Strip her down

The removal of the deck hardware with before and after photos has begun. I am removing everything that i can easily remove that is screwed or through bolted with the exception of the grab rails (4) and the window trims (10). The only reason is there is no finish left on the teak so I think I can hand sand and refinish in place. There is no evidence of any leaks or cabin top damage. The bolts are all concealed by a 1/4" cabin top liner that is bonded to the top. It would create a lot more repairs to the interior cabin. The bad thing is I will have to paint around them.
All of the holes have been enlarged and filled with thickened epoxy, faired and need to be sanded out.

Construction Destruction

I have continued the deconstruction of the interior and the stripping and sanding. The starboard side of the engine compartment is gone. The ice box is gone and both bulkheads that surrounded it. The manual bilge pump is removed and being rebuilt. The head compartment has had the bulkheads reinforced and a cherry plywood veneer has been installed. All new tabbing installed with radius fillets. More fillets and tabbing to do on the port side locker and galley bulkheads. Switching to the outside decks now that it has warmed up with plans to take time off over Easter to prime and paint decks. Lots of sanding and prep work, sand, wash, sand, wash. Hopefully finish up port side and bow this weekend then switch scaffold to starboard side and stern.

No Wind in Her Sails

Yet......There is hope. The time, ability and desire have surfaced in the boat project. To date: The deck has been re-cored and mainly faired. Some touch up before priming for paint. The Toe rail has been re-varnished, all the other teak removed and sanded ready for varnish. The mast has been re-varnished. That was all in the Fall.

Over the winter I have attacked the interior and made progress and made more work. I have continued to strip/scrape/sand all of the interior. I have re-laminated the furring strips back onto the interior of the hull. I have removed and sand blasted the fuel tank but still need to wash out the inside. I have removed the water tank and need to sand blast. I have removed every piece from the interior getting ready to paint. Scraped and sanded the bilge ready for paint. Identified the thru-hulls I can abandon and fill. Identified all the bulkheads that need replacement. Most I will re-laminate with 1/4" plywood and re-attache. The Starboard side of the Engine compartment needs replacing. I have marine grade plywood for that. Stripped all the paint and fiberglass off the chain-plates. My goal this spring is to get the inside back together, painted and cleaned.

Then the major work will begin on finishing the deck, painting, sanding and varnishing the cockpit teak coaming, fixing all the cockpit seats and lockers and putting engine fuel system back together and if I get a great burst of energy, launch in the fall but most probably the spring. Good Luck.

The beginning of The Plan

My year to take some time off racing and spend more time on the boat has really let me down. my hours on the boat have dwindled with all the stuff going on at work and home. I spend most of my extra free time running when I should be working on boat stuff. I have the mast 3/4 way stripped, then spent the last 6 weekends fixing up the house for company coming and a party; which now looks like it will be canceled.

The running is coming along nicely if i am not too hard on my neuroma. We have a Plan to do a major run in November. To train for that I have been looking at other runs and Ultras. I will do the Grand Father Mountain Marathon in July, Lineville Gorge and Spring Maid in August, Blue Ridge Relay in September and the New River 50K in October. I hope to get up to VA and spend a weekend on the Iron Mountain trail as well.

That and all the vacation and work time will pretty much consume the the year. A disappointment on the boat end. I am letting myself down here but the running is a big stress reliever and I need that outlet. The last issue is telling MFW about the run in November and figuring out someway to make it a fund raiser.

Let no man be sad

It is said that the two worst things that can happen to a man are: He never realizes his dreams and that he does realize them. It is the middle state that keeps us going, planning, pushing on. I started to get too bogged down into details this weekend while working on the boat and the immense size of the jobs and started to get overwhelmed while I waited for some epoxy to set. The truth is the refit on the boat is a HUGE job but must be broken down into smaller pieces and I can not get ahead of myself or I will be over run with anxiety. The only job at hand right now is to finish the new deck and fair it to the point of painting.

I haven't chosen a paint, but I am sure it will be the same for the deck as the cabin roof for a seamless transition. To do that I have to raise the canopy, prep the surface, mask, sand, clean, etc, etc. But before I get to all that I still must finish glassing in and fairing the re-cored deck. I have finished (95%)the starboard side, the bow is sanded and just needs light fairing. The port and stern deck has been re-glassed and now must be sanded and faired. My goal is to get it ready for paint by the end of the year. The next finish parts will be the wood toe rails and cockpit coaming, grab rails etc. Over the winter I can do the mast, cockpit lockers, etc. See, there I go again. All I really need to do is finish the deck.