Leaks & Leaks & Leaks . . . But All Fixed!

SHIP'S LOG:

I have been out of touch for a couple of days as I am now living in a place without an Internet connection . . . but then I remembered that I have an WIFI connector for my old computer so I hooked it up and WHAMO it worked.

Over the last few days, I was able to fix and cure several leaks that have been plaguing me forever. Two were in the salon where the water was getting in through two pipes that drain the seating space in the cockpit. The ends of the pipes were fiberglassed in place but the connection was merely painted over with some high-grade-through-34-year-old-paint that had cracked and so allowed the water to seep in. Over the years, the seepage became greater and greater until whenever it rain or water got on the seating, it never drained simple entered the salon via the ceiling panels. I had to take down the ceiling panels and epoxy the pipes, kill the mold and mildew and reinstall the ceiling panels. Sounds relatively easy but, while not a complex chore, it was hard enough. Fiddling with the ceiling panels, getting them back in place and screwing them back in tight was a real pain. I need two more hands that I had. Fred was able to help with one but the other was all mine.

I caulked the exterior of the secondary hatch in the aft cabin as it showed signs of leaking too. Usually a puddle on the floor! While doing that, I decided to take down the ceiling in the aft cabin as it was laking back there some where too. It turns out that two of the aft stanchions had flexed over the years and allowed water to get beneath them and damage the wood into which they were affixed. They are set on the aft deck which is a piece of marine plywood laid over the fiberglass of the deck and painted. Once the paint cracked, water got into the wood and the rest is history. I am going to leave the actual re-beding of the stanchions until next spring as I just know they won't be the only two that have to come out. So I dug out the rot, put in some wood strengthener, filled it with marine epoxy filler, and will caulk the hell out of it today.

There is also a seam that runs around this aft deck that I suspect in leaking in places so today I will go through the process of striping and caulking that. There is a similar seem in a place in the cockpit and it will get the same treatment. And for the heck of it, I will also do the main hatch in the aft cabin. Might as well as I am on a roll!

I also painted the bottom and now ABISHAG looks ready to go. There are several small projects yet but none of them effect whether or no to launch her or her seaworthiness. I will do as many as possible until launch date which is . . . I am not sure. It depends on whether or not I can pay the remainder of the yard bill. I am off to a convenience store to "remedy" that issue!