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Wednesday

With new saw blades on hand, I felt I needed to conquer the windlass before Christmas break, as I hated to leave things unresolved.  I wanted that windlass out.  At this point, I almost didn’t care how it got out–as long as it did.  I couldn’t stand seeing it there, sneering at me and pretending it was just so superior.

First, I tried–in a laughingly brief way–to use a length of pipe to bang on the steel part of the shaft housing surrounding the bronze turning shaft.  This was so utterly ineffective (exacerbated by that cove shape the housing had ended up), and I quickly turned to the saw, fitting it beneath the bronze deck plate where I’d already reamed out the sealant earlier.  This was really the only practical access to cut the windlass into pieces, as space belowdecks was simply too tight and basically inaccessible where the shaft was.  If this didn’t work from on deck, I wasn’t sure what I’d do.

I found it worked for me to stand on the staging next to the boat and hold the saw along the aft side of the shaft–this gave me the best leverage.  It took about 30 minutes and two saw blades to make it through.  At first it was impossible to tell whether I was making progress or not, as I couldn’t really see into the narrow slot, and certainly the cutting progress was not something one could measure by eye or feel.  I think the first blade must have dulled quickly on old sealant or wood, as once I’d changed to the new blade after a time the progress seemed quicker.  In any event, eventually I completed the cut, freeing the deck plate.  Success!  Or so I thought.

I’d kind of expected that once I’d made the cut, I’d hear the windlass drop out below.  Planning ahead for this, I’d lined the chainlocker with an old cushion and towel to soften the blow, but the shaft and housing held tightly in the wooden deck riser with no sign of movement whatever.  After checking things out below, I returned to the foredeck and, using a small hand-held sledge, I pounded the top of the shaft, both with my length of pipe (limited or no success at first), and then without,  It took surprisingly brutal effort to budge the thing at all, and at first all I heard was more chunks of thick, flaky rust crumbling off the windlass, but after a number of severe hits I saw progress, as the shaft started plunging through the wood.  Finally, at length, the windlass gearbox and motor came free and fell the short distance onto the pillows.

Even though I’d removed–by corrosive attrition and as a byproduct only–probably 10 pounds of rust (a full 5 quart bucketful) from the windlass housing during the removal process, what remained of the windlass and motor was extremely heavy.  I was so glad to get it out of there and down to the bench with all its component pieces (except the capstan drum, which I forgot to include in my still life photos below),  What a piece of junk this thing turned out to be.  What all this plain steel was doing in a windlass was beyond me.  A real shame, as I know the working components were all bronze and stoutly built.  To shroud such fine mechanicals in this steel case was obviously a poor choice.

With the windlass finally out of the way, I cleaned up the deck and chainlocker as needed, including removing the semi-circular deck riser adjacent to the bowsprit, as the removal had damaged this easily-replaceable piece.  The good news in all of this was that the deck in this area was core-free, just a solid 1/2″ or so laminate.  Briefly inspecting things from beneath, it seemed this might have been a planned omission at the time of construction specifically to allow for a windlass installation on this side.  But at least the large through-deck hole had not allowed any damage to the decks, which couldn’t be said for the windlass itself.

During some work in the port cockpit locker a little earlier, I’d noticed the other ends of the large windlass cables hanging out of the wire chase on that side.  Besides being too short to reach a battery, the cable ends weren’t looking too great, and one of the cables had a cut in the insulation that would obviate the last foot or so of that cable.  So whatever happened from here in terms of windlass replacement, there’d unfortunately be more wiring work to complete.

 

Total time billed on this job today:  1.5 hours

0600 Weather  Report:
Fog, clouds, 35°.  Forecast for the day:  clouds, rain coming overnight, high in the low 40s

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Tuesday

I continued work on the decks, this time mainly on the starboard side, where I cleaned up and polished the cabin trunk and borders on the sidedeck.

With the main deck areas complete, I moved up to the coachroof and portions of the cockpit, and took care of various borders and smaller areas around the hatches and elsewhere, which, as with other deck areas, started out with various levels of dirt, oxidation, and other staining.

For now, I left the main part of the cockpit well untouched, but cleaned up all the areas bordering brightwork so I could get moving on that project soon.

I used some rags to soak up any remnants of liquid from the bilge, and sanded away the paint from the new garboard drain area to prepare in advance for its installation later.

