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Monday

The minor keel repair work was complete, and I water-washed and lightly sanded the epoxy coating that I’d applied last time, then applied some bottom paint to cover.

Before beginning the work in the cabin, I removed the two lamps from the forward bulkheads.

The existing condition of the old varnish on the trim and bulkheads was poor enough that stripping would be required before refinishing the areas that would be varnished anew; areas to be painted wouldn’t require as much prep work or stripping, but the old finish was uneven and drippy in places (it looked like someone might have even used Cetol over it in some areas?), and all in all there’d be ample prepwork throughout the cabin.

With a heat gun and scraper, I worked through the day to strip the old finish from those areas requiring it on the port side:  trim; handrails; main bulkheads that would be refinished with varnish.  The underlying wood and veneer was in good condition, and with sanding would be ready for varnish.

The lower settee bulkheads and areas around the nav table were to be painted, and I’d prepare those areas with sanding later, at the same time I sanded the now-stripped trim.  I’d continue with the preparations on the starboard side next time.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
32°, light snow and a dusting.  Forecast for the day:  clouds, showers, 40.

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Friday

The port coaming looked good now, so I removed the masking tape.  This completed the work on deck.

I sanded the patches on the rudder and keel as needed, smoothing them and fairing into the adjacent surfaces.

The repairs were small, and my initial coat of fairing compound took care of both areas, so after cleaning up I coated the newly faired repairs with unthickened epoxy.

Now that the epoxy-filled bolt holes had cured overnight, I continued with the installation of the two new winches on the cabin top.  The original winches had been installed through round holes, strategically located at each bolt location, in the fiberglass cabin liner, but with a different bolt pattern and a desire to use larger washers, I preferred to open up a section of the liner completely in order to access the underside of the deck.  Plus, the bolt holes for the new winches were close to the outline of the teak cover panels that I’d removed from these areas, so opening larger square holes in the liner would allow the bolts to remain hidden.  I marked the liner inside of the outline of the cover panel, and cut out the area within to gain better access.  At the edges of each opening nearest the companionway, there was some filler/adhesive material between the liner and the deck, probably the material used to secure the liner during construction, and I had to chip some of this away to allow room for the new bolts and washers.  The tape in the first photos is left over from filling the old bolt holes the day before.

After masking around the winch bases and marking the holes, I drilled and tapped for 1/4″ machine screws, and installed the winches in a bed of sealant in the usual way, securing from beneath with fender washers and nuts.  Reassembling the winch drums, I temporarily installed the plastic screw caps on top.

Later, in an impressively quick turnaround, the replacement (proper) stainless steel winch caps arrived from Lewmar just a day after my request, and I completed the installation by installing them.

The main cabin finishes were mainly original, and the old finish was showing its age in many areas, with varnish beginning to fail and a generally tired appearance.  The owner asked me to refinish the trim and the main bulkheads with varnish, and to prepare and paint the lower settees, nav station, and galley cabinets with white paint to spruce up the appearance.

The main portion of the cabin sole had been replaced (or overlaid) with new teak and holly plywood at some point, but the small section of sole in the nav station footwell was still original.  I happened to have a piece of cabin sole plywood on hand, leftover from something else, and it would work well to finish off this final area.

To prepare the cabin for the work ahead, I began by removing all the contents of the drawers, lockers, and overhead shelves, packing everything into a series of paper bags that I stored on the foredeck out of the way.

Now I went through the cabin and removed all the drawers, hinged door fronts, backrests, and the unfinished teak molding at the edge of the cabin sole, along with anything else that was removable and might impede the refinishing work.  I restrung my work lighting so the  cords were above deck and the lamps attached to places out of the way and where I wouldn’t be refinishing.   I brought all the drawers and doors, all of which would be finished bright, down to the bench for later attention.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
40°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, high 50s

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Thursday

With two good maintenance coats of varnish, I deemed the varnish work mostly complete, and went ahead and removed the masking tape from most areas.

I wasn’t happy with how the port coaming cap had turned out, so I sanded it again to prepare for another coat of varnish, which I’d do later in the day.  Meanwhile, I dismantled the staging, as I no longer needed it.

The new winches for the cabin top featured a different bolt pattern than the old ones, so I prepared the old holes for filling and marked the new holes before using a large bit to overbore the new bolt locations, removing the core so I could fill the voids with thickened epoxy.

Now that the cockpit paint and varnish work was complete, I installed the engine control panel in a bed of butyl tape, securing it with six screws.

The leading edge of the keel, where the ballast met the molded keel stub, had the usual minor crack, which the owner had opened up with a sander earlier, and now, after final preparations, I applied two layers of fiberglass over the hairline crack–a layer of 45° biax, and some lighter 90° cloth over the top.  Late in the day, I applied some fairing compound over the partially-cured fiberglass.  I also filled a small ground-out void in the rudder.

