Definitely a two person job

Notice anything different in the image above?  Well yes, Anne is holding up the severed lower 6 feet of C'est la Vie's mast.  But is that really all that unusual?  How about that fleece jacket Anne is wearing?  That's right autumn temps are finally here in the OBX.

Backed by temps in the low 50's, armed with a fish tape and some p-cord on loan from Omar Sails, Anne and I confidently stepped up to the task of threading messenger lines from the top of the mast to the proper exit holes near deck level on the mast.

Being a boat project this task consumed much more time than originally budgeted.  We learned that compression tubes, PVC conduit, internal sleeves, and bolt studs are infinitely attractive to the end of the fish tape than the proper exit hole on the mast.

By nearly noon we successfully threaded the final halyard messenger and had moved on to the electrical wiring in the mast.  We removed some old, unused co-axial cable to make room for a NMEA 2000 line that will transmit data from our new Garmin GWS 10 Wind Sensor stationed atop the mast to the display in our cockpit.  As expected it is easier to remove old wires that to pull new.  Anne's smaller hands saved the day by enabling her to reach blindly into the top of the mast and thread wires to the proper exit.

Stepping back is not an option now

Friday afternoon, Paul from Omar Sails came out and cut the mast just above the damaged area.  Now we are fully committed to deck stepping the mast.

While working on site, Paul, also located and cut the exit holes for the internal halyards.  I was surprised to discover that standard woodworking bits and blades were used on the mast.  He simply used a jig saw with a 10 tooth per inch wood cutting blade for making the cuts on the mast.

Once Paul departed I used a dremel tool with a cut off wheel to reach inside the mast and carefully cut the PVC pipe that serves as a conduit for the electrical lines running inside the mast.  Now it is up to Anne and I to thread through the length of the mast the small diameter messenger lines.  The messenger lines will be used to pull the new halyards through the mast and out the proper exit hole.

Better weather allows progress both inside and out

Clear skies have finally returned to the area.  Anne and I were finally able to build the deck mast step up to 25 layers.  Once the epoxy cured, I ground out the high spots and discovered that we will need to add more mat to ensure the mast is not reduced in height when we complete this conversion.

We cut 5 more layers of mat and plan to add those to the step over the weekend.

Meanwhile below decks a bit of sanding plus a few coats paint and  the holes filled in the port, forward bulkhead are now gone...

Once the paint dried we drilled the new, lower hole to allow a 1 1/2" diameter line to pass between the holding tank and the pumpout fittings.

Filling and Drilling Holes in my Head

When I began route hoses to the new, 50% larger holding tank, my hope of utilizing the existing holes in the forward bulkhead evaporated.  The line in (deposit) hose lines up well with the hole in the upper, left of the image above.  The line out (withdraw) hose will require a new hole 15" below the upper hole.  I could not bring myself to drill anew without first filling in the existing holes. In the image above, the four holes filled are filled with epoxy thickened by mixed it with chopped up fiberglass mat.

Once the plugs in the holes cured, I used epoxy thickened with west systems 405 filler (brown) to fair out the surface of  each side of the bulkhead.  While the fairing remained wet, I applied a layer of mat to each side of the bulkhead.  The mat will bond the repairs to the entire bulkhead and hopefully return some measure of strength lost when each hole is drilled.

Tomorrow we will return to C'est la Vie a drill a couple new holes.

Of course this process took place in the freshly painted vee berth and head lockers.  Once this repair has cured and the new hole is drilled we will need to break out the primer and paint - again.

Rain, rain, rain

Heavy, daily rains have retarded progress on repairs.  For the last 6 days we have waited to add to the 18 layers of mat in place on the base for the new on deck mast step.

We estimate the base will require 25 layers of mat to bring the layup level with the existing lip.  Once the two are level we will then fair out the new base.  The new compression post will drop down through the hole and rest on the original mast step.  A half inch stainless steel plate caps the new compression post.  This plate will rest flush on the base seen above.  If all this is confusing, then stay tuned.  With the forecast improving we should begin to pick up some speed on this project.

