S/V Wahoo

ugh, long year

2010-02-26T09:09:00.006-06:00

2009 sucked. I got fiberglass burn out. And general boatwork burnout.

Took a vacation with my mom to the Keys in May and she fell and broke her arm. Long rehab. Then my grandfather got really ill right after that and passed away in late June. I miss him. He was a great man. A hero not just to my family but also our country as he received 2 purple hearts and a silver star for his bravery on Iwo Jima. It was the worst time of my life. Major big frowny face. :( I miss my Paw Paw.

After spending a lot of time with my family going through all his things (you have no idea), I decided to buy out my aunt's half of his house. So my mother and I are co-owners. It was in need of a lot of work so August through December were spent ripping out floors and kitchen countertops, getting new flooring laid and new countertops, lots of painting, installing new molding and trim, etc., plumbing work, you name it. We moved in the day after Christmas.

It's a big house for us with a lot of property to take care of. But it's very special for me to get to live here. To have some of Paw Paw's things as he always had them. My dogs absolutely love the fenced in acre of yard they have now. It's a gorgeous property. The prize is the workshop. It has most of his tools and all the things a man in his mid-80's who had the mind of an engineer and liked to build things would have. It's like having your own Home Depot except all the things were my Paw Paw's. :D

The yard is so large we call it 'The Ranch.' It snowed a few weeks ago.

Finally, my dogs have room to run!

The good thing for Wahoo is the work shop has a 20-foot long enclosed garage adjacent to it. Wahoo slipped right in on the trailer. I had to remove the mast to and slide it in caddycornered, but it's a great setup, the best work layout the boat could possibly have. And now I get to use my grandfather's shop and tools to finish the job. He would like that as he built a fiberglass boat from scratch with the plans from a Popular Mechanics. He taught his kids and half the kids in town to ski on that boat. And he made the entire thing all by himself.

Anyway, I still have my old house to fix up and sell. That will take a a few more months of home improvement work and then I hope to get back to fixing my little sailboat. Don't give up, 'cause I'm not. Wahoo will have her day soon. She's gonna be a sweet little trailer sailor!

Cheers! 2010 is looking up!

Karen

Aft bulkhead is IN.... finally.

2009-02-09T16:32:00.004-06:00

We finally got some weather warm enough to get the aft bulkhead in. Whew. Tough job. Glad it's almost over. Still a few little things to touch up.

And here is Wahoo's fly new booty (aft bulkhead)! :D

It took a freakin' ton of epoxy. Just to get the first fillets in took 14 batches, and none were single pumps, all were at least 3, usually 4. And then another 12 or so for the glass. Also used up almost an entire batch of colloidal silica for the fillets.

FYI - you could beat someone to death with that stack of cups.

Also, my friend Dan just wired the boat shop with all new electrical. He put us a 4-foot long fluorescent light so we can see what we're doing now. And more outlets than we could possibly use at once. Thank you, Dan! You rock, sir.

Thanks to that new light Dan installed I was able to snap this shot of all the bikes in my garage right now.

It's like a bike shop and a boat shop went out and got wasted and then threw up bike and boat parts all over my garage. Ewww. :D How many bikes? I count seven but there are a few more not in view. Anyone need a bike? :D

Anyway, I have something to do now while it's too cold for fiberglassing....lots of bike work.

Since it's February, winter is almost over here...so the weather should be good for another big project this weekend. Hoping to install the bridge step support and the cockpit drain thru-hull. Woop! Woop!

almost ready to install the aft bulkhead

2008-12-29T11:36:00.004-06:00

Spent the weekend recovering from the holidays and getting ready for the next big project, which is installing a new aft bulkhead. Had intended to get it in over the weekend, but somehow ran out of time. I'm not sure how it happened? I know there were beers involved... :D Seriously, by the time we were ready on Sunday, we realized we'd run out of weekend before we even came close to getting the bulkhead tabbed in. And remember, if your epoxy cures in between layers or coats, the bond will only be mechanical (not as strong), not chemical (stronger). We want a chemical bond, so I think the best bet is to get it all ready to go and start fiberglassing early next Saturday.

Part of this problem is that we are using a medium curing epoxy. It takes longer to cure so our projects all seem to get stretched out a bit more than desireable. I ordered a gallon of MAS resin today and decided to try out the fast curing hardener so I ordered a half gallon of it. Were it summer in Louisiana, this would probably not give me enough working time, but it's winter here so it should work good perfect. And one of the coolest things about MAS epoxy (besides it's price and quality) is the fact you can mix hardeners to create your own set time. Pretty cool.

But I digress...

First, as with every project so far, is a stop at Lowe's (or Home Depot if that's yer deal) to buy things I should probably already own, but don't. The main purchase this time were some clamps to hold the aft bulkhead in place while it is being tabbed in.

Next up, we installed the new bulkhead and set it up with clamps to hold it in place and then made sure it was in there even and level. And then we added the foam pieces underneath the bulkhead to avoid creating any hard spots on the hull.

All level and ready to go this weekend! So this Saturday will be spent tabbing in the new aft bulkhead and also installing the bridge step support. Yay! :D

boat building

2008-12-01T11:46:00.003-06:00

Since we finally got the keelson in, it's on to the next structural pieces; the bridge step support and the aft bulkhead.

The keel winch on my boat was originally located inside the cabin, behind the companionway bulkhead, with the handle protruding from the bulkhead. A previous owner (I believe my boat has had many) moved the keel winch to the cockpit, most likely for easier singlehanding. We decided to keep it in the cockpit so it's going right back where it was. Unfortunately, the previous owner that moved it did a terrible job at keeping the water out and the wooden board (bridge step support) that was originally glassed in rotted. So a new one must be installed to give the winch something sturdy to attach it to. There is a lot of force at work when lowering and raising a heavy keel, so the bridge step support is important.

The aft bulkhead was more of the same. The boat was neglected and water was allowed to stand in the cabin. As a result the aft bulkhead had rotted near the bottom.

So this past weekend we picked up some wood and fabricated a new bridge step support and aft bulkhead. The bridge step support is a simple rectangle. No problem there. The aft bulkhead was a more complicated shape so we used a big piece of foam to do a mock up of the part to make sure we got it right. 'Cause wood is really expensive, and nothing seems to go right the first time anyway. :D

And then we installed the foam part and tried it out in the boat.

A few minor adjustments were made to the foam template to get the perfect fit. Then we traced the template onto a piece of hardwood and cut it out and routered all the edges.

Here are the two new pieces, the bridge step support on the workbench and the aft bulkhead is leaning against the wall behind it.

The Heineken is self explanatory. :D

safety update

2008-12-01T11:31:00.002-06:00

This seems to help.

Since I began treating all uncured epoxy like the hazardous material that it is, I've had much better luck with my epoxy and fiberglass allergy. I don't handle the fiberglass tape at all unless I'm completely covered in protective clothing and don't even think of handling the uncured epoxy unless I'm wearing every bit of protective clothing I have, including a respirator and eye protection.

Since that pic was taken I found some nitrile gloves that are thicker (meant to be used again and again) and have a longer protective sleeve on them. I don't have to tape these gloves on, which is nice. I found that using these longer gloves, which offer more protection, work especially well if you put the cheaper disposable nitrile gloves on top of the thick ones. Then you can just peel off the disposable ones when they get nasty and the nice ones that offer most of the protection are preserved.

Safety is key, yo.

i feel like a surgeon

2008-12-01T11:06:00.003-06:00

We finally got the first real structural piece replaced in the boat. My boat has a new keelson! Yay! It's like she has a backbone again. It was an intimidating project, but looking back now it was all pretty simple and straightforward. And Pam and I both have a LOT more confidence in our fiberglass skills.