In the early afternoon, I had to take advantage of continuing unseasonably warm and pleasant weather to cover some boats outdoors in my care, but afterwards I finished up with another coat of varnish on the port coaming cap.

Total time billed on this job today:  4.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
40°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  sunny, 55

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Wednesday

I started the day by sanding the first fresh coat of varnish, this time with 320 grit paper.  Afterwards, I vacuumed and solvent washed to prepare for another coat late in the day.

Meanwhile, I turned to the cockpit instruments.  With a third matching instrument display now on hand to replace the old round and obsolete instrument I’d removed from the port side, I drilled a 3-3/8″ hole in the blank cover plate I’d made and painted earlier, matching the two others that I’d pre-drilled.  Then, I installed the plates and instruments, using sealant on the backing plates  (the instruments had built-in gaskets) and securing the instruments from behind with wooden blocks and the instruments’ supplied screws.

New two-speed self-tailing winches arrived to replace the pair I’d removed from the cabin top earlier.  The new winches were the smallest size available with two speeds and self-tailing capacity, but of course the bolt pattern was different from that of the old winches (I expected this).  For now, I held off on further installation steps as I didn’t want to create drill spoils and dust while in the middle of a varnish project.  These winches came with a  plastic top cap and a little note from the manufacturer explaining that there’d been a temporary shortage of the normal stainless caps at the time of production, but with instructions how to request shipment of the proper caps at no cost, which I did at once.

After final preparations, I applied another coat of varnish to all the exterior brightwork.

Total time billed on this job today:  6 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
50°, rain.  Forecast for the day:  rain and clouds, 50s

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Tuesday

I finished up the brightwork masking, taking care of the handrails, eyebrow trim, companionway, and cockpit.  I used mostly the low-tack masking tape for these areas.  This tape wasn’t so great to work with, but would be worth the frustration if it didn’t harm the white paint.  It didn’t stick well over nonskid, curves, and corners, so I found myself constantly pressing it back down throughout the day.

After final preparations, I moved right ahead with the first coat of varnish on all areas.

Total time billed on this job today:  4 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
Cloudy, 36°.  Forecast for the day:  clouds, rain overnight, 50.

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Monday

To give me good working access to the toerails, I set up staging around the boat at deck height.

The existing brightwork on deck was in good condition overall and well-maintained, but the most recent application of varnish was filled with brush marks and runs in many areas.  In some areas it was really pretty awful.

To prepare the brightwork for maintenance coats, I sanded everything with 220 grit paper–a little coarser than I’d normally use between maintenance coats–to smooth and otherwise prepare the surfaces, and remove the drips and rough texture left by the previous applicator.

After vacuuming and a solvent wash, I began to mask off the brightwork, beginning with the toerails,  Where I could, I used green masking tape, but anywhere the tape had to lie on the gloss deck paint I used blue low-tack masking tape, hoping it wouldn’t harm the finish the way masking tape had previously in the cockpit during the previous varnish application.   Mid-November and the big door wide open.

I’d continue the masking next time, as it was the end of the day I wanted to give the newly-painted cockpit areas an additional day before overmasking anyway.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
26°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  sunny, 55

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Saturday

Anxious to see how the paint work turned out, and not wanting to leave the tape on the too-delicate existing paint surfaces any longer than required, I removed the masking tape, paper, and foam tape from all areas.  I was pleased with the end result in all areas–a notable improvement over the original peeled paint condition–and most of the blending was virtually unnoticeable thanks to the foam masking tape.  I thought I might work more on a few areas to better blend a couple harder paint lines than I liked, but also didn’t want to mess with the old paint any more than necessary lest I make matters worse once more.

Total time billed on this job today:  .75 hours

 

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Friday

Over the course of a couple hours, I applied three coats of gloss white topcoat to the areas I’d prepared earlier, including the new instrument backs, using a small portable sprayer.

Total time billed on this job today:  2.5 hours

0600 Weather Report:
35°, partly cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  growing colder and windy through the day

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Thursday

After corresponding with Beta Marine to get their recommendations for the propeller pitch required for this boat, prop, and engine combination (the recommendation:  10″ pitch), I followed the simple instructions to set the pitch on the prop hub.  After removing the prop zinc and two other rings from the aft end of the prop hub, it was easy to pull out the hub itself (they call it the ogival nose) and  twist it to the required setting.  Stan at Beta indicated that notch 9 (10.52″) or notch 8 (9.23″) would be appropriate settings.  I went with notch 9.  Now, when the propeller spun, the blades ended up at the appropriate angle, rather than basically flat the way they’d been when the prop was shipped at the 0 setting.  I reassembled the pitch locking ring and other hub components, completing the job.

Next, I turned to the cockpit paint preparations, beginning with a light sanding for the newly-primed patch at the forward end and the new instrument cover plates.  Then, I went around the cockpit edges, sanding the damaged paint areas as needed to feather the paint edges and prepare the substrate primer beneath.  This was all detail sanding by hand.  I brought the sanded area down a little bit into relatively solid paint to give the new coating a place to blend into the existing.  During the morning, I went over the cockpit, sanding these edges on both sides of the varnished coaming tops and at the aft end as well.

