SHIP'S LOG:
It was a beautiful day and I spent it doing a lot of little tasks on ABISHAG. The boatyard was over-run with boaters who had as yet done not one thing to get their boats ready for the season. True, the weather had a lot to do with it but this is a late time to get started. Then again, at least they are getting started. And there are still bunches of boats still all wrapped up, safe and snug, against a winter that is already gone.
None of the tasks today really caused me to break a sweat, but as with lots of boat jobs, they did all take longer than one would have thought. Despite, or perhaps in spite, of all my careful measuring of the wood for the new caprail, I had a pie-shaped gap between two sections that could not be ignored. Too big to fill with wood filler, it required the cutting a shaping of a piece to fit. I still have the teak remains of the old rail so I cut out an appropriately sized piece, trimmed it, set in in place, trimmed it again, and glued it in place. Along with inserting one piece, I had to trim off the fixes I made for similar gaps the other day. When this was done, the rail was ready for sanding which I will do today. Then it is stain it and varnish it and the job is done. Huzzah!
The area under the galley counter and sink, wherein formerly resided the water maker, is/was a rather abused spot that needed painting. Painting is often better than cleaning as many times, even after cleaning, painting is required to make something look descent. Again this was a simple task as I had a spray can of primer and a spray can of paint already, something that I had picked up for some project that didn't get done and is now forgotten. The fumes were awful but dissipated quickly and the finish coat was done and dry in 12 minutes. Anything is better than the fumes from the bilge paint which is still off-gassing.
The next job, though easy, was messy - cleaning and lubricating the winches and the shackles. Exposed as they are to the weather and the salt air, they need yearly cleaning and lubing or they don't work. It may actually be the reason why the main halyard winch will not turn when cranked. Perhaps corrosion has "welded" it in place. If i could get it off the mast I could find out but the stainless steel machine bolts that hold it to the aluminum mast are corroded in place and nothing I or Fred have tried will loosen them up. Hence, I can't solve the mystery of the non-function main halyard winch because I can not disassemble it "in situ."
The strange thing about lubricating grease, the very element that you put on something to make it move easily can/will/does turn in time into a think, sticky goop that actually retards movement. Disassembling a winch to clean and lube it, sometimes a fun job in and of itself, requires that you first that you clean it. If it hasn't been done in awhile, it requires cloths to wipe off the grease, "picks" to get the harden old grease out of those places where the cloth can't reach, and something to cut and remove the remains of the old grease and no matter how careful you are, grease gets everywhere. In the end you must give yourself to the mess knowing that you will eventually have to wash down the boat anyway.
Following the winches there comes the shackles. Shackles on the halyards, shackles on the topping lifts, shackles everywhere. And then there are the blocks: blocks on the Genoa track, blocks for the furling gear, blocks for the spinnaker,blocks for the outhauls. Lube, Lube, Lube! Not difficult work but messy, messy, messy.The trick in all the lubricating is not to use too much as it can be worse than not using enough. This flies in the face of the American ethic that if some is good, more must be better. In this case it is definitely not the case!
Monday's pan of attack is to sand down the new caprail. The next plan is to do the touch up sanding so that the rail is one continuous "perfect" rail from stem to stern. The plan then is to fill any remaining gaps with wood filler. Once that dries, the plan is then to stain the new wood and then varnish, always remembering that Custer had a plan too!
Monday, April 22, 2013
Friday, April 19, 2013
If It's Not One thing, It's Another!
SHIP'S LOG:
With total disregard of the nasty weather predicted by NOAA, I went up to the boat today to take care of a few small matters. The first was to set in place the braces for the stanchions that carry the load of the dinghy. Last year, I had one of these stanchions welded because it had been cracked when the dinghy got boarded by a bad wave in the Delaware Bay on the way home. It was clear that the davitts for the dinghy which are incorporated into the stern rails were simply too much weight (when the dinghy was on them) for the stanchions. The new braces provide great support. They stanchions don't move at all so they will carry the davittts and hence the dinghy without a problem.
The next little project was to secure two padded clamping devices that hold the filtration tube for the water maker. The new home for the water maker, in a starboard aft locker in the rear cabin, has plenty of space, now that the refrigeration is gone, and this little project consisted of attaching the clamping devices with two screws. I wish all projects were that easy.
While I was in a clamping mood, I replaced two metal clamps in the forward head that head the hose for the pump-out for the holding tank. The metal clamps were cheap and had rusted and looked terrible, so they had to go. They were replaced by two PVC pipe clamps which again took two screws! Huzzah!
Next I got to vacuum the entire interior of the boat. And it really needed it. I am just fascinated by how much dirt the boat attracts inside. However, vacuuming a boat is unlike vacuuming a house. It is basically a "hand-&-knees" procedure. One good thing is that you discover stuff that the gremlins have stolen and scattered around the boat when I wasn't looking.
I have an issue with the rudder. It is wood sheathed in fiberglass and there is a place where the wood is exposed. Near the bottom of the rudder shaft, there is a metal plate fixed to the rudder and part of the fiberglass is missing. There has been some slight water intrusion into the wood, but exposing it to the air and treating it with a penetrating epoxy will fix that. However, when I was sanding off the paint, exposing the wood, the metal plate and the fiberglass, the sanding pad got jammed and destroyed my drill. The chuck-less working end is made of a hard plastic and whatever held it to the shaft of the drill got stripped. It will turn but won't take any pressure so it is new drill time. Sigh!
With total disregard of the nasty weather predicted by NOAA, I went up to the boat today to take care of a few small matters. The first was to set in place the braces for the stanchions that carry the load of the dinghy. Last year, I had one of these stanchions welded because it had been cracked when the dinghy got boarded by a bad wave in the Delaware Bay on the way home. It was clear that the davitts for the dinghy which are incorporated into the stern rails were simply too much weight (when the dinghy was on them) for the stanchions. The new braces provide great support. They stanchions don't move at all so they will carry the davittts and hence the dinghy without a problem.
The next little project was to secure two padded clamping devices that hold the filtration tube for the water maker. The new home for the water maker, in a starboard aft locker in the rear cabin, has plenty of space, now that the refrigeration is gone, and this little project consisted of attaching the clamping devices with two screws. I wish all projects were that easy.
While I was in a clamping mood, I replaced two metal clamps in the forward head that head the hose for the pump-out for the holding tank. The metal clamps were cheap and had rusted and looked terrible, so they had to go. They were replaced by two PVC pipe clamps which again took two screws! Huzzah!
Next I got to vacuum the entire interior of the boat. And it really needed it. I am just fascinated by how much dirt the boat attracts inside. However, vacuuming a boat is unlike vacuuming a house. It is basically a "hand-&-knees" procedure. One good thing is that you discover stuff that the gremlins have stolen and scattered around the boat when I wasn't looking.
I have an issue with the rudder. It is wood sheathed in fiberglass and there is a place where the wood is exposed. Near the bottom of the rudder shaft, there is a metal plate fixed to the rudder and part of the fiberglass is missing. There has been some slight water intrusion into the wood, but exposing it to the air and treating it with a penetrating epoxy will fix that. However, when I was sanding off the paint, exposing the wood, the metal plate and the fiberglass, the sanding pad got jammed and destroyed my drill. The chuck-less working end is made of a hard plastic and whatever held it to the shaft of the drill got stripped. It will turn but won't take any pressure so it is new drill time. Sigh!
Another Day, Another Blister!
SHIP'S LOG:
The word on the wind generator is that it can not be repaired on site, so it is that it gets a trip to someplace in Florida for "rejuvenation." I am hoping that it will be a short and inexpensive trip!
I removed the old caprail, scraped the surface, filled the holes and laid out the new rail. With great care, holes were drilled in the new rail and it was screwed down in place. I have new respect for people who work in wood for as much as I measured and remeasured, the pieces didn't butt up tightly. It two places, I had to cut a fill-in piece to fill in the gap between two sections of the rail. It is what comes from trying to fit straight pieces of wood on to a curved hull.
The word on the wind generator is that it can not be repaired on site, so it is that it gets a trip to someplace in Florida for "rejuvenation." I am hoping that it will be a short and inexpensive trip!
