Winterhawk Restoration

progress

2010-12-31T14:01:00.000-08:00

I'll get back into the habit of updating more regularly, soon.

I spent the x-mas holiday on the boat, I was able to complete the install of the second layer of 1/4" battens on the overhead in both the forward and main cabins. I also finished the cabin sides in the forward cabin. All of these areas are now insulated with 1/2" foam sheets.
I made paper templates for the cabin sides forward, cut then out of some 3/16 ply I had at the house. I've not installed them yet, I'm holding off to be sure all the water intrusion is fixed.

Speaking of water; I knew the port seals were leaking. I found a source online for the seals, and hope to start replacing them this weekend. the seals It took a long time to find these. I spent a lot of time online, ffollowed by walking into random window and glazing retailers.

I found another source of water, the hull to deck joint. Both the prior owner and myself had taken time to seal the edge of the joint where the balsa core is exposed with epoxy, but in several places the upper and lower flange of the joint had separated enough to let water seep in to the interior of the boat. During the few heavy rain storms we've had, this added up to a good inch of rain pooling at the foot of the forward berth. Last week I was able to grind away the paint and get down to bare fiberglass, applied a coat of neat expoy (fast cure) followed by a coat of thickened epoxy. I used the spreader to force some of the expoy into the gap (when there was one) and then smoothed the whole mess out.
It still needs another coat to fill in small voids, but.... wait for it, no water in the forward cabin!
I hope to place the order for the foam for the mattress next week.

Lastly, I began some engine work; The seal that goes around the output shaft leaks, letting oil get onto the rotating prop shaft/ coupler and flings oil all over. I got the whole mess taken apart, but forgot the new seal at the house. I should have that installed tomorrow night, New Years Eve.

Lastly, I plan to move the boat to her new slip on Saturday morning.Not a bad way to ring in the new year.

Back too it.

2010-12-17T12:00:00.001-08:00

Big changes around here over the last 2 weeks.
I've been heading down to the boat every few weeks, but not really doing any work on it just stopping in to admire how much work is really left.

I've been spending most of my time on home remodel projects.
But, I'll be moving the boat back to Lake Union at the end of the month. I've secured a live aboard slip back at AGC, where I was living on the old boat.
Sometimes life doesn't work out the way you planned. In that case having the boat was a nice safety net. It looks like I'll be able to watch New Years fire works from the boat this year.

Anyways, the move aboard to-do list is huge. I have parts on order, hoping they will be in today or tomorrow.
I finally found new seals for the windows. The Northwest has been getting record rain and all the weak spots in the boat are showing up. The windows were fine where I bedded the frames to the hull, but the factory seals in the frames are shot. 4 of the 8 ports leak. Bad enough to make for a really wet interior. It's bad enough that I need to remake the overhead panels as they've warped beyond repair.

Since I'll be taking the old down, I have templates witch will make for a faster install of new material. I don't plan on using the mdf, even though it is still looking new in the old boat. I'll go with a paint grade wood, like Poplar this time, just in case.

At the same time, I'm also going to add another layer of 1/4" battens over the current ones to allow for an increase in insulation to 1/2". this should help with heat and condensation further.

I've begun to mill Mahogany stock for the ceiling (not above, but along the sides of the hull). I've milled strips from reclaimed shipping pallets (pallets coming from the far east are often nice wood like Mahogany!) they are 2" by 3/16" thick and 4' long. This will work fine for most areas, but I'll need to offset some of the longer areas in the main salon for a nice finish. But, I'm really excited about this project. I love to use reclaimed goods, for the $ savings, but also because they were trash to someone and after some love with a table saw, jointer and router they will make for a beautiful new interior.

I decided on the new lights too. I'm very unimpressed with the Dr. Led's. For the cost they were garbage. So I'll give these a try: LED lights
A live aboard and long distance cruiser I met showed me how he adapted a refrigeration unit from a 110 dorm style fridge to work with his ice box so I'll be working on that soon too, seeing as I have yet to install the counter tops.
I've decided on bedding foam too: Memory Foam
The size is just about prefect. All I need to do is some cutting and sew a a cover.
depending on how much I love or hate the it I may order another to cut the sette foam as well.

The list of to-do's is pretty long. I still need to properly install the hose for the bilge pump. I was having trouble running it under the sole so it's currently running above and makes walking around a pain. I need to install a new blower motor for the bilge exhaust and run the hose, right now there is nothing.

One of the bigger projects is replacing the seals around the output shaft of the Atomic 4. They have failed and oil is leaking onto the prop shaft. As the shaft spins the oil is flung all over. The job in a aft mounted boat would be a nightmare. Might need to pull the engine, but being that the Yankee is midships I can simply undo the coupler and slide the shaft aft gaining access. I ordered the seals for under $10 from Moyer Marine, Ken is the greatest! I spent more on the tool to press the bearing than the seals and shipping combined but it should make the job faster and easier.

Well that's a brief overview of the current project, The minor projects are too numerous to list. I'll do my best to keep the site up to date. If you're in the hood, feel free to drop by.

Fair Winds,

2010-06-06T22:18:00.001-07:00

Broken:
hosting pic here for forum help

Floating, in the water.

2010-06-02T16:14:00.001-07:00

Splashed the boat on Saturday morning during high tide.
She moved under her own power to the guest dock where she stayed for a couple days while I tended to some loose ends.

-I got all the turn buckles free, they were seized up good.

-Instaled a Y pipe at the transom thru hull so I can run two seperate bilge pumps, on auto and one manual.

-Measured the rig for bridge clearance. 46 feet (no antenna).

-pulled out a bunch of old wiring.

-washed down the decks

-installed the bow pulpit.

Mostly busy work just to be on/ near the boat. She's far more stable then the Westerly. Just walking in the cabin would make that boat rock. Winterhawk is really stable.

I made a list of to-do's now that she floats. I need to block the mast, looking at spartite, but will go with wood or rubber until I get a feel for the rake I'd like.
I need to replace the halyards, currently they are wire/ rope splice.
I need to put new grommets in the Genoa. Bed the genoa track and main traveler, but then I should be able to hoist a sail.

Blake Island here we come!

After

Before (Feb 09)

the rig is up

2010-05-28T13:26:00.000-07:00

All went good. The mast was not fitting into the step base well. There was room for/aft, but side to side was really tight. We fussed with it for a while.
The cure was to use a C clamp and give the sides a light squeeze. The mast slide down and into place.

Most of the turn buckles are hard to turn, which makes the process a little slow, but they'll work for now.

We launch tomorrow morning

Pics!

Engine runs, going in the water!

2010-05-24T16:44:00.000-07:00

It’s been a whirlwind of activity at the boat over the last couple of weeks. The big tasks had to do with the engine. It sat idle for a couple years, maybe more. I had a few hiccups along the way. 1st I didn’t know much about alignment and how important it is in boats. So when I planned to align the engine to the shaft I was surprised/ disappointed to find that while I have 2 adjustable motor mounts on the starboard side, I have two fixed ones to port. This by itself was not a problem, but the lag bolts went into really soft wood. West systems has a series of booklets with tons of step by step instructions. Using their guidelines I potted new bolts. Basically you drill out the bad and fill it with thickened epoxy then put a bolt coated with grease in the mix. Let it cure and the next day the bolt unthreads and you’re good to go. Sounds easy, and it is, but it was time consuming. Once I had something solid to work with I needed to make new rubber mounts for the port side. Someone in the yard had a roll of ¼ fiber re-enforced rubber mat. I cut new pads and drilled out the center so the bolt would keep them from wondering off. Once all this was done aligning the engine was fairly straight forward. Then I went about replacing all the hoses for the cooling and fuel system. New exhaust hose was ran, the stand pipe was installed, new gaskets here and there. The fuel tank had gas in it but the deck cap was not in place for some time and water had to have gotten into the tank so I went about draining most of the tank, enough to be able to lift it out and down the ladder. So now I have a ¼ full tank and 3 jerry cans to take to haz-mat. During a spark plug change I found the #4 pug wire had a worn/ melted spot. Time is running out so rather than ordering a new set I found one at an auto parts store. It’s too long, but it works for now. The rest of the crucial engine wiring was gone through. All connections were cleaned or replaced and a new battery installed. Lastly an oil change adding a quart of marvel mystery oil. Not sure what it is but everyone on the A-4 sites swear by it so I’ll be a sheep and follow. So, with much maintenance out of the way I ran a temporary fuel line out to the cockpit (fuel tank still needs to be cleaned out) and into a small gas can. It was with great pleasure that the good old Atomic 4 fired up without much fuss at all! After a short period I was not satisfied with the lack of cooling water coming out of the exhaust so I shut her down. Between the all the new hoses, standpipe and exhaust hose, I expected the engine would have to run for a while to fill up the cooling passages and then the stand pipe but it was not really taking much water from the buckets. After a phone-a-friend, I removed the water pump impeller, looks ok but I’m going to replace anyways. I used a hose barb fitting to flush the engine with a garden hose. At first I only had a trickle of water coming out the exhaust end, but then a whole mess of black yuk came out. It took a while for the water to run clear. I tried to reinstall the impeller and it did take more water, but I think it could be better. So, I have a new impeller on my list of parts to pick up tomorrow. I had some trouble finding a locking nut for the stuffing box. There was no nut installed when I got the boat. Finding one was a real nightmare. The only option was to order one; it could be here in a week. (more on why that will not work in a minute). So, I stopped by Second Wave, a local marine store that sells used and consigned stuff. No luck finding a locking nut but they did have the end cup in a bin of loose bits. I purchased that for $2 and went back to the boat to cut both ends off leaving only a threaded nut. And now all is well. I also had to order a new nut and monel pins for the folding prop. That’s all installed and greased up. I had the shaft coupling faced at Seattle prop down the street, they had it ready next day. So the boat is ready to float. The engine was the big issue. If I couldn’t get it running I was going to side tie the dinghy and get someone to help maneuver her to a slip. Looks like that’s not going to be needed now. And on that note, the boat yard is pretty empty and there were lots of give-always when people were leaving. I got a new dinghy, just what I wanted! I was not looking forward to towing the 9 foot Avon around. I wanted a lighter hard dinghy that could be stored on deck, so something like 8 feet tops. The one I got is about 8 feet, has a dagger board and rudder, and outboard mount. All I need to do is rig a mast and boom and I can have a sailing dinghy too! Maybe Lilli will be able to sail it when she comes out this summer. So, the big news is the boat is going in Saturday morning. Friday morning the truck is coming to load her and bring her to the other side of the yard where the crane lives. Friday morning I’ll step the mast and secure the shrouds. I’ll get some paint on the keel where the blocking was and tidy up some loose ends. Then Saturday we’ll launch with the tide, around 8:30.I ‘m going to keep the boat at the marina in South Park until Monday, just in case something leaks and I need to haul out. But planning for the best, on Monday I’ll motor down the Duwamish to Winterhawk’s new home. I spent a lot of time trying to find some place to keep the boat without spending a pile. I thought about dropping the hook in Quartermaster Harbor on Vashon, I looked around for a private mooring ball without luck. But thanks to Google maps I found two places on the Duwamish where there are boats moored but not really in a marina. The first turned out to be a real dump. I decided to visit the second and if I didn’t have luck Elliot Bay marina had one available for $360. The second place is in a very industrial area. There are 5-6 boat houses with a couple open slips behind an industiral machinist place. I knocked on a couple doors and spoke to a nice lady. Turns out she had room for one sailboat for $150 a month. It’s a no frills place, but it’s down river of the 1st ave bridge so unless it’s a really high tide I don’t have to worry about any bridges (the Harbor Island Bridge is going to be really close if the tide is in). Best of all, its 5 minutes from the house and Alia can walk there from work. The next few days are going to be busy finishing the cooling system, installing cleats so I have something to secure dock lines too, installing the bilge pumps, some hoses, fuel tanks and prepping the mast. Can’t wait!

