August is flying by. Does time speed up exponentially after turning 30? Or just when you're hemorrhaging cash? We are so close to the reconstruction phase I can taste it. (It tastes less chalky/metallic and more petro-chemical-ly). But right now it's raining, and will probably keep raining for the next week. Due to having no windows or hatches and 100 holes in the deck, we've had to keep the boat covered when away. It looks like this half of the time.
The last thing left to remove from the deck was the teak bow piece. It leaks into the anchor locker. We were hoping to be able to salvage this teak, but it proved too old and worn after all. Crumbling and breaking like the rest.
When AJ began prying at the starboard side bow rail, the stainless bolts actually broke. The bronze bolts stayed true throughout, but nearly every stainless bolt broke.
Nothing left but one very stubborn and still very useful, cleat.
The past couple days Danny's gang have been sanding and patching the toe rail bolt holes, chain plate holes, and other misc holes. We are working on fiber-glassing new panels for the engine room/cockpit locker separation, and still battling with fixing the rudder. The white areas are a primer they laid over where they did patch work. The black spray paint is there to signify that it hasn't been sanded. Soon the honeycomb will be gone.
As soon as the boat is painted, we will install new 1 1/2" teak toe rails (they were 3" tall). We were going to use Mahogany, but we found a good enough deal on teak. We actually made enough money scrapping old bronze hardware and copper wiring to cover it. We won't have the issue of the stern toe rail piece not matching the rest of the toe rails after all.
Once painted we'll re-install the deck hardware, new opening windows, the hatches (then we won't need tarps!), install the engine, raise a new mast, and we can get off the hard and back in the water to finish the refit. We'll be in the water with a mobile boat for the first time since we bought it! And hopefully less leaky. Plumbing, wiring and life systems installations can be done back in the water.
I have not yet talked about what we are doing for a new mast. Last I left off on the subject AJ was hacking the old one into pieces. As soon as we were in the market to buy a used mast there was nothing to be found. Nothing on craigs list, nothing at boating consignment warehouses. We'd seen a few come and go over the last year that we thought would do, but now that we could buy, we couldn't find anything. We were also going to need a new mainsail. The one that came with the boat is shot. We went to Mac Sails to talk about having a new one made, and they called around to see if they could also find a mast. They found us a factory new surplus 46' Z Spar Profile, prepped by Sparcraft. It will be 4 feet taller than the previous rig, giving us more sail area. We're still looking for a 17' boom. More details of the new rig when when we raise it!
Here is the inside of the cabin now. It is hard to imagine this ever being a habitable space again. But I think this last leg of the haul out will move quickly. It's more motivating to see the boat coming together rather than coming apart.
I'm looking forward to it coming together. Not having a home is starting to wear on us.
The last thing left to remove from the deck was the teak bow piece. It leaks into the anchor locker. We were hoping to be able to salvage this teak, but it proved too old and worn after all. Crumbling and breaking like the rest.
When AJ began prying at the starboard side bow rail, the stainless bolts actually broke. The bronze bolts stayed true throughout, but nearly every stainless bolt broke.
Nothing left but one very stubborn and still very useful, cleat.
As soon as the boat is painted, we will install new 1 1/2" teak toe rails (they were 3" tall). We were going to use Mahogany, but we found a good enough deal on teak. We actually made enough money scrapping old bronze hardware and copper wiring to cover it. We won't have the issue of the stern toe rail piece not matching the rest of the toe rails after all.
Once painted we'll re-install the deck hardware, new opening windows, the hatches (then we won't need tarps!), install the engine, raise a new mast, and we can get off the hard and back in the water to finish the refit. We'll be in the water with a mobile boat for the first time since we bought it! And hopefully less leaky. Plumbing, wiring and life systems installations can be done back in the water.
I have not yet talked about what we are doing for a new mast. Last I left off on the subject AJ was hacking the old one into pieces. As soon as we were in the market to buy a used mast there was nothing to be found. Nothing on craigs list, nothing at boating consignment warehouses. We'd seen a few come and go over the last year that we thought would do, but now that we could buy, we couldn't find anything. We were also going to need a new mainsail. The one that came with the boat is shot. We went to Mac Sails to talk about having a new one made, and they called around to see if they could also find a mast. They found us a factory new surplus 46' Z Spar Profile, prepped by Sparcraft. It will be 4 feet taller than the previous rig, giving us more sail area. We're still looking for a 17' boom. More details of the new rig when when we raise it!
Here is the inside of the cabin now. It is hard to imagine this ever being a habitable space again. But I think this last leg of the haul out will move quickly. It's more motivating to see the boat coming together rather than coming apart.
I'm looking forward to it coming together. Not having a home is starting to wear on us.
If you haven't already, consider going with extruded aluminum toerails. That teak will be a constant maintenance headache. Don't ask me how I know. If it's a cost consideration that's another thing. here is one supplier: http://www.crestaluminum.com/Main/Marine/Toerail.htm
ReplyDeleteLooking great!
ReplyDelete