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Wednesday

During the morning, I went through all the my preparation steps–layout, drill, tap, mask, sealant–to reinstall various hardware, including the water fill deck plate, cookstove vent, bow cleats, access ports, and anchor locker hinges, plus the new locker lid latch.

I lightly sanded the primer on the new chainplate covers, then applied a few coats of satin black paint to complete them, just like Jerry Maguire.

To allow access, battery installation, and construction, the battery box that would surround the batteries on their new shelf had to be at least partially removable, and as such would be mainly for protection, not necessarily self-containment:  that is, the batteries would rely on other means to hold them in place, not specifically the box itself.   I figured the outboard side of the box would mainly remain in place semi-permanently, though the ability to remove it could be helpful someday should access be required beyond it, but the aft side would be removed as needed to install or remove the batteries from the box.  The fit for the batteries, as well as the requirement to install cables, increasingly made it look like top-only access might be unnecessarily hard.

So after the usual water wash and light sanding, I laid out several hardwood support cleats that would give me places to secure the two external sides of the battery box, and installed the cleats with epoxy adhesive, screws where possible, and clamps.  The cleats left enough room (where needed) for the side panels and additional cleats as well as the battery footprints.  I left the cleats and epoxy to cure.

I received the new teak required to build the replacement rudder cheeks, and it seemed as good a time as any to get right into their construction.  Starting with a rough board a bit wider and longer than the ultimate amount required, I first planed it smooth and dimensioned it to the same thickness as the original cheeks–or, more specifically, the center spacer piece, which truly dictated the final thickness since this matched the thickness of the fiberglass rudder itself.

Through a series of sawing operations, I cut out the three new pieces required, using the originals as exact patterns.  With the blanks cut to size, I milled the chamfers at the bottom edges to match the originals (not shown here).

Securely clamping the old piece atop the new, I used the old bolt holes as guides to drill the holes in the new cheeks, one side at a time.  Then, I clamped the cheeks together with the central spacer, aligning them where they needed to be, and drilled the bolt holes through the spacer, before sanding the top surfaces of the assembly smooth and flush with one another.

With the segments separated once more, I sanded the surfaces as required to smooth and prepare them for a sealer coat of varnish, which I applied to all sides.  These new cheeks would be installed a little differently than originally, as I planned to use exposed hardware (rather than countersunk and bunged) to allow the cheeks to be readily removed for future maintenance.  So I didn’t create any counterbores for the new fasteners.  I ordered threaded rod and cap nuts to be on hand when I was ready to install the cheeks.

Total time billed on this job today:  8.5 hours

0600 Weather Report:
35°, clouds and drizzle.  Forecast for the day:  improving conditions, highs through the 40s.

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Tuesday

To begin, I reinstalled the two mainsheet U-bolts at the aft end of the cockpit, with new sealant, nuts, and washers.

After marking the outline of the new opening with a pattern, I enlarged the old engine panel opening to accommodate the new panel, which I held in place temporarily with a couple screws for illustrative purposes only; I’d do the final installation a little later on, as it was too soon to put the panel in harm’s way.

Next door, I laid out the position of a new bilge pump, which would operate through the cockpit wall, and drilled the large hole and four fastener holes required.  The cover plate, when installed, would align with the bottom of the engine panel next to it.  I’d await installation on the pump till a bit later, to maintain good access in the locker to finish up some other installations first.

Now that the chainplates were back in place, I could reinstall the bulkheads and get things edging towards normal once again.  After cleaning the installation areas once more, I checked the fit of one of the bulkheads to see if I could trim some of the excess material that interfered with access to the middle chainplates on both sides.   I didn’t want to take out any material that might be important from a structural standpoint, but I found that the small tabs that extended into the narrow openings near the chainplate knees didn’t serve any such purpose.  The structural liner, which formed the main interior cabinets and structures, was well-tabbed just aft of this position, inside the lockers above the galley.  All the bulkhead fixing screws were well inboard of that area, and the bulkhead didn’t even contact the hull or molded overhead consistently in these slots, so I saw no reason why I could trim a bit in the hopes of providing someone better access in the future.

Leaving a full inch of overlap where this portion of the bulkhead passed over the last section of the molded interior liner, I trimmed the excess portion on each of the two bulkheads.

Next, I reinstalled the bulkheads.  The shortened tabs did help with access to the chainplate bolts, though on the starboard side this was still going to be a challenge, but in any event access was now as good as it could be while the bulkheads were in place.  I’d reinstall the cookstove vent and its cover once I’d reinstalled the deck fitting, which I’d only recently removed for rebedding.

Working now in the port cockpit locker, I did some final layout for the new battery platform, double-checking some measurements from my early mockup, and confirming that the boat was still level from side to side.  Then, I made some level marks inside the locker, on both the forward (transverse) bulkhead and side (longitudinal) bulkhead, which lines I used to measure and install a pair of teak (from the scrap bin) cleats to support those two sides of the new platform.  Once I had their positions set, I removed the gelcoat from the bonding surfaces, and secured the new cleats with epoxy and bolts through the bulkheads.

