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Wednesday

To start the day, I finished uninstalling the forward hatch, removing the two after hinges–the pair that was in use securing the hatch.  These were screwed through the deck and into the wooden bulkhead/mast support beam beneath.  From here, I continued aft on the coachroof, removing a pair of solar vents and two awkward crossbars above the companionway that previous owners had used to store a large dinghy.  The forward crossbar was secured to some wooden brackets that were epoxied to the deck, while the after, more substantial bracket was bolted through the cabin top.

Next, I removed the fiberglass sea hood, which was secured with screws around its perimeter and sealed to the deck with old sealant.  Removal posed no problem.  Afterwards, I removed the sliding companionway hatch, which required removing some small bronze slides at the aft end to allow the hatch to be lifted off.  Removing these hatches would make refinishing easier and allow access to the area hidden beneath.  This cleared the coachroof, other than the long teak handrails that I planned to remove later.

The mainmast chainplates had deck covers made from Tuffnol, which were heavily bedded in place.  To expose the slots and allow the deck work ahead, as well as service the chainplates, I removed these covers from both sides.

Working my way down the decks, I removed an old plastic waste deck plate after removing its hose beneath; the plastic was in poor condition and shattered upon removal.  This area of the deck, amidships on the port side, was one of the known areas requiring deck core replacement, and this was made abundantly clear by the condition of the core inside the waste fill hole.

As before, I removed the two remaining opening ports, one in the head, the opposite in the passageway to starboard.  The trim ring on the port aft unit was cracked through at one of the screw holes before removal.

I removed a pair of short jib tracks located near the coachroof, then the second pair of stanchion bases.  At the aft end of the cabin trunk, I removed the running lights and a pair of small jam cleats from the nearby coaming, along with all the dodger snaps and other hardware.

The four deadlights in the saloon were the generally typical type, with the lenses secured in an aluminum outer frame and an aluminum inner trim ring to clamp the whole assembly into place, with blind fasteners from the inside.  The exterior edges of the deadlights were all heavily caked in old sealant, largely silicone, creating a miserable appearance that probably did little for any leakage problems as well.

The inside condition of the frames was in generally good condition, though the starboard forward frame had a few areas of corrosion.

Most of the fasteners came out easily enough, and mainly appeared to be newer than original, since nearly all of them were Phillips head screws (other than four slotted ones in the starboard forward frame), and the six fasteners along the long top and bottom edges were self-tapping screws versus machine screws on the vertical edges.  In any event, the only fasteners than gave me any real trouble were, naturally, the old round-head slotted screws located at the two areas of worst corrosion on the starboard forward frame.  After some effort, I happily freed both screws, but I was quite concerned that the worst one, in the lower aft corner, might not come out at all.  As with the opening ports, I kept track of the fastener locations as I removed them from each deadlight.

With all the interior frames removed, I could remove the outer frames and lenses from on deck.  For now, I set these all aside for later attention, along with the other ports I’d removed.

Total time billed on this job today:  7 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  Light rain, 53°.  Forecast for the day:  Showers ending, clearing, high in the 50s but becoming colder

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Tuesday

With substantial deck work and eventual refinishing on the way, my first step was to remove deck hardware.  I began, as usual, at the stem and worked my way aft.  From inside the almost comfortably roomy chainlocker, I removed the nuts from the fasteners securing the manual anchor windlass above, along with those from the bow cleats.  Fortunately, these nuts came free without spinning the fasteners, even though the windlass bolts were a couple inches too long with lots of exposed thread.

Back on deck, I removed the windlass and cleats, along with the fasteners.    The chain stripper associated with the windlass was nearly completely rusted away.  The platform itself was in atrocious condition at the after end.

I removed the bow pulpit, which was bolted through the outward flange of the hull/deck joint and toerail, making the fasteners easy to access.  The central forward stanchion of the pulpit was secured into the bronze stem fitting at the end of the bow platform with a single bolt, and this was straightforward to remove.  I also removed the bow chocks, which I realized belatedly was unnecessary since they were on the rail and not in the way of deck work, along with an anchor hawse and some wooden blocking on the port side.

