Lackey Sailing | tim lackey

Thursday

Skeedeen arrived at the shop for another round of work, this time focused on repainting the hull, with the added interest of having a local artisan paint the transom in faux teak woodgrain, something both the owner and I were looking forward to watching come together.

The boat had recently spent some time at another boatyard because of some engine problems, and as a result she was quite dirty. I’d had the boat hauler drop the boat outdoors so I could start by washing the whole boat to remove boatyard grime and dirt, which was my first task.

Preparing for the work ahead, I documented the existing condition of the hull for later reference. The existing paint, which had been applied sometime before the current owner bought the boat over 12 years ago, was still in good condition with only minor wear, oxidation, and fading.

I planned to start the project in earnest soon, but one of the first tasks I intended to complete was to remove the existing black plastic engine room vents on each side of the hull. The owner and I had talked about having new vents made from bronze, through some contacts at a local yard, and I hoped to remove the old vents forthwith so they could be replicated as soon as possible.

Starting on the starboard side, I thought I’d quickly remove the vents with a screwdriver, but immediately I found that to my dismay, the vents were throughbolted. Removing an access panel in the cockpit liner, I found to my further dismay that the vents weren’t directly accessible through the panel: In fact, the vents were completely forward of the opening, and the narrow space within would make access to the eight nuts and bolts difficult. Various installations also in the compartment further complicated the access. The vent box and grill had clearly been installed in the boat before the deck and liner were assembled during original construction, and had equally clearly never been touched or removed before.

To improve access, I unclamped the two corrugated bilge pump hoses from their outlets in the hull, and moved the hoses out of the way. Then, I removed the bilge blower and its hoses, along with another length of vent/intake hose further forward. Also in the mix was an old septic system vented loop, which had been disconnected many years earlier, and now with relatively clear access I could remove this from the space permanently as well.

With the clutter out of the way, at least I had a chance of accessing the nuts, though the tight confines of the space and the shape of the vent box itself made it impossible to use regular wrenches or sockets on the nuts. I managed to get four pairs of locking pliers on the lower nuts, and from outside the boat removed the screws without much added difficulty. Then, working one at a time because the access to the top side of the vent box was so poor, I removed three of the four nuts there, but simply and physically could not manipulate any wrench or pliers as far forward as the top forwardmost nut. I left dealing with that for another day.

Total time billed on this job today: 2.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation: Clear, 50°. Forecast for the day: Sunny, 75°

Wednesday

Early in the week before the scheduled and planned departure of Sea Breeze from the shop, the shipper contacted me to ask if the boat was ready (yes indeed) and if it would be OK to pick her up on Thursday, rather than the following Monday. That was certainly OK with me, but the next day he called again and wanted to move it up to Wednesday, which was also fine by me.

So on the appointed date and time, the first stage of the transport began at the shop with the arrival of the hydraulic trailer that would bring the boat to a nearby (as nearby as anything here) yard, where they’d transfer the boat to a lowboy trailer for the long trip to Florida.

Loading the boat was without drama or issue, and before long she was outdoors for the first time since March 16, 2018, which was the true beginning of the project despite a week or so of work that I’d done the previous fall. With several breaks in the action between then and the actual completion of the project in March 2020, the boat had regardless been in the shop throughout, and had become a familiar fixture therein. It was nice to see her back out in full view and daylight once more. I took a video of her emerging from the shop, but alas, something went wrong (user error) and the only usable footage was 4 seconds at the end with the camera pointing at the ground. (I come from the pre-video era, folks.)

Once outdoors, we loaded the mast on the outriggers on the trailer, and the driver strapped down the boat and made other final preparations.

The truck departed around 1245. From here, once past my traditional (now with barely an opening in the brush) final departure photo angle at the end of the driveway, the boat was beyond my purview, but I looked forward to hearing of her successful arrival in Florida, and her successful commissioning shortly thereafter.

Return to Scupper Home Page

At the end of March and with the completion of the project, I prepared the boat generally for transport to the owner’s new location in Florida. I packed various loose gear into several lockers in the boat, and filled the cockpit lockers with sails old and new, stowing everything carefully to prepare for the boat’s long over-the-road journey ahead.

