Things 2 Do
1. Fix damage on keel ( I saw it last year in Bellingham and it has been bugging me since.)
2. Replace through hull and gate valve for cockpit drain. (This has been bugging me more)
3. Inspect Port aft for suspected impact damage below water line.
4. Repair engine well motor mount.
5. resize and rebuild the engne welland keep
9/10/08 Put the boat on the hard in preparation of the bottom job. We could picked good weather to do this in but it would have been too crowded with all the sea faring folks that like good weather. We were expecting some rain for a few days. We would just have to hold out and find something interesting to do.
After enduring great weather for our area, we decided to haul out the boat (still unnamed), in the start of a rainy spell. Several items are on my list of checks and do's. The weather has added an extra stress to the work schedule.
Friday Night we took time to cover as much of the boat as possible and try to keep water from running down onto repair areas that needed to dry out.
Saturday was a day for sanding. Little rain and a lot of determination.
Sunday we sanded with special thanks to the owners of 'Kaze' who let us use their sanders and vacuums. I got several layers of glass down on the damaged keel.
Monday Sue and I took off of work hoping that the weather gods would have mercy on us. Well, we got the hull painted and the bottom paint applied just as it was getting dark. As long as it doesn't rain tonight, our paint should set and cure ok.
Well the evening air was quite wet and our white paint didn't cure as expected. That is ok though. The topside gelcoat is so worn and weathered that it basically turns to powder when touched, so any paint whatsoever is better than it is. We decided to finish up the topside next spring.
8/29/08 We got the boat in the water and used our little Honda 2HP as a kicker. It was absolutely amazing that the boat (still unnamed) glided and turned so much better than before, and that was with a 2HP at idle speed.
We are currently tallying our expenses for the bottom job, but I think it is stil better than paying someone else to do it. We ended up with some new tools, leftover polyurethane, sandpaper and solvents, not to mention that we got the dinghy bottom coated with polyurethane.
Now that she has a pretty bottom, we need to find protected mooreage. Our current location is abeam to the bay and we get pretty beat up by all the vessel traffic and weather.
Airborn, we head for our temporary home, home on the hard. I have been looking forward to this day and dreading it all in the same breath.
The prop doesn't look like it is deep enough. This is my personal opinion here. It doesn't take much of a sea to have this prop out of the water.
I just don't feel that this Yamaha shaft is long enough. I would like another 12" under the water. The last time I washed this engine, 10 weeks ago. Before running the engine from our mooreage to the lift, there was huge vegetation growing from the lower unit and the prop.
Scraping and pressure washing yields illuminating results
Here is a broader view of the damaged area toward the leading edge. The white dots on the keel are actually weep holes.
The boat has been pressure washed and put on the hard. A couple of the cavaties inside the keel have water in them. Judging by the large crack in the keel (about 24"), I suspect that is where the water came from.
After grinding away the crack with a 100 grit disk, the damage doesn't look as bad as it is. There was plenty to do under the waterline. The leading edge of the keel had damage at the bottom corver. The trailing edge of the keel also had damage and some old repair remnants that needed patching and filling.
The crack was filled with epoxy resin and then six layers of roving cloth mat.
The repair area is floated with micro filler with 105/205 West Systems EPOXY. I like this stuff so much better than polyester resin!
(8/24/08)After Sue removed the rudder, I had been thinking that the shaft was made of stainless steel and a torch and press would be needed to get the job done. However, the shaft was 1" solid brass so I made a jig and used my trusty GMC van and drove onto it several times with precision accuracy to within 1".
After grinding the top and chipping out pieces of resin out from around the shaft, I made a short dam and poured epoxy onto the rudder.
What kinda jig is this?
After straightening the rudder shaft, we have about 30 minutes to get the shaft back in, touch up the bottom paint and a few other last minute things.
Now that is how a rudder should outta line up.
Putting on the finishing touches.
After taking down the hull with 60 then 150 grit, this is what is left over. Looks kinda like "ocean camo"
Finished first coat. See the reflection of the dinghy? It too will undergo hull paint.
Skipper Sue is doing some inspecting on the bottom of the keel. There are a couple of fine cracks on the bottom of the keel. I ended up sanding them down and smooth as possible and then coating it with epoxy.
First coat of Electric Blue in contrast with unfinished bottom.
Here I am applying the first coat of Petitt EasyPoxy. This stuff has great coverage. Rolling and tipping seemed to have yielded good results except where there were flaw in the prep of feathering paint edges.
I am rolling out the line for the ablative paint. One must achieve a higher plane to allow the mind to achieve a straight line, so it is said.
Yet another view of the glossyness of the newly painted hull.
A better picture of the dinghy relected from the newly applied bottom paint.
Two first coats in one day. The bottom paint first coat seems to get sucked right up in certain areas and create an illusion that you didn't apply enough paint. "
Here I am, agonizing over the long day sanding, patching, painting, ... If I was getting paid to do this, I would quit.
Skipper Sue doing some paint inspecting
The stern never looked so good.
Electric Blue and Forest Green, not a bad combination of Easypoxy. Roll and tip came out ok but I would have liked to spend more time prepping. Maybe next time.
After the masking was removed, it really started to take shape.
Sue taking a break after prepping the bottom and sanding and dragging lights and cleaning up and feeding me.
The nearly finished project. We had to remove the rudder and get it straightened. I figured it was off center by six inches due to a bend in the shaft as it exits the rudder.
Here we have the artsy-fartsy aspect of shiny paint.
Skipper Sue wiping with acetone after sanding
First coat on everything
Prepping for the 2nd and final coat on the blue and boot stripe
It almost hurts to take a shiny coat and rough it up with sandpaper. We used 400 grit on the final sanding.
This little palm sander was well worth the money.
First thing in the morning we caught some sun and it looks as though we are going to have paint drying in the sun.
I never did get to finish the inside of the engine well. We could have used a couple more days on good weather and days off from work to finalize some topside and interior projects.
After spending all that money on supplies and tools, I sat by the gate and bummed fenders off of people. We ended up with a couple of nice ones.
Lift operations.
We resorted to using our dinghy engine, a 2HP Honda. I wasn't sure if it would enough to push us to our mooreage but it did.
Sue is getting fenders ready for the water. We need lots of fenders to compensate for my docking procedures.
On our way to the water. It's been nearly two weeks out of water. Late nights, early mornings, long days.
She's looking so much better.
Still floats, that's a good sign.
Hand lining her around the dock. The lift was pretty busy this morning. I was having trouble getting the Honda started, so they had to get me out of the way.
