Pylasteki

Pylasteki is a 1961 Pearson Triton sailboat. She is one of my personal project boats... I am rebuilding her as a blue water cruiser.

Enjoy, if you have any questions or comments, drop me line: rocknrod@gmail.com

Zach

Monday, April 27, 2009

Making snow, and a Do over!

A sticky situation... well, not sticky enough.
My hardener got contaminated somehow... I thought perhaps the night time temp cooled off to much for it (slow hardener) as it took two days to set... but was still somewhat pliable and didn't offer as good a sound report when tapping it over as the rest of my work on the bow.

Did two other test batches, same result... it comes out of the pump clear but when mixed up it goes cloudy. Any ideas what caused that? It was from the last dregs of an A sized drum, so maybe the stuff separates, aged out, or moisture got to it... whatever the case, I got some new stuff man... the good stuff.

Whatever the cause, I'm redoing it. I figure that anything worth doing is worth doing to the best of my abilities... lest it always be a curiosity of it's about to blow up or not. Rather spend the time here now than wish I did half way to Bermuda...

The glue failed, not the balsa. In most of it, its dead slick on both the underside of the skin and the top of the balsa. In a few places it grabbed hard enough to shred the mat out of the top deck skin... Good, but not the balsa shredding goodness I want.

In other news, I made a lot of snow. I'm entertaining building a water tank in the bilge, given I can find some FDA approved lining goop... I ground out the last remnants of the engine stringers to banish the last drop of oily goop from my boat. She did smell all lemony fresh, now I'm back to needing my respirator for the foreseeable future. Picture = post vacuum cleanup for the initiated. For the initiated... About 4 square feet, 4 plies thick of solid mat. The bilge was full of dust to the prop shaft, and an inch thick up to the rudder tube... I was sporting the look that suggested I had just molested a box of powdered donuts. (grin)You may also notice that the starboard settee is missing a piece. I was curious to see how much space there is under there for additional storage, not a whole lot... but a few wedge shaped bits of foam glassed in and there will be a nice home for a pot or tea kettle that there wasn't before. I'm not going to go back with drawers, it'll be a cabinet door for better utilization of space. Still have some work to do on that front, as the bulkhead the galley bolts to is rotten... as is the cockpit bulkhead. Water + Non-marine-grade plywood = mush.

Zach

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Aft end of bilge... The tight squeeze.

Yup, there was some more goo to clean up where the engine once rest... the thick gooey kind. Lower bilge goo has had soap introduced, causing it to settle in to a muddy clay like substance. The stuff under the engine stringers (where the dust is in the top picture) was plain old engine goop...


After: A wee bit cleaner... the hose in question goes to my sink. I plugged it even though its above the water line (we are still floating... grin.) as its disconcerting to look over and see a water column!

Another two hours... she almost does not smell like a boat any more... nah! Grin.

Zach

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Round three...



Bilge... Round Three!

Today was round three of the Bilge cleanup.

The first round involved putty knives and scooping out goo.
The second round involved peeling up most of the loose resin sealer that Pearson put in.

The third... Stainless steel wire brush, and a bottle of Simple Green.

Spray a 6 inch wide stretch of bilge, scrub until bubbly goo forms... wipe off with wet paper towel. Repeat... Switch sides. Work from top to bottom, and knock loose any dry crud so it doesn't stick in the wire brush...

Repeat.

3 hours later, I had made some progress! Then, it was dinner time, and time to do the laundry. Hehehe... (sure beats 5 gallon buckets and a garden trowel like on Noel...)

More to go before its ready for the new sole... getting close!

After:

Is'dat a shiny spot I see?

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Windlass.


Yesterday I stopped by a marine consignment shop, and nearly tripped over a 15 pound toadstool that looked like it had just been pulled out of a mud bank.

On closer inspection, it's a bronze Simpson Lawrence vertical windlass that takes a winch handle...

I'll be curious to see how it works. I've been pondering installing a set of sampson posts on Pylasteki (been working close to shrimp boats a bit to long... my fashion sense seems to be at a new low...) but it does seem like an easy way to take a vertical windlass that requires sitting down on deck beside it... and turn it into a horizontal one at a reasonable height.

Anyone recognize what model it is? Looks like it takes 5/16ths Chain, but I'll have to take it up to the local chandler to see what variety fits best.

Zach - Gotta love old bronze.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Wind... and lage pieces of fiberglass...


Hello out there in cyber space! (Obligatory "Faces in the Boats" picture...)

Today was prime epoxy weather... 60 degrees, supposed to be warm over night with no rain.

So... after:


Except the wind was blowing 25 knots... Dusty stuff mixed indoors, as there would not be a spec left in the containers after the lid was open. (Imagine trying to scoop smoke, and its about right...)

Doing a mad scramble through the forward hatch between batches, it was quite a workout! The stock hatch is a mere 18 inches wide... ow. Now don't spill any goo! (No shirts were harmed in the making of this post...)

Large piece of fiberglass: 4 foot long piece that is now under my tool box!

Anyone want to help mix epoxy?

Zach - Likes the wind for grinding... stand upwind of the cloud, and come away almost itchless.