|
Home Port Our Logs The Crew Calendar Favorite Links The Boat Photo Album Route and Charts Miscellaneous Stuff |
Larry's LogAs was usual, the next day was very busy for everyone, although Diane got to relax a bit in the afternoon. Elias did the final sanding of the boot stripe on the port side in the morning before starting on the stainless steel. I worked on cleaning the propeller and shaft with the abrasive nylon wheel attached to the drill - it works very well but the nylon slowly gets eaten away and was gone before I could finish. Fortunately I had another (never underestimate the value of a spare, especially in a place where they may not be available). Diane had gone to the market to get some groceries although she left a little later than she wanted because she waited for Elias to come (he was a little late because he had to wait for the bakery to take out some more fresh bread, which he was bringing to us daily). Anyway, he was here by 9:30 and Diane left by 10. By the time I finished doing the prop, cleaning the port boot stripe where Elias had sanded and painting the third coat on the stripe, it was about 12:30. I had just sat down to relax for a minute when Diane came back with the groceries. Elias helped bring the stuff up and onto the boat and then we ate lunch. After eating, while Elias sanded the starboard side boot stripe, I started doing the epoxy on the port side of the keel. I had done the starboard side already and wanted to finish fairing the entire keel and get it prepped for painting. Filling the blister holes were the next big job. Doing the keel took longer than I thought because the first batch of epoxy started to 'kick' in the mixing pot (a combination of ambient heat of about 95 and the amount I mixed). So, I mixed less the next time and needed to do a third batch to finish. Anyway, after I finished that, I started on the last coat of the starboard boot stripe. That was finished at just a little after 5, so that was it for the day. Saturday, while Elias continued with the stainless and in the morning, I removed the tape from the boot stripe. It had to be done slowly so the tape didn't rip or the paint pull away. Everything went fine and the paint lines were nice and clean with no smears or runs and the boot stripe itself was even, with no sags or bumps. You could see the brush marks at about 6-8 feet but not too badly. The color, Sapphire Blue,was pretty although it didn't exactly match the cove stripe further up the hull; oh well. By the time I finished taking the tape off it was after 11 so I just cleaned up. I was glad I had taken it off when I did though since the tape was just starting to be difficult - meaning starting to tear or leave a residue. It had been on for only about a week and it was supposed to be good for 14 days, but in this heat and humidity, I was happy with a week. I decided to remove the windvane in the afternoon. I had mounted it almost 5 years ago and never used it, except as a test and never under sail - not even once. I had finally bought the blocks to setup the control lines and figured it all out (each boat is a little different) after having it mounted for a year but never actually used it to steer the boat. The aluminum castings were taking a beating - the paint was chipping off - and the moving parts weren't moving freely anymore. Even if I did want to use it, it needed to be serviced badly to get everything working again so with Elias standing on some scaffolding across the stern, I removed the bolt that held the main shaft. The bolt came out relatively easily (I had used Tef-Gel, a wonderful product, to put the stainless fasteners into the aluminum pieces) but the shaft itself was stuck so I had to remove the 4 mounting bolts from the bracket on the transom. Fortunately, they came out after some WD40 and muscle power and while Elias held it on the scaffolding, I came down and took it from him. I then worked on disassembling it, partly at least, on the ground. Elias returned to cleaning the stainless and I got my metric Allen keys and wrenches. Most of it came apart fine with some more WD40 but there were some parts that were pretty bad, including the main shaft. I let the oil sit and penetrate for a while and then Elias and I tried separating them again - still no good. Well, I had gotten most of the major pieces apart and each was a manageable size so I just cleaned them and brought everything up on deck. It would now fit inside almost any locker rather than needing to be stored on deck or under the propane locker (which would have meant removing the propane locker first, a big job in itself). Since it was close to 5, Diane brought down some beers and the three of us relaxed for a while. Elias then went to take a shower and we did the same. Diane and I were planning to go back to the Syrian Club for dinner with Janice and Weedie, from Plenum, and Bob and Susan from Sunrise. Our friends came over about 6:30 and we walked over to the club, just a little down the street from the marina. At first the guards didn't want to let us in since we weren't members but Diane spoke to them and