SHIP'S LOG:
Tuesday's search for wires ended up with me dismantling the cabin ceiling in search of wires and, since it was raining, leaks. I have had two leaks that have driven me crazy since I have had ABISHAG for though I have often been able to staunch them they would always begin again. These two are far end of the main cabin hatch and the one that shows through the seams of the rear ceiling panels in the salon. Find the first shouldn't be that hard as it has to beat the main hatch somewhere, though just where is what is the mystery. Fred was around ( he is getting no work done on his boat working one mine) and joined in the hunt ( after he knocked out 3 of the four thru-hulls). It required taking down two very large and unwieldy ceiling panels where we eventually discovered that the leaks were come through the joints of pipe drains. ABISHAG has two drains behind the cockpit dashboard and two at the front end of the cockpit seating. Over the years, the piping has rusted a bit and this loosened the painted fiberglass holding the two ends, allowing rain, waves and other forms of wetness to seep between the fiberglass and the pipe and drip on the ceiling and eventually through the ceiling into the cabin. It would be a simple fix in that re-sealing the pipes/ fiberglass joint with epoxy is a five minute task ( especially if you are using Five Minute epoxy), but nothing is as simple as it seems. Taking down the ceiling revealed black mold , not a lot but enough, which had to be dealt with before the repairs could be made.
O by the way, taking down the ceiling also means taking down whatever is attached to the ceiling, such things a lighting fixtures, which would eventually have to be re-attached . . . in working order. I also discovered that there was a leak around the wood trim of the cockpit cabin hatch. On further inspection the wood backing it was found to have the consistency of wet cardboard. It wasn't a case of it having to go but rather a case of it already being gone. It had been glued in place and the wood trim glue to it when set in place but with the terrible condition of the wood, the trim separated easily was was salvageable. Rather than gluing, I screwed it in place and re-caulked it. It looks just fine.
With the ceiling down, it was a chance to see where the wires I was tracing went ( off into another space of course) and to fix any bad connections that existed( of which there were several). Someone had a love affair with connecting two wires by the expedient of stripping a little insulation, wrapping the wire to be connected around the bare spot and then sealing it with friction tape, the per-cursor to electrical tape. It is not a good or safe way to make an electrical connection and they all had to be disassembled, cleaned and connected with connectors. More Fun!
Wednesday saw the attack on the black mold. My friend, Skip, a home contractor by trade, had this chemical that could be sprayed on the mold to make it go away. Mixed with bleach and water, and sprayed on with a garden sprayer, it really did the job. Of course it was not quite that simple. First you had to mix the ingredients. Next you had to cover all of the areas of the boat around the sight where the stuff would be sprayed as it would do a job on more than just mold. The I had to spray the stuff, wearing my rain gear, goggles, and safety mask. One application did the job but then I had to wash down the surfaces sprayed to get rid of the chemical. Then I had to dry the cabin and remove all of the surface covering and trash them.
The mold was gone and next on the list was the leaky drain pipes. I first had to scrape off all the loose rust, scale and paint. Next I had to clean the pipe with bronze wool so that it was shiny. Having down that, I had to rough it and the fiberglass up with an abrasive so that the epoxy with adhere well to both. Having down that, I had to mix up a batch of five-minute epoxy for each joint and spread it on the joints in question. The stink of the epoxy and the stink of the mold killer and bleach was enough to gag a maggot. You should also realize that getting to the joints required, as most projects on boat do, physical contortions that would earn me a 10 in any gymnastic competition. And in that I had 5 minutes at most to epoxy each joint, I consider it a major accomplishment that I didn't permanently affix myself to the interior of the boat! But, case closed! In addition, I re-opened that block drains that some had plugged in the cockpit. I flushed water through them and discovered that if the "blocker" had done so to stop a leak, he actually plugged the wrong pipe. Those drains were no the source of the cabin leaks. In point of fact, the drains down work too terribly well to begin with, but at least now they have a chance to "sort of do their intended job."
There was one thru-hull that I was unable to remove. There was no way to get a screw driver into the area above the screws holding the gland in place. It was probably the reason why this particular thru-hull hadn't been serviced in years. In my case, I didn't even know it was there. I found it mere by extrapolation - hole in the hull equals thru-hull inside the boat. I have 10 holes and knew the whereabouts of only 9 thru-hulls which set of a search. But how to extract it. I was simply not able to get a screw drive where I needed it to go. So in desperation, having hit the thru - hull with almost a whole can of PB Blaster to eliminate the corrosion, I used a trick I picked up on the ICW. I griped a quarter in a pair of vice grips and was able to get it into the slot in the screw head. After the PB Blaster had done its thing, and getting myself into another "10" position, I was able to slow, and with great care, remove the machine screws and the gland and the plug of the thru-hull! Success, and with no banging! Of course, after cleaning and lubing, it was a bit of a chore to get it all back in place but I did and it works, so what more could I want.
I siliconed the gasket on one on the ports where I had discovered another leak and I hope that it does the job as I don't have the time or the money nor the energy to pop out the ports and re-bed them all. I also cleaned a grove on the main cabin hatch and laid in a bead of silicone. I am hoping that this will handle the leak without popping that hatch. Popping a main hatch of that size is a long and labor intensive process and now is not the time. Perhaps during the summer when I have a day or so, but not now. Hopefully the silicone will do the job for now.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Picture If You Will A Bowl Of Spaghetti . . . . .
SHIP'S LOG:
Yesterday was to be the day I finally knocked out the plugs in the thru-hulls so that I could clean 'em, grease 'em and replace 'em but unfortunately Fred was unable to make it to the boat yard. The procedure is rather simple but I find it a bit "frightening" in the sense that I worry about what might happen when I whack a steel drift(rod) with a 2lb hammer up through the bottom opening of the thru-hulls to loosen the plugs. I am just afraid that:
1.) it won't work;
2.) I'll do some damage I can't fix;
3.) I have to buy and install one or more new thru-hull and i don't have the money and that will delay my departure and then I'll get charge for summer storage . . . . . . .
