Alberg 30 sailboat project

Old Rivets

2011-12-18T21:21:00.000-08:00

I like to walk the deck before every sail and set my eyes on all the pins, buckles, etc.... pull the rigging wires in little circles, testing how much play they have.... make sure shes sound before heading out. As I was inspecting the mast base I set my eyes on the boom and noticed one of the rivets that fastened the boom to the goose neck was tweaked a little sideways. I inspected the rest and was shocked to see that three of the five rivet heads were gone! That left just one intact rivet and the tweaked one holding it together...not good!

How did I miss this on previous deck-walks! It was a reminder to take my time and be thorough in the inspections. I inspected the other rivets on the boom and the heads looked good but we decided to replace em all to be safe. Jeff and I spent the evening replacing the rivets at both ends of the boom. Even though the aft end looked good I would never trust it without pulling it apart and inspecting it for corrosion etc.

After that I looked up the mast at the long row of rivets fastening the sail track. I hope I don't have to replace all of those!

Today I broke out my assender setup and inched myself up the mast a foot at a time on a special rock climbing rope. I wanted to inspect the rest of the rivets and fittings up the mast, if some of the forty year old rivets were bad.....what of the rest?

I got to the spreaders and immediately spotted some problems. The top rivets securing the port spreader plate had failed and the plate was separating from the mast. the starboard side looked intact but a thin gap that was not there before was evidence they were stretching out and needed replacing.

I swung around to the sail track and spotted six rivets with heads missing.

Ok.....a major rivet refit is required before sailing!

I descended on the grigri to the deck....no sailing tomorrow as planned......sigh.

If you have a "classic plastic" vessel with old rivets be sure to inspect them before every sail for potential problems. When things go bad under load it can really ruin ones day!

Things That Worked - Kiwi Grip

2011-12-13T19:47:00.000-08:00

Kiwi Grip nonskid paint has really impressed me. Almost a year in the tropics and it has retained its color and its non-skid properties and its holding up very well. Being a one coat - one step product I give it high marks for ease of application and durability.
Their special roller produces a nice texture but does throw little threads of paint when rolling out the product, even when I rolled it fairly slowly. The solution was simple; ensure that you mask adjacent areas very well. We used a paper and tape dispenser and papered at least three feet from where we were rolling out the product and that solved the problem.
I wrote about the application process in previous posts. Here is the link for those interested.

Cheers, Don

http://alberg30.blogspot.com/2010/02/nonskid-deck-paint.html

http://alberg30.blogspot.com/2010/09/kiwigrip-nonskid-continued.html

Things That Worked

2011-12-10T22:18:00.001-08:00

As I get time I will write about the products we used and how they performed on the voyage, and how they have done now that the boat has been in the water for almost a year.

Disclosure: I am Co-Owner of A1marinesupply.com (under construction) and sell or intend to sell, many of the products I will be reviewing. That said, I will give an honest assessment of what I liked or didn't like and how the products performed.

Feel free to ask questions.

Cheers, Don

The Dog House

2011-11-26T20:05:00.001-08:00

I was planning to live on the boat in Hawaii but when the Marina heard I had a dog it was clear that Goldie was not welcome. Non-live-aboards are allowed to sleep aboard for three nights a week and they said she was welcome aboard as long as I didn't spend that fourth night....if I did we would both have to go!

So we had a place to live .....er......visit......for three nights a week. Now what to do for the other four nights of the week? I didn't want to pay the going rate of $1,600 per month for a no frills studio apartment for only four nights a week.

I looked on Craigslist for a camper to put on the truck and was not surprised to find they don't exist in Hawaii.

I had never seen one on the road here. Oh sure they have lots of campers listed....but they are what we from the mainland call a "canopy". Here a canopy is a fabric beach shelter.....a camper shell goes on the truck. So I decided I would knock out a cheap, simple camper made of plywood, similar to the one I had on the mainland but without the appliances etc.

The boat would be used for daily ~~living~~, I mean.....visiting.....not living.......and the camper would be a place to "live" four nights a week. The camper would be a perfect doghouse for Goldie to hang out in when I'm working. Heavily insulated to keep the sun off with plenty of ventilation.

Jeff asked what the plan was.

Plan? I said. I plan to build a camper.

"But how, whats the plan?"

No plan, gonna wing it, start from the base and add whatever seems to work as it takes shape.

Ok,... sounds good, he said. With a healthy dose of scepticizm in his tone.

I thought we'd start with 1/2 inch plywood for the floor and seats and go from there.

I bought a bunch of 2x2's to use as framing and several sheets of plywood and some glue, screws, etc. I decided on 2x2's for framing to allow 1-1/2" of foam insulation to keep her cool inside.

The added weight of the wood was no problem as the rig would not have the weight of appliances and water / holding tanks that a regular camper has.

The base (floor and up to the seats), front, back, and bed platform over the cab, would be built with 1/2 inch plywood. The sides and roof would be thin 5mm plywood.

Jeff had to work so I drove to a remote beach park & local tent camping place and started the project.

I built from the floor up to the seats and was pleased with the results.

Plenty of people came by to have a look and ask what I was building.

A camper, I replied.

Ah, oh, I see,...they said, clearing not understanding what a camper was.

Very few people knew what a camper was or looked like. This was a remote "locals" beach park and few tourists or haole's (what the locals call white folks) made it here.

After tiring of repeating the explanation over and over I decided to just call it "the doghouse".

Yup, building a doghouse for her (pointing at Goldie) so she has a place to hang out when we go snorkeling, working, etc.

"ahhh cool.....lucky dog! most said. As it took shape some added "hey you could use it for camping to you know, would be perfect for it!" I smiled and agreed.

It started to rain and I drove to the local Home Depot store where they had covered parking and continued to build. We went to the beach park to build when we needed to make dust or paint, and stayed under the covered parking the rest of the time. The staff at Home Depot got to know us well and always had kind works of encouragement as it took shape in their parking lot.

It was handy to have a fully stocked hardware / lumber store a few steps away.

Every item we used was bought from them, from wood to tools. If they didn't mind me building it there I certainly didn't mind buying all the supplies from them.

Jeff helped often, spending his days off and mornings helping me. It would have been very difficult to erect the walls and square up the frame without his help. I am grateful, thanks Jeff!

A white elastomeric roofing compound was rolled on the roof and their special 4" wide polyester fabric was used over the seams and edges as a solution to the expansion and contraction problems at the joints. It worked well and the white color helps reflect the heat.

We put in 48 x 12 inch opening double pane windows in the sides. Petty theft is a huge problem here and we kept the windows narrow to reduce the temptation to break them and try and crawl thru. The back of the camper has a narrow sliding door reinforced with steel backing behind the tracks so that it cant be kicked in. A steel plate will be added at the bottom on the outside so it can't be pulled or pried out. Two large barrel bolts fasten the door from inside. Both have locks on them. It would be very difficult to get at the locks and impossible to get cutters or pry-bars on em. It is as secure as I can make it.

Its a long way from finished but is well under way now. There will be some fill and fairing later when I have access to power at a future date. It was built with hand saws and a cordless drill. Near the end we also used a cordless sawzall which helped speed up the process.

The start!

The Floor

Building at the beach park

Ships come and go while I build

Raining, take cover!

1/2" plywood foundation done

Painting and walls going up

Jeff, head shaved for Halloween, he was "Mr Clean"

Goldie enjoying the temporary Lanai

Roughing in the forward bunk

Goldie enjoys the trades blowing through

Closing it in

Roof coating applied

first of many coats of paint

roughing in the windows

Windows in

slide up door

Making The Break

2011-11-20T15:39:00.000-08:00

Well I have finally made the break and moved to Hawaii to live.

1983 was the first time I came thru here and fell in love with the place and I've been hoping to move here ever since. Twenty-eight years later I've finally done it!

I left Idaho happy to be heading for Hawaii, but with the sadness of leaving loved ones in Idaho.

Every once in a while we meet someone that goes above-and-beyond and really makes a difference in our lives. In Idaho that person was Gary Dawes.

I immigrated from Canada and when I got my work visa Gary's company Expert Marine Technology was the first place I applied for a job. He hired me and over the last ten years I had the privilege of working for him. I had never worked for a company that put so much effort into looking after employees. Gary often said his employees were family, and he meant it.

His rules were easy to follow; "if you make a mistake say so, a person will never be fired for making a mistake no matter how bad it is. No one comes to work intending to break sh**."

If you asked for a day off you got it, no matter how badly he may need you that day, he always found a way to make it work for his employees. We got a lot of three day weekends when we needed them.

My first month working for him he heard of a sailboat going for a really good price and told me about it. As a new immigrant money was tight, the immigration attorneys had taken it all "helping" us through the process. He bought the boat for me and told me to make payments on it as I could and if I sold it for a profit we'd split the profit. When I finally sold that boat I had made a couple of grand profit and handed him his half. He refused it and told me to put it down on the house we were trying to move into, we had outgrown the apartment we were in.

We got the house and Gary rented a moving van and he and his son told me to stay outta the way as they moved all our furniture. My boss rented a truck and personally moved my furniture for me!

Eventually I became the General Manager of his business and was privy to the financial end of things. Our Business is seasonal and in the dead of winter, with the crew laid off for the season, I have seen him give his last hundred bucks to an employee who needed it.

I could go on and on as there was seldom a day that Gary didn't do something above and beyond for somebody.

If it was not for him I would not have this boat, I would not have had the house, the previous boat, etc etc etc. He's a great man and I really miss him.

Thank you Gary for all you've done.

Arrived Hilo

2011-04-11T02:16:00.000-07:00

We arrived at Hilo March 23rd at nine-thirty pm.

The Seas had been running extremely high and blowing strong for the last ten days with no letting up.

We got twenty miles from Hilo and it died to light airs then no airs as we neared the bay.

We go from a triple reefed main (equivalent rolled up) only to full main and genny in less than an hour.

We had been on only the shortened main for the last three days.

I had been in Hilo before so entered in the dark, ghosting eerily thru the inky blackness at four knots with no wake in no waves on the inside of the mile long breakwater.

We sailed right into the gap at Radio bay then dropped sails, and payed out the stern anchor and used a little burst of electric power right at the end to set the anchor and put the bow on the sea-wall. ......we arrived!

Our neighbors were surprised to see us in the morning.....its fun being electric, we sneak in silently in the darkness.

The trip was fantastic!

We sailed off Mexico, between the Coronado islands, beating south with the wind on the nose.

Ran into a gale day three and four off the Guadeloupe Island and got hammered good in forty plus knots and 18 foot seas (according to the radio).

Every-time we went on deck we got soaked and hammered in the rain and spray and waves washing the foredeck.

We had the main down to nothin and the jib up managing kinda a beam / close reach doing a neat climb up the wave and pivot at the top and down the other side with the wind vane steering well thru it even though the waves tried hard to pound her off course often.

She was quite comfortable and I knew she would do well.

At some point well into the night the jib blew out.

I turned west in the morning and headed for the high and more settled weather.

The winds abated slowly all that day and the next day we found the high and were coasting along at three and four knots in calm seas under sunny skies.

At night the stars came out and we darkened the boat and sat in the cockpit for some stargazing.

The stars are amazing at night under the high..,...billions and billions of em! right down to the horizon.

I took the boat hook and made figure eights in the calm water and it trailed green sparks in the bio-luminescence. It was stunningly beautiful.

After a few days we turned south to seek the trades.

We found strong winds from then on and reduced the main to our "triple" reef and left it there for the remainder of the voyage until we reached Hilo.

After a day we dropped the main and sailed under a poled out Genny for almost the rest of the trip and that was all she needed.

The odd day that was lighter airs and she dropped to three knots I put up the second Genny I had brought from the salvaged O-day. I sewed the hanks from the destroyed jib onto it and put it on the same fore-stay with the A-30 genny and sailed wing and wing.

The pole was to light and dipped the water and bent, we splinted it and sailed on.

Six days out from Hilo it failed in a new place, we retired the pole and used the boom as a reaching pole.

Five days out from Hilo the wind vane failed, the whole rudder assembly let go. The bottom pin had sheared.

It had done better than any vane I had ever owned, sigh.

I hauled the mess aboard and we steered for the last five days.

Four days out the tiller snapped off with a loud crack as the boat was pushed off course by a very large wave. I hove too for the night so we could sleep.

In the morning I installed the spare original tiller I had brought along and we sailed on.

Five days later here we are in Hilo! YAY!!!!!

We caught five mahi Mahi on the trip and had a great run.

26 days 15 hours to sail 2,776 nautical mile.

I spent a week in Hilo resting and repairing.

My stepson flew down and sailed the boat to Oahu with me in light to moderate airs.

We had a great show leaving Hilo when several Humpback wales entered the bay and started spy-hopping and slapping the surface with their fins.
The boat is safely moored in Honolulu now in one of the few slips in our marina that was not washed away and destroyed by the tsunami.

Here we go

2011-02-24T05:27:00.000-08:00

Well the day is finally here! Its five am and we are getting ready to sail for hawaii. Within the hour. Sorry for not including pictures....I am writing this from my droid phone and it will only let me write the blog in HTML mode so its a little tough.
The windvane we made is working well and sea trails went incredibly well, this boat likes to sail!
We have to head south for five or six hundred miles to drop below the high before turning west for hawaii.
We will see how the fishing is off mexico!
Thanks again to you all for the help, advise, and support.....it made the project go so much more smoothly.

The crew is ready and Kolohe Is tugging gently on her dock lines wanting to be set free .......

Wrapped and rolling

2011-02-16T10:42:00.000-08:00

The mast was wrapped with thin foam and the rigging secured to it and then wrapped with plastic stretch wrap.

Then it was loaded atop the boat and the vessel was shrink wrapped for the long haul to San Diego.

It was an uneventful three day run down to San Diego though she did draw a quite a few looks and she rolled onwards dwarfing the truck. She looked huge shrink wrapped.

The following day the boatyard lifted her gently off the trailer and lowered her into the water.

Four years building and she was finally floating! It was an incredible day and an amazing four years!

There are so many people that helped along the way and I am forever grateful for the help and encouragement to git-er-done! I could not have done it without you all! Thank you thank you thank you!!

Rigging

2011-02-16T10:13:00.000-08:00

We took down the wall and moved the boat to the middle of the shop for loading.

The trailer was backed in and the yardarm jacks were used to lift the cradle onto the trailer.

We pulled the boat outside for the first time in several years and rented a lift to put the mast up and rig her.

It was the coldest and windiest day of the winter thus far. We froze and tried to keep our fingers moving as we hung on to the freezing stainless wire and fittings. It took us all day with a few breaks to get warmed up but we got her rigged with all new 316 wire and stayloc compression fittings. Then we took it all down and moved her back inside the heated shop.

