Trying to Get off the Hard

The past two weeks have gone by so fast I'm starting to panic a little.  We're doing everything we can to splash by Thursday (today!). Was supposed to be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday... We were supposed to be driving back to AR yesterday... We're still waiting on a couple parts.  A spacer for the drive shaft, and the tiller head.  Last week it rained 2-3 times a day and all night every night.  It didn't help our plight much, but many of the passing rain showers only lasted long enough to get everything closed up and tarped.  We worked through it. And if it rained all afternoon, there was always something we needed at Ace, and Lowes, and Chapmans, and Harbor Freight, and West Marine, and Lewis, and Mariner Metals, and MR Woods.  Our homes away from home.  Ace the friendly place...

There is a crack in the keel seam between the lead and hull glass. It is below the two keel bolts that always sit in water.  Whether on the hard, in the water, rain, shine, there is always water sitting there.  It doesn't drain to the bilge properly.  We'll fix that shortly, but for now we need to get the outside done.

 AJ tightened down the keel bolts and sanded the crack in the paint where the keel seam was leaking.  The keel seam was fiberglass taped by a previous owner at some point, and it was cracked when we hauled out, so this appears to have been an ongoing problem.  Running out of time we ground back the area, cleared out the old caulk, flattened the tip on the caulk gun and re-filled the seam with 5200 hoping it will allow for flex until we can drop the keel, inspect the bolts, and rebed the whole mess in the far future.  It will do for now.



I stripped and painted the lockers that house the transducer thru hulls, and batteries.  I was planning on using white but we have a gallon of gray bilge coat, so gray it is. The speed/log transducer is in port side thru hull, depth sounder in the starboard.

We have two portlights left to install.  They were not done with the others because the wood fascia behind them had to be replaced.   We started by epoxying in new solid 3/16" teak fascia head boards on the starboard side above the closet and in the vee berth.  They were the only two sections that were still covered in the original Chinese plywood with teak veneer.  They were badly delaminated and rotten, so we scraped the coachroof insides clean to the polyester rather easily in that area.  The rest of the cabin has already been very nicely done in solid teak boards instead of plywood.  Our local wood guy, Mark, homesteads with his wife, Rose, on their self sustaining farm.  When not harvesting eggs, or slaughtering chickens or pigs, they run M.R. Woods in Stuart, FL. They also harvest absolutely the most amazing orange blossom honey.  He kindly hand-selected some old growth heart wood teak 6" wide lumber from his stock and sawed off thin boards then edge glued them to get the needed 11" height.  This is how the other replacement panels in the cabin were done, but with Mark's panels, the joint is very difficult to find.  Primo work, and only $60 for the fascia and 30 feet of teak trim if you can believe it.  The $ never gets eaten up where you think they will. It's the soft costs that kill you.  Notice that the bulk head splits the window in half.  We rectified this by cutting off the top of the bulkhead both so we could access the rotten fascia and so the window can be installed.   It will be reinforced across the ceiling to the cabinet bulkhead, but more on that when we get to it.  For now the old arrangement must go.

  AJ cut out a crude oval matching the old portlight so we'd have a way to clamp it down while it cured. The fascia boards were surprisingly stiff and remained straight while sitting in the boat for the week of rain, but soaking up the epoxy on one side caused them to want to curl once applied the cabin sides, and the clamps weren't enough.  We had to improvise something to push them back down before the epoxy cured.  We wedged 2 x 4s, paint roller handle extensions, sections of aluminum extrusion, and spare shelves between the cabin sides with plenty of paint stirring sticks to shim it just right.  It was tricky. But worked.

The back corner drain in the cockpit floor still had to be plumbed.  We decided to run it to the large portside drain.  AJ spent a lot of time at plumbing and home improvement stores looking for a piece that we could use to plumb the small aft drain into the massive forward ones that we built a few months ago.  We could have built something out of hundreds of dollars of large bronze fittings: A 2" Tee; 2x 2" threaded hose barbs; a 2"-1" reducer holding a 1"-3/4" reducer, and a 3/4" barb.  Aside from the heavy and expensive chunk of bronze I would have ended up with, it would have had 5 threaded joints, which is to me as good as asking for a leak.  Fiberglass/epoxy is quickly becoming our go-to material, so we decided it would be simpler and better to make our own out of lightweight, leakproof, everlasting fiberglass "T" junction.   We started with a 2" fiberglass exhaust coupling tube, then drilled a hole and inserted flexible poly tubing of the correct diameter.  The correct inside diameter of the drain is the same as the outside diameter of the tubing.  Then just wrap the tubing in wet fiberglass (two wraps of biaxial cloth with chopped strand mat = ~ 1/8" thick), feather the wet fiberglass out onto the 2" tube around the junction, and immediately wrap in masking tape to keep it all compressed and smooth as it cures.  The key here is that epoxy does not stick to masking tape adhesive nor to the poly tubing, so after it cures, all we had to do is peel the masking tape off and grab the poly tube with some pliers and twist until it came out.