In addition, there were some failed paint areas along the edge of the cabin trunk where the eyebrow had been taped off, so I similarly sanded and prepped these areas as well.

With the sanding work complete, I vacuumed and solvent-washed, then spent the remainder of the day masking off.  I used my normal green masking tape on all the varnish and nonskid deck areas, but anywhere I had to mask over the white gloss paint, I used a special low-adhesion masking tape that I hoped wouldn’t create its own issues when I removed it later.

In any field areas where the new paint would be required to blend into the existing coating, rather than a hard line at some brightwork trim or nonskid, I started with a strip of foam masking tape, set just beneath the sanded area, which would help avoid a hard transition between old and new.  Then, I masked below and around the edges as required to protect from overspray, covering the adjacent surfaces with masking paper.

Total time billed on this job today:  7 hours

0600 Weather Observation:
28°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  sun and clouds, high 40s

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Wednesday

Now that the engine installation and testing was essentially complete, it was time to turn to some of the other tasks that had recently been added to my work list for the boat.  Transitioning from the engine phase, the first thing I did was prepare to reassemble the engine room, which would be nice since I’d have steps to get into the boat for the first time since the day the boat arrived.

Earlier, I’d effected a minor glue repair on the removable front panel from the engine room, and since this piece was still down on the bench I chose to sand it now, preparing it for the next refinishing steps.  The owner asked me to paint out various areas of the old plywood cabinetry, which task I’d be getting to soon, including this engine room panel. I’d also earlier cut away more of the panel, making additional access room to accommodate the new engine specifics.   Afterwards, I reinstalled the panel with various screws from the back side, as before, and reassembled the engine room countertop and ladderway.  The adjacent panels below counter and settee level would soon receive similar preparations and, eventually, primer and paint, but more on that later when the time comes.

For the immediate moment, I chose to focus on a few deck tasks before shifting my focus to the interior refinishing, and the first step was to reassemble some panels in the starboard sail locker and reinstall the CNG bottle and its support system, clearing these items off the foredeck where they’d been stored for the past weeks.  While I was in there, I discovered this handheld radio sticking out from beneath the bulkhead just aft of the pedestal.

My chosen first task on deck was to deal with the paint failure problem and patching thereof in the cockpit and a few other areas of the deck.  Part of this process included dealing with one obsolete instrument in the port cockpit bulkhead, and an old weathered backing block beneath two modern instruments on the other side.

I removed the instruments and the wooden block, then cleaned up the sealant from around the openings.  Fortunately, the paint beneath held up well on both sides.  We’d talked about teak backings for the instruments, since the holes in the bulkhead were larger than the current instruments, but my belief is that these small bits of wooden trim are a hassle to maintain, so instead I made up some plates from 1/8″ fiberglass sheet, sizing them to accommodate the square instruments while still covering the large holes beneath.  I cut 3-3/8″ holes in two of the plates to accept the starboard instruments; for the port side, I left the plate blank, simply as a cover for the old hole but ready to accept another instrument like those to starboard.

After some finish sanding to smooth the corners and edges and otherwise prepare the fiberglass, I applied several coats of epoxy primer to the new pieces.

The edges of the cockpit near the teak coamings and some other areas had been damaged by masking tape at some earlier date; the reasons for this catastrophic paint failure in this professionally-painted boat were unclear and unknown and, frankly, unimportant at this stage, but the failure disturbed the otherwise nice appearance of the boat.  These photos show a few of the areas in question.

Knowing full well that any attempt to patch in these spots would be imperfect, both in final appearance (though I hoped to do well towards that end) and in the potential longevity of the new coatings, not to mention the already-failed older coating, my plan of attack was to sand the transitional areas as needed–but no more than needed–and spray in some new topcoat, hopefully blending it with the original, hopefully taking care of the problem long enough until someday when the owner wanted to redo the decks completely.   With an acceptable compatibility test result a few days earlier, I’d be using Alexseal paint on hand for the repair rather than attempting to locate and use Imron; I already had the closest match for the color and all the other components on hand.

I’d planned to spend what remained of my afternoon (it was to be an early day thanks to an outside commitment) beginning the sanding and prep process for the paint, but as I got set up and began sanding in the cockpit, I realized that this would be the ideal time to get some primer on the large patch area at the forward end of the cockpit, where I’d removed the old engine gauges.  I already had a small batch of primer underway for the instrument covers, and with ample product mixed and already in use, it made sense to get the primer on the patch so I could then move forward with the topcoat all at once when I was ready.  So I adjusted my plans and quickly prepared the area for spraying with some masking tape and paper, then applied a few coats of the primer over the raw patch over the next hour or so before I had to depart.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.5 hours

0600 Weather Report:
32°, partly clear.  Forecast for the day:  mostly cloudy, chance of showers.