Dodger

2011-02-16T10:02:00.000-08:00

With the launch date drawing near I put the hard dodger project on hold and asked Jerry at Mariners Canvas if he could put together a temporary cover over the companionway hatch.....nothing fancy, just something temporary. He and his assistant Justin came by to have a look and Jerry said he could put something together for me that would make do.

He suggested a temporary cover would probably be aluminum with plastic fittings to keep the cost down for me.

They stopped by while I was out fetching parts and put up the frame for it. When I got back I was amazed to see a beautiful frame out of one inch stainless with robust stainless fittings instead of plastic. Jerry smiled "Justin and I got talking about the conditions you may encounter and felt we should use one inch tubing and all stainless fittings. Its such a small dodger we have some offcuts we can use to keep the cost in line"

I was so damn happy! She was getting a stout dodger after all.

Jerry said it would be strong enough to sleep on and we tested it by anchoring a hammock to it and it didn't mind it one bit.

Thank you Jerry and Justin for a job above and beyond what I had asked for!

12/14/2011
Many folks have emailed and asked how to get in touch with Jerry, here is his contact info;
Jerry Holmes
Mariners Canvas
(208) 667-1903
715 E Harrison Ave,
Coeur D'Alene, ID 83814

motor

2011-02-16T09:35:00.000-08:00

For an engine we decided to go electric.

After doing some homework online we contacted Thunderstruck electric and ordered their brushless electric motor kit for sailboats.

The folks at thunderstruck were fantastic to deal with. They spent a lot of time explaining the system and what was best for our application. Their after sales service was first class and I was very impressed with this company.

The installation was very straightforward and went very smoothly.

Gary fabricated a custom motor mount out of half inch thick aluminum plate and mounted the motor to it at the top and two bearings at the bottom to prevent side loads on the drive-line.

A two to one gear ratio and idler was used along with a toothed drive belt.

The motor controller was installed behind the engine on the bulkhead and a drip-less coupler on the propeller shaft completed the installation.

Cabinet doors

2010-12-22T10:14:00.000-08:00

We cut out the face panel for the head's cabinet and set to work on making a door for it.

A couple of decades ago an ol' shipwright taught me how to build these doors.

They are easy to make, allow good ventilation, and are surprisingly strong.

You can make them any size, I like my frames to be 1.5 inches wide and about 7/8" thick to allow them to be routered down making a rabbet around the edge to inset them into the door frame. This leaves me with a half inch thickness atop the panel face.

Once the frames are cut I run them through the saw with the blade set to half an in depth to make the groove for the slats.

We made the slats by ripping boards to the width we wanted then running them through the table saw to get the strips. A thickness planer was used to clean em up and get them all to a uniform thickness.
Then several coats of finish was applied and after they were nice and dry they were cut to length on a chop saw. This is by far the most tedious and time consuming part of the process. I usually spend a day and make a large number of slats at one time and apply the finish and store them in long strips. That way when ever I get the urge to make a door I have plenty of slats on hand and just have to cut them to length and the door can be assembled very quickly.

I bevel the ends of the slats slightly to make inserting them easier.

For the frame I like to inset the top and bottom rails a half inch into the side rails. this hides the groove for the slats when the door is viewed from the top (or bottom). A screw can be driven into the top and bottom rails from the sides if you like to stiffen it up and covered with a nice wood plug.

The slats are simply popped into place without glue (none is needed) working from one end to the other.

When we decide what the length of the door should be we typically divide it by the width of the slats and then adjust the length slightly so that the last slat fits perfectly without trimming the width.

I forgot to do this on this door so the last slat is a little narrower as a result,...but it will be at the bottom and no one but me will know!.....well .....me, and all of you now.....

Bending in the last slat.

Test fitting the door and panel.

Shore power plugs

2010-11-24T09:59:00.000-08:00

One of our suppliers passed on this article (picture below) that was published in Latitude 38 magazine.

I found it interesting and wanted to post it here for others to read.

As a marine surveyor I often go to a meticulously cared for vessel to perform a survey and find the ends of the shore power cord to be badly worn and in need of replacement. It amazes me how something that gets handled every time the vessel leaves the dock can be left to deteriorate to the point where it causes so much resistance that it causes a melt down or in the extreme case in the article, almost kills someone.

If your plug is worn it would serve you well to replace it. I have seen insurance claims denied for fire damage caused by faulty receptacle plugs, it is often considered a maintenance issue and as such is not covered.

When unplugging the shore power cord from the vessel turn off the main circuit breaker on the vessels electrical panel before unplugging the vessel. Ideally this should be done on the dockside panel but they are often locked or otherwise inaccessible. When the plug is disconnected while energized it creates little arcs that cause minute pitting on the connectors. The pits fill with carbon deposits that are created when it arcs, the carbon creates resistance that leads to more arcing, more pitting, more carbon, etc. Before to long you have created significant resistance in the connection and are well on the way to a melt down.

Moving along

2010-11-08T21:27:00.000-08:00

Lately the focus has been on finishing up loose ends.

A wash-down fixture was mounted on the foredeck and tied into the water pump for the toilet inlet. The toilet inlet water pump does three jobs now; provides water for the toilet, the deck wash-down, and a faucet at the head sink. There is no discharge thru-hulls anywhere near the intake so their is no threat of contaminating the incoming water. The head discharges directly into the holding tank and is pumped overboard from time to time when permitted, or drawn thru a deck suction fitting when required.

I plumbed a tee into the toilet discharge line and took it up to a deck fitting so that when pumping the holding tank the deck cap can be removed and a water hose used to flush the holding tank.

A ball valve was placed on the discharge side of the holding tank and a macerator pump was plumbed in.

I got the pump from a customer who wanted a replacement pump as he considered this one to be too noisy.

I took it apart and cleaned, sanitized, and rebuilt it, put in new check valves and installed it my boat.

The disassembly and cleaning was a thoroughly disgusting job as there was a significant buildup of foul deposits that needed to be scraped and picked at to remove them from the orifices. Even though I saved a few hundred bucks on the pump I don't think its a task I'd care to repeat!

A two way valve was installed and the discharge line plumbed into it. From there one side of the valve went up to a deck suction fitting and the other through a vented loop to the overboard discharge thru-hull.

The last connections were made to the holding tank vent and filter and now the toilet system is finished and operational....although not tested at this time. It feels good to have another system completed and struck from the "to-do" list.

Wiring

2010-10-14T23:15:00.000-07:00

We plan on launching the boat this January or February and are at a stage in construction where there is plenty of individual projects left to do. Rather than trying to map out a rigid schedule we typically climb the ladder to the boat and work on whatever job we feel like tackling that night. I find the flexible approach to be more productive for our crew....its all got to be done before she sails so if one feels like cutting and fitting "have at it" ...if electrical is your interest break out the wire!

Speaking of wire, we've been tackling some of that lately. I decided that the led lighting and low current draw items would be easier to run from two Blue Seas fuse boxes mounted forward rather than running everything back to the panel. I located one of the boxes in the head on the port side and the other in the V-berth hanging locker on the starboard side. The small loads for the port side run into the head fuse box and the starboard side loads run into the hanging locker. The fuse blocks are wired back to independent breakers on the main panel.

So far we have an LED two way light over the galley (shines red or white), a spot reading light for the starboard settee / berth that currently has a G4 bulb that we will swap out for an LED bulb, and a surface mounted LED light in the head that shines, red, white, or blue. The crew calls it our patriotic light.

A gold plated Cantaloupi light is mounted to the aft cabin wall above the chart table and doubles as a chart light and reading light for the port settee / berth. We installed an LED bulb in it to keep the power demands low. Its remarkable how far LED lighting has come. You can get almost every type of bulb in an LED now. Its great for retrofitting existing lights into low power drawing lights without breaking the bank.

The original plan was to use all gold plated fixtures below decks and stainless on deck thereby reducing the need to polish as the stainless and gold plating doesn't tarnish like brass and bronze.

We managed to purchase only the one gold plated fixture before reality climbed aboard and we realized we would not have enough "fun tokens" (money) to outfit her all in gold on our budget! It does look awfully nice over the chart table though, the gold sparkling in the light. Perhaps someday we will retrofit the rest......perhaps.

We found some self adhesive low profile plastic wire chases at the local Lowes hardware store and used them to run the wires in on the surface of the cabin.

While at Lowes we spotted a low profile strip of six outlets and bought it and installed it behind the port settee back. It was a bugger to install back there but its a great place for it. The A/C wiring comes out of the panel into a GFI duplex outlet above the shelf on the port side Settee. From there it goes down and into the strip of outlets then carries on through the head and into the V-berth and ends in a duplex outlet.

The entertainment system will be wired into the strip, things that aren't usually unplugged until they fail, DVD player, Hi def TV, Bose system, etc. Their wires will be hidden and tucked up out of the way.

The two Duplex outlets will be used for laptop computers, cell phones, etc.

Installing Deck and Cabin fittings

2010-10-14T22:06:00.000-07:00

We placed the cowl for the chain locker onto the deck and moved it around until we were satisfied with the location. As the chain locker is a self draining watertight compartment there was no need to install a dorade box under the cowl.

A hole saw was used to cut the hole, starting on deck and cutting through about halfway then finishing the cut from under the deck drilling upwards. Cutting the hole from both sides prevents fragmenting the laminate as often happens when pushing through from one side.

Once the hole was made the Fein Multimaster was used to remove the core material between the laminate and the void was filled with a mixture of West System Epoxy and colloidal silica.

Once cured a drum sander was ran around inside the hole to clean up any epoxy spurs and ensure we had a uniform surface. The fitting was then bedded in 3M fast curing 4200.

The same method was used to cut the hole for the bulkhead compass. The notch at the bottom was cut out using a small flat blade on the Fein Multimaster tool.

In response to the comment below and request for information; here is some pictures of the blades we have used in the MultiMaster tool.

The above blade we used to remove core materiel

The above blade was used to cut the lower portion of the compass hole

I really like the above blade with the flat portion. You can keep the flat edge very close to a shelf (for instance) and cut the bulkhead neatly and flush to the shelf.

We have found the scraper blade to be very fast at removing stubborn materiel. We used it a lot when re-coring portions of the deck to remove the balsa core and also on the hatches and window frames for removing old hatch gaskets and sealants.

The Power of the probe

2010-09-16T17:20:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-09-16T17:03:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-14T16:55:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-14T16:35:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-09T17:44:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-08T11:49:00.000-07:00

I received many emails asking if KiwiGrip 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.

Bits and pieces

2010-08-31T14:51:00.000-07:00

Jessie tackled cleaning all the old sealant off of the window frames. It was a tough job but he stayed with it and got-er-done! Thanks Jessie!

While he was working on the frames I sanded the old wood coamings from the cockpit.

It was quite soiled and I wasn't sure how it would turn out. I used the Fess sander / vac combination and started with 40 grit paper and worked up to 320 grit. It came out looking fantastic!

The Fess sander is a very high quality unit that I inherited from Dennis, a fellow boat-builder and friend who died of cancer last year before he was able to complete his beloved vessel. He was a fine craftsman and was far more skilled than I am at woodworking. His custom built laminated wood hatches, counters, and tables often had beautiful little accents and features built into them that made each one a work of art.

He kept a good attitude right to the end and encouraged me to finish my boat.....we aren't getting any younger and when our time here is up.....we're done. We miss ya Dennis.

Settee Cushions

2010-08-16T17:55:00.000-07:00

Now that we had the bunk foam cut and test fit I started pondering what we would do for the back rests.

On my previous small vessels some had one piece bunk cushions and some had a two piece arrangement making it easier to access the lockers below. I quickly learned that the two piece was uncomfortable too sleep on and I much preferred a single bunk cushion. When lying on my back in the bunk the backrest cushion was in the way narrowing the width of the bunk just enough to be very annoying. I used to toss the backrest cushion into the V-berth at bed-time to give a little extra room on the bunk.

So I decided on this vessel I would keep the bunk cushion as one piece and make the backrest cushion a partial that would leave the lower section open and provide a little more width for sleeping.

The drawback to a long bunk cushion is it flops around when trying to move it or gain access to the lockers below it. A good way to solve the problem is to mount the cushion to a thin sheet of plywood.

It makes it far easier to move around and when the cushion is lifted to gain access below, it acts like a locker lid and "hinges" up nicely and takes little effort to hold it there while digging in the locker.

The bunk cushion was laid on a quarter inch thick sheet of plywood and the outline drawn onto the wood.

The wood was trimmed a half inch on all sides to allow for the wrapping of the upholstery.

The foam was then glued to the plywood with contact cement. Half inch thick low density foam with a scrim was rolled out onto the work table and the cushion was inverted onto it so the plywood bottom was now on top.The foam was pulled up over the sides and stapled down to the plywood. It was then carried aboard and test for fit. The fit was good so we rolled out the vinyl and repeated the process.

The backrest was done in a similar manner but we used two inch medium density foam to start with. We ran the edges through the band-saw with the table set at a forty-five degree angle to give a nice bevel on all sides. Quarter inch foam was glued onto the face of the cushion keeping it back two inches from the sides. This helped form the gentle radius shape. Then the half inch thick foam was laid out and the cushion was finished in the same manner as the bunk cushion. The finished back-rest was secured to the settee with strips of Velcro.

Jessie and I started in the afternoon and was later joined by Jared and Kyle. Once we got started we wouldn't stop! We all wanted to see the end results before calling it a night.

As the evening wore on Jared broke away from the production line to whip us up a fantastic meal. Hes an amazing cook and before too long he laid out a feast of tempura yams and zucchini complete with dipping sauce, and chicken katsu served on a bed of rice with a lovely lemongrass, coconut curry sauce over it.

The feat was impressive considering he did it all on a one burner hotplate and a small deep fryer.

After the meal we completed the job and installed the cushions. They fit well and everyone had big smiles as we congratulated one another......it was two am, and a major milestone was behind us!

Thank you guys! Thank you very, very, much! It was a tremendous success and a wonderful evening.

Bunk Foam

2010-08-11T10:07:00.000-07:00

I had originally designed the settees so that they would fit a standard futon width and the port settee would fit a standard length also. This would have saved considerable time and money by simply buying a futon and dropping it in place. The major disadvantage would be dealing with one very large "cushion" that would be difficult to gain access behind and below it.

We have been doing several large vessel interior refits at the shop lately and the crew has become proficient at wrapping panels and dealing with headliner, carpet, and foams, so I decided to go ahead and build the cushions in house rather than taking the easier futon route.

We bought some medium flex high density foam and set to templating the settee bunks.

