Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Chainplate replacement and head redo, continued.
Last weeke
nd I jumped back into the boat projects in earnest. Saturday saw me up the mast to loosen the jumpers a bit and look things over. I rigged the halyards securely to the bow cleats, put on my frog system, and went up. I discovered a broken strand in the starboard upper, which means that there are broken strands in both upper shrouds. Time to replace them!
I loosened the jumpers and came down. After removing the cotter rings from each turnbuckle, I loosened the rest of the rig and then tried moving the mast head back (it had been leaning slightly forward). The backstay bottomed out before I got the mast truly vertical. The backstay needs shortening by about an inch. The headstay I don't know about. Last winter when we replaced the headstay we attached it to the most substantial tang. That happened to the the topmost. We hung the jib & spinnaker halyards off the two lower tangs, which is fine except that the spinnaker halyard needs to be above the headstay. When I unstep the mast I'll need to replace the middle tang with a substantial one ready to accept the headstay.
Having gotten the rig good and loose I decided it was time to remove the chainplates for the aft lowers. I went below, chiseled some paint off the nuts, and then unbolted them. The bolts were common galvanized carriage bolts, heavily rusted, but they came out easily with a couple of taps from a hammer. Then, on deck, I pulled out the chainplates with a pair of pliers.
Both chainplates were homemade of 1"x1/8" SS and were about 7" long. Both of them had been bent into a S curve in order to fit through the chainplate slots. The slots did not line up with the knees. I cleaned out the polysulfide from the slots and taped over them to prevent water from entering.
As soon as I arrived Sunday I mixed up some TSP and water and started scrubbing down the head and hanging locker where I had torn out the cabinetry before. The scrubbing was needed before I could grind paint; if there's any oil or wax in the paint, sanding and grinding can spread it around. Potentially this could cause paint or epoxy adhesion to be poor. So I scrubbed.
After five or six rinses with fresh water the paint was ready. I was about the start some grinding when instead I decided to grab the Dremel and have a go at the inner liner. I sliced into it with the normal ceramic cutting wheel and it went through the thin liner like butter. The liner looked like a chopper gun construction and it could be torn by hand in places. The liner was much thicker and more substantