Free time - Winter/Spring/Summer, 2012
Gabrielle insulating the hull walls in the forward cabin
Refitting interior pieces
New external chainplates were made.
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Michael `making a chamfer in the notched cabin frame.
Laying down glue to seal cabin top
completed the bulkhead in forepeak with sliding doors.
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new mahogany marine ply was fitted
First coat penetrating epoxy everywhere.
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laying on epoxy caulk to seal wood on deck pieces
a layer of fiberglass/epoxy down and sanded. Hole cut for new deck hatch
test fitting the hatch
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Gabrielle testing out the new hatch
Halfway there! Summer 2012
Deck from bow to midships completed, and fore cabin restored
Meanwhile, we searched for new wooden masts
We searched everywhere, from the internet, to phone calls, to just asking around local boat yards, and eventually found a wooden pair from a scrapped ketch in Vancouver Canada that were in good condition. But they needed refurbishing.
Ah, the smell of fresh cut spruce!
Michael found some vertical grain spruce, and was able to epoxy an 8:1 ratio scarf to the base of the mizzen mast.
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Four layers applied of epoxy/fiberglass to deck and cabin, and cutting and fitting 6 new bronze Spartan portlights
Foredeck finished
Deck installed & new portlights... at least half of Moontide looks great now!
So while Michael built deck and cabin on the boat, Gabrielle...
built a 41' canvas 'spar shed' where she proceeded to remove all hardware from the masts and booms, stripped layer after layer of varnish away, sanded down rough edges, & bleached away imperfections, and sanded again to prepare them for refinishing. It was weeks of exhausting work.
The results were beautiful
But before we could finish them, we realized the mizzen needed to be six feet longer to be able to work on the boat!
And she sanded some more!
With additions completed, Gabrielle soaked each piece in penetrating epoxy until the wood was saturated, and gave it all another fine sanding.
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Topped off with a Bristol Finish!
With all her incredible prep work done, Gabrielle asked friend & neighbor Steve Knight to come in with his spray gun and apply 10 coats of bristol varnish to each spar. He did a beautiful job!
The masts shine now, completely sealed, in a warm, wet-looking glow!
Unfortunately, because so much deck work remains to be done before stepping them, the masts have been wrapped away and protected for the winter until the other pressing jobs are complete.
The masts shine now, completely sealed, in a warm, wet-looking glow!
Unfortunately, because so much deck work remains to be done before stepping them, the masts have been wrapped away and protected for the winter until the other pressing jobs are complete.
Autumn, 2012
A critical eye for corrosion
With September and the warm sunny days hastily flitting by, the Moontide crew ventured further down the decks, to where the side decks ended and the cockpit began. We wondered where the rotting wood ended...
but it just kept going!
but it just kept going!
And going
Rot was evident around the large portlight windows on the main cabin. They had to go.
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And going!
And so did most of the wall!
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It made for Great Ventilation (and very little privacy)
Even the aft cabin wall had to be cut out, which was particularly irritating because we had already built the new instrument panel against that wall. We were able to save it without destroying the cabinetry.
Finding rot around the aft portlight was disheartening, even for Carmen.
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All the inside lath had to come off.
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And carefully cut away the instrument panel.
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Maybe we could just put a big window here?
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Autumn was Generous
It gave us a weather window to install new starboard deck frames
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We enclosed the stbd cabin wall and sealed the deck
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We replaced the aft cabin wall
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And managed to begin tearing up rotten wood on the port side of the boat before cold
& rain made us wrap up the boat. |