Plastic Classic Forum

Well I hope you folks are happy.

Back in June Tim said:

I'd advise you to remove everything you possibly can… Getting the hardware off now makes the most sense.

And Chris:

if there is a single piece of hardware on deck that I think should be removed and rebedded regularly, it is (the stanchion bases).

Okay, okay, I hear you:









And I’m happy. The boat’s not yet looking better of course, but at least has some prospect of doing so. We shall see.

Stopped short of removing only a few items—most prominently, the toe rail. It’s in decent enough shape, not excessively worn and should look good after strip, sand and varnish. Removal would be quite difficult—almost all through-bolts are adjacent the hull, at some points seemingly glassed in. Removing the genoa track from atop the rails was difficult enough; frequently bolts would surrender only with vise-grips below and above deck—possible topside because bolts after loosening nuts could be brought proud the track. With rail bolts recessed under bungs it’s unlikely bolt heads could be brought up sufficiently to grab with grips, at least not without badly marring the rail.

Toe rail bolts aren’t looking shiny new of course, but trust they aren’t leaking (though with little basis for this opinion, really).

Never could decide which part of the boat I hated working in the most. Always seemed to be the one I was in at the time.

The forepeak could have been a comfy perch, with thick anchor line to recline on, but every time in there, lower back would remind “I don’t like this!!” Also, a previous owner had closed off the anchor line locker with plywood and home improvement store window louvers. Unlike LeComte’s nicely rounded opening, the entryway now is smaller and sharp-edged. Yes, could have removed this too, but didn’t.

In cockpit lockers, after fuel tank removal, there at least is fairly decent space to work. Too bad I haven’t yet cleaned the copious black mildew, but by now a fair amount has been backside scrubbed.

Have been amazed at the force gravity exerts when crawling against bilge counter. Hi-rise stair climbing is nothing in comparison.

Probably the worst area is under portside decks by the companionway—lying over sink, over storage cabinet, reaching overhead without sufficient room to apply decent leverage, thinking coffins have more room than this workspace.

Also, haven’t removed companionway trim. Looks good now and should look better after refinishing, and painting surrounding glass.

Lastly, pulled all deck fills except for the one for the water tank, which is securely fastened to a heavy bronze pipe to the in-bilge tank. Was able to remove the fill for the abandoned fuel tank, but not without dremel cutting at arm’s length its bronze pipe, wondering if saw kickback would take some flesh with it.

Smiled at the fuel fill “full” label:



Oscar, perhaps it means “fuel” or “fill” in Dutch?

Anyway, now that hardware is off, suppose it’s time to find a new hobby. I understand some enjoy golf.

BS

And some might remember I was puzzled about how to remove these:



Tim’s advice—off with their (screw) heads! Didn’t like this though, thinking “if I can’t reach the fastener to remove it, how will I ever get it back on again?” Quetzalsailor recommended fixing stick to wrench to reach. Was skeptical of this too, wondering how much leverage a stick/wrench could hold. Finally realized the stick was needed only to position the wrench and after turning from screw head, the sea hood would hold the wrench secure. Ultimately, duct tape and a long winch bolt made the wrench extension. And those brackets too are out. Thanks!

Congratulations, Brian - you've achieved a major milestone!

What a pile of hardware and fasteners and wood you've been in contact with. Must feel good to finally be at the bottom, so to speak, with nowhere to go but back up! Seems like the next step should be a good, thorough cleaning, to make your future work a little easier - your mention of mildew made me shudder a little - I know it'd drive me nuts to be sliding around amongst that kind of dirt. One of the first things I did with Weatherbird was to clear out the bilge and cockpit lockers and give it all a good coat of bilge paint - it made working in the boat much more pleasant afterward (although I found the paint quite toxic during application). Something I never did but always wished I had was to put a bilge drain (garboard plug) at the bottom of the deep bilge - that would have made cleaning with a hose so much easier - just spray things down with impunity, knowing that it'll all drain out again. Although since you're indoors you might want to make sure you can attach a hose to the drain to route the water somewhere more appropriate, I don't know.

You've still got a long road ahead, but from here on in the work will show you progress, not destruction. Onwards!

Cheers,

Chris

No rest for the wicked.

