Ed Note: This post spans about a week's worth of being at our home dock.
The marina has been the temporary home for many Looper friends for the last couple of days. The river situation south of St. Louis is a bit questionable at the moment. It looks like they can make Kentucky Lake easily enough with the only concern being how many boats are going to be stopped at the lake trying to decide how hard to push south, a decision made even more difficult with the Florida Big Bend area being hammered yet again by another major hurricane. I'm not sure I could talk myself into taking a boat any further south than I am right now. Both Deb and I are kind of glad that we don't have to make any traveling decisions at the moment. But that doesn't make it any easier for friends who live in Florida and other friends who need to go that way to get home.
Our friends on Number 99 as they pass the arch on their way south.
A couple of days ago, we spent the day as tour guides for our home town, eight of us enjoying the city's zoo and then four of that group going on to visit the Arch. (Deb and I have been there and have no real need to visit it again.) We have also been the target address for some of our friends getting things shipped to them. Getting things shipped is a relentless pain for those of us who travel by boat with a current address being “somewhere on the water”. We have helped out in some other small ways as well. It is what people who live on boats tend to do, as most of us have needed a favor or two along the way. Deb and I have been on the receiving end of a helping hand so many times. It is nice having the chance to be on the offering side for a change.
He seems to think that way is south...
So we headed off to the marina with two granddaughters in tow to a) actually start getting some work done on the boat and, b) meet up for dinner with the gang before they head south in the morning. The “b” part of the day was a really good time. The granddaughters charmed the group while we shared stories with people who are now good friends that we might not see again for a while.
We didn't remove the wall so much as destroy it. It was mounted with nails buried into the wood, leaving no way to pry it off without trashing the wall itself. I guess nails are cheaper than screws and/or it never occurred to the fabricating or design team that anyone would ever need access to that area again (this in spite of the plumbing lines and wiring runs behind the wall).
Even that brute force method of removal took most of the day. Which sounds bad, and is. But isn't quite as bad as it might seem. The wall is (was) a thin slab of laminated wood-like material that was showing the damage of decades on a boat. The support wood it was attached to was in even worse shape. And, as is common with boats, the install itself was shoddy with nails sticking out in skin-gouging places where someone kind of missed the target. The wood supports looked like they were hacked off with a dull ax and were even more rotted out than the wall itself. Understandable, as it was untreated raw wood. In my experience it was marine-industry-acceptable since it was all hidden and likely assembled by people making minimum wage with someone standing over them demanding that they move faster and use whatever material was lying around. The low standards of marine industry quality control is my normal expectation whenever I get involved with a boat project, but it is still a disappointment. And, to be fair, it isn't likely the manufacturer ever expected the boat to be in service as long as it has.
After the new cleat is in place, the shower will be rebuilt with new and better material. It's my boat and I can make it as professional-looking as my skill and wallet will allow if I want, even if no one else will ever see what is behind the wall again.
With the wall destroyed, it became obvious that access to the cleat mounting bolts was still going to be a problem. As expected, the cleat was through-bolted at the edge of the deck with a backing plate. What was not expected is that the three of the four bolts as well as most of the backing plate were then fiberglassed over. It would appear that the deck was assembled as a unit with the cleats installed, then that unit was glassed onto the hull. Thus the outboard bolts are completely buried where the hull and deck are joined. We were stymied for the day, but that was okay as it was time for dinner with our friends. Then home with two tired granddaughters and one worn out Grampy T.
After removing the retractable clothesline, we drilled a hole big enough for the boroscope
so we could be sure the nuts were where we thought they were. Alas, all you could see was one tiny bit of nut edge under fiberglass.
After removing a bit of fiberglass and one of the nuts, the backing plate became visible.
After a day off, we were back at it. The forward inboard sheared bolt wasn't glassed over and was easily removed. The aft inboard bolt was the one that didn't shear and was still holding the cleat to the boat. That nut was covered with fiberglass but was accessible. A few seconds with a Dremel and I could hold the nut while Deb unscrewed the cleat from the deck. (The nut was spinning in a glassed in pocket.)
We will be replacing the cleat with a different style that has just two mount bolts. Not as beefy as the original, but it will get the job done. Particularly since we will not make the mistake of running fore and aft spring lines to those cleats while getting bashed against a wall in three-foot rollers.
When the new cleat is installed, we will tackle the job of rebuilding the shower stall. The goal is to make it look more professional and "tidy" than it did. That is not going to be an easy job and will likely take a while. Fortunately, we are not in any hurry to go anywhere. Which is particularly good because the cleat repair and shower rebuild is far from the biggest job we need to do. With the replacement cleat on order and the shower cleaned up from its disaster-in-progress state we decided to get one more task done. It took less than an hour to replace the low pressure water pump that we had shanghaied into serving as a deck wash pump with an actual deck wash pump. Big difference. Not sure when the next time will be that the hook will come up covered in mud but when that happens we will be blasting that mud off with ease.
This morning, Grandsons (two) and I headed back to the marina to finish the cleat repair. The Grandsons did the sanding, washer filing and fitting, and final install. All I did was watch, lay down the sealer, and put the final bit of torque on the install. There is still a little gelcoat work to do around the new cleat. Actually, there is gelcoat work all over the boat awaiting attention. The cleat will get its share.
So we are now several days in to our "the-boat-is-a-hobby-not-our-home" post Loop life. A few projects are already well along. It feels pretty good.
The old cleat just taped on till we made it home
The two inaccessible outboard holes glassed in
The two accessible holes ground out so the new cleat bolts would line up with the holes
Waiting for the new cleat to arrive
Guess what needs to happen to that ever-too-long screw???
Washers to beef up the backing plate.
The new cleat installed
Yes, much more gelcoat needs to be done...
More photos from our zoo trip
He told you south was that way!