Down below I am beginning to re-install the plumbing and electrical ripped out of the vee berth and head to facilitate painting the lockers.  Today I completed rewiring the AC outlets and lights in both the head and the vee berth.

 
Tomorrow I hope to make progress on the plumbing.

Nothing left but to re-install the refinished windlass

Thanks to a great deal of assistance from friends and family our Sea Tiger 555 windlass is completely restored.
Bud assisted me with removing the windlass.  Here is the starting point...

 I struggled to disassemble the windlass so a local friend took the windlass the his workplace, a local Naval Yard.  The assembled windlass returned it looking like this...

I then transported the windlass to my family's home and with more help from Bud we stripped down the windlass into its component parts. Degreasing and inspecting the mechanism we relaized one spring was missing, a couple bolts were nearly stripped, and all the o-rings required replacing.

 I located SL Spares, a UK based vendor that supplies replacement parts, via the internet.  The new parts arrived as ordered from the UK in under 2 weeks.  Bud took on reassembling, priming, and applying the finish paint.  The Lovett's are in town visiting for a day and delivered the windlass.

 All that remains is adding some additional grease and bolting the windlass back to the deck.

More images and comments on this project can be found in our photo album: Refinish Windlass - 2011

Thanks for all the help to everyone that pitched in on this project.

Projects preempting posts

Daily showers here in Beaufort, NC have not prevented long hours of boat projects from preempting blog posts.  By the time I finally come to rest at the end of the day all energy for updating the blog has gone into laying up the mast step or refinishing the trim in the vee berth or completing the new counter top for the head or...

This morning's rain shower only allowed me to apply three layers of mat to the new mast step so after securely tarping over the curing epoxy and cleaning up around the cabin I drove home for lunch.  Over lunch I checked in on the C'est la Vie blog and realized that the last update was on Sept 17th.

While the blog  has not received daily updates, I have continued to add images and captions to the web albums chronicling the evolution of to our two primary projects underway.  If you are looking for more detail on our progress please check out these albums...

Rigging Repairs and Modifications - 2011  - We are currently fairing out our modifications to the interior / original mast step;  building up layers of mat, 18 layers of 25 layers complete, on what will be the base of our deck mast step; and waiting on the machine shop to weld up our compression post assembly.

Refinishing the head - 2011   Most of the headway on this project in the last couple days has focused on refinishing the wood trim in the head and vee berth area.  We have also made progress on the new counter top and will hopefully be applying the final coats of bristol finish to it this afternoon.
 

Rainy day progress

The 70% chance of rain materialized as a day of incessant drizzle.   The drizzle worked in my favor as it kept temps cooler yet allowed me to leave C'est la Vie's leeward ports open.  An autumn like breeze ventilated the cabin.  Under these conditions and I applied the final coat of paint to the head lockers and began build up the mast step with fiberglass.

The fresh paint in the lockers now highlights the need to refinish the wood trim and replace the dingy lid on the head.  I'm unsure if time will allow us to complete either of these tasks before we need to began our trip back to Florida.

While the paint dried in the head, I changed venues and begin to build up the old mast step.  The compression post we plan to add below decks will require a level surface on which to mount.  The current step slopes aft.  We will use sections of mat left over from the cloth cut for creating the new mast step on deck to build up the old, interior mast step.  Initially I laid out the dry mat on the step to figure out the best pattern for the cloth.  I then numbered the sections as they were removed from the step.  Before applying the new cloth, I used thickened epoxy and a syringe to fill old bolt holes and irregularities in the step.

Applying the 12 pieces of fiberglass mat went smoothly, but I was a bit disappointed by how little this work did to reduce the slope on the step.  I will definitely be adding more cloth once this application cures.  By tomorrow I will be able to set a level on the area to get an accurate assessment of how much remains.

Note the fresh coats of paint along the walls of the mast channel in the image above.  This area was painted in conjunction with the head lockers.

The rain is forecast to end by tomorrow morning with cooler temps remaining in the area.  Hopefully tomorrow, Anne and I can team up to begin fabricating the new mast step on deck.