Putting deck hardware back on

2010-05-13T20:02:00.001-07:00

Hosting a picture for a forum. I don't know what this is... thoughts?

2010-05-04T08:31:00.001-07:00

Pics worth a thousand words.

the boat: Yankee 30 MKIII
power: A-4

Trying to get this boat back together and in the water, installed the cutlass bearing and shaft that came with the boat. When I slid the shaft in, it comes close to meeting up with the center of the engine shaft/coupling. If I give it a little pressure it lines up fine. I can blot it in place but see the rubber hose on the stuffing box flexes a little.

Not sure what the acceptable tolerances are, this is my 1st inboard.

Question is, should I align the engine to get closer or it this OK?

not sure what the exhaust thing on the left is for, I have a complete spare engine. Will not fit in the Yankee.

Standpipe. I like the idea, and I have all the parts. Going this way rather than the waterlift. At least to get her in the water.

Adjustable motor-mounts.

not sure what this hose is, crankcase breather?

Thru-hulls

2010-04-27T13:56:00.000-07:00

My new work situation, that of being semi retired has allowed me to get in some quality time in on the boat.

The bottom is now 100% painted, even the spots where the stands were. The boot stripe got it’s final coat yesterday. Now the tape is off, the boat is really looking nice. Getting the waterline on really makes the topsides look sleeker.

I’ve been slowly knocking out the thru-hull upgrade. The boat came to me with ball valves screwed onto the thru-hulls. While this seemed to work fine for the last 30 years, I wanted to make sure they were as bullet proof as possible. Most of the ball valves were heavily corroded and took some serious leverage to open/ close. This created some noticeable flex at the base of the valve/ hull.

Due to time and money, both lacking. I chose to make my backing plates out of white oak. I’ve used it for exterior bits before on the Westerly’s companionway. I know it holds up to the environment fine. It’s also cheap, and easy enough to cut/ drill.

Originally I planned to have a single block, but once I looked into it closer, the hull has this sort of nipple due to the thru-hulls being flush mounted. So, I ended up making a second block, ½ as thick and making the center much larger. I used the grinder and the flap disc to form the back side of the block to fit to the nipple. Adding a single layer of mat when each was epoxied to the hull, along with epoxy thickened with 406 filler made sure each thin plate was sealed on the backside and had a good surface area to bond.

Once the first plate had cured I put the bolts in through the backside of the main block. When I counter sunk the blocks the counter sink was just a hair smaller than the bolt head which turns out to work really well. By threading the nut down the bolt was pulled into the counter sink and locked into place.

Now working with wet epoxy and thru-hulls is not the best one person job. Lacking a personal assistant, I had to make it work. 1st off, doing the main block after the thin one had cured made the job simpler. I tried to do both blocks once and it was a stressful endeavor. Thankfully I got another guy in the yard to come over and start the thru-hull while I held the mess in place.

So after the thin block was cured, and the bolts in the thick blocks I would insert a thru hull from the outside. The thru hulls are too long and will need to be cut, but I wanted to wait until all the blocks are in for fear of cutting them too short. The thru-hulls being too long meant I could steady the thru-hull with a finger while threading the thick backing plate/ seacock/ 406 thickened epoxy combo on a few threads. Using any means necessary to steady the seacock I would climb out of the boat and give the thru-hull a few more turns from the outside, hopefully until it bottoms out. Then, back into the boat and I would begin to unthread the nuts. (I skipped telling you I threaded in the nuts, then slipped the thru hull over the top) by unthreading the nuts equally the thru-hull pulls against the hull and compresses the thick block into the thin one. I let that cure over night and the next day I have one hell of a solid base for the seacock.

The head inlet was a bit trickier. The hull liner made is so there was a 1 1/2” gap between the hull and the liner. I opted to cut the liner out so I could install the plates like I have been. Once the plates are in place I can add a filet of thickened epoxy and then the entire sole can get a coat of paint. I cut the liner, (more like drilled it) today. I got the thin plate in place, but missed taking a photo.

The next step is to epoxy the hole, so if the thru-hull leaks a bit, the water won’t soak into the oak. One good coat should do. Then each block will be coated in some Pettit 4700/4701, which is their epoxy barrier coat. I’ll use this simply because I have some left over. The bilge will get a good coat too.

I’ve begun to read more on the Atomic 4 and am creating a mental check list on how to put some things back together (prop, shaft, coupler). I need to re-wire it, install a battery, hook up the throttle and shift cables. A good tune up would be nice, plugs, oil, filters. Then there is the whole exhaust thing. There is the stock standpipe and a water lift. I don’t know enough yet, but if anyone has knowledge of either system they want to share feel free. Better yet, come on down to the boat and I’ll feed you beer!

I brief update. Boat should be in the water in a few weeks. Not sure where she’ll be moored just yet, someplace with direct access to the sound and cheap.

thru hulls

2010-03-25T15:12:00.000-07:00

The Marleon was proving a hassel.
long story short there were too many special orders. got bronze.
thank god for my Fisheries discount.
To keep it simple and uniform I'm going from 1/2" to 3/4: for the raw water intake.
and from 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" on the head overboard discharge.

I also ordered the thru hull transducers for speed/temp and depth. They should arrive in a couple weeks. I'll wait on the display unit for cost reasons. but at least the holes will be filled and the boat can float.

It was raining good this morning so I'll wait a couple days until lI get the next 2 coats on the bottom.

I'm still working.....

2010-03-24T21:13:00.000-07:00

Finally after week s of fiberglass work, sanding and sore arms the bottom paint is on, well at least the 1st coat. Above the waterline is black and white, classy like a tuxedo. But when she heels over, sexy!

But let me back track a bit. Work did stop on the boat for a long time while we did a major bathroom remodel at Alia’s place. But, nothing lights a fire under your pants like an eviction notice. The city/ state still don’t know what their doing or when. I was told I had to be out by the 28th of last month. But, a couple other boat owners were told May and June. So My plan is to work on getting the boat float ready and keep working until I get a notice taped to the boat.

Then I’ll just put her in the water and get the rigging set up and go from there. I can sail just fine with a less than finished interior.

Over the last few weeks I spent a lot of time re-doing the hull to keel joint. I was undecided on this, because I had to get out of the yard I thought about just letting it be, but I had a bad feeling about it. I was proven right when I took a grinder to the filler. The boat has been out of the water for 18+ months but there were still pockets of water in there. Also the leading edge was 100% filler, and the whole thing had minimal cloth. I re-did the joint with cloth and mat and filler, but less than what was there before.
I feel confident that the joint will have a long waterproof life.

The next task was to decide what I was going to do about the thru-hulls and lack of proper seacocks.
I knew I needed to install backing plates and real ball valve seacocks but I was undecided about the backing plate material and seacock material too. For cost and time reasons I’ll go with wood plates sealed up good with epoxy. For the seacocks I was set on bronze…. Until I tried to get the old ones out. I’ll go with Marleon. All the ball valves were so corroded it took a lot of leverage to get them to open/ close but they still moved. Getting them free from the thru-hull was another matter. I was able to get the thru-hull nut off which let the thru hull head drop down far enough to get my trusty sawz-all in between the head and hull and I cut out all but one thru-hull. One did come out, just like it should but this was enough to sway me to “plastic”. No corrosion or grounding issues.

I still need to go pick up the new thru-hulls and seacosks. Then buy lumber, and make up the plates. But I’m getting close!

Yesterday I applied two coats of Pettit’s epoxy barrier coat, followed this morning by one more coat and then this afternoon, the 1st of 2 or 3 coats of bottom paint. I went with Pettit’s Vivid red and wow!

I’m starting a new job so I’m not sure what my schedule will be like over the next couple weeks, but here soon I think(?) I’ll be working part time so my mornings can be spent down at the boat, or working in Alia’s next project……

This is what happens if you can't move your boat......

Working out Ideas

2009-11-28T08:49:00.000-08:00

Staying busy with non-boat items. We're about to start a major bathroom remodel.

I'm trying to work out a nice, simple way to put the side panels up in the interior, the area around the port lights (windows).

The area the is causing some difficulty is the forward facing area in the vee berth. This area is curved side to side, and top to bottom, like a bowl. So....

After reading about cold molding, I was thinking I could laminate a few thin sheets together. This still leaves a finishing issue. How to finish the edges.

So I was thinking, I can make up the trim pieces in a cold molded fashion, and leave a dado, or groove joint that a 1/4 piece of material can sit it. By laminating the top and bottom trim pieces in place, I'll get a spot on fit and the trim will hold the sheet material in the correct shape. This way I also don't need to worry about the trim trying to spring flat and pulling away from the hull.

I'm going to test this theory out. I'll report back.

This is an old picture, but just a reminder of what the goal look is.

2009-11-04T11:49:00.001-08:00

I wish I were better at updating this site.
Last week my bottom paint came in and so did a cold snap. It's been really cold, low 40's high 30's maybe. Cold enough that during my ride to work in the morning my hands have been either so cold they're burning or just cold enough that they go totally numb. So, I took the easy out and didn't visit the boat much. It's too cold to paint so I've done a bit of work around the house. More on that later.

Last Sunday I went to my parent’s house and spent most of the day there in the work shop. Todd spent a fair amount of time showing me some of the behind the scenes workings of a cabinet shop. Setting up the machines, the proper way to sharpen tools. Planners 101. We also took a big 'ol slab of wood and ran it through his new sander. I'm sure it has a special name, but I’m not sure what it is. One big drum above, moves back and forth and a lower belt is like a conveyor that moves the material through. It's painfully slow moving, but it makes the job much easier. It was pretty awesome watching the grains slowly come out. The raw edge is not a style I've ever go out of my way to put in my home (or yacht) but it does have a special beauty to it.

While I was over at Todd's we talked about tools a lot. He had an article in a magazine that shows how to make a combo table saw/ router cabinet. So, that's what I've been working on. I cut the rails for the face frame a few nights ago. Today I spent most of the day and got the cabinet about 80% done. I had a mishap and during the assembly, and the cabinet fell off the table I was building on. I cracked a frame. Damn. This is why I need a nice big cabinet saw. The whole process was difficult. Using a small contractors saw to cut tongue and grooves into a 70x28 sheet of 1/2" mdf is no fun. But, the end is near. Yesterday I also picked up a very lightly used Delta T2 table saw fence rail system. I made the cabinet specifically to fit this rail. So, from here on out, if I have come out with sloppy joints cuts, I can't blame my tools.