We stacked 2x4's two high to simulate the thickness of the foam. This allowed for the angled seat-back and ensured the top of the foam would not be too narrow due to the angle.

We used the wood strips and hot glue gun method and made a template in the usual way then took it below and laid it on the foam and drew it out with a felt pen. An electric knife was purchased from the local Wal-mart kitchen center and was used to cut the foam.....it goes through the foam like a hot knife through butter!

The 13 degree seat back angle was cut "free style" by holding the knife at an angle and following the line we drew. It worked ok but I might make a jig for the angles on the rest of the cushions to get a more accurate cut.

Trim

2010-08-10T17:46:00.000-07:00

Lately we have been making trim and installing it in the boat. Its a very rewarding job and I have an ear to ear grin after each piece goes in as we stand back and admire our handy-work.

We made most of the trim out of Jatoba (Brazilian cherry) milling down the twenty foot long by six inch planks we bought over a year ago for this purpose. The wood is very dense and brutal on our tools. It dulls saw blades and smooths out sand paper very quickly compared to teak or mahogany. When using the router table to shape the pieces it would go along just fine and then randomly catch the grain just right and throw a chunk out of the piece on occasion. The Tech would utter a few colorful metaphors and start all over again, saving what he could in the hope it could be used elsewhere. It didn't seem to matter what depth or what shape of bit was used, or if it was new or old, every now and then it would throw a chip out and we got used to the fact.

Sometimes it enabled us to get creative as with the vertical trim going into the head....it threw a chip on the last run through after the piece had been milled and almost completely formed. We didn't want to start over so we cut a forty-five degree bevel along the one side of the face where the chip was. In the end we all liked it better than the original, it made the profile on the face look a little narrower and it balanced visually with the piece on the other side of the door frame.

When we milled the boards down we typically used the table saw to get the rough dimensions and then ran the boards though the thickness planer. After that it was shaped using the table saw and router table and then sanded starting with 80 grit and working up to 600 grit. All the pieces have soft corners with varying degrees of raduis on them. The radius had to be hand sanded and we quickly learned to wear gloves as the wood had fine splinters that were needle sharp that would cause a nasty sliver to the bare hand. Once the finish was applied the grain toughened right up and by the time we got six or seven coats on and the final 600 grit sanding done it was like polishing glass. The look was worth the hard work to get there!

Interior

2010-07-12T07:38:00.000-07:00

The interior is coming together nicely and its been very rewarding to move off of sanding and sanding, and more sanding .........and move on to installing things. Over the last three years I have been purchasing items for the the boat and putting them in storage so I would have them on hand when it came time to install them.

Its been like Christmas morning every day as we open a box and pull some treasure out of storage and turn it over in hand, admiring it before carrying it up the ladder and into the boat to be installed. The electrical distribution panel was carried aboard, as was several plumbing parts and fixtures. The solar panel and wind generator was placed gently to one side, its not your time yet. The light fixtures and deck cowls were placed in line, soon to be carried aboard. The box containing the shortwave radio receiver and plotting tools, binoculars, etc. were carried up the ladder and placed about the area for the chart table to see how they'd fit.

The top for the chart table was then templated and cut out of half inch plywood. A five inch shelf was left along the bulkhead aft and outboard under the distribution panel to accommodate the shortwave, binoculars,etc.

A thin sheet of cork with self adhesive backing was laid down over the area. I went to the local sportsman outfitters looking for some cork sealer that is used by fishing rod builders but none carried it in stock. I remembered reading on-line that some of the rod builders also used "Tru-oil", the brand name of a product that is used to finish gun stocks. I found a bottle and purchased it but was very skeptical......I didn't care for oil finishes in the boat as they tend to pick up dust and dirt and our shop is on one very dusty road. I applied several coats to a scrap piece of cork and was impressed with the results. It hardened up to a tough shiny surface like an old fashioned shellac. I used it on the cork and it turned out just right, a hard shiny surface that still had some flexible properties to it that other users promised would not crack or shrink over time.

Plumbing

2010-07-02T14:29:00.000-07:00

The plumbing is moving right along. I tee'd off of the head intake pump and ran a line forward into the anchor locker for a deck wash-down and ran a line to the head sink for a seawater tap. There is no discharge anywhere near the intake thru-hull to contaminate the water. The toilet discharges into the holding tank and then the holding tank will have a discharge thu-hull and deck suction fitting aft near the cockpit.

The fresh water tank is located under the V-berth and I needed to vent it but did not want the vent outside the vessel and possibly contaminated with salt water etc. I ran the vent to the head sink and plumbed it into a brass spigot at the sink, that way its inside the boat and if the tank is overfilled the overflow goes harmlessly down the sink. We installed a whale foot pump for the head sink. We could not reach the lower fastener on the foot pump to install it so we cut a thin piece of aluminum and mounted it to that and then fastened the aluminum into place.

We plumbed it to a chrome plated spigot at the head sink.

V - Berth

2010-07-02T13:40:00.000-07:00

The V-berth is coming along nicely.

We cut Jatoba planks and used a thickness planer to clean them up and get them to a uniform size.

They were sanded up to 320 grit disks then several coats of Poly Wipe was applied, sanding with 600 grit every three coats thereafter. We have all but the little pieces installed now. They were screwed into place without any compound so that they can be easily removed to access the wiring and plumbing behind when required.

A fresh coat of paint was applied to the berth and the hatches were installed.

Cabin Sole

2010-07-02T11:56:00.000-07:00

We had kicked around the idea of making a nice floor out of strips of Jatoba with iridescent wire laid between the strips for a nice lighting effect. We have all the materials on hand for it but decided that while it would look really nice, it would not provide for good footing at sea. So we decided that a good utilitarian floor with non-skid would be better suited for the task and set about installing one.

We made templates of the floor and transferred it to 3/4 inch plywood and cut it out. Hatches were cut out of the floor to allow access to the holding tank fittings and bilge spaces and the pieces were sealed with a coat of epoxy. Once cured they were laid into place with a thin strip of foam around the edge to prevent a hard spot against the hull and a strip of glass tabbing was applied along the edges bonding it to the hull.

The floor was faired and then a coat of Kiwigrip non-skid deck paint was applied. The non-skid will provide a good grip underfoot while at sea and a small strip of carpet runner can be used in port to "gussy" her up a bit and provide for a softer footing. The only thing I've never liked about an aggressive nonskid in the cabin is that its a bugger to clean when the cook loses a pot of custard (an offshore favorite of mine) onto the floor......but better to have a tough cleaning job then an injured crew that slipped on a slick floor with a pot in hand.

Rudder Tube

2010-05-25T13:17:00.000-07:00

Once the rudder was off the boat we were able to inspect the tube. There was a "hole" in the top of the tube below the packing gland near the bottom end of the tube. The bottom of the packing gland fitting was clearly visible. They had used some kind of putty or sealant that was blue in color and had become soft and degraded over the years and was falling out in little chunks. The area was picked clean of marine growth, shell remnants, dried algae, etc. and sanded as best we could given the tight location. The old compound was picked out so new material could be added. West system epoxy was used with a 50/50 mix of colloidal silica and graphite powder and was pressed into the void to fill the hole and renew the flange seal. A wooded dowel that was the same diameter as the rudder stock was coated with a mold release agent and pushed up in place of the rudder stock.

Once the epoxy was cured the dowel was removed and the repair inspected. The graphite and silica mixture provides a low friction bearing surface against the stock and has filled the void nicely.

Propulsion System

2010-05-04T11:46:00.000-07:00

The old propeller shaft was a little worse for wear so a new Aquamet 22 shaft was ordered to replace it. The Stern tube assembly was removed and the old cutlass bearing was pressed out and a new one installed.

I wanted a dripless coupler but could not find a stock one with the correct shaft to tube sizing so I called the folks at Fisheries Supply to see what they suggested. They gave me the number for PYI, the manufactures of dripless couplers and suggested I give them a call. PYI said "can do" and had a custom one built for me at no extra charge and sent it out within the week. The old stuffing box will be tossed in a locker and kept as a spare.

I'm going electric for the propulsion system and needed to replace the propeller but was unsure of what pitch I should use. I emailed Michigan wheel, a popular propeller manufacturer and gave them all the specs for the vessel and drive system. They had their design team look at it and a week later they came back with the response; use a 12x10 machine pitch propeller with a 7/8" tapered bore to fit my shaft requirements.

The machine pitch style has nice big rounded blades that are ideal for vessels under fifteen knots.

I asked our local prop supplier to get one for me. What showed up was a used beat up speed prop that looked like someone had taken a hammer and a grinder to it. The only thing it was appropriate for would be a door stop! I sent it back and specified new and gave the specs provided by Michigan Wheel. They are a Michigan wheel dealer so I figured it would be an easy sale for them. They stopped by a week later to drop off some props for another vessel and told me mine was a "Bastard child" and not available and the only way I'd find it was if someone had an old one on the shelf for years they would love to get rid of ......good luck finding it.

I told him that I thought that was an odd response given that Michigan Wheel had just spec'd it out so it must be available. He shrugged his shoulders as he headed for the door "I don't know what to tell ya, we don't have it and cant get it".

As soon as he left I went online and Googled it. Two sites came up with good results, one was in Portland Oregon and one in Florida. Deep Blue Yacht Supply Inc. in Forida was more than a hundred dollars cheaper for the same prop so I gave em a call. They were very knowledgeable and said it was no problem getting the prop however it is a special order and will take six weeks to get it made and shipped. I ordered the prop and shaft from them.

The shaft arrived promptly and looks good. I would have prefered the keyway to have radius corners and the end ramped but it seems hard to teach and old marine machinist new methods......they want to stay with what they know works dang-it! I'm sure my shaft won't be the odd one that fatigues and cracks from the non-radius corners.....and the prop wont bind on the non-ramped keyway. Once the prop arrives we will install the shaft and lap the prop to the shaft.

Sue Nelson has been working on the design of the reduction pulleys and drive belt for the system. Sue is an Application Services Specialist with Veyance Technologies Inc. They deal with power transmission products. Sue spec'd out the appropriate components for the system and we should get them ordered next week. We are using a belt system with two pulleys and an idler and two to one reduction.

Gary made a template out of plywood and the motor mounts, test fit it and made a few reference marks on the hull for their placement. Once he was done I climbed aboard to make the foundations for the motor mounts. I used some five minute epoxy and glued some foam blocks to the hull under the marks. Once the epoxy had set I used various sanding tools to contour the blocks to the hull leaving the tops flat for the motor mounts to rest on. Bi-axial fiberglass and roving was laid up over the blocks leaving the tops open. Once cured the foam was pried out and the fiberglass "cup" that was left was filled with west system and west 404 high density filler. Once that was cured the top was sanded flat and bi-axial cloth was laid-up down the hull, over the top of the mount and down its side to the hull again, tying it all together. Stainless steel inserts will be fit into the base and the motor mounts threaded into the inserts making for a very strong assembly.

Removing the rudder

2010-04-21T11:16:00.000-07:00

To get the rudder out we needed to either dig a hole under the boat or lift her. I didn't think the boss would approve of us jack hammering a hole in the shop floor so we set about lifting her instead.

We fabricated some lifting tabs and welded them onto the cradle to make it easier to pick up with the yard-arm jacks. The rudder fittings were removed and the vessel was lifted about fourteen inches to give the necessary clearances to drop the rudder. We cribbed the vessel in place and supported her well with boat stands.

The rudder was being stubborn and did not want to come out easily so we sanded the stock above the packing gland with 220 then 320 then 600 grit and sprayed some silicone lubricant down the stock. A hydraulic wedge was placed above the rudder and used to gently coax the rudder down and out.

Once out the rudder was placed on the table and sanded down and filled and faired where required.

The "pin" at the bottom of the rudder was completely corroded away, the rest of the fittings were in pretty good shape considering their age.

welding on tabs

going up

removing rudder

down and out

sand, fill, and fair

cockpit lockers

2010-04-21T10:46:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks I have not had as much time to work on my boat as I'd like. The boating season is starting early here this year. Its a good thing........last winter brought record snowfall and the season started very late. That short season combined with the recession caused three boat shops here to close their doors this winter. We managed to hang on and are still here but it was a tough year. And although it means a greater market share for us with the other shops gone we will miss the people who worked them. Northern Idaho still has a friendly, small town feel and the shops would help each other out if one had a part in stock the other needed etc.

I have been focusing on finishing the inside of the cockpit lockers.

It seems that I crawl into them and do a bunch of work and at days end I declare the lockers to finally be finished! .........only to poke my head in there the next day and see "one more thing" that I should do before I paint, and back in I go.

There was evidence of the vessel leaking water between the liner in the little compartment below the forward winches. We climbed into the locker and cut out the poorly fitted fiberglass that was used as the bottom of the pocket and then used a small sanding disk in an air die grinder to clean up the pocket.

There was a significant gap in the forward end of the pocket where water had been leaking in so we mixed up some west system epoxy with west 403 chopped fibers into a snowball like consistency and pressed it into the gap. When mixed like that the epoxy doesn't drip and can be handled and formed easily and when compressed into the gap it oozes some resin out of the edges making it easy to tool and adheres and seals really well.

Once the epoxy had cured it was scuffed and two layers of bi-axial cloth was applied.

We laid up two layers of cloth into sheets and while waiting for it to cure we made templates in the locker for the new compartment. We made them deeper, angled slightly aft and put a drain in them. Once the sheets had cured we cut out the pieces and hot glued them in place and filleted them with west systems on the inside and glassed the seams on the outside of the pockets.

Several holes were filled and repaired where gauges had once lived and the flange of the starboard locker was rebuilt where someone had decided to rough cut the opening to enlarge it to fit something into the locker that was larger than the original opening.

A thru-hull pad and assembly was made as described in an earlier post and one was installed in the aft portion of each locker, the lockers were painted and the deck and winch pocket drains were plumbed.

winch pocket with drain

Topsides: aplying Interlux Perfection

2010-02-25T10:36:00.000-08:00

We sprayed on three coats of interlux epoxy primer and sanded it down with 220 grit paper to get the topsides ready for the application of the Perfection coating. Jessie, Noah, and Jared did the bulk of the hand sanding and a good deal of the DA work as well. After the sanding was completed we spent a couple hours vacuuming the boat, the shop, and every surface we could to try and contain the dust. The following day we wiped the topsides as usual and followed it up with a final wipe with tack cloths just prior to painting.

We mixed up a batch of the paint base with the catalyst and let it sit for the twenty minute induction time while we got our painting supplies ready.

We started at the bow and applied the product as directed on the can using the rolling and tipping method; one person applying the product by rolling out a small area with a foam roller and a second person following behind and using the tip of a paintbrush to lightly brush the surface to remove the roller texture and little bubbles.

