Ever feel like the floor got yanked right out from under you?

Well... The weatherman lied... again. They told me bright sunny skies, 65 degree days and 55 degree nights. Prime epoxy working conditions... Or not.

Fog! Rain! Wind!

So... instead, I removed my sole.

Inside a boat, what you walk on is called the sole. Some boats have floors... which are supports that span from the top of the keel (the boats backbone) to the underside of the sole. Confused? Outside, what you walk on is the deck... unless you are standing in the cockpit (where you steer, lounge, and make big knots of line) then its the cockpit sole.

The sole on Pylasteki, flexed under foot, and was a little stinky. It extended all the way back to the engine stringers, and all the way up to the main bulkhead. This meant that when I overfilled the crankcase on the Atomic 4... it peed on my cabin sole. It also meant, that when in rough waters, and the oil was sloshing around in the engine... it'd pee on my cabin sole. To solve the "Oil on walking surfaces" problem, I put an absorbent rag under the starting battery… which meant that my boat was on the rag. That is just a tough connotation, as boats are demanding enough... (Grin)

*Atomic Fours do not have front main seals, instead they rely on being run on a steep incline so gravity drains the oil back into the oil pan. It also means the dipstick reads "wrong" there is no full... as that depends how they are sitting. Sitting pretty = leak no oil.

"While I was in there" I used my Multimaster to cut the fiberglass tabbing loose from the old engine stringers. (Still in serviceable condition, if any of you out in cyberspace need a stringer for an Atomic 4, I’ve got one.) I was not looking forward to this job, before the multimaster came into my life. Back in the old days, I would have had to bend a long sawzall bade sideways so it ate only the stringer and not the hull. A toothy bi-metallic arc... the more you try to influence its direction, the further off course it goes!

At the moment I'm thinking to go back with plywood and fiberglass, after dropping the height two inches. (Old Head room = Zach + shoes - 1/2 inch.) That way it'll be low enough to be provide headroom, and if I ever want to strip plank teak and holly or some other exotic wood... there will be room. I'll have to get over the "Lighter is faster" mantra, and realize that 7 miles an hour, is still slower than riding a bicycle. Sigh... once a gearhead, always a gearhead.

But before that… The Bilge! Front half is cleaned up as whatever sealant Pearson put in peels off easily leaving only slightly slimy laminate below.

Zach
No pictures - Forgot about them till I was heading home.