So I didn't do it and will await Fred's arrival. I could just as easily screw it up when he is there but it is always nice to have someone you deem more competent that yourself telling you that it is alright yo hit that drift with the dead-blow hammer.
Instead, I pressurize the boat to check for leaks. I duct taped every opening that I couldn't seal shut with the exception of two: A port to which I taped a plastic bag and an unused deck fill connection into which I inserted the shop vac hose, set on blow. I turned the shop-vac on and it blew air into the boat's interior. When the plastic bag in the port inflated, I knew the boat was pressurize and I went about with a bucket of very soapy water, wetting down everything that penetrated the deck, stanchions, hatches, cleats, etc, and looked to see if bubbles appeared. If they did, there was a leak at that location. Well, that's the theory. No bubbles were in evidence but all that proved was that there was no leaks on any of the places that got soaped down. I know there are leaks that show up around the main hatch in the saloon and in the secondary hatch in the aft cabin. Using the Sherlock Holmes theory that when you eliminate all the answers the one remaining answer, no matter how weird, is the right one. The only openings near the two hatches are the vent opening for the diesel engine and I suspect that there are holes in the hoses. To find out for sure means taking down the ceiling panels, a project fill with fun and ease to check it out. But before I make that attempt, there is one last place to check - the dashboard!
On the forward combing of the cockpit, there is " a dashboard." It is an area into which are set the controls for the Wind Indicator(non-functioning), the Speedo ( functioning sped-thru-the-water- indicator), the original NECO Auto-pilot (non-functioning), A Depth Sounder(function), and a Auto-Helm Auto Pilot (functioning but missing the a part that actually steers the boat). They are set into two pieces of smoked plexiglass and basically sit over the sliding portion of the main cockpit hatchway. It is possible that perhaps the leak in there so out they came and off came the plexiglass and . . . . . "Picture if you will a bowl of spaghetti . . . ." A great deal of marine electronics is "supposedly" calibrate to the extent that you are told not to cut any excess length you find in the wires . . . EVER! Well, whoever did the installation pf the various pieces of electronics in the cockpit dashboard followed that injunction with religious fanaticism! Now it would be bad enough if it were all gathered together and held in place with wire-ties or tape, but it was all just "stuffed" into the space behind the dashboard. In addition, no effort was made by succeeding installers to route the wires to keep them clear so that as a result wires were wrapped and knotted around each other. In addition, the space include "wires to nowhere!", cables that had one en connect to a bus-bar or in some cases, nothing, just held in place by the graces of being twist and knotted around some other wire.
Obviously this could remain as it was so I began the laborious process of tracing wires. I removed a half-dozen five foot lengths of wire that were connect to nothing. I bundled and wire-tied the wires running from each electronic control display display. I began, but did not have the time to finish, repairing the bad, faulty and missing connections. There were a number of connections where I found 3 different sized wires knotted together in a connection that was covered with "friction Tape." (Do they make that stuff anymore?) I had to carefully, one at a time disconnect them, remove the corroded sections, install new and appropriately sized connector and re-attach them to the switches. I got several done but there are more to do. Some of the connections are really bad, very corroded, and I wonder if the reason that the Wind Indicator doesn't work might not be these corroded connections.
But like I said, I didn't get them all done, but I did make a start. I would also have to say that the "dashboard" in not the site of the leak. The back is sealed and there is no indication of "serious water entry" so that should rule it out. I am betting on the vents.
This is a perfect example of how projects work on boats. Looking to find the source of a leak turns into an electrical project and you just know that tracing and repairing those wires is somehow going to turn into another project. At the very least, getting rid of the non-function auto-pilot controls and the (for now) non-functioning Wind Indicator, means a "new " dashboard has to be created and fitted. It is never ending! Ah, the fun o boat ownership!
Yesterday was to be the day I finally knocked out the plugs in the thru-hulls so that I could clean 'em, grease 'em and replace 'em but unfortunately Fred was unable to make it to the boat yard. The procedure is rather simple but I find it a bit "frightening" in the sense that I worry about what might happen when I whack a steel drift(rod) with a 2lb hammer up through the bottom opening of the thru-hulls to loosen the plugs. I am just afraid that:
1.) it won't work;
2.) I'll do some damage I can't fix;
3.) I have to buy and install one or more new thru-hull and i don't have the money and that will delay my departure and then I'll get charge for summer storage . . . . . . .
So I didn't do it and will await Fred's arrival. I could just as easily screw it up when he is there but it is always nice to have someone you deem more competent that yourself telling you that it is alright yo hit that drift with the dead-blow hammer.
Instead, I pressurize the boat to check for leaks. I duct taped every opening that I couldn't seal shut with the exception of two: A port to which I taped a plastic bag and an unused deck fill connection into which I inserted the shop vac hose, set on blow. I turned the shop-vac on and it blew air into the boat's interior. When the plastic bag in the port inflated, I knew the boat was pressurize and I went about with a bucket of very soapy water, wetting down everything that penetrated the deck, stanchions, hatches, cleats, etc, and looked to see if bubbles appeared. If they did, there was a leak at that location. Well, that's the theory. No bubbles were in evidence but all that proved was that there was no leaks on any of the places that got soaped down. I know there are leaks that show up around the main hatch in the saloon and in the secondary hatch in the aft cabin. Using the Sherlock Holmes theory that when you eliminate all the answers the one remaining answer, no matter how weird, is the right one. The only openings near the two hatches are the vent opening for the diesel engine and I suspect that there are holes in the hoses. To find out for sure means taking down the ceiling panels, a project fill with fun and ease to check it out. But before I make that attempt, there is one last place to check - the dashboard!
