In early August I started in on removing the deck hardware from Ronin in anticipation of prepping the decks for painting. While the boat was in the slip I started removing winches, cleats, turning blocks, track and pretty much anything that was secured to the deck. A old work buddy of mine, John, was in town from Kansas for few days and made the mistake of volunteering to help me. I needed it as some of the removal required two people.
By and large the hardware came off fairly easily. C&C did a good job of mounting and bedding the hardware. With the exception of the secondary winches and some rope clutches that a previous owner and I installed, all the holes were chamfered and butyl was used for the bedding compound. I’ve been very surprised by the lack of water infiltration into the core. So far almost of all the items that I have pulled have not had any rotten balsa core. I was expecting quite a bit worse but this says good things for the quality that C&C put into the deck hardware build. I know I won’t get away free but this means a lot less effort getting the decks ready for painting.
Jib tracks coming off:
When I pulled the hardware there were a multitude of holes in the deck which is to be expected. I didn’t want to plug the holes with a dollop of clear silicone sealant like I had with the coach handrails that were pulled off over a year ago. I've read about the problems that silicone causes when trying to clean and prep the surface for painting.
So, in the vein of “better ideas”, I decided that just taping over the holes with duct tape would be fine. Pure lazy think. It did not work, So, after the first rainfall (outside and in…) filled my bilge I belatedly decided to pull the tape. I had cleverly applied the black Gorilla tape in the late summer heat. Think gooey, sticky mess when removing the tape.
One of several bad ideas that I’ve had:
So, much scraping and wiping down with mineral spirits later, I had another brilliant idea: West System! Yup, I figured that since I was going to be sanding, repairing, glassing and epoxying the decks for painting anyway, why not just fill the holes with West System epoxy thickened with 407 Low Density thickener. Many swiped with a plastic squeegee later I had a very dry boat. Ugly but dry.
Chicken Pox:
After a couple of days of intermittent work I had the big items off and ready for storage. Most of the items will go in my shed but some will stay outside with the boom and other large aluminum and steel parts.
Bucket ‘o Winches:
I set one of the primary winches aside and a few days later put it on my workbench to check it out. Yeesh, what an un-serviced mess. Shame on me. So after doing a check to make sure everything was there and working, I stored them for a future maintenance project inside the warm and toasty shed when it’s cold outside and boat work slows.
Badly treated winches:
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