still wet, let it dry, apply another coat of paint to lock the sand in and provide even coloring. 

Had to drive around for half a day visiting welding shops who said "Sure we can do that" on the phone, but then couldn't because the stainless we want to use it too thick to bend. Finally found an industrial shop and foundry in Petaluma to bend the piece. I should be ready today, so I can take it back to the welder to weld, then attach it to the freshly painted deck. and we will be ready. All of these delay projects just allow more time to do the other little details.

Final Orange at last

Spent the better part of the week getting the second and final coat of orange on the boat. Looks pretty good, not sure we will ever sign up for this job again.

Too bad we can't just sail away now, but there are a few more details to be handled first. We need to do some paintwork on the decks, which will seem minor after all this. Other issues include wiring up all the new electronics, installing the HAM radio, engine maintenance, installing the newly modified bow roller for the anchor, installing new sea cocks on the through-hulls, and painting the bottom. I think we may just pay the yard to sand the bottom, as I just don't feel like crawling around on the ground with a sander overhead. We will probably do the paintwork, as it is just a couple of hours with a roller per coat.

Sounds like a lot, but after the paint job it is all tinker toys. Should wrap it all up in a week or two. At least that is the plan for now...

Beginning to look like Hot Sauce

Had a furious long weekend and realized some tangible results.  Finished up the repair to the deck and applied primer to the remaining old paint surfaces. This lays the groundwork for the final paint job.

So a little sanding, scouring and wiping it down with solvent and we are ready for a little orange.on the main hull. The painting is such an amazing step forward after endless days of preparation.

We were so emboldened by the leaps and bounds that we decide on an all out push to get the first coat finished on the rest of the boat. Close, but no cigar, we have one more AKA or connecting beam to paint on the port aft side. We were just too beat to do any more, so soon come man.

Time for another slight break in the action. We are going to rest for a couple of days and go down to Marin to celebrate niece Olivia's birthday tomorrow and get the steel guy started fabricating the bow roller adaptation for the anchor.

More yard work and a diversion

Managed to get most of the sides ready for primer and went at it for a couple of days. The primer is a 2 part epoxy and must be mixed in small batches to prevent it setting up prior to all of it going on. This also means that once you start putting a batch on there is no stopping as all of the rollers, trays, etc. will be hard epoxy in an hour or so.

 

We finshed off a gallon of primer and decided that it was too late to get started mixing another and continuing. The primer is a high solids type which is very thick and difficult to mix. The base must be mixed thoroughly, the activator must also be mixed thouroughly and then the two must me mixed together. The two parts are more than 50% solids, so initial mixing is a long slow process. When we have the rest of the sides prepared, we will finish the front and ama on the starboard side. We felt like we were due for a little break at this point, so we took a little train trip on Amtrak.

We went to Denver by train and visited my sister Denyse in the mounains north west of Denver. Saw some elk and other wildlife, but mostly wanted our bodies to recuperate for a bit. The train trip was pretty nice, we got a sleeper cabin and had all our meals served in the dining car as part of the deal. it took a day and a half to get there, but we were all about relaxing at that point. The trip back was by air, and of course they cancelled our flight for mechanical reasons and set us up in a hotel for the night. Next day bright and early we made the trip home without further incident.

We returned to the boat yard somewhat rejuvenated and decided to paint the final coat on the inside surface of the amas, and complete the deck repair.

I finished the glasswork on the front deck and faired it a bit. It is now ready for some primer, so we will gear up for that in the next couple of days. I am in the process of making a template of the front of the deck so that I can have the bow roller extended to attach the head stay chainplate at the front instead of bolting it throough the deck. the forward end will extend off the bow. The main source of the deck rot was poor sealing of the bolt holes for the cleat and the roller, so no holes = no leaks. Have also begun replacing the front hatch, as it is huge and rotten and faces aft, which will be no good for ventilation in warmer climes. I have a regular boat hatch which is smaller and lighter and as the added benefit of not being rotten. I have removed the frame for the old hatch and will be attaching stringers to fit the new one along with some plywood to fill the gaps.

More Yard Work

As is usually the case, the forward motion on the paint job has caused reverse motion on the overall project. While preparing the front deck for paint Joan came across a soft spot on the deck and as is usually the case with soft spots, it turned out to be a section of rotten deck. After a few tries to section it off, it became apparent that the best solution would be a single patch of the whole area, rather than a few small ones, near each other.

This section contains the anchor roller, the bow pulpit, and the chain plates for the head stay, so it all came off and a new section of deck was purchased in the form of a sheet of 3/8 " marine plywood. Some trimming and fitting, and the new section of deck can be epoxied and fitted to the front. Because of the radius curve of the deck, I need to come up with some weights to put on top of it when we attach it to the hull and bulkheads with epoxy bog. After that sets up I will sand the edges to the contour of the rest of the deck, remove the paint from the hulls in that area and lay fiberglass over the deck lapped onto the hulls.

Not really too difficult, but still a diversion. Within every setback is an opportunity to make more work for the team, hopefully with commensurate rewards. We have never been fond of the anchor roller arrangement, and it was attached to the rotting section of the deck and had to be removed.