It went well but we did lay it on a little too thick at first and got a couple of runs in the finish and I was not completely satisfied with the results. In some areas the paint did not blend as it should have and when you look at it closely you can see brush strokes in the surface. It was a good trial run and we are going to sand it down with 220 and use it as a base coat and do it again in a few days after the paints hardened up well.

Next time we will thin it a little and try using a foam brush to tip it out with. I've had good success in the past using a foam brush for tipping, albeit not with a urethane paint. This is the first time I've personally applied urethane paint and am still getting the feel for it.

We do a lot of bottom paints and fiberglass and gel-coat work in our shops but we avoid topside urathane or fine finishing coatings. Our two shops are located on a short dirt road and its impossible to keep the dust situation to a level that is acceptable for commercial workmanship of fine finishes. We did the best we could to mitigate against dust but some still found its way onto the finished surface. For the next round we will mist the floor, walls, and everything else we can with water prior to painting to try and hold the dust down a little better.

Paint dry but not perfect.

Shop reflecting in dried paint

Nonskid deck paint

2010-02-08T18:56:00.000-08:00

The time has come to get some paint on the deck!

We vacuumed and wiped the nonskid areas, taped them off and wiped em once more with awlprep for good measure. We are using Kiwi Grip nonskid paint, a product I have never used before. I called the paint Rep to find out what undercoat primer I needed. I told him we had areas of bare fiberglass, epoxy, and gel coat, all sanded down good with eighty grit paper.

He laughed and said what we'd done was overkill and none of it requires a primer...... paint away! He went on to state that the stuff would stick to a cars windshield and if you left it on for a week you'd need a razor blade to get it off.

I took the gallon can on deck, opened it up and was surprised to see what looked like a gallon of cream colored mayonnaise. I scooped some up with the paint stir stick and it clung to it even when I inverted the stick. No wonder they recommended spreading it on deck with a notched trowel! The directions tell you to work a couple square feet at a time so I started at the bow and placed several dollops of paint onto the deck and spread it with a notched trowel. Once I had it looking pretty evenly spread out I took thier special "loopy goopy" three inch roller and started rolling it out. The roller covering looks like the loose weave of an old style copper pot scrubbing pad. The concept is to roll over the area about four or five times which incorporates air into the loose weave of the roller then into the paint making paint bubbles. After the fourth or fifth rolling the bubbles burst and the paint forms little peaks, gravity takes over and the peaks fall and soften into the nonskid texture.

The rolling out procedure takes only a few minutes and the texture seems to level and even itself out very nicely. The paint has a working time of twenty five minutes and the rep said if you want a more aggressive texture then wait about twenty minutes or so and roll it out once more. It stands the peaks back up but this time they wont fall over. Be forewarned that after it cures for a couple months it gets harder and harder and we call the aggressive texture bloody knees nonskid cause that's what you'll get if you fall on it.

I liked the way the texture looked and decided to pass on the more aggressive "bloody knees" method.

I must say I am very impressed with the stuff. It hides imperfections like nothing I've ever seen before, they just disappear under this stuff and it levels itself nicely when you roll it out. Its a one part, one coat product and as long as you roll it out as directed and take the tape of the masked areas within a few minutes of rolling it out its the easiest product I've ever used on a boat. My only complaint would be that its perhaps a little too easy and with products like this people don't need shops like ours to put it on! All kidding aside.....I really wish we had more products like this; it goes on easy, looks good, and stays where you put it. Oh, and it blends right in if you have to roll on a little more the next day because you (cough) stuck yer finger in it when you peeled the tape off (cough).

Bulkheads: Thru-bolting

2010-02-05T13:13:00.000-08:00

I was thinking about the bulkheads and the loads they might be subject to in a storm. They had several layers of cloth tying tying them to the hull but the bulkhead is made of plywood with the final ply being two millimeters thick. I could imagine that thin ply shearing from the rest under a severe load. The more I thought about it the more I felt I'd better "beef" em up. Drilling through the glass tabbing and thru-bolting seemed to be the logical thing to do, even if it wasn't necessary I'd sleep better at sea knowing it was done.

So it was I found myself scrunched in lockers with drill in hand, boring holes in the bulkheads.

The plan was I'd bore several holes along the bulkhead, vacuum up the dust, then push a 5/16" cap screw (bolt) through the bulkhead with some 5200 and a big fender washer on it. My helper would place another big fender washer on his side of the bulkhead and then finish up with a nylock nut and tighten it down.

This procedure was going along very smoothly, after all I had built the interior so I knew were everything was and could just go along drilling without checking the other side of the bulkhead for wires, obstructions, etc.

Imagine my surprise when I drilled through the forward settee bulkhead, pulled back the drill, and out poured a geyser of water! The look on my face must have been priceless, there were no tanks there and the water system was dry, having never been filled. How could there be water! My helper took one look my expression and burst out laughing and yelled "shes taking on water! abandon ship!" as he dashed off the boat for some rags and a bucket.

I'd forgotten I had placed a row of one gallon water jugs in the locker to ensure they would fit and had neglected to remove them and drilled right into one. Fortunately we had made the locker water tight and sealed the wood so the water was contained and all we had to do was mop it up and run a fan on the bolt hole for a day to dry it out. The rest of the bulkheads were bolted without issues.....I looked before I drilled.

Lighting

2010-02-05T12:08:00.000-08:00

After we hung the blue tarps it became noticeably darker in our space and the tarps cast a blue hue on the boat making it difficult to see when painting. We needed better lighting.

We had several duel tube eight foot florescent fixtures in the shop that were not in use so we rounded em up and put plugs on em and hung em around the boat. It lit the port side very well and half the starboard side. A trip to the hardware store for one more fixture and a couple of flood lights and we had the area well lit.

After that we taped off the new stripe to protect it and hung more plastic to protect the Hull from over spray.

Then we gave our work space a good cleanup and got organised. It was getting a little messy, we had a lot or hands doing a lot of sanding and masking and all sorts of debris was tossed over the side and wound up underfoot.

Boot Stripe

2010-02-01T12:17:00.000-08:00

Things have been clicking along so nicely we've gotten ahead of our stock of supplies.

We are awaiting the arrival of more epoxy paint and the appropriate thinners for spraying.

We could proceed with finishing fairing in the hull & deck joint but decided that since we have the hull nicely cleaned and prepped we might as well get the boot stripe on the ol' girl. We mixed up some epoxy paint and brushed it along the waterline to build up a nice undercoat for the boot stripe. The next day it was sanded with 80 grit as recommended by the paint manufacturer and wiped down. I had been flip-flopping between red or gold for the boot and cove stripe, I liked both and couldn't make up my mind. Our painter said; "you know,...we've got some Pettit Vivid anti-fouling paint leftover from a job, plenty of red and plenty of white." Ohhhhh, red it is then! Pettit Vivid anti-fouling paint comes in nice bright colors and fetches a high dollar, getting some free paint definitely was the deciding factor on the color.....and I didn't even have to go dumpster diving for it >:-P

We masked off the paint line with 3/4" 3M fine line tape and applied some 1-1/2" 3M 2080 over that to give us a little more room to over-brush without hitting the hull. (see previous post for measuring the boot stripe) Three coats of the Pettit Vivid White were applied with a foam roller, one each day with a light sanding between coats. After the final coat was nice and dry we masked over the bottom of the stripe with 3/4" 3M fine-line tape. We'd peel this off later to reveal the 3/4" white accent stripe.

The remaining stripe was lightly sanded and wiped down then two coats of Pettit Vivid Red was applied with a foam roller allowing four hours dry time between coats. Thirty minutes after the final coat was applied the tape was removed and voila, we had a stripe! Black hull, white accent stripe, red boot stripe, all in high quality anti-fouling paint.

Top Sides: applying two part epoxy primer.

2010-01-31T19:25:00.000-08:00

We are waiting for supplies to arrive before we can continue with the cabin top so we moved on to the topsides for a few days.

There is multiple layers of fairing compound near the hull and deck joint. As each is a slightly different color it created a camo pattern making it hard to visually see the fairness of the hull. It was a good time to apply a couple coats of two part epoxy paint so its a more uniform color. We sanded the hull with 220 grit as directed by the paint manufacturer and wiped it down.

We purchased two rolls of pre-taped plastic from our local Lowes home improvement center. The roll is about a foot long with the tape attached along the edge for the entire 100 foot length of the roll. We applied the tape to the hull (to protect the bottom paint) unrolling it as we went. The thin plastic sheet was then opened making it two feet wide, then opened again for its full four foot width. I really like this stuff, it costs about eight bucks a roll and uses a good quality blue tape. It makes it very easy to protect the hull from drips and overspray.

We used the second roll on deck, adhering it to the top of the cap rail and opening it towards the center line of the vessel to protect the deck and cockpit. Smaller sections were added as required to completely cover the deck. The plastic was left very slack along the starboard side deck so we could still use it as a walkway.

I applied one very thin coat of paint with the HVLP sprayer, thinning it as directed by the paint manufacturer.

I had done a little more practicing with the gun and had adjusted it to a finer mist than before and really focused on keeping the gun at a constant distance from the hull. The nozzle can be adjusted so that the spray is narrow and vertical, narrow and horizontal, or adjusted anywhere between the two reducing the width and making it wider and into a circle. They suggested not using the circle unless required to get around objects.

The air hose supplied with the gun is twelve feet long so I worked along ten foot sections of the hull before pausing to relocate the air pump. The nozzle was set up for the narrow vertical pattern and I started at the deck making rows of passes fore and aft descending towards the waterline with each pass.

The nozzle was then adjusted to the narrow horizontal pattern and the area was covered again working from the bow aft in vertical rows until the ten foot section had a nice even coat, or so I hoped.

A pause to relocate the air pump and the process was repeated time and again until I had gone right around the boat. It would have been easier if the air pump had come equipped with a longer hose or if I had a helper to hold the pump and move with me as I worked. Hmmm, perhaps I can mount it on wheels like a shop vac and pull it around, I'll have to give that some thought.

The next day the topsides were sanded and wiped and the process repeated and a second coat applied.

Now the fairing of the deck joint can be more easily seen and we can adjust it as required and then apply two more coats of epoxy paint.

Deck tented

Painting on Deck

2010-01-31T18:23:00.000-08:00

Once the second coat of epoxy primer on the cabin and deck was cured we sanded it with 220 grit production paper. The surface was cleaned and we applied a thin coat of Pettit easypoxy semigloss white. Its very important to apply this paint in very thin coats. If applied to thickly the paint film will never fully harden and will result in a permanent soft paint film.

The next day it was sanded with 220 grit paper and wiped down.

I was not entirely happy with the results we obtained by applying the paint by brush so I headed out shopping for an HVLP paint sprayer. We have high pressure sprayers at the shop but with other boats in the shop I dare not risk damaging them with overspray. HVLP stand's for High Volume Low Pressure. The low pressure greatly reduces the amount of overspray. I bought an Earlex 3000 HVLP system, it had gotten rave reviews online and was reasonably priced. We erected two huge blue tarps in the shop from floor to ceiling on the outside of the wall surrounding my boat. I had never used an HVLP gun and was taking no chances with the overspray. I practiced with the gun on some large pieces of cardboard and was very pleased with the simplicity of the gun. Its very easy to adjust and there was very little overspray, the tarps were unnecessary.

If you would like large sheets of thin, firm, clean cardboard for making mock-ups, templates, and rolling out fiberglass on; Head for your nearest Costco store and then go to the pallets of paper towel and toilet paper. The paper products have these lovely sheets of cardboard separating the levels. There are two types of sheets, one is a better quality so be sure you become familiar with both so you get the good ones. They usually have stacks of em not far from the paper products and if you ask they will give you as many as you want for free. Don't say "I'll take all you have" unless you've come in an empty moving van! I said that the first time and the fellow chuckled as he led me to a stack that would have filled my pickup truck box a good two or three times. You can have it all, he said with a smirk.

The boat was papered and masked and I sprayed a coat of paint onto the cabin and areas of the deck that won't be nonskid. The paint job went OK, but I still have a little more practicing to do before I will be happy with the results. The gun performed well, but I need a little more experience to lay the coat down evenly.

Hanging tarps

masking off the deck (HVLP sprayer in foreground)

First pass with the HVLP sprayer

Priming On Deck

2010-01-23T10:54:00.000-08:00

We have applied the first coat of two part epoxy primer thinned twenty five percent as recommended by the manufacturer. We started at the bow and continued aft stopping at the cockpit. We still have a little more work to do in the cockpit area before its ready to prime. We left it overnight to cure and today will sand it with 3M 220 grit production paper and fill and fair any imperfections we find.

Mast Step

2010-01-23T10:47:00.000-08:00

The mast step was secured with six stainless steel machine screws. They were stuck fast and required a little persuading to be removed. We didn't want to contaminate the area with oils or solvents so we used a long screw driver and gently tapped the end of the screw driver with a plastic dead-blow hammer as we tried to turn the screw. We were able to turn the screw a quarter inch back and forth and continued using the hammer, gradually being able to turn the fastener back and forth more and more until it was removed. All six fasteners were removed in this manner. Once the fasteners were removed the fitting offered no resistance and was lifted off the deck. Under the fitting was a crumbled mess of some kind of old compound mixed with light corrosion from the fitting. The bottom of the fitting was in very good condition and the corrosion was very slight.

Taping off areas of the deck

2010-01-23T10:21:00.000-08:00

We have begun taping off the nonskid areas of the deck in preparation for applying the two part epoxy primer to all the other areas. Tyler, Noah, and I spent a few hours taping using 3M 2080 tape for the straight stretches and slight bends. It is a light to medium tack tape that you can leave on for up to sixty days. It is thin and smooth with a slightly plastic feel to it. We like using a light to medium tack tape as it really lets you know if you've done enough surface cleaning. If you missed a spot the tape wont stick. Its far better to have the tape fail rather than the paint film! We use 3M 471 for going around corners. It is a stretchy plastic tape that can turn a tight corner without tearing. We put a little piece of 2080 over top to prevent it from contracting when stretched around the tight corners.

Almost ready for taping

Taping off areas

3M 471 turns tight corners

More filling and fairing.

2010-01-15T11:52:00.000-08:00

Tyler has removed the cockpit hatch hinges and hardware and all of the fittings and hardware that was still on the vessel on deck and in the Cockpit. It was a tedious task, the hardware had been in place for decades and was not easily removed.

With the cockpit hatches removed it is easier to access the lockers and we will be finishing the glass work in them to ensure each is an independent watertight locker.