On the forward combing of the cockpit, there is " a dashboard." It is an area into which are set the controls for the Wind Indicator(non-functioning), the Speedo ( functioning sped-thru-the-water- indicator), the original NECO Auto-pilot (non-functioning), A Depth Sounder(function), and a Auto-Helm Auto Pilot (functioning but missing the a part that actually steers the boat). They are set into two pieces of smoked plexiglass and basically sit over the sliding portion of the main cockpit hatchway. It is possible that perhaps the leak in there so out they came and off came the plexiglass and . . . . . "Picture if you will a bowl of spaghetti . . . ." A great deal of marine electronics is "supposedly" calibrate to the extent that you are told not to cut any excess length you find in the wires . . . EVER! Well, whoever did the installation pf the various pieces of electronics in the cockpit dashboard followed that injunction with religious fanaticism! Now it would be bad enough if it were all gathered together and held in place with wire-ties or tape, but it was all just "stuffed" into the space behind the dashboard. In addition, no effort was made by succeeding installers to route the wires to keep them clear so that as a result wires were wrapped and knotted around each other. In addition, the space include "wires to nowhere!", cables that had one en connect to a bus-bar or in some cases, nothing, just held in place by the graces of being twist and knotted around some other wire.
Obviously this could remain as it was so I began the laborious process of tracing wires. I removed a half-dozen five foot lengths of wire that were connect to nothing. I bundled and wire-tied the wires running from each electronic control display display. I began, but did not have the time to finish, repairing the bad, faulty and missing connections. There were a number of connections where I found 3 different sized wires knotted together in a connection that was covered with "friction Tape." (Do they make that stuff anymore?) I had to carefully, one at a time disconnect them, remove the corroded sections, install new and appropriately sized connector and re-attach them to the switches. I got several done but there are more to do. Some of the connections are really bad, very corroded, and I wonder if the reason that the Wind Indicator doesn't work might not be these corroded connections.
But like I said, I didn't get them all done, but I did make a start. I would also have to say that the "dashboard" in not the site of the leak. The back is sealed and there is no indication of "serious water entry" so that should rule it out. I am betting on the vents.
This is a perfect example of how projects work on boats. Looking to find the source of a leak turns into an electrical project and you just know that tracing and repairing those wires is somehow going to turn into another project. At the very least, getting rid of the non-function auto-pilot controls and the (for now) non-functioning Wind Indicator, means a "new " dashboard has to be created and fitted. It is never ending! Ah, the fun o boat ownership!
Saturday, April 28, 2012
It's All Those Little Things That Drive You Crazy
SHIP'S LOG:
The only major project that needs still to be done is the painting of the bottom but that doesn't mean that thee isn't a whole host of other smaller projects that still need doing.A couple of examples:
- The Deck: Even though I re-caulked the entire deck two summers ago, there are/were still a couple of places where the re-caulking "didn't take." This meant find thing them first. Wen a teak deck gets wet after a rain or if you hose it down, it will dry out but the places where the water is getting through the caulking and under the deck stay wet longer. They stay dark while the est of the deck lightens as it dries out. SO I went around marking the "wet" spots and hit them with "Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure." This is great stuff, wetter than water, you simply drip it on a spot. If the puddles, it is leak-free, if it disappears, you have a leak.With enough applications, it will actually seal the leak but a little 6 oz. bottle is very expensive. If it were cheap, I'd just spray the whole boat but then , if it were cheap, it probably wouldn't work. When the spots were all identified, it was dig out the old caulk, a spritz of Capt. Tolley's, border it with masking tape, forced in the caulking and work it in, scrape off the excess and let it set. Then remove the masking tape and Voila! leak proof decking . . . hopefully!
- Electrical Bus Bars: There are five of these secreted around the boat, all in not easily accessible places, to which all electrical items are connected. They are all subject to corrosion, being on a boat and all, and need to be cleaned of said corrosion as the corrosion will limit, even block the the passage of electrical current and you end up with all sorts of things that don't work or work poorly. So putting yourself into a contorted position in order to reach the bus bar, you carefully remove each connector one at a time, clean it off with bronze wool and/ or sand paper, clean the connection on the bus bar with bronze wool and/ or sandpaper, spray both with an electronic cleaner spray, re-connect and then spray the whole mess with with a corrosion inhibitor. It can take an uncomfortable hour to do each one and a half hour to re-align you spine once you are done with each one. Doing one of the bus bars, the one that "controls all of the wires going up the mainmast, I was faced with a dilemma. Two wires, one brown and one blue, insulated together, where hanging loose. There were five or six free "spots" on the bus bar and so I was unsure which wire should go to what connector. Luckily friend Fred was aboard at the time and was able to figure it out with amazing rapidity. He tried to explain it all to me but electricity is still voodoo as far as I am concerned.
- Hinges: I had to replace the hinges on the fold-out supports for the b\double berth in the salon. The two platforms had originally been attached with piano hinges but in that the platforms were plywood and the hinges had been screwed into the edges with 30 tiny, tiny screws, after years of swinging back and forth they had ripped out and I just could get any bite in the wood any more. So out with the piano hinges and the 30 screws and in with door hinges and more substantial screws which went into the sides. The two platforms fold in on one another and I made a mistake in putting in the bottom one in that I forgot to make sure that there was enough clearance so that it could open and slide out from under the top. I only discovered my error after the entire project was done and is I had to dismantle the whole thing, reposition the bottom and screw everything back in place.
AH! Owning a boat is a true learning experience. You learn about engine mechanics, plumbing, electricity, metallurgy, painting, wood working, and most especially humility, patience and anger management!
The only major project that needs still to be done is the painting of the bottom but that doesn't mean that thee isn't a whole host of other smaller projects that still need doing.A couple of examples:
- The Deck: Even though I re-caulked the entire deck two summers ago, there are/were still a couple of places where the re-caulking "didn't take." This meant find thing them first. Wen a teak deck gets wet after a rain or if you hose it down, it will dry out but the places where the water is getting through the caulking and under the deck stay wet longer. They stay dark while the est of the deck lightens as it dries out. SO I went around marking the "wet" spots and hit them with "Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure." This is great stuff, wetter than water, you simply drip it on a spot. If the puddles, it is leak-free, if it disappears, you have a leak.With enough applications, it will actually seal the leak but a little 6 oz. bottle is very expensive. If it were cheap, I'd just spray the whole boat but then , if it were cheap, it probably wouldn't work. When the spots were all identified, it was dig out the old caulk, a spritz of Capt. Tolley's, border it with masking tape, forced in the caulking and work it in, scrape off the excess and let it set. Then remove the masking tape and Voila! leak proof decking . . . hopefully!