Removing the windlass highlighted the extremely poor condition of the wooden bow platform:  the after end was completely rotten and unsound, and compressed and flaked away easily under light (or no) pressure.  I’d been aware that the platform’s condition was sketchy, but hadn’t understood quite to what extent.  It was abysmal.  With the windlass and its bolts removed, I could have easily pulled away most of the after portion of the wood by hand had I so chosen, but I hoped to keep the platform as intact as possible to aid in templating a replacement later.

In order to remove the platform, I had to unhook the solid rod bobstay beneath, which opposed the rigging pressures from the headstay when attached to the bronze casting at the far end of the platform.  The top fitting was semi buried in a tight space between the two aluminum anchor rollers at the end, and I couldn’t easily access the cotter pin nor spin the clevis to aid in removal.  In hindsight I should have just unbolted the pair of anchor rollers to remove them and access the pin, but at the time I preferred the thought of doing this later at my leisure, wanting more to simply get the platform off the boat.  So I removed the pins from the lower end of the bobstay, freeing it from the stem and also freeing the platform for removal.  The downside to this was that the platform was end-heavy, with all the hardware at the outer end, and the long, heavy, unwieldy bobstay only made things worse.  In the end this complicated removal, but didn’t prevent it and didn’t create any undue problems.

From belowdecks, I attempted briefly to remove the nuts from the platform fasteners, but it was clear the fasteners were all spinning freely in the remnants of rotted wood above, so instead I decided to simply lift the platform off the fasteners–pretty simple given that the wood was so rotted.  Before removal, I took a few moments to make a quick template of the shape of the top of the platform, in case the platform disintegrated complely during removal.

It only took a little prying from beneath before I could lift the outer end of the platform and free it completely from the deck.  The platform was quite heavy with all the hardware at the end, and the nearly 4′ long rigid bobstay was a pain in the neck, but without real issue I got the platform safely onto the foredeck, where I could regroup before lifting it more effectively and getting it to the staging, then eventually to the shop floor.

There was a substantial block of epoxy surrounding one of the after fastener holes, indicating that someone had tried to effect a band-aid repair when the platform had begun to deteriorate; there was also a huge blob of sealant at the after port edge, at deck level, where someone had filled in rotting wood with whatever came close to hand.    In any event, I removed the detritus and later, after cleaning up the wood scraps and dust, I cut off the bolts above decks and pushed them through the holes.

Now, wanting the bobstay out of the way completely, I had to go ahead and remove the anchor rollers from the end of the platform so I could remove the cotter pin and hammer out the extremely tight clevis from the top fitting, finally freeing the bobstay.  I set this aside for later inspection, then completed the removal of the bronze stem casting, which would be reused later.  The aluminum anchor rollers were in poor condition and had exacerbated (along with the aluminum anchor windlass) the deterioration of the wooden platform.  In any event, the owner planned for a new, single roller in the new installation.

Continuing aft, I turned to the first set of lifeline stanchions, a mismatched pair with a non-angled base on the port side, causing the stanchion to lean outwards.  Belowdecks, I removed some trim panels from the forward cabin to gain access to the stanchion bolts, which I removed without incident.

The forward cabin had a set of deadlights facing forward, along with a pair of aluminum opening ports.  From inside, I removed cap nuts from the fasteners, then carefully removed the screws from the outside.  I always keep track of screw locations when removing ports and deadlights on boats like this, as I’ve found that the fasteners are often different lengths depending on position.  Once I’d removed the screws, I carefully pried off the opening port trim rings, which were well-sealed with what was likely the original bedding compound, a soft, oily, flexible material roughly comparable to a mix between window glazing compound, plumbers putty, and butyl.  Effective and good stuff,  the likes of which I’ve not seen in modern products.

With the trim rings off (the trim rings were inside on the deadlights, which had the glass set in the outer frame), I removed the ports and deadlights from the forward cabin.  I’d clean off the excess sealant later.

To round out the day, I removed two hatch hinge bases from the forward side of the forward hatch.