Still need to cut out the hole in the keelson for the cockpit drain and install the cockpit drain. Then we're done with this tiny area of the boat, and on to the rest of it. It never ends. It will never end. For as soon as we get it all fixed, things will be wearing out again. It reminds me a lot of bicycles. Constant tuning and adjustments, and constant wear and tear of components. Things always need replacing, or sometimes you just want a new one or a cooler looking one. One thing is certain, I should know everything there is to know about this boat when it's all said and done. Fer realz.

If it weren't for these two

2008-12-01T10:32:00.003-06:00

NOTHING would get done.

The Mr. Heater is propane-powered and puts out serious heat for it's size. We have an adapter that we can use to hook it to a large propane tank, just need to get the large tank refilled.

I've had this electric Black & Decker heater for several years now. It just keeps on going. It also puts out a lot of heat for it's size. As long as it's not too drafty, it can keep up.

Seriously, we're both small and female and neither of us likes the cold. I see Belize in my future, if you catch my drift.

Next up, all the stuff we've done lately thanks to the heaters.

And if it weren't for these two, things would be much less exciting.

Katie gets to hang out with us in the boat shop some. She's very trustworthy. Right here she's just wishing we'd all go in and lay down on the bed.

Buster is a spaz of monumental proportions and has to stay in the yard or house - no boat shop for him. He's the sweetest thing on earth to us but is unpredictable with strangers. He's a terrier, what more do I need to say? :D Here Buster is thinking that he would really like to bite you on your ass. It's all squishy and he loves the sound you'll make when he bites it.

this blog is too serious.

2008-10-30T14:39:00.002-05:00

I'm a silly person and my boat is gonna be sailed by two silly people, so some sillyness must exist here, dammit!

Portlights removed!

2008-10-28T15:04:00.002-05:00

In between all the drama from the Great Epoxy Fiasco of 2008, Pam and I got the portlights (windows) removed. They had to come out due to the extreme lack of a seal around them. Right after I bought the boat I watched in horror as it rained and the portlights leaked so bad it was pouring water inside the boat. A very bad thing. So we knew from the start that they would have to be either replaced or at least removed, cleaned and resealed.

First, the removal.

Most of the screws holding the portlight brackets/frame in came right out, but there were several that wouldn't budge, and a few were completely stripped. So I got one of those cheap screw extractor sets that you lightly hammer one side of the bit into the offending screw, and then use the other side of the bit with a drill to back it out. The first shot at removal saw the extractor bit breaking off into the old screw. Hmmm, now what? On a trip to the store to replace the broken screw extractor bit I'd just damaged I found one called Grab-It! The Grab-It had much beefier bits than the cheapo one I'd just broken, and wouldn't you know it, it removed all the offending screws, except the one that had the broken extractor in it. Luckily, that one came out with a pair of vice-grip pliers. Whew!

That's an entire paragraph just about screw removal. Ha!

The portlights were held in place with a little piece of metal and a few rivets. Rivets are sometimes hard to remove, but my hammer won!

Not exactly sure how I'll secure them when we put them back in, but you can bet it won't be with rivets!

Then, of course, all the gooped up globs of prehistoric silicone had a good grip as well, so with a lot of prying and pulling they finally popped out.

Here are the portlights removed.

Poor Wahoo looks all naked (pronounced neckid in the south) without her windows!

It took quite a while to remove all the silicone from around the windows. I hate silicone. I know it has it's uses, but I seriously hate the stuff. Something about the way it looks when it's aged with years of dirt and grime. I think the only way I can put silicone on my boat is if it's white. That clear stuff just creeps me out, yo.

The lack of windows will provide a little added ventilation for the upcoming epoxy jobs, so we'll leave them out for a while. And since there doesn't seem to be any replacement options that will work without cutting bigger holes out of the deck or making them smaller, I think we'll just clean these up and reinstall them. Hopefully with a little care at installation and some good sealant they'll work fine.

The frame parts of the windows are aluminum and had been painted on the inside, but most of the paint seems to be coming off with some acetone and a hard brush. I don't like using acetone if I can avoid so i think we may try lightly sanding it.

So, despite the Great Epoxy Fiasco of 2008, things are progressing well.

Cheers and happy boat repairing!

The Great Epoxy Fiasco of 2008

2008-10-28T13:46:00.003-05:00

That is how it will be remembered by those of us who were there.

I ordered my epoxy in bulk back in March of this year. Because of the enormity of the project I knew I'd be buying the stuff every few weeks if I went with smaller amounts, so buying in bulk just made sense. Since I was buying large bottles buying the pump set to get accurate measuring when mixing the resin and hardener was a no-brainer. Unfortunately for me, the no-brainer part caused me a lot of problems. You see, on the resin bottle it says mix 2:1 with hardener (that's 2 parts resin to 1 part hardener) and on the hardener bottle it says mix 1:2 with resin (that's 1 part hardener to 2 parts resin). So I had this whole 2 to 1 thing going on in my head. And when I received my epoxy and pump set nowhere on the packaging does it say that the pumps are calibrated to be 1 pump each. I didn't notice the little plastic strip glued to the pump to keep it from pumping all the way down, and there was no mention of it when I ordered or received the product. Since my epoxy containers said mix 2 to 1 and my pumps had no directions at all I assumed wrongly that that meant 2 pumps resin to one pump hardener.

I probably would have caught on sooner that my mix was off were it not for two factors. One, the stuff I mixed cured, though a bit more slowly than I was expecting, but it cured rock-solid. The tackiness stage lasted longer than I thought it would, but it is a slow/medium hardener so I figured it was geared more to the slow side. The other factor that kept me from catching the mix-up sooner was that I kept both the resin and hardener containers with pumps installed in a big plastic tote that also had my rolls of fiberglass tape, my acetone, and my assortment of epoxy tools. So I just kept pumping out my wrong mix, over and over again....not noticing anything was up until I took them out to clean out the tote and noticed there was all this hardener left and almost no resin. Oops. Had it not been for that I would have kept on going for several more batches...mixing wrongly with no clue at all.

Well, needless to say I was pretty pissed off initially as all the epoxy work I had done since March is suspect,, meaning we would have to grind it all out and start all over again. Ugh. So after a few days of seriously feeling very down about it all, I recouped and Pam and I got almost all of the bad epoxy out this weekend, everything except the non-structural fillets. Those will be fine as they are. But seriously, the wrongly mixed stuff cured hard, like really really hard. Like we had to buy a new corded angle grinder because the battery-powered one couldn't keep up. Seriously, I don't even understand how epoxy mixed with only half the hardener could get that hard, but it did.

So now we're back where we started, but with a lot more knowledge about epoxy and especially about mixing epoxy. ;)

Thanks to the 2 of you who saw my 'freak out' post and gave me encouragement. It was very much appreciated.

Happy to be back on the right track! Cheers!

I'm restoring a fiberglass boat....

2008-10-14T11:15:00.002-05:00

...and am severely allergic to fiberglass. WTF :/

Well, severe might be the wrong word as it isn't affecting my eyes, etc. But it does seem to get worse with every exposure.

Researching...

Fiberglass MSDS

Epoxy MSDS

Acetone MSDS

fillets, fillets and more fillets!

2008-10-02T13:45:00.006-05:00

Before I started work last weekend on the boat my friend Dan came over to see how it was progressing. We sat in the cockpit and drank some beers and caught up a bit while he chain smoked marlboro lights. It was our first "Boat Party!" I assumed he was holding his smokes away from the boat as his arm just disappeared over the side and only reappeared when he took a drag.

Well,.......SHIT!!!!!