I removed the old caprail, scraped the surface, filled the holes and laid out the new rail. With great care, holes were drilled in the new rail and it was screwed down in place. I have new respect for people who work in wood for as much as I measured and remeasured, the pieces didn't butt up tightly. It two places, I had to cut a fill-in piece to fill in the gap between two sections of the rail. It is what comes from trying to fit straight pieces of wood on to a curved hull.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Many Hands Make Lite Work!
SHIP'S LOG:
It is always a good thing to have help when your are undertaking projects on your boat. You have someone to help, someone to bounce ideas off, someone to make suggestions, some one to do the actual work and someone to blame if things come-a-cropper!
Josh the yard electrician tackled the wind generator problem. As you know, to me electricity is all voodoo and I avoid dealing with it as much as possible. he went through the manual and all the steps and determined that the problem must be in the generator unit way up the top of the mizzen mast. The yard had a cherry picker so he did what work he could up there before resorting to calling the manufacturer to see if there was anything he missed and/or whether or not he had to take the unit off and ship it to them for repair. He got no response fro m the company but left messages and hopefully we will get a call back sooner than later. Still trying to figure out how the gremlins are stealing volts from the batteries. There is a slow but steady drain and it has everyone scratching their heads.
While all that fun was going on, I was busily ripping off 11 feet or so of the port caprail. It was the section that got battered and beaten and was being held in place with wood filler and Gorilla glue. It looked awful and was structurally unsound and had to go. My good friend Skip got me some very fine oak as a replacement. While the Gorilla glue wasn't all that good at holding the wood together it was dynamite in holing the wood to the fiberglass. It too quite the effort to get it off. In addition, I had to locate and remove the screws that were actually holding the caprail to the boat. I had to find the bungs that sealed and hid their locations along the rail, dig the bungs out, clean the slot on the screws with a dental pick so that I could slot in a screw drive and back them out. Sounds simple but it wasn't. The rail had been whacked enough times so that the screws in the rail were bent and just wouldn't back out. I had to chisel-out the wood around the screws( teak is rather hard) and then attach a pair of vice-grips and so spin out the screws. Next came filling the old screw holes and any voids along the rail. Once that was done, I had to fit an 8 foot straight piece of oak along an 11 foot piece of curved rail. I had to cut and scarf the pieces to fit the curve and though I was 3ft or so short, it went well. I see if Skip has some more wood to finish the job.
Like I said, many hands make lite work. They also make more work as well. Friend Fred came by, and after suggesting several additional projects for me to tackle, took over repositioning the water-maker to the rear cabin. There was not a lot of room to do the work so I left Fred handle it, which he would rather have happen anyway. He spent lots of time expressing him admiration of the technical design of the system and making derogatory comments on its previous installation. Typical Fred, God bless him. One thing, if Fred tackles a job, it will be done right. Good friend that he is, he left me all the grunt work to finish up.
Before Fred was having fun in the aft locker and Josh was having fun 50 feet in the air at the wind generator, in addition to the caprail I was dealing with, Fred and I tackled the Main halyard winch on the mast. It has been non-functioning as long as I have owned the boat but it currently serves no necessary purpose. I use it as an "aide" in dealing with the mainsail out-haul, but basically that's it. The main halyard goes up once in the spring and we don't need the power of the winch to get it up. So while it would be nice to be able to "grind" that particular winch, it isn't really necessary. It can't be repaired "in situ" as it can't be completely dismantled "in situ." As a result, we want to take it off the mast, but the five SS machine bolts that affix it to the mast are "unmoving." The mast is aluminum and the bolts stainless steel and when the two meet, in the present of moisture and with a little time, corrosion sets in. And since these bolts have been in place since the mast went into the boat some 34 years ago, there was serious need to break the corrosion. However, nothing we tried worked and before we stripped the heads, I cleaned and greased the winch and reassembled it. It is a low priority project for another day.
It is always a good thing to have help when your are undertaking projects on your boat. You have someone to help, someone to bounce ideas off, someone to make suggestions, some one to do the actual work and someone to blame if things come-a-cropper!