I've sent out a few letters to local companies looking to talk to with marine joiners. Minimal luck. But one person I heard from said I might want to check with a John Guzzwell. In all honesty I can't say his name rung a bell. Trusty Google supplied a mailing address and plenty of sites about him and his epic voyage with Trekka his 21 foot yawl he built himself and sailed around the world. Turns out he lives a couple miles away from my parents. I sent a letter and promptly checked out a book he wrote from the library. One paragraph really stuck. To summarize, fine woodworking is not what it was 50 years ago. In today’s market it's all about the bottom line. Fine craftsmanship has moved wayside for production and units sold.
I was surprised to find a response right away in my inbox. Not much came of it, but here I am a (sudo)nurse who wants to be a yacht builder and Mr. Guzzwell has a son who is a yacht builders making the transition to a nurse. Sometimes I wish it was as easy as trading baseball cards.

Alia and I came up with a final plan for the bathroom remodel. She wants a spa. So lots of tile, heated floor, custom teak vanity, it's going to be really nice when we're all done. We started to stockpile our supplies and should knock down a wall by Thanksgiving.

I think that's about it.

A bit of a slow week

2009-10-22T15:19:00.000-07:00

Last weekend the Northwest was consumed by a monsoon. Good thing I got some cover on over the boat now. Saturday I just knocked around the house, polished some deck hardware and did some house chores and maintenance on the Jeep. I now have heat in the Jeep so this winter will be much more comfortable. Not a bad way to kill a rainy day.
Sunday I got down to the boat and spent a fair bit of time cleaning up and organizing.
I started to prep the cove stripe and waterline for paint. I tried using the profile sander on the cove stripe. It works ok, but hand sanding turned out to be easier. Also, this way I didn’t risk the profile sanded walking out of the groove, which it really wanted to do.

I hope to finish up the sanding on the cove stripe this evening. I’m not heading into work until noon tomorrow so I might be able to get a coat of paint on in the morning.
I bought most of the supplies for the bottom. The West 410 filler, Pettit 4700 barrier coat, and placed an order for the Vivid bottom paint.

I’ve spent a lot of time this week reading about this boat work idea. I’ve had a couple field trips. The Seattle Public Library is a great resource they have a good selection of boat building/ woodworking books. I also went into NW Fine Woodworking. This place blurs the lines between an art gallery and a furniture store. If you’re in the area, I highly recommend stopping in. I walked away with so many new project ideas. This weekend some of thier craftsmen will be in talking about thier work. I'll make time to attend. Tomorrow morning I hope to chat with the yard owner and get some advice/ opinions on working out of his yard.

Not much to show, so no pictures this week.

A nagging idea

2009-10-13T09:43:00.000-07:00

I’m trying to work out this idea I’ve been kicking around for awhile; working for myself, on boats full time (and not starving). Something like Lackey Sailing.

I have to say that my fine wood working skills are lacking. I want to talk and visit with people who do interior joinery for a living. I’m fortunate that my step-father is a fine woodworker/ cabinet maker, so I have someone I can learn the skills from, but I’d like to talk with a few people who are working on boats specifically.

Right now I’m thinking it’s feasible to have a shed/ work shop in the boat yard where I can turn out 2-3 smaller boats a year while working part time, some evenings and weekends. The yard space is cheap and the boat mover is reasonable so my upfront costs are fairly minimal seeing that I own the most of the tools I need. Also, South Park has an abundance of neglected boats that could be had for next to nothing. Keeping the boats to smaller, 25 feet and under, helps insure quicker turnovers. After some time the project should prove whether it can be self sustaining. This can also be a showcase for my interior refits, which I’d like to do as well.

So far I’m just in the information gathering stage. Delta declined my request to tour their facility due to confidentiality reasons. I’m persistent however, and I’ll find a way. In the meantime, the chance to tour and chat with smaller operations would be very grateful.

If anyone has any connections, please send them my way. I’d be more than happy to lend a hand in the shop while I chat with you.

A long week

2009-10-12T08:41:00.000-07:00

Last week seemed extra long.

Last weekend Alai and I went over to Leavenworth for the Octoberfest marathon. We each did the ½ marathon and we both did very well. At some point after the race, my left foot started hurting and by the next morning was barely able to stand on it. I stopped by my office when we got back in town and got a walking cast which, with a cane I used all week.
Thus, little happened on the boat until this weekend.

I started by sanding the black down with 220 grit on the random orbital. The streaks left by the tipping were very noticeable so it was easy to see when you had a smooth surface. This took a couple hours spaced over Thursday and Friday evenings. On Saturday I finished the last of the sanding. When I was done the boat looked super smooth and had the sort of chalkboard black look going on. I forgot the camera so no pictures.
After a good wash and scrub with a soft boat brush, I let the hull dry. (note, I’ve got the oil heater on in the boat now to keep the hull a bit warmer) Once the hull was dry, I used the Ultra Smooth High density Foam Roller and went to work on the finish coat.
I’d start by loading up the 6” roller. Then roll out the area until the roller was pretty much dry, then very lightly roll over the area again and again to flatten out the bubbles. I would vary the direction of the roller and again, use a very light touch, only the weight of the roller itself. I did find the rolling fast killed the bubbles better than rolling slow. Even still, this was not a fast operation. The roll and tip with two guys took an hour, the roll/ roll working solo took 5.
However, in the end I’m quite happy with the return, I'm also happy to be done with that section. Time for some pictures! From 10 feet the hull is super shinny:

From 5 feet you can see a orange peel effect, but I'm of with this. Its better then average.

On Sunday I decided, being that we’re into October now, I’m going to need some shelter. I bought one of those Costco car shelters. It’s not tall enough so I built two 25’ saw horses that stand just about 4’ tall and built the shelter on top of them. Being in a industrial area is great for gathering scrap wood. I found two pallets that were 14’ long. The runners were built out of 4x4 hardwood, oak I think, and weight a ton! I used 2x6’s for the legs and lots of framing nails. The thing is plenty strong, and pretty heavy. Even still I’ll add some concrete blocks or something to keep my shelter from becoming a kite.

Now I can get the final coat on the decks, and paint the bottom even if there is a threat of rain.

PS, I want to visit Delta Marine’s cabinet shop. I’ve stopped in and left a nice letter/ request for the manager. If anyone reads this and has a contact, I’d just love the chance to get to see how they create such amazing interiors.

2009-09-27T20:59:00.000-07:00

I've been making some visual progress over the last few weeks. This weekend was not exception. I put on the "last" coat of paint mid week. For this coat I tested my Dry Roll method and it really worked out well, except for a couple dry spots. I was getting close to done and in my haste missed a few spots on the starboard side.
No worries, I just gave it a little rub down with the 220 grit and rolled on the real final coat. I had one small dry spot on the port side too. I taped off around it, rolled on a light coat and let the dry for a few minutes. When I removed the tape you could see the patch a little bit. A few minutes later the paint was only lighty tacky so I was able to tamp down the edge and it blended right in. An hour later and you couldn't see any evidence.

While that was drying I started installing the windows on the port side. I picked up some butyl tape from Poulsbo RV. This stuff is great! After bedding deck hardware with goo-in-a-tube I swear by this stuff. It's sort of like silly putty. It comes in a 30 foot roll and Poulsbo RV sells 1/8" or 1/4" thick by 1' wide for just under $10.
I used the thicker tape for the 1st layer, but needed a little more goo so I ended up splitting some in half and putting a second layer on. This worked out well. Once I started tightening the screws inside plenty of butyl oozed out. Then I used a handy little tool the guy at the RV store gave me to scrape off the excess. Each window went really quick.

I was able to get all 8 port lights in, in a few hours.

I'm really happy with the progress this weekend; the boat is really looking nice. Now that I've really got the hang of rolling and Not tipping I'm going to go ahead and roll on a finish coat of black too. That might take a while, we're out of town next weekend.

Oh yeah, made some progress on the buffing too. Here's a before and after.

one more coat

2009-09-23T08:27:00.001-07:00

Over the last few days I’ve put what was to be the final coat of paint on the cabin area where the port lights go. The plan is to get them in before the rains return. So far the weather looks great this weekend.
However, I’m knocking the last coat down, I’m not happy with it.

I’ve been using the roll and tip method and while it is nice and shinny from 10 feet away, up close, say 5 feet, you can see the streaks left by the tipping. Even when I used thinner. However, I experimented with strictly rolling on the cabin top and it turned out much better. I’d rather have a slight orange peel than streaks. What I did to roll is work in small areas, say 2 sqft at most. Load up the roller with paint and roll it out until you need to reload with paint, but then go back over everything you just rolled, lightly once or twice to smooth out any of the little bubbles that were left. I don’t find that this takes off any of the paint you applied. Oh, and I’m using a ultra smooth surface foam nap.
So, the area around the ports has been sanded with 220 and depending on how busy I am at work, I’ll roll on the final, final coat in the next evening or two. On Saturday morning I’m going to run down to a RV store and pick up some of the grey butyl tape to seal the ports. Ya! No more rain in the boat!
At the same time I’ve been focusing on the area around the ports, I’ve also been working on the deck so I can mount the genoa tracks and stop water from coming in there too.

Now since I’m having good results with the rolling on the decks and cabin, I’m strongly considering sanding the last coat on the hull with 220 and applying a finish coat with the roller only there too. I’m about 60% sure that will happen. I’ll know for sure after I roll the cabin sides.
I’ll try to snap some pictures in the next day or so. I’ve forgotten the camera the last couple days.

most people's opinions are not based on reality...

2009-09-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

Eric and I were chatting about boats on Sunday. Eric is working on re-rigging his boat and it sounds like he’s strongly considering using synthetic rigging like Dynex or Spectra.
http://www.dynexdux.com/
http://www.precourt.ca/
Since I’m still so far away from rigging, I’ll just watch what he does and go from there. But this looks intriguing.
We also spoke about thru-hulls and proper installation.
He tossed out the idea of Marelon,

I’ve been reading on line about it. Lots of opinions to say the least. And as Eric would say, most people's opinions are not based on reality...
It is ABYC certified. I’m going to call my insurance co and ask if they have any issues with it. If it’s good enough to be ABYC compliant and my insurance company won’t have any issues, well then I’d say it is a viable option.
Seeing as there are a lot of low quality “bronze” out there it might be nice to use Marelon. At least you know what you’re getting. I read (on the internet, so it must be true) that Hinckley uses Marelon.

Looking sharp

2009-09-15T08:27:00.000-07:00

Well the boat finally has some paint on the hull, and I have to say, its looking pretty nice!
On Friday night I used the random orbital to sand the Easypoxy undercoat (primer) with 220 grit. If I were doing this again, I’d roll and tip the primer. I just rolled it and spent a little more time sanding to get the primer nice and smooth. But oh well, now I know.

The next morning I pick Thomas up and we went about doing a little bit of finish sanding along the cove strip and the edges at the bow and stern. We washed the hull real good wit plain old water and let that dry, then taped off the waterline. We put some paint in the tray and started painting. Thomas was armed with the 6” roller with a smooth surface foam nap. I had a 3” china bristle brush. We both had short saw horses to stand on, and used one of the taller ones to keep the paint tray within reach. Then it was just the basic roll and tip painting, however I did come up with a few tips. Have more than one brush available. By the time we finished one side of the boat the brush was starting to leave some light streaks from the paint that was setting up on the brush itself. Also, don’t let the roller get too far ahead of the tipper, if you can tip immediately after rolling the paint is still really wet. In the 80 degree sun the paint starts to get tacky really quick.

This is how the boat looked when Thomas and I were finished with the 1st coat. The actual painting went pretty quick, and hour tops.