Total time billed on this job today:  7.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  30°, mostly cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Increasing clouds, showers, then rain into and through the overnight, temperatures rising into the 50s

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Monday

Earlier, I’d moved Jasmine from my secondary work bay and into the main shop, where I planned to complete the bulk of the project.

To begin, I set up staging around the boat at deck height to allow good access to all deck areas.

Ready to get to work in earnest on this project, I spent a little time first thing perusing various notes and emails to refresh myself on the scope of the project and various jobs ahead.  The main focus of the job in the coming weeks would be the deck, which featured several areas with known or suspect core issues and all the usual shortfalls of boats of this age.  In addition, my work list included a revamped electrical system, chainplate work, particularly on the mizzen mast, and some other related projects, plus installing a Norvane wind vane.   In addition, I’d be subcontracting a fair bit of rigging work to ensure the masts and their standing and running rigging were in good shape.  The net result of the project was to ensure a sound and safe vessel by taking care of these known and suspected issues.

Before beginning any real work, I thoroughly documented the existing condition of the decks and hardware for future reference.  These photos represent the overall condition of things, but I had many others on hand to show specifics on installations and initial condition.

I’d soon begin work on hardware removal, but first I had to clean out the cabin, which contained various boat parts, some sails, and miscellaneous equipment.

I needed clear access to all areas of the boat in order to effect the work ahead, and didn’t want anything unnecessary left behind to minimize worries about project dust and the like, so over the course of the afternoon, I removed and stored these items elsewhere in the shop to make room, leaving the way clear to begin the deck work next time.

Total time billed on this job today:  5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  20°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, 40s

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Tuesday

With some time on hand, I thought I’d use it to good advantage and start some of early dismantling work aboard.  With a rigging contractor scheduled to arrive later in the week to look over the masts and rigging, and begin the process of dealing with several mast- and rigging-related items on the work list, I decided to begin by removing the existing lifelines, which I’d have to do before almost anything else regardless.

The existing lifelines were an interesting mess of mismatched hardware, unusual wire ends, and generally atrocious condition overall, clearly long past their suitable lifespan and on the replacement list for good reason.

To begin, I thoroughly documented all the existing connections, wire ends, and general adjustment positions of the hardware and wire eye ends for posterity.  The photos below are representative, but I had many more detail photos of each connection area for future reference if needed.    Each wire seemed to have different hardware at each end, with old or nonexistent adjusters and, at the starboard aft end, two wires that were secured to the pulpit with Nicropress fittings, clearly a quick and desperate fix made with no thought to ever conveniently removing the wires.  All the wires themselves were old and worn as well.

Over the course of an afternoon work session, I removed all the lifelines, a rather laborious process given the age and condition of the fittings that required removal in order to unstring the wires and store them away for now.  At the starboard stern pulpit, I had no choice but to cut the wire loops with a hacksaw to remove the wires, and ended up cutting wires in one or two other places as well since I was unable to otherwise remove the wire ends for one reason or another.  I labeled all the existing lifelines appropriately, but they were in too poor condition and with random and less-than-ideal adjustment positions for the lines to be replicated using the old ones as a guide.  Instead, I’d have the riggers measure for the new lifelines later in the project, once I’d properly and finally reinstalled the stanchions and pulpits, to ensure accuracy and quality new product.

Total time billed on this job today:  2 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  22°. partly clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sun, 50, windy.

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Tuesday

With a substantial project list ahead, and even though I didn’t plan to begin the job in earnest till later in the fall, I thought there might be time here and there over the next couple months where I could work on some of the initial jobs required, so I took the opportunity to move Jasmine into the second shop, where she could stay out of the weather and be accessible whenever I had down time from my main project next door.

The work list for this project centered around some significant deck core repairs and related issues, but also included a long list of rigging upgrades, lifelines, electrical work, and sundry tasks all designed to ensure the boat was well-rigged, safe, and ready for seakindly sailing in the future.

Total time billed on this job today:  1 hour

0600 Weather Observation:  30°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  sunny, 60s