With these firm footings, I created a simple cardboard template of the space as needed, following the curvature of the hull outboard and the shape of the inner corners of the area.  With my battery footprint mockup, and allowing extra room for cleats and so forth, I determined the final size and shape of the platform, and transferred the template to two pieces of 9mm plywood I had on hand; I planned to laminate the two pieces to make a suitably thick base.  This design left good access beneath for locker drainage, and for access to a hole required for the bilge pump hose.

Satisfied with the shape of the platform, I prepared the bonding surfaces of the two sheets of thinner plywood, and epoxied them together, holding it secure with several screws as well.  I scribed and cut a support cleat from additional teak to hold the after corner of the platform securely, and marked the bonding area on the hull during a dry fit, so I could remove the locker gelcoat from this area for the best bonding surface.  I double-checked the fit of the “batteries” with my oversized plywood mockup, the height of which included ample room to account for the battery terminal height, so the fit appears closer than it actually is.

Preparations complete, I secured the platform with epoxy adhesive and screws to the cleats, and additional epoxy fillets where it met the hull at the outer corners, and beneath the teak “leg”.  I finished up with a layer of biaxial tabbing to secure the platform to the hull, and epoxy-coated the top of the platform as well.  The fillet got a little warm at its thickest point during curing, causing the change in color seen.

To round out the day, I built six fiberglass covers for the chainplates, each custom-fit to its respective location, as they were all just a bit different.  Because the chainplates were so close to the short raised bulwark, there was not room for traditional deck plates to slip over the tops of the chainplates, so from a strip of 1/4″ x 1-1/2″ fiberglass I milled pieces with central slots that closely fit the chainplate width without binding, leaving them open at one end, and cut the length to leave a consistent reveal at the inboard edge.  I beveled the lower edges where they met the bulwark as required to allow for a tight fit there.

With the basic fit complete, I lightly beveled the exposed corners for better appearance and coating retention, and on the insides of the slots I formed a small bevel to hold more sealant near the chainplate itself.  Then, I sprayed on some primer to begin the coating process.  I’d complete the installation once the covers were all painted.

Total time billed on this job today:  7.5 hours

0600 Weather Report:
35°, light rain.  Forecast for the day:  on and off rain and showers, high 45°

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Monday

Back on hardware duty, I started by reinstalling the stern pulpit.  With the pulpit dry-fit in place, I marked all the fastener holes (and masked around the two after bases), then drilled and tapped the holes for machine screw fasteners.  Afterwards, I applied plenty of sealant and fastened the pulpit back in place.  The outermost fasteners on the two after mounts were beyond the extent of my reach through the lazarette hatch–I could barely touch the screw, but couldn’t get a washer and nut started–but fortunately I could manage it if I put my hand through the nearby vent hole.

I continued with the stern cleat…

…and then the diesel fuel fill and waste pumpout deck plates.  I reconnected the waste hose with a new clamp, but left the diesel fill hose for later, since access to the rear side of the engine controls was easier without the hose in place.

The old plastic deck plates and cowl vents from the poop deck were salvageable, but were faded and brittle with age, and the owner wished to replace them.  Before I ordered the replacements, however, I wanted to satisfy  a nagging curiosity or concern about the upcoming Monitor windvane installation, which would require two deck mounts for support.  My early perusal of the instructions had left a figure of 15″ spinning around my head, and I thought that was going to land the mounts right where those vent holes were.  I was right about the 15″:  that was the width between the support tubes at the top end.  But the tubes would flare out from a bend, and spread to a deck measurement of about 25″ on center.  I checked this with a tape, and it looked like it would clear the vent holes, so I went ahead with the new purchase.

With the stern pulpit back in place, I figured I’d taken care of the worst part of hardware rebedding, with all the hardest-to-reach installations complete.  But there was still more to do, and I continued now with various prepwork and additional removals.  At the bow, I needed to create access to the underside of the two bow cleats.  The design of the anchor well and interior liner prohibited any access from inside the boat, so the only way in was to cut access holes in the sides of the anchor well, which I’d fill later with screw-in deck plates.  Once I cut the access holes, removing the cleats was straightforward, though the builder used 3″ long fasteners when 1-1/2″ would have been adequate.

Once the cleats were out, I overbored the fastener holes with a 1/2″ bit, removing the core, and did the same with all the other fastener holes around the anchor locker, including the hinges (deck side) and part of the mount for the new latch.

On the side deck, where I’d removed the water fill deck plate earlier, I reamed out the core from within the opening, and overbored the three fastener holes for the deck plate, and masked around the opening to prepare for epoxy.

I removed the vent from the cookstove and prepared the main opening and the surrounding fastener holes for epoxy filling as well.