The next morning I got down to the yard early and started lightly sanding the cured paint with 220 again. There were some vertical lines from the tipping that were visible from 5 feet or so. I used the orbital to hit the whole boat, and then used 220 on a backing pad to hand sand a few more spots. Then more washing with the hose and a quick trip to the head before Eric was to arrive. Eric owns a Big 32 foot gaff rig cutter and had painted above his waterline last October. We spent some time catching up, and then went to work. I picked up a second brush for today, but I accidently grabbed a synthetic one rather than the china bristle, but this turned out to be a good thing. This brush just felt a lot lighter than the china bristle. So we started on the starboard side because it was in the shade. I figured we’d add thinner as we went and moved into the sun. I had the thinner, but did not use any on Saturday, in hindsight I think the thinner would have helped the paint lay down smoother. Anyways, back to Sunday. Eric rolled and I again tipped. I really liked the synthetic brush, it floated a lot better than the China and felt smooth in my hand. However, there was no visual benefit, I could not see a difference. We added a cap full of thinner half way through the shaded side. By the time we got to the bow we had come up with a system, rather than the roller rolling out a 12-24” section and me tipping, Eric would roll out 6-8” and I’d tip immediately, then he’d roll out another 6-8 inches. This system kept the wet edge much better, but again, I can’t say that it laid the paint any smoother. Again the painting went really quick. I’m happy with how it turned out. I have one small dry spot and a couple finger prints to touch up, but luckily they are pretty close together and I can just blend in the whole area.

Still having a lot of day left I stopped by Home Depot and picked up a 6” bench grinder and some buffing wheels. I’m buffing out all the hardware before it goes back on. So far I’m only having so-so results with the aluminum, but the stainless is coming out like a mirror!
I went back down to the Yard last night after work and put another coat on the cabin sides. I want to get the windows in soon so I don’t have to keep tarping the boat every time it rains. I’m going to get one more coat on tonight, and then I can work on cleaning up the aluminum window frames on the buffer. I’ve read some good things about 3m’s aluminum marine restorer. I might pick some up and see what happens.

So far I’m very happy with the outcomes. I can’t wait to get the waterline and cove strip finished. I’m really digging the black and white. I find it really classy, Ace does too!

Primed

2009-09-11T11:02:00.001-07:00

Last night Ace and I went down to the yard and I was able to roll on a coat of primer to the hull above the water line. Working solo it only took 3 hours, not bad. Even though the primer is white, the hull is looking smooth. So far I think all those hours with the long board paid off.

Ace isn’t much help down at the yard. He’s learning the word yuk, he found all sorts of stuff to put in his mouth, used sanding discs are a favorite!

Tonight we’ll head down and use the random orbital with 220 grit on the primer and then wash the hull in preparation for painting tomorrow.

The weather this weekend is looking great. It’ll be nice to put this task behind me.

This has little to do with boats.

2009-09-08T15:20:00.001-07:00

We need a name for the dog and want to use something nautical.

Much to my surprise, there is a good list of names online,
http://www.better-living-ideas.com/nautical-pet-names.html

We like Ketch, Pilot, Clipper, Bear, Echo and Ace. We came up with Ace in the car, it had more to do with his one descended testicle but don’t tell anyone, he might get upset.

Any thoughts?

Paint prep

2009-09-08T08:20:00.000-07:00

This weekend was pretty crumby weather wise and so we bagged our camping trip and adopted a dog instead. This little guy comes home tomorrow. I hope he doesn’t get seasick.

There was a small break in the rain yesterday so I got down to the boat and faired in the filler at the bow. So, now I’m done!
I’m gathering materials tomorrow, I’m going to go with a primer coat. The Pettit Easypoxy http://www.pettitpaint.com/ can be applied without a primer, but I still have some fine scratches from the long board. I could just sand again with a finer grit, but I don’t want to. Also I think I’m getting too worried about these little marks. I spent some time inspecting other boats in the yard and even the ones that look great from 5 feet still have blemishes once you get real close. Either way, a coat of primer, and then some love with the 220 grit either on the orbital or long board and I’ll be ready to roll and tip the paint, This Weekend!!!
I’ll be sure to take pictures along the way. It’s really optimistic to be done by Sunday night but I’m trying. Alai is heading out of town Thursday morning, so the dog and I are going to pull a couple of long nights and try to prime the boat Thursday and block it Friday.

I thought I was done

2009-09-01T10:43:00.000-07:00

Last night I got down to the boat to fair in the last couple nicks in the hull. I thought I was done and was getting ready to celebrate when I remembered I still needed to address the point of the bow.

There was a superficial crack in the gel coat that ran vertical along the bow that needed some attention. I used the dremel to widen the crack, used the unthickend West epoxy to wet out the gouge, then mixed in some 407 filler and spread that into the gouge.

So, as of last night I'm almost done.

I should be able to fair in last nights epoxy tonight and then I can celebrate! It's been a long sore couple of weeks.

Over the weekend I was able to make some good progress on the sanding, as well as get a coat of paint on the cabin house and decks. I'm hoping to get another couple of coats on the cabin house this week so I can install the windows to keep rain out. Every few days I have to run down to the boat and put the tarps on. It'll be nice not stressing over tarping for weather and messing up fresh paint.

Almost there!

Slow Week

2009-08-26T12:51:00.000-07:00

Starting off slow this week.
Almost done on the hull sanding. Should be done on Sunday. Yeah!

Then I'll start the painting. Might need a helper when it comes to rolling and tipping the hull.
Any takers?

It’s all in the hips

2009-08-20T15:49:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted any updates.
The short story is we spent some time working on the house before we jetted off to Michigan for 10 days.

Once we got home I got to work on the exterior. Over the last two weekends and many weeknights I've been sanding and filling the decks and cabin top.

All in all they were in fair shape. I've decided to fill as many holes a possible. All of the hand rails are now filled and faired as are the toe rails. I figure it's going to be a while until I can make or buy toe rails, and who knows if the hand rails will be the same bolt patterns as the old ones. So filled and faired. The overall idea is to get the boat in the water and watertight ASAP. There are some changes brewing and it sounds like the county is going to build a new bridge right where the boat is sitting. Last word was eviction noticed will come out in November. I hope to be sailing before then.

I took the 1st half of this week off work to work on the boat. 5 days of work yielded some finish sanding on the cabin top, a little bit of painting up there and a crap ton of long board sanding on the hull. For real, every muscle in my body is sore. For the last three days, a good 6 out of 11 hours have been working the long board in a figure 8 over and over hundreds of thousands of 8's. But, it's paying off. The starboard side and transom are f-ing smooth. I applied some paint on a small area to check the fairness. If there were any ripples, they'd show since I'm painting it black. The test showed that all the labor has paid off. When I left today I'm a bit over half way done on the port side. Which means I’m 3/4 done with the sanding? I'll be glad when it's done. I've got a picture of what I don't want. Someone went to town with a sander on this thing. You can see ripples from 50 yards away. On the flip side, one light coat of black on Winterhawk and you can see your reflection.

All in this entire project is taking longer, but that's fine. The results will be worth it. There was only one tricky part. That was fixing an old repair. Winterhawk took a bad hit at one time. I was working the fore deck of a 26 footer when we t-boned a 44 footer in 30+ knots of wind. That was exciting. We gouged the other boat, full thickens gouge, right into the interior. Winterhawk had a hull to deck hit that went inboard 9 inches or so, destroyed everything. There was a crush above the port light too. I figure the bulk of the other boat crashed into the hull/deck and the point of the bow came up onto and crushed the cabin. I saved this repair until the end of the topsides prep. By then I was feeling pretty good calculating how much epoxy and filler various tasks need. Then I got to it. The old repair was half assed and weak. No core, they just packed and bunch of filler in and faired it. It was weak. The whole area was cracked and crumbling. I ground out all this crap and did a proper repair. You can download, for free! some good info on everything epoxy related from the West Systems site. I templated for new core, and then made up a bunch of cloth pieces and fixed this up right. Even the cabin top repair needed some cloth.

So, more of the same for the next few days. Buy this weekend I should have all the sanding done. I've still got nicks and cracks to fill on port, then its another 8 hours on the long board to fair the repairs. Then, it's time to paint.

I'll try to add specifics on what and how soon. But for now, here are some pictures.

001 before any sanding, duct tape still there from the boat being sealed up. Note! Use a heat gun to get the tape residue off. This leave only a little bit to wipe off with the de-waxer.

003 topside holes. lots of them.

005 lots of duct tape.

006 ground out the crappy repair

009 note the damage on the cabin top. Must have been exciting!

010 new core

012 a bit of weight while it core cures overnight

019 starting the cloth

022 more cloth

027 I couldn't wait I rolled some paint to see how it looked. Turns out I could see a bunch of scratches. Oops, more sanding. So much of what I read said to use 80 grit. I think 120 is fine, and this route didn't leave more sanding with 120 anyways.

032 no more Winterhawk

033 testing to see if the hull is fair

035 filled scratches and nicks

039, the prior owner went to town on the bottom with a grinder. Ouch. This extended up to the waterline and a little bit above. This took a lot of time to sand out.

040 this is what I don't want. When you sand, angles are better than up and down.

042 1st coat on the topsides and cabin top.

043, a bit of paint on the fore deck

046 more paint, and the old bridge soon to be replaced by a new bridge, right where Winterhawk is sitting.

053 hours of sanding on the plank

061 where I left off today. A fair port side. Well half of it.....

Time out

2009-06-15T13:12:00.000-07:00

I've been spending lots of time working on Alia's house. The floor has been refinished, new gutters are almost done. I've also been putting in some hours on the Westerly. She's nearly "done". Just need to finish up the companion way doors. But, she's officaially for sale.
Call now for the Friends and Family discount!
http://westerlypageant.blogspot.com/
Check it out, spread the word.
Now things are sorta less crazy with the house I'll plan on getting back to Winterhawk. I'm planning to finish up the settee and galley and then start the bottom paint. If she is not in the water soon, she won't be this year. I'm not going to be one of those folks who spends years in the yard. Boats are for sailing!

Ballard Cup

2009-05-19T15:49:00.000-07:00

Short and Sweet,

Worked on the Westerly all weekend to get her ready to sell.
Was out for the Ballard Cup on Monday, this was #5 of 5 in the 1st series.
Pics are here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/44299992@N00/
The pic above is Moonshine, a MKI. Hull number somehting like 48.

2009-05-13T09:04:00.000-07:00

This weekend was pretty productive. I had done the 1st few coats of varnish in the main cabin with a satin finish. It was looking nice, but well satin. I wanted a little more shine. Since I was low on varnish and needed more I picked up a semi gloss. I like this much better. It really brings out a lot of the grain in the wood that was not shown with the satin. Alia came by this weekend and put a top coat of the semi gloss on the wood in the forward cabin too. You have to be extra careful as runs show up better but the extra depth is worth the labor.
I made a new engine box/cover. The old one was pretty tight. Someone at some point had to grind out some wood on the underside of the table top because a few pieces of the engine hit the underside. This is not ideal, but it does keep the box as low profile as possible. I kept as much of the old box intact as I could and planned to use the old box as a template but it turned out to be more work. Building a box should be pretty simple right? Well this one ended up being a little more difficult that I had planned. All in all I’m happy with it, but where the lower and upper sections come together is at an angle. It’s not the end of the world, I can “fix” it with trim but I would have liked it to be nice and straight. Oh well.
One thing I did like about the old box was that the upper piece comes off easily, leaving the lower piece in place. I can’t tell you how many tools are on the bottom of Lake Union under the other boat. This design should keep from dropping stuff into the bilge but still let you do 90% of what you need to. For the last 10% the lower section comes out with just a few screws.