Josh the yard electrician tackled the wind generator problem. As you know, to me electricity is all voodoo and I avoid dealing with it as much as possible. he went through the manual and all the steps and determined that the problem must be in the generator unit way up the top of the mizzen mast. The yard had a cherry picker so he did what work he could up there before resorting to calling the manufacturer to see if there was anything he missed and/or whether or not he had to take the unit off and ship it to them for repair. He got no response fro m the company but left messages and hopefully we will get a call back sooner than later. Still trying to figure out how the gremlins are stealing volts from the batteries. There is a slow but steady drain and it has everyone scratching their heads.
While all that fun was going on, I was busily ripping off 11 feet or so of the port caprail. It was the section that got battered and beaten and was being held in place with wood filler and Gorilla glue. It looked awful and was structurally unsound and had to go. My good friend Skip got me some very fine oak as a replacement. While the Gorilla glue wasn't all that good at holding the wood together it was dynamite in holing the wood to the fiberglass. It too quite the effort to get it off. In addition, I had to locate and remove the screws that were actually holding the caprail to the boat. I had to find the bungs that sealed and hid their locations along the rail, dig the bungs out, clean the slot on the screws with a dental pick so that I could slot in a screw drive and back them out. Sounds simple but it wasn't. The rail had been whacked enough times so that the screws in the rail were bent and just wouldn't back out. I had to chisel-out the wood around the screws( teak is rather hard) and then attach a pair of vice-grips and so spin out the screws. Next came filling the old screw holes and any voids along the rail. Once that was done, I had to fit an 8 foot straight piece of oak along an 11 foot piece of curved rail. I had to cut and scarf the pieces to fit the curve and though I was 3ft or so short, it went well. I see if Skip has some more wood to finish the job.
Like I said, many hands make lite work. They also make more work as well. Friend Fred came by, and after suggesting several additional projects for me to tackle, took over repositioning the water-maker to the rear cabin. There was not a lot of room to do the work so I left Fred handle it, which he would rather have happen anyway. He spent lots of time expressing him admiration of the technical design of the system and making derogatory comments on its previous installation. Typical Fred, God bless him. One thing, if Fred tackles a job, it will be done right. Good friend that he is, he left me all the grunt work to finish up.
Before Fred was having fun in the aft locker and Josh was having fun 50 feet in the air at the wind generator, in addition to the caprail I was dealing with, Fred and I tackled the Main halyard winch on the mast. It has been non-functioning as long as I have owned the boat but it currently serves no necessary purpose. I use it as an "aide" in dealing with the mainsail out-haul, but basically that's it. The main halyard goes up once in the spring and we don't need the power of the winch to get it up. So while it would be nice to be able to "grind" that particular winch, it isn't really necessary. It can't be repaired "in situ" as it can't be completely dismantled "in situ." As a result, we want to take it off the mast, but the five SS machine bolts that affix it to the mast are "unmoving." The mast is aluminum and the bolts stainless steel and when the two meet, in the present of moisture and with a little time, corrosion sets in. And since these bolts have been in place since the mast went into the boat some 34 years ago, there was serious need to break the corrosion. However, nothing we tried worked and before we stripped the heads, I cleaned and greased the winch and reassembled it. It is a low priority project for another day.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
And Back To work!
SHIP'S LOG:
Today's projects were not all that many. I was planning to scarf in the new toe rail but unfortunately, the yard was using my electrical cable to charge up my batteries so electrical tools were out for the day. Instead, I decided to clean-out and paint the anchor locker. It still contains traces of the mud from the Carolinas and, with the leaves of the fall that found their way into the locker, along with some leftover sealife from the summer, it was a rather pungent brew that need to be exercised from the locker.
Hauling out the rope and chain anchor rode, I found parts of the rope to be a lovely shade of green so I high pressure washed the entire length, getting not only the green but the salt crystals out of the rode. I also discovered, luckily, that one of the links in the chain "leader" that attaches the rode to the anchor was bad. It had corroded to the point that I didn't think it was safe to use it any further. Disappointingly, the offending link was right in the middle of the 12 foot length of chain. I had another length of the same type of chain and replace the old with the "relatively new." It required getting the galvanized shackles off which took a lot of language, PB Blaster and some serious elbow grease. Galvanized shackles tend to weld themselves into an unmoving state after they have been exposed to the weather and/or water. It is a good thing in that you never really have to worry that they will undo themselves when you are not looking though it is a bad thing when you want to undo them. Still after making the switch, I still installed the safety wires on the shackles which should insure that they are never coming apart unintended.