Today: fill and fair, fill and fair, fill and fair.............

The boys are back in town.

2010-01-15T11:47:00.000-08:00

Tyler moved back to town and he and Kris have been helping on the boat for the last two days. They had done the majority of the tough sanding of the bottom and were impressed and inspired by how it looked when finished and painted. They offered to help some more and have sanded the deck and cockpit and cabin. Their friend Anthony stopped by and was pressed into service by the boys, lol, when their friends stop by they hand them a tool and put em to work.......we got fewer and fewer interruptions as the word of our press gang got out among their peer group. They are 19-21 years old respectively and a powerhouse of energy and endurance. All three hand sanded all the corners and edges I could not get with the DA. We are down to spot filling and sanding now.

The cockpit was a mess, someone in the past had taken a grinder to areas of the deck and cockpit and created scars and gouges. Some had been haphazardly filled with resin alone, some had been left ragged and filled with dirt and dust. The areas were sanded down to clean glass with the DA and forty grit disks and by hand where the DA could not get into and then filled with epoxy mixed with west systems 406 and 407 fillers.

Tyler removed the worn wood inserts from the cockpit seats. The one on the starboard side was pried up and popped right out. Not so for the port side. It was bedded well in the original resin and had to be chiseled out, then sanded down with a grinder equipped with a flap sanding disk. They cleaned up well.

The inventor of the Jordan drogue recommends two chain-plates be bolted horizontally to the topsides at the transom to connect the bridle for the drogue. The area must be very strong and transfer the potentially high loads to vessel. I squeezed into the lazzarette and started removing the gel-coat from large areas of the Hull and underside of the deck with the flap sander. The area will be glassed with heavy roving and tied into the bulkhead.

We all wear dust masks......but when the camera comes out the boys ditch the masks for the photo opp if the air is not to bad. They say they've got to look good for the ladies......I told them I didn't think there was that many ladies reading the blog......they told me they show the blog to their friends and have to be lookin' good!

left to right: Anthony, Kris (foreground), Tyler.

Tyler and Kris

Tyler long-boards the cap

New gadget added to blog.

2010-01-14T11:21:00.000-08:00

I added the "follow" gadget to the blog today to make it easier to follow, just click the follow button on the right if you would like to be added.
I really appreciate the feedback I've gotten from readers of the blog.
Thank you. : -D
You've inspired me to keep at it.

Cheers, Don

Topsides

2010-01-07T13:19:00.000-08:00

The days are cold and crisp outside. The shop is kept at a comfortable fifty five degrees at ground level, about ten or fifteen degrees higher at deck level as the shop heater tends to blow just past the bow and wash the deck with warmth before heating the rest of the shop.

Jon applied new fine-line tape over the antifouling paint to protect the paint line. The measurements for the stripe were transferred down to the new tape line and the old tape removed from the hull. Now we can prep the topsides and get them ready to paint. There are still some areas that require a little hand work before they will be ready to coat and we are slowly getting them done one by one. I am nervous about the fairness of the topsides.....will it be good enough? Its sometimes hard to see in the lighting of the shop just how fair the hull is. It seems to change as you move around the boat and look from different angles. We typically take a vessel out of the shop into natural light and take a good look at it and see how it looks before moving to the next step. I don't have that opportunity, my boat is not easily moved. There is the wall we built and another vessel cribbed in the shop impeding passage to the outside world. We will do the best we can to get it fair and tweak it a little here and there as we proceed.

We will be applying Interlux Epoxy Barrier-Kote 404/414 primer to the topsides when they are ready (hopefully this weekend). It is similar to Pettit Protect but is white. We will also be using it on deck and the cabin as an undercoating as it is recommended for use on crazed and cracked gelcoat.

All day yesterday was spent on deck sanding along the starboard toe rail with a hand block getting it faired and ready for undercoating. We want to have a large portion of the deck ready so we don't waste any excess epoxy primer we may have left over when we coat the topsides.

Nothing will be done today. We got called out to save a sinking boat. We got on site in less than an hour but it became evident it was a sunk boat,.....not a sinking boat, so we've gone to plan B and have to get our dive team and tug ready to lift her to the surface for pumping. Then run containment booms etc and get the boat back to the shop.....sigh.......no work on my boat today.

Bottom Paint

2010-01-04T11:59:00.000-08:00

After much sanding, filling, fairing, the bottom was finally ready for coating!

In total, eleven holes from previous thru-hulls, instruments, etc. were repaired and glassed over. Three were left, and a few more will be added when required.

The hull was vacuumed then wiped with Awlgrip surface cleaner TO115 with wax and grease remover using the two cloth method (one wet, one dry) for wipe down. Its a medium fast evaporating solvent that gives you more time than fast evaporating types to do the wipe down. This was then followed by the same two cloth method using Awlgrip T0008 fast evaporating solvent just before painting. It is a mild cleaner that removes hand oils and light contaminants.

Jon (our coatings and detail tech) was kind enough to come in and strike the line, laying the 3/4" fine-line tape on the hull and then 1-1/2" blue tape above and over half of the fine-line to give us more room to over brush the line. He gave us some pointers on rolling out the paint and off we went.

Two coats of two part Pettit Protect epoxy barrier coat was applied by roller. No sanding was done between coats, its not required if you follow the dry and recoat times on the can. It has a long recoat time before sanding is required so its easy to schedule and make work.

The following day the entire hull was sanded with 80 grit and wiped with the T0008 in preparation for the antifouling paint. We could have tried to apply the antifouling in the allotted time without having to sand, but the margins allowed for recoating between the barrier coat and the antifouling paint are much shorter than the margins for the barrier coat. Its very temperature and time dependent and if you get it wrong then the coating fails after its been in the water for a few months,.....it just falls of the barrier coat in large flakes. Hulls don't dry evenly, and the time between starting at the bow and finishing at the stern must be taken into consideration.Yup, we know this from experience. We have used Pettit for all but a few of the bottoms we have done in our yard for the past ten years. We got bit twice in the first year with the antifouling flaking off the barrier coat and made it a company policy to sand between the barrier coat and the antifouling coat and have never had a problem since. Two coats of Pettit Trinidad SR was applied by roller. The stuff is 76% cuprous oxide and has anti-slime agents. Two more coats will be applied before the boat heads for the ocean. If applied more than two months before launching the Pettit rep recommended misting or spraying the hull with water once a month to keep the paint active.
After painting we sat there and just stared at the hull for a while and grinned.......two years we've been waiting to see paint on the hull.......two long years!

Jon applies the fine-line tape

Pettit Protect Barrier Coat

Pettit Trinidad SR antifouling coat

Dis & Dat

2009-12-14T09:59:00.000-08:00

With snow predicted in the near future we spent the day outside stripping all of the fittings off of the salvaged sailboat out back. We managed to get em all before the snow flew. The stanchions are much more modern and are in better shape than the Albergs so we will use them instead of the originals. The pulpit was placed on deck and looks like it will fit well also with a little alteration.

We did a little more work with the longboard, and did some DA sanding on the Hull, little by little, bit by bit, the sanding gets done.

I was thinking about a dodger and put out a request for some pictures and measurements. A big thanks to John Irving for the pics and measurements of his boat, and to mom and dad for taking a bunch of pictures of the dodger on my bro's boat and sending them so quickly.

I always liked the way the front of that dodger is a hard dodger and the back is canvas that could be folded forward. I laid the pictures on the cabin top and hot glued together a very crude stick frame with a cardboard front panel. I find it really helps me develop reference points if I have a crude mock-up of what I'm trying to visualize. I temporarily put the companionway steps in place and climbed in and out of the cabin adjusting the stick frame as required for easy access and proper clearances. Then I sat back and stared at the pictures and the mock-up for a good half hour, visualizing what to create. I wanted curves and not hard angles on the front........the top should have the same camber as the cabin top. We'll start there! A Half inch foam sheet was laid atop the cabin and two layers of biaxial cloth was applied to the top.

The following day it was cured so we trimmed its width, made a couple temporary brackets for it, and put it in place above the hatch. It looks pretty good sitting there, we will work on it over time to break up the monotony off sanding the hull.

Deck Fittings

2009-12-09T17:10:00.000-08:00

Sometime in the past a previous owner attempted to repair the deck under various deck fittings by simply doing a little superficial grinding and then pouring polyester resin into the void. In some places there was no grinding done and the resin was simply poured into the depression made by the fitting and left to cure in a puddle on deck. I ground out all of the resin, then down through the core to the lower laminate. Removed the core material about half an inch depth from between the laminates around the edge of the repair then filled all with west system epoxy mixed with 404 high density filler. Once cured it was tooled as required and glassed over with mat backed biaxial cloth. This was done to all the deck fitting locations as they had all been previously repaired to some degree. Should make for a secure footing for the fittings now.

While I was in a glassing mood I prepped the top of the companionway hatch and laid in some glass. Once cured it was faired and is ready for paint.

I can sense some who may be aghast.......paint! Where's the bright work that was the original! My boat will have almost none on deck. Don't get me wrong, I love admiring a pretty vessel with lots of bright work. But alas my vessel will be moored under the intense tropical sun and I will be away from her for long periods of work and don't want to spend the time I will have aboard maintaining bright work.

Jordan Drogue

2009-12-08T08:54:00.000-08:00

Jeff has owned several sailboats of his own and has sailed with me on my vessel in the past. He is joining the vessel for her first offshore passage to Hawaii and I feel very fortunate to have him aboard for the passage. While I was visiting with him in Honolulu he offered to put forth some funds for the voyage. I suggested he put it towards some safety / survival gear and we discussed our past adventures and storm tactics and what we might like to have aboard. Aside from the mandatory Jack-line and harnesses, we felt a good drogue would be a very usefully piece of gear.

I thought back to the time I was in sixty knots of wind and surfing down monstrous waves on the way to Hawaii in my twenty six foot sloop. She would lift her stern to the wave then begin to surf down the face until we matched the speed of the wave and lost steering, then she slewed, her stern falling abruptly off to starboard, steering would be momentarily restored and she would be straightened out and then slew off to port. We careened down the wave in this sickening zig-zag manner on the verge of broaching.

After the second time that happened we came about and hove to. A precarious task in those conditions. The ride was much better with the exception of the odd wave crumbling underneath us dropping us with a hard jarring, or slamming hard against the windward bow, tossing the boat and launching us off our feet if we were standing, or hard into the Lee cloths in our bunks. I rubbed my bruised ribs wishing I had the foresight to bring chest protectors and hockey helmets. Jordan drogues would not be invented for a number of years.

We definitely wanted to have a Jordan drogue aboard this time.

We researched the drogue and both quickly agreed we did not want to spend time sewing together over one hundred cones, better to order the cones from a reliable source. We could handle assembling the drogue. During our research we kept seeing Ace Sailmakers referenced as a source for drogue parts. I called them and left a message Friday night, Saturday morning they returned my call and spent a lot of time on the phone answering all my questions and making some very good suggestions. I ordered the cones from them and it was a very pleasant experience; every time I called to check status or ask a question my call was promptly returned with an appropriate response to my question. The cones arrived well packaged and in good condition. The workmanship and construction is very good. They included a stack of literature; diagrams, assembly notes and tips, testimonials.....and even included an installation tool (at no charge) to make it easier to put together. I recommend them if you are in the market for a drogue.

Portlights

2009-12-03T11:17:00.000-08:00

We've been doing a great deal of long-board sanding on the hull and deck joint and thought it would be a good time to mix it up a bit and do something other that rocking fore and aft with the long-board. So we tackled the task of fitting the port-lights we got from New Found Metals.

It was apparent that it would require a fair amount of altering of the existing port-light opening to fit the new ones, so we ordered the installation template from New Found Metals. When it arrived we checked it against the port-lights and it was a good thing that we did,......the mounting holes were WAY off on the template! I sent it back and emailed NFM only to find they did not have the correct template on hand.

We ordered the trim ring spacers for the inside of the ports as we had too much of the ports protruding out the cabin side the way they were. The teak trim rings were delivered in a timely manner but the quality was not of the same standard as the ports.

Each one is made from four pieces of teak and no effort was made to ensure the pieces were even close to the same color. The end pieces on some were much lighter than the rest of the pieces, giving it a chunky look. The frames were rough and one had a notch caused by careless routering at the factory. Fortunately the port-light covers much of the trim ring and after some careful sanding and finishing to blend the colors they would do.

We used the trim rings as guides and drew the cut-outs on the cabin sides and cut them out.

The port was fitted several times and adjustments made until we were happy with the fit.

Inside the cabin the area under the trim ring was sanded to bare glass and the trim ring was bedded with 3M 5200 and installed. After the 5200 cured the port was removed and the outside of the cabin was glassed and faired as required. The ports were then installed and bedded with 5200. Now I know there are those that feel that 5200 is overkill and would prefer something not quite as tenacious in case the port needs to be removed in the future. Those folks have never had to climb into a wet bunk under a leaking fitting on a three thousand mile passage........been dere........done dat ........my boat fittings get bedded with 5200 and I have never had one leak. Boats on long passages are subject to endless flexing and twisting cycles and I have yet to find a better adhesive bedding compound, and though the fittings can be difficult to remove its not impossible.

Boat Slip

2009-11-17T07:17:00.000-08:00

After several years of being on the wait-list for a slip in Honolulu I finally got the call!

"Mr. Lang,....you are first on the list now for the next available slip".

I flew to Honolulu for a week and checked on the slip while I was there.

Spent a lovely week in the sun and reminded myself of why I'm sailing in that direction.

Thank you Jeff and Sulu for being such good freinds and fantastic hosts!

Head Dorade Box

2009-11-02T11:24:00.000-08:00

A big thanks to David Fisher aboard Kalitsah (A30 # 440) for the heads-up regarding the potential leaks from the dorade box into the liner. I cut the dorade box off the deck and could see where it had indeed been leaking into the liner. I will refit the area and seal it up well and replace the dorade box with a hatch.

Tonight I got to it and drew the hatch cutout onto the deck with a pencil and rough cut the straight lines with the Fein Multimaster tool. The radius corners were then shaped by using a ZEC grinding disk in a 4-1/2" grinder turned on its side. Those disks remove a lot of material very quickly without gumming up the disk. The hatch dry fit well and now there is a little hand work to be done before the trim ring is fit inside and the deck can be sealed and prepped for bedding the hatch.

Sealed and fairing coat applied

Hull & Deck Joint

2009-10-28T07:51:00.000-07:00

One small area of the hull / deck joint on the starboard side aft near the cockpit had "popped" open last winter. After carefully examining the joint it appeared that no compound was used on the joint when it was constructed. The joint was simply pop riveted together and sealant was placed under the wood cap rail when it was installed.