- Electrical Bus Bars: There are five of these secreted around the boat, all in not easily accessible places, to which all electrical items are connected. They are all subject to corrosion, being on a boat and all, and need to be cleaned of said corrosion as the corrosion will limit, even block the the passage of electrical current and you end up with all sorts of things that don't work or work poorly. So putting yourself into a contorted position in order to reach the bus bar, you carefully remove each connector one at a time, clean it off with bronze wool and/ or sand paper, clean the connection on the bus bar with bronze wool and/ or sandpaper, spray both with an electronic cleaner spray, re-connect and then spray the whole mess with with a corrosion inhibitor. It can take an uncomfortable hour to do each one and a half hour to re-align you spine once you are done with each one. Doing one of the bus bars, the one that "controls all of the wires going up the mainmast, I was faced with a dilemma. Two wires, one brown and one blue, insulated together, where hanging loose. There were five or six free "spots" on the bus bar and so I was unsure which wire should go to what connector. Luckily friend Fred was aboard at the time and was able to figure it out with amazing rapidity. He tried to explain it all to me but electricity is still voodoo as far as I am concerned.
- Hinges: I had to replace the hinges on the fold-out supports for the b\double berth in the salon. The two platforms had originally been attached with piano hinges but in that the platforms were plywood and the hinges had been screwed into the edges with 30 tiny, tiny screws, after years of swinging back and forth they had ripped out and I just could get any bite in the wood any more. So out with the piano hinges and the 30 screws and in with door hinges and more substantial screws which went into the sides. The two platforms fold in on one another and I made a mistake in putting in the bottom one in that I forgot to make sure that there was enough clearance so that it could open and slide out from under the top. I only discovered my error after the entire project was done and is I had to dismantle the whole thing, reposition the bottom and screw everything back in place.
AH! Owning a boat is a true learning experience. You learn about engine mechanics, plumbing, electricity, metallurgy, painting, wood working, and most especially humility, patience and anger management!
Sunday, April 22, 2012
It's The Little Things
SHIP'S LOG:
Friday was pretty much repeat of Thursday - paint, move the ladder,paint, move the ladder, paint, move the ladder, varnish, move the ladder, varnish, move the ladder - though I did get through the day without stepping on the newly varnished rail. . . a major step forward.
Unfortunately, I have come to realize that I have a gremlin aboard and this one has a thing for paint scrapers. I have, or I should say, had three of them, very necessary tools when doing paint and/or varnish work. I am now down to ONE! I have no idea where the other two got off to. They are not in the tool box. They are not on the table in the salon with the other tools currently being used. They are not in any pockets, or on deck, or in the car. Even doing a total storage of all items in the boat into their proper places failed to turn up the missing paint scrapers. I am sure that they will show up either when I no longer have a need for them or they'll just appear on the table or the desk or back in the tool box. The gremlin's got'em!
Saturday was wood working day. All of the wood work had to be Tung Oil-ed. Rung oil creates a finish and protects the wood and inside of ABISHAG there is a whole lots wood. First it all had to be cleaned which meant scrubbing with Murphy's Oil Soap. Any old varnish had to be sanded away or removed with a paint scraper. Obviously, I was sanding! Then I was required to wedge myself into odd positions in order to be able to apply the Tung Oil for you must apply the oil to all the surfaces of the wood, not just what can be seen. You paint it on and wipe it off, trying to hold onto a cup containing the Tung Oil without spilling it. What makes it challenging is that you can't really set it down anywhere or you will, trying to move or change position, knock it over. In addition, the Tung oil starts of "oily" - slippery if you get it on your hands which really can't be avoided. Strangely though, it eventually becomes sticky and you can't put the brush and/or polishing cloth down. Aside from all that, it is not a bad project with the sole exception of knowing that it takes several coats for the oil to properly do its job.
On the deck through on the inside of ABISHAG, there are wooden hatches that allow you access to the bilge and various important pieces of equipment . . . like the engine. These all had to be poly- urethaned to protect the thin veneer of teak and holly on their surface. Doing this job requires patience and a good sense of direction or one can literally paint oneself into a corner. It requires that you start at either end and work toward the middle, stop begin again at the other end and work toward the middle and paint the last one as you exit the interior. Care must be taken hat you put back into the boat all the stuff you took out and take out all the items, like car keys , you need to get home. I was able to accomplish this successfully, but with the fumes a from the poly-urethane and the Tung Oil, the interior will need an airing when next I return.
Friday was pretty much repeat of Thursday - paint, move the ladder,paint, move the ladder, paint, move the ladder, varnish, move the ladder, varnish, move the ladder - though I did get through the day without stepping on the newly varnished rail. . . a major step forward.
Unfortunately, I have come to realize that I have a gremlin aboard and this one has a thing for paint scrapers. I have, or I should say, had three of them, very necessary tools when doing paint and/or varnish work. I am now down to ONE! I have no idea where the other two got off to. They are not in the tool box. They are not on the table in the salon with the other tools currently being used. They are not in any pockets, or on deck, or in the car. Even doing a total storage of all items in the boat into their proper places failed to turn up the missing paint scrapers. I am sure that they will show up either when I no longer have a need for them or they'll just appear on the table or the desk or back in the tool box. The gremlin's got'em!
Saturday was wood working day. All of the wood work had to be Tung Oil-ed. Rung oil creates a finish and protects the wood and inside of ABISHAG there is a whole lots wood. First it all had to be cleaned which meant scrubbing with Murphy's Oil Soap. Any old varnish had to be sanded away or removed with a paint scraper. Obviously, I was sanding! Then I was required to wedge myself into odd positions in order to be able to apply the Tung Oil for you must apply the oil to all the surfaces of the wood, not just what can be seen. You paint it on and wipe it off, trying to hold onto a cup containing the Tung Oil without spilling it. What makes it challenging is that you can't really set it down anywhere or you will, trying to move or change position, knock it over. In addition, the Tung oil starts of "oily" - slippery if you get it on your hands which really can't be avoided. Strangely though, it eventually becomes sticky and you can't put the brush and/or polishing cloth down. Aside from all that, it is not a bad project with the sole exception of knowing that it takes several coats for the oil to properly do its job.
