It's hard to believe that a month as passed. We are still grinding, however, we are making progress. The gelcoat is all off, and we are working on the first layer of fiberglass mat. We have taken a couple of weeks off from grinding. Walt had a bout with kidney stones that were dealt with, and then we had to deal with frustration and depression of the continuous grind. We have found that Marty can only grind about two and one-half hours per day, and Walt about 4 hours, and then we are totally spent. We go back to the motor home, eat, shower and nap, and if we can drag ourselves back to the boat yard we work on other projects.
The progress shows on the other projects. Walt almost has the chain plates fully complete. All that is left is some small tabbing to the deck and sealing against leaks. Two new seacocks have been installed and are hooked up (in the steering well), and two existing seacocks have been resized and replaced and are hooked up. There are four more to be done, two in the head and two in the bilges, one for engine cooling and one for refrigeration intake. The topsides (area from the waterline up to the deck) have been sanded and are ready for paint, and the mast has been fully stripped and will be rewired, all the fittings put back on with new bedding compound to prevent corrosion, and all new standing rigging. Marty has been fortunate to make the acquaintence of one of the professionals in the boat yard and he has been a wealth of information and hints. The week she was working on the mast he was re-rigging a mast next to her, and was generous and patient to teach her what to look for. It was a good thing he was there, for we found some bolts that go thru the mast attaching the standing rigging that were wearing through. They were inside the mast out of sight and being worn by internal halyards. 30 years of wear!
He has also been generous with his expertise in advising us what to do about the blisters on the hull and the voids we found, and the water in the hull. After a lengthy discussion of solutions, he said it: "it's a 30 year old boat that hasn't sunk from these problems, just get it ready to go sailing." In other words, we are not building a piano, do what's necessary and go on!
Walt designed two new stainless tanks, one for holding sewage, and one for fresh water that are being fabricated by the local marine welder in the boat yard. They will be complete in 3-4 weeks and will be installed in the forepeak. 28 gallons each of water and sewage.
What started out to be 6-8 weeks in the yard has grown. We now expect to be back in the water at the end of October. A total of four months, 16 weeks! Double what we expected. We probably won't be finished with all the projects, but it should be operational and we can head back to our home port, Hood River.
2 comments:
Wow, you guys have been so busy. We know exactly how you feel with trying to finish the basement. We've been working on it all summer and it just never seems to end. And then there's all the unforseen things that pop up and send you in a whole new direction.
Like you though, we are making progress. We seem to have all the little stuff out of the way and have almost all of the drywall done. Next comes mudding and sanding, yuck what a mess but then we can paint and do the flooring. Little by little.
It will be great when it's all done, you guys are going to have so much fun on the boat. I envy you!
Man you guys are living great up there.Wish we would get some snow down here in Florida,but I guess that will never happen.Just wanted to say that I like your blog,and your white Christmas
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