Progress

A good 6 hrs spent working on the boat in 2 hr blocks. No major visible progress but proceeding to the first coat of primer paint. I remade and reinstalled all of the support braces that were removed/rotted off the bulkheads that were replaced. They support the starboard settee, the port side and starboard side shelves, the galley cupboard shelf and sink shelf and the upper cupboard shelf with a new trash bin installed. There are two more cleats I would like to make and install to reinforce that upper cupboard shelf as I modified that area quite a bit. I need all of this in place before I put on the first coat of epoxy primer. I have two other areas I plan to build up but I will do these after the priming/painting. One is the head shelf and enclosure. I need to raise the level for the new porta potti and this may or may not alter where that shelf goes. The second is my new electrical control box. I still have to make the front face and install. Leaving both of these off will also help me gain better access to reinstall/rebed the chain-plates after painting.

I re-attached the copper grounding straps that were removed for bulkhead replacement. They have 30 yrs of paint on them that came off in most areas but I assume won't harm their intended porpose as long as the connections are good and clean and plan on painting them again. They attach to the middle shroud (upper) on either side. I never did find any termination point to check for connectivity. Both sides dissapear into the cement encased ballast. Proper lightening grounding is something I am not completely sure of other than you want a direct path from the top of the mast to the bottom of the keel. It appears I have that and the fact that the boat hasn't exploded in the last 42 years gives me some comfort.

The rest of the time was spent patching holes and areas needing fillets and sanding the entire cabin top getting ready for paint and another thorough vacuum of the cabin. This week I will wash down all the surfaces and begin tape off of the wood work. Try to get a coat of primer on this weekend.
Finally, you may have noticed my running miles have dropped off the chart. I have given in to the Achilles tendonitis and will admit defeat. I will not run again until mid October, giving myself a full 30 days off. Lots of spinning to keep the cardio up but it is not the same.

Back Order

Not the plan, just the parts. I have had great luck with ordering parts and pieces for the boat. All my orders have been from the mainstay of boat refurbishing vendors: Defender, Jamestown Distributers, McMaster Carr and even West Marine. This past week I expanded my searches which introduced 3 new vendors to my list in the hopes of lowering costs even more. The results were as the title of this entry. To be fair one did actually ship and was damaged in transit. Two new quarts of Interlux Yacht Enamel are spread over the inside of a big brown truck somewhere making the only big brown truck they have that has a Hatteras Off white interior. So to be fair, Boatersland Marine, did come through. Lets see how long it takes for them to re-ship. This is the first thing I have had damaged by UPS in my life, so we can let them slide too.

I ordered the thruhull transducer from Amazon. Seems like an odd place but their price was $30 less than any other source. This might turnout to be one of those "too good to be true" deals. They have yet to ship and keep pushing back the delivery date on the website. I will give them another week. No pressing need for the transducer but I would like to verify size before drilling the hole. I did epoxy in a blank backing plate and the instructions do say a standard 2"hole but I would like to be sure. It is a intelliducer that has 3 sensors in one thru hull, speed, depth and temp. I don't really need the temp but really wanted one hole and not two. It is NEMA 2000 ready and will connect to a future purchase of a Garmin chartplotter and possibly a Garmin GMI 10 panel.

The other back-ordered items were all the chain plate covers for the deck from Fisheries Supply. Again no great need as I need to finish painting the inside cabin before installing and I won't have any paint until UPS is finished repainting their fleet of trucks. I am having the two chain plates that were heavily corroded remade as well. Something I could have done myself with a lot of effort but a friend is charging me material only so it is a great deal. So this weekend will be lots of final prepping and painting hopefully with the one thing that did arrive; a new gallon of DP235 epoxy paint.
Also, finally found an image of what my table is supposed to mount to. I have the table, intact and in good shape but no clue where to mount it. Now I just have to find some brackets that will work on the engine compartment; hopefully from McMaster Carr!

Epoxy Paint

Very stout stuff! I had never used this before but in looking around for what to prime the insides of the boat with I came across an article where somebody had used it. It is the epitome of the belts and suspenders approach, at least when it comes to priming. I am starting at the forpeak and working towards the rear. I needed paint for what was to be visible, above the settees, ceiling, etc., and a paint for below but not in the bilge. Two coats of the Sherwin Williams DP235 epoxy paint, above and below has done the trick. Below it will be left in it's gloss white, easy to clean and very durable. Above it is then covered with two coats of Interlux premium Yacht Enamel in a Hatteras off white (cream color). So far it is coming out pretty well. I still have the head compartment and the hanging locker to do then I can close the door on the forpeak and finish a little patch sanding in the main cabin.