On the deck through on the inside of ABISHAG, there are wooden hatches that allow you access to the bilge and various important pieces of equipment . . . like the engine. These all had to be poly- urethaned to protect the thin veneer of teak and holly on their surface. Doing this job requires patience and a good sense of direction or one can literally paint oneself into a corner. It requires that you start at either end and work toward the middle, stop begin again at the other end and work toward the middle and paint the last one as you exit the interior. Care must be taken hat you put back into the boat all the stuff you took out and take out all the items, like car keys , you need to get home. I was able to accomplish this successfully, but with the fumes a from the poly-urethane and the Tung Oil, the interior will need an airing when next I return.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
It's Shuch A Simple Task . . . .
SHIP'S LOG:
The cap rail/toe rail, which runs around edge of the deck, need some repairs. There were any number of gouges and splits in the wood , which after 34 years, was beginning to show its age. Then again, it hasn't received a lot of care and its deterioration was to be expected. Thus it was that I traversed the cap rail, digging out rot and split wood and filling in with wood fiber filler. One whole 6 inch section had to be removed and replaced with a new piece of teak I got from friend Skip. I had to glue two 6 inch pieces together to make one piece wide enough from the toe rail and then "scarf" it in place. Then the whole rail had to be sanded after the repairs were stained and then covered with three coats of varnish. It has taken 5 days!
5 Days? Yup! all of the work had to be done from a ladder and the largest space I could tackle at a time was about 4 feet. This meant that I had to go up the ladder, do the needed repairs, descend the ladder, move the ladder 4 feet, go up the ladder, do the necessary repairs, descend the ladder, move the ladder 4 feet and repeat until I had gone around the entire circumference of the 39foot ABISHAG, approximately 40 times. Then do it again for the sanding. Then Do it again for the first coat of varnish, and again for the second and again for the third.
The whole process had to be repeated for the painting of the cove stripe, the contrasting color that tops the hull just below the toe rail. On ABISHAG it is a white stripe atop the dark blue hull. This stripe had to be sanded and then wiped down with thinner and then painted. The paint used has the consistency of honey and, while you can thin it if you are careful, drips of white on a dark hull are to be most seriously avoided. Again it was the up the ladder, do the prep, descend the ladder, move it 4 feet and repeat. The up the ladder, paint, descend the ladder, move the ladder and repeat. The process yesterday took 5 hours to complete. To make it even more fun, the hull is not flat and some times it has more than a bit of a curve to it. So it is that at times, the ladder doesn't lay flush to the hull and square to the ground and one has to go up and down and stand and work on a ladder that wobbly. No a lot of fun with an open can of very expensive paint in one had and a brush in another.
When you look at spring maintenance in that light you can understand why most boaters scrimp on the maintenance and others, aside from the bottom painting, say "The hell with it" and just launch. But as the old FRAM oil filter commercial use to say, "You can pay me now, or pay me later," you either do the work now, out of the water where it is much easier, or you will end up doing some of it on the water where it is definitely harder, or going to a shipyard to have a pro do it which is definitely more expensive. AH, The Fun Of Boat Ownership!
The cap rail/toe rail, which runs around edge of the deck, need some repairs. There were any number of gouges and splits in the wood , which after 34 years, was beginning to show its age. Then again, it hasn't received a lot of care and its deterioration was to be expected. Thus it was that I traversed the cap rail, digging out rot and split wood and filling in with wood fiber filler. One whole 6 inch section had to be removed and replaced with a new piece of teak I got from friend Skip. I had to glue two 6 inch pieces together to make one piece wide enough from the toe rail and then "scarf" it in place. Then the whole rail had to be sanded after the repairs were stained and then covered with three coats of varnish. It has taken 5 days!
5 Days? Yup! all of the work had to be done from a ladder and the largest space I could tackle at a time was about 4 feet. This meant that I had to go up the ladder, do the needed repairs, descend the ladder, move the ladder 4 feet, go up the ladder, do the necessary repairs, descend the ladder, move the ladder 4 feet and repeat until I had gone around the entire circumference of the 39foot ABISHAG, approximately 40 times. Then do it again for the sanding. Then Do it again for the first coat of varnish, and again for the second and again for the third.
The whole process had to be repeated for the painting of the cove stripe, the contrasting color that tops the hull just below the toe rail. On ABISHAG it is a white stripe atop the dark blue hull. This stripe had to be sanded and then wiped down with thinner and then painted. The paint used has the consistency of honey and, while you can thin it if you are careful, drips of white on a dark hull are to be most seriously avoided. Again it was the up the ladder, do the prep, descend the ladder, move it 4 feet and repeat. The up the ladder, paint, descend the ladder, move the ladder and repeat. The process yesterday took 5 hours to complete. To make it even more fun, the hull is not flat and some times it has more than a bit of a curve to it. So it is that at times, the ladder doesn't lay flush to the hull and square to the ground and one has to go up and down and stand and work on a ladder that wobbly. No a lot of fun with an open can of very expensive paint in one had and a brush in another.
When you look at spring maintenance in that light you can understand why most boaters scrimp on the maintenance and others, aside from the bottom painting, say "The hell with it" and just launch. But as the old FRAM oil filter commercial use to say, "You can pay me now, or pay me later," you either do the work now, out of the water where it is much easier, or you will end up doing some of it on the water where it is definitely harder, or going to a shipyard to have a pro do it which is definitely more expensive. AH, The Fun Of Boat Ownership!
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
I Am Alive . . . Really!