Dan, if you read this...I love you to pieces, but no more smoking on the boat, man.

Had to happen on a part that had been wet sanded already. Sorry, Wahoo. I'll do better in the future.

Mom (Pam) and I got up bright and early last Saturday and got to work sanding the fiberglass we had laid the weekend before, so that the next layer will stick. We had planned on building up the keelson area some more and then hopefully finally get the keelson glassed in. However, we decided to work on fillets instead, mainly because we like making fillets, but also because the berth supports really need them. We also needed new weep holes in the berth supports. Weep holes allow the water that gets in hard-to-reach places to drain into the main bilge area where you can soak it up. Wahoo's berth support had weep holes, but they were just holes drilled through the wood. They were dark and eerie things that I never liked even thinking about. Seriously y'all, some parts of Wahoo have been just plain creepy. Old wood that is dirty and had a lot of moisture, etc. Ewww. So anyway, since we need to add some fillets to the berth supports we figured nice, new easy-to-clean weep holes were in order too.

Plastic is easy to clean, so PVC was the obvious choice. Picked up some half-inch pvc pipe at Lowe's that worked nicely.

New weep holes for the aft part of the berth supports.

I had to drill the original weepholes out to make them a little bigger so the pvc piece would fit. And I rounded the edges of the new pvc weep holes so when we add the fillet it will be a smooth transition from fillet to pvc.

Here they are before the fillet was added.

After I knew they fit okay we removed them and then coated the area with epoxy to protect it and then slid them back in.

And then the fun begins! FILLETS!

See how the weep hole blends right into the fillet? Yeah, I did that! :D

See all the lovely fillets!

HUGE improvement, both in terms of structural stability and also in removing some of the creepiness factor. The whole back of the boat is completely not creepy now. YAY!

Now, if I could just stop being allergic to fiberglass it would all be perfect. Seriously, wear protection if you near the stuff. We always use a respirator and usually a dust suit or are fully clothed. But last weekend I got in a hurry on one part and just threw some baby powder on my arms (supposed to keep the glass from sticking to your skin) and jumped in to grind for a minute. That was not smart. Fiberglass always itches, but this time it broke my arms out in hives. Yikes! So, I'm taking extra precautions to protect my skin before messing with the fiberglass grinding.

And now it's already Friday again and we're back at it first thing tomorrow morning. Not sure what all we plan to do but I'm taking a weekend off from all things fiberglass to give my arms a break. I think we will try to pull out the ports (windows) and reseal those. And perhaps wet sand cigarette burns off the boat.

Cheers from the boat yard!

scrunched up and throwin' some 'glass

2008-09-22T15:20:00.005-05:00

Meant to post this on Monday but work was a freakin' bear this week.

Okay, I took my very last vacation day this past Friday to devote to glassing the keelson in. Pam took a day off too to help me. She is becoming quite the boat restorer, my mom is. :D

We knew going into it that glassing in the keelson would be one of the toughest projects we will probably ever have to do on the boat. Besides the fact that we're inexperienced and it's a structural repair, the real thing that makes it hard is it's location. My boat is tiny (18 feet long). So you can imagine that all the spaces in a tiny boat are also tiny. And you would be right if you guessed that the space underneath the cockpit floor is minimal. It's so minimal in fact, that I'm not sure anyone larger than me could even scrunch up in there enough to get to the repair, much less work in such a small area.

This is how I spent my weekend.

See what I mean? There is like NO room in there. Fer real.

So, we have this keelson we need to glass into the bottom of the hull. The keelson is flat and very stiff since we coated the whole thing in fiberglass to protect it. And the hull is rounded and stiff. So these two pieces aren't going to join properly without some help. So the idea was to build up the area underneath where the keelson will go in so that when we glass it in there are no gaps in between it and the hull.

So I started by laying the keelson in place and then going down every few inches and measuring the gap between the bottom of the keelson and the hull. I then drew a line representing the shape of the gap, so we would know about how much to build up the area.

Here's the keelson area after the first few layers of glass:

And here it is again after a bunch more layers of glass:

While I was stuck in such a small area I decided to go ahead and repair the transom. It was just in need of a little reinforcement and some cleaning.

Here is the transom repair:

Nice fillet, if I do say so myself. :P

We basically glassed all weekend long. It was fun, if a little scrunched. :D And now it's already Friday. I plan to go home in 45 minutes, get some beer (a requirement for boat work), and then put a layer of glass in the keelson area to get a jump on the weekend.

Wahoo on the move, sort of

2008-09-09T14:17:00.002-05:00

In between bouts of hot weather, hurricanes and back aches we've slowly progressed on the boat work. The next big projects all involve structural fiberglassing, and neither of us has any real experience with fiberglass, so we've been taking our time coating the keelson and bridge step support, and I spent several hours laying cloth down to strengthen the berth supports and to learn this new medium. What have I learned? It's messy. Very messy. And you have to be ready once you mix it, cause the whole process goes down so fast. And be prepared for the messiness...have lots of paper towels and vinyl gloves.

The hardest part so far was figuring out how to wrap the cloth around corners. After much trial and error (and messiness) I decided it's easiest to just to lay it out in flat pieces and just cut the extra off when it dries, cause this stuff doesn't like corners. Also took me a bit to figure out how to get epoxy in the hole in the keelson (the hole that the cockpit drain runs through). The entire keelson needs to be coated in fiberglass and epoxy to keep any water out. So we initially had to cut the hole a little larger, to make room for the needed protective epoxy coating. I thought maybe I could wet out some small fiberglass strips and just line them along the inside edges of the hole to build it up, but that didn't work. There were several variations along this line of thought that I tried, but nothing would work on the inside without causing bubbles. Then it occurred to me that I could just fill the entire hole with epoxy and then cut out the correct diameter hole for the cockpit drain after the epoxy is cured. I mean, I have a gallon and a half of the stuff. Why not waste a little to make a job easier.

In a not-so-bright moment I thought masking tape on the bottom would help hold the liquid epoxy in. Duh. When it started oozing out rather quickly, I crammed a plastic cup up in there to help hold it. A LOT leaked out but not all, so I let what remained cure enough to get a little hard and then mixed up another batch and poured it on top, because even with all the mistakes and do-overs, I have enough epoxy to last me years. :)

The tape wasn't the best idea.

So the as the time nears to actually start glassing in these new pieces we've made, it became apparent that it would be very difficult to level the boat (you don't want to build a boat on unlevel ground the same way you wouldn't want to build a house on an uneven foundation) on the ground next to the garage, which is where Wahoo has lived since I bought her in July of '07. It's a slight uphill, and though it would be possible, it was not advised.

So we decided to move the boat to the driveway! :D Right in front of the garage! :D :D

It's not too hard to move the boat. Just hook it to the trailer hitch and with a little careful yard navigating, off you go. The shelter was another story. It's 12' x 20' and has 6 legs. You are supposed to be able to remove the legs, which would have allowed us to each pick up one end of the roof and move it, then move the legs separately and reattach at the new location. But, it's been a wet year (or summer at least-ask anyone here the last time their lawn was green in August/September!) and the legs rusted a tad making them impossible for two tiny girls to remove.

Here's Wahoo in her new spot.

So, on to plan B. Mom mentions roller skates - we could roll it there. My first thought is to laugh. Then I remember those inline skates I bought a few years ago.

A perfect fit.

So we put a skate on each of the legs on one end and I found some little casters from a plant stand that fit on the middle legs.

Then all that was left was for mom to grab one leg and me the other and off we go!

If you look hard you can see the skates on the rear legs.

It took less than ten minutes to move it. A proud moment of Rube Goldberg engineering if there ever was one. Small chicks who work on boats have to be resourceful.

