First projects

Once I got the boat on blocks the first order of business was to build a shelter that would allow me to work on the boat in inclement weather. For the initial work I constructed a quick A-frame which sits on the deck and allows me to work on deck and inside the boat. The summers are beautiful in Washington so I won’t need a more substantial shelter until September.

The A-frame cover for the boat. I have ~ 4 ft of headroom underneath.

I’ve found that I generally work on the boat in the evenings after my daughter goes to bed. Because of this I must keep any noise to a minimum, which means I can’t do anything that doesn’t involve hammers or power tools. For my first task I decided to clean the interior of the boat so I could determine what work is most critical and to look for any more repairs that I will have to factor into the refit. This meant cleaning the bilges to locate the keel bolts under the years of grime that had accumulated under the floors. Fortunately, my neighbor’s son, Nathan, came over to see what I was doing with the boat and when I told him I was cleaning the bilge he was very interested to see what that entailed. Well, cleaning a bilge is exactly as glamorous as it sounds but he wasn’t deterred so I grabbed him a brush and we got to work. There were two main discoveries from the binge cleaning. The first, and good news, is that the garboards are in great shape. The second, and not so good news, is that while we were able to locate the four keel bolts, the heads have rusted off of three of them. So new keel bolts will be needed. In my initial survey of the boat I had been able to locate 2 of the bolts (or what was left of them) so I knew there was some work to be done. This just confirmed my suspicions.

I expect that cleaning and dismantling the interior to look for needed repairs will be more gloom and doom than any other part of the process because this is where I’ll be able to access every section of the hull. I’ll finally get a full count of the frames/planks that need to be fixed and any other repairs that need to be made.

Cabinets removed- looking forward

Cabinets removed- looking aft

Before I get started on the major repair work I need to get as much out of the boat as possible so I can get to as many frames as possible. I started by removing the starboard cabinets and vee-berth frame. The cabinets were very well made and resisted my efforts to extricate them from their home, but I finally prevailed. It was especially critical to remove these cabinets because they covered the location of the original leak which forced the boat from the water. It looks like I will need to replace three frames on the starboard side. I could sister the frames but this would simply keep the problem from getting worse. I would really like to address the cause of the leak, which means full frame replacements. It will take a little more work, but it will result in a stronger hull, which helps me stave off nightmares of sinking boats. Anyway, because all the starboard furniture is removed, now is the time to replace the frames. I decided to leave the port settee in place because it gives me a place to sit while I work below, and I can access the frames by simply removing the top board. It looks like there is one frame that needs to be replaced in the main cabin on the port side. I can't say anything about the frames aft of the main cabin because I haven't gotten a good look at them yet. I suspect there may be two or three broken frames on the port side aft of the cockpit as there is a chine that is harder than it should be in that location. For my next effort I expect to get started on the engine and sanding.