SHIP'S LOG:
When last I wrote, I was beginning to get really into the work of getting ABISHAG ready for the season. But as I said before, every time you begin a project, you always uncover more that has to be done and have to do a couple of extra projects just to get to the one you wanted to get to in the first place. Take spot painting.
The bottom of a boat must be painted every year to keep the sea creatures from taking up residence on it and so slowing the speed at which the boat will travel. To this end, bottom pains that make the bottom of the boat in hospitable to the creatures have been developed. The paints come in two basic formulas: hard and ablative. The hard paints create a hard finish that constantly leaches out a biocide keeping the little sea creatures at bay. The down side is that this type of paint has to be sanded off and re-applied each year. Lots of messy, miserable work. The second type, the ablative, is a soft paint which "wears away" a little bit at a time to release the biocide. This means that you only have to replace the paint at those places where it has worn all the way down to the barrier coat. Np sanding, no mess, no real fuss . . . sort of.
I use an ablative paint as have spent too many years lying on on my back with a sander in my hand trying to get at spots of hard paint that needed to be sanded. Age and arthritis and lots of common sense dictated the move. And so it is that I have been going around the boat each day, painting and repainting spots where the bottom paint had been worn down to the barrier coat. Most of it actually came from the fact that ABISHAG had been in the water for almost three years and needed to be repainted. And then there was the ICW and those groundings. All the sand and clay and mud that she plowed through did a fine job of sanding off the paint on the bottom of the keel. In addition, there were dozens of spots where water had gotten behind the paint and broke its adhesion tot he hull and so it had to be scraped off and repaint. So I went around and around the hull and touched up every place where the barrier coat was exposed, covering it and building up, or at least trying to, the bottom coating so that it will be, when the whole hull is painted, the same depth.
It seems a simple and rather innocuous task but nothing on a boat is that simple or that innocuous. Checking the hull after the first spot painting show up a wet spot on the rudder. It was clear when I was doing the painting that this spot had been repaired. Unfortunately, it was a bad repair and water got in which was made clear in that it bled through the paint. So it was that a simple spot painting job turned into a rudder repair job . . . . sand off the paint to expose the repair, gouge out the old repair, flush the old repair to get out the salt water & the acid it produces when it mixes with fiberglass resin, mix up some epoxy filler and fill the site, wait for the epoxy to dry and harden, sand and repaint, then wait 24 hours to see if the site "weeped" again. ( It didn't!) All that from just "spot painting!"
Doing a major clean of the boat, the first of three, did turn up some treasure. I found a submersible bilge pump which, if it works - a real question - will solve the forepeak water problem All I need to do is wire it to a float switch so that it will turn on and off appropriately and then wire it to a bus bar to get it juice. And then run a hose from the pump to the bilge. Like I said simple.
The area under the engine underwent a major, MAJOR cleaning. Over the last couple of years, I have cleaned out the sump but really haven't been able to give this area more than a like and a promise. Now, with ABISHAG on land and not moving, I could dam up this area and fill it with bilge cleaner, Joy dish washing liquid, degreaser and a host of other concoctions designed to deal with the dropping of a diesel engine. Thirty-four years of such dropping, along with the odd spill during a fuel filter change or an engine oil change, plus the heat of the engine right above this pool, created a substance close to tar. Mix into it sand and dirt(how they got there I have no clue) and you had a fine sludge that could be loosened up but could only be removed by the handful.I t required either draping myself over the engine or lying along side of it thrusting my arm underneath, to pull the foul-smelling sludge out by the handful. It took almost a full day to get it down and still, with all the effort and chemical assistance, there were certain areas on the far side of the engine I couldn't get to. They got the chemical bath but their cleaning will have to await the launching and sailing of ABISHAG when the action of the "bilge cleaners" will slowly loosen the and slosh that unreachable sludge into the sump. The clean up produced to large bolts and a 2" diameter copper washer from the depths of the sludge. I can't even begin to figure out where they went but I hope that they were accidentally dropped into the bilge during some repair and the former owner decided against try to retrieve them. There were also several quarters in the sludge though I doubt that anyone but a bank would take them. Being partially copper these days, they don't fair well in such sludge and look rather "suspicious!".
When last I wrote, I was beginning to get really into the work of getting ABISHAG ready for the season. But as I said before, every time you begin a project, you always uncover more that has to be done and have to do a couple of extra projects just to get to the one you wanted to get to in the first place. Take spot painting.
The bottom of a boat must be painted every year to keep the sea creatures from taking up residence on it and so slowing the speed at which the boat will travel. To this end, bottom pains that make the bottom of the boat in hospitable to the creatures have been developed. The paints come in two basic formulas: hard and ablative. The hard paints create a hard finish that constantly leaches out a biocide keeping the little sea creatures at bay. The down side is that this type of paint has to be sanded off and re-applied each year. Lots of messy, miserable work. The second type, the ablative, is a soft paint which "wears away" a little bit at a time to release the biocide. This means that you only have to replace the paint at those places where it has worn all the way down to the barrier coat. Np sanding, no mess, no real fuss . . . sort of.
I use an ablative paint as have spent too many years lying on on my back with a sander in my hand trying to get at spots of hard paint that needed to be sanded. Age and arthritis and lots of common sense dictated the move. And so it is that I have been going around the boat each day, painting and repainting spots where the bottom paint had been worn down to the barrier coat. Most of it actually came from the fact that ABISHAG had been in the water for almost three years and needed to be repainted. And then there was the ICW and those groundings. All the sand and clay and mud that she plowed through did a fine job of sanding off the paint on the bottom of the keel. In addition, there were dozens of spots where water had gotten behind the paint and broke its adhesion tot he hull and so it had to be scraped off and repaint. So I went around and around the hull and touched up every place where the barrier coat was exposed, covering it and building up, or at least trying to, the bottom coating so that it will be, when the whole hull is painted, the same depth.
