The Power of the probe

Soon it will be time to hang the rudder back onto the boat.

Derek used the video scope to examine the rudder tube and ensure we left no voids or pockets that could cause problems later. Its a very useful tool and we can capture images or record video with it.

It was Derek's first time using the scope and as you can see by the picture he was suitably "wowed" by it.

The shaft and cutlass bearing is temporarily placed while we design the motor platform. 

There be tunes aboard!

With the majority of the dust making out of the way we brought the entertainment system aboard to install.

A Bose stereo system was installed and a nineteen inch Hi definition TV was mounted to the bulkhead on an articulated mount. We still have to tidy up the wiring for it all but its nice to have a high quality sound system playing while we work.

We thought it only fitting that the first movie to be shown aboard was "Yves Gelinas With Jean-de-Sud Around The World". The crew really enjoyed it and it was (and still is) played over and over while we work.

Hardware

Now that all the nonskid is down we've been busy bolting down hardware.

All the rails and stanchions are in as are the main-sheet traveler and jib and genny tracks.

We put the fore and aft hatch hinges on the buffer and polished em up and got em installed and the hatches mounted. Both hatches were reinforced with several layers of roving and bi-axial cloth to stiffen them up. Taco neoprene hatch seal was used as a gasket on the hatches and cockpit lockers. Its a hollow "D" that compresses and seals very nicely. 

Gary suggested getting the prop shop to polish the rest of the old hardware, they have a $10,000 polisher they place the props in and it shines em up nice. I liked the idea and sent the rest of the hardware to them for polishing. Should be back in two days and we will see how it looks, the old chrome was peeling and hopefully they will be restored to polished bronze again.

Cockpit

We hope to get her in the water before the big freeze hits and have been plugging away getting as much done as we can.

We masked off the cockpit and applied Pettit Easy Poxy semigloss "buff" paint. This is the same paint we used on the window frames. We decided it would not look as dirty as quickly as the white would in the cockpit.

We unmasked the area and let it cure up for a few days then re-masked it and applied KiwiGrip to the nonskid areas. When we unmasked the area we were surprised by how dark the semigloss looks next to the much lighter  nonskid, if it didn't come out of the same can as the paint we used on the window frames I'd swear it was an entirely different color!

Portlights

After Jessie had the window frames picked as clean as possible we brushed on some strong paint stripper to remove the really stubborn deposits. A medium scotch-pad  was used with a little water to scour off the last of the sealant after the stripper had gone to work on the frame.

Jerry from Perception Plastics stopped by to have a look and gave me some tips on making templates for the windows. "don't use corrugated cardboard as it makes a frilly edge that cant be followed precisely when cutting out the material,  use poster board or something like it". I had some thin sheets of stiff foam that is used for building radio controlled model aircraft that was a good material for the job so Jared and I set about making templates.

Once the templates were done and on their way to the fabrication shop we continued getting the frames ready.

They were sanded to bright metal, wiped with awlprep and primed. Two coats of Pettit semigloss Easy-poxy was sprayed on as a finish.

 A few days later Jerry delivered the finished, 3/8" thick, acrylic panes for the windows. They were cut out precisely and were a perfect fit. I wanted a light tint to help keep out some of the UV rays and keep the cabin cooler. The acrylic only came in clear or bronze and the bronze was too dark for maintaining good visibility at night so we decided to tint them ourselves. We bought a light tint from the local Napa store, cleared the lunchroom table and got to it. The literature on the box stated that the tint wold block out 50% of the UV rays. That seemed like a happy compromise, a nice light tint that would block half the UV rays but still enable us to have good visibility out the window at night.

I rough cut the tint to be a little bigger than the window panes while Jared mixed up a batch of soapy water in a spray bottle. We misted the pane with the soapy solution then applied the tint and used a plastic squeegee to chase out air bubbles and smooth it down. The edges were trimmed with a razor blade and the panes set aside to dry. 

Once dry the windows and frames were assembled without sealant to ensure everything was ok. The panes and the adjacent cabin sides were masked off to make cleaning up the caulking a little easier.  3M UV4000 sealant was used for the final assembly as it will not damage the plastic. After assembly we waited about fifteen or twenty minutes for the sealant to start to gel and then used a West Systems plastic mixing stick to remove the excess sealant. The Mixing stick has a fairly sharp edge that removes the sealant easily but wont scratch the acrylic or painted cabin side and the gelled sealant lifts right off without smearing.

Kiwigrip nonskid continued

I received many emails asking if Kiwi Grip would cover the tread pattern molded into existing nonskid areas without the need to sand down the existing nonskid. As I had sanded mine down before I discovered KiwiGrip I didn't know if it would cover well or not. I had one piece that still had the original nonskid on it and this weekend I applied Kiwigrip to it and am happy to report it covers well without the need for sanding down the existing nonskid texture. In fact it applied easier and more uniform than the sanded areas, the roller didn't slide at all as it can sometimes do when using a light pressure to finish rolling out the product.