Thursday
After the usual light sanding and cleanup, I applied another fresh coat of varnish to the interior bulkheads and trim.
Similarly, I continued the process with the loose parts and doors down on the shop benches.
Total time billed on this job today: 2 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
11°, clear. Forecast for the day: sunny, windy, cold, 30°
Wednesday
After a light sanding and final preparations, I continued the new varnish work in the cabin with coat #2.
Back in the shop, I sanded the teak base trim, drawer fronts, cabinet doors, and the head and forward cabin doors through the grits to clean and prepare the newly-stripped surfaces for varnish.
After cleaning up the wood and shop, I applied a sealer coat of varnish to all pieces.
Total time billed on this job today: 4.25 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
30°, clear. Forecast for the day: getting colder, clear, windy.
Tuesday
As time and circumstances allowed, I continued to pick away at the few remaining small jobs on my list, starting now with the bottom. After masking off the waterline and final preparations, I applied two coats of antifouling paint to the bottom areas. I’d return later to finish up the patches beneath the jackstands.
Total time billed on this job today: 2 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
28°, partly cloudy. Forecast for the day: sun and clouds, showers, 44°
Tuesday
In the cabin, I masked off the trim and other areas to be varnished in the forward cabin and passageway. After final cleanup and preparations, I applied the first of several coats of varnish to these areas.
Later, down in the shop, I turned to the various drawer fronts and doors, and stripped the old finish with a scraper and heat gun.
Total time billed on this job today: 4 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
28°, partly cloudy. Forecast for the day: sun and clouds, showers, 44°
Monday
With the completion of the interior refinishing in the main cabin last fall, the owners decided that they also wanted to refinish the adjacent cabin areas, in the passageway and forward cabin. Now, with some time in the schedule, I turned to this phase of the work.
As with the main cabin at the start of things, the old finishes in the passageway and forward cabin were in fair to poor condition, with the varnish lifting and a generally worn appearance.
To begin, I removed all the loose trim, drawers, small doors, and the two large doors leading to the head and forward cabin.
Much of the area was to receive white paint, much like the after portions of the cabin, with the port transverse bulkhead to be finished bright, along with the doors, drawer fronts, and trim. To prepare the areas for their eventual refinishing, I stripped the old varnish from the bulkhead and various trims, including the head door jambs, then sanded the whole area smooth and clean with various grits, cleaning up the newly-bare wood and otherwise preparing the adjacent areas for primer and paint.
Finally, I solvent-washed the area to prepare for the next steps.
Total time billed on this job today: 7 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
25°, clear. Forecast for the day: sunny, 44°
Friday
To finish up the revamped water system, I installed a length of 1-1/2″ hose to connect the deck fill pipe with the water tank.
At the owner’s request, I purchased a new 2-burner alcohol stove, and now I installed it in the galley. It fit nicely on the small shelf intended for its storage, held in place with the interior fiddle and some nonslip padding I placed beneath it on the shelf.
After installing a small buss bar for the negative distribution side of the electrical system, I finished up the wiring, connecting all the terminals I’d prepared earlier.
I’d picked up a new deep-cycle battery and some replacement bulbs for the running lights, and now I installed the battery in a covered box just below the electrical panel. I made up the final connections and powered up the system to test the various lighting. All lights tested operational. I still awaited the proper socket to finish rebuilding the stern light housing, so that light was not yet able to be tested. Once I’d ensured that the old running lights worked, I went ahead and installed the covers with their colored globes.
The riggers arrived to pick up the standing and running rigging for replacement, and drop off new lifelines to replace the originals in kind. I installed these now. The lifelines relied on the mast stays for support and direction at their forward ends, and the old lines had featured bulky blobs of tape to protect the rigging and lifelines against chafe where they intertwined amidships. These photos, taken either at my first viewing of the boat in the water before the project, or right at the beginning of the work once the boat was at the shop, show these areas in more detail.
Hoping for a cleaner, more effective solution, I’d asked the riggers to include little bronze ferules, through which the lifelines could pass and which could be lashed to the main shrouds in the proper position when the boat was rigged. Once the ferule was lashed to the shrouds, the lifeline could easily be removed from the ferule at haulout time (by unthreading one end from the turnbuckle at the aft end) in order to leave the ferule lashed in place on the stay. I included some marlin lashing line and basic instructions on each side of the boat, ready for when the mast was stepped after delivery.
With this, most of the work list was complete. Still ahead remained a few odds and ends, including maintenance coats of varnish on the mast and boom, pending completion of new rigging, interior cushions, and cockpit cushions, and other minor and sundry tasks, all of which I’d ensure completion of in short order.
Total time billed on this job today: 5.5 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
0°, clear. Forecast for the day: sunny, 30
Thursday
The main event of the day was to install the deadlights. For this. one of the only tasks I’d yet to figure out how to do alone, I’d lined up some help. Before beginning the actual job, I’d prepared ahead by laying out plastic sheeting on the sidedecks for protection, and arranging the required tools, fasteners, and other supplies at the ready. I checked the fit of each frame in its opening and cleaned the openings as a final step.
