Planning

Once it warms up a bit, I'll be able to get started on some of the things I need to fix before I can get her back in the water and get out of here. Since a large part of that involves fiberglass work and painting, and it won't be warm enough to really tackle that until April, I've got a lot of time on my hands right now.

I've spent much of that time lately researching and planning, and have come up with a pretty long list of stuff I'd like to do. Now, I need to winnow it down to what I can accomplish from now until April -- I plan to reserve April for rigging, chainplates and deck work, including laying down non-skid. I want to launch by May 1st.

I'll try to post a list later this week, but here's a couple I've been working on this week:

The first is adding insulation to the inside of the hull. I've wanted to do this for a while, but until today, hadn't found the right solution. I'm going to go with 1/2" thick Armaflex closed cell foam insulation, and glue it directly to the inside of the hull. Although insulation helps keep the boat warm, or cool, it's main purpose is to cut down on condensation whenever the temperature is colder outside than it is inside. This will go a long way to making the boat dryer and more comfortable.

The second concerns my leaking toerails. I've decided to get rid of the toerails completely and permanently bond the hull-to-deck joint with a heavy layer of fiberglass extending several inches onto the deck and down the outside of the hull. Since my goal is to get rid of as many holes as possible, I'm going to remove all the bolts, including the ones holding the joint together, before I glass it in. The joint is well glued and bonded, so removing them shouldn't disturb it. However, I'll start with a small section just to be sure -- with a 40 year old boat, you never know what you're going to find when you pull back the curtain. But whatever it is, it's got to be fixed.

I'll probably add another light layer inside just to seal it as soon as I pull the bolts. I should be able to keep the cabin warm enough for it to cure, and it'll keep the water out while I'm waiting for warmer weather -- and allow me to wash it down the outside before I start working on it. It'll also give me a nice clean surface to glue the insulation once I'm done

Of course, once it's been washed down, I'll still need to keep the outside dry while I'm working, but I should be able to use the canvas I salvaged from the old cover to make a tarp to cover it at night or whenever it rains. I could also use duct tape if need be -- I duct taped the hole the chainplate made when it was ripped out in December, and that hasn't leaked at all.

Although I'm not planning to put back the teak toerail, I will need to replace it with something. My choices are to either build up a fiberglass one or bolt a teak bulwark to the lifeline stanchions. Several of my stanchions are in bad shape, so this might be a good time to replace them. In any case, I'll need to move them outboard -- the placement and width of the toerails meant they were mounted several inches from the edge of the deck. Moving them outboard should give me at least an inch or two more deck width, plus 2-3 more inches at the lifelines, and every little bit helps. I might also need to add a few more to support the bulwark near the shrouds.

However, without toerails, I'll have to mount the chocks, cleats, and genoa tracks directly on the deck, but this is a good thing, since it reduces the moment forces somewhat and makes them more stable. I might also have to do something with the turning blocks. They aren't mounted on the toerails, but are mounted on raised teak blocks that butt up against them and line up with the standup block on the genoa track. Moving them slightly outboard and closer to the deck should make them stronger and more stable as well.

As you can see, there's still a lot more to think about, so I plan to look at a lot of boats and pull my toerails before I commit to a final solution.