The anchor locker also contains a hose (to wash down the deck); a handle to operate the windlass manually; the anchor weights (used to double the holding power of the anchor when set); a lead line; and a couple of holey stones( used to scrub the teak deck if one so chooses). The it was wash out the "gunk" and let dry, wipe it down with paint thinner and paint. Two coats went on and it looks great. I almost hated to put the stuff back into the locker.
I actually had to do some sewing. One of the cushions on the settee had a split between the fabric top and the vinyl bottom. It kept getting snagged by the hatch on the settee locker next to it which gets open constantly. That lock contains all the spares and "whatnot" items that are always being used.It was a quick and easy job, though I wonder how long it will last.
The next little project was to pressure wash the hull and get rid of all the loose paint. Every boat seems to have several places along the hull where bottom paint just doesn't want to stick. getting rid of the loose paint on these spots allows me to put down an undercoat or two before doing the entire job.
I was just getting ready for the next little project when the rains came. it was rather surprising in that NOAA called for temps in the 50'sw and sunny skies. Then again, maybe it should not have been such a surprise. It was NOAA after all.
Today's projects were not all that many. I was planning to scarf in the new toe rail but unfortunately, the yard was using my electrical cable to charge up my batteries so electrical tools were out for the day. Instead, I decided to clean-out and paint the anchor locker. It still contains traces of the mud from the Carolinas and, with the leaves of the fall that found their way into the locker, along with some leftover sealife from the summer, it was a rather pungent brew that need to be exercised from the locker.
Hauling out the rope and chain anchor rode, I found parts of the rope to be a lovely shade of green so I high pressure washed the entire length, getting not only the green but the salt crystals out of the rode. I also discovered, luckily, that one of the links in the chain "leader" that attaches the rode to the anchor was bad. It had corroded to the point that I didn't think it was safe to use it any further. Disappointingly, the offending link was right in the middle of the 12 foot length of chain. I had another length of the same type of chain and replace the old with the "relatively new." It required getting the galvanized shackles off which took a lot of language, PB Blaster and some serious elbow grease. Galvanized shackles tend to weld themselves into an unmoving state after they have been exposed to the weather and/or water. It is a good thing in that you never really have to worry that they will undo themselves when you are not looking though it is a bad thing when you want to undo them. Still after making the switch, I still installed the safety wires on the shackles which should insure that they are never coming apart unintended.
The anchor locker also contains a hose (to wash down the deck); a handle to operate the windlass manually; the anchor weights (used to double the holding power of the anchor when set); a lead line; and a couple of holey stones( used to scrub the teak deck if one so chooses). The it was wash out the "gunk" and let dry, wipe it down with paint thinner and paint. Two coats went on and it looks great. I almost hated to put the stuff back into the locker.
I actually had to do some sewing. One of the cushions on the settee had a split between the fabric top and the vinyl bottom. It kept getting snagged by the hatch on the settee locker next to it which gets open constantly. That lock contains all the spares and "whatnot" items that are always being used.It was a quick and easy job, though I wonder how long it will last.
The next little project was to pressure wash the hull and get rid of all the loose paint. Every boat seems to have several places along the hull where bottom paint just doesn't want to stick. getting rid of the loose paint on these spots allows me to put down an undercoat or two before doing the entire job.
I was just getting ready for the next little project when the rains came. it was rather surprising in that NOAA called for temps in the 50'sw and sunny skies. Then again, maybe it should not have been such a surprise. It was NOAA after all.
Monday, April 15, 2013
Happy Tax Day ! ! ! ! !