With the country embroiled in the various lockdowns and restrictions related to the advent of COVID-19 in March, along with additional complications at the owner’s end and this country’s utter inability to better handle (or in certain circles even properly acknowledge) the spread of the virus, transportation of the boat was delayed for several months, during which time I maintained the boat indoors for protection, keeping the batteries topped off with weekly charging.

Towards the end of the summer, the owner, having moved to Florida and taken care of the boat registration and other requirements, scheduled a transport date of August 24. With this date a few weeks ahead, I took care of a short list of final preparations, including storing the full-length mainsail battens and main boom in the cabin, all carefully secured and chafe-protected within. I also moved the mast around to the front of the shop where it’d be readily accessible for the truck. Back in March, I’d wrapped the spars in plastic for protection during transportation; with the delay in shipment, I covered the stored mast with additional heavy tarps for extra protection and to keep the clear plastic from falling apart in the sun and weather, but now I removed the excess tarps.

Also, at the owner’s request I installed the garboard drain plug in advance, so the commissioning yard wouldn’t have to worry about its proper installation. I used a small amount of sealant on the threads, and screwed in the plug tightly before coating the plug with bottom paint when I took care of the jackstand patches. Since this particular hard bottom paint had a limited time it could be exposed before launching, the owner chose to have the commissioning yard apply a second and final coat over the whole bottom in Florida.

On deck, I made sure all the locker lids and companionway were secured properly, and added small bolts through the locking holes just to ensure the latches couldn’t spring open unintentionally. With all loose gear, canvas covers, and so forth stowed below, and the tiller secured, the boat was ready above and belowdecks for her relocation. Note that for transport purposes, I chose to use the ugly old plywood companionway drop board, keeping the newly-made versions safely in the cabin.

With the new registration from the owner, I had a set of numbers made up for the bow of the boat, using the same gold leaf and dark blue outline as with the name on the transom, but in a basic block to satisfy the display requirements. With an indicated state requirement to display properly the HIN on the transom–if there’d ever been a stamped or molded number there it was long gone by the time I started the project–I had a set of the numbers made up from vinyl and installed them on the upper starboard side of the transom as well.

Friday

The primer was well-cured overnight, and to begin I lightly sanded the hull to smooth the primer and prepare it for whatever topcoat the owner chose (final painting was outside my project scope). It was easy and quick to sand the primer, and afterwards I removed the masking tape, vacuumed, and solvent-washed to complete the project.

<Back to Maya

Total time billed on this job today: .0.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 62°, fog. Forecast for the day: Becoming mostly sunny, 83°

Thursday

After letting the new varnish sit for more than a day, I turned the boat over carefully and propped it on some saw horses to raise the hull to a comfortable working level. As I was masking off varnished gunwale and the waterline, I discovered a series of old holes in the transom that I’d not noticed before, so before I could get to the primer I had to prepare and epoxy-fill these holes.

Fortunately, it was a very warm day, and with some heat lamps trained on the epoxy to help even further, the filler cured sufficiently to allow sanding after lunch, enabling me to continue with masking and final primer preparations.

With cleaning, masking, and other preparations complete, I applied the first of two planned coats of white primer.

After a few hours, I could go right over with a second coat.

Total time billed on this job today: 1.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 60°, fog. Forecast for the day: Sunny, 87°

Wednesday

The owner asked me to fill a series of small, abandoned fastener holes in the hull, just beneath the gunwale, so to start the day I prepared the holes by using a countersink to enlarge them a bit, then, after masking over the insides, filled the holes with an epoxy mixture. Later in the day, this had cured enough for me to sand and refill as needed.

With the varnish work complete, I removed all the masking tape, and reassembled the support beneath the center thwart. Then, I secured the after oarlocks with new bronze screws.

Otherwise, I let the fresh varnish sit for most of the day, giving it additional cure time before I had to flip the boat over and prime the hull, which would by my next (and final) task according to the project scope.

Total time billed on this job today: 0.5 hour

0600 Weather Observation: 60°, cloudy. Forecast for the day: Cloudy, thunderstorms in the afternoon, 82°