Here she is all safe and sound and soon to be level.

Since it was a hot day and we had the boat sitting on concrete we thought it would be fun to wet sand a few spots to see how much difference it would make.

Along the gunwhale, the previous owner had painted over the pretty blue with a dull blue. I'm guessing it was the wrong kind of paint as it was much more dull than the rest of the hull.

After wet sanding with 400 grit wet/dry - It's like finding a pretty hardwood floor under a nasty old carpet! :D

Seeing the pretty blue come out just made me want to wet sand all day. So we did! :D

Here's a few shots of the deck after the first wet sanding with 400 grit.

And here I applied a little polish just to see if it would shine. And it did. :D

Nice to know we won't have to paint the hull right away. We just have to finish wet sanding the whole thing with 400 then up to 800, then 1000 and then do some serious waxing and she should look decades younger. That's all hard work of course, but not near as hard or as costly as a new paint job.

Next up - this weekend we hope to begin glassing in the keelson. This is a big one. Wish us luck!

From fiberglass dust to sawdust...

2008-07-14T16:12:00.003-05:00

So this is it...the big transition from boat demolishing to boat restoration. The big project for this past weekend was to construct a keelson to replace the rotten one I removed earlier. Since the keelson is structural and is glassed into the hull from inside the boat, it pretty much has to be done first, before we can go on to the next project(s).

Here is a pic of the boat as it is now, with the old keelson removed and ready for the new one. The keelson will run from the back end of the boat at the transom forward all the way past the hole where the cockpit drain thru-hull goes.

So, the first step, find some wood. Seems simple enough. There's a lumber store here in town. On their website (was surprised they even had one) it says they carry Douglas Fir, which is exactly what we need to construct the keelson from. So I get there and wait for too long only to be told "no, no.....nothing like that around here." The guy was a bit of a jerk, looking at me as if I don't know what I'm asking for. Anyway, so his advice I guess is to give up, as there is no douglas fir in these parts. WHATever!

I know Home Depot doesn't have it so I go to the Lowe's website and it shows Douglas Fir in 1x4 boards. So off to Bossier to the nearest Lowe's. They didn't have a lot, but they had the pieces we needed to get going with the keelson and also the bridge step support and cross support (support underneath the main bulkhead) so I was pretty happy about that. Also, while researching all the repairs I'm having to do on the boat it became obvious that at some point I would need a router. Gonna have to get those round edges on all this wood somehow. Lowe's carries Black & Decker tools and the last few things I got from B&D have been pure crap so I'm wary of their stuff. So, even though Home Depot pisses me off frequently, they carry the Ryobi brand tools that I like so much, so we picked up a nice Ryobi router with table and also a nice set of 8 starter bits....all from the Depot.

Anyway, everyone got a cut of my money this weekend, except the one I really wanted to give it to the most, the local small-town lumber supplier. Oh well, he was a jerk, so I kicked him to the curb. No boat money for you!

Cutting the board to size was easy. What wasn't as easy was figuring out the exact way to use the router. I mean, I know what it does and how it works, but couldn't figure out how to set up the table guide to feed the wood to the router smoothly. After a few curse words and a slight loss of temper, I figured it out and got right to business, rounding all the edges on the keelson. The keelson needs to be covered in a layer of fiberglass and epoxy and cured before installing - the glass and epoxy makes it stronger and protects it from moisture. You never want fiberglass to bend at 90 degree angles so all the edges must be rounded before glassing. The router did a clean, thorough and fast job.

Next was figuring out where the hole in the keelson that the cockpit drain will go through is to be located. Not sure the precise way to do this but the way we did it was for one of us to get in the boat with the keelson and line it up and the other to get under the boat and draw a line around the inside of the hole onto a piece of cardboard.

Next up, cutting a big hole in the keelson. It took several tools - a drill to get the first hole in and then a few more to make it big enough for the jig saw blade to fit. Then jigsaw almost to the edges of the hole. Then back to the new kickass router table to finish out the hole.

A quick sanding with the dremel and we're done. So, let's put up all the tools, the router and table, everything...put it all up, anything that we won't need again today. I'm one of those people who likes to clean up from one thing before I start another. After everything is put up, Mom reminds me we better check and make sure the hole in the keelson is bigger than the hole in the boat as the hole in the keelson will still need to be coated in glass and epoxy, so we'll be adding thickness to it. So in the boat Mom goes and underneath I go, and it's almost the right size, but not quite. DOH! Back out with the router and table one more time.

Here it is....the nice hole, and the router that made it. :D

Next step was sanding the keelson all over (to make sure the epoxy will adhere to it) and cleaning with acetone. Then, on to some glass work.

First we cut the fiberglass cloth to the desired size. Then, wearing all the appropriate safety gear, mix your epoxy and start wetting it out.

You want to make sure you get it all wet, but not so wet that the glass tape wants to float. You want to squeeze out the excess, then as it starts to get tacky add more layers of epoxy to fill in the weave.

Here's what it looked like after the first coat.

And after being left in my garage overnight it was done (completely hard and not sticky) by lunch today, so that's about an 18-hour cure time.

Know what I think about the new tools, the new skills and the new keelson for the boat?

Thumbs up! :D

epoxy pon me

2008-06-03T11:06:00.003-05:00

Epoxy is fun. It's like play-doh for grown-ups. I've used it in tiny batches before, but never in large amounts or with fillers. Fun stuff.

Mixing up the first batch.

Be sure to measure carefully. I have big bottles of resin and hardener that you measure using pumps. It's a 2 to 1 ratio so 2 pumps of resin to 1 pump of hardener. The first time you use the pumps, be sure to not count that first bit that comes out on the the first pump. You want 2 FULL pumps of resin to 1 FULL pump of hardener. Mixing epoxy is an exact process. Measure properly the first time and save yourself a lot of trouble later.

Once your epoxy is mixed, the clock starts ticking. Pot life and cure time depends on several factors including the type of epoxy you use (slow or fast curing), the temperature (the hotter it is the faster it cures) and also how the epoxy is contained after it is mixed. Epoxy is exothermic so the more surface area that is exposed to air, the longer the mix takes to cure. If you leave the epoxy in the mixing container, it will heat up very quickly and can not only become combustible, but will also cure too fast. To lengthen cure time, spread it out like butter. I like to use pieces of cardboard for mine.

Once you have it thoroughly mixed you normally want to wet out the area you'll be working with.

Then add filler to thicken it for filleting.

The amount and kind of filler depends on the application. You'll need a peanut butter consistency for overhead or vertical areas, but not so thick for making fillets, finishing or bonding things. I needed a mix for filling some gaps and making fillets, so I used microballoons and mixed them until I got a good mix that wasn't too soupy but still thick enough to hold a shape.

Making a fillet.

Because epoxy cures so quickly you normally only mix a small batch at a time. Once you're done, you have a few choices. The easiest is to continue with another batch right away, or you can wait until it gets to a rubberry consistency and then add more epoxy. As long as the epoxy you just laid hasn't cured it will still bond chemically with new epoxy. However, if you wait until the epoxy has cured completely (usually about 24 hours) then you will have to sand or grind to get the new epoxy to stick. Once epoxy has cured it loses the ability to bond chemically with fresh epoxy, so you have to provide a mechanical bond by sanding or grinding, thereby providing a way for the fresh epoxy to 'key' into the old epoxy.

Ha! I sound like I know what I'm talking about.

Phase 2 - complete!

2008-05-19T10:05:00.003-05:00

Most important things first...

On vacation I discovered a favorite new beer:

LANDSHARK!

