For a Mid Atlantic winter, there sure was a long wait for Spring this year. Not only are we tired of the weather, we are tired of complaining about the weather. Records were set in both of these departments.
So on to the projects. I'm going to speculate that the second season one owns a boat has the most work scheduled. We've had a full Summer to accumulate tasks and dream up improvements. Add to that a long off season too cold or miserable to squeeze in a little progress and the list is long.
So far we've replaced the four major seacocks with Marlon units on new backing plates. The cockpit drain hoses are all new now as well. Laura has the coaming caps, companionway, and toe rails scraped, sanded and first coated with Epithane. I've ripped of the rub rails for replacement of the wood molding & made a stainless steel mount for the raw water strainer. ( It was just threaded on the top of the old bronze seacock before; not very strong and certainly not suitable for the new plastic valves.)
Then there's the head compartment. I gutted that a few weeks back when it was too cold to do anything else. As soon as it was mild enough to pump epoxy I extended the fiberglass floor pan aft to the bulkhead. The old vanity cabinet took up this space. Now the C-head will fit there very nicely on the fore & aft axis and a new vanity will be built against the hull. I'll install a shower & sink sump with a vented loop. Some folks have no problem running their wash water through the bilge but this boat has its tankage built in under the cabin sole and drainage to the rear bilge sump is not especially fast. I would prefer not to let it get clogged with drain funk. I will, however, let the galley sink drain to the bilge. It used to be plumbed to the port side cockpit drain. This was not a good idea in that anything going down the drain that would float would remain on the waterline inside the hose. And that's where the hose was shot. Wire corroded, neoprene bulging; a boat sinker, and a smelly job.
So with the waterline sound and a quick wax job and the yard bill for an extra month pending, we called for launch on 5\12. Had an easy trip over to the mooring at HPYC the following weekend.
The next two weekends were spent crawling in and out of the cockpit lockers running new lines to the bilge pump and the pressure water pump, installing a new VHF radio, and varnishing. That will go on for nearly ever but finally things are settled enough to be optional and we can enjoy a sail and a weekend off, relatively speaking. Here's to Summer, at long last!