It seems a simple and rather innocuous task but nothing on a boat is that simple or that innocuous. Checking the hull after the first spot painting show up a wet spot on the rudder. It was clear when I was doing the painting that this spot had been repaired. Unfortunately, it was a bad repair and water got in which was made clear in that it bled through the paint. So it was that a simple spot painting job turned into a rudder repair job . . . . sand off the paint to expose the repair, gouge out the old repair, flush the old repair to get out the salt water & the acid it produces when it mixes with fiberglass resin, mix up some epoxy filler and fill the site, wait for the epoxy to dry and harden, sand and repaint, then wait 24 hours to see if the site "weeped" again. ( It didn't!) All that from just "spot painting!"
Doing a major clean of the boat, the first of three, did turn up some treasure. I found a submersible bilge pump which, if it works - a real question - will solve the forepeak water problem All I need to do is wire it to a float switch so that it will turn on and off appropriately and then wire it to a bus bar to get it juice. And then run a hose from the pump to the bilge. Like I said simple.
The area under the engine underwent a major, MAJOR cleaning. Over the last couple of years, I have cleaned out the sump but really haven't been able to give this area more than a like and a promise. Now, with ABISHAG on land and not moving, I could dam up this area and fill it with bilge cleaner, Joy dish washing liquid, degreaser and a host of other concoctions designed to deal with the dropping of a diesel engine. Thirty-four years of such dropping, along with the odd spill during a fuel filter change or an engine oil change, plus the heat of the engine right above this pool, created a substance close to tar. Mix into it sand and dirt(how they got there I have no clue) and you had a fine sludge that could be loosened up but could only be removed by the handful.I t required either draping myself over the engine or lying along side of it thrusting my arm underneath, to pull the foul-smelling sludge out by the handful. It took almost a full day to get it down and still, with all the effort and chemical assistance, there were certain areas on the far side of the engine I couldn't get to. They got the chemical bath but their cleaning will have to await the launching and sailing of ABISHAG when the action of the "bilge cleaners" will slowly loosen the and slosh that unreachable sludge into the sump. The clean up produced to large bolts and a 2" diameter copper washer from the depths of the sludge. I can't even begin to figure out where they went but I hope that they were accidentally dropped into the bilge during some repair and the former owner decided against try to retrieve them. There were also several quarters in the sludge though I doubt that anyone but a bank would take them. Being partially copper these days, they don't fair well in such sludge and look rather "suspicious!".
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Work Is Fun! Work Is Fun! Work Is Fun!
SHIP'S LOG:
It was not supposed to get cold again!, but it did. True, it wasn't cold, COLD, but it was cold enough. And with the wind honking at 40mph, it was no fun to be working outside. and when working on a boat, it was not much fun working inside either. Boy, it gets cold and damp inside a boat at times . . . one of which was yesterday. For most of the morning, I had to go up on deck every once in a while just to get the feeling back in my fingers. That's cold!
I removed to old counterpoise and the "old "new"counterpoise as well. The really, really old counterpoise was in a lot of little pieces and had obviously be replaced "sometime" by the "New" old counterpoise. A counterpoise is a 50 foot by 3inch ribbon of copper that runs from the Single Sideband antenna tuner, through the boat to a grounding point. It is necessary to produce a good radio signal. But even the "new" old counterpoise had fallen victim to corrosion and was in several pieces so it had to be removed. It had laid in the bilge for so long that it was coated with "distilled essence of engine droppings," a greasy tar that coated the copper and as so as I touched it , coated me. According to those in the know, the counterpoise is supposed to be kept "clean" to facilitate its function, this one was not. All my previous efforts to clean years of oil drips from the bilge evidently never quite impressed the counterpoise which kept hold of its oily covering despite all efforts previous to remove it. Out it came and into a trash can I was using to collect copper for later sale.
One annoying problem on ABISHAG is that the salon table is very unstable. It rocks side to side and even the slightest bump sets it in motion. I decided that this had to be fixed. The table is set on a pedestal which is bolted through a large piece of teak to the floor. It was held in place by four bolts with a decorative ball-top. Probably viewed at one time as a "nautical accent," they now merely made tightening or removing said bolts impossible. Looking at the base of the pedestal, I saw that one bolt was missing and that that was probably the reason for the wobble, that and the former owners attempt at a quick fix, shoving what appeared to be the corner of a magazine under one end to stabilize it. That it didn't work at all is to damn it with faint praise. Reaching under the floor I found a couple of things. One, there were no nuts on the undersides of any of the bolts. And two, the one bolt that was missing, well it wasn't actually missing. The rounded head had been sheared off. The bolts had to go. Attempting to unscrew them merely sheared off the remaining heads which allowed for easy removal of the table. The it was a "simple" matter to drill out the shafts of the bolts from their resting places in the floor, being careful not to drill too far and puncture the water tank. It didn't take long and only cost one drill bit. The bolts themselves were actually "marine bronze" which 30+ years ago was the metal of choice for all marine fittings. I discovered that the reason there were no nuts was that when the pedestal was set in place and the orignal holes drilled for the bolts, the holes were lined with a sleave of some metal which, when the bolts were set in place, held them tight. It was something like one of those plastic inserts you use to set a screw into plaster board when you are hanging something heavy. Anyway, it evidently worked fine until one of the ball heads sheared and set the table to rocking. It will be a simple fix. Fill the holes, drill them to size, insert new stainless steel bolts, washers, locking nuts and bingo, a stable table.
I also spent sometime in the fore-peak and under the shower pan in the forward head. New discoveries every inch of the way. One major discovery was the wash down plumbing system. A system to draw raw water to an outlet in the anchor locker to facilitate the cleaning of mud from anchors and rodes ( really could have used that in the Carolinas last year) was installed sometime in the misty past. There was a thru-hull with a hose that led to a pump that sent the water through another hose to an outlet in the anchor locker in the bow. Simple but effective and completely non-functioning. The real problem was the pump which while of marine grade was not intended to rest in water. It had simply been placed in the bilge where it was subjects to the ravages of the sea . . . .so to speak. In addition, since it wasn't fix in place, the movement of the boat eventually ripped the electrical connections away so that it wouldn't function any way. Disconnecting the plumbing and setting all the pieces out, it is clear that, if the pimp works, or replaced, the system will work . . . provided I get a new outlet for the anchor locker, as the one there I discovered was cheap and corroded and broke when I tried to move it.