I started working on the galley area too. I used the chemical stripper and took off the old varnish and then lightly sanded. It was around this time I decided I should replace the counter top surface too. The off white Formica was in ok shape but was not going to go with the new design of the interior. I’m still undecided as for colors for the inside, but I’ll figure that out later. After the trim came off, I had easy access to the Formica. It came off fine, but took a bit of wood with it. I thought it would be no big deal just to remove the old substrate and replace it. It would also make a great template for the new Formica. But, in true Yankee form even the counter top is over built. There were more screws than needed, but also some wood glue. Getting the old wood off was a lot hard work with a crow bar and warm beer but in the end I won.
The top would not come out in one piece so I used a back saw to take it out in three pieces. The galley counter top must have been installed before the forward knee that makes up the stove area. When I re-install it I’ll do it in two pieces. I’m pretty sure I’ll use Formica again, but tile would be pretty nice. We’ll see.

Lastly, I got two new neighbors. A friend brought these two R-boats up from California. I’m not positive on the plan but I believe they’re going to be taken but to Vancouver, B.C. These things are beautiful! I’d love to sail one someday. Speaking of sailing, things were going well on Rev. Notice I said were. We had a bit of a collision on Monday night. The wind was up, NOAA shows 32knots gusting to 38 during our race. Just before the start with maybe two minutes to go, we had a collision with another boat. It was a hard hit but Rev took it well. She took it right on the nose, I was worried about the forestay but surprisingly her damage was only cosmetic and the rig stayed up. Apparently the other boat was not so lucky. Until the details and insurance is all sorted out I should leave it at that. But it was an experience for sure. Only one boat in our division finished the race. 38 knots on the foredeck, in choppy seas, no lifelines. Good times!

This weekend I’m planning on working on the Westerly. I need to finish a few little things and install the new companionway hatch before I sell her. If anyone is looking for a sweet little sailboat let me know, I’ll be asking around 7K. I should have a little website up by the end of the weekend as well as a listing in 48degrees.

Started on the varnish

2009-05-06T13:28:00.001-07:00

Even though the posts have slowed the work on Winterhawk has been steady. I didn’t bring my camera this weekend so I don’t have much to show. There was a bit more stripping done and then some light sanding. Alia came down to help with the varnish. We applied the 1st coat to the main bulkhead, around the side, the door to the forward cabin and the hanging locker area. Alia and I pulled out the spinnaker I picked up and it’s a pretty close fit. 43’ luff 29’ foot. I’ve been packing the chute on Rev and the last 3 deploys have gone off just fine. I’m looking forward to having a spinnaker this summer.

I’m heading back to the boat tonight to knock down the 1st coat and get the 2nd coat on.

The weather is changing here and we’ve had a few nice days. I’m getting ready to do some exterior paint. The process of painting is a little confusing. The Pettit web site doesn’t clearly outline just what to do and in what order. Their tech people respond with no more than one sentence. I really like the Vivid paint as well as the easypoxy (I’m using that on the hatch for the Westerly, it goes on really smooth and has a nice high gloss finish) so I want to use Pettit, but when you compare the tech info with Interlux, it’s night and day. Interlux has a lot of info on line and the email I got from the tech people spells out what products they recommend and in what order. I think I have it all figured out for Pettit products, but it was tedious.

I’m looking forward to getting the Westerly hatch on so I can put it up for sale. If anyone is looking for a great little pocket cruiser get in contact. She’s in sail ready condition and has had loads of upgrades. I’m sure we can arrange for you to keep her in the same slip, possibly even with the live-aboard status.

I love strippers!

2009-04-28T15:36:00.001-07:00

OK, so not those strippers, the chemical types.

I’ve spent so many mind numbing hours with a heat gun and scraper that I finally gave in and picked up some chemical varnish strippers. This stuff is ten times faster than the heat gun! As luck would have it I also picked up a different kind of scrapper at a garage sale this weekend and it works way better too. If anyone sees this before they start in on a varnish project, I highly recommend the scrapper shown in the picture.

This weekend I finished up most of the details for the port settee. The only thing left is to lightly sand, varnish and install the trim. I made the back rest just as the starboard side, there is storage access and also a shelve that sits just above the storage openings. Just like on the other side, you put stuff in from the top. I feel this is a great way to maximize this area. (I guess I didn't take a good picture, but here is one of the template making).

Alia started stripping the main cabin bulkhead with the heat gun. I’m sorry for subjecting her to that torture. It was then next morning that I picked up a chemical stripper and then the chemical wash too. This stuff works well. It takes out the bits of varnish that even the heat gun left behind. It’s also 10 times faster. I wish I could do this chemical free but I really don’t have the time. When it comes to the trim pieces, I’ll never use the heat gun again, with the two contours of the trim it takes even longer that the flat bulkhead to do the same surface area. I finished up the main bulkhead and trim with the chemical stripper and moved around the corner into the “hallway”. I hope to get down one day this week to do the door and trim, then come Friday I figure I’ll just keep going with the stripping at the forward bulkhead and then onto the galley. I can have the rest of the wood stripped by weeks end. Then I can clean, clean, clean and next week start varnishing. There is enough wood to varnish I might be able to work in a circle, recoating in the same day. We’ll see. I might need to do one coat a night.

That’s about all the updates I got. Still putting in the hours, sailing on Rev has really got me pumped to get the boat in the water. Last night I chatted with Kirk(?) owner of Moonshine a MK I while were were racing back to the finish. They took us with less than 30 seconds. I can’t wait to see what my MK III rig does!

Oh, I also picked up a Mylar main and tri-radial spinnaker for $27.15 out at Second Wave. I haven’t had the time to measure them but the price was right, even if they need to be re-cut.

Summer Home

2009-04-19T20:18:00.000-07:00

I got in some quality time this weekend. I spent Friday morning running errands to ensure I didn't need to leave the boat all weekend. I finally made it down to the yard around noon.

I'm on my 8th week of working seven days a week so I can't really recall what I did each day. But over all I got the 1st coat of varnish on the starboard settee. I then destroyed the port settee.

PEOPLE, FIX DECK LEAKS!!! The bottom 3-4 inches of the port settee was delaminating and the bulkheads as well as the knee wall that separates the settee from the pilots betrh had rot! The Bulkheads were the ones just under the settee so I ripped them out. The knee wall was only rotted in the bottom 4-5 inches so I cut that area out back to good wood. It is not structural, well at least not so much that it was tabbed into the hull. I ended up replacing the settee bulkhead and making the new one extend up to the point where it meets the old knee wall. These were then tabbed into the hull and then I'll through bolt the new bulkhead to the old knee wall. This will be stronger then the original design, but not so strong that it'll create a stiff point on the hull. Backing p a bit, when I took the "lid" off the settee there was a sizable puddle of water on top of the port water tank. This was 100% rain water from the holes from the lack of toe rails. I really doubt the rot was from the time Winterhawk has been on the hard. It seems like things got wet a while back.

Anyways. I spent time destroying the old and rebuilding. I'll let the picutes tell the story.

I had two bits of great news this weekend. First, the lesser, Yankees came with several boom lenghts. 9 feet plus seems common. 10 feet something is common too. I measure mine yesterday and came up with 11 feet 5 inches. That means more horsepower so that was great news.

The other bit is not so much little news, Alia and I have been joking that Winterhawk is going to be our summer home and once she buys a house, well have a winter home. Well it looks like Winterhawk is going to become a summer home. Alia had put in an offer and she was told this weekend that it was excepted! She'll be closing June 1st so my self inposed splash of June 1st is now much more real.

I hope these pictures are of use to someone at some point. I have more interest in sleeping than typing.

Tomorrow is race one of the Ballard Cup. I'll be on the foredeck of Rev. I can't say how stoked I am. I've been practicing gybing the spinnaker over and over in my head. This morning I hoisted Andy up the rig to take measurements for new rigging. Rev is a sweet boat and Andy is a good skipper. I hope to learn a lot.

Lights out.

Northwest Shorthanded Sailing Society

2009-04-16T09:51:00.000-07:00

I just back from the Northwest Shorthanded Sailors meeting.
All in all it was what I expected, a group of guys older than I talking about sailing. The topics were more racing heavy than I had expected, but then again I really didn’t know just what to expect.
In general the goal is to revive an old club. I can’t tell you about the history of the old club. These guys say last names with the familiarity of family. These names are lost on me. They’re the Armstrongs and Woods of the local sailing community. All in all I’m pretty green in the sailing scene but I like the idea of the group.
Their goals scratch that, our goals, are to promote shorthanded sailing in the Northwest. This would be a good time to define shorthanded sailing. As far as I can tell its two or less people on board. The group is focused on getting more shorthanded boats out and racing and to a lesser extent, out cruising.
The plan sounds simple enough. Get short handed divisions in as many races as possible, but focus the critical mass of the group on 3-5 key events spread out between the North, Central and South Sound. The thought is if you have a dedicated group of boats; say 6-10 you can get the race organizers to set a shorthanded start. With the added income of an additional fleet most organizers would be hard pressed not to take us up on that.
We talked about how we are going to distinguish the shorthanded sailors from the rest of the fleet. It sounds like the idea is a large pennant off the back stay. The multihull guys will have to find some way of displaying a pennant seeing as they might not have a back stay. There was the idea of coping the Kiwi cruisers and have a large bright colored stripe on the top of the main. But who wants to sew a little day-glo acid trip onto their carbon sails? The pennant seemed to be the favored idea, it’s also cheap. There was some talk about a logo. I think some sort of captain hook style hand would be cool if not politically correct.
I’d have to say that I’m 60% cruiser 40% racer. I bought Winterhawk to get from A to B fast, but with a full bar and dinner in the (gimbaled) oven. I’m looking forward to sailing hard and fast and learning what I need to know to sail as efficiently as possible. These guys are a wealth of information on timing tides, reading the sky, rigging the boat and in general, how to enjoy the time out in the water with less than a crowd to the fullest. Whether it’s sailing with your race buddy or cruising with your girlfriend, the Short handed sailing is for me the norm. More often than not my boat is shorthanded.
After the meeting I have to say I’m looking forward to racing more than I thought. The Idea of Alia and I racing a bunch of friends up to Port Ludlow and then tying up to the dock for the night and socializing before racing home does sound really fun.

I don’t think I’m alone in why I came to the meeting. I think there are a lot of sailors out there that would like to sharpen their skills when it comes to sailing shorthanded. I think this group is going to be a good place to look for help and information. There will be an informative web site with articles and tips. I’d like to get a pool of mentors within the group who could be available to go out on the boat with someone who is not necessarily comfortable going single or short. Maybe this would help get more couples out racing together in the Jack & Jill races.
All in all the meeting was productive. There are still lots of things to figure out, but setting the bar low by not throwing a race this year and only piggy backing is probably best. The large colored pennants are a great visual reminder to the other boats that yes, you can go out and race single handed and also let the other crewed boats know that we might not be able to react as fast as they can and might persuade them to give a little more room in close quarters.
I’m sure there will be some updates on the Sailing Anarchy site soon.
Links:
http://www.nwsss.org/
http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?showtopic=88124&st=0&gopid=2207279&#entry2207279

Went sailing

2009-04-14T12:50:00.001-07:00

Still no pictures. I was having trouble uploading them and honestly I’ve just been too busy to put much time into it. But I’ll have it sorted out tonight.

Sunday was one of those frustrating days. I put in a solid days work but really didn’t have much to show for it. Every hour I work is an hour closer to being “done” but even still it’s nice to see something get finished.

I spent a lot of time sanding the new settee base and stripping the old varnish off the trim. It’s easier to strip while the pieces are still off but damn it is a slow tedious process.

I got the wine rack all built. It just needs a light sanding and then varnish.

I slapped a couple coats of paint on the back sides of the settee bases to help protect from moisture. The bottom couple inches as well as the bottom edge were all coated with epoxy to really seal them.

This weekend I’ll make the port side, didn’t get to the lumber yard before closing time on Saturday. Oops. No material, no progress.

Yesterday I went sailing. Damn it’s been too long! I sailed on Rev, a Thunderbird out of Shilshole. It’s a nice little boat, totally rigged to race. I got to run a spinnaker for the 1st time, we even gybed a bunch of times for practice. I’m hoping to get on the crew for the upcoming Ballard Cup which is a Monday night series. I was stoked to get out and see the boat and how it was rigged. There are twin controls for several things like the outhaul and cunningham so you can make adjustments easily. The spinnaker halyard can be controlled from the cockpit, but there is a secondary cam on the mast too so the bowmen can also control the halyard. I’m defiantly going to do this on Winterhawk. So simple but so useful. I’ve read plenty about spinnakers and how people have so many problems with them. That was not the case at all last night. It was pretty straight forward.

This week is really busy, I hope to get down to the boat tonight just to put some wood filler in a few scratches in some of the trim. Then it can dry and be ready for sanding on Friday. I’m off again Friday so I’ll have another three day weekend down at the boat. For real, I should have to port side done, minus varnish but Sunday. I don’t want to kick up a bunch of dust so I’ll try to get down there for a coat of varnish each night next week after work.

There is a hole in the hull for the depth meter under the port settee. I need to do some thinking if I want to keep that, or fill it and use a thru hull transducer, maybe one with a gps fish finder. I’ve been reading a lot about that lately. I like the idea of one less hole. Cost will probably be the deciding factor.

That’s about it.

It all started with a wine rack.

2009-04-10T21:45:00.001-07:00

I took today off from "real" work and spent all day down at the boat. First thing I did was put a second coat of varnish in the forward cabin. It's coming along up there. The plan was to coat it so it dries while I work on other projects, then re-coat one more time after lunch.

I spent a bit of time cleaning up then put the starboard settee together. I had been thinking a lot lately about just how I want the storage behind the settee to be. I also plan to mount the flat screen above the settee. I had seen a boat at the boat show that had settees with small storage areas behind the back, but rather that having the storage space go all the way up to the top of the seat back, it only went up 3/4. There was a shelve here. I like this for two reasons. It gives you a sea-rail to keep stuff from falling off, but the boat show boat had a three bottle wine rack here too. I like wine, I also like little details so this was my inspiration.

As it turns out, the settee back already had this 3/4 shelve. Score! but it didn't really fit the curve of the hull well. I was planning on just fixing this but you know how one project leads to another.... The settee base has some wood that is de-laminating. I was thinking it could be fixed with a bit of epoxy, but the more I started to look, the more I convinced myself the whole thing should just be rebuilt.

I started by removing the face trim. Next out came the grinder and I cut away the tabbing that held the outboard edge of the settee bottom to the hull. I don't really see that it needs to be glassed in. There are a dozen screws that hold it in along the sides and front. Glassing it in also makes water tank maintenance impossible.

The base was then lifted out, and eventually out came the lower face/frames. I used all the old pieces as a pattern and picked up a 4x8 sheet of mahogany marine ply (3/8) and cut out the new wood. I only had time to do a quick fit, but so far they seem like a good fit.

Starting with new wood does mean a little more control over the final look. I no longer have to worry about trying to make old wood look nice, in the forward cabin it's coming out OK, but the main cabin has had a little more abuse. I little bit of sanding and a few coats of varnish and I'll have a main salon that looks brand new.

I put a final coat on the forward cabin wood just before I called it a night.

Tomorrow I'll finish up the starboard settee. But not until after I hit the boaters swap meet. I'm hoping to find a 2-3 burner over. Once the starboard settee is done, I'll rebuild the port one. The port side doesn't have any of the back rest stuff so I'll have to make templates for that.

Oh yeah, if there is a former Yankee sailor out there that lost a shoe 20 years ago, I found it. It was behind the water tank.

Stay tuned. Pictures are not loading. I'll figure that out tomorrow.

Almost done up forward

2009-04-07T14:47:00.000-07:00

This weekend made for some visual progress despite not getting in the long hours I’m used to. I dog sat a bit on Saturday and my daughter Lilli was in town Sunday, she was in town on a whaling expedition (sight seeing).

I started by putting up the cork I had templated and cut a week ago. I used the Super77 to hold them in place. Again I’ll say the Super90 is by far a much better product for this. The 77 held long enough to get the cover panels in, but when I remove them to install the deck hardware I expect the cork will be loose. I’ll plan to have some Super90 on hand when I tackle that job. Once the cork was up, I re-installed the overhead panels. They are now all up, painted and looking good. The joints will be trimmed out with mahogany, but I’m waiting on that until I know just how much stock I’ll need and buy it all at once and spend a day and mill it down.

On a side note I picked up a router table top off Craigslist last night. It’s just the table top so I can store it easily, but I figure I can make a base that sit across the cockpit coamings and have a make shift workshop out there.

I spent a bit of time sanding the bulkheads and trim in the forward cabin that I had stripped last week too. I’ll get the 1st coat of varnish on them tonight. I figure they’ll need 4 coats or so. Before grandpa past he gave me an assortment of power sanders. With all the odd corners and hard to reach areas they sure are coming in handy.

I also did the last of the painting up forward. I taped off the newly sanded wood and painted the mattress area as well as the face of the v berth. Here there was one small cabinet door that was pretty small. It was on the starboard wall below the berth. The area behind it is huge so I’m planning on opening this up and putting in 3-4 drawers. This will substantially increase my storage for clothes and such. Here is a picture of what it will eventually look like.

Lastly I bought a sheet of mahogany ply and made the new forward chain locker bulkhead using the old one as a template. I epoxied the back and edges with West Systems 2 part epoxy. This should help it hold up far better than the stock one did. The face will get a couple coats of varnish at the same time the rest of the forward cabin does. The trim that went around it had already split and will just need to be re-milled and replaced.

That last bit of news to report is the wasp problem. When we went to get the boat ready for shipping, there were quit a few wasps that had called the trap home. We didn’t see any sort of nest, just a bunch of hibernating wasps.

We’ll, their not hibernating any more. I’ve killed off 20 or so this weekend alone. My scraper for removing the varnish has become my new instrument of death. I’ve gotten so good at killing, I’m able to swat ‘em mid air. I might need to get one of those bug bombs. It’ll be a lot less toxic to do that now vs later. I’ll be damned if I can find any sort of nest. The boats been stripped so I have no idea where they’re coming from. But they keep coming and I keep killing.

During the week I've been riding my bike down to the yard. I got caught with the bridge up. It was a beautiful day, I thought I'd share a picture of the yard.

Thinking about bottom paint

2009-04-03T11:09:00.000-07:00

I’ve been thinking about my options for bottom paint a lot lately. The forecast says we’re going to get close to 60 degrees this weekend. However, there were a lot of cars with a substantial amount of snow on them during this mornings commute.

I’m pretty sure I’m going with Pettit. I like the idea of there Vivid which is described as a hard ablative. Since the boat is already stripped I’m going to apply a barrier coat with Pettit’s 4700/4701 system.

I’m doing a fair amount of reading on the application of bottom paints. I think I made a break through the other day. The whole boat stand moving thing was a little confusing. Moving the stands after every coat would be time consuming, and adds to the yard fees.

I read this piece of advice. This might be common knowledge, but this is the 1st time I read it. On your 1st coat you paint right up to the pads with X color. For the barrier coat I’ll use grey since the hull is white. The next coat will be white to contrast the grey so you can see where you’ve been and insure a good coat was applied. This coat you’ll end about 2” from the pads. You’ll do the next coat in grey and again leave a 2” buffer from the last coat so now I’m 4” away from the pads. Then, once everything has cured, the stands can be moved and you have a nice pattern to follow for the final bit of painting.

I’m planning on going with black above the water line and white for the water line. I’d like to have a white bottom but that doesn’t leave me with much contrast so I’m going with red Vivid. Here is the basic Idea.

I’ve ordered a 30” Dura Block. The black will show minor defect in the hull so I’m going to put in some (many) hours with the block and high build primer to get her as fair as I can. If the weather holds I can hopefully start fairing in the next couple of weeks.

In the mean time I’ll keep plugging away inside. This weekend I hope to replace the chain locker bulkhead and pattern and install the finish wood for the sides in the forward berth. I’ll use the bulkhead I’m removing to test just how light I can get the mahogany and still keep it looking nice. I’m going to try a “clear: varnish as well as bleaching and see what comes out. I hope to have some results mid next week.

Just a quick update.

2009-03-31T14:16:00.000-07:00

I went down to the boat last night for a few hours of painting and stripping. The last coat of paint on the overheads left a few holidays. (Holiday is what you get when you miss a spot ie: “you must have been on holiday ‘cause you sure as hell weren’t there”). Then I remembered a trick I came up with during the year I worked construction. If you paint or varnish at night, or otherwise without a lot of outside light, and hold a flash light parallel to you work surface you can se the wet edge well and the little dry spots become visible. So last night I put one last coat on and used my old light trick and now they are done!

I also did some stripping in the forward berth (thanks Alia!) I’m with in 30 minutes of being done with the stripping. Close examination of the chain locker bulkhead shows some delaminating, so I’m just going to replace that with new wood.

Here are a couple interesting links. I like sailing, and sailing solo is something I consider a must know. If I need a crew my boat is too big, something I don’t think is ever going to be a problem. But I’m looking forward to checking this out.

www.nwsss.org

http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?showtopic=88124

Also, I’m looking for an interesting article that I’ve misplaced, maybe you can help. (I’ve been a little surprised that people are actually looking at this, even asking when I’m updating next and asking questions, thanks!)

http://www.sailnet.com/forums/general-discussion-sailing-related/52999-missing-article-help.html
I routinely save all my sailing magazines, but alas I’ve lost one and I really want to see an article again. Maybe you folks have seen the article I’m looking for.

Here’s the catch, I can’t remember which magazine it was. I routinely have 48 North, Latitude 38, Cruising World, Lat’s and Att’s, Good Old Boat and Practical Sailor around. I think it was in one of the last two.

The article was about a specific boat and upgrades the owner had done. In the head he used light weight plexi glass sheets and cut them into 1x1 tiles and tiled the head with them. They had a great tile look, but a fraction of the weight.

This was with in the last few months. If anyone knows of the magazine and month, I’d greatly appreciate the info.

I can just start experimenting, but I’d like take a second look and maybe even try to see more pictures of the tile job.

Thanks

What a great weekend!

2009-03-30T14:58:00.000-07:00

I took off work around noon on Friday and went down to the boat for a few hours. The sun was out so I was able to finish the last of the overheads before the rain started to come down.

