sail around the world

As usual, one maintenance item leads to another – I now have complete confidence in my engine/fuel system/drive train. That’s worth something.

Summer weather is on and the sailing has been great. Taking a little weekend trip next weekend.

Also, the foundary finished my castings for the deadlights for the foreward hatch. Been building away the last couple days – should be done in another week or two.

Feels like summer is slipping away. What was supposed to take a week is now into 3 weeks. Mostly, we are waiting on the yard to do their work. Latest is “the guy who started the job is sick for the last two days”. My response – get another guy. Geez.

Well, after this I’ll know the fuel and engine are in top shape.

I got out the heat gun and scraper and scraped all the sections where the varnish had failed over the winter (it turns light yellow and comes away from the wood). Spot sanded and put on 4-5 progressively thicker coats. Next week I’ll sand the whole thing and put on 2 coats overall and call it good for the year.

The original builder did a lot of things really well, and a few things not so well on Aurora. The wood work and rigging is mostly first rate. What wasn’t first rate I broke sailing the rough weather of San Francisco Bay. The design of the forward hatch deadlights, however, left something to be desired. The seal around the port lights was basically some glass/epoxy and 5200 sealant. It didn’t last and began to saturate whenever there was a heavy rain.

Last fall I’d had enough, built a temporary hatch cover and took the thing home. Since then I’ve been trying to figure out how to fix the problem. I finally concluded that I’d have to rebuild it mostly from scratch. All I’m keeping is the mahogany frame. The decking and lights need a complete rebuild.

Of course, when you don’t know how something is put together, its pretty likely you’ll mess it up taking it apart. I did to some extent, but I think its salvageable. Today I went to Port Townsend and got new marine plywood for the decking and stopped by the foundry to have some proper bronze deadlight rings cast. Should take 4 weeks. Meanwhile, I’ll be building up the hatch in layers in preparation. From here I can see the rest of what needs doing.

Its spring – time to get the boat in shape for the season. But also time to start doing little cruises around Puget Sound to work out the kinks. This means I’ll need some upgrades and new systems. This is a starter list.

1) Diesel Heater – get an Espar D4 or D5 installed
2) Autopilot for motoring
3) Radar – I’ve been stuck out in fog with just a handheld GPS and a chart one too many times.
4) Low capacity bilge pumps – for getting the last little bit out of the bilge to keep the boat dry
5) Finish rebuilding the leaky forward hatch.
6) Integrate the boat systems – add or write a chart plotter (e-charts are now free from NOAA) and integrated display for depth/speed, radar, charts, gps, compass, and autopilot.
7) Reconfigure the settees to plan – feels too much like church and they’re 4 inches too narrow to sleep on.
8) Build a dinette table for the saloon.
9) Rebed the hand rails and reinforce with internal dowels.
10) Devise some kind of bow anchor roller so the anchor chain stops taking bites out of the cap rail.
11) Divide the forward chain locker and convert the windlass to dual cats.
12) Have a bow pulpit rail made and installed.
13) Cut and install leather chafe pads for lazyjack attachments
14) Make leather sleeves for shroud turnbuckles
15) New stove in galley
16) Upgrade propane tanks to overfill protection fittings
17) Have fuel tanks opened and cleaned – fuel reconditioned.
18) Varnish varnish varnish.

How’s that for a starter list?