 

 

Later, I filled all these new holes and voided core with thickened epoxy, removing any masking tape afterwards.

At the stern, I removed two 1/2″ U-bolts for the mainsheet.  I’d worried a bit about removing these, as some photos I’d taken of their undersides (there was no direct visual access through the various openings) showed some ugly rust on the port side, and I’d  run into issues with the same thing on a sistership I worked on years before.  Fortunately, though, the nuts came off easily; the rust turned out to be only from a substandard lock washer that had been in place.

After cleaning out the holes (the footprint of the hardware wasn’t large enough to allow boring them out any larger), I sealed the insides of the holes with epoxy, whatever was in there.  I couldn’t be sure whether there was any plywood in there, or just extra fiberglass in this location, but a little extra epoxy never hurt.

Ironically, the dumbest possible piece of hardware proved to be the most difficult to remove:  one of the vent fittings located in the side of the cabin trunk above the head.  The fitting itself was in fine condition, but the fixing nut on the inside was badly rusted and looked terrible, so replacement of both vents was in order.  Of course removing this rusted nut proved to be a problem, as it was corroded to the threads and spun the whole fitting when I tried to loosen it.  At first I tried to hold the fitting with another pair of pliers from inside, but all this did was crush the end of the brass fitting.  Eventually, I locked a pair of pliers on the nut so it could spin against the overhead, and, from outside, used another pair of locking pliers to turn the fitting, and this eventually loosened the nut so I could remove it.  Then, the nut wouldn’t pass over the crushed end of the fitting so to remove the fitting I had to cut through it with a hacksaw.  (And people wonder why it takes so much time to do anything on a boat.)

 

With new fasteners on hand after the usual afternoon delivery, I got back to work on the chainplates  Installation was straightforward except for the starboard middle chainplate, with its extremely tight access.  The way the knee angled aft just a bit towards the nearby molded/tabbed cabinet made it impossible for me to get a nut started by hand–there just wasn’t room to get nut-holding fingers in there.  So I came up with a way to hold a nut inside a box-end wrench, which I could delicately hold in to the narrow gap and, by turning the bolt head, get the nut started.  Once the washers and nuts were in place, it was no major problem to tighten them.

The port center chainplate had more room, so I could start the nuts by hand.  And all the rest were wide open, relatively, and easy to fix the chainplates in place.  I’d work on some deck covers for bedding the chainplates in the coming days.

Total time billed on this job today:  8 hours

0600 Weather Report:
20°, mostly clear.  Forecast for the day:  clouding up, high around 40

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Sunday

With some time on hand, I thought I’d take care of a couple small jobs, starting with a new engine installation template.  I’d had on hand an older template, left over from another Beta 14 installation some time ago, but the template was in rough shape and had been modified (I’d used it for some initial engine calculations on this project as well), and there had been some changes in the design of the engine since that time.

With an updated engine drawing, I prepared a plywood base that corresponded with the maximum length and width of the engine, and attached to its bottom an extension fore and aft, which mainly gave me the shaft centerline, which was the most critical dimension for proper alignment.  At the aft end, I built the extension to correspond with the depth of the transmission housing; the forward extension corresponded to the depth of the oil pan (though not the location).  This gave me all the maximum dimensions required to ensure that the engine would fit as expected.  I also noted the overall height above the platform.  I marked the engine mounting locations, using the drawing as a guide, and temporarily installed the adjustable mounts, starting with a 3″ depth, which was right in the middle of the mounts’ specified adjustment range.  In this specific instance, I’d ordered the new engine with 14.5″ mounting centers at the aft side, and 16″ at the forward, as this would work best with the existing engine foundations.  Because the “centerline” of the engine ( aka the shaft centerline) was actually not symmetrical with the overall dimensions, the starboard forward, at this wide dimension, was actually almost off the template completely, since the center of the mounting flange was wider than the overall width from engine center.

I quickly tested the new template in the boat to check the fit.  It looked good overall, but I thought my initial adjustment on the mounts was probably too high (the shaft centerline was above where it needed to be), but I’d adjust those and finalize the template (and therefore engine) position a little later on.  The template would be ready whenever I was.

Next I turned to the tiller.  The original tiller, made of solid wood, was in poor condition, and I was tasked with building a new one from laminated teak.  To start, I removed an old autopilot mount and the friction tape wrapping from the tip end, leaving the bare tiller to use as a guide for laminating the new one.

I dug out an old laminating template that I’d used on some project or another in the past, and removed the old blocking and plastic left over from that job.  With a clean, flat template re-covered in plastic sheeting, I used the tiller to mark the curvature on the plastic, then installed clamping blocks as needed against the line–enough blocking to bend the wood strips into the fair curve required, and to provide ample clamping area.  I like laminating templates built on the horizontal like this (as opposed to a vertical orientation, where the laminations are clamped on top of a form that is open on both sides) since it makes aligning the strips with one another (i.e. flush) much easier, since one can press and (if needed) clamp the whole assembly to the flat base, which ensures that the lower (template) side of the lamination will be flat and smooth.   Epoxy-coated laminations are extremely slippery, and the flat base means that one need not be fighting alignment through the clamping process.  The end result also makes shaping and dimensioning the finished piece that much easier since there’s a flat and consistent side from which to start, and it’s quick and simple to build the template.

