Projects and Progress

 I didn't anticipate it was going to be a very productive trip because it got cut short by a full day by work schedules, but getting out of St. Louis when a winter storm is heading that way seemed like a good idea. No snow when we left, but while I was heading down to get coffee at the hotel the next morning this view greeted me out the window:

A very nice lady offered an extra snow brush she had in her car and we were off. It was beautiful scenery to drive through for sure, but still it was going to be nice to get on the other side of the mountains for warmer weather.

My projects for the trip included changing the hailing port decal on the stern. We love the name of the boat, First Light, so no need to change that, but the hailing port had to go. Fortunately, since the last time we did this my daughter and I bought one of those cutting Silhouette cutting machines and we were able to make quick work of the decal (thanks Amber!) We used Oracal exterior permanent vinyl and it installed really easily. The product info says it lasts up to 6 years. We'll see...the last ones we put on Kintala (at a cost of $125) only lasted a couple years before they faded. Excluding the cost of the cutting machine the decal materials only cost $30 and there's enough left over to do it three more times. Vast improvement. I picked up the machine on Facebook Marketplace for less than $200 and it was worth every penny as we use it constantly.

My next project was to continue to try to free up a frozen thru-hull valve. It's the thru-hull for the head overboard and it was completely stuck. Tim had sprayed it repeatedly the last two visits with PB Blaster to no avail. It was stuck in the open position so it was really hard to get anything to stay on the valve long enough to work on the barnacles. This time around I taped over the outside and then poured a bunch of Barnacle Buster in there over a day's time and then with a little help from a 2x4 and a hammer I was able to get the thing free. I'm still working it some more over the next visit to continue to clean it up and lube it, but I think we have averted a replacement, a big deal since a replacement would have been half a boat buck at $465 for the whole assembly.

Another project I wanted to tackle was a thru-hull map for the boat. This boat has a lot of thru-hulls and it's good to know where they are and what they operate in the event of a water-in-the-boat emergency. Fortunately, one of the previous owners of the boat took the time to put tags on each one to identify its purpose. Thank you whoever you were. A little time with Gimp and I had the map. If you've never used Gimp before, it's an open source Photoshop program. I really love it, it's free, and it's just as capable.

Next on the project list was Tim's. The hardtop over the cockpit on First Light is a wonderful thing, but the design and execution are sadly lacking. The framework was built sturdily enough, but they then laid 1/4" plywood on top and then covered that with a very thin Fiberglass sheet that was maybe 1/16" thick. The plywood and frame structure were then painted on the underside. None of the holes mounting the solar panels on top of the hardtop were sealed properly, so water soaked the plywood and it rotted, leaving the 1/16" fiberglass sheet as the only support. Not good. Tim took his trusty "Magic Tool" (our new absolute favorite can't ever be without boat tool) and with a scraper blade was able to carefully scrape the rotting wood off the fiberglass sheet. Then new plywood was covered in fiberglass resin and put in place. Next trip it will be faired, sanded, and repainted.

 

 

This is how thin the fiberglass sheet is.
You can see light through it and all the
wood isn't even sanded off yet.

There's still several other spots that he has to dig out and replace before he does the fare and paint. 

His other project was the repair of the port side settee on the flybridge. At some point in the history of the boat, somebody decided that there wasn't enough access to the space under the settee and they cut another access hole and attempted to make a functional cover for it. I say attempted, because the design was sadly lacking in structural integrity so when someone at some point stood on the settee–probably to fold up the bimini as that appears to be the only way to reach it unless you're freakishly tall–the top of the settee caved in and broke the lid support structure that they had added.

Here's the hole from the top.

It was all constructed out of plywood, none of which was sealed well and had soaked in the water that fills the channel you see here every time it rains.

Here's the other factory-original access hole forward of the added one.

The lid was also plywood glued to the cut out piece of fiberglass.

Tim spent two days grinding and sanding and building a new support structure. I painted the support pieces which he installed and then he scraped off the really old, ugly, decaying sealant from around the edge of the settee and painted the top of it. We're trying the Rustoleum Marine Topside Paint on this for the first time and so far I'm pretty impressed with it. I then ran a new bead of sealant (I loves me some Dow Corning 795. Best. Sealer. Ever.) Somehow I neglected to get a photo of the finished project, but it's probably best to wait because after we finished sanding and painting that side, it became quickly apparent that we were going to have to do the other settee because...well...you know how it goes when one part looks new and the rest looks like crap. I think someone once coined it as Project Creep...So next trip I'll get some finished project photos.

All in all it was a very productive few days, but it left very little time for ukuleles and guitar and drums so the music suffered a bit. We did manage to have time to spend at a birthday bonfire with our new friends Jay and Evan who have a boat they are restoring just down a couple boats from ours. (Happy Birthday Evan!) It was a fun evening and helped us to remember that the whole reason we're doing this is because the Cruising Community is absolutely the best ever.