Is very tasty. :)

Between family medical emergencies, work and vacation...we've not had much time to work on the boat lately. Managed to turn that around a bit this past weekend and we got some major "Mo" going now. It's a good feeling. :D

Prepping for the last bit of grinding calls for baby powder so the fiberglass doesn't stick to your skin as bad.

Unfortunately, we ran out of regular baby powder before we were thoroughly coated, and all I could find was some perfumed powder that was really old. Ew. We reeked of little old lady perfume and fiberglass dust. Not a pleasant combo.

(yeah, ran out of Landshark, so back to the old standby of Miller High Life)

So phase 2 is complete! FYI - Phase 1 was the first big project we did, which was to reseal the hull-to-deck joint. Phase 2 was to pull out everything rotten from the aft section of the boat. Grind out all the old glass that was holding in all the rotten pieces. Remove the damaged bulkheads, berth tops, cockpit drain, keel winch support and the rotten keelson/stringer. After what seemed like MONTHS of nothing but grinding, we finally got all the grinding done for the aft section late yesterday. Next up is a serious cleaning and then a major wipe down with acetone. Then on to Phase 3, which will be rebuilding all that stuff we just removed. I'm really looking forward to this next part as I suspect rebuilding will be a much more rewarding job than tearing it all out.

Then of course, after we rebuild the aft section, we have to start all over again with the forward section. But it should be in better shape than the aft was (fingers crossed).

Hope to be done coating myself in baby powder and dressing like the Michelin man for awhile. Just need gloves and the respirator for epoxy work! :D

Plan to get the cleaning/acetone wipe down done this week so that we can start actual repairs this coming weekend. Yay! Am stoked! Also still need to order a cockpit drain and the douglas fur needed for the keelson and keel winch support.

Go with the Mo!

have you got your epoxy? cause I got my epoxy

2008-04-02T16:53:00.002-05:00

All 1.5 gallons of it. And pumps too, for easy meaasuring.

Epoxy is fun. :D

cockpit drain removal or HOLES IN YOUR BOAT!

2008-03-24T13:28:00.004-05:00

Wow. We were really dreading the whole cockpit drain removal. I guess it's because it's a hole in the bottom of the boat. And holes just don't seem like things you'd want to find in your boat. But indeed, they have their place and purpose. I think the scariest thing about removing the cockpit drain was just not knowing exactly how you remove something like a cockpit drain. Trust me, there are no instructions on the internet. The best you can find is something along the lines of "....and then remove the cockpit drain. Now that the cockpit drain is removed you can begin....." That's about it.

So, here it is....the cockpit drain that we want to remove. Having no clues, we had to up and figure it out on our own.

We figured out this much: it would take some kind of wrench on the top part, from inside the boat, and some kind of wrench or tool on the bottom part, from underneath the boat.

The bottom looks like this.

A standard plumber's wrench would work on the top part, but with those weird keyholes in the bottom I was not sure how we'd be able to unscrew the whole contraption.

Old bike tool to the rescue! I found an old Park bicycle tool that I'm not even able to indentify. It must have been for some old, obscure parts, because I've been working on bikes for years and have never had a need for it. It was one of those that came with a bunch of tools a friend gave me. Well, now it's the official "cockpit drain removal tool." Hell to the yeah! :)

So, the next question is would it come loose easily, or would we tear up the boat trying to get it apart?

No worries....came out easily.

And I know exactly why it came out so easily....one word...one dreaded word for boat owners....

It was sealed with SILICONE.

Who in this world actually thinks silicone is for a below-the-waterline seal? The previous owner of my boat, that's who.

Once it came out, the last bit of keelson could be removed. Nasty, eh?

And all the fiberglass around the thru-hull (hole) was just perfect.

Nice job, Pam (inside the boat).

Nice job, Karen (underneath the boat).

sometimes beating things with a hammer works

2008-03-04T16:20:00.002-06:00

The removal of Wahoo's rotten, or semi-rotten keelson has been a tough task. It's only rotten from the cockpit drain thru-hull about halfway up to the transom. The rotten stuff came out easily, naturally. The not-so-rotten wood? Well, not so easy. First, it's encased in fiberglass and polyester resin, and that stuff is hard. Had to cut the glass out first with the dremel.

Then....

Yeah, that did it. Beating the crap out of it with a hammer actually worked. Took about 3 hours total to get it all out and sanded down.

Here's what it looks like sans keelson.

VICTORY! :D It's a wonderful feeling to have it all out finally.

Boat work is in full swing now. It's warming up, and I'm motivated like never before.

no more dustbuster

2008-02-29T13:51:00.000-06:00

Since starting work on Wahoo, which besides the complete reseal of the hull-to-deck joint has mostly been just removing rotten wood and grinding a whole lot of fiberglass, we've had to rely on a dustbuster to suck up all the glass dust, etc. It's one my grandfather gave me that you plug into the lighter in the car to get juice. It works pretty well, actually, but I was having to pull my truck right up next to the boat in order to use it. And hey, it is a dustbuster, and therefore not really intended to be used in the manner in which we have used it.

But no more, for last weekend we jumped up a level or two (or ten) in terms of sucking power when we got a wet-dry shop vacuum from Home Depot. Nice.

What sporty colors! It must be a racing vacuum. :D

Bring on the glass dust, baby. I'm ready!

Boat bling

2008-02-25T13:39:00.002-06:00

My birthday was last week. I'll be honest, I'm not really liking this whole pushing 40 bit, but I guess it's better than the alternative. :D

The coolest birthday present I got was from my brother's girlfriend and all around kickass gal Christy. She snagged a most important piece of boat equipment for Wahoo.

Nice, eh? And I am certain that this will be the most used tool on the boat. :D

In other boat news, the garage/boat tent has truly proven it's worth....and then some. It's held up to three severe storms already with no sign of wear or damage at all. I'm impressed. And when I up and move to Florida in a few years, the whole contraption can come with me.

Another major boat repair item was also secured this week - a wet/dry shop vaccuum. Should make fiberglass dust cleanup go much quicker. Also got some replacement filters for the respirators. We are good to go for this weekend. Am really hoping to kick the repairs into high gear in the coming weeks. Wahoo won't fix herself, so I guess I better get after it. ;) Time to get out of Dodge.

Wahoo gets shelter

2008-01-14T15:12:00.000-06:00

I bought Wahoo (not her official name....yet) back in July of '07. Since that time she has been sitting out in the elements behind the garage in the back yard. I've kept a series of blue tarps on her to protect her from well, mostly rain, as every drop that hits her top pretty much ends up in the cabin.

Let me state that while these blue tarps are really great and have kept Wahoo dry and mostly protected for months, the Louisiana sun and heat really eats them up quickly. You can get about a month of use before microscopic (and some not so small) tears begin to appear anywhere the tarp has been stretched.

And the worse thing about the tarps is you have to remove them all before you can really start working on the boat. And then, of course, put the tarps back on and secure them when you're done. It's a lengthy process. And one that while a pain in the butt, has kept Wahoo nice and dry.

So, I've been pondering what to do about some more permanent shelter for Wahoo as we go through the long process of complete sailboat restoration. Enter Tractor Supply. Minden just got a Tractor Supply. --Those of you not from Minden, or familiar with it, can't possibly fathom how great this is.-- Well, Tractor Supply has a portable canopy for about $89. And as an accessory you can get 4 walls and auger-type stakes to help hold it down.

So, yesterday Mom and I started construction on said canopy/garage. It took a few hours and there were a few moments of great frustration, but it all went up nicely, and with just the two of us to construct it.

And from the side...

And completely enclosed....

I think the neighbors will appreciate the new look...