From some leftover teak on hand, I milled a series of 1/4″ thick strips, each a bit over 1-3/4″ wide (the raw dimension of the rough stock), from which to laminate the new tiller.  The finished piece needed to be about 1-5/8″ thick.  These strips bent easily to the minimal curvature required.

The tiller was fairly consistent and relatively narrow over much of its length, but the butt end flared quickly into a depth almost twice that of the rest of the tiller.  Gluing the whole blank to that dimension would be wasteful of material, and more difficult to glue all at once, so with enough strips to complete the tiller other than the butt end, I cut some additional strips into shorter lengths, and these would become the deeper butt end later.  I’d glue up the main blank first, then add on these strips at the end afterwards.

The template would require a little more prep work, mainly some bits of plastic to prevent the blank from sticking to the template blocks, and as tempting as it was to continue and glue up the blank, I was running short on time and would continue sometime later.

Total time billed on this job today:  2.75 hours

0600 Weather Report:
50°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  sunny, high 60°

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Friday

Next on the agenda was to inspect and rebed the chainplates.  With no deck covers over the chainplate slots–and not enough room at the toerail end to allow stock covers to fit–the chainplates had been gooped up over the years with piles of silicone sealant, which was not only unsightly but was probably of dubious effectiveness.  So to begin, I removed all this excess sealant (removing and storing aside the toggles that were in place on five of the six chainplates), which also freed up the chainplates for further work.  The starboard side is shown in the top two photos; port in the lower.

Below, access to four of the six chainplates was good, and without drama I removed the bolts securing the plates to the knees and pushed the chainplates up through the slots, so I could remove them from on deck later.  I also removed at this time the old and deteriorated  copper lightning “protection” system that had basically corroded away to dust in many areas anyway.  The knees appeared sound and in good condition.

The chainplates for the uppers (the middle set) posed a problem because the knees were located so close to the bulkheads (those that defined the forward edge of the galley) that it was not possible to access the nuts on the aft sides of these chainplates.  Past experience with a sistership had prepared me for this in advance, and for days I’d been wishing the chainplates to simply unbolt themselves and rise airily from the boat, as I knew the only other way I was going to remove them was to remove the two bulkhead sections.  This was a shame since it seems like it could have been so easy to avoid this access issue, but at least in this case the bulkheads were simply screwed to the fiberglass interior structure, so removal was possible, but it was still a lot of extra work just to access three bolts that really should have been accessible anyway–and with an inch more clearance would have been.

The port bulkhead came out without much issue, though there was one hidden screw that had been broken off during installation (I supposed), and since it had no head it was not visible, nor would it have been removable even if I’d known it was there.  But it wasn’t much of a problem to free the bulkhead from it, as there was plenty of room in the empty hanging locker forward.  Space between the knee and the glassed-in liner behind it was still tight, but at least I could now remove the bolts.

On the starboard side, there was a lot more in the way, and before beginning I had to remove the cookstove vent pipe and all its enclosure leading up to the deck fitting.  The marine toilet was mounted very close to the bulkhead at the bottom, but the bulkhead would have to come out around it since I had no intention of trying to remove the head.  Fortunately, I could access all the bulkhead screws around the toilet base; my worst fear had been that one screw could be inaccessible next to the base.

With extraneous gear out of the way, and all the screws removed, I finally got the bulkhead out, but with difficulty since I had to slide it straight inboard, as I couldn’t tip the top forward as I had on the other side since the head got in the way.  The plywood was also very tight–i.e. friction fit–with the protruding bolt ends of the chainplate, a closer tolerance than on the other side, but finally the bulkhead was out.  There was just enough room for a wrench on the nut side of the knee, and I thought I could manage to thread new nuts on by hand when I reinstalled the chainplate later.

While I had good access to everything, I cleaned up the head and hanging locker areas, removing spilled teak oil from the liner where it’d been slopped off the bulkheads, and just a general cleanup, which brightened both sides of the space considerably.

I also cleaned up around the various chainplate knees and the locker areas surrounding them; these areas, and the knees themselves, were in good condition.  While the bulkheads were out, I cleaned them up a bit and inspected them; they were structurally sound.

I ordered new bolts for the chainplates, as I didn’t have this type on hand, and since I’d found surface rust on a few of the originals (though most were in good condition).  Meanwhile, I pulled the chainplates out from above and cleaned up the stainless, which was polished only on the top half of the plates.  There was a bit of surface rust on a couple of the chainplates, but nothing significant, and they all cleaned up well and looked good.  I also cleaned out any excess sealant from the deck slots.  These photos show both sides of all the chainplates after cleanup.  I’d reinstall them as soon as the new bolts arrived, and I planned to make simple deck covers that would help more effectively seal the slots and look better than the mess that had been there before.

