Quick update and getaway

I’m getting ready to roll out and head up to Annapolis this morning to help an old friend deliver his Sabre 426 to Rhode Island. He’s part of the Race Committee for Block Island Race Week. Should be a comfortable and easy trip; mostly Southerlies for the next 2-3 days. This is Delivery Trip A, Annapolis to the C&D Canal, down the Delaware Bay and straight shot from Cape May to Pt. Judith, RI.

I continued to work for a few days on removing ports and the last bit of pesky deck hardware. Nothing special to report except that when I pulled the fixed main ports out I knew that the work load increased.

The Plexus adhesive used to secure the ports is pretty tenacious. So much so that when I started scrapping to remove bits of silicone sealant, it came off with fairly large chunks of the gelcoat. This will mean some small but time consuming glasswork on the inside surfaces of the ports.

And that damn round port that was responsible for my previous rant? Out….

Gone port:

Kind of a mess:

Fixed ports ready for cleaning and storage:

When I was removing the chainplates the good news, again, is that the original installation using butyl as sealant proved its effectiveness. No rot in the balsa core.

But not surprisingly, there was a fair amount of electrolysis at the base of the plates. I had to scrape the build-up off in order to get the cover plates off the shaft. No real degradation to the chainplate itself though:

Up and out:

Not THAT kind of white powder...

If I don’t write it down I’ll forget:

Slotted screws: A Rant.

Back to the boat in yet more rain this morning. We’re easily looking at eight inches in the past three days. The shed is paying for itself.

Today I went back to getting the last of the ports out of the deck. I started with the two Beckson opening ports in and across from the head. I replaced the originals 15 years ago because they were toast. They came out quite easily that time. This time around the sealant had good grip on them. I destroyed my replacement starboard hatch in the removal process. The port side hatch came out much easier but that was mostly due to “learned technique” from wrestling with the starboard port. Didn’t really matter as I’m going to replace both of them again after the decks are painted. Dirty sock on clean feet or is it the other way around?

After getting those out I moved aft to the cockpit to remove a Beckson screw-in deck plate that the PO, affectionally know as Mr. Potato Head had brutally installed to provide ventilation to the quarter berth. Every time I see that job it reaffirms my strong desire to replace it with a Lewmar opening hatch.

After unscrewing the hazy clear port I started to unscrew the machine screws and nuts. In the original installation the port was installed with 5/16 “ x 18 S/S machine screws. That’s fine but they used slotted screw heads. I hate slotted screw heads. Really hate them. They should be banned. Outlawed.

I was thinking how much I hated them right about the time that the drill-driver slipped off the head and caused me to rake my finger across the flat-head slotted screw head. Yup, it hurt. And it opened up a 2” laceration that was pretty impressive.

Well, that stopped work for the afternoon. A piece of white (sterile?) box-o-rag, some ever present blue tape and I was able to keep from bleeding on the decks. It also reminded me that our house had nothing other than bandages suitable for a minor nick.

After a trip to the nearest, and that’s a very relative term, pharmacy I was back on the road.

Okay, end of rant.

A yard worker’s first-aid kit:

 

Less bleeding than I would have imagined:

Amazing what you can do with a paper towel and 3M fine-line tape:

Anyway, more pictures of me destroying perfectly good opening ports.

Unusable:

Usable but still going in the waste bin:

Also of note: The Annapolis to Newport Race got underway today and as of this post, the fleet is nearing our house near Smith Point Light. There are three “vintage” C&C’s of the same era and design as Ronin in the race. They are doing well and I hope they sail fast, collect lots of trophies and most importantly, have a safe race.

Stairway to Heaven...

Earlier I had posted that I was helping my friend, a fellow sailor and a builder, whose company, Ingram Bay Contracting rebuilt/built our house, to fix his 24' Corsair trimaran that was damaged in a Spring wind storm. Looks like my glass work on his boat was worth it.

I knew that if I tried to build a set of stairs it would take too long and probably fall down at an inopportune time.

I asked him if he would draw up some plans and list of limber for a set of stairs that I wanted to build. I knew that over the coming year, going up and down a ladder was not even close to ideal.

After I got the the list and purchased the lumber, Vincent came by to show how it is done. An hour and a half later, I had this:

So much better.

The Pro (another one…) at work:

Bonehead

There are times when it becomes pretty clear to me that although I may think that I have a pretty good hand working on boats it really isn’t true. Today I made a costly mistake. Something that was so stupid and silly that I realized that I was hacking away at this refit. A truly boneheaded mistake.