I’d hoped to finish up work on the windlass removal, hoping my saw blades would arrive in the early afternoon, but the usual increased package demand and traffic from the last-minute holiday rush caused my normal delivery to be much later than usual (not unexpectedly), too late for me to move forward with that project.

Total time billed on this job today:  3.75 hours

0600 Weather Report:
25°, cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  clouds, rain late in the day.  High 44°

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Monday

Over the weekend, I continued treating the windlass shaft housing with penetrating oil.  Whatever the next attempt at removal entailed, it’d require additional force and additional materials, especially as the likelihood grew that I’d end up cutting the shaft to release the above- and below-decks components from each other so I could finally effect a total removal, which was required no matter what.   So while I awaited saw blades, I took a break from the windlass to focus on some of the other jobs on the boat.

I started with the external strainer over the engine intake, down in the keel near the turn of the bilge.   The owner was rightfully wary of this external “scoop” strainer, and with a good internal sea strainer he requested I remove the strainer to leave the through hull unprotected, which gibed with my own opinion.  During a meeting at the boat a few days earlier, we’d determined that the strainer was not an integral part of the through hull the way they sometimes are, so removal looked straightforward.

And so it turned out to be.  After removing layers of paint and barrier coat from the fitting and exposing the fixing screws, I could remove the strainer easily, after which I cleaned the hull of old sealant, slightly feathered in the edges of the surrounding bottom paint and barrier coat, and prepared the four screw holes for repair by milling small countersinks at each location.  Afterwards, I applied some epoxy fill material.

While in this neck of the woods, I scoped out the bilge to determine where to mount a new garboard drain.  From inside the boat, through a small access hatch directly above the deepest portion of the bilge sump, I looked for obstructions and reference points I could use from outside, and measured down from the bolts securing a grounding plate that happened to be located right above the best location for the new drain.  This made it pretty easy to recreate the location from outside, after which I drilled a 1/2″ test hole to drain the remaining liquid from the bilge (mostly antifreeze) and ensure that the location was where I wanted it.

Then, I could drill the 1-1/2″ hole (with key slot at the top) required for the new bronze drain fitting, which I didn’t yet have on hand but would order and install soon.

The largest single job on the work list for Danusia was the exterior brightwork, which required stripping and refinishing.  The existing Cetol finish was tired overall and failing completely in many areas, and the owner wished to upgrade to varnish.  With significant woodwork on deck, this would effect a dramatic improvement to the overall appearance of the boat.  These photos show the general condition of some of the brightwork at the start of the job.

Before beginning down that road, however, I thought it’d be best to first work on the cleanup and polishing of the gelcoat on deck, another job on the project list. By doing this first, I could avoid worrying about damaging new varnish work with abrasive polishes, and any residue I might get on the woodwork now would be removed during the stripping and sanding process ahead.  The gelcoat, which appeared to be original (though the nonskid had been redone at some point), was in generally good condition for its age, approximately 30 years, and I thought it would clean up fairly well all things considered.  At the moment, it was dirty and oxidized.

Starting randomly on the port side, I prepared to clean up and polish the gelcoat on the cabin trunk and deck areas.  I soon found that the lifelines were inconveniently in the way, and since removing the stanchions was something that was going to happen at some point anyway to allow me to add or redo stanchion tube fasteners and set screws (and also to make way for a new winter cover), I went ahead and did it now, first on the port side and later to starboard.  While the stanchion bases included one screw opening for a fixing screw into the stanchion, which secured the stanchions well, many of them were wobbly in the bases, a condition the owner didn’t care for, and adding set screws would tighten them and prevent this from happening.  I was prepared to drill and tap the bases for new set screws, but as I began the removal I noticed that all the bases already had a place for a set screw, though in most cases there was no fastener in place.

This was good news since it would save the challenge of creating these holes from scratch later.  So without further delay, I removed the stanchions and lifelines, and got back to work on the gelcoat polishing on the port side, and eventually moved around the transom towards the starboard, where I’d continue next time.  The old gelcoat looked much better afterwards, clean and with some shine and much improved, though the gelcoat was growing thin and showing its overall age and would never look brand new again.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.75 hours

0600 Weather Report:
30°, mostly clear.  Forecast for the day:  clouds and sun, breezy, around 40