Next, I painted the engine room and around the other through hull pads as required, using gray Bilgekote.

To round out the day, I continued with some more hardware removal, starting with the water fill deck plate, since I’d had to remove the hose from beneath during the chainplate and bulkhead removal process earlier.  This section of sidedeck had a plywood core.

The nearby vente fittings for the water and waste tanks were rusted on the inside, and I planned to replace them in kind.  The old clear vent hoses that had been installed, and which I’d removed for better access during the chainplate work, required replacement as well, for appearance if nothing else.

At the bow, I laid out the position of a new latch for the anchor well, and removed the deck side of the hinges so I could rebed those.  I’d also soon be creating access to the bow cleats so I could rebed them.

 

Total time billed on this job today:  6 hours

0600 Weather Report:
32°, cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Becoming sunny, high around 50

 

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Thursday

I inventoried the new through hull hardware to determine what pieces I was missing, as a number of things had been originally backordered and had dribbled in over the past few days.  I still needed a few pieces before I could continue with the installation, but most of the hardware was on hand, though I discovered that according to my invoices I was supposed to have four of the 1-1/2″ valves already on hand, but only had three.  (This proved to be a picking error at the supplier, and a new valve would be sent.)

I hadn’t planned on repainting the engine room, but looking at the space as I contemplated the final prep on the new through hull pads, I thought there was no way I could leave it as is, so along with lightly sanding the new epoxy and through hull pads, I gave the whole engine room a quick scuff so I could give it a coat of paint later.  It didn’t make any sense to start a brand-new engine and systems installation in this space unless the space itself was truly ready.

In order to move ahead sooner than later on painting the engine room and other through hull pads, after cleaning up from the light sanding I applied a coat of my “impatience primer” to the new epoxy.  One-part paints don’t cure properly over fresh epoxy, and the options were to wait a few weeks for the epoxy to reach its ultimate cure state (impossible), or apply a quick coat of epoxy-based 2-part primer to the new epoxy, which primer would cure properly on its own and then provide a decent substrate for paint.

My goal of these first few weeks was to work on and finish all the significant fixed or structural installations that would affect–and set the course of–the remaining systems installations, so high on my mind was the new battery storage situation.  With the port cockpit locker already chosen in concept as the house bank location, I worked on a basic platform template made of scrap plywood to prove the concept and work out any final details before moving on with construction.  Thinking that it’d be nice if all three batteries (including the start battery) could fit in here, I started with a platform designed to hold both house batteries and the starting bank.  While there was plenty of room for this itself, the other requirements of the locker would preclude installing all three batteries like this, as I needed some of the locker real estate for other purposes.

One reason this wouldn’t work is that I needed space on the locker wall–and also inside the locker itself–to install a second manual bilge pump, which would require clear access from both sides.  The height of the batteries and/or battery box would get in the way of the space I needed for the bilge pump, and there was nowhere else logical that the pump could–or should–be mounted.  In order for this to work, the battery platform and box would need to end further forward, so I cut off the tho

Eventually, I turned the template sideways, to orient the batteries athwartships rather than longitudinally, and I liked this position best.  The platform size–not even accounting for potential sides of a box–was too large to fit through the locker opening, so I’d have to build the box in place, and this meant I hoped to keep the installation as simple as possible, so I could use the existing locker sides as two sides of the new box.  The owner also approved of this plan, and I’d move forward with construction soon.

The starting battery had two potential mounting locations:  on a platform in front of the engine (this is where the battery had been installed in the original setup), or in a locker beneath the cabin sole.  Neither location was perfect, but both had their advantages also.

One concern with the engine room location was that the battery might interfere with reasonable access to the front of the engine and related components (such as fuel and raw water filters, and the raw water pump housing), but only further time would tell whether this was an issue, since at this early stage I wasn’t sure exactly how the space would come together with the engine.  There was room for a normal group 24 starting battery here, however, and if it could be installed so as not to be in the way of normal access requirements, this might end up being the spot.

The storage space beneath the cabin sole, a bit forward of the engine room, was where batteries had been previously installed, and there was ample room, but the low location was potentially vulnerable to water problems, and while it was a good and reasonable option if the engine room didn’t work out, for the moment we were hoping to go in the other direction.  The tight access to this space also meant that the battery would have to be installed and hooked up while in the open area, then pushed back to its final location beneath the aft part of the sole.

With the important battery question now resolved–the proof of concept and a clear direction for the house battery bank–I continued work on the deck hardware rebedding, this time the stern quarters of the boat, which included the fuel fill and waste pumpout, stern pulpit, and various other hardware.