Your deck's condition makes my eyes hurt--can you please start sanding and removing the 1" thick layers of paint? ;<)

I dare say your first picture belongs in the "faces in the boat" thread: I see surprise.

Hopefully you won't have any as you continue...

When the boat is thoroughly clean the fun part begins. Rebuilding. I started really enjoying myself once our boat Aurora, an Islander 32, was completely clean. But scrubbing and scrubbing with a brush in difficult to reach places to remove nearly 50 years of gunk, grime, soot and mold on a very rough fibreglass surface took forever.
So I bought a pressure washer, put on a raincoat and goggles, hooked it up to hot water and blasted all that stuff off!
I figured it's only water. And it worked great. Cleaned everywhere including tiny places where only a toothbrush could reach if my arms were long enough.
Used my wet/dry vac. to suck all the water out of the bilge, a few towels to remove most of the water on the bulkheads and let the air dry the rest.
Two hours to clean the entire inside of our boat. Soon after I painted all exposed fibrglass surfaces with white bilgekote.
What a difference.

BS-

You're situation may be different and I don't want to make more work for you but, in looking at your first picture, I saw those dorade boxes staring at me. I removed mine and found more ungly paint underneath them (not to mention that air flow was hampered by several decades of mud and paper wasp nest accumulation).

David

David, yes it seems our situation is not the same. Here boxes are glassed to deck, unpainted inside and, unlike near everywhere else, not too nasty though some washing will be useful.

Chris and Henk, with winter closer than warm weather will concentrate on other tasks before cleaning. Like the idea of a garboard plug; would need at least a little thought to avoid drilling into one of the in-bilge tanks (unless going inside out?). Also will take on the power wash suggestion. Boat shed has water supply, though it’s a very long hose to the boat. Shed floor is large sized gravel.

Tim, not obvious from the pics but in fact previous owner’s +20 years of annual deck paint was removed last winter, with heat gun and scraper, when the only joy was sitting on deck sections previously warmed by the gun.

And Ceasar, surprise for sure, but please don’t wish away future pleasant ones!

Regards,

Brian

Brian wrote:Like the idea of a garboard plug; would need at least a little thought to avoid drilling into one of the in-bilge tanks (unless going inside out?).

Drilling from the inside is what I had planned to do - I never came up with a satisfactory way of feeling confident that I knew where the bottom of the bilge was. The tanks aren't too hard (especially if there is anything in them, then they show up as condensation from the outside), the middle deep bilge is long enough that even if you get it wrong by several inches you'll still be in it. The glass on the bottom of that bilge may be six inches thick, though (see the LeComteOwners site's pictures of Agave after she went ashore over a reef in the Bahamas, here) - so guessing where it is from the outside would be tricky. A small and/or flexible person with a regular drill, or a less small and flexible person with an angle drill ought to be able to do it from inside and get it nearly at the bottom of the bilge, I'm quite sure. I think it'd be immensely useful going forward - eliminates any winter storage worries during rainstorms (of course if you're always going to store inside you won't have those worries).

I doubt any professionally built 'glass boat is 6" of 'glass thick anywhere. I'll bet a buck that 2" is rare.

Quetzal's hull is barely 1/2" thick at any of the 7 throughhulls, and something less than 1/2" at a foot below the sheer amidships (about 6" forward of the upper chainplate channel). I could imagine that Quetzal is 1" thick at the join between the hull halves, but that would be 1/2" for the hull layup and 1/2" for the joining tabbing. Well, knowing LeComte a little, I'd bet that the hull layup actually thins at the join and the total thickness is more uniform, like a scarpf. (That first supposition would put 1" of glass at the bottom of the keel, where Agave was injured; additionally, tabbing of tank baffles would thicken the asssembly there.)

I retract my statement about Agave being 6" thick on the bottom. My memory of the pictures of her keel after being driven over the reef were that there were gouges 4-5" deep that didn't penetrate into the bilge. But looking at the pictures I'm not sure where I got that idea. I can't find any email evidence of it, either. One thing I have heard about hulls that are layed up in two halves and tabbed together, though - the tabbing at the bottom of the keel is often excessive to make up for how poorly it's done since they can't reach it to work on it properly. Which doesn't sound too unreasonable!