One pile of boat parts, and a rotten bulkhead.

Well...

The scope of this project just became more in depth. The bulkhead that carries the load of the mast is rotten on the starboard side from a leaky chain plate.

I'm working through the sketches and design deciding whether or not the bulkheads aft of the head and hanging locker will go back in place. If they do, they'll be a few inches further forward to keep a functional galley... and a Zach sized sleeping berth! I like the original layout, I'm just two inches taller than Alberg intended! (grin)

More on this later.

CAD Design....

Working on the interior layout 230 miles away, utilizing a CAD system. (Cardboard Aided design.)

I brought the icebox home a few months ago, and have pushed my engine stand and stack of car parts out of the way to build the mock up for Galley Mark 1. Intended to replace the heavy stock icebox and galley unit with two symmetrical units. Goals: Lighter, with more storage space and rounded corners. Potential cons: May look like a clorox bottle.

Thanks to Rachel for the idea of removing the bulkhead aft of the head and hanging locker, in my quest for both a usable galley and long enough sleeping berth! Symmetry will be the bonus, and the icebox will go back to its stock location. Cubbie on the port side has been scrapped, and something else will go in its place.

Revelation: With no inboard engine, the battery box under the ladder can have a toe kick! The ability to stand almost, not quite under the companionway!

Sea Swing Stove, and plans.

Hello Everyone.

A new update in the realm of parts hunting. Grabbed an ancient Bremer SeaSwing stove off ebay, with a 2 pint kerosene Hipolito burner.

One of the parts that I'm missing, is the bulkhead mount! Anyone out there in cyberspace have a picture of one? Hopefully in a few days the parts to complete the stove will arrive, and I'll be ready to put it all back together. Force 10 wouldn't even talk to me about parts for the gimble, so I'll need to find one used or fabricate one.

Heading down for the weekend to check on her. If the rain doesn't hold, I have hopes of of finishing up glass work and measuring the decks to figure out how many sheets of core will be required. Will also be installing the secondary manual bilge pump (Henderson Mark V) and reconfiguring the side deck drains. In a moment of "just get it done" thinking, I grabbed 1 1/8th hose, and through hulls... forgetting about the goal of using the decks as a water collector. Inch and an eighth Y valves are hard to find... but so is one inch clear hose. Grr. This is the third attempt at this job, but doing things right the "first" time sometimes means reworking until things are perfect.

Glass Work Continues.

Took some pictures of the work so far. I'm delaying grinding off the 27 layers of paint and massively thick gelcoat of the deck until after the bow is recored, since she's afloat keeping the sun off the less than UV stable bits is important.

Top picture shows the two holes in the aft end of the cabin, the top had a speedometer (standard Horizon) which was disconnected by a previous owner. The lower hole had a teak block secured by four screws and was just an eye sore. I'm using west systems epoxy and biaxial glass for these repairs. I cut a ziplock bag into squares, and tape it to the surface so epoxy does not run all over the inside. A piece of stiff cardboard taped securely on top of the ziplock bag keeps things flat. This accounts for the reason why the upper hole is a brighter white than the lower, it still has cardboard backing it.

In the second picture you see where the gauges once lived, as well as the temporary cockpit drain to keep her form turning into a bathtub before I core the cockpit sole. I glassed a layer of finishing cloth to the inside of the cockpit locker, and beveled the outside edges of the holes and filled with cabosil, final fairing done with west systems 407. Since these are vertical, the chilly temperatures have given me flashbacks to a geology course where we discussed slumping for two weeks. Thickened epoxy runs down hill. I am using the cream colored paint above the gelcoat to keep everything smooth.

The shifter hole was ground out to a bevel, and filled with alternating layers of finishing cloth and biax cloth brining it up to flush. 407 filler was used to bring it up to the level of the blue antiskid. Its probably the strongest part of the cockpit sole.

Picture three shows where the fuel filler used to reside. This job consumed 5 sand paper disks on my random orbital sander. I haven't found the right sander to bevel this, and am pondering standing on my head and glassing it upside down from inside the locker. Not even my mouse sander will fit in this area and sand it any less than flush. (Flying sandpaper pads look a lot like skeet.)

Picture four shows where the icebox lid was. It has eight layers of biax, with a light cloth in between each to fill the weave. When I pulled the ACE hardware bag from the underside it left the ACE brand in red... I supported it with a piece of plywood to keep the underside flat. It is slightly thinner than the surrounding glass, but withstands my 190lbs jumping on top of it. Its probably the strongest part of the boat... grin.

Making Snow Part 2: Learning

It had been raining on and off, and a pang of Radar Love sent me back down to check on Pylasteki after three days. The tape that was over the port deck drain had come loose... and the cockpit drains seacock was not open all the way. The bilge was almost overflowing.

The past few days were spent grinding, glassing, and experimenting with other varieties of west systems epoxy. Finished glassing over the bilge blower vent and power outlet holes as well as the shifter... though the fairing is not yet complete.

The wind blew all the water out of the creek, which combined with a full moon made the tides a bit interesting, she took to the ground in her slip while I was on board... about four feet from the dock, and standing on deck about eye level to it. Lunch break was a can of tuna and a few crackers sitting on the high side of that starboard tack... much to the amusement of others in the yard.

The temperature was varying between mid 30's and the lower 60's. I had a gallon of resin and a little can of hardener that had been refilled so many times they were one uniform color... sawdust. After a few days of working with this stuff I made a run up to the hardware store and bought 12 ounces of 407 filler, as the cabosil was slumping a bit on the sides of the cockpit and I was hopeful it would stay put. Beside the 407 was a can of "Fast Hardener" eureka!

No pictures this time either, I need to replace some plywood in the galley before I have a sink to wash up to keep the camera from looking like the can of resin!

Making Snow.

This weekend was productive.
The electrical system has been cleaned up further, a few pounds of excess wire have been removed. The electrical panel needs to be rewired, as the last guy used 18gauge for everything and didn't crimp the connections to withstand a light tug, the wire pulls out of the crimp. (The battery is disconnected.)

The cracked fiberglass cockpit drains were cut out. I used a hole saw and cut through the top to avoid having to hacksaw at odd angles. The holes were then filled with West Systems epoxy/cabosil mixture and relocated slightly inboard for the flanges of the new "Through-hulls" that are acting as drains. After coring the cockpit sole, they will be flush. The radiator hose that was in place, has been replaced with Shieldflex exhaust hose.

The instrument cluster has been ground down and the new glass cut out and prepared for wetting out, but rain and thunderstorms cut the trip short.

I picked up a Henderson Mark V pump to use as a bilge pump and have been studying mounting locations. The existing hoses (3/4) and outlets are not large enough to fit the pump (1 1/2) which will be remedied on the next trip.

Pictures next time! To much dust and rain to bring out the camera.

Zach

Brrr! Winter Wonderland.

Went down to check on Pylasteki and pump out the bilge.
Snow flurries and cold rain meant no work outside, though inside some more solid copper wire came out and so did the old bilge blower. Strangely enough some of the bare wire was not corroded and shiny as new... though the insulation was ancient. I must say that access to the blower is much easier with the ice box out of the way. The last attempt was made through the cockpit locker, which involved emptying its contents... and sliding by 200lb 6 foot tall frame in feet first. Its a tight space!

A little re-arranging, and noting that bilge pump replacement is inevitable, as the piston pump pumped its last pump today. Its passing will be mourned, but a larger capacity diaphragm style is in the future! Do any of you guys and gals have recommendations for placement, so it can be operated with a hand on the tiller?

No pictures for today, as she is in dire need of a bath. Though a wash down on a day like today would have made both the boat and me into icicles!