Because of the limited access through the locker lids, some of these fasteners were at (or almost beyond) my ultimate reach, at least while being required to also work the top end of the fastener.  Fortunately, despite some  fairly long exposed thread on some of the fasteners, I found that the nuts came off easily, making this job far less onerous than it could have been, a tiny moment of relative pleasure for which I was most grateful.  I even had little trouble removing the hoses from their barbs on the two deck fills, and in relatively short order I had the area cleared of hardware, other than a couple pieces that I’d attend to later on their own.  There were also several old pass-through wiring connections on the aft deck, which were abandoned but I’d have to deal with their old locations somehow.

Afterwards, I cleaned off old sealant and the like, and prepared the fastener holes (where needed) by boring larger holes at each location, removing any core material from about the hole.    The small poop deck itself, at least the center 2/3 or so, featured a plywood core–visible through the plastic vent openings–and the forward pulpit bases were on those raised platforms like the stanchions, but the sidedeck in way of the two deck fills was uncored, and I had no need to do any further preparatory work on those openings or fastener holes.

With everything prepared and cleaned up, I masked around the fastener holes to protect the deck, and filled all the enlarged holes with thickened epoxy, and coated the exposed core in the two larger openings.

Total time billed on this job today:  7.25 hours

0600 Weather Report:
55°, cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Cloudy,  temperatures falling, rain by evening.

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Wednesday

I got started with what could seem like an odd tangent, but earlier, I’d spread various parts for the Wallas cook stove out on my bench, so I could inspect the original stove and a new blower lid that the owner had ordered, and now these parts were still there and in the way.  Rather than pack them up as is, I decided to install the blower lid and have that job completed–it all had to be done at one time or another, after all.  It didn’t look like a major job, but it was something I’d never seen nor done before.

The idea of the blower lid is that when the stove is operated with the lid lowered, it activates a blower that forces air across the stove top (no open flames) and then into the cabin, like a mini forced-air heater.  For such a small boat, this seemed an ideal option for basic cabin heating of the type one would normal experience on those chill days during the sailing season in temperate climates.  When the lid is raised, one operates the stove top normally.

To install the lid on this cooktop, I first had to remove a few parts from the old, and initially this caused a little confusion since the illustrations were just slightly different (or so it seemed) from the stove in front of me.  But shortly I realized that the stove itself was actually installed in a stand-alone base, and that in order to install the blower lid I’d have to temporarily remove the base to return the actual cooktop to its essence.  This was easy enough with four fasteners and little spacers to remove, plus one wire connector to the control knob.

Now, with the cooktop stripped down as required by the instructions (essentially removing a couple aluminum cross bars from the back edge, where the blower would be fitted), I figured out how the blower lid fit into the stove housing, and secured it with the four machine screws provided.  Then I removed an existing wiring harness from the works of the stove, and plugged in its stead the harness from the blower lid, all as directed.

Finally, I reinstalled the external stand-alone base (which required removing one more trim piece, as it happened), and this completed the installation.  The blower lid was frankly a handsome addition to this little stove, and I hoped it operated well and did the job.

Now I could set the stove aside for safekeeping till I wanted to put it back in the boat, and with my bench cleared I could move on with other projects at hand.

Before starting in a new direction, I finished up the solar vent installation, now that the epoxy filling was cured and ready for the final steps.  From below, I installed the plastic trim ring, then, back on deck I dry-fit the vent housing so I could mark and drill the three fastener holes.  Afterwards, I applied sealant (butyl tape in this case) to the deck around the large hole, and on the housing itself, and pressed into plate the foam gasket provided with the vent before securing the base to the deck.

The vent came with an on/off switch, which was nice, but I tested it for operation before shutting it down once more.  The vent came with (I think) an exhaust fan blade installed, but there was also a second (intake) blade included to reverse the direction of flow if desired.

Back at the bench, I got ready to prepare six fiberglass backing blocks for the new seacocks.  On a sheet (plus a little scrap) of 3/4″ thick prefab fiberglass, I laid out blocks for three large (1-1/2″) bases  and three smaller (3/4″) bases, then drilled holes for the through hulls before cutting out the bases and, finally, sanding the edges clean and slightly easing the top edges for looks and tactile feel.

Now I cleaned out any old sealant from within the original hull holes, using a knife and then a drum sander.  I found that the original holes leftover from the larger fittings (scuppers and head discharge) were just slightly smaller than the diameter of the new through hulls, so I used a drum sander to open up the holes enough for the new fittings to slip in properly.  The old engine intake had been something like a 1/2″ fitting, but I found that the hole in the hull was actually larger, and only required a little enlarging to fit the new 3/4″ fitting.

