Lackey Sailing | tim lackey

Sunday

Now that the stem and taffrail pieces were complete and prepared with a sealer coat of varnish, I continued with their final installation. The taffrail was all set to go, as I’d prepared all the fastener holes during initial fitting, and installation went quickly.

To install the stem, I marked and drilled/tapped all the fastener holes, as usual, and with that complete I installed the wood in a bed of sealant.

Afterwards, I bunged the screw holes.

Finally, I applied a second coat of semi-gloss white enamel to the interior overhead.

Total time billed on this job today: 1.75 Hours

0600 Weather Report:
Clear, 12°. Forecast for the day: Sunny, high around 30.

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Saturday

The holiday break had cut into my time earlier in the week, but I very much wanted to keep the toerail project moving along. To this end, I worked for a while to build the new wooden stem pieces. Using the old ones as a guide, and a paper template I’d made earlier, I cut two blanks from some teak stock I’d reserved for the purpose. On the boat, I test-fit the blanks and made minor adjustments as required, recutting one of the edges that had started out slightly oversized.

Once I was satisfied with the fit, I sanded the blanks smooth, and rounded over the exposed edges where necessary for appearance and coating retention.

Finally, I applied a sealer coat of varnish to all surfaces, and left the blanks to cure overnight.

Total time billed on this job today: 1.25 hours

0600 Weather Report:
Cloudy, 30°. Forecast for the day: Mainly cloudy, 40.

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Wednesday

After some final preparations, I got back to work in the cabin, and applied the first of probably two coats of semi-gloss white enamel to the areas I’d primed earlier. In these photos, the paint’s still wet, so it looks glossier than the final finish.

At the stem, I made cuts in the new toerails to accommodate the stem piece, using reference marks I’d made earlier, along with the actual old stem sections to confirm the positioning. Then, I cleaned up the sealant that had been beneath parts of the rail ends, and made a pattern of the area to use in creating new stem pieces.

At the stern, I repeated this process with the taffrail, first cutting away the excess toerail, then patterning the areas using the original taffrail sections as a guide.

With the pattern cut out, I transferred the shapes to a piece of teak stock and cut out the raw pieces, leaving them a little oversized at the ends to allow room for some fine-tuning where they met each other on centerline, and also where they met the toerails at the new cuts. Then, I test-fit the sections, one at a time, making adjustments as needed to first one section, then the other, before temporarily securing the pieces with screws (same fastening protocol as the toerails) to check the fit and make final notations for fine-tuning on the bench before final shaping.

Afterwards, I sanded the two sections, rounded corners where necessary, and applied a sealer coat of varnish, which I’d leave to cure before installing the new pieces.

Total time billed on this job today: 5.5 hours

0600 Weather Report:
15°, clear. Forecast for the day: Sunny, highs near 40.

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Tuesday

I moved the staging back alongside the boat so I would work at deck height comfortably, and made final preparations for the toerail installation, collecting tools and so forth to be close at hand, and rigging various support and control lines that I’d need to act as my second set of hands as I manipulated the long rails into position.

At the stem and stern, I used the original wooden assemblies to make some reference marks on the deck so I could determine where the end screws in the new toerail needed to be. I also marked with tape on the hull and deck the original locations of the toerail scuppers, which locations I’d carefully maintained throughout the rebuild process; I’d mark the toerail in these spots once it was dry-fit, so I could make the notches before permanent installation. Finally, I made additional notations to mark the locations of the genoa track fasteners so I could ensure the toerail screws were staggered a safe distance away.

I had ample extra length available with the toerail blanks, and I chose to keep much of this at the bow, as the longer overhang would allow the rail to bend into position more easily: the bow was quite narrow, with a strong curve required over the first few feet. This also kept the second scarf joint well forward of the transom, and, as it happened, beneath the genoa track location.

Getting the toerail started at the bow, particularly with a strong curve and while working alone, tends to be a bit of a challenge, as the rail needed to be pre-bent while essentially unsupported, and then somehow fastened in just the right place. To start the installation, I adjusted the various control lines as needed to start the rail bending into shape, then, with the rail positioned at the deck edge where it needed to be right at the bow, I installed one screw near the stem, in a section of the rail that would later be removed to accommodate the stem piece. This pinned the rail securely, and prevented it from twisting, as it had badly wanted to do.

Now it was relatively simple to mark the actual first fastener locations, just aft of the reference mark I’d made where the stem piece would later fit. To help hold the rail end securely, I liked to install a pair of fasteners near the end, so I measured and marked the locations and prepared the holes, in a process I’d repeat over and over for each fastener in the rail: first a 3/8″ counterbore to recess the screw head and accept a bung; then a pilot hole for the screw shank, just through the wood; then, with the rail held properly in its final position, a smaller pilot hole into the deck, followed by a pass with a 10/24 tap; and finally, a 10/24 x 1″ pan head machine screw.