we finally got in. The food was as good as last time but they didn't have my favorite appetizer, called 'crema de pimenton', which is a sweet red pepper ground up in some kind of sauce. They did have some others though and we all liked the main course. Sunday morning we finally slept late - no radio, no nets, little work, at least that's how I planned it. I wanted to do some things, like maybe taking the Max Prop apart to clean and re-grease it, and wash off the deck and put some more water in the tank but not much more than that. I didn't get started doing anything until almost 11 but then I took the prop apart, cleaned it and inspected it for any dings or nicks. Everything looked fine and after I removed all the old grease, the parts went in a bucket to be reassembled later. After lunch, I took off the Spurs line cutter and cleaned that up also. It needed to be cleaned but also needed a new plastic bushing - the old one was just about falling apart. I hadn't planned on it but I started sanding around the holes where I had drilled out the blisters. Tom (Mima) had said I should remove the paint from around each hole to give the epoxy more surface to hold and Bob (Sunrise) made the suggestion last night as well. I had never done that before and the epoxy seemed to hold just fine but I figured that with the amount of holes I needed to fill, a little more work for some added peace of mind was worth it. I had done most on the starboard quarter when Diane decided she wanted to wash down the deck so Elias could do the compounding and waxing there tomorrow morning I also wanted him to apply some Cetol to the external wood around the small hatch that was installed in the aft cabin since it had never been done. While he was doing the Cetol, he could also apply a coat or 2 of the gloss to the wood over the companionway as maintenance. Finally, I finished washing the deck for Diane since she was making a nice dessert (a hot fudge cake that was very good). For a day that was supposed to be easy, I was pretty tired by the end of it. Monday was really tough, I felt like I had been beaten up by the end but we are making progress. Elias came and brought the bread and I got him started on the Cetol on the small hatch and the teak blocks that hold the boarding ladder to the toerail. They hadn't been done either and the wood was starting to crack and check. I figured that they should be done although I didn't think they would ever actually break. I worked on the blister holes the entire day. Not very exciting and very hard work holding a drill and trying to control exactly how much to sand off, especially when you're bent over underneath the boat, holding the drill up to do holes on the bottom of the hull and trying to see what you're doing at the same time. My back and arms have felt better but at least they are all done now. The boat really looks like it has a pox but hopefully filling the holes with epoxy will go quickly. Elias finished the wood for the day and then started on compounding the deck and cockpit. I may try having him help with filling the holes tomorrow but because of the timing working with epoxy in this heat, it may not make any difference. The weather on the net Tuesday morning announced three tropical waves between the African shore and the western Caribbean - I guess hurricane season is fast approaching. After I finished the net, I started on the blister holes again. I did the first set myself to get a feel for how the timing would be with the epoxy. Elias, in the meantime, did another coat of Cetol on the wood on the small hatch and the boarding ladder blocks. It took me almost all morning to do just a small part of the boat - if I continued doing it by myself, it would be almost another week before we could even paint. During lunch, Diane convinced me to try using Elias to help with the holes. So we started that afternoon with me explaining how the epoxy works and is mixed (in Spanish so it's a good thing Elias understands some English). I first showed him how I wanted the holes cleaned with a clean rag dampened with alcohol and Diane also helped with that. Then I demonstrated how to 'wet out' the cleaned fiberglass with straight epoxy and finally, how to apply the thickened epoxy and make it flush with the surface using a plastic spatula. He caught on very quickly. So with Diane cleaning the holes, I would mix the epoxy and then he and I applied it. It seemed to work out pretty well - and it was much easier on my back since he can get on the under the hull much easier than I can since he's shorter (I'm 6'5" and he's about 5'6"). We got a lot of the starboard side done and should be able to finish the rest tomorrow. They will still need some more work since it's almost impossible to get the holes flush with just one pass but they are looking much better. Interestingly, I noticed some blisters that were right next to ones that I had filled previously - those holes extended into the old epoxy I recognized as applied 2 years ago. At that time, I hadn't used colloidal silica or the barrier coat additive that the epoxy manufacturer recommends