After cleaning inside and out around all the locations with acetone, I installed the new fiberglass backing blocks in beds of very thick epoxy, which held the blocks in place even in the near-vertical orientation back at the cockpit scuppers.  I smoothed the new epoxy to form fillets around the bases, and cleaned out the insides of the holes.  Then, not wanting to unnecessarily shake the boat and possibly make these blocks move before they were cured, I spent the rest of the day, as it were, on a couple smaller tasks that didn’t require me clambering around on board, all punctuated by some unrelated goings-on at the shop that required my at-least sporadic attention.

One of these tasks was to check the fit of the actual engine panel.  Years earlier, I’d made a template of these panels, and I taped it in place over the old panel hole to ensure that the new panel would indeed fit.  It did.  Meanwhile I prepared the large panel enclosure for return shipment.

It also seemed a good time to replace the bulb in the bicolor bow light, mounted on the pulpit.  Originally fitted with a standard incandescent festoon bulb, I sourced a replacement LED bulb for the fixture, and installed it now.  The original stern light, also mounted on the pulpit, would be superseded in this case by a stern light mounted on the new Monitor windvane, and I’d remove the old light later.

While working on the solar vent installation the past couple days, I took the opportunity to prepare and epoxy-fill the cracked area of the aluminum mast step, which, after curing and sanding, cleaned up the damage and made it look good as new.  Later, after I resealed around the edges, I’d paint the step to protect the epoxy and, come to that, the step itself.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.5 hours

0600 Weather Report:
38°, mostly cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Partly sunny, high 60°

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Tuesday

After going through several boxes of newly-arrived parts and supplies, I decided to continue with the solar vent installation, as this would require some additional hole and deck preparations.  The location was preordained, more or less, but to determine exactly where to install the vent over the newly-filled deck hole left over from the old cabin heater, I started in the cabin with the included plastic trim ring so I could locate the vent where it’d be clear of the hanging locker bulkhead, which was nearby to port.  Once I’d determined that, I drilled a pilothole from inside, which allowed me to start the hole saw in the right location from the deck surface.  This fitting required a 3-3/4″ hole.  The deck was in good condition within this opening.  The only core visible was a layer of what appeared to be Coremat or similar laminate bulker, which was low in the opening near the tightly-fitting inner liner.   This  laminate schedule was mirrored elsewhere in the decks where I’d so far drilled holes (such as the midships cleat locations and bow pulpit).

The plastic trim ring that would help dress up the inside of the opening was too tall for the thickness of the deck, so I used a fine saw to cut off the excess, allowing for a flush fit within.  Then, with the trim temporarily installed from within, I could insert the top portion of the vent (with the top removed for access) and mark the fastener holes.  Even though there wasn’t much for core material, and the fasteners might not even penetrate what passed for it. I overbored the fastener location as a matter of course, and filled the voids with thickened epoxy.  I also coated the inside of the large hole with epoxy to seal it.

While working in the cockpit the day before, I’d noticed that the space available where the old engine instrument panel had been was a lot smaller than I remembered, and, having recently unpacked a special molded and covered recess for the new panel (which I’d never used before, as it was a fairly new offering), it occurred to me that there’d not be room for the insert.  While the panel itself was nearly the same size as the old one, the insert was substantially bigger, and a quick test-fit confirmed my fears:  there simply wasn’t enough space in this small cockpit to fit the large enclosure.  It interfered with the locker lid gutters and the cockpit sole.  I’d have to send this back, unfortunately, and install the panel normally.

Now that the hardware holes for the stanchion bases and other sidedeck hardware were epoxy-filled and cured, I decided to move on with the reinstallation and rebedding of the hardware that I’d removed.  So at each location, I prepared the deck by marking, drilling, and tapping the new epoxy for the appropriate size machine screws, and masking around the hardware to protect the deck from sealant (mainly nonskid areas).  Because of the raised, smooth-gelcoated platforms on which the stanchion bases sat, after masking all three on the port side I decided that it really wasn’t required for the second side, so I skipped this step for the stanchion bases on starboard, which saved time and effort.

With all the locations prepared, I started at the bow and installed all the hardware.  The pulpit and forward spinnaker pole chock was easy enough to complete.

Moving on to the forwardmost stanchion bases, things slowed down considerably.  If I thought that removing the old fasteners from those liner-hidden inboard locations of the stanchion bases  the reinstallation proved me wrong:  removal had been a day at the beach.  Trying to thread nuts and washers onto these fasteners–blind and without even room for a pair of fingers–proved to be frustrating and time-consuming, and ultimately the only way it  could happen was for me to open up the edge of the liner in way of the fasteners, just to allow a way to get the nuts started.  I’d determined at the onset that there was no practical means of installing backing plates, nice as that would have been; as it happened, there was barely room for nuts and washers on these inside locations.  I tried everything I could before resorting to using a drum sander to create a rounded notch in the molded liner in order to reach the inner fastener on each stanchion base, but there simply wasn’t enough access to start the nuts and washers till I made some room.

Even the after pole chock was challenging, since the forward bolt was directly above the bulkhead, and I had to leave the bolt partially unthreaded (from above) in order to leave enough room beneath for me to start the washer and nut, after which I could tighten down the bolt the rest of the way.