SHIP'S LOG:
I must be getting old. After a week and a weekend of work, I am beat and sore. True, not all of it was done on my boat. Saturday was down at TYC ripping out the kitchen floor, putting the two skiffs in the water, fixing the floating dock in place and generally getting the place ready for Spring Clean-up Day. Sunday was work up at the boat, painting the deep sump of the bilge and the parts of the engine area I could reach, cleaning the head and the forepeak, and, later in the afternoon, helping Jackie Fisher uncover her boat in a surprisingly un-forecast stiff breeze. So it is that I am taking today off. Tomorrow, I will truck up again to Portland and begin what are mostly clean up projects. If friend Fred ever gets another day off, we'll tackle the pressure water system again. I must really be tired because I am making all sorts of typing mistakes. Thank goodness of spell-check!
I must be getting old. After a week and a weekend of work, I am beat and sore. True, not all of it was done on my boat. Saturday was down at TYC ripping out the kitchen floor, putting the two skiffs in the water, fixing the floating dock in place and generally getting the place ready for Spring Clean-up Day. Sunday was work up at the boat, painting the deep sump of the bilge and the parts of the engine area I could reach, cleaning the head and the forepeak, and, later in the afternoon, helping Jackie Fisher uncover her boat in a surprisingly un-forecast stiff breeze. So it is that I am taking today off. Tomorrow, I will truck up again to Portland and begin what are mostly clean up projects. If friend Fred ever gets another day off, we'll tackle the pressure water system again. I must really be tired because I am making all sorts of typing mistakes. Thank goodness of spell-check!
Friday, April 12, 2013
An Actual Week (Almost!) Of Spring Boat Work! ! ! !
SHIP'S LOG:
I blame N.O.A.A. ! If they had been a little more accurate, hell if they had been accurate at all, I would gotten an actual 4 straight days of spring maintenance done on ABISHAG. As it was, I got three and I am actually happy with that.
The biggest project was "painting the bilge." It might seem strange to actually be all that concerned enough with a part of the boat you rarely see to actually go through the process of painting it but it actually is of great benefit. Despite the best efforts of every boater, water (sea or fresh) and various petroleum products( lube oil, diesel & gas) end up in the bilge and slosh around until removed. One never seems to quite get it all out but merely reduces the amount to an acceptable level. Petroleum products will eventually leach into raw fiberglass and, not only stain it, but give it a "fragrance" that cannot be removed. And where the petroleum products go, water is sure to follow making the smell even worse. In addition, the right combo of water and petroleum products can create osmotic blisters which can weaken the hull. So it behooves one to remove both from the bilge. And the best way to do it is with a paint design specifically for the purpose. It seals the fiberglass and makes it look "purrdy!"
Of course, one cannot just "slap on the paint" and be done with it. Nope! First you have to scrape down all the surfaces to be painted to remove old flaking paint. Next there is the obvious need to vacuum out the detritus that you have created. Then, it is necessary wash down the surface and "decrease" them as well. Any place bilge water goes, it take with it the petroleum soup from the sump and deposits it with great care. It all must go away or the paint won't adhere. Sounds a simple procedure but the bilge stretches under every bit of flooring, most of which you can really get under. There are just the hatches in the deck that are placed there to reach "important" devices and things like the water tank fill, and not just for free access to the bilge. While the interiors of boats are often marvels of innovation in the are of cramming amazing amounts of stuff into incredibly small places, easy access it one aspect of the whole concept that seems to have slipped by unnoticed. It is as though once something has been installed, the installer never conceived of the notion that it would ever have to be removed. In some case you can just shift things around, like moving hoses and wires and the like. In other cases, you just have to see how far you can stick a brush loaded with paint and how creative you can be getting in, under, around and down items that are not moving anywhere!
It is also necessary to have a plan regarding where you start and how you will proceed with the painting. Painting oneself into a corner on a boat is a real possibility on a bot, so a pan is an absolute necessity. However, one must always remember that "Custer had a plan!" The actual worst spot is, of course, the bilge sump which is in the center of the boat, so it will be the last part attacked as everything in the bilge eventually ends up there. Thus t is that one has to work one's way from either end to the center. Scraping and vacuuming isn't to bad. Washing and decreasing is a little more difficult. Painting is a total pain. Mixing the paint and pouring it into a smaller, easier to move and use container, leads to the inevitable dripping and little grey spots and rings everywhere one paints and also in a lots of places one has no intention of painting. I was actually able to get the whole project done without once spilling the paint. I suppose that do to the fact that I had to do it in small sections, I was able to keep paint transfer to a minimum.
