Up for sale

Well, the O'day is up for sale. I still have a few little jobs to do. I put signs on the boat on Sunday, I have shown it three times, got another guy tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

I took this picture back in 2011 at the boatyard in St.Claire shores Michigan.  I took the bottom down to the gel-coat and rolled on a 2 part epoxy coating, three coats.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Putting her back together. I dug thru the garage and pulled everything out. Still some things I can't find! The roof mounted fittings for adjusting the main are re-drilled and back in place with lots of bedding compound. The real nightmare was the grab rails. They were never trustworthy. They had a tiny 3/16 bolt that continually sunk into the teak and let them get lose. On this boat they are very important but a weak design. I now have my system of machined pucks, 1/4 -20 threaded rod and exposed SS nuts inside the boat. No cheesy teak plugs. I hope to have it done and up for sale sometime this weekend but there will still be a few things to do. It's a boat.

Painting and waxing!

Another day at the boat yard. I got the bottom done, the hull waxed and Liz put the final two coats on the ceiling. Looks good! Now I am down to the nuts and bolts stuff, rigging and putting the interior back in her. Everything is wrapped in plastic in the garage. Should make good progress this week.

HI HO HI Ho.....

I spent about 8 hours on the O'day today. I scrubbed up the bottom, ready to receive new bottom paint. I scrubbed the hull and started waxing. Inside I thickened epoxy and used a scrub brush to copy the original faux finish on the ceiling. My art work is a little different than the original but not bad. you wipe the epoxy around in paint tray with the little scrub brush and tap it on the ceiling. It leaves stalagmites but they break of like icicles once hardened. I got a coat of paint over it. Looks OK. 2 more coats tomorrow. Up in the bow I am replacing the old fabric which was pretty tired with a light grey fabric. I bought a big can of contact cement ...but ran out before I finished. Picked up another can on the way home.

The ceiling is coming along. The wife is doing the painting tomorrow. Finally some decent weather.

 Needs a few more coats.

Now it is time to talk about something that I consider the weakest part of sailboat design. I speak of course of the hated mast boot. In my opinion, the current options are delivered by the agents of Satan!!! I just spent a ridiculous amount of time fixing damage directly related to this issue. O'Day or the dealer is partial responsible for this. They cut the hole for the mast and left it unfinished. Water leaked down the useless boot over the years and was sponged up by exposed balsa core. 
What surprises me is that everyone I talk to with a sailboat bitches about it. The mast is not static, you bend it back for tightening the jib, that and wind pressure flexes it at the deck level and your lousy boot eventually leaks. I was offered a 70 dollar boot by the yard but it requied the mast to be pulled. Defender makes a few that wrap around, but they are round and this mast is rectangular in cross section. I follow a few blogs writen by live aboard's and I asked what they do. The answer I received surprised me. 
I was ready to pour two tubes of caulking into the abyss, but they advised me differently.  A toilet bowl wax ring....you heard me.  It makes sense. I pushed neoprene into the gap between the chocks and then pulled the thick wax ring apart. you push it down into the gap and fill it up. The beauty is that it stays flexible and can be easily cleaned off, next time the stick gets pulled. Following that I cut a a rubber wrap from a new inner tube. This is glued and clamped. The last step is that crappy mast tape. The difference this time is that it is just icing on the cake. It always leaks, never stretches as advertised. It no longer matters. I will update tomorrow after we have another day of...errr fun.

The best laid plans of mice and men!

I am ready to paint....It is May.....It is too cold. I might get a shot on Wednesday, but even then it will be a mere 60 degrees. I hoped to be done by the weekend but mother nature might delay me. I have to check the bottom paint to see the minimum temp, I suspect it is fine though. As for wax, not so much.

I am refinishing the rails. I have the whole assembly apart and in my garage. The new finish is still tacky. It is just too cold. I tossed the long 3/16 screws, I bought 1/4 inch SS threaded rod and machined up 3/4 pucks for the outside. Acorn nuts inside.  I never trusted it, this will make it bulletproof. Here is a crappy sketch....