The 1st thing I did was to put up the panels I had already finished. It is a 100 times easier now that they have been cut down into manageable sizes. Once all of these were up and had a couple screws to hold them, I sent out to make the final templates. I took a straight edge and set it into the grooves on the panels that were already up and scribed the line onto the paper patterns with a Shapie. If I skipped this step, the chance of making the lines all match up would be pretty slim. Even still I was relying on a bit of luck.

The patterns were moved outside, in the sun no less and cut out. Originally I had planned to make the one in front of the head in one piece, but I wanted to use the material I had on hand (and not spend and more $ than I needed too) so I ended up making that one in two pieces. I think this worked out best anyways. They are much easier to put up and take down.

I packed it in for the night.

The next morning I set on fitting the last 3 panels. They only required minimal trimming to fit nicely, better to cut them too big and trim than try to add material....

After 30 minutes or so, all three panels were up! I still needed to sand and paint them but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. A bit to my surprise, the panels all lined up. Well with in a 1/8th inch anyways. The forward birth overhead and the main cabin are almost seamless. This makes me very happy.

The panels were then sanded and painted and later this week I'll epoxy the backsides. An update on that. I had been sanding by hand, but I am now using my random orbital. I guess I was a little afraid of taking off too much, but as long as the material is mostly flat, it works well, and is many times faster. Faster is better!

Between coats of paint I started stripping the forward bulkhead in the v birth. Winterhawk has a lot of wood inside compared to the Westerly. I’ve never stripped varnish before. Now I know why people grumble over it. Using a heat gun and scraper is hard work. There were some areas where the varnish was thinner and these were actually harder to strip. The spots with nice varnish melted right off, but the light areas required a bit of muscle. This is also a very time consuming task!

By the end of the weekend the forward half of the forward bulkhead was stripped. I still need to do the door, but that is something I split over a night or two this week.

I’ve been going over decorating styles. Basically I’m thinking light wood and dark fabric, or dark wood and light fabric. I’m going to investigate the varnish options I’d like to keep the wood as light as possible so I’ll try using a clear varnish and see what it looks like. I’m also looking into the possibility of lightening the wood, but I don’t want to loose that nice wood look. We’ll see.

More overhead progress

2009-03-24T11:38:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a good one. I was able to get down Saturday, but not until around noon. Alia and I were almost successful in our goal of killing off a bottle of tequila. Needless to say, we stayed in bed till way late. But, I was able to rally and get down to the boat for a good days work.

The weather was good so I was able to make some progress on the overhead panels, but before all that happened I spent a little time making the paper patterns for the cork insulation and then cutting the cork. This was set aside until I have the overhead panels cut and painted.

Now onto the overheads. I picked up 2 more 4x8 panel sheets and made patterns but this time running fore-aft rather than side to side like I did with the cork insulation. I made the patterns in one long piece, but these are just too big to handle with anything less than 2 people. So these will be cut down into 2 sections but I'll wait on that until I can get Alia down to the boat for a test fit. After a quick job with the saw they will be ready to go up, just after I glue up the cork.

These panels received the same treatment as the forward cabin, and coat of 2 part West Systems epoxy then a top coat of Petit Dura White on the back to make them resistant to any deck leaks that may occur. Ideally I'd like to have used some sort of light weight foam panels but I just can't find them. I guess I'd have to worry about them getting dented or cracked, but even some sort of plastic would be nice, no rot, super light weight, that would be ideal. If anyone has a source, pass it on!
The material comes pre primed, but there are some brush strokes and drips that should be sanded out. Folding a piece of 120 grit and running it through each of the grooves and then some 220 over the flat surfaces has given a good, smooth surface in the past so I stuck with that. The front side then got a coat of Petit Dura White. This paint is good stuff but the 1st coat is a little hard to work with. I've got a system down. 1st I use a angle brush and brush the paint into the grooves, working in small section. Then I quickly use a foam roller over that. You'll be left with some brush strokes, but once it dries you can knock them down with some 220. Then you can apply the 2nd coat which is really the 1st coat on the flat sections. The 2nd and 3rd coats I apply with a foam roller. This will coat the flat areas and maybe a little into the grooves. The 2nd and 3rd coat goes on really easily and once it's dry has a really nice finish to it. At $30 a quart it's not cheap but it looks far better than the cheaper Home Depot stuff. It would be nice to spray this stuff it would make for a much faster operation. But without air or sufficient working area this is not an option for me.

I'm adding a picture I poached off the Morris Yachts site. These things are expensive! But look at the overhead, that’s what I'm going for here. I love the white upholstery, That wouldn’t stay white in a boat that gets used, but damn that looks nice. Notice the details on the bulkheads.

This week I'll get the overheads up. I have 2 small areas then I'll need to make patterns and panels for. One, in the port aft section. The port side from the companionway to the main bulkhead is 4-5 inches longer than starboard. This made a little bit of a problem. The starboard side fit on a 4x8 panel, but port can up 6+ inches short. I opted to make the break in the aft most section. You won't see the seam as it’s covered by some finish trim but even still the aft section is less of a visual focal point. I have one other overhead to pattern and cut, which is the area in front of the heads door and into the forward cabin.
So, progress is being made, visual progress at least.

I heads up to anyone local, I saw that the Des Moines Yacht Club is have some sort of swap meet on Saturday. I'm hoping to get AC and DC panels as well as some old halogen fixtures that I gat swap in L.E.D. bulbs into. I'll then start pulling some marine grade boat cable and start the wiring of the lighting.

Another positive note, it was a bit warmer this week. It's been staying above freezing even at night and even touched 50 degrees during the days. The newest boat in the yard was even able to put on a coat of antifouling Saturday. I hope to be able to start the bottom paint in the next month or so.

It's about time!

I’m ready to get some work done on the boat!

2009-03-13T10:30:00.000-07:00

I spent several nights this weekend diagnosing and fixing a worn governor gear in the Jeeps transmission. The damn thing wouldn’t shift out of 1st. But alas, all is fixed and she’s purring and shifting happy now.

Alia and I are heading over to Roslyn for a show tonight. I’m looking forward to getting some work in on Sunday but tonight is going to be nice and relaxing. I’ll plan on working on the boat a few nights next week to make up for the lost time. I’m also going to resume my 4 day work weeks so I can spend Friday-Sunday at the boat yard. I really want to make my self imposed June 1st deadline.

The boaters’ swap meet is coming up soon. When outfitting the Westerly I was able to find all sorts of deals here. From a boom vang for $25 to a 50amp smart charger for $60 this is the place to shop for deals. I’m in need of AC/DC panels, interior lights, some rope clutches, an oven/stove and a ton of other random things. The official start is 7am, but most of the good deals are gone by 4am. People are set up and shopping around midnight.
I need to add batteries for my headlamp to my shopping list.

I’ll remember my camera this weekend. I should have the last of the main cabin overhead battens in, and hopefully a significant part of the insulation too. I’ll take pictures of the chalk line trick for locating the battens overhead. I can then pattern and cut the main cabin overhead panels and begin to epoxy/ paint them. I’ll have to see how they lay, but I want to be able to easily take them down to access the cabin top hardware. I’ll probably opt to have the main cabin overhead in 5 sections, 4 pieces in the main cabin and one for the space between the main cabin/ forward cabin. This should leave no piece bigger than 4x4 which is a manageable size to remove and store in the boat while doing maintenance.
I hope that makes sense, like they say, a pictures worth a thousand words. It should come out like this:

No Boat Pictures

2009-03-09T12:58:00.000-07:00

I spent Saturday doing family stuff, Alia and I went to the dog show. She's looking at dogs, specifically a Shiba Inu. I'm more of a big dog fan and we checked out several Mastiffs and Great Danes. We met the sweetest Bull Mastiff that really wanted to give hugs, he was a trim 130lbs.

I forgot the camera this weekend, but I was able to get a couple coats of paint on the overheads. I also put up a couple overhead battens in the main cabin. I'm post on this in detail later. It's important to take lots of measurements while you doing the prep work, but never forget to use your own eyes. I spent plenty of time measuring from bulkheads, but kept coming up with odd angles. Finally I thought I had things marked out pretty square when I laid down on the sole and looked up. WFT was I way off.

I ended up using a chalk line down the center ( it's safe to assume the mast is in the middle right?) and a speed square off that and all was well with in a few minutes. Again, more details when I head down there and take pictures.

Also, I was trying to be a cheap ass and avoid buying expensive traps. If you find yourself hauling out and removing deck hardware, just cough up the cash and buy a big 'ol tarp. I've spent more time than needed trying to save money with cheap plastic coverings and in the end just bought a full size tarp. I was getting little drips here and there and finally had enough.

On a side note the Jeep has been hauling me and lumber/tools back and forth for a few weeks now with out any complaints. But this weekend the transmission started acting up. Sounds like it might be a quick fix, a vacuum line but it's one less night working on the boat and until I fix it I can't drive over 28MPH. I can think of many things I'd rather do than work on the Jeep in the marina parking lot in the snow......

Links

2009-03-05T08:03:00.000-08:00

I started this site to document the restoration of Winterhawk, if you found this site randomly, you’re probably scouring the web for information on sailboats for your own project.

I really like this site: http://www.ramoak.com/yankee30/ largely because it too is a Yankee 30, but also because it is current and the boat is in similar condition to Winterhawk.

If you’re looking for tips and ideas, this will be a good site to watch.
I also recommend a few books. The finely Fitted Yacht, and From a Bare Hull.

And while I’m dropping links, this one is great: http://www.sailtransportcompany.com/ A friend Bob is sailing his Yankee 30 in the Puget Sound delivering produce. Check it out, if you’re in the Seattle/ Ballard area you can sign up for a delivery.

Here is a link I found the other day. I’m going to give this a try. http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2007/1/28/215243/977
The Dr. Led lights I bought for the Westerly died with in a year. After a round of warranty replacements that also died after a year (and being a bitchy customer) They gave me a deal on the new “hi flux” lights. These do put out better light but they cost $75. Putting 10 on the boat isn’t cheap.

I’d like to start adding links to great sites about sailboat restoration. If you have a favorite, send it my way.

The last of the battens and insulation

2009-03-03T07:59:00.000-08:00

Things are starting to look more finished.

This weekend I was able to glue in the last of the battens in the Vee birth. The last few were the short ones that go above the shelve. These will hold the horizontal strips of finish wood, most likely 1.5" mahogany, I was thinking ash, but the milling is more difficult. I'm not going to need any below the shelve because it has a liner. Someday if I wanted to ad them in I could, but that would be simply aesthetics.

Once the last of the battens were in I finished the templates for the cork and then cut them out and used the Super77 to hold them in place. For an extra layer of protection I picked up a cork sealer from the local green home supply, Eco Haus. All of the cork got a liberal coat on all exposed edges and faces.

I was also able to make templates for the finish coverings for the overheads. I again used the MDF bead board. MDF isn't the most waterproof material out there, but over 2 years and no problems on the Westerly. On the Westerly I coated the backside with latex paint. To go one step further on Winterhawk, I used 2 part epoxy. For the hell of it I'll paint them too. The edges will also be epoxied and painted and the faces will all get a coat of finish paint. These should last for a long time.