Every part is done now except the engine bed, the section under the engine itself, and the deep sump. Those took extra time to clean and decrease. Even though I have tried to clean these two spots each year, there were always places I evidently never got to. This time, with the help of a garden sprayer and some industrial strength degreasing solvent, every spot got dosed and washed out several times. I even scrubbed them down using a serious scrub brush on the end of a paint stirrer to reach the hard to get spots. As a result I am confident that I was able to get those places 95% clean. Short of pullout the engine, which I certainly have no intention of doing, you just can't get to them. That being said, the painting of those spots will take place Monday, weather permitting. It would have been done already, but NOAA screwed up again. They called for on and off rain all day Thursday leading to a day-long rain on Friday. Nary a drop fell on Thursday and the day was at worst "partially sunny." Friday will be a wash out. Saturday I am committed to work at TYC. Sunday will be a drying of the boat day. I am sure that water will enter the boat through the mast and the ports I left ajar to air out the boat and it will all end up in the deep sump. That has to be drained and dried before painting.
The ports were left ajar by the way because the fumes from the bilge paint were really something. At first I didn't really notice them. heck, when you work with paints and varnishes and fiberglass resins and solvents and the like, you almost don;'t noticed the smell. Fred came by and got me to open the ports and hatches and give the boat a really good airing. That when I could actually smell how bad it was. It is all but gone now but will reappear when I do the sump. The engine bed, which is mostly unreachable, I will let slide and get by with an engine oil drip pad. One very good thing that the painting of the bilge provides is that I can now see inside the bilge to what is there. Before this, opening a hatch into the bilge. I was faced with the "Clack Hole of Calcutta." I couldn't see a lick. Now at least, I can see things which is of genuine benefit.
In addition to that little project, there was also the greasing of sheaves and cables. There was the trimming of fiberglass hatches and hatches covers. I was able to section the cockpit grating so that it is removable. When the last owner put in the new steering pedestal and pedestal guard, he rendered the grating non-removable. Not a big deal but lots of dirt(where it comes from I don't know), leaves, screws, pieces of grating, and all sorts of other detritus found their ways into the area under the grating. Eventually, they found their way into the scuppers and in on case, clogged one. And there was just no way to really clean the area under the grating, until now. Now, it is a 30 second job at most. Pop the grating, hose it down, hose down the cockpit flooring, scoop out anything that gets trap on the scupper screens, and put the grating back Voila!
I am hoping that next week, I will get to the toe-rail replacement and begin the bottom painting. That would be a very good week indeed.
I blame N.O.A.A. ! If they had been a little more accurate, hell if they had been accurate at all, I would gotten an actual 4 straight days of spring maintenance done on ABISHAG. As it was, I got three and I am actually happy with that.
The biggest project was "painting the bilge." It might seem strange to actually be all that concerned enough with a part of the boat you rarely see to actually go through the process of painting it but it actually is of great benefit. Despite the best efforts of every boater, water (sea or fresh) and various petroleum products( lube oil, diesel & gas) end up in the bilge and slosh around until removed. One never seems to quite get it all out but merely reduces the amount to an acceptable level. Petroleum products will eventually leach into raw fiberglass and, not only stain it, but give it a "fragrance" that cannot be removed. And where the petroleum products go, water is sure to follow making the smell even worse. In addition, the right combo of water and petroleum products can create osmotic blisters which can weaken the hull. So it behooves one to remove both from the bilge. And the best way to do it is with a paint design specifically for the purpose. It seals the fiberglass and makes it look "purrdy!"