Viola: solid cockpit drain tube T junction.  We added some strand thickened epoxy to the joint area afterwards to further reinforce it.  I am beginning to love the simplicity of fiberglass...  still not liking the raw materials involved.

AJ also made the small aft cockpit drain tube this plumbs to in the same manner.

We ran into some problems with the prop.  We had a nice 3 blade prop, but it didn't fit because it had slightly aft raked blades that hit the rudder.  So we put on a 2 blade prop given to us by Lee McGregor, but it hit the rudder too. So we had to cut the shaft just a bit to get it to fit properly.  Plus a two blade prop can be removed without lifting the engine to move the shaft forward first.   It's now on and ready, we're just waiting on the proper spacer for our drivesaver in order to finalize.

We've also installed a lot of the deck hardware, still more to install today.  The bilge pump is installed, And many of the new stanchions are standing proud.  It's been a little of this and a little of that all over the boat each day trying to get ready. Feels like I'm running in circles!

Post on the engine installation and test run coming soon...

Portlights and Brightwork

We replaced the 6 fixed windows with new bronze opening portlights from New Found Metals.  We scoured for used portlights, but finding a matching 6 in the right size was not looking hopeful.  We stumbled upon New Found Metals online to find their new portlights were actually cheaper than any used ones we seen.  People want a lot for old chalky portlights with broken glass. Maybe value is added for being antique.  The customer service at New Found Metals was excellent, from helping you order the right kit, to answering installation questions.  The man in the online instruction video is the designer, manufacturer, and the person you talk to on the phone if you have any questions. He and his small staff were very helpful.

The old windows were the same as the large windows we replaced in the last post, glass set in flush with the cabin and held on with glue and tiny screws.  Half of the glass was covered in seams of caulk proceeding in rows, and the rest was a cloud from the delaminating glass.  Naturally, they all leaked pretty badly.

To begin installation, clamp drilling template in place, drill holes, and trace the outline of the new window.

The 3/8" holes drilled through the template were re-cut with a high speed 5/8" piloted cutting tool that came with the installation kit.  It leaves a much finer result than a drill, slicing off thin smooth curls as it spins.

Next, cut out the window.  AJ drilled small holes to cut out the curves, then used a multi-tool to cut the straight edges. Sand and file till smooth and even.

The portlights have a 1 1/2" spigot around them.  Our cabin sides are only 3/8" thick to start with, so we had to use teak spacers (also provided by Newfound Metals) to bring the cabin up to the 1" minimum thickness for installation.

Glue on the teak trim ring.
Sand and file the rough edges until beautiful and flush with the teak trim spacer.

Smash strips of sticky, pliable butyl rubber to the portlight.  (About half as much as shown below.) Apply neoprene weather seal tape on the outside perimeter of the outer trim ring.  Apply thinner ring of butyl to inside perimeter of the trim ring.

Clamp window on however you can... to compress the butyl and set the portlight.

Fill any gap between the cut out and spigot with butyl rubber.  Leave it standing a bit proud around the seam.  Place the trim ring and squeeze it on tight. The clamp down the trim ring to compress.

Screw the portlight to the frame from the inside.
The screws that came with the portlights accounted for maximum cabin thickness and our cabin is only 3/8" so they had to be cut to length.

Pull off excess butyl or cram in more to fill gaps.

Don't bother cleaning up the butyl edge for a day or so.  It continues to ooze out very slowly for a minimum of a few hours.  I liked working with butyl rubber after all the noxious runny caulks and epoxies. It's like a sticky, tough play-do. Just stretch it to the desired thickness, squish it around, peel off excess, mash into a ball and re-use.  It doesn't leave much residue on your fingers either, though I don't know if it ever comes out form under fingernails.

To finish, remove the screws one at a time and bed them in silicon.

Voila! Beautiful watertight opening portholes, with insert-able bug screens!  And if they ever leak  just turn the screws a little tighter to squeeze the butyl rubber a bit more, or pull off the trim ring and cram more in. Their gold shine will soon be a dull brown patina. They're already speckling and darkening on the outside.

L

While AJ worked on the engine installation I finished the exterior wood treatment.  The cockpit seats were a sad sight.  We debated whether to varnish them again, or to use the teak oil sealer we are using on the toe rails and hand rails.

