Vee berth lockers are painted!

Spent most of my boat time today priming and painting the lockers below the vee berth.

The space on the port side (left) will house the holding tank (waste water storage) and the area on the starboard (right) is storage for seldom used items.

Above is the lockers after 1 coat of primer and 2 top coats.  The metal tank visible in this image is our fresh water storage.

Between coats of paint I worked to harvest the track for the mainsail outhaul from the old boom.  After 45 years the machine screws were seized.  I tried penetrating oil, heat, and an impact driver all to no avail.  I was successfull in removing the track, but had to resort to creative measures...

Working full time on boat projects

Today was my first day of full time work on boat projects.  From now until C'est la Vie returns to the water, I have cleared my schedule.  I plan to devote the majority of my time to completing the myriad of projects and repairs that have accumulated since our haul out in June.

Since Paul from Omar Sails was in the yard, I spent the morning on the rigging. We discussed various options for the modifications... placement of the new 3" Harken narrow body halyard sheaves; replacement of the upper and lower stays; addition of a inner stay tang; repairs to the spreaders, etc.  We made a plan for the division of labor.

Below is the official before image of C'est la Vie's mast head.

I spend a chunk of the morning removing all the hardware from the mast head.  This area will undergo significant changes before we restep the mast.  Here is a link to the album dedicated to all our rigging repairs & modifications ... Rigging Repairs & Modifications - Summer 2011.

The afternoon was devoted to completing the brackets to support the new, larger holding tank.

I cut notches in the sides of the opening to allow the new tank to squeeze into the space.  Fitting the aft brace (pictured on left above) was the next task to fall.  Finally I used thickend epoxy followed up by some cloth mat to secure the bracing to the hull.  By tomorrow afternoon, I hope to apply two coats of primer to both the vee berth lockers.  Here is a link to the album dedicated to our efforts to refinish C'est la Vie's head... Refinishing the Head - summer 2011

Halfway back and making progress on the windlass repairs

Immediately after cleaning up from Irene, I traveled to Asheville to drop off the NCOBS mini bus and attend a 3 day Wilderness First Responder Re-certification class at Landmark Learning based in Sylva, NC.  My WFR certification will be current for another two years.

Anne drove up to Asheville on Labor Day to shuttle me back to the OBX.  We are spending a couple nights at my parents house on our return trip. I brought the windlass along so that I could recruit Bud in assisting me with tearing down the workings of the windlass.

We were able to deconstruct the windlass.  The gears and shafts had mild pitting and corrosion so Bud cleaned these up with the wire wheel on the bench grinder and we used a degreaser to clean up the other components.

 The windlass is missing a spring that likely broke sometime in the past and was tossed out among gobs of old, foul grease.  Thank to the forums on SailNet I found a source for Seatiger 555 windlass parts in the UK - SL-Spares.  I also ordered new seals and a stripping pin.

My plan is to use zinc chromate as a primer on the cast aluminum windlass body.  Other than some taping to protect bushings, the body is ready from primer.  The spray zinc chromate I purchased at West Marine requires humidity less than 65% when applying.  With tropical depression Lee passing through the area, I doubt the humidity dropped below 90% today.  Tomorrow will hopefully provide the conditions necessary to apply the primer.