Doesn't she look all nice and protected? I don't know this for sure, but I suspect this is the first covered shelter my poor little boat has ever had. S'okay little Wahoo....it's all better now.

This should make a huge difference in pretty much everything Wahoo-related.

sail logo design

2007-12-18T11:48:00.000-06:00

I think everyone who buys a sailboat wants to personalize it in some way, besides just changing the boats' name. I guess I'm no different. The design that was on the original mainsail of the Laguna Windrose 18 looked like this:

I have the original mainsail that came with my boat, and it has this design on it. Or did have this design on it. All it has now is a brown, sticky 'leftover adhesive' outline of the design above. At first, the plan was to simply paint the old logo back onto the mainsail. But after putting in all this work I've decided to go ahead and get new (or at least refurbished) sails for Wahoo. So then the question is do I leave it blank, paint the same old lame and dated Windrose design that was on the original sail, or redesign it and make it look cool? I like the idea of it looking cool and personal.

So taking the original logo and the windrose name and an actual windrose, I combined them to make this:

The 'N' needs to be bigger. Still have some minor tweaking to do, but I like it much better than the original. I also like the idea of getting it as a tattoo. But I shall refrain, for now. :D

The keelson that wouldn't die

2007-12-10T16:30:00.000-06:00

Okay, so that keelson didn't want to come out. All of the rotten part came out easily, but about half of the aft keelson is still in tact, and it's not cooperating. And because of it's location (between two berth supports) there is no way to get close enough to it to use heavy tools like a grinder to remove it. So I spent about half an hour with a hammer and chisel trying to chisel it out. Very slow going and it really twinged my back. Mom came up with the best idea so far for getting it out - cutting it up into small squares with the dremel to make the chiseling go quicker. Ugh. So I can just scrap that part about having the keelson out in one day. Ha!

Also, I spoke prematurely when I said there was still one piece of good wood in the boat. When we removed the berth tops, revealing the bottoms of the main bulkhead, we poked with an icepick and found good wood there. I guess we never checked the other side, though. Well, we checked it yesterday. And there is a big spot along the bottom that is rotten. So it will have to be replaced. It had to come out anyway in order to replace the transverse support underneath it. The main bulkhead in Wahoo is actually two pieces, so I guess technically, one piece of wood in the boat is still good. :D

Actually, that's not completely true. The berth supports appear to be okay as well. So that's three pieces of good wood. And I lost count on how many bad peices of wood. Who could count that high? :D

Also, while working on the keelson I noticed the missing cockpit support. When I got the boat there was nothing supporting the cockpit - the main bulkhead had been removed and I noticed no evidence of any support at all. I just didn't see it. Because it's not there.

So for now, we're using some plywood pieces to support the cockpit.

More later.

the funky keelson is just that

2007-12-03T13:38:00.000-06:00

ffff funky, yo!

Got a lot of work done on Saturday (officially known as "boat work day"). Got almost all the sanding done for the forward section of the berth supports.

Next up for the berth supports is a good cleaning with acetone and then one more go with some sandpaper, a final cleaning with acetone, and then our first big fiberglass project as we reinforce the bottom of the berths with new glass on both sides of each berth. We were going to glass in the new keel winch support first, but since that will have to be glassed in underneath the cockpit floor and therefore will have gravity affecting it the whole time, we decided it would be best to keep the first ever fiberglass project a simple one. And this one should be pretty simple. I'm stoked. I can't wait to start doing some real fiberglass repair. I mean, I have so much to do, someday I'm sure to be an expert on the subject. :D

While Mom finished up sanding on the berth supports, I began removal of the funky keelson with the dremel. After about 45 minutes and 5 heavy duty dremel cutting wheels, I had about 1/4 of it out.

Still have to figure out how to remove the cockpit drain through-hull before I can remove the entire keelson as the cockpit drain runs right through the end of the keelson. It is plastic and isn't budging. I'm not sure if we are going to try and salvage it or just get a new one. It looks like you can just put a large plumbing wrench on it to take it off. I hope it's that simple. If it comes off easily, meaning without destroying it in the process, then we plan to reuse it. Either way, it must come out in order to remove and replace the keelson. I suspect the cockpit drain leaking is one factor in the poor condition of the keelson. The worst rot is where the cockpit drain is. So many places in my boat were stuffed with silicone and painted over when something leaked, that it will be very satisfying to reseal the cockpit drain myself. To know it's been done right. (I love when 'been' and 'done' are next to each other in a sentence "Man, we been done had Puff Daddy." is an especially fine example of this.

Removing the keelson itself was enlightening. The wood was black and actually wet to the touch in some places. Hmmm, we obviously needed to do this job. :D

For those who don't know the keelson is a piece of wood that is fiberglassed into the bottom of the hull (on the inside) to provide structural support. After removing a bad section it became apparent that Wahoo's aft keelson (and most likely the one up front as well - more on that in a minute) had deteriorated to the point that it was basically nothing more than a hollow channel with some rotten wood inside. Not providing much structure there. :/ I'm now very happy just to have discovered the problem in the first place. I could have easily listened to what some people said and just fixed the few obvious problems and gone on about sailing it. Instead anytime I had any question at all I just picked up an icepick and soon the problem was revealed. And finally, I'm running out of places to poke. :)

Another interesting thing about the funky keelson is the thing that gave it the 'funky' name in the first place, the smell. The black pieces (in the pic above) smell almost like gasoline. I'm guessing the smell is whatever they treated the wood with (maybe gasoline?). And now that it's decomposing it's releasing the smell in a serious way. I had actually thought that maybe at some point a significant amount of gasoline was spilled in the boat. No, it's just the funky keelson. Can't wait to get that mofo out of my boat, man! Get some new, fresh wood and fiberglass in there. Yes, new and fresh sounds good!

Another interesting thing about that smell: In the V-berth there is a cutout in the top. You can lift the piece out, revealing the space underneath the v-berth. It's full of foam (for flotation) but has a strange, gasoline-like smell. As soon as I removed that piece from the aft keelson and smelled the petrol smell, I knew it was the same thing in the front. So now don't even have to remove the V-berth tops to know there is rotten wood there. Hell, I can smell it! And seriously, almost every piece of wood in the boat is rotten, so it's not like this is unexpected. And it's nice to know it's something I can remove and repair.

At some post in the not-too-distant future I hope to have finally revealed all that is in need of repair on Wahoo. Until then, I'll look like the Michelin man. Wahooooo!

the view that started it all

2007-11-29T15:37:00.000-06:00

I stayed in a lovely house in St. John, USVI for a week in May of '06. Great view, eh?

I have always loved boats and being on the water, but the thought of cruising on a sailboat never even crossed my mind. I mean, that's something rich people do and not something the middle class can afford, right? 2 years ago I would have thought my only options for a sailing future would be playing on the weekends in a Hobie Cat or Laser. But after a little research I realized it wasn't really an unobtainable goal at all. Plenty of people with less than me are out there doing it right now.

So, here I am a year and a half later, with my own little boat to learn on (which I haven't sailed yet but am fixing up to do just that) and a major plan in the works that will have me slowly getting rid of material things that I don't need, paying off my debt and building savings while slowly acquiring the skills necessary to live and cruise on a boat long-term.

Several seasoned sailors have told me recently that I'm on the right track. I must say, it's truly great to hear that from people you respect and who are living your dream right now. So, here's to being on the right track! :D

As for boat work, had a complete wash-out of a weekend last week. Upper 30's and lower 40's and non-stop rain all weekend...and trapped inside with puppies all wound up with too much nervous energy! This weekend the forecast looks good. The plan is to finish up on prep work for the berth supports and to remove the funky keelson. Am still not quite ready for the gallon or so of epoxy I'll need for all the interior stuff. That stuff is expensive. I wish they had after-Christmas sales on epoxy! :D

I also have a plan to go shoot some this weekend. I just got some much-needed cleaning accessories for my Nikon (well, actually they should arrive tomorrow). My D70s has dust on the sensor and I should be able to clean it safely now. It's a very nice camera (a major investment for me)and it makes me nervous to even think of touching that sensor, but it must be done. And I must learn to do it myself.