Now I can temporarily fit the overheads and make my templates for the sides. I'll do the same epoxy/ paint treatment to them. Then everything can get a coat of finish paint, if the weather holds. If it's raining, or snowing as of late, I'll do them in sections. There is only so much room when the boat is the workshop. Having the forward area "done" means I can have a clean area for painting the faces where they won't have dust setteling on them.

This week should have the paint applied, front and back and hopefully all the overheads and faces installed. I'll plan to spend a couple evenings working, apply a coat of paint and then head home while it dries overnight. This coming weekend I should be able to start on the overhead battens for the main cabin. With the wood core to screw into, these should go up fast.

It's really nice to finally see something getting close to finished. After weeks of prep work this is just the boost I needed to keep up with the long weeks.

i still think that the 1st of June could have the boat in the water.

Battens and Insulation

2009-02-22T21:51:00.000-08:00

I spent this weekend finishing the prep work so battens could be glued to the hull. I used exterior grade heavy duty construction glue. I used this in the Westerly with good results. I think this is what the old battens were held up with too (as well as some staple that had rusted out). Since there is a wood core in the bow area deck, I used a temporary screw to hold the batten in place while the screw set up. On the cabin top sides there is no core so clamps or very small screws were used.

The battens are 1/4 inch plywood ripped down to 2 inches wide. I used the table saw to make kerfs or relief cuts to help them bend. I ended up using a small back saw to make more cuts as needed, which ended up being quite a few. But, the battens laid down well and after the glue set up overnight I was able to remove the screws.

Next I made patterns and cut 1/4 inch cork to fill in the areas between the battens. On the deck area where there is a core this is not needed, but on the cabin sides it will add a layer of insulation for year round cruising. It will also make a more solid under surface for the finished wood.

The cork was bought for the Westerly on ebay. It is 4x300 feet and only cost a couple hundred dollars. A pretty good deal. I used 3M super 77 because it will be covered by finish wood so I don't have to worry about it falling off. For the areas where the cork will be exposed, like in lockers, I'll use the Super 90, it has a little more hold.

tired arms and all

2009-02-16T18:31:00.000-08:00

Today was spent with most of the morning holding a grinder above my head. By the time this boat is done I'm going to be ripped! In the main cabin the battens were stapled into the deck. They held for a long time so that method works if you have a core to staple into. That's not the case in the hull sides. Here there is nothing to staple into and it's not as thick as the deck. So.. heavy duty construction glue was used and damn it was a pain to get off. The wood would split before the glue let it go. This is good news, one because this is the method I used in the Westerly, and because I might use it again. Expoy can take so long to set, you have to mix it, and it's not cheap. Glue on the other hand, is cheap and there is no mixing. I had to remove the old battens because they were at odd angles, OK if you're going to use headliner vinyl, but not for the wood finish I want. I'll need better prep so off it came. 1st with a pry bar and hammer, followed by the grinder and flap disc. The disc works wonders, it melted through the glue and wood. But you better pay attention. You'll burn through to sunlight if you're not careful, a light touch is all it takes.

Tyvex suit, goggles, respirator, gloves and a shop vac and even still the place is a mess! There is glue dust covering everything. The short story is after many hours of grinding off the old glue the forward birth is ready for battens. Since the deck is cored, battens are there only to allow the fixing of the finished wood, not for the insulation. Thus, I'll plan to use 1/4 battens. I can fill the area between battens with the cork I have on hand. The new battens will be set with the heavy duty construction adhesive. These battens will sit at better angles for the finished wood.

This week is a work week. I plan to rip down a couple 4x8 1/4 sheets of ply. I'll use these for the new battens. This coming weekend I'll plan on gluing in the battens up forward. If thins work out, I'll do the overhead main cabin too. I'll set the battens in glue, but I plan to use some staples to hold them in place. This will nix the need for braces to push up while the glue sets.

This is the long, slow work, but it's crucial for the finish I want. If I wanted a functional overhead the was "stock" I'd save some time in this stage, but the vinyl liner would be difficult so I guess it all works out in the end, but in my ending I'll have a really nice finish.

working

2009-02-15T21:16:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I spent a few hours cleaning up the boat. It was a rough ride and not much stayed put. Pretty much everything found it's way onto the floor. I'll just let the pictures tell the story.

Today I spent much of the morning cleaning the vee birth and chain locker. The old shelving was removed, they were in fair condition, but sanding and painting will be much easier with them removed. Along the way I discovered that there is a liner along the lower portion of the vee birth hull sides. This means I don't need to line that with cork or wood slats which is less work, but leaves me with a plastic look. I'm going to go ahead and line the upper sides above the liner with slats. there will be a new shelve here too, so between those it should have a nice finished wood look.I was able to find a picture that shows what I'm striving for.

I also discovered the fuel tank is full. Some time was spent trying to get the tank freed up and get the hoses disconnected so it can be removed and emptied at the haz-mat place down the street.

The forward birth is pretty much ready for paint. I need to read a little more, but the topside paint I'm planning on using can work well for the interior. I'll test the roll and tip method inside to get the hang of it. When the weather warms I'll be all set to make the outside look great.

I'm planning on using wood for some of the surfaces in the forward birth. I still need to pick a wood to use through out the boat, I'll use wood for the ceiling portions of the birth, both around the forward hatch and the foot well area. There are some battens that were stapled to the hull for the old headliner. I think this method works well. I'm going to entertain this method again. I could staple the battens and then screw the finished wood to these battens and cover the screws with finish trim.

The alternative is glue the battens as I did last time. Stapling is much faster, if I'm worried about them holding I can add some epoxy to the mix, but the staples will nix the need for clamps and bracing while the glue sets. The end result needs to be pretty, but also needs to be easily removed to add hardware. There will be channels along the shelves for electrical wires.

On the way out I was also able to make a little progress on the hatch for the Westerly, adding another layer of epoxy. One more round of fairing and it should be ready for paint.
Again the same topside paint will be used here. I also scrubbed the sole briefly.
I think it'll clean up real nice.

The move

2009-02-13T18:42:00.000-08:00

I'll update this tomorrow, but Winterhawk is home at the South Park Boatyard. Moving boats is exhausting!

Waiting

2009-02-11T13:10:00.000-08:00

Sailing can involve a lot of waiting. That’s nothing new. I’ve spent plenty of time waiting for the wind to pick up, waiting for the bridges to open or the Locks to raise. But this is a new waiting.

I had planned to start on Winterhawks exterior right away, finishing the necessary sanding, applying a barrier coat, primer and paint to the hull and top sides. I had planned to have this all done and have Winterhawk floating dockside in 2 months. But.. further reading on paints shows that I need it to be 50 degrees to paint. I could get the barrier coat on while it’s in the 40’s but not below. Seeing as we’ve woke to snow and freezing rain the last few days I’ve modified my plans. It might mean Winterhawk stays on land for an extra month, but oh well, I can wait.

I picked up an oil-filled radiator last night. I’m going to start on the interior this weekend and this puppy will ensure a warm boat so paints and epoxies dry, no waiting here!

I’ll plan on looking into nooks and crannies and getting a better feel for the boat. I’m also going to start sanding the interior hull in the forward birth. I’m going to work on insulating and lining the hull forward as well as the cabin top. Once this “room” is done I’ll have a clean area I can tape off for sleeping. There is a pretty good chance I’ll be spending some nights on the boat and this will be much nicer than sleeping with a respirator.

As I did with the Westerly, I’ll be lining the hull with ¼ to 3/8 cork glued directly to the hull. This adds a layer of insulation and eliminates the condensation problems I originally had on the Westerly. I’ll be covering the cork with wood slats running fore-aft. There are vertical battens on much of the hull already. I might need to epoxy in a few more, we’ll see. I’m thinking of using a dark wood again, most likely mahogany, but I’m still open to a lighter wood.

My plan is to work my way aft, following the forward birth, I’ll tackle the head and hanging locker. I’d like to use a composting toilet like the air head, but I’ll just make sure the current set up is working well 1st and then add the airhead to the someday list.

With a good plan, I figure I can have the interior ready to go in 6 weeks, including a new 12 and 110 volt electrical system. Things are so much easier the second time around. While I’m waiting for the weather to warm I can learn about the Atomic 4 and polish the deck hardware in my nice warm cabin.

I've been trying out hull colors. I think black wins.

Two more days!

The mast is up, er' on.

2009-02-10T07:59:00.000-08:00

This weekend Alia, John and Thomas came up to Sequim to help me ready the boat for transport.

Gordan had taken down the shed and uncovered the boat. We rounded up all the hardware that came off the boat from their various hiding places and stowed it inside Winterhawk. Alia and John Taped off the ports and hatches to keep the rain out. The major task for the day was to get the mast off the saw horses on onto the boat.

The week before I had lifted one end of the mast. To my surprise, it was far more flexible and lighter than I had expected. But I quickly learned there is a big difference between lifting 1/2 the mast and all 48 feet of it.

After some debate we decided the best route was to move one end at a time. We sent Thomas up the ladder with the forward end of the mast, while John pulled from the top side with a stout line. The rest of us guided the butt end. Once the forward end was resting on the bow pulpit and a saw horse, we brought the aft end up a ladder, again with the lift/ pull technique. All in all it worked well, but my neck is still stiff. I owe you all another round!

Now the mast is on, Winterhawk is ready to make the trip down to Seattle where the real work can begin.

Introducing winterhawk

2009-02-08T17:25:00.000-08:00

This site will document the restoration of my newest sailboat, Winterhawk, a mid 70's Yankee MKIII 30 foot sloop.

I had been reading about Yankees for a while when I discovered a friend already had one. Bob has a MKII that literally sailed circles around my current boat, a 23 foot Westerly Pageant. From that point I knew this was going to be my next boat.

I had looked at a couple Yankees and a Tartan 30 too, but I didn't think I was ready to buy just yet. But then an email came in from a Yankee owner a couple of hours away. Winterhawk was laid up in his back yard and was no longer welcome. I promptly made plans to come take a look that coming weekend. Barring a giant hole in the boat, I was buying it. Alia and I drove up to Sequim that Saturday.

Having one bare hull restoration under my belt, I was prepared for the worst. I was quite surprised to find Winterhawk in better shape that I had hoped for. The exterior had been sanded down to the gel coat and the lead keel was exposed. The decks were stripped of all the hardware. The boat was a blank canvas and much of the back breaking work had already been done. The interior was in pretty good condition. The teak and holly sole would only need minor work to make it shine, the inside is outfitted with a fair amount of teak that will require some elbow grease to bring it back to life. The interior is pretty spartan, but that makes it easier to insulate and install new 12 & 110 power systems.

There was a Atomic 4 gas inboard with many new parts that is said to be a good runner. As a back up, there is another A4 that looks to be complete.

The owner Gordon took me on a tour of the garage and the shed pointing out the various stuff that comes with the boat. A new prop shaft, a folding prop, cushions, winches, window frames, insulation and a ton of teak and stainless odds and ends.

The deal was too good to be true. I made a deal with Gordon and left town feeling very excited.

The next week was spent finalizing plans for a spot in the South Park boat yard, and arranging for transport. Much time was spent reading online and at the library about the various options for bottom paint and debating the choices in colors, as well as buying some new tools for the daunting tasks ahead. Good Old Boat just happened to have a couple articles on bottom prep. They gave some good info on sanders and grinders. Thanks to Craigslist, I got both. Now I just need to find a ladder.

The starboard sette and hanging locker.

The quarter birth and companionway steps.

The good 'ol Atomic 4.

The galley and companionway.