The weather for the past two days has been rain. Lot’s of it. At least three inches and it’s raining still as I write this. But I’ve been pretty psyched because I’ve been able to get back to the refit due to the protection provided by the new shed. I can tell that it is going to help speed the work schedule.

So, there I am, finishing off the removal of the last of the deck hardware items that had to stay put until the boat was under cover. Some water and holding tank deck fills, the dorades and the two hatches. The front hatch came off easily. Disturbingly so. Although it it’s been some time since the boat was subjected to heavy seas I’m pretty sure that it would have developed a leak. I had the hatches rebuilt sixteen years ago and re-bedded them myself. I made a mental note to do a better job next time using butyl as a sealant.

The main cabin hatch did not want to come free so easily. I slowly but steadily worked a gasket scraper between the frame and the deck, cutting the sealant. After some time working my way around the frame I could see that it was starting to free up. So, I started to pry the frame up. It was tougher than I thought. And not paying attention, I was also bending the frame...

As soon as I removed it from the deck I realized what I had done. I clamped the hatch shut and sure enough, a gap large enough to allow gallons of water to rain down on the interior. One heavy duty Atkins & Hoyle hatch ruined. 

Anyway, despite the expensive setback given that I will almost certainly need to purchase a new hatch, probably a Lewmar of some sort and do some glass-work to get it to fit, I kept working on prepping the hull for work. One step forward, two steps back.

Hardware removal wreckage:

As part of the cleaning process prior to upgrading the interior I had to clean out the space behind the chainplates. The factory had apparently drilled the bolt holes and bolted the chainplates up pretty quickly. In the tight spaces behind there was a great deal of sawdust and fiberglass shards. Along with that were some nuts and washers that must have fallen off during the install which they just left behind.

Extra hardware:

I disconnected the fresh water tank plumbing and pulled the tanks out for storage. One of the interesting things about the tanks and lines on this boat has been the fact that there has been no mold or gunk. Frankly, the potable water on Ronin has always been pretty good. I hope to keep it that way.

Tanks gone:

Next to go were the fresh-water fill hoses, manual and automatic bilge pump lines and the mast baseplate.

Still a mess:

Well, I can tell myself that I’m maximizing my time by being able to work on the boat when ordinarily conditions would prohibit it. Not a great deal of consolation given the cost of replacing the main hatch...

Forty Days and Forty Nights….

The Shed

Progress on the boat: not a whole lot. Progress on the rebuild project: a significant step forward.

I’ve been out of town/working on other projects/Spring jobs around the house and generally trying to line things up to start in on the next large scale task, painting the decks.

The 14’ X 45’ X 16’ fabric and steel shed that I ordered back in late April was delivered to the yard. After waiting out some inclement weather I hired my neighbor and friend Skip, along with his construction crew to erect the structure. Looking at the instructions made it pretty clear that it was not a one man, one day job. They did a good job of erecting the frame while I was away in Northern Virginia.

Jungle gym and new-to-me toy in the pickup:

Another couple, good friends and neighbors, showed up early in the morning to help us with covering the shed. Again, it was not an easy job but the results were good.

Attach Tab A to Slot 3:

One oversight of mine was that I “assumed” that both ends of the shed would have opening doors. Not so much. One was a roll-up and one was solid. This is going to be a problem when it starts to warm up. I called the company and after discussing the issue with them, I think that I am going to have to purchase another opening end panel. In this case, I’ll opt for the cheaper material, store the solid panel and offer it as an “option” when I sell the shed. 

Nonetheless, having the boat indoors, dry and protected is a big plus for being able to work efficiently over the next year. I already have plans for a large fan, a diesel heater for cooler temperatures, a cooler, a couch, flat-screen TV… Umm, no, scratch the latter three items. Need to get some work done when I’m there. 

Snug, dry and unfortunately, very warm:

Today I started out expecting to get going on deck work and setting up the work environment in the shed but I got a call that our Mako 261 would be ready to go. I had taken it to another local yard to have the impellers replaced and lower unit oil changed as preventive maintenance for the summer season. Given that it was out of the water I decided to make it a day of buffing, polishing, waxing and cleaning boats. Ergo, both boats got a sprucing up.

“I know that I have a 9/16” socket here somewhere…”

 

"Wax on, wax off…”

Thunderstorm coming? No problem, I’ll go work on Ronin in the dry shed.

The last scrub-down of very, very tired old gelcoat. I hope.

