Sunday, February 24, 2013

This and That

Worked a lot on the boat this past week, but don't feel like I made any major accomplishments, more like a lot of small ones!




This is after the first coat of bilgekote.  I ran out so I went to West Marine to get a gallon and they did not have it in stock, so I had them order it.  Did a price match from Defender and was told that WM would stop doing that on March 1.   Oh well, guess I will be ordering on line.  Need 2 more coats.

I decided to drill a 7/8" hole in the "joists" to feed my 1/2" water hose through.  Most would just lay the hose on the bottom, but not me!













The berth storage areas have had 3 coats of paint, so I decided to dry fit the water tanks.  By the way, these are 10 gallons.  I previously stated they were 9 gallons.  This is the forward port berth area.


















This is the aft port berth area.  I will need to secure them in place once all of the hoses are attached





















Decided to move to the starboard side and start the same process of prepping for plumbing.  I found the same lifting rings.  You can see the 2 on either side of the threshold to the starboard berth area.


















Here is the rest of the floor removed.





















I also decided to start prepping for the primer coat on the new fiberglass and deck.  So I started unbolting everything off of the deck.  Here is a shot of one of the cleats I removed.  I had my eye on some nice shiny SS cleats, but opted to save my money and just clean these aluminum ones up with my dremel.









Since I am getting close to putting a primer coat on the deck, I decided I better start sanding the teak rub rail now.  Also in this picture you can see the area where the extended hull was added by the factory.  I have expanded the fairing to a wider swath and honestly I could go even wider, but it is subtle enough.









A close up of the same area.  I finished the port side today.  It went fairly quickly with my orbital sander, but had to do touch up some areas by hand.











This is a shot looking down on the teak rub rail about mid way, where the factory joined 2 pieces together.  A gap has developed over time and can't just be sanded out.

What to do?










This is looking straight on from the side.  I decided to mix some catalyzed resin with some "sawdust" of the teak, collected from my orbital sander filter.

I tried to push as much as I could in the crack from all sides.  The screw and washer is used to close the gap.  If you look closely, you can see the resin mix oozing out.  I will let it sit for a few days and then remove the screw to see if it holds.  If not, Plan B?




Update: 3/3/13

Removed screw/washer and sanded down.



The epoxy mix held!  Left quite a noticeable mark, thought.  Sawdust didn't quite do it.  Need to think what I can do to make that less noticeable.

















Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Start Prepping for Plumbing

Took the Ericson out for a sail on Sunday, so no work on the Iroq.  Saturday, Yesterday and Today, I spent  filling in nicks, chips and spider cracks in the deck.  I think I just about got it.  Need to do a little more work on the stern where I removed the teak trim and then I will be ready for prime coat next couple of weeks.



One of the things I mentioned that I wanted to do was to level out the base that the existing aft stanchion sat on.  Right now it cants forward.  I want it to be straight to match the new railing I will be installing.















I used my belt sander to level the base out. I did not expect there to be a cavity!












I first filled in the cavity with catalyzed resin and then topped if off with a fairing mix.














Last week, I started painting the berth storage areas, which will be used for water tanks.  This is the port forward berth storage area.



















And after 3 coats of Bilgekote paint!




















Being a bit anal retentive, I don't want to see any wiring, hoses, etc. if I can help it.  I intend on running all plumbing under the floor, so off with the old linoleum!  This is a shot looking down on the bathroom to the left.  The white area is a drain pan.  I intend to drain that forward to an automatic bilge pump.  This whole area will get a few coats of Bilgekote paint.  Started that today.







Interesting what you find under stuff!  I assume this is a lifting ring (made out of rope) that is just fiberglassed in place.  I won't need that, so I cut it off with my angle grinder with cutting wheel.

There were remnants of another one in the storage area just to the right.















Here is another one in the bathroom.  There is one more on the other side of the wall, in the port aft berth area.






















This is a shot of the floor in the port aft berth area.  You can see the other lifting ring.  I am only going to paint the area accessible by the cut out.  The new floor will go right on top of the existing.  I would like to go with a classic teak and holly floor, but I don't want to spend that kind of money.  I saw where one guy purchased some marine plywood, stained it to look like teak and used some cream colored pin stripe to replicate the holly, then covered it will 3 coats of varnish.  I might try that.








Tomorrow, I have a welder coming over to finalize my design for the stainless steel boat arch that will be used for my main sheet traveler.  Here is a drawing:




I was originally intending to mount the radar scanner on top as well, but even with the use of an 18" aft leaning mount, I think it was just not going to be high enough.  I will opt to put the scanner on the mast.  The arch will incorporate a bench seat to move guests out of the small cockpit area, a la Topcat catamaran.


Also ordered my trampoline net this week from Sunrise Yacht Products.  The one I have now is falling apart.



Here is what I ordered.













That's it for today














Monday, February 4, 2013

Odd and Ends

I am trying to find some direction.  I still have plenty of fixing and fairing to do.  I am thinking that I will put down a prime coat on all of the new fiberglass in March and then follow shortly with the paint.  Until then I need to start contemplating the plumbing and electrical.  I have most if not all of the parts and pieces necessary.  I have another short week after Presidents day and will likely take that week off, pending decent weather.  Until then, here are a few more pictures of some of the odds and ends I have been working on.



Here is the hull extension join area that showed a poor join by the factory.






















And here is a shot of the same area after sanding.  I could still feel a depression, so I took a straight edge and marked the larger area to place more fairing mix.



















These are the 2 thru hull locations at the bathroom that I filled in and faired and sanded twice.  Its is ready for some primer.



















If you remember, I bought 2 stern rails a few months back.  I decided to start dry fitting them.  My first concern was that they would conflict with the back stays.  I don't have a picture, but the back stay passes between the upper and middle rail...Whew!

I also need to straighten that existing stanchion shown on the left.  It leans forward and I want it to stand straight.







The bases on the new stern rail were obviously made for a different boat, so I am in the process of installing a spacer to take up the angle.  I will place some fiberglass mat and fiberglass it to the deck.  Just enough space to allow drainage on the left and clearance for the hatch cover on the right.

















Here is the most aft stanchion base.  I ended up using a piece of the cabin top that I cut off.  The balsa was easy to cut and sand into the shape I needed.

After I fiberglass, prime and paint, I will drill holes straight through and secure with SS bolt, washer and nut.






Here is a shot of the starboard stern after I removed the teak rub rail.  The rub rail was modified to accept the davits that I will no longer use.  It is hard to see here, but there were lots of cracks on the top, so gouged out material at each crack in order to place some fairing mix and smooth out the whole area.  I will not likely replace a rub rail on the stern.  No real purpose other than looks, which had I been able to salvage it, I would have put it back.   I was able to salvage the rub rail on the inside  hull to the left and will reinstall in conjunction with a new swim step.




The port side fared much better, but will still need some attention to make this look nice.

Lots of little things!











Update: February 8, 2013

Raining again today, so I decided to start painting the berth storage areas.


Here is the aft starboard berth storage area.  The copper pipe is the lpg supply to the stove.






BEFORE













I will be putting a 9 gallon HDPE water tank in here for the galley sink.  Looks more sanitary now doesn't it?





                                                             AFTER











It is amazing what a coat of paint can do for the psyche.  Just a small taste of what is to come!