The stainless roller is attached to a sheet of 3/8" aluminum plate, which is glued to a piece of 1" plywood, which is then glued and bolted to the deck. Crude, but effective, if the decks don't rot. Had this section come apart at anchor, it could have been most inconvenient, as well as pretty destructive to the bow of the boat.

This arrangement with the roller forward by the head stay and the windlass back behind the hatch has several awkward features. The roller cannot be lined up with the windlass from anywhere else on deck. The chain between the roller and the windlass (round winch thingy by the hatch) lays on deck when you are sailing and beats the paint to death on deck. The windlass has a deck pass through feature to allow you to store the chain and rode below decks, but because it is right on the side of the hull, it is not self stowing. That is to say that the rode just bunches up along the hull side until it gets in the way of the incoming rode and gets all jammed up, making someone go up forward and untangle it. The large gray hatch is massively heavy and has rotten wood along the sides which needs repair, as well as the black coamings added to protect it from sea water entry take up a great deal of space. I will be removing all of that, replacing some more deck and mounting a smaller hatch which should drop some weight off the front of the boat and free up a lot of deck space up there.  The current thought process is to build a water tight box under the new section of deck, mount the windlass in the center with access to the locker on deck and make it self draining out the side of the boat. We want to be able to raise and lower the anchor from the cockpit without anyone doing any more than pushing a button. This should allow a bit more freedom in roller placement and make it all neater and easier to use.

We will be doing this stuff in a parallel effort with the painting of the rest of the topsides and it should not be too much of an impact on the painting until the final coat is ready to go on.

Back on Task

Well, we finally made it back out to California after a long and eventful winter in Fl and Costa Rica. We decided to look into some medical issues and after perusing our options in the US as uninsured, we needed more options. Decided to go to Costa Rica and check out the medical tourism on Joans feet which were having a lot of pain in the big toe joints. It would cost about half as much to get them fixed in Costa Rica including the travel and lodging. While there, I had her orthopedic surgeon look at my shoulder and ended up getting my rotator cuff re-built. Also talked to a spinal surgeon about some nerve damage I was having in my leg. We stayed for about 6 weeks to get both surgeries and some recovery time and then back to Fl for some Physical Therapy for my shoulder. When the PT guy said I was mobilized to full range, we decided to go get my back fixed. In two weeks you will feel like new was the lead in, but the follow up was more like, much more needed doing than we had planned. It went well, just more pain and suffering than we envisioned. I was just glad to be up and about. Two weeks later we were back in FL packing for CA.

Arrived in CA the first week in June and found the boat miraculously pretty much as we had left it except for a few million spider nests and their leavings.  We spend a week getting a little organized and started back in prepping for some more paint work a week later. After two weeks, we have made some progress, but it is much slower than we had anticipated. I am babying my shoulder and back and it is amazing how debilitating laying around for a few months can be to your ability to stay in motion for any period of time. We sanded the primed amas and painted three sides, refining the technique each pass. By the time we are done we will know how to paint, but we will also know better than to do it again.

The painting process is long and involved, beginning with the removal of  all the bad paint from the last paint job. That is mostly what occupied our last time here. Once the old paint is removed or smoothed out, we have to go over everthing with fine sand paper to prepare for the primer coat. After it is all sanded, we wipe it all down with a solvent to remove any foreign chemicals like wax or soap.
Some times it takes a couple of passes to get a dust free surface.
We then coat the surface with a two part epoxy primer to ensure that we have something stuck to the boat to put the paint on. Since we roll this on, it is a fairly rough surface which must then be completely sanded and cleaned again prior to the actual application of the paint.
The paint is pretty much a repeat of all the other layers, tempered by the learning curve of how much to thin the paint to get even coverage, not run and not be so thin as to require too many coats. We will then fine sand the first coat, clean it all up again, and apply the final coat.
So far, we have a good coat on both sides of the amas, and have sanded 3 of the four surfaces to prepare for the final coat. We have decided to do the outer side of the amas last, as this is the most visible part of the boat and we hope to use our most developed skill set on that part.
At present we are preparing the starboard side of the main hull and akas for primer and hope to apply it tomorrow. Every days progress is dependent on the weather, how much activity there is in the yard around us, and how our bodies are holding up. Every couple of days we just schedule a down day on the bay to recuperate.
Looking at the progress so far, we will be sanding a couple of ama surfaces for a day each, prepping and painting them possibly in one day, and a lot more of the same for the main hull and akas.
The weather is pretty good here, cool nights and warm afternoons most days. Each day brings a little better conditioning to the paint crew, so maybe we'll be rocking and rolling before long. After three weeks, we are both feeling much better, but still a ways to go for me.
Sadly, it cannot all be moving forward at the desired pace. While preparing the starboard side for painting, I found a rotten spot in the surface of the deck and will have to replace a section of deck before we can finish the painting. It should be simple, but everything is before you get really involved in it. With any luck at all, I will just cut out the bad section, replace it with a similar piece of marine plywood, glass it, fair it with a little filler, and prime over it, etc.