As lagniappe, a photo of the inspiration for the paint color that I chose for “Ronin”, the old 12-Meter Columbia.

Working on OP's boats...

I know that I’ve tried to post at least once a week with progress on the refit but as usual other things get in the way.

After getting back from my great Interstate excursion I received an emergency request to assist with timing duties in a weekend endurance (horse) race near West Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley. I spent a Friday, Saturday and Sunday standing in the cold and wet ensuring that the horses coming into the checkpoint were pulsing down to 60 BPM. 

From there I ended up in Arlington for two days attending to some chores and catching up with one of my old bosses and her husband. Truthfully, I’ve enjoyed the days off from working on our boat.

However, that does not mean that I have not been working on boats. I have been. Other peoples (OP) boats...

I have two neighbors here in Reedville who have sailboats that either accidentally acquired holes in their hull or needed to have a couple of thru-hulls removed and glassed over. My friend, and the builder of our new home, Vincent has a Corsair F-24 trimaran designed by Ian Farrier that he sails every free moment he has. And I go along with him whenever possible. Flying along at 14 knots in light winds is quite the bit of fun!

Earlier this spring we had abnormally high winds and during a particularly windy day, his boat was blown of the jack-stands in his driveway while being readied for bottom paint. There was not damage to either of the floats but one jack-stand managed to put a 4” cracking the laminate near the rest of the main hull. Repair work was in order.

After having no luck finding a boatyard that could get to the repair within a reasonable amount of time, we decided to do the repair work ourselves. Over the past few days I have been working on that crack and another one found in the starboard float. Fortunately the damage was not too great and did not extend completely through the laminate. After grinding out the areas I worked up a schedule of 10-oz woven cloth for the punctured hull section and some biaxial cloth tape for the edge of the float. After applying the cloth using a slightly thickened mixture of West System and colloidal silica, I let it set up.  A quick check today when the rain stopped confirmed that the fix was strong and ready for grinding, sanding and finish fairing.

For another neighbor and friend, new to sailing, we removed the non-function head thru-hulls and glassed the holes over. Since the boat will be used for afternoon sails in the creek and out in the Wicomico River, it made no sense to provide for a head. Illegal one at that...

Nice Cape Dory Typhoon with head thru-hulls glassed over and ready for bottom paint: 

 

Fast Corsair waiting for more glasswork:

 

Truck stop connoisseur.

A fellow C&C 37 owner sent me an email asking if there was any progress since my last post at the end of March when the boat came out of the shed. Alas, there has been no work on Ronin since then. I’ve been off-line figuratively and literally for some time now.

After getting the hull set up on jack stands in the yard, I took a few days to prepare my KTM 400 EXC for shipment out to an establishment called 3 Step Hideaway in Southeast Utah where it will stay for the next year. My brother, several other friends of ours and I took our bikes out there last September and had a great time riding the area. It was such a great place to stay and ride from that it occurred to us that it made more sense to leave the bikes there and fly in and out rather than drive them out each time we wanted to do some off-road adventure riding.

My brother Pete's wife is a seriously competitive horse endurance racer and had been looking for a new addition to her stable of Arabians that was young, in good health and ready to be trained to run 100 mile races. She found a 4-year old gelding in San Antonio, Texas and bought him. Since my brother was on tap to drive down and pick the horse up and I enlisted to help him do some of the driving, we quickly realized that we should make a “slight” detour to drop the bikes off in Utah. And do a few days of riding at the same time.

Off we went, dragging a 3-horse trailer loaded with 4 KTM’s. I’ve been on the road for most of the time with the exception of 4 days at 3 Step Hideaway. It was a long (5,000+ miles), grueling trip and I got to sample some of the finest cuisine at some exceptional truck stops throughout the Midwest, West and South. And I have the gut to prove it...

Anyway, I got back into town last Friday and have been attending to the house and grounds that were going wild in my absence. No work on Ronin yet.

Today I ordered and will have delivered to the boatyard a 16’ wide, 14’ high and 45’ long galvanized steel and heavy duty fabric shed so that I can totally enclose the boat. This will be erected over the hull so that I will be able to continue working on the decks over the summer and fall. That should arrive around the end of April or early May. Although expensive it will make a big difference it getting things done on my current schedule. 

In the meantime, some travel snaps.

Pete on left, me center and old friend Jim from San Diego on right:

Campsite sunset in Canyonlands. With a glass of wine:

 Spring calf branding at the neighbors:

How bulls become steers...

The object of my sister-in-law’s desire: