DIY Bottom job, my arms....

Ok...so I am working my way through my second sailboat bottom job.  My first one saw me going to do the keel job and paying the yard for the economy bottom.  Here we are two plus years later and I decided to do it myself  this time around.

This is the most beautiful piece of toast I have begun my day with that I can recall.  Granted, I don't usually recall breakfast as a rule, so it may have been one of many lovely toast items I may or may not have consumed at some point in my life.  I woke up early to head off to Berkeley Marine Center for my 11a.m. haul out.  I was off early and after 40 minutes of driving I landed in Alameda.  

Here is the pile of gear, tools and paint waiting to be loaded into the truck and then the boat.  The ride out to Berkeley was uneventful except for a fishing line getting snagged on the keel as I passed through the opening at the end of the developed pier.  A quick 360 freed it and I received a "thanks" from the frantically reeling fisherman.  Even though I fought an incoming tide the whole way, I made my haul time and then proceeded to wait.....and wait.  The were full up and trying to figure out where to put me.  I took the time to ride my bike ( did I mention I had my bike in the boat?) back to Alameda.  That took a bit of time, but when 3pm rolled around, I figured I had better head home.  They did get me out and onto stands late in the day though and I was set for Saturday morning.  

Steve rolled in around 8:30 and we were off not knowing for sure whether I was on the hard or not.  But, when we got there, all was well and we set to work sanding the keel as it was a mess after two plus years.

I neglected to shoot any "before" pictures.  This is after Steve and I had been sanding for a while;  all the loose rust has been addressed.  The yard has implemented some environmental rules and they were a little frustrating, though completely understandable. Steve and I lamented not being able to use a flap wheel on a grinder.  It would have made short work of this thing.  So, we used the vacuum sanders that the yard rents and did the best we could.  Not the ideal end, but good enough for another year or two I hope.  If I had this on a trailer somewhere, I'd tent the thing off and sand blast, but oh well.  We addressed any loose or flaking paint on the hull as well and dropped the rudder to so i can fix the play.  

I came back the next day, Sunday, and pressed on alone.  With fresh eyes I hit some missed spots on the hull and primed the keel after another quick once over with the sander to address rust which had started since the day before.

Not as fair as I might like, but what a difference.  This was a two part coating. Carl stopped by and I was able to speak with him a bit which helped gel my plans for the day.  I am left a little concerned about the compatibility of the keep coating and the bottom paint, but I went ahead and committed.  Time will tell.   While this was curing, I started on the rudder. Drilling holes in the fiberglass shell which the rudder shaft lives in.  I waxed the crap out of the shaft and inserted it back into its position then injected an epoxy cabosil goop into the holes filling them and the oval gap in the tube.  I had to really restrain myself to keep from rotating th shaft too soon.  I was very concerned about possibly binding the shaft into its tube.  When I get back, I will grease the rudder shaft and see how it all feels.  I hope it feels better than the bushing I had in there previously made of a wrap of HDPV around the shaft to take up some of the space.  It worked, but made things pretty tight and it squeaked badly.  

So, here I am on Memorial day taking a holiday from the boat.  The stands will be moved tomorrow and if I can get up there in time to sand the spots where they have been, I will.  That will leave the bottom of the keel to be addressed and a third coat of bottom paint at the water line and on the foils.  

Here is how I left the boat yesterday, Oh, and Steve did a hero's duty and took off the "Spinnaker Sailing" letters from the back of the boat.  I hated having them there, but there have always been other things needing attention.  Thanks Steve.