The end is in sight

Today saw a good bit accomplished and I documented some of the bits that I took care of on the trip before last. The intervening trip was the actual raising of the mast and that's all that was done. I tensioned the rig this morning. Pulled a 20 foot extension ladder up the spinnaker halyard, climbed up and tied it off so it wouldn't wobble around. Then I was just close enough to the spreader tip to adjust the seizing wire to allow the shroud to run correctly. Greased the turnbuckles and tightened everything close to the marks I put on the threads before loosening everything up. Because the mast is a little higher than it was, I didn't tighten the shrouds all the way to the previous marks, I'll have to fine tune with the tension gauge and by sailing her. Have to say she looks good to be almost intact. Of course, that is from a distance. The deck is covered with shavings, tape and drilling debris ( I can't wait to hose her down).

Rick Bishop from Bishop Diving and Salvage came by to introduce himself. I had been watching a diver cleaning some hulls and wondered, as I do with every diver in the water, whether they were Rick. Turns out I finally got it right. Nice guy and was saying that he was a little relieved to see the mast back up ( Yeah, me too).













One of my least favorite jobs is making deck penetrations. It is not as simple as drilling a hole in the deck and then mounting hardware. The previous owner of Hull 466 obviously thought that was all there was to it, which is why I have had to redo everything. The process for making a new deck hole is simple but time consuming depending on the speed of your hardener. #1 Drill the hole small. #2 Redrill the hole as big as you can, but don't go through the bottom layer of fiberglass. #3 tape up the underside of the hole. #4 Then fill/ paint the inside of the hole with epoxy. #5 Then fill to the rim with epoxy mixed with microspheres. #6 Keep topping up the holes as they will drink the epoxy. #7 Once the epoxy is cured, sand and then drill the hole to the correct size for the hardware. That way the deck core is protected from the eventual water penetration which will happen some day.















So, I spent a couple hours chasing the draining of the epoxy through both holes being filled and the holes for the new winches etc. Gets old so fast.


These images are from some of the mods I have been making. I am certain the compression post was deflecting the board and bulkhead, so I beefed it up with some of the same "Iron Wood" that I used for my new winch bases. I will have pictures of those later.















Then, after beefing up the chainplate attachment on the bulkhead, I cut out a little to make the foreward area of the boat more accessible. I am pretty thin, but Squeezing through the old space was awkward, even for me.














I have learned my lesson with 3M 4200 caulking. The stuff is super tough. Practical Sailor tested it and it is actually more permanent than the 3M 5200. Trying to get the old winch bases off was a disaster. I will have to chisel them off and then clean up the mess, eventually plugging the old holes. I mounted these winches, so at least I know the holes through the deck core a properly done.















To get this far, I tried putting a screw into the side and hooking a rope loop to it that was then slung over my shoulders. I then, "stood up" and tore the 1 inch thick block of oak in half. What a mess.