Another Small Section is Getting Done...

This morning the sun was shining and Shelley had to work all day so I decided that I would get a small section done... Once I have the area around the helm done I can start putting the helm seat back into position.  I will be raising the helm seat and installing a fresh water shower so we can rinse off after swimming...

Taking the Steering Apart...

Today I took the hydraulic steering sytem apart... I found a company in Cambridge who will rebuild them even though they no longer stock parts for something like this... I delivered them today and hope that they will be back in a few weeks so I can re-install them before I forget how I took them out... They also have the power unit for the auto-helm... hopefully they can make that work...

Still Workin On the Stern...

This blog may be getting boring... but I am still working away on the stern section and the Lazerette doors....  I have now re-glassed the pieces I cut out in the beginning... the aft section is now sturdy enough to walk on..

As soon as that is finished I will take apart the steering system and then get started on the fore deck...

Thinks Are Moving...Slowly... But Moving...

I started today by driving to Waterloo to pick up 2 sheets of marine grade plywood...  Are you ready for this....  $254.00 for 2 sheets!  Oh well at least even if this stuff gets wet, the glue is suppose to be waterproof so there should be no more rot... 

 With the 2 sheets tied to the roof of the Jeep I went to a parishioner, Arnie's farm where he has a great wood shop...  I used his table saw and his radial arm saw and cut one of the two sheets into small squares of wood... 2x3, 3x3, 1x3 etc. While I was there he offered to lend me a small pot bellied stove to heat the trailer this winter... After getting the OK from the person who owns the trailer, I will put it and a chimney in.

From there I spent the rest of the day at the boat epoxying in some of those squares into the aft section of the deck...  I think it is looking good...  The next job will be to re-core the lazarette doors and re skin the aft deck... That will be the first of 5 sections repaired...  The remaining sections will be the cockpit, the starboard side, the port side then the foredeck...

Today a man came by from a hydraulics company and has agreed to look at the steering system and the auto-helm pump that is not working...  as soon as I get a chance, I will be removing both helms and the pump for the auto-helm...  At that time I will drain the hydraulic system and get everything in that area fixed up..

We Are Finding New Surprises Every Day...

The work on the decks is slow and every time I take something away I find a new surprise... The work done by previous owners has given me some things to think about... That said, we really are on our way to getting things dried out and ready to go...

Getting Started On The Decks...

Now that the remaining teak is gone, I borrowed my friend, Leo's moisture meter and have identified the areas of the deck where water has penetrated into the core.  On this boat the deck is made up of a top layer of fiberglass, then a layer of end grain balsa, then an inside layer of fiberglass.  What has happened is there has been holes in the top layer of fiberglass which has allowed water to saturate the balsa core...  now I have located those areas were there is damage, I must open the top layer of fiberglass by drilling a bunch of holes through the top layer of fiberglass but NOT through the iside layer, so that the core (or what is left of it) can dry out.  When it is dry I will pour  a product called CPES which is a very thin epoxy which will treat the core material getting it ready to fill back in ALL the holes with regular epoxy... Only then can I re-finish the deck and and apply a non-skid material.  Then I can replace the deck hardware and hope no more water will penetrate the deck...  Anyone wanna help?  I though not... lol...

The Teak is Finally GONE!

After days of chiseling and scrapping the teak from the cockpit is finally gone...

    

Now I can start to drill many 100's of holes through the top layer of fiberglass so that I can begin to dry the soggy parts of the deck out....  This will be a long job, but not quite so labor intensive....

The crazy weather here continues... last night the wind gusts hit nearly 70 mph... the people who live at the farm said the last time the wind was that strong, the corrugated roof got ripped off the barn... the only damage from the storm last night was a few missing grommets on the tarp and the new stairs got blown over... When that happened the little ladder I had lashed to the top got destroyed... I could have been a lot worse!

I Think I May be Halfway....

Late Monday afternoon may have seen me hit the halfway point of the Goliath task of getting rid of the last of the teak in the cockpit...

I have a meeting at church tonight so I had my own tailgate party where I ate left over Kentucky Fried Chicken and grapes....

Starting the REALLY Hard Part.....

On Saturday after the rainstorm I started the work to remove the remaining teak from the cockpit area...  I have NEVER attempted such a difficult job!  Some is like the area around the mast (all rotten) but most of it is stuck hard and fast to the deck...  I spent 2 hours on Saturday and this is what I accomplished:

Today I spent 3 hours after church and this is the progress today:

 

















At this rate I will be finished by CHRISTMAS!

My neighbor Ted C. brought the stairs over today on his tractor....  What a godsend! What a difference it makes climbing up and down the boat....  And when I get to working on the topsides and bottom it will make those jobs easier as well...  The stairs are on big casters that can be locked...

Making Progress on Hardware Removal

Today I was really lucky to have my good friend Scott's son, Taylor come to help me...  He is young, strong and smart, all qualities that made the day go well...  The only downside, is that he eats a lot!
That said, we were able to get the teak removed from around the mast. A job that I thought would take about 1/2 an hour ended up taking almost 2 hours!  Lots more wet and rot to deal with...  it seems that every time a leak happened they just added more silicone.... Instead of fixing it properly... Oh well...

We got all the hardware off the aft deck...

I think that about one more day should see the deck cleared of all hardware...

The Deck is Starting to Clear...

On Tuesday and Wednesday evening we began the process of removing the hardware on the deck...  I cannot believe how securely the shroud plates are secured to stringers under the deck...  That said, with Glen's help on Tuesday and Shelley's help Wednesday, they are all gone!

The windlass is gone and all of the anchor hardware as well...

The weather has been perfect for the last few days so we left the cover off the boat and left the hatches open so we can start to dry things out...  As long as it doesn't rain, we will be in good shape...

A family from our church who live on the farm beside where the boat is have kindly lent us a set on metal steps on castors.... They will bring it over in the next day or so and then we won't need to climb a ladder to get on and off the boat...

I have to say, things are really starting to happen....

Here is a 360 degree panoramic picture of our workspace...  This is from a cool app from my iphone...

http://360.io/FXpFW8