At Last, an Update...

It's been over a year since my last blog update. It's been two years since we hauled the boat out of the water, depressing when you think about it. This project that we've undertaken to change and correct the boat to make it safer, more comfortable and chase rust seems endless, but looking back over the last 2 years, we have accomplished a lot and it may be possible to finish what's left by the end of the year, well that is if we ever get back down there. We haven't actually spent the entirety of those 2 years in the boatyard as the heat and humidity of the summer months in Guaymas make it nearly impossible to get anything done. So we spent some of those months in the relative coolness of the mountains of northern New Mexico.............

Zero pretty much makes himself at home where ever we go

As for progress on the boat.............

We decided to change a few things at first and then Jim got a bit carried away with the cutting torch

Removed the aft hung rudder, cut away part of the keel, removed nearly a ton of excess ballast, replaced it with a 100 gallon fuel tank

Removed the cockpit and lazarett

New plate welded in place

Removed some of the interior walls, moved the bed towards the center of the boat, added more insulation in the ceiling, rebuilt the frig box so there is now room for a freezer.

Removed the life lines and welded in solid rails all the way around. Bowsprit was unbolted and then welded into place

Engine was moved a bit forward and down since we had been having problems with the prop coming out of the water in rough seas.

 

Newly designed rudder

Sand blasting, had to wait an extra 3 months before the yard that had been scheduled to do the work finally was able to fit us in.

New antiskid on the deck. Notice the windows on that had been on the deck were removed.

Paint, paint and more paint.

This is pretty much how we left her in May. Most of the exterior work is complete. Now for the inside...

We added that jungle gym on the back to help protect the new cockpit, which is now big enough to sleep in, from the elements. All that canvas work has been completed. Jim removed nearly every bolt that went through the hull and deck and welded every hole shut. The manual winch is being replaced by an electric one. We were lucky to find a highly skilled welder to help us out with that portion of the project. The sand blasting, once it finally happened, was excellent for the most part and was done by the shrimp boat yard next door due to the fact that they have both the equipment and the proper experience to do it right. That steel was etched! when they were done, and mainly why it took so much primer to re-coat the whole thing. However, being a fishboat yard, they are not in the business of working on yachts, and so there were problems with them being careful not to damage the wood or the fresh paint or realizing that it's not a good idea to grind rusty steel directly upwind from our boat while the paint was wet. The painting didn't go so well, took gallons more, actually twice as much primer than we had calculated, the top coat didn't turn out as nice as we would of hoped due possibly to the wrong conditions, choice of paint, and access to the proper equipment. There's a few places that need to be re-coated due a lack of attention to detail by the person who helped out with the paint job. The mast and boom are all repainted and ready to go up, we'll need a new mainsail before we go anywhere. We have to finish the interior which needs painting, re-installation of the engine, rewiring, completion of the new frig box and then maybe we'll refinish the floors while we're at it. We're going to need some new cockpit cushions and new piece of foam for the new bunk and then there's probably quite a few things I'm not thinking of at the moment. So looking forward to being back in the water.