Of course, one cannot just "slap on the paint" and be done with it. Nope! First you have to scrape down all the surfaces to be painted to remove old flaking paint. Next there is the obvious need to vacuum out the detritus that you have created. Then, it is necessary wash down the surface and "decrease" them as well. Any place bilge water goes, it take with it the petroleum soup from the sump and deposits it with great care. It all must go away or the paint won't adhere. Sounds a simple procedure but the bilge stretches under every bit of flooring, most of which you can really get under. There are just the hatches in the deck that are placed there to reach "important" devices and things like the water tank fill, and not just for free access to the bilge. While the interiors of boats are often marvels of innovation in the are of cramming amazing amounts of stuff into incredibly small places, easy access it one aspect of the whole concept that seems to have slipped by unnoticed. It is as though once something has been installed, the installer never conceived of the notion that it would ever have to be removed. In some case you can just shift things around, like moving hoses and wires and the like. In other cases, you just have to see how far you can stick a brush loaded with paint and how creative you can be getting in, under, around and down items that are not moving anywhere!
It is also necessary to have a plan regarding where you start and how you will proceed with the painting. Painting oneself into a corner on a boat is a real possibility on a bot, so a pan is an absolute necessity. However, one must always remember that "Custer had a plan!" The actual worst spot is, of course, the bilge sump which is in the center of the boat, so it will be the last part attacked as everything in the bilge eventually ends up there. Thus t is that one has to work one's way from either end to the center. Scraping and vacuuming isn't to bad. Washing and decreasing is a little more difficult. Painting is a total pain. Mixing the paint and pouring it into a smaller, easier to move and use container, leads to the inevitable dripping and little grey spots and rings everywhere one paints and also in a lots of places one has no intention of painting. I was actually able to get the whole project done without once spilling the paint. I suppose that do to the fact that I had to do it in small sections, I was able to keep paint transfer to a minimum.
Every part is done now except the engine bed, the section under the engine itself, and the deep sump. Those took extra time to clean and decrease. Even though I have tried to clean these two spots each year, there were always places I evidently never got to. This time, with the help of a garden sprayer and some industrial strength degreasing solvent, every spot got dosed and washed out several times. I even scrubbed them down using a serious scrub brush on the end of a paint stirrer to reach the hard to get spots. As a result I am confident that I was able to get those places 95% clean. Short of pullout the engine, which I certainly have no intention of doing, you just can't get to them. That being said, the painting of those spots will take place Monday, weather permitting. It would have been done already, but NOAA screwed up again. They called for on and off rain all day Thursday leading to a day-long rain on Friday. Nary a drop fell on Thursday and the day was at worst "partially sunny." Friday will be a wash out. Saturday I am committed to work at TYC. Sunday will be a drying of the boat day. I am sure that water will enter the boat through the mast and the ports I left ajar to air out the boat and it will all end up in the deep sump. That has to be drained and dried before painting.
The ports were left ajar by the way because the fumes from the bilge paint were really something. At first I didn't really notice them. heck, when you work with paints and varnishes and fiberglass resins and solvents and the like, you almost don;'t noticed the smell. Fred came by and got me to open the ports and hatches and give the boat a really good airing. That when I could actually smell how bad it was. It is all but gone now but will reappear when I do the sump. The engine bed, which is mostly unreachable, I will let slide and get by with an engine oil drip pad. One very good thing that the painting of the bilge provides is that I can now see inside the bilge to what is there. Before this, opening a hatch into the bilge. I was faced with the "Clack Hole of Calcutta." I couldn't see a lick. Now at least, I can see things which is of genuine benefit.
In addition to that little project, there was also the greasing of sheaves and cables. There was the trimming of fiberglass hatches and hatches covers. I was able to section the cockpit grating so that it is removable. When the last owner put in the new steering pedestal and pedestal guard, he rendered the grating non-removable. Not a big deal but lots of dirt(where it comes from I don't know), leaves, screws, pieces of grating, and all sorts of other detritus found their ways into the area under the grating. Eventually, they found their way into the scuppers and in on case, clogged one. And there was just no way to really clean the area under the grating, until now. Now, it is a 30 second job at most. Pop the grating, hose it down, hose down the cockpit flooring, scoop out anything that gets trap on the scupper screens, and put the grating back Voila!
I am hoping that next week, I will get to the toe-rail replacement and begin the bottom painting. That would be a very good week indeed.
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