Moving on from the forward cabin, I thought the worst was past, but the access for threading nuts onto the inner sets of bolts on the stanchion bases and midships cleats was no better here than it had been in the v-berth.  What’s worse is I could almost get the nuts started on the middle stanchion base and nearby cleat, but despite all efforts I just couldn’t succeed despite many frustrating attempts and varied techniques.  So in the end, I was forced to use the drum sander again, just to gain barely enough access to complete the installations.   I’d started with the port side, so with this hard-won knowledge  I got smart on the starboard side and pre-notched the liner where I needed to, which made the final installations late in the afternoon go much more quickly.  I used large washers wherever possible, but had to resort to regular-sized washers for the innermost fastener on the stanchion bases, as there simply wasn’t room for a fender washer.  The final set of stanchion bases, which I could access from inside the electrical panel areas, was almost a treat with luxurious one-hand blind access but no liner in the way.  The angle and closeness of the photos make the notches look huge and much worse than they are; in reality they’re not really visible from normal cabin attitudes, but I’d think about a simple way to cover them nonetheless.

Total time billed on this job today:   8.25 hours

0600 Weather Report:
25°, mostly cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Mostly sunny, high around 50°

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Monday

After removing a final piece of hardware (at least for this particular round) from the starboard sidedeck, which had resisted efforts last time (and I’d run out of time before I could finish it), I prepared all the hardware locations  by boring 1/2″ holes at each fastener location (this kept the larger hole within the footprint of the hardware in all instances), which removed the core material (plywood) from about the fasteners for future core isolation.  I also cleaned off old sealant from the deck and hardware bases.  Then, I masked around the holes (and from the underside of the deck) to prepare for epoxy filling.

Next, I filled all the prepared holes with a thickened epoxy mixture, and removed the tape afterwards.

At the bow, I removed the anchor, chain, and rode from  the roller and anchor well, exposing a filthy anchor locker that I cleaned up afterwards.

At the mast step, I removed three old wiring fittings, which we’d not be reusing, and prepared the holes for patching.  For cosmetic reasons on the molded nonskid pattern, I’d be building a simple cover to secure to the deck over the patched holes (the undersides were hidden in a wooden trim box).

I took this opportunity to clean off unsightly gobs of old sealant from around and the top of the mast step plate, which was head-scratchingly secured into a molded recess in the deck that, frankly, seemed only like a trap for water and offered no benefits whatever.  This process exposed a pre-existing crack in the aft starboard corner of the plate, which didn’t appear to cause any structural concerns with the integrity of the step itself, but made me wary of attempting any further removal of the step for rebedding, since there was hardly any way to get under the piece anyway thanks to the recess, and I worried the casting might fall to pieces if I tried.  Sometimes well enough is best left alone.   With a cleaned-out groove about the step I could later refill with new sealant applied in a more uniform manner, and perhaps force some epoxy into the aft corner to shore up the crack.

Next, I masked around the old wiring holes (now prepared for filling), and, nearby, around the hole left over from the old cabin heater vent.  I filled these voids with thickened epoxy–the wiring holes as a permanent closure, and the old vent hole as a temporary means of providing a place for a hole saw to enlarge the opening, since we’d decided to install a solar deck vent in its place, which required a larger opening.

Following my inspection of the through hull fittings earlier, the owner had requested that I change out all the underwater fittings with new bronze through hulls and flanged seacocks to replace the ill-threaded valves directly on the existing through hull necks.  However, since the outlets were above the waterline, we decided to keep the two through hulls that had serviced the bilge pump outlets and simply replace the valves inside with new bronze ones.  So I got started in the cockpit locker, and removed the two valves from those through hulls, pending arrival of the new valves later.  Fortunately the valves unthreaded without any particular issue.

Moving on to the cockpit scupper drains, after a brief attempt to unthread the valves and through-hull nuts from inside, I quickly gave that up as a waste of time and, with a reciprocating saw, simply cut the through hulls off from inside, working the blade through the wooden backing blocks and quickly through the fittings themselves, after which I could remove the remnants of the plywood blocks and push the through hull fitting out from inside.

I continued with the engine raw water intake, located at the forward end of the engine room to port.  This fitting featured an external bronze strainer, which I removed for access to the through hull beneath.

In similar fashion, I removed the galley sink drain, and the heat intake and overboard fittings.

Afterwards, to prepare for new installations I sanded away the paint from the outside of every fitting, and any remnants of old sealant, adhesive, and factory interior gelcoat on the inside of the hull at all locations.  Sometime soon I’d finish the basic prep work by cleaning out any sealant remaining in the old through hull holes themselves, but for now the day was over.

Total time billed on this job today:  8.5 hours

0600 Weather Report:
20°, partly cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  mostly cloudy, chance of snow and rain showers, high around 40°