In between coats I also put on a couple coats of grey BilgeKote in the bilge areas up to the engine compartment. I ordered the last thru hull for the depth/speed/temp transducer that I need to install before the final painting in the cabin. There is still lots of little work in the cabin to do before final paint, attatching seat supports, some fillets, building a new electrical box enclosure, and now filling a small hole (rotten) in the starboard settee where it came in contact with the rotten engine compartment (already replaced).

Chainplates

Since everything else has been removed from the boat it was no big surprise that I now choose to remove all the chainplates. I had tried not to do this but i have come so far now to leave them in place would probably come back to bite me. They had obviously been a source of water leaks before so rebedding them would help that. Once removed I could properly clean them up as they had been painted over many times and one was even encased in fiberglass. I widened the top deck fiberglass (all new and painted) with a dremel to allow for removal. Unbolted they removed quite easily with a little hammer persuasion. I was surprised to find that two of the stainless steel plates showed signs of corrosion (heavy pitting) right where they penetrated the deck. This would have been below the teak decking but just above the fiberglass. I have no choice but to replace them so I will have to fashion the replacements from some 1/4" stainless stock. Luckily I can use the old ones as templates.

Roller Mount

Enough coats of varnish for the bow roller platform and all the other pieces I was varnishing at the same time. Now to put some holes in this piece of wood. First I made the 3 holes that would act as the primary bolt holes through the platform and the deck. From there I was able to mark the deck where I would need to drill. The holes through the deck were drilled out at 5/8" then filled with thickened epoxy. These I let sit for a day then drilled them out again with a 3/8" hole. This will seal the deck core should any water infiltrate the hole. The bolts for the primary holes are 3/8" stainless hex head 6 1/2" long. They protrude below deck about 1 inch. My next trick will be to make a backing plate to sandwich the deck and platform. I will use the 1/4" aluminum plate again but access to this point of the deck and hull is extremely tight and is blocked by the Sampson post running vertically up through the deck in the middle of the for-peak.Now for the rest of the holes. All of the rollers are attached with 3/8" SS bolts finished off with an acorn hex nut. These are all through bolted in the 2" wood platform. There are two other holes that will go through the plat form into the toe rail but will have 3/8" SS lag bolts instead. The finish appearance will be the same. My biggest concern is that the overhang may be too great. It looks really cantilevered out there. This is really only for launching, retrieving and storing the ground tackle. When the tackle is set, the rode will be run through the deck chock and onto the Sampson post so there should be no torque on the platform. Time will tell. This is the configuration for the Danforth and Claw. If I switch one out to a CQR I might be able to slide the rollers back a few inches. I just dont have $750 for a new anchor now. Sailcare did my sails way to fast so I have alot of money tied up in 3 sails that will sit on the shelf for a year.

Bightwork

Before the new bow roller platform can be mounted I needed to finish it off with varnish. I had some other items I had stripped and sanded ready for varnish so it was worth while to do them all at the same time. The two dorade boxes and lids, two winch mounts and a stern light mount. In the picture you can see the Sapele and Teak are not that for off in color, only in grain.

I continued with the same formula that has served me well on the toe rails and mast restoration. The first coat is an Epifanes Rapid Coat with a teak tint, light sanding then 5-7 coats of Epifanes Woodfinish Clear Gloss Varnish. This has worked out well timing wise because it is still too hot to spend more than 30 min on the boat at a time. I did have enough time this past weekend to template and cut out a new galley bulkhead skin (1/8") and will sand on it a bit more before applying. Working out the clamping and installation took longer than making the piece fit.

Bits and Pieces

This week was lots of work in the shop fixing, making and tweaking. I rebuilt the Whale Gusher manual pump. I can't imagine it was original but it easily was 30 yrs old. Removed it and stripped it down then sand blasted the aluminum casing. A new coat of paint inside and out, a rebuild kit with new flappers and diaphragm. Even made a new handle top out of a golf ball. Pictures showing before, after and the rebuild kit. It was previously installed in the Starboard cockpit lazarette. I don't think this is a good location. I wouldn't want to be pumping out with the entire lazarette open to the elements. It is recommended that a manual pump be located below where you can close the hatch and pump her out. I think it's new location will be on the new engine compartment side wall on the starboard side, through the open bulkhead. This way it won't be visable all the time and you will be able to sit on the berth and pump.

Got to work on the new mounting and backing plates for the lifeline stanchions. Previously they were mounted on a teak base on top of the teak deck. Both of which are gone now, a piece is in the picture below on the far left as a comparison. Overall thickness was about 3/4", 3/8" for the base and 3/8" for the teak deck. The new polypropylene thermoplastic composite bases I made from scrape race car splitters and are 1/2" thick. These will be painted the same color as the deck. The backing plates are 1/4" aluminum. There were no backing plates prior so this will be an improvement.

There was some final tweaking of the roller platform and placement of the rollers. Now it is time for varnish then mounting. Still mid to upper 90's so I'm staying off the boat and in the basement work shop.