This weekend began the discovery process of work to refresh Mischief for her trip back to Florida. Initially, I had figured the most extensive job would have been cleaning and repainting the bottom. According to the marina, and my own observations before hauling out, the Potomac had been kind enough to deposit a thick and nasty layer of slime that ushered the removal of most of the ablative paint. The tie coat looks to still be in good shape with the only other paint problems being in the area of the port boot stripe where there is some bubbling from sitting too low in the water (probably from the added weight of a dirty bottom). Worry not, these aren't blisters!
Freeboard: Another haul out project is supposed to be the touching up and buffing of the hull. Luckily, since the hull is painted with AwlCraft, touching up small scratches and nicks is fairly simple. After this will be the application of a product called NanoWax which is tough stuff and provides a good protective barrier that lasts for months.
Deck: There have been some issues with a leaking stanchion mount. Mainly the midship stanchion, the one between the starboard aft lower and upper shrouds, showed signs of leaking. In addition to re-bedding the stanchions, there were some spider cracks requiring attention. Some sanding out of the spider cracks, application of epoxy and touch up paint ought to do the trick.
Like many things boat, once you begin investigating the cause and effect of problems you, more often than not, find the issue to be a little more extensive than originally anticipated. This was just the case when investigating the leaking stanchion. Unfortunately, when upgrading the the various systems we overlooked raising the deck in the area of the chain plates. This led to problems with leakage into the "knee" (the block of wood that is typically situated between the chain plates and hull and encased in fiberglass). The knees appear to be original to the boat (or at least of significant age). I am certain that we did not replace them after taking possession of the boat which probably wasn't wise. To be honest, until I discovered the problem I didn't know what the knee was, I had just assumed my chain plates to be bolted directly to the hull. So this poses a problem for me, while the support system is still rigid enough to support a cruise back to Florida, the rig will only become more compromised over the next few years or so. After all, when I drill a few exploratory holes into the bottom potions of the knee, I must have gotten nearly half or 3/4 of a cup of water.
I have spoken to the man responsible for the structural restoration and rigging, the way he described how the chain plates were re-bedded provides some security. While whatever wood that is comprising the knee has become saturated, the chain plates themselves are mounted and through bolted so as to the only function as a spacer to the hull. The chain plates are encased in what amounts to a fiberglass envelope extending well onto the fiberglass hull.
There are two roads I can follow. Either "A," I can attempt to repair these in the little time I have before I have to be back in Florida; "B," I can repair these in the water one at a time once back in Florida; Or "C," I can haul out and have the boat transported to family or friends property to replace both knees. My feeling is that "C" would allow me to complete some other work that needs to be done on the boat including repainting the entire deck (which still looks good, but is 8 years old, fading and beginning to crack and chip). Of course this option would require a family member or friend to be kind enough to allow me to block the boat up for a year or two. Why so long? I'm returning to school in the fall and the added time and expense necessary to care and berth Mischief would provide much distraction. Additionally, with the boa out of the water, I am more motivated to actually complete the work necessary.
Hang in there! My posts, while not always timely are becoming more frequent.
Cheers!
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