After securing those first two critical fasteners, I could relax a little, but didn’t rest till I’d installed 6 or 10 more fasteners, spaced six inches on center, which got the rail past the most critical bend and safely secured.

I continued in this way to the transom, adjusting screw locations as necessary to miss the eventual scupper locations and the genoa track fastener locations. At the transom, I made sure the screws were safely on either side of the approximate taffrail location that I’d marked before, and, with the dry-fit complete, I marked the scupper locations on each side of the rail so I could make the cuts required once I’d removed the rail again.

Now I reversed the process and removed the rail so I could make final preparations for its permanent installation. With the rail safely off the the boat (they come off very quickly and easily), I bored small countersinks at each fastener hole in the deck, to provide that little bit of extra sealant where it’s most important, and cleaned the decks of drill spoils and debris.

Meanwhile, working off the marks I’d made and with a section of the old toerail as a guide, I chiseled out spaces for drainage scuppers, in the same locations as original. On other jobs, I often created these openings only after the rail was fully installed, but in this case, with the design and position of the vinyl rubrail prohibiting easy access, I chose to make them first, a process made that much easier by the fact that I had marked and maintained the original locations right on the vinyl rail throughout the rebuilding.

With all preparations complete, I installed the toerail in a heavy bed of brown-colored sealant. To ease the issues at the stem, I started with one of the fasteners several down from the bow, now that their positions were already determined, and then worked my way back to the curvy stem before continuing aft, applying sealant and maintaining the rail in such a position as to avoid messing up the sealant. I was overly generous with the sealant, which made cleaning it up on the outboard side–where the rail sat just inboard of the bulbous edge of the vinyl rubstrip–a fairly tedious and messy process, but before long the port installation was complete. To wrap it up for now, I trimmed off the excess rail at stem and stern.

Wood makes such a dramatic and positive difference to any boat’s appearance, don’t you think? I do.

I repeated the basic procedure chapter and verse on the starboard side. The second side usually goes more quickly, in part because all the initial setup and prep is already done. and the appropriate rhythm well established. I was a bit more reserved in my use of sealant this time, particularly along the edge of the rubrail, so cleanup was a bit more streamlined.

To wrap up the installation for now, I bunged all the screw holes.

Total time billed on this job today: 7.75 Hours

0600 Weather Report:
Clear, 18°. Forecast for the day: Sunny, highs in the 30s

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Monday

The toerails had had several days in the clamps to cure, so I removed the clamps now and sanded clean the scarf joints to remove excess epoxy.

Afterwards, I applied a sealer coat of varnish to all sides of the two rails, as well as to a new set of teak handrails for the cabin top.

After unclamping the deadlights and their new lenses, I was left with cured squeezeout on the inside faces of the units, which I trimmed and removed easily with a knife. Then, I installed the assemblies with their original screws and plenty of sealant. I removed the protective masking from the outer side of the lens, but left the inside to protect the ports from interior painting, which I was about to begin.

I installed the ports now because their design featured an interior flange that rested nearly flush with the surrounding surfaces, and could be painted to blend in more effectively. To prepare for primer and paint in the main cabin, I masked off various areas as needed, and cleaned up the surfaces. At the same time, I masked around the two aft lockers in the cockpit, and also the companionway trim, all of which I’d be working on in the immediate future.

With preparations complete, I applied a coat of primer to the main cabin and quarterberths, down as far as the built-in shelves. I also primed the mast support structure, as I’d completed a minor repair there earlier and needed to hide it. Then, I primed the two cockpit lockers at the stern, as well as the undersides of the loose hatches as required.

While I still had good access to the hull, I decided to move the jackstands and paint the patches beneath their previous locations.

In the woodshop, thinking ahead to the new cockpit coamings and other trim, I planed three rough 4/4 teak boards down to their finished thickness of about 7/8″, spending almost as much time changing the planer blades as actually planing the stock.

Finally, just before the end off the day I applied another coat of varnish to the toerails and handrails, as the first very thin coat had dried sufficiently. I also applied a sealer coat to the companionway trim.

Total time billed on this job today: 8 Hours

0600 Weather Report:
Cloudy, breezy, heavy dusting of new snow on the ground. Forecast for the day: clearing, 30s.

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Friday

I spent part of the morning installing the new cove stripe. To begin, I used 2″ tape to strike a clean line beneath the vinyl rubrail, fairing the tape by eye as needed. Then, I installed 1/2″ gold leaf striping tape below my reference mark, beginning 12″ forward of the edge off the transom and ending 30″ aft of the stem to suit my eye for the right appearance. A few of my photos didn’t come out well, but there are more a bit further down the page. I’d incorporate registration numbers later once various style decisions were made for them and for the name.

With the cove stripe complete, I masked off and painted the bottom. Before beginning, I water-washed and lightly sanded the recently-epoxied bottom patches. A freshly-painted boat never looks complete till the bottom is done, so I was anxious to do this. The owner selected red for the bottom paint.

I lost a few hours of the afternoon to an unrelated chore, so when I got back to the shop I had less time than I’d planned for, and looked for a smallish, straightforward task to knock off the list given the short timeframe at hand. I decided to prepare the new lenses for the deadlights, so from a new sheet of 7/64″ acrylic I cut the new pieces, using the originals as templates. Fitting the new lenses into the plastic deadlight frames–the lenses fit in from the outside and rested against a small inner flange–I marked the inside faces where the frame overlapped, and cut along this line with a knife to remove the masking paper from the lens on their faying surfaces.

I installed the lenses with light polyurethane sealant, applying a bead into the flange and pressing the lens (with all protective paper still in place except on the narrow bonding edges) into place with weights. I placed the assemblies on a sheet of plastic to prevent the sealant that must be oozing out beneath from sticking to the bench–that mess on the plastic is where I picked up the first assembly after I’d installed the lens (I left the second one right where it was once I installed the sealant). I cleaned up excess sealant from around the exposed edge of the lens (which would be visible when all was said and done, and left the unseen squeezeout beneath for trimming once the sealant had cured. Then I left the two assemblies to cure for a couple days.

Total time billed on this job today: 5 hours

0600 Weather Report:
Heavy rain, 45°. Forecast for the day: Rain in the morning, eventually ending and clearing behind, highs in the 50s.

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Thursday

The major paint work was complete, and after several weeks of it I was glad to remove all the masking tape, paper, and plastic to reveal the boat all at once for the first time. In the near future, I’d finish up some additional details while I still had good access to the hull and before concentrating back on the remaining deck work list.

While giving the hull and boottop a little extra cure time, it was the perfect opportunity to get to work on the new toerails. From rough teak stock, I milled several blanks from which I’d form the final toerail profile, along with two test blanks cut from 2x4s. Then, using a scrap of the old toerail as a guideline, I milled one off the scrap blanks into the new profile as a trial run, noting the various milling steps so I could recreate it easily on the next five blanks.

Satisfied with the profile, I milled five sections of teak into the required shape, starting each new step with the second scrap blank to be sure each step was correctly replicated. With the milling complete, I sanded smooth all five teak blanks (each about 12′ long), and rounded the top corners for a more pleasing shape and to better hold varnish.

Each toerail would require two full pieces and half of the second in order to have ample overall length, since scarfing would reduce the effective length of each blank enough that some extra was required. Using an old and increasingly worn-out jig on the table saw, I milled 8:1 scarfs on the ends of the rail sections as required, starting with the two scrap blanks to ensure the setup was correct and then moving on to the remaining sections.

Since I wasn’t using the staging right at the moment, I created long tables on each side of the boat, and set up the rail sections on these for glueing–much easier on the knees and in all other ways than doing it on the floor. I cleaned all the joints thoroughly with acetone, secured plastic over the bench to keep it clean and prevent epoxy from sticking, coated with plain epoxy, and then glued the two scarfs for each toerail with thickened epoxy. The benches meant that I could clamp the rails directly to the work surface, which helped keep the angled joints from slipping as they are wont to do. I’d leave the rail sections in the clamps for a few days to give the epoxy lots of cure time before continuing work.

Total time billed on this job today: 7.75 hours

0600 Weather Report:
35°, cloudy. Forecast for the day: cloudy, chance of showers, and rain late. Temperatures rising through the 40s.

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Wednesday

Now that the topside paint had had enough time to cure, I began the final masking process with a narrow strip of solvent-resistant fine-line tape at the top edge of the boottop (i.e. lower edge of the hull paint). This tape would help the final line be crisp and clean. Afterwards, I covered the vinyl tape with regular 1″ masking tape as completely as possible.

With the critical edge masked, I covered the rest of the hull with paper and tape to protect against overspray.

Finally, over the course of a few hours, I applied three coats of snow white gloss topcoat to the boottop.

Total time billed on this job today: 3 hours

0600 Weather Report:
18°, clear and calm. Forecast for the day: sunny, in the 40s, light wind.

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Tuesday

After removing the masking tape from the lower edge of the topsides–the top edge of the eventual boottop–there was really nothing more to do for the moment, as I had to give the fresh paint additional cure time before I could overtape it for the boottop. So I worked on other things around the shop and elsewhere for the day.

Total time billed on this job today: .25 hours

0600 Weather Report:
22°, clear. Forecast for the day: Sunny, 45°.

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Monday

During the weekend, in a dull moment, I took a few minutes to apply unthickened epoxy to the repairs on the keel, the final step to seal these repairs before eventual bottom painting.