in their booklet, like I was doing now. Of course, not every old blister needed to be re-drilled either. In any case, I doubt if these repaired blisters will have that problem again. The next morning, Elias did the final coat of regular Cetol on the small pieces of wood on deck and then came down to help me start on the holes again. Together, we finished most of the boat today except for some of the keel on the port side. I could finish those holes tomorrow while he started waxing the strip above the new boot stripe where I had told him not to wax before I painted. I had taken great care to remove the wax there so the paint would adhere well but now he could wax down to the new boot stripe with no problem. I still had to work on the keel some more and fill in the area near the seacock for the sink drain since the epoxy had chipped off in that spot but we could finally see some light at the end of the tunnel. Our friend from Global Ombaka, Fred, came over to visit later and we went back to the Syrian Club. He had just come into Bahia Redonda a few days before and wasn't staying long so we wanted a chance to see him before he left. He had recently married a local woman from Margarita but she had gone to Valencia for some medical tests and we didn't get a chance to meet her. Elias, the next morning, did the first coat of the Cetol Gloss on the wood he had been working on and I did the remaining holes in the keel on the port side. They were finally all filled in. Unfortunately, they still needed work. Many of the filled holes were not completely flush with the surface of the hull and needed to be filled again. That meant that they had to be wet sanded to get rid of the amine blush that is produced as a byproduct of the curing epoxy and to give the surface a "tooth" for the new epoxy to grab. While I did the keel, Elias waxed the remaining part of the topsides that was near the new boot stripe. That afternoon, Diane and Elias did the wet sanding of the holes while I got the prop, line cutter and engine intake grate ready for primer and re-installation. I also got the shaft and strut zincs installed. The shaft zinc gave me some trouble - when I put it on the shaft and started tightening one of the bolts, the bolt head snapped off. Well, it could have been a real problem but fortunately, there was enough of the bolt on the other side that I could grab with some locking needle nose pliers and so twisted out the broken piece. I got another bolt and installed it with no problem and then put on the zinc (anode) on the strut. We quit a little early (about 5:30) since we had invited Larry, from a boat here called Thunderball, over for some drinks and a snack. He came by and we had a nice time talking for a couple of hours. Friday the 13th and I did the net unexpectedly this morning since Patty from Xanadu Marine had forgotten it was Friday. (She came on the radio about an hour later and apologized.) Anyway, it was no big deal and we got started at the same time. Elias came and started the second coat of Cetol Gloss and then began on waxing the cockpit and deck. Diane and I went to several stores for some things we needed, like primer for the prop and shaft, and other miscellaneous supplies. We had to buy an entire "kit" just to get the correct tie coat primer but it was actually cheaper to do that since the tie coat was only available in a gallon size otherwise. Diane also went to a supermarket near the hardware store so we now had finalized our boat supplies and something to eat. In the afternoon, while Elias continued with the waxing, I sanded the epoxy on the keel, put the prop and line cutters back on and made some plans for tomorrow. I think it will be Elias' last day while we're on the hard and I wanted to use him effectively. We all had our end-of-day beers, relaxed and went to the showers. The next day was hot and very tiring but we made good progress. In the morning, I had Elias paint the prop, shaft, strut and engine grate with the metal primer and after that dried, he put on the tie coat primer. Between doing that, he helped me put the second layer of epoxy on the blister holes on the starboard side. It went pretty fast and we finished the entire boat by the end of the day. He continued with waxing the cockpit and deck in the afternoon once the holes were done while I continued with putting more epoxy on the keel. I managed to get the leading edge pretty fair as well as the trailing edge. The bottom of the keel was now almost done; perhaps a little more fairing tomorrow and then some barrier coating. I could also wet sand the filled blister holes and then we would be ready to apply the antifouling. The yard had given us some hard bottom paint for the prop and shaft since the ablative paint we were using for the hull would wash off very quickly. While we had our "after work" beers we told Elias we wouldn't need him next week although we planned to use him to do some more varnishing while we went to Merida, after getting back to Bahia Redonda. He had been a tremendous help and we would have been at least another week in the yard without him. |