This area in the fore-peak is prone to retaining water which is not a good thing. It doesn't drain and I was trying to come up with a solution, everything from raising the sub-floor to installing a pump.I thing I will go with the pump, less work and less expense. This area was also filled with miscellaneous wires connected to nothing, pieces of hose that went nowhere, and what important wires and hoses there were, were all twisted around each other in a real tangle. So the unneeded, unwanted and useless was removed and the rest was laid appropriately and neatly back in place. One other point: as with the drain in the aft head, the shower drain in the fore-peak, had no drain hose. Actually it did but it had been cut off short and led merely to the area under the shower pan. I presume that as with the aft head shower, the former owner decided to let gravity do the job of drain the water as it was too difficult to do it right.It would have meant cleaning the bilge and removing extraneous and unnecessary items so that you could place the appropriate hoses. That always seems to be the problems with boats, successive owners simply add more stuff, more wire, more hose, rater than first removing the old items you are replacing.It makes upgrading and repair a real pain in the butt!
It was not supposed to get cold again!, but it did. True, it wasn't cold, COLD, but it was cold enough. And with the wind honking at 40mph, it was no fun to be working outside. and when working on a boat, it was not much fun working inside either. Boy, it gets cold and damp inside a boat at times . . . one of which was yesterday. For most of the morning, I had to go up on deck every once in a while just to get the feeling back in my fingers. That's cold!
I removed to old counterpoise and the "old "new"counterpoise as well. The really, really old counterpoise was in a lot of little pieces and had obviously be replaced "sometime" by the "New" old counterpoise. A counterpoise is a 50 foot by 3inch ribbon of copper that runs from the Single Sideband antenna tuner, through the boat to a grounding point. It is necessary to produce a good radio signal. But even the "new" old counterpoise had fallen victim to corrosion and was in several pieces so it had to be removed. It had laid in the bilge for so long that it was coated with "distilled essence of engine droppings," a greasy tar that coated the copper and as so as I touched it , coated me. According to those in the know, the counterpoise is supposed to be kept "clean" to facilitate its function, this one was not. All my previous efforts to clean years of oil drips from the bilge evidently never quite impressed the counterpoise which kept hold of its oily covering despite all efforts previous to remove it. Out it came and into a trash can I was using to collect copper for later sale.
One annoying problem on ABISHAG is that the salon table is very unstable. It rocks side to side and even the slightest bump sets it in motion. I decided that this had to be fixed. The table is set on a pedestal which is bolted through a large piece of teak to the floor. It was held in place by four bolts with a decorative ball-top. Probably viewed at one time as a "nautical accent," they now merely made tightening or removing said bolts impossible. Looking at the base of the pedestal, I saw that one bolt was missing and that that was probably the reason for the wobble, that and the former owners attempt at a quick fix, shoving what appeared to be the corner of a magazine under one end to stabilize it. That it didn't work at all is to damn it with faint praise. Reaching under the floor I found a couple of things. One, there were no nuts on the undersides of any of the bolts. And two, the one bolt that was missing, well it wasn't actually missing. The rounded head had been sheared off. The bolts had to go. Attempting to unscrew them merely sheared off the remaining heads which allowed for easy removal of the table. The it was a "simple" matter to drill out the shafts of the bolts from their resting places in the floor, being careful not to drill too far and puncture the water tank. It didn't take long and only cost one drill bit. The bolts themselves were actually "marine bronze" which 30+ years ago was the metal of choice for all marine fittings. I discovered that the reason there were no nuts was that when the pedestal was set in place and the orignal holes drilled for the bolts, the holes were lined with a sleave of some metal which, when the bolts were set in place, held them tight. It was something like one of those plastic inserts you use to set a screw into plaster board when you are hanging something heavy. Anyway, it evidently worked fine until one of the ball heads sheared and set the table to rocking. It will be a simple fix. Fill the holes, drill them to size, insert new stainless steel bolts, washers, locking nuts and bingo, a stable table.
I also spent sometime in the fore-peak and under the shower pan in the forward head. New discoveries every inch of the way. One major discovery was the wash down plumbing system. A system to draw raw water to an outlet in the anchor locker to facilitate the cleaning of mud from anchors and rodes ( really could have used that in the Carolinas last year) was installed sometime in the misty past. There was a thru-hull with a hose that led to a pump that sent the water through another hose to an outlet in the anchor locker in the bow. Simple but effective and completely non-functioning. The real problem was the pump which while of marine grade was not intended to rest in water. It had simply been placed in the bilge where it was subjects to the ravages of the sea . . . .so to speak. In addition, since it wasn't fix in place, the movement of the boat eventually ripped the electrical connections away so that it wouldn't function any way. Disconnecting the plumbing and setting all the pieces out, it is clear that, if the pimp works, or replaced, the system will work . . . provided I get a new outlet for the anchor locker, as the one there I discovered was cheap and corroded and broke when I tried to move it.
This area in the fore-peak is prone to retaining water which is not a good thing. It doesn't drain and I was trying to come up with a solution, everything from raising the sub-floor to installing a pump.I thing I will go with the pump, less work and less expense. This area was also filled with miscellaneous wires connected to nothing, pieces of hose that went nowhere, and what important wires and hoses there were, were all twisted around each other in a real tangle. So the unneeded, unwanted and useless was removed and the rest was laid appropriately and neatly back in place. One other point: as with the drain in the aft head, the shower drain in the fore-peak, had no drain hose. Actually it did but it had been cut off short and led merely to the area under the shower pan. I presume that as with the aft head shower, the former owner decided to let gravity do the job of drain the water as it was too difficult to do it right.It would have meant cleaning the bilge and removing extraneous and unnecessary items so that you could place the appropriate hoses. That always seems to be the problems with boats, successive owners simply add more stuff, more wire, more hose, rater than first removing the old items you are replacing.It makes upgrading and repair a real pain in the butt!
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