The Teak Sealer won.  Varnish was just a fat list of cons in the comparison.  The first inconvenience is it's requisite sanding between coats.  One coat can take two to three days to dry, dragging out the process for days and days.  Did I mention you have to sand before applying a new coat? Another drawback is that I have to wear a respirator around it.  I thought it wouldn't be too bad in the open air, but I learned my lesson with a splitting headache, sore throat, dizziness and nausea.  Always wear the stinking mask.  In the future I'd rather not have to steer clear of the boat while varnish dries.

The teak oil sealer rectifies varnishes cons.   No sanding between coats, it dries in a couple hours, and there are no irritating fumes.  Though to use it the varnish had to be stripped completely, leaving no residue.  I started with a heat gun and a scraper, then sanded until the bright yellow teak emerged.

For first time application, wash freshly sanded teak with a teak cleaner/brightner/restorer. Hose it down with water, rub in the cleaner, let it sit a few minutes, or brush it in if the teak is really dirty, then hose it off until suds free.  It is pretty incredible stuff, it takes out the dark spots and even restores soft black rotted areas back to a hard glowing yellow teak.

When it dries apply the teak oil sealer with a foam brush.  It looks like oily peanut butter in the can, but spreads on thin and soaks into the wood; It doesn't run and doesn't leave brush stroke streaks the way varnish can so you don't have to be a careful painter.  Thick buildup spots can be wiped away with mineral spirits later.  In fact we wiped all our teak with mineral spirits afterwards to even out the application and bring out the grain.  It cures in UV, so on a sunny day it's dry in a couple hours.  If it's in the shade, or totally overcast it can stay a little sticky for a couple days.

Shown below are the toerails with a fresh coat of  Starbright Teak Oil Sealer, and the cockpit seats are nearly fully stripped of varnish.

I applied 3 coats of the teak oil sealer.  It was dry enough by the time I got from one end of the cockpit to the other to apply the subsequent coats.  It leaves a soft wood grain finish.  It turned out the same reddish color as the varnished hatches, the difference is matte vs shiny. When it starts to wear or gray just apply another coat. No sanding necessary.  The whole boat can be re-oiled and dry in a few hours.  No muss no fuss, even if it has to be done a little more frequently than varnishing.  We'll see how it holds up in a few months.

I also applied the teak sealer to the handrails and the new toe rails.  Oiling the toe rails before they go on the boat saved me about $40 in masking tape.  That stuff is getting expensive!

There's one more thing I love about this product; notice the Starbright Tropical Teak Oil can.  It has a plastic lid on both ends!  It won't leave a rust ring where it is stored.  Genius Starbright! Mess free from storage to application. What a thoughtful detail.

Installing the Fixed Windows

AJ here this time. We've installed the two fixed cabin windows.  The original windows were heavy laminated glass with a split in the middle.  They were set inside the cutout, and sandwiched in place between wood trim inside and out, screwed in with the tiniest screws I've seen.  Seriously, they were wood threaded versions of laptop case screws.

This time we are making the windows out of 3/8" acrylic, and oversizing them 1" all around, so we have a lip to through-bolt them to the cabin.  The fastening is much stronger, and the resulting glazed area is about 1/2" bigger all around.

We decided to reuse the screw holes from the old inside trim, so we plugged the outer trim screw holes with a bit of wood colored epoxy from the inside and figured the caulk would make up the difference on the outside.  I made a cardboard drilling template for four of the corner screws and the cutout hole and centered it on the new window.  Problem one arose when I realized that I wouldn't be able to line up the cutout line on the template without being able to see through the glass.  The acrylic comes with both sides covered with a protective opaque film that I wanted to leave on through the process to prevent scratching the window.  Careful hands and masking tape would have to be the solution.  If we were drilling a fresh bolting pattern into the window and boat, then we could have used the films as the caulk masking with careful trimming.

The four holes and the 1" overlap lined up perfectly and allowed me to screw the window on to match and drill all the other holes.  All the screws are countersunk so we can finish this on the outside with a teak trim ring.  I only drilled the fiberglass cabin roof holes big enough to provide a threaded fit for the machine screws.  Acorn nuts will be on the inside.

Then every surface that the overflowing caulk can get on is taped to allow clean(ish) lines when the final fillet is made.

Apparently fixing windows in this way can cause the caulk seal to break after years of different expansion/contraction sizes and rates between the acrylic window and the fiberglass (or wood, or steel, or aluminum) boat.  This is my little addition: neoprene washers.  My (hopeful) fix is to put neoprene washers on every screw to create a tiny gap for the caulk to fill, allowing a more flexible final seal.  The upshot of this is that all the screws are already held stiff in place and they all lined up with their holes perfectly when the final affixing was done, allowing the window to be easily and consistently squished into place without wandering.

