Friday, December 28, 2012

Boatyard Work Just about complete

Didn’t realize it had been a month since I last posted our progress. Let’s just say we have been a bit busy. Where to start…..Well I am happy to report that the bottom continued to dry for another couple weeks after Tom our bottom guy had come to grind. He then returned and fared the bottom on one day, returned the next day and sanded it smooth. His job was done and now it would be left up to Dirk to do the rest. All we would need is some rain free days to start applying the 5 coats of barrier paint and 2 coats of black bottom paint. All in all we used 8 gallons of barrier paint and 3 gallons of Trinidad SR hard bottom paint. Several days later, and we have a bottom that looks as good as new. Dirk did a fabulous job on this as usual.
Tom fairing the bottom


Bottom done, just needing final sanding and paint

Dirk applying the first of 5 coats of the barrier paint


First coat of Bottom paint going on


Bottom job is done, along with the black boot stripes
In the meantime he had removed the old stuffing box and added a new PSS drip less box, plus he replaced the cutlass bearing, and replaced the shaft coupling. Just know that we hope he never has to do the shaft coupling again. Wow, what a pain, and 2 days to do it. It was so corroded in place that even when it was cut in half with an angle grinder it took two of us prying with a 5 ton puller. We actually broke an arm on the puller but after many choice words and threats it finally gave in and came off. Whew, fun fun, NOT…… While he was down in the same hole in the floor we replaced the exhaust hose from the engine. All 12 ½ feet of it. It is 3 ½ inches around and very thick which restricts it from bending much. We ended up feeding it in through the top hatch over the bed, into the floor area and up and under the bed to the rear of the boat. Yet another fun job you get to do while using 5 hands 3 feet and standing on your head all the same time. Believe me when I say, living on a boat is not all sun downers with pretty umbrellas and swaying in a hammock. It could happen but not often enough, at least not now. We are so ready to get back on the water and start heading south back to the Bahamas. But first, more work.
This doesn't look that big but trust me its 12 1/2 feet long and a bear to get put into place
If you read our blog when we first got Renegade you know how bad of shape the decks were in. We knew nothing of teak decks other than they leak. After doing some research and asking around we decided our best and easiest course of action was to scrap the decks of all the years of neglect and repeated coats of cetol. Pull out most of the existing caulking, re-caulk and apply some type of protective barrier. We had several people say to just let it gray. As much as the lazy part of me is screaming to do just that, the part of me that loves the rich tones of varnished and well cared for teak was what was calling us. So Dirk purchased a product called Teak Gard. It isn’t a varnish nor a sealer, it just gives the teak a nice look to it. You must clean the wood very well, apply 3 coats and it is suppose to last a season. Hummmmm What did we do wrong? Seems the high traffic areas wore off way too quickly and we were getting tiger striping going on. This season we discussed it and decided to go a different route to see if it would make a difference. More research, more questions and we have decided to apply what I spent so many months cursing. We decided to completely sand the decks down properly and apply the new Cetol they have now. It is called Marine Natural Teak and it’s not supposed to yellow like the old stuff. Dirk did the hard parts of sanding all the decks down, and what a mess that was. Still is, I finally caved and said I wouldn’t dust or wipe walls till we were out of the boatyard. I have gotten use to writing my notes in the wood dust, fiberglass dust that seems to carpet every horizontal surface I have down below. I have just about completed everything except the cabin top and one coat to the starboard side of the poop deck. (aft deck). I love the rich wood look it gives, it is a bit slick when wet so we need to be careful or put some good deck shoes on. We will see how well this holds up as we are just adding band aids right now. Our goal in the future is to have the decks removed and perhaps redone, but probably fiber glassed. We love the teak look but there is enough wood on the boat and it would solve so many other leak problems.
Not a very good shot but I will post one in the next blog when its complete. Here is the difference as we were working on it
Other projects have gotten completed such as, all the cap rails with the exception of the stern rail plus all the toe rails, (wood on the sides) has been done. Dirk redid the black boot stripe as the last time it was done it was done wrong and it was peeling off. Guess Renegade had blue boot stripes originally as that is what we uncovered. It was Dirks first attempt with rolling and tipping but it looks great and has a nice shine to it. For the non boaters it is the two black painted lines on the sides of the boat. The wheel finally got done, thank goodness. I was tired of looking at it and I hope I never have to redo it again.
The wheel, finally done.....
Christmas has come and gone, old man winter pokes his head in every so often just to remind us that the rest of the country is experiencing winter when we really have had a nice cold season so far. We spent the time with my sister and her family and Dirk took the opportunity to sew the new main and mizzen sail covers. I relaxed and helped cook Christmas Dinner which was mainly cooked by my brother in law. Christmas day was spent cooking, eating, eating and relaxing, sewing, and ummmm eating. Couldn’t help it, Standing rib roast with horseradish sauce, Yorkshire pudding, asparagus, corn casserole, and sweet potatoes. Dessert was key lime and pumpkin pie. Yummmm. The next morning I was met with fresh homemade scones with Devonshire cream made by the sister. We ended up leaving that day. Either that or we were gonna explode.

My sister and I
 
Dirk getting his Santa on


Christmas dinner, yummy



Homemade scones my sister baked. I love the fact that she loves to bake


Dirk's mom sent us a huge box of German goodies, time to hide this all around the boat so it will last.
So we came back to the boat on the 26th and today the 28th we are getting put into the slings around closing time in preparation of a Saturday launch. Dirk will do some final work under the boat where the keel was sitting on the blocks so we are busy busy. Trying to get the last of the big sanding projects done, cetol and varnish can be done anywhere. We decided our plan would be to head back up the canal back to Harbourtown Marina as we found a slip there that has a long enough finger pier for us. When we gave up our last slip someone grabbed it and they only have a few with a finger pier long enough for us. There we will finish up last minute stuff and continue to re provision the boat. I have started but found it was very difficult trying to organize when everything was torn apart. Caption Butters had his yearly exam done and had to be given a magic bullet so to say to have everything done. He is a very bad patient and for some reason has always hated the vet. This vet didn’t waste time and gave him a sedative which in itself can be a very traumatic experience. I was asked if he was part cougar as the scream he let out sounded as such. Once the sedative took effect his eyes were wide open but he allowed them to do anything they wanted. For a couple years he hasn’t had much done other than a visual inspection because he is such a bad patient. I had 3 year rabies shot done to save us trauma every year.  Every test that was needed for several years was finally done down to a temperature reading and he came back with a clean bill of health. His weight is always something we worry about as he is getting older and diabetes is not something I want to deal with in him. Everything checked out and we will continue to try and curb how much we feed him although the vet is surprised by how little we feed him. His weight is 19.5 lbs so he isn’t going hungry although we are strict about his food.
Butters doing what he does best
 Like I said we will go back to Harbourtown Marina, finish up some last minute task, re provision, and oh yeah I almost forgot…..Put in our new water maker. I will tell you more about it in the next blog but Santa decided that’s what we needed this year for Christmas. I’m not complaining. Till next time….