Outside, I applied sealant to the bonding flange and pressed the frame into the opening–on this boat, the openings were a close and accurate fit to the frame with no appreciable sloppiness. This actually improved the process and made the installation go more smoothly than in many cases. With my helper holding the frame tightly in position from the outside, I went in the boat and installed the inner frame, lining up and installing the many screws to get them started before tightening everything securely.
After completing both sides, I cleaned up the excess sealant and removed the masking from the new lenses, completing the installation.
I’d hoped to wrap up work on the electrical and water systems, but the materials I’d been awaiting didn’t arrive till too late in the day, so I’d continue with these final items next time. In the meantime, I unwrapped the mast and boom, which I’d stored alongside in the shop, so I could begin preparations for maintenance coats of varnish on the spars. Both were in good condition and wouldn’t require any significant work.
Total time billed on this job today: 2.75 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
21°, partly cloudy. Forecast for the day: Sunny, 30
Wednesday
Missing some packages I’d ordered earlier in the week–delayed, apparently, by the wintry weather the day before–I couldn’t finish up the electrical system as I’d hoped, but with the panel on hand and the new enclosure complete, I proceeded as far as I could, making up the positive connections to the panel and preparing the negative wires for their ultimate connection to a buss bar, which was on order and slightly delayed. I’d finish up the final connections as soon as the missing part arrived.
Meanwhile, I made some final advance preparations for installing the deadlights next time.
Total time billed on this job today: 2.5 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
30°, partly cloudy, about 16″ new snow and some ice from overnight. Forecast for the day: sun and clouds, 32
Tuesday
To deal with the problem I’d had with the scupper hoses sliding off, I stared by scuffing up the paint on the fiberglass nipples, which roughed up the surface and also allowed me to push the hoses up a bit further, at which time I successfully clamped them in place securely.
I finished up the galley sink and icebox drains with new hose and clamps.
The deadlights had had ample cure time, so I removed the clamps and cleaned up any excess cured sealant. I prepared the back, or inside, of the new windows by trimming the protective masking where the inner frame overlapped the new lenses. Final installation was scheduled for later in the week.
Preparing ahead for the arrival of the new electrical service panel, I built a small box from leftover teak and teak plywood to hold the panel and secure it to the boat. I designed the box to hold the panel and its wiring, while fitting nearly over the smaller plywood box that was fiberglassed to the boat in the old location, which was too small to hold the new panel. Once I’d completed the construction and test-fit the new enclosure, I applied a number of coats of spray varnish during the remainder of the day.
Later, I installed the forward-facing opening port in the cabin trunk.
Total time billed on this job today: 4.25 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
18°, mostly cloudy. Forecast for the day: snow, heavy during the afternoon and evening, 12-18″ forecast.
Monday
The last bit of hardware on deck was the anchor chocks, which I’d held off on till I could find a suitable anchor–which I had. Now I used my foredeck pattern to mark the original locations of the chocks on the foredeck, corresponding with the old fastener holes that I’d overbored and filled with epoxy earlier. I double-checked that the replacement anchor fit the same footprint as the one it replaced.
With the holes marked, I drilled and tapped for machine screw fasteners, and masked off around the various pieces of the chock hardware before installing it with new bronze fasteners and sealant.
Note: the anchor is primed but not painted with its finish coats.
Next, I worked on the electrical system, running wires to the various lights–two cabin lights and running lights–and home-running them to the aft end of the cabin, where they’d eventually connect to the new service panel. I installed the running lights on the sides of the cabin, as well as the interior lamps, and tightened and secured the wiring back to the panel location afterwards. I left the covers off the running lights for now so I could test operation and replace one of the bulbs. I led a wire aft to the transom where it awaited one of the stern lighout housings when I could rebuild it.
The fiberglass water tank featured an access port in the top, and the owners requested that I see about cleaning out the tank. Removing the port was straightforward, just lots of painted-on wing nuts, and eventually I removed the hatch to gain access within. While the tank wasn’t exactly pleasant, it wasn’t as bad as I’d feared, and after I sponged out the stagnant water and the worst of the debris, I cleaned the inside with soap and water and a scotch brite pad, with reasonable success.
Afterwards, I reinstalled the access port, this time with new nuts and washers.
Next, I ran a new supply hose from the tank to the sink pump. I had to order some hose for the fill pipe, and would install that as soon as it arrived.
I turned to the cockpit scuppers, and prepared new lengths of hose to fit the bronze tee fitting that had been originally installed–two cockpit scuppers leading to a single through hull. After I took these photos, I found that the hoses were slipping off the scupper fittings beneath the cockpit: the fiberglass fittings were sort of tapered, and clamping pressure tended to force the hoses off. I actually shortened the scupper hose lengths, hoping that a different angle would work better, but the problem persisted. So as of this writing I had some more work to address this problem, but expected to solve it shortly. This seemed like one of those problems to simply leave till a new day.
Total time billed on this job today: 7.75 hours
0600 Weather Observation:
10°, clear. Forecast for the day: sunny, 25°