This may look like excess (and it is) but I wanted to make sure that the gap got filled.  We actually didn't put down too much more than it needed in the end.  The product we used was 3M 4000 UV.  Not nearly 5200, and not quite 4200.  This promises a more flexible seal and the best UV resistance and for deck hardware and windows, and it won't rip your boat apart when it comes time to remove the stuff.

For this vertical project, I was appreciative how stiff it is.  It didn't run like 5200 does, and it wasn't quite as gooey/sticky either, so clean up was much easier.  But my forearms were so pumped from pumping that damn pump that pumping the last few pumps was near impossible.

The neoprene washers proved useful as a gap gauge.  You could observe their expanding diameter when compressed and estimate an equal caulk seam thickness at each screw, plus they bedded in very well with no air pockets that I could see.  We will pull and bed each screw in caulk individually after it cures. Another good part about a 1/16-1/32" caulk seam, is that we can clamp it just a bit tighter when we re-install each screw to (hopefully) prevent any peel effect with eventual shrinkage.

After clean up.  Yeah, there are some wandering lines where we didn't quite get the caulk seam right, and had to try and clean it up after the tape pulled off, but it came out pretty nice. (and the trim should cover the rest)

Acorn nuts on the inside is our current level of finish.  We are considering a stainless trim ring, both to reinforce the area and to prevent waviness between screws when we re-tighten them with caulk bedding.  It will also allow us to remove the three-washers-per screw needed to allow the acorn nuts without having to grind the tip of each one.  Don't worry about the water marks around the screws I tell myself, they were just put there with the last cleaning before install.  A touch of sanding  and some varnish and everything will look perfect-ish.

You can see a a small patch I made to the inside teak fascia before the install.  I hope it will varnish up to a similar color, but with 20 years of age, and likely the Pacific ocean and South China Sea between the two trees, I'm not sure it will.  Maybe it'll age fast being right over the stove.  Or maybe the inside fascia is some random south east Asian hardwood.  We may never know.

Sealing the Cabin

Now we are working to seal the cabin top and decks to stop all leaking, then prep for paint. This means removing all hardware from the decks, toe rails, & cabin, removing the windows, removing the chain plates, patching the deck, repairing and refinishing the toe rails, and sanding down the honeycomb.

First we needed to stop cabin roof leakage.  The windows are not the only leaky teak in the cabin top. The exterior trim leaks in many places. You can see where after it rains.  The wood behind the wet places inside the cabin is rotting.

Water drains in behind the trim in the corner of the V berth.

The top left picture below is the same corner as above from the outside.  The trim serves no purpose and fills the cabin with leaky holes so we decided to remove it.  We used Goof Off to scrape off the tar.  It unfortunately stuck all over the decks as it was coming off, despite attempts to contain it.  Underneath is the original buttery gel coat. We filled the holes with thickened epoxy.

We also removed the trim on the inside. The bottom rail trim was already mostly detached. We had it held up with tape to keep it from falling off.

The wood top and bottom is the original plywood panel. The center of the panel was cut out without removing the trim, and replaced. There is some wood damage to the upper strip on the port side. The wood on the bottom is rotting and peeling from leaking windows. The center panel is solid wood, and still pretty nice. None of the paneling or trim is structural so we will dig out the rot then add a thin strip to level it with the center panel, and put the trim back. Since the cabin should not leak, it should stay dry and rot free.
In the V berth is the original single panel which peeled off in layers.  The yellow near the bottom is the fiberglass.  This panel will have to be replaced.

We removed a couple windows. The sides are super thin compared to the inch and a quarter cabin top.

None of the screws in the windows were bedded.
I think it will look just fine without the trim.

We went back and forth on whether or not to take off the hand rails before painting, and ultimately decided not to. They are not leaking and AJ popped a few plugs on the inside to inspect the screws and they don't want to budge. If it ain't broke...we certainly can't afford to fix it. So they got sealed Starbrite Teak Sealer.

We stripped the cabin top of hardware  The screws in the hardware even with all their silicon, caulk and goop, came out easier than the screws in the floor boards.

We took apart the Hatches. Hopefully to go back together watertight.

The epoxy repairs peeled right off the rudder.  AJ popped them off with with just fingers.  There was a lot of water inside.  Oh sad rudder, there were no holes in it before. None.

The others should come off with the same lack of effort. These gouges do reveal some good news. That little bar showing through at the top is rust free stainless steel.  Which maybe means the rest of the frame is as well?

The heat is getting brutal, so we have adopted a morning and evening work schedule. Sunrise till one-ish, then come back at five-ish when the heat starts to break for 3 hours till dusk.  I'm looking forward to when the list of projects starts getting shorter rather than longer, but at least there is little left to spend money on,  just lots and lots of work.  How much work? Check out the new Checklist To Launch.