| Kaholee Refit | January 4, 2007 My first order of business was to pump out whatever gasoline was present in the old fuel tank, and to then remove the tank from the boat. Fearing that there might be as much as 15 gallons in the tank, I purchased a used 20 gallon plastic container from a local junk store, as the cost of actual gasoline containers was prohibitive for this sort of use. The gasoline in the tank was at least 6 years old, and I had no plans to try and salvage it for actual use anywhere. I used a small drill pump to set up a siphon from the tank to my container down on the shop floor, and siphoned out the fuel. The fumes were strong, and the fuel bright yellow. When I heard the hose suck air after only about 6 gallons had flowed into the container, I feared that the suction end of the hose had come up out of the fuel in the tank; happily, though, it turned out that the tank was indeed effectively empty. I opened the big door to air the place out, and turned my attention to removing the tank. The tank was ostensibly secured with four sections of fiberglass tabbing, but all four had pulled loose from the tank at some point in the distant past. It was quite easy to rip the remaining tabbing off the hull with only a small bit of initial persuasion using a screwdriver as a prybar. I cut the old fuel supply hose, and pulled the tank forward through the opening in the bulkhead aft of the galley. It was clear from looking at the tabbing that it had only ever been stuck to the gray paint on the tank; this bond of course failed. It might have had a better chance to stick if the paint had been removed from the tank in the tabbed areas first, but in any event the method of securing seemed to work more or less effectively, if less than ideally, for 46 years. Good enough. With the tank out, I dumped out the small amount of remaining fuel and put the tank and nasty old fuel outside for storage. |
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| With the old tank out of the way, I could finally crawl in the locker and reach the final bits of hardware on the starboard coaming that had been inaccessible before: the fuel fill deck plate, and a bronze cleat. I removed these two pieces quickly, and the adjusted the chintzy plywood fuel tank mockup that I built into its proper position beneath the cockpit. Other than some interference from an old fiberglass standpipe previously used for the engine intake (to be removed and replaced with a sea valve), the mockup fit cleanly in place. The new tank was a go, as soon as we could nail down the welder for pricing and availability. |
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| A unique feature to a couple of the
old Pearson models--Tritons and Ariels among them--is a cockpit-mounted
deck hatch that provided access to the original icebox beneath.
The old icebox on Kaholee was removed years ago, and the old hatch--a
marginal idea even in its initial conception--was now useless and ready
to be removed and the opening filled. I cut off the molded
fiberglass lip with an angle grinder and cutoff wheel, and finished up
with a Sawz-All where needed.
Then, I ground a clean bevel all the way around the hatch to accept layers of fiberglass later in the process. |
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| While I had the demolition tools handy, I also cut away the raised lip around the old forward hatch opening. Kaholee will be receiving a modern Bomar opening hatch for the forward cabin as part of the refit, and the old lip was inconsistent with the new installation. Later, I'll cut a clean opening for the new hatch and build a level surround to support the new hatch. |
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| With the old fuel tank out of the way,
it was time to grind the inside of the cockpit lockers, lazarette,
beneath the cockpit, and engine room, as well as any other accessible
areas of the hull. One of the things that I feel is critical to
the future cleanliness and livability of any boat is to have clean,
painted bilges and lockers. Not only does the smoother surface of
the paint prevent buildup of grime and make it easier to clean and keep
clean, but the lack of grime buildup prevents the absorption of
moisture, particularly in salt water. Clean, painted bilges and
lockers make the whole boat cleaner, drier, and more comfortable. So, part of the preparatory work on Kaholee included cleaning, sanding, and painting all accessible areas. These extra steps are extremely worthwhile, and make more of a difference than one can possibly imagine. I began in the cockpit lockers, where I ground everything with 40 grit sandpaper. I also ground the inside of the cockpit well in some of the areas where I'd have to install some fiberglass patches over old instrument holes. I worked my way forward, and sanded beneath the cockpit wherever I could get the sander to fit. The clearance at the far aft reaches was too tight for grinding, but I scuffed things by hand as much as possible. Later, I'll return with a smaller tool and sand some of the hard-to-reach areas. There's a lot of dust on things in these photos. The hull is cleaner than it looks. |
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To prepare for sanding some of the lockers in the saloon, I removed a screwed-down panel on the port settee and discovered an old holding tank there, which for some reason I had thought was already removed. The old tank, carefully labeled by its home builder back in 1991, was built from plywood and fiberglass, and was in good condition and well constructed. The current plans for the boat called for a new tank behind the head, however, so I removed this tank, exposing what would become excellent storage later on. Total Time on This Job Today: 5 hours |
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