That would not be sufficient for offshore sailing so I decided to glass the joint along its entire length. The joint was refastened along its entire length taking care not to put a fastener where it would interfere with the genoa track fasteners when it becomes time to install it. The hull above the cove stripe was sanded down to bare glass. The cap was sanded to bare glass and colloidal silica was mixed with epoxy and used as a fairing compound (white areas under the glass).

Biaxial cloth was cut into four inch widths and two layers were applied over the joint using west systems epoxy.

A mixture of West systems 406 & 407 was mixed and applied as fairing compound. The first layer of fairing compound was applied rather thick and once cured was sanded using a six inch DA and forty grit paper.

This method enabled us to get too the final fairing coats very quickly. The next fairing coat was applied very carefully using a magneisium trowel and keeping the lower edge of the trowel held firmly against the top of the cove stripe. The joint is now ready for its first fairing with a long board.

Boss Lift 2009

2009-08-27T20:49:00.000-07:00

We have had several details and paint jobs to do at our shop. As they are done in the same building as my sailboat I had to halt work on my boat for the month and not make or disturb any dust in my area.

I managed to catch up on all the undone chores around the house and participate in Boss Lift 2009.

If you have a reservist as an employee you can be nominated to attend; its two days of hands on "lets show them what we do" events and displays. I was delighted to be nominated and attend, it was an eventful two days I will never forget. We flew in C-130's, blackhawk choppers, fired weapons sims against terrorists, drove the M-4 tank simulator, flew the A-10 warthog simulator , called in fire support, launched drones, and climbed all over and thru a variety of vehicles and equipment, and aircraft.

It began at 0630 with a C-130 transport picking us up at the Coeur d Alene airport heavy lift ramp. We all climbed aboard and strapped in and off we went.

Once up to altitude they oppened the ramp so we could have a look out

They closed the ramp and invited us to unbuckle and explore the aircraft. Gary and I headed up to the cockpit to check it out.

When we arrived at the airbase we were given lunch and had a welcoming ceremony and then it was off to experience a sampling of the training that takes place.

They laid out a bunch of weapons for us to fire on the simulator range. They are real weapons that recoil and behave as if they had live rounds in them.

We fired at a terrorist scenario at a refinery, it was pretty cool.

After that we were given a demonstration of the up-armored Humvee trainer. They roll it to thirty degrees, then 90, then 180 and practice evacuating the vehicle in a roll over and setting up a defensive perimeter.

The doors on the up-armored vehicle weigh more than 700 lbs so when its on its side they are to heavy to open and the only way out is through the roof turret.

Gary checks out the Humvee

Then it was off to the Abrams tank where we got to climb all over it and sit in it and then go into the simulator and try our hand at targeting and firing on enemy vehicles........ok,....this one was a lot harder than I thought it would be and I was very surprised to learn that the temperature inside the tank is well over 100 degrees when used in the desert. We were not allowed to take pictures inside of the tank or simulator.

After a very busy afternoon they laid out a very nice dinner for us in the officers mess and we called it a night.

The next day we were up early and at it again! We boarded Black Hawk choppers for a flight out to the desert where they were practicing and had set up some displays for us.

They launched a drone for us and then we went into the command tent where they called the shots and observed them at work.

The pilots of drone fly it from inside a container that can be transported on a Humvee, we were suprised to walk around the back of it and open the door to see the pilots flying the drone while the container is on the truck. Now that's a mobile unit!

After checking out the displayes we boarded the choppers for a flight back to the base.

Once back at the base we got to fly the A-10 warthog simulator. As a pilot this was the highlight of the trip for me. It was a truly amazing experience! The multi-million dollar simulator had a moving view everywhere you looked,..above, behind, down on both sides of the aircraft,.....it was amazing to fly. I did a strafing run on several targets (got em all!) and then pulled up and rolled inverted. She was not real happy inverted so I rolled her back over to 90 degrees and put her into a very tight left turn. It cornered like it was on rails!

I came out of the simulator trembling from the adrenilin that was still coursing through me.

Regrettably, the simulator is clasified and all cell phones, cameras, and devices capable of recording images or sound was confiscated before we were allowed to enter the area so I was unable to get any pictures of it.

After that it was back to the flight line to climb around and check out the aircraft.

Gary checks out an F-15

My favorite; the A-10 warthog

They had several F-15s and A-10 buzzing around while we were on the flight line. It was hard to get good pictures of them with the delay of my digital camera.

Plotting the stripe before sanding it off

2009-07-12T17:47:00.000-07:00

Before sanding off the stripe tape is applied to the hull and a measurement is taken from the top of the stripe to the bottom of the stripe and marked on the tape. Then the stripe is sanded off from the bottom up towards the top but leaving the top of the stripe intact. Once the hull is prepped the measurement is taken from the tape and measured down from remaining top of the stripe and marked on the hull. Then fine-line tape is applied along the marks and the bottom of the stripe is back where it was before being sanded off. The process is then repeated placing tape along the bottom of the stripe and measuring up to the top of the stripe. The top of the stripe is sanded off and the hull prepped, then, using the measurements recorded on the tape the top of the stripe is plotted and fine-line tape is applied to the hull and the stripe is ready to be painted again. We have a ways to go yet before we are ready to plot the top of the stripe, the pictures below only show the bottom stripe being plotted.

Tow vehicle

2009-07-05T08:39:00.000-07:00

The ol' jeep finally started fading and it was time to get something more reliable. It has over 300,000 miles on it and has given us very good service. Gary was the service manager for the local Dodge dealership for several years and knows their product line very well so I decided on a 3/4 ton turbo charged diesel. After much looking we found a solid 1997 with a nice towing package. It should be just right for towing the sailboat,............ now I just need to build the trailer.

Transom

2009-06-25T10:30:00.000-07:00

For unknown reasons, a previous owner had assaulted the transom with a grinder. We have used 40 grit to get down below the grinder marks deep into the original gel-coat where we have begun to uncover an old name as we sand.

It shows up as a light colored "ghost" shadow against the original cream colored gel-coat. The name "Defiance" was on second to last coat of paint. This name is much older and not fully legible yet. The first letter is "P" then maybe an "I" or "L" last two letters look like "WA" with perhaps an "L" before the W, with a lot of space between the first and last letters. The name is low on the transom and might be the port name? Its become a game at the shop to try and guess what it might be but no one has come up with anything that fits yet.

July 5th: After further sanding the name has been revealed, "Philadelphia". I was way off on what I thought the letters were.

Sanding, sanding, and more sanding

2009-06-22T23:54:00.000-07:00

With temperatures being on the cool side this week we took the opportunity to do a lot of sanding. Its a nice job to do when its cool, when its hot out the temperature in the shop soars and its difficult to stay suited up for very long without overheating. We started on deck and got most of the old non-skid sanded off of the deck and cabin top. The texture had been badly damaged and it was necessary to sand it off. 40 grit 3M purple sanding disks made the work go fast.

The hull was sanded down to bare fiberglass between the toe-rail and the cove stripe in preparation for glassing the hull and deck joint. Tyler and Chris stopped by and asked if they could lend a hand sanding the bottom. They had done the first wave of sanding on it when the project first started and wanted to finish the job. I was grateful for the help! In four hours they had most of the bottom on the port side sanded down to bare fiberglass and promised to return tomorrow night to sand some more. If we can keep up this pace we should have most of it done by the weekend.

Anchor locker: glassing the core

2009-06-13T15:29:00.000-07:00

Filled and faired the imperfections then cut the balsa core and test fit it. Removed it and wet the area with epoxy resin and installed the core, placed weights on it, and let it cure.

Once cured, a long-board sander and DA was used to fair the area. The low spots were filled and then the area was faired a final time. Two layers of Biaxial cloth were then rolled into place.

Anchor locker

2009-06-04T07:55:00.000-07:00

I could not sleep last night, at 3am I was wide awake so I set off for the boat.

I crawled under the cockpit and realized I was very close to being done down there. One small partition to go and some minor fairing.
It made me smile. I crawled out and looked the interior over,.....most everything is well underway and either dfp (down for parts) or on hold till more of the dust making is done. The end is in sight for the interior!
I went on deck and wandered up to the anchor locker, put the density meter on the deck and plotted out the area that needed to be removed. Took the skill saw and cut thru the top layer of glass then used the fein tool with a scraper blade and had the zone cleaned up to the base laminate in no time flat. That tool is amazing!! Took an old hatch of of the salvaged boat and cut it down and laid it over the chain locker opening on deck. With a little modification I think it will work out fine. Then it hit me! I'm actually moving on to the exterior stuff now! :-) I will be working on glassing the hull and deck joint soon if this pace keeps up.

Ice Box

2009-05-20T17:05:00.000-07:00

We had an icebox from the O'day we had salvaged so we cut it down to fit the location in the Alberg and tabbed, filled, and fair'd until it was ready to shoot. Jon, our detailer, then prepped and shot it with Gel-coat for us.

Getting there, one more coat of fairing compound to go!

Jon at work

Finished and curing

Hopefully we will fit it in the boat this weekend if the area is ready to receive it.

Engine bed, Port Lights, Galley, Electrical Panel

2009-05-15T11:01:00.001-07:00

The electrical panel arrived and it is a thing of beauty :-) We templated the wood for it and test fit the location. Then the hull was insulated and the area finished. We have started pulling wire through the boat and it finally feels like the turning point of the project. The end is in sight,........a ways down the road yet,...........but in sight!

Decided on a basic layout for the galley and cut some lumber and made a mock up of it and adjusted it until I had the basic layout I was looking for. Templated them and cut them out as required and surfaced the tops with black laminate. We cut down an icebox out of a salvaged vessel and placed it and the sink aft of the stove. Should have it glassed and installed next week.

Decided we wanted opening ports so we cut some plywood and made mock ups onto the cabin side. The blue tape represents the frame of the portlight and the plywood insert represents the glass. The port lights were ordered from New Found Metals and should arrive in 60 - 90 days. Several calls were made to New Found Metals during the mock-up and their staff was always polite and very helpful at responding to my questions. Their portlights are sized by the actual glass size not the overall size; we are installing 3x10 for the four forward portlights, & 7x15 for the four aft.

The area of the hull was prepped for the engine bed and layers of mat and roving were laid up from the galley to the shaft log. Additional layers were added where the motor mounts will be and also under the thru-hull fittings for the cockpit drains. Epoxy and high density thickener was laid in for the thru-hull pads and once cured the adapter flanges were installed. The picture below shows the area before the final fairing has been done. A lot of glassing and tabbing has been done under the cockpit to strengthen it and make the three compartment individual watertight compartments.

Salon

2009-03-19T11:51:00.000-07:00

Starboard Settee

2009-02-27T13:45:00.000-08:00

The starboard settee front was tabbed in, and then the galley bulkhead was templated, made, and tabbed in place. The bulkhead was moved eight inches forward from the original bulkhead to accommodate the three burner gimbaled stove. This shortened the bunk from six foot three inches long to five foot seven inches long. The settee bunk was mocked up; water jugs were placed to determine the locker partition placement, and a template was made, the partition cut from a sheet of half inch plywood, fit into place and then glassed.

The settee top and back were then made in a similar manner, test fit, and removed for finishing. The hull behind and under the settee was insulated and the non insulated parts were painted with Pettit Dura-White paint. The top was then screwed down and bedded with 3M 5200.

The top has two hatches in it; one on each side of the locker partition. The shelf behind the settee was templated, made of ½” plywood, glassed into place, and painted with Pettit Dura-White paint.

Chain Locker; painted, plumbing & wiring roughed in

2009-01-09T10:08:00.000-08:00

Looking into the chain locker from the deck

In the locker looking forward; the electrical mounts were attached to the hull using the weld-mount system with self mixing dispenser tips. It is very strong and the larger mounts are rated at over 800 pounds strength.

Looking up from inside the locker at the
hull stiffeners around the hatch

Port side; the hose with the blue tracer is from the vented loop in the head, the pex hose below it is for the deck wash-down.

Wiring roughed in; heavy cables for the the windlass, lighter wiring for running lights and windlass controls. Holding tank vent filter mounted to bulkhead (left side of picture).

Chain Locker

2009-01-01T20:36:00.000-08:00

It always seems to be that before completing one task several others must be done first.

Take the head for instance; before I could permanently install the panels I had made for it I wanted to run the electrical wires and wash-down plumbing (that run behind the head panels) forward into the chain locker. And so I found myself scrunched into the small chain locker with sander in hand, working to finish the locker.

A layer of biaxial glass was applied to the bulkhead to seal it up and make it resistant to abrasions. The hull/deck joint was thru-bolted, and painted on the inside of the hull with Pettit Dura White paint. Fiberglass tubes were filleted in place along the hull/deck joint and two layers of biaxial glass was rolled over them tying the hull/deck joint together. The area under the deck from the hatch forward was templated and a piece of quarter inch thick aluminum plate was cut to fit. The aluminum was etched and then bonded into place with West Systems Epoxy thickened with chopped fibers. A couple of bolts were used to fasten it in place while the epoxy cured.

Two, four foot long pieces of Taco 4-1/2" wide hull stiffeners were spot tacked into place using a hot glue gun. One on the port side and one to starboard. Two layers of Biaxial glass was applied to the hull stiffeners.
2-1/4" wide hull stiffeners were tacked under the deck on each side and the back of the hatch opening forming and "H" with the top of the H butting up to the aluminum plate and the bottom butting up to the bulkhead. Two layers of biaxial cloth was applied. This has added a considerable amount of strength to the hatch area.

Pettit Protect, two part epoxy paint will be applied to the inside of the locker and the electrical and plumbing will be installed.

V-Berth insulation and hanging locker

2008-12-25T09:41:00.000-08:00

Two layers of insulation was installed on the hull in the V-berth in the same manner as in the head. The front and side panels for the hanging locker were installed with a piece of Jatoba cut and routered to join the two panels. Several coats of Min Wax Wipe On Poly was applied to the panels before installation. Epoxy fillets were applied to the panel at the hull.

Snow Day

2008-12-18T10:54:00.000-08:00

Tried to get to the shop in my 4x4 jeep Cherokee today but did not make it. We had 28 inches of snow last night and the driving conditions were horrendous. The shop is on a dead end road that is not maintained, when the plow went by on the main road it created a large berm that was impassible. Spent the morning digging out stuck cars and picking up stranded people walking along the roads and getting them to where they were going.
After that Goldie (my "super" dog) and I drove back home and played in the backyard for a few minutes. The snow was over her head as she plowed and hopped through it.

Super dog!

Goldie and I in the back yard

Head

2008-12-16T19:50:00.000-08:00

I decided to take a break from being scrunched up working under the cockpit and started working on the head so I could work more comfortably for a while. I sat across from the head and visualized the components and where they might go. I cut some plywood, made a mock-up, and placed the toilet on the plinth and stared at it until I had a good picture in my mind of what I wanted to build.

I decided to make the front in two panels, the top with a hinged door in it and the bottom with a removable access hatch to get at the mechanical in the space behind. Templates were made in the usual manner with a hot glue gun and two inch wide strips of 1/8" plywood. The templates were placed onto teak plywood, the outlines drawn and the teak cut to shape and test fit. The access holes were cut and a piece of solid wood that would be used to join the two panels was cut and routered and sanded to fit. The top panel is 90 degrees to the plinth. The lower panel is offset 11 degrees to match the angle of the toilet back. The solid wood stock will have a two inch setback forming a little shelf to accommodate the offset of the two panels. The wood was taken home to have the finish applied. Eleven coats of Wipe On Poly was applied and the pieces were sanded with 600 grit paper every three coats. Applying the finish took several days to complete.

While waiting for panels to be ready I started preparing the head area. The fiberglass was sanded and cleaned. The listings for the panels were installed and the mounting pads for the strainer, pump, and vented loop were fabricated and epoxied into place and filleted. The space behind the panels was painted with Pettit Dura White paint, Pettit claims mould and mildew will not grow on this paint. I have not been able to get the paint to flow and level well regardless of the technique used to apply it. Several types of rollers were tried as well as rolling and tipping, and applying with good quality badger brushes. The finish is suitable for lockers but I will have to experiment with it further to see if I can get better results for use in the cabin.

Several layers of biaxial cloth was applied to seal the 1-1/2" hole in the hull where the old toilet discharged directly overboard. A location was chosen for the intake thru-hull and several layers of biaxial cloth was applied to the hull starting with a large piece and gradually reducing each subsequent piece in size. The next day the adapter flange was test fit and epoxy with high density filler was used to level the area under the flange. This method makes for a very strong, thick base for the thru-hull assembly and a traditional wood backing plate is not required. The problems of compression fatigue and breakdown or rot of a traditional wood backing block is eliminated.

Contact adhesive was sprayed onto the hull and onto the Double-bubble insulation that was previously cut to a slightly larger size than required. The insulation was then pressed into place and a razor knife was used to trim the edges. Shrink wrap tape was used to join seams. A heat gun was used to warm the tape and ensure it would not separate with age. If you don't use heat on the tape it often will lift with age. If you use heat it is extremely difficult to remove and will not lift with age.

The strainer, pump, and vented loop were installed. Vetus water hose was used and Awab hose clamps with red rubber tips to cover the sharp tail of the clamps finished the assembly.

I was really impressed with the quality of the Vetus hose. It has a smooth inside wall, and its ability to bend to a tight radius without placing a stress load on fittings is impressive. In the picture below I can easily hold the tight radius with a couple of fingers. Other similar hoses I have used that can bend a tight radius have put a significant stress load on the fittings when doing so and require additional and sturdy fasteners to prevent fitting fatigue.

I took the panels up into the boat and test fit them with the toilet in place. I'm happy with the fit and will set them aside for installation at a later date after the plumbing is completed. The lower hatch is large enough for me to get one arm and my head comfortably into. The top hatch is large enough to get two arms and my head into so I can work on the chain-plates when required.

Thru Hulls

2008-12-04T12:03:00.000-08:00

The time has come to dry fit the cockpit drain thru-hulls in order to ensure proper clearance of the ball valve handles etc. The holes in the hull were enlarged from 1-1/4" to 1-1/2" to allow for faster drainage of water when the cockpit is pooped. The hull thickness was measured, the thru-hull cut to length, and the complete assembly was dry fit into the hull.

The assembly we used consists of a thru-hull, adapter flange, ball valve, and hose adapter (not shown) as shown in photo one below. Various thru-hulls and strainers are available that have the flange built into them (such as the sea cock in photo two). I opted to use a Groco adapter flange as we often sail to remote locations and it is far easier to procure a bronze ball valve from a local hardware store then it is to order one with the flange built into it and wait several days or weeks for one to arrive and have to deal with getting it through customs in foreign ports, a task that often requires hiring a customs agent at considerable expense. The adapter flange has straight thread for the thru-hull and tapered thread for the ball valve.
As a marine surveyor I often see ball valves installed directly onto thru-hulls, as shown in photo three. This is an incorrect and potentially dangerous installation and should NEVER be done. Thru-hulls are straight thread, ball valves are tapered pipe thread. When you assemble the two the threads bind almost immediately and you have two or at best three threads holding as indicated by the black line on the thru-hull in photo three. I marked this with a felt pen after tightening with tools to demonstrate how little thread is engaged. With constant vibration or a mis-step onto the fitting the joint is compromised and the vessel can be flooded very quickly.

PHOTO ONE

PHOTO TWO

PHOTO THREE

Galley bulkhead / Starboard Settee

2008-11-24T15:42:00.000-08:00

Using Template material I made a mock-up of the galley bulkhead and using 1/4" plywood made a template of the front of the starboard settee. When I was satisfied with the template I drew it out onto 1/4" teak and cut it too shape. Several 4-1/2" holes were cut in the back piece to lighten it and the two pieces were laminated together. After another test fit and trimming as required I applied several coats of satin Wipe on Poly made by Minwax.

Laminating the pieces together

Test fitting

Back of the piece

Applying Wipe on Poly

Stairs replace the ladder

2008-11-24T15:22:00.000-08:00

Dangerous (thats the name he likes to go by), A good customer and fellow builder was done with his project and gave our shop the stairs he built to get aboard his boat. Gary (my boss) said they'd be perfect for getting aboard my boat and told me I can have em for the duration of my project. They are a welcome addition to the project.

Dangerous also donated a bunch of Jatoba lumber that Gary told me I could have.

A big thank you to both Gary and Dangerous!

Epoxy Metering Pump

2008-11-24T15:11:00.000-08:00

The shop bought a metering pump for west System Epoxy that pumps both the resin and hardener at the same time. I put it too use dispensing resin for my projects, making several batches and randomly testing the unit for accuracy by holding small graduated measuring cups under each spout to ensure it was dispensing at the correct ratio. I am very impressed by this unit and wish we'd have bought one sooner. It is simple to use and a great time saver and is very accurate.

Holding Tank

2008-11-24T14:47:00.000-08:00

With no good choice available for a drop in pre-made holding tank I decided to incorporate one into the hull. After the new ballast cap was laid up (with three layers of biaxial cloth) three layers of biaxial cloth was applied to the hull forming the tank sides. The top and baffle was templated in the usual manner and the parts laid up in the shop and then trimmed to fit. The baffle and the tank fittings were installed, then the top was glassed into place using three layers of biaxial cloth on all seams. West System epoxy was used for the project and the mixture was made slightly resin rich as recommended by West system when building tanks.

Moving the boat to the shop

2008-08-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

This is our busy time of year at the shop so I have not had the time to post as often as I'd like.
A lot has been done since my last post. I'll add more pictures soon as time permits.
The hull stiffeners are completed. Three layers of biaxial cloth was glassed over the ballast pig forming a new cap and an 18 gallon holding tank was glassed into the hull.
The prop shaft, stuffing box and stern tube were removed and the old glass ground out and three layers of biaxial glass was applied.
The aft (cabin) bulkheads were installed as were the partitions in the lazzerette and under the cockpit. The floor partitions were installed and a temporary floor put down.
A customer who had the same little diesel as I salvaged out of the O'day made me an offer I could not refuse and bought the diesel from me. His was not repairable and mine was a drop in replacement for it. I purchased an electric motor, controller, etc and will be putting them into the vessel this winter.
Last week we moved the vessel from the back yard of my home to the shop where I work and it will be stored inside a heated building for the winter so I can continue the project during the cold weather. Last winter we had several trees come down, some uncomfortably close to the vessel, I am grateful to my boss and good friend Gary Dawes for letting me bring the vessel to the shop for the winter! He says he likes the fact that I can't call in sick to work on my boat anymore! :-)

Placing the yard arm jacks

Nick (foreground) and Scott our professional boat movers chaining up for the lift. Thanks for doing a great job on the move! You guys are the best!

Going up!

Backing the trailer under the cradle

The cradle was custom built to fit the trailer

Lowering onto the trailer

On the way to the shop

At her new home in the south building at the shop

Framing a wall around the boat.

Installing a door.

Walled in.

Exposing the ballast pig

2008-06-13T11:47:00.000-07:00

Looking forward

Ballast pig looking aft

Templating floor partitions

2008-06-13T11:35:00.000-07:00

Making floor partition templates

Aft Hanging Locker bulkhead

2008-06-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

The hanging locker bulkhead tacked into place

Aft Head bulkhead

2008-06-02T14:36:00.000-07:00

The aft head bulkhead went together very easily. It was trimmed to fit, several coats of Minwax Wipe-on poly was applied and it was tacked into place and then filleted and glassed with three layers of biaxial glass.

V-berth; installing the bunk platform & hull ribs

2008-05-10T11:49:00.000-07:00

The platform was built in three panels. Each panel is approximately two feet wide and spanned the width of the hull. They are screwed to the partitions and have epoxy fillets and a layer of biaxial glass tying them to the hull. The forward compartment is accessed through a small rectangular hatch. The middle compartment has three six inch round access hatches; the outboard ones to access storage compartments, the center one to access the water tank clean-out port.
The aft panel has an access hatch to port and a hanging locker to starboard.

The hull ribs were constructed of two to four, quarter inch layers laminated together with epoxy. Two layers of 1/4" "wiggle wood"; a very flexible plywood that bends into a tight radius without a lot of tension. It is sold in 4x8 sheets of various thicknesses and I've heard it referred to as flex-ply, wiggle-wood, and rubber-ply, depending on whom I was purchasing it from. I purchased the last sheet at Windsor Plywood and asked the salesman what the trade name was. He shrugged and replied "we just call it wiggle wood,...and if you try carrying a 4x8 sheet of it you'll know why!"

V-berth; installing the water tank

2008-04-29T13:31:00.000-07:00

The aft partition was made of 1/2" plywood and was glassed into place using two layers of biaxial cloth.
We ordered a 30 gallon water tank to fit the space under the forward berth. Once the tank arrived and we made sure it would fit, we glassed in the forward partition. The tank was placed in the space and two part expanding foam was poured underneath the tank. We did the pour in two stages; during the first stage the boat was a little cooler than the recommended temperatures for the product and it did not expand as much as we expected. During the second pour the vessel was warmer than the recommended temperature and boy did the foam expand!
The stuff is very temperature sensitive to work with. Once it cured we used a large serrated bread knife to trim it; the large serrated blade goes through the foam very easily. The foam was shaped using a 4" grinder with a Zirconia flap sanding disk in it. After a few minutes the grinder quit working and I switched to my spare; I'm used to burning up grinders as the fiberglass dust is very hard on them and always have two on hand. After a few minutes the spare quit working. I think the foam dust was melting on the armature and fouling the brushes,......I'll have to disassemble them when we have time and see what happened. I switched to an air powered die grinder with a 2" sanding disk and finished shaping the foam. The foam was then resin coated with west system epoxy. Once the epoxy cured it was sanded and painted with Pettit Dura White paint. They claim mold and mildew will not grow on the painted surface so we are using the product throughout the cabin and lockers. The forward partition has three 4" holes in it; two that allow ventilation to the compartments outboard of the water tank and one in the center to access the tank vent fitting. The aft partition has two 4" ventilation holes outboard of the water tank that will have covers that can be screwed into place if desired. It also has two holes in the center to facilitate the tank filler and supply line fittings.

Welcome Aboard new crew member; Jesse

2008-04-01T11:01:00.000-07:00

Jesse, one of our favorite barista's at our local Starbucks expressed interest in the project and coming along on a passage as crew. We invited him to come by and look the boat over and discuss it further. He came over a few nights ago and we talked about the boat and voyages (past and present), we got out the old charts and photo albums and chatted till after 11pm. After seeing the boat and reviewing the data he was still interested in helping with the project and crewing offshore. He is bright and cheerful and a welcome addition to the crew.

WELCOME ABOARD JESSE!

Last night he came over and started in on the project. He assembled our new router table and helped template the forward V-berth partition.

V-berth (Making partitions)

2008-03-31T06:37:00.000-07:00

I was sitting in the V-berth space, chin in hand, trying to visualize what I was planning to build.
I knew I wanted a single platform with a hanging locker on the starboard side.
The problem was; the hull stiffeners, deck, and previous tabbing all formed visual lines that kept tricking my brain. What I thought was level was sloping radically upwards, what was level, appeared to be diving down at the bow. It was clear I would need some reference lines to get a better picture in my head before proceeding. If I can't "see" it, I can't build it.

I emailed a picture of my interior to John Irving, a fellow Alberg 30 owner who is refitting his vessel. We have been sharing information and ideas and I asked if he could supply me with some measurements of the interior of his boat so I could get an idea of where things used to be in my boat. When I checked my email I was both amazed and delighted; John was leaving for vacation that morning but had taken the time and drove to his vessel to get some measurements for me.
I received four pages of pictures that were covered with measurements and reference points!
I printed the pictures and took them into my vessel and plotted the locations. At last I was able to "see" what had been before, and could visualize what I wanted to build.

THANKS JOHN!
It made my week-end!

I placed listings athwart-ship on the forward and main bulkheads to get the height I wanted.
Then cut four 2x4's to length and placed them fore and aft on the listings to be used as reference points for templating the partitions that will go under the V-berth platform/bunk.

The partition was made by clamping a listing athwart-ship under the 2x4's (the 2x4's ensured that the height of the partition was correct). A plumb-bob was used to project the location from the listing to the hull and marked with a felt pen. The partition template was then built using strips of 1/8 inch plywood in the same manner we have used to make all of the bulkheads.

Installing the Main Bulkheads

2008-03-31T06:06:00.000-07:00

3M 5200 was used applied to the bulkhead / deck joint and Tyler helped me fit the bulkhead into place and secure it with wedges. It was tabbed to the hull stiffeners and left to cure.

The following weekend Noah helped me vacuum bag the starboard side forward hull stiffeners into place. We left it to cure for 24 hours and then installed the starboard bulkhead. While the tabbing cured we made foam spacers to fill the small gap we had deliberately left between the bulkhead and the hull to prevent cyclic fatigue. We mixed up some West System filleting compound and resin and and applied it to the joint. We used the curved end of the West System mixing sticks to shape it into a radius curve that the biaxial tabbing will be rolled onto.

Vacuum bagging hull stiffeners

2008-03-16T13:37:00.000-07:00

I decided to glass in some Taco hull stiffeners to add some stiffness to the hull. They are made of a stiff but flexible plastic and were very easy to install. When accidentally stepped on they would deform and spring right back into shape, a nice feature when installing them into confined spaces where the odd mis-step is inevitable. Two of us held them in place and drew the location on the hull, then they were removed to the cockpit for safe keeping and the area was sanded with a Dewalt zirconia flap disc. The area was vacuumed several times and the stiffeners were spot glued into place using a hot glue gun. A final sanding was done with 80 grit da disks and the area was vacuumed once more. Mastic was applied around the area to be bagged.

Note: In the picture below the mastic was applied around only one stiffener, we changed this to surround both stiffeners when we realized the bagging film was large enough to cover two at once.

I borrowed the propane tent heater from work and set it up under the boat and ducted it into the lazzerette hatch with 16 inch insulated flex duct. The heater was ran for an hour to warm the hull and turned off during the glassing layup. The temperature of the outside of the hull was taken using an infra red temp gun. The cockpit area was 131 degrees F., the temperature dropped as readings were taken moving towards the bow with the outside hull temperature in the area of the vacuum bagging being 75 degrees F.

The biaxial glass and vacuum bagging materials were cut to fit and placed in the cockpit.
West system epoxy was used and the resin dispensed into several mixing tubs ready for the hardener to be added as required. The first batch was mixed and placed into the wringer basin, a small amount was taken below and rolled onto the area to wet it out.
The cloth was fed into the resin bath and then through the rollers to remove excess resin. This is definitely a two person job! Be sure to tape the leading edge of the cloth to prevent stray strands from winding themselves around the rollers. The cloth is throughly wet out but can held on edge without resin dripping from it. The cloth was taken below, laid in place, and rolled with a 4" foam roller. Peel ply (release fabric), breather cloth, and the plastic bag film were then applied. A small cut was made in the film and the vacuum suction cup placed onto it. This was the first time I had used the vacuum bagging equipment and it was impossible to achieve a vacuum on the irregular hull surface using the mastic alone. After several failed attempts to achieve a vacuum, shrink wrapping tape was applied around the perimeter and a vacuum was created. For the next round of vacuum bagging the area where the mastic is applied will have a coat of west system epoxy thickened with some low density fairing compound applied to ensure a smooth and regular surface for the sealant.

Once the vacuum was achieved the heater was turned on and the tools cleaned with acetone.

Chain locker and deck hatch

2007-10-10T10:10:00.001-07:00

Some time ago my brother sent me some pictures of the deck access hatch he made for the chain locker on his C&C. Since then I've been pondering converting the Alberg's chain locker into a deck access only, self draining locker and making the forward bulkhead a watertight bulkhead thereby keeping the chain locker smells out of the cabin. After finding some moist spots in the area on deck that I was going to have to re-core anyway, I decided to go for it! I cut the shape of the hatch out of the deck and set to work preparing the chain locker; grinding the areas to be tabbed etc.

Forward bulkhead

Bottom platform for the chain locker with 1st layer of biaxial glass

Procured an engine

2007-10-03T09:25:00.000-07:00

We received a call to survey an O'day 27 sailboat that had fallen over on the hard and stove in the starboard side of the vessel. The vessel was a total loss. Several weeks later the underwriter called us and asked if we'd like to put in a salvage bid, we did so and bought the vessel. It had a nice little 8HP Yanmar diesel engine in it. The engine is on the small side for my project but the price was right so we set to work removing from the Oday. Since the boat was totaled we cut a hole in the side of the hull with a 4" grinder with a cutting disk in it, cut the cockpit out of the boat with a sawz-all, and lifted the engine out through the hole.

With a little work and several oil changes we had the engine running smoothly. Next spring the Alberg should be ready to receive it!

The Rains have come

2007-09-30T09:17:00.000-07:00

With a rain front moving in we hastily placed a tarp over the boat. It was the first of many to come so we shifted our efforts to building a suitable shelter.

We had the frame for a portable "garage" shelter given to us after a windstorm had blown it across the boat yard and damaged some of the support legs for it.
The upper pipe frame was in good shape so we thought we'd attach it to some pipe brackets at the top of free-standing 4x4's anchored in concrete pier blocks. The idea looked good on paper but was impossible to execute. We did not have enough hands to line up all the posts with the frame as we tried to fit the frame into the pipe brackets over the boat. We'd get two posts lined up and the frame in the brackets and then move on to two others, then repeat the process with the rest. The frame started to twist, someone yelled "Timber!", and the whole think came crashing down domino style as the posts leaned and twisted sideways and gravity took over. The posts on the ground and the frame a twisted mess atop the boat.
Several days later we attempted "Plan B": Line up the 4x4's on the ground, screw in cross braces and a top plate, then raise them and lean them against the boat. Do the same for the back wall, then assemble the frame on the ground and carry it over the bow and place it in the brackets. Once that was done we put a post at the bow and cross braced the whole structure and pulled two large tarps over the whole thing. This provided us with a shelter with suitable head room to continue to work on the project over the winter.

Making Bulkhead Templates

2007-08-10T13:11:00.000-07:00

With a round of summer colds hitting our crew we switched from grinding and sanding to making templates, a job we could do without wearing masks (except when cutting the wood).
We ripped 4x8 sheets of 1/8" mahogany plywood into 2" strips and then used the chop saw to cut them into various lengths; 2", 3", 2', 3', and 5'. Using a hot glue gun we spot glued the longer strips to the basic shape of the bulkhead and then glued the 2 & 3 inch pieces to those strips to form the complex curves. Using this method the bulkhead templates are formed quickly and easily and without the use of a tape measure, pencil, etc. The templates are then carefully popped loose and carried into the workshop and laid onto 1/2" OSB (oriented strand board /chip board). The shape is drawn onto the OSB and cut out with a jig saw.

The OSB bulkheads are then carried into the boat and fitted and adjusted as required. The OSB is only seven bucks a sheet and allows us to make adjustments and changes on an inexpensive piece of wood rather then going directly to a $165 sheet of marine plywood and risking a mistake.

Almost finished grinding the tabs

2007-07-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

My brother Russ recently refit his C&C 35 and suggested hosing down the interior and using the wet vac to remove the sludge rather than vacuum it out dry which continuously plugged the filter. What a great suggestion! It worked like a charm. Blake, Chris, Ty, and I formed a bucket brigade: Me below with the hose, Blake in the cockpit manning the vac, Ty on the ladder, and Chris on the ground. I would grind away for an hour or so until the layer of dust made it difficult to see were I was working. Then the boys would come out of the house and lend a hand hosing and empying the vac for fifteen minutes. Then it was back to the grind for me, and the house for them until the next round. It made for a much cleaner and comfortable work environment.
At the days end we fired up the BBQ and had a great feast of ribs and burgers.

Sold the car to help finance the project

2007-07-30T09:50:00.000-07:00

With the boat project taking up most of my time and resources it was time to sell the GT.
It was not easy to let her go (I loved that little car) but it was purchased by my stepson Blake and has stayed in the family. He has promised to let me drive it from time to time,.....if I'm good,.......and he's not grounded..........

I purchased a little Honda 80 scooter, mounted a basket on the back, and have been using that to commute to work and to run out for parts. It gets 115 miles per gallon and is the perfect vehicle for small part runs to the hardware store. The boys smirk and tell me its ok "for a guy my age", and that I still look cool,.......even on the scooter. Ya right!

Removing the Floor

2007-07-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

There was a plywood floor that had been installed much higher than the original that had to be removed. It was bedded in a mixture of polyester resin and chopped fibers. Much of the mixture was improperly mixed when applied, and as I ground it out I kept hitting large pockets of uncatalized resin. The flap disk would bog down as the goo clogged the disk and the fibers wound around the shaft. It was slow going but eventually the floor was freed and tossed over the side.

Below the floor was a large holding tank that was poorly constructed and had to go. I heard the high pitched soundtrack of a horror film in my head ("reee,... reee,... reee,... reee") when I lifted the floor and set eyes on it for the first time, knowing it may have been used and had to be removed,....piece by piece.

I suited up for the job and went below with small sledge hammer, pry bar, and grinder.
After several carefully aimed swings with the hammer the top of the tank was loosened and then pried off. The tank was clean and dry and unused! Knowing I was not about to unleash a deluge of effluent I proceeded more aggressively and soon had the tank apart and the pieces tossed over the side.

Leveling the boat

2007-07-05T22:16:00.001-07:00

Leveling the boat with a rotary laser

The wasps have moved in again! We have removed no less then ten nests in various states of construction. Every time we think we've plugged all the holes they find a way in and start building again! I peeled off my respirator and grabbed a can of bee killer from the shop, hopped below and exterminated the little buggers! I should have put my mask on first; I managed to dislodge some fiberglass dust and got it in both eyes. It didn't seem to bother me much and I though nothing of it,.......that is until 0530 when the pain woke me. My eyes were red and swollen and I could hardly see. My wife drove me to Walmart to to fetch a bottle of eye rinse with the little eye cup to fill and place over the eye. We asked the sales clerk who was standing in the eye care aisle where we could find some sterile solution. "We don't have any sterile eye solution" she said. I described my situation and asked if they had anything that could help. She was adamant that they had no sterile solutions and I was outta luck. I thought about this for a moment and realized that all the eye solutions must be sterile. I pointed this out to the clerk who replied "well, its not sterile once you open it". Ok says I,......can you direct me to a bottle of sterile right now,....but not once I open it,....eye solution please. She gestured down the aisle and off we went. We procured a bottle with an eye cup and made our way home. After several rinses my eyes started to feel a little better. I have custom spectacles being made for my respirator but until they are ready (in about 10 days) I have to wear contacts lenses when wearing my full face respirator.

With my eyes being tender for several days I was unable to wear contact lens and had to do something other than grind fiberglass. We rented a rotary laser level and set it up near the boat at the hight of the water-line. When we sanded the hull we found a second line lower than the first, we decided that being the older line we'd use it as the benchmark for leveling the boat (and judging by the numerous layers of paint over it we thought it may well be the original line). The hardest part was adjusting the laser so it would strike the line amidships. Once we had that dialed in it was a simple matter to move jacks around the cradle to make the necessary adjustments.

The temperature has hit 100 degrees in the yard today, much hotter in the boat! Working in Tyvek suits in that heat is not possible, at least not for me. Instead the day was spent in the much cooler garage sanding teak moldings and applying coats of satin Poly Wipe to them. I've prepped enough for two bulkheads and will prep more when its too hot to work inside the hull.

Sanding and more sanding, inside and out!

2007-06-24T13:04:00.000-07:00

aChris and Tyler have gotten the hull sanded down to the final two layers of old bottom paint. They are taking care and are going down through the layers slowly. They alone have done the boat from the waterline down and have been staying with the project and are doing a great job. THANKS GUYS!! They have kept me motivated and on task on the interior while they sanded the hull. I used a Dewalt 60 grit Zirconia Flap Disc in a 4" electric grinder and sanded down the old tabbing on the interior. The flap sander made it a simple task although it did make for a lot of fiberglass dust. I'm starting from the bow and working my way aft.

I used an air DA with 180 grit disks to sand the gelcoat in the chain locker. It made a lot of fine and heavy dust that drifted down the hull and gathered in the V of the bow. I stopped often to vacuum it up. The dust clogged the filter of the shop vac very quickly. I had to stop and clean the filter more frequently than I would have liked. The gelcoat dust on the filter was so evenly dispersed it resembled frosting on a cake and formed a layer 1/4" thick rendering the vacuum useless after only a couple minutes use. I wanted to reinforce the hull-deck joint from the inside with West system epoxy and biaxial cloth. To do this it required the removal of the gelcoat and a good scuffing-up of the glass that was not gelcoated. The area is hard to get up into with power tools. I tried a variety of tools without success, they were too big or chucked at the wrong angle to allow the bit to get into the small space. I purchased a 120 degree die grinder and tried a variety of accessories (pictured above) to get into the space. The large wheels (upper left) where too much for the die grinder and immediately stalled it out. The die grinder would operate with light pressure with the medium sized flap wheel (lower left) but the pressure was not sufficient to get the desired results. The wire wheels (lower right) worked very well but tended to cut groves along the edges of their diameter. I finally settled on a one inch diameter flap wheel (pictures in the die grinder); it worked very well, was easy to control, and wore itself into the shape of the area I was sanding which made it easier to control.

We have been using 3M respirators with particulate cartridges when we sand (pictured above) and change the cartridge type when we use resins etc. We wear Tyvek overalls with hoods and buy the XXXXL size. Even the skinniest guys on our crew prefer the largest size. Yes, they are baggy when worn in the warm season (without coats on). But they allow for a lot of air movement inside the suit to help keep you cool and we rarely tear the crotch out of them when bending or stretching into awkward places (an all to often occurrence with the smaller sizes). Head socks and rubber gloves complete the ensemble.

We'll sand the hull for Monsters!

2007-06-20T11:52:00.000-07:00

I was sanding the topsides the other night when my stepson Ty (16) and his buddy Chris (18) stopped by and found out I had a few Monster brand energy drinks I had bought for the road and had not drank, to me they taste like paint thinner. They love them and said they'd sand one side of the hull for two each! They reacted just like Scooby-Doo getting a Scooby snack! "we'll do the whole boat for Monsters!" They offered to sand the boat while I was at work but I didn't want them hitting the hull when I'm not there to watch,.......or else they would probably think; if 180 grit is good, 80 is better, and 40 is best!! They'd flatten her round bits in no time! They arrived the following evening as scheduled and got busy. Ty on the DA sanding the hull and Chris on deck removing the cap rail. When Ty realized how much work was involved in sanding the hull there was talk of a mutiny and I had to think fast and get some pizza's coming to quell the uprising. They both did a good job and within a couple hours we had the entire rail off the boat and a good portion of one side of the hull sanded.

This is a picture of Ty doing his first bottom job when he was eleven years old. He's a good worker and I sure appreciate having him around to lend a hand!

Interior blues

2007-06-18T12:24:00.001-07:00

This is a picture Kim took of me getting a feel for the interior layout.
The drawings were provided by Hugh McCormack; a fellow Alberg 30 owner (hull #39) from Newfoundland Canada. Thanks Hugh!! The drawings have been a tremendous help, I had them laminated and refer to them daily!

The interior looking aft

The interior looking forward

Sanding

2007-06-18T12:16:00.001-07:00

With the cradle lowered onto the ground I started sanding the hull to remove the Grey primer from the waterline up. I still have to level the boat and support the front of the cradle,...but I just had to get started and unmask her boot-stripe and previous paint scheme.