Cheers, world! See you on the flip side, yo.

a gift from Wahoo

2007-11-20T11:01:00.001-06:00

Spent a good portion of Saturday working on the boat. Mostly sanding and grinding. Had to wear the Michelin Man suits.

One thing is certain, this kind of work is much easier and more comfortable in cooler temperatures. Can you tell who is who? :)

After much monotonous sanding, we finally got up the nerve (when almost everything you inspect needs replacing, you tend to want to put off the inspecting) to closely inspect the berth supports. They are the longest pieces of wood in the boat, running from the front of the berths to just shy of the transom. Well, close inspection revealed some surprises. For one, most of the wood itself is okay, just one bad spot several inches long at the bottom of the port side berth support where a weep hole was clogged and water collected. Along many spots the epoxy has deteriorated to some degree as there are places where the fillet at the bottom has become brittle. The wood itself sits above the hull a bit (I think they install pieces like this on top of a strip of foam to protect the hull, thus lifting it up a little) and when we sanded through the several coats of glass and epoxy the wood exposed was still good. So it looks like we just need to remove the few bad spots and repair, then sand and clean good and just reglass the berth supports.

So this a huge gift that Wahoo has given us. The two longest pieces in the boat are still good! This obviously saves us money on wood and a lot of time that we would have had to spend removing and replacing the berth supports. So that's two major structural pieces of wood that are okay. That gives us hope for the front of the boat. Maybe it's just the v-berth top that needs replacing and not everything underneath it. Not sure though as the clogged drainhole (weephole) kept water trapped up by the transverse support (the piece the main bulkhead sits on top of). We know the transverse support is rotten, but hopefully everything else from there up is okay.

Thanks for the good wood, Wahoo! :D

i love my garage

2007-11-20T10:50:00.000-06:00

While cleaning/organizing the garage, I noticed that the few bikes I still have in there work great for hanging things. :)

Also found a nice area for my laptop (so we can rock out or watch tv), high up enough that I can't spill things (beer) on it, and also protected from any darts that might get deflected during a game of cricket. A dart into my laptop screen would be a bad thing.

I love having a place to work and throw darts. Just need to find that portable heater! It's going to get really cold this weekend, like 40's cold. And us small boat chicks lack insulation.

motors and lonely bicycles

2007-11-15T16:17:00.000-06:00

Wahoo came with a nice outboard motor - a Mercury 5hp Four-stroke, long shaft. Besides the rigging that was replaced right before I purchased her, the outboard is the newest thing on the boat.

Like most things pertaining to the boat, the previous owner didn't take very good care of the motor. Fuel was left in it for an extended period. So it will need to be serviced, but should be in good condition still as it is only a few years old. Yay!

Not much else to report on the boat at this point. Just in the midst of deconstruction. Still have the berth supports to remove and then it will just be many hours of cutting, grinding and sanding to remove the old glass from the around the berths and the aft bulkhead. Once that is all done it's on to ordering wood and epoxy for the rebuild of the aft bulkhead, quarter berths and aft keelson. Then, it's on to the front of the boat, and all of that needs to be taken out and rebuilt as well.

Last weekend much time was spent cleaning and organizing the garage. Thankfully, a good bit of work on the boat can be done out of the boat. It's only 18 feet long and there is no standing headroom. You have to remove the hatch and slide the top back to stand up in the cabin, and right now the mast is resting above the hatch. So, there is no standing room while working in Wahoo. Having access to a nice work area over the winter will be key in getting a lot done. It was odd watching my 'bicycle shop' garage get converted into a regular workshop again. I still have a few bikes and bike stuff in there but not much. Poor, lonely bikes. No one rides them anymore. I miss them! Cycling was very good to me - riding gave me self-confidence and a healthy body. Cycling is really such a simple pleasure - just turning the pedals and watching the scenery whiz by was as much fun as anything! And I met some of my best friends and had some of the most fun times of my life on a bike. Once I heal up good I'll ride them again, but will probably never race again. I'll race Wahoo, though! :D And I have good reason to believe she is fast, like me. :)

Cheers world! Hope to see more of you soon!

Wahoo's keel winch

2007-11-08T11:42:00.000-06:00

It's not original to the boat, and one of the few things the previous owner changed that is better than the original. Most of the "upgrades" the previous owner made were anything but upgrades. But this one rocks!

It's a worm-drive winch.

The pros:

There's only 2 moving parts, no clutches to wear out or slip, and like a braking winch, you just turn the handle and it moves in the proper direction, let go of the handle and it stops right there. It cannot freewheel or run-away and it doesn't take much force to turn the handle.

The cons - They are not fast, it takes a lot of cranks to raise or lower the keel.

But the best part of all is that it works! It doesn't need replacing! :D (high five)

pieces and parts......and TOOLS!

2007-11-06T14:06:00.001-06:00

Here's a shot of the port quarter berth and rear bulkhead after removal (snort, obviously!):

And the starboard quarter berth, which was in much worse shape: (ha!)

And all of this came out of the boat thanks to the new tools:

The belle of the ball...

I love this jigsaw! It's small....for small hands! :D

Hmmm.....Wahoo and I appear to have similar wiring

2007-11-05T11:27:00.000-06:00

Um, that would be faulty wiring. :D

2 hours in....

2007-11-03T12:55:00.000-05:00

Before

and after 2 hours...

Removed both quarter berth tops and the rear bulkhead. Next up are the berth supports.

I'm about to grab some lunch and a cold beer and I'm back at it. It's going much quicker than I anticipated. Hell yeah!

This is what boat work makes you do

2007-11-01T16:36:00.000-05:00

Or this is what hours of caulking will make you do! :D

Don't mess with the High Life.

the boatyard

2007-11-01T16:03:00.000-05:00

Don't laugh! At least it's covered!

Resealing the hull-to-deck joint.

2007-10-12T13:52:00.000-05:00

Got my epoxy and 3M 5200 in. Before I was ready to start repairs we had to remove the last bits of silicone from the joint and clean with acetone. There were two spots on the joint where the PO (previous owner) actually used the proper product. Two beads of 3M 5200 were in the joint mid-point on both sides. There is a reason you use 5200 - it works and lasts a long time. This makes it hard to remove though. Thanks to the Laguna newsgroup, I knew just what to use....a hairdryer. Heat it up for a minute and that stuff comes right out. Cool.

Next, we sanded and grinded the bad spots on the deck joint where the paint has been chipped exposing fiberglass. The Dremel made quick work of this. The Dremel rocks!

All that protective gear doesn't make things cooler.

After that was all done we were ready to get to actual repairs and seal the hull-to-deck joint. Unfortunately, the ideal temperature for my materials is approx. 70 degrees. Yeah, it's like NEVER 70 degrees here. Today it's 106. So, it's much too hot to epoxy, and my boat's deck is not attached to the hull right now, just gravity and some nails keeping things together. The nails are working great though (thanks Ronnie).

While we wait for it to cool a bit we got a lot of cleaning done. Finally, you can't smell the boat before you get to it. Actually, you can barely smell that old neglected boat smell at all. :)

Mom does some cleaning work.

What a difference it makes! It's like a completely different boat.

It was a productive Saturday, but we weren't EVEN done yet. My man Dan, the master of all things electrical, came by to check out Wahoo's electrical system. He brought a spare battery by and hooked everything up. Nothing. Check the polarity......and...

Little Wahoo has power!

Isn't she a pretty sight with her nav lights on? :) She looks like she's smiling.

Thanks Dan! And look, the rear nav light works too!

All the electrical stuff works (bilge pump, anchor light, nav lights, fans) except for the cassette deck, which only needs a fuse. This is so great. I was certain all the electrical stuff was shot - you have to lower all your expectations when working on something this old, as you constantly find more stuff that needs fixing. So it was a very nice surprise to find something worked without us having to work.

Sunday was a lot more cleaning - and we removed the old foam flotation. Goodbye forever nasty old styrofoam.

Despite the heat, it was a productive weekend. :)

Instructions!

2007-10-12T13:48:00.000-05:00

This should speed things up a bit.

Rubrail Removed!

2007-10-12T13:32:00.000-05:00

Mom and I spent 7 hours removing the rubrail. First we removed the rubber guard that inserts into the rail. This was the easiest part - simply pry one end and then pull it out from the grooves all the way around the boat. If only it would go back in with the same ease. I have a feeling it will be extremely difficult working it back in. After the rubber piece was removed the screws that attach the rubrail and also secure the hull to the deck were exposed. From there mom was on the outside with a screwdriver while I performed like a contortionist and made it in to the nooks and crannies in the bow and stern with a wrench while mom removed the screws. The sides were easy, but the bow and stern were really uncomfortable - it was hot and downright claustrophobic at times, but we got them all out in one day. After that the rail just kind of peeled off. There are four separate pieces. This exposed all the old silicone that was inserted from underneath the rub rail.

Next up is purchasing large quatities of 3M 5200 adhesive/sealant and removing all that old silicone.

Jibe ho!

Silicone is not your friend

2007-10-12T13:22:00.000-05:00

Okay, so after we put in 6 man hours trying to pull old silicone from the hull-to-deck joint and only getting probably 15% of it out, I decided to research this whole hull-to-deck repair procedure. Am I ever glad I did that. For one, silicone is for the windows, not the hull-to-deck joint. Second, the stuff we are supposed to use (3M 5200) won't bond to the old silicone, which means it will all have to be removed. So this just went from "pull as much out as possible and insert more of the same" to "removing the entire aluminum rail, removing old silicone and cleaning thoroughly, replacing any corroded screws, sealing the joint with 5200 and epoxy if necessary (inside and out), reattaching the rub rail, and then completely sealing with more 5200." Whew! It's a bigger job than I was thinking, but it will be nice to know it's done right this time, as simply applying more silicone will not solve the issue.

Can you say restoration! :)

Here's what the hull-to-deck joint with rubrail intact looks like.

Motor Mount Removed

2007-10-12T13:01:00.000-05:00

Wahoo was purchased in July of 2007 but I didn't start this blog until October. We have already completed some of the projects on our To-Do list. I'll try to get all the projects we've already completed posted first, before I start blogging in real time.

First thing we did was remove the motor mount. It is in need of repair and my Paw Paw offered to build me a new one or repair the existing one if possible. All I had to do was remove the old one from the boat and bring it to him. Sounded simple enough. Just get a ratchet set and pull that baby right off, right? Heh! It was a battle. Those bolts have been on there a looooooong time. There were moments of doubt....moments of great struggle, but in the end, I won! The motor mount came OFF!

PawPaw is currently repairing the old motor mount. It will be nice to have him add something to the boat. He also gave us a compass (I hope to use often) and a really nice fire extinguisher (I hope to never use).

Here's what the old motor mount looked like before we battled it out in the driveway.

Projects To-Do List

2007-10-12T11:42:00.000-05:00

Note: not all must be done before she's in the water.

HULL-TO-DECK JOINT
remove rubber piece
remove rubrail and fasteners
remove old sealant
clean with acetone
reinstall rail with new SS fasteners (and washers)
seal with 3M 5200
reattach rubber piece

KEEL WINCH SUPPORT
grind and remove old fiberglass
sand with proper grit for epoxy to bond to
clean with acetone
measure and cut wood for winch support
paint with epoxy and let cure
prep surface with acetone
glass in the wood support and let cure
attach hose from top of cockpit floor into volcano
glass volcano to bottom of winch support and let cure
sand and paint
attach winch to cockpit floor using larger bolts and backing plate or oversized washers
and seal with 3M4200 and let cure

BULKHEAD REPLACEMENT
remove old paint
sand with proper grit for epoxy to bond to
clean with acetone
measure and make template
cut bulkhead from template
cut holes in bulkhead for electrical panel and cd player
clean bulkhead and surface with acetone
glass in bulkhead and let cure
sand and paint

RUB RAIL
reinstall old rubber rail piece if possible, or purchase new

FOAM FLOATATION
buy new large pieces for stern bilge area
cut up old pieces for installation in new quarter berths

QUARTER BERTHS REPLACEMENT
remove old berths
inspect bulkheads
grind and remove old fiberglass
sand with proper grit for epoxy to bond to
clean with acetone
measure and make templates for both berths and berth supports
cut wood from templates
prep surface with acetone
glass in the wood berth supports
let cure
add foam pieces
sand supports and clean with acetone
glass in top of berths and let cure
sand and clean with acetone
paint berths

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT TO KEEL TRUNK
Sand floor and sides of keel trunk
clean with acetone
glass in tape for support
let cure
sand, clean and paint

CHAINPLATES
remove chainplate
clean and polish
purchase additional screws and backing plate
re-install chainplates using backing plate
seal with 3M 4200

DECK HARDWARE
remove all deck hardware
inspect and clean with acetone
replace rusted hardware
grind out holes
sand with proper grit for epoxy to bond to
clean with acetone
apply epoxy with filler to holes
let cure
drill new holes in epoxy
install hardware using 3M 4200
do not tighten until 4200 is almost cured

INTERIOR PAINT
remove old paint
sand and clean with acetone
1-2 coats of Kilz
2 coats of high-gloss paint

EXTERIOR PAINT
wet sand hull
paint if necessary, if not wax and buff
sand deck and repaint if necessary

PIECE that HAULS and HOLDS BOAT ONTO TRAILER
remove
clean
re-install using 3M 4200
do not tighten until 4200 almost cured

MOTOR MOUNT
install motor mount
replace rusted screws
remove backing plate and filling holes with epoxy
drill new holes
install motor mount using 3M 4200 or 5200

V-BERTH REPLACEMENT
remove old berths
inspect bulkheads
grind and remove old fiberglass
sand with proper grit for epoxy to bond to
clean with acetone
measure and make templates for both sides of v-berth
cut wood from templates
prep surface with acetone
glass in berth pieces
let cure
glass in berth tops
let cure
sand and clean with acetone
paint

SAILS
clean sails
remove old adhesive
put logo on mainsail

TUNING
mast and rigging

MOTOR
have motor serviced

ELECTRICAL
secure wiring
new battery and battery box

TRAILER
bearing buddies
sand and paint trailer
have inspected

LICENSE/INSURANCE
license for boat and trailer
insurance (liability only)

DE & RE-NAMING
Paint on Name and Logo, Cover
Perform De Naming ceremony
Uncover New Name
Perform Naming ceremony
Apply liberal amounts of alcohol of your choice to sv and sailors alike.

EQUIPMENT NEEDED
Swim ladder $29.00 at Bass Pro
Throwable PFDs I think one is required but really need 2 for sitting in cockpit.
Air Horn is this required by the CG?

And so it begins...

2007-10-04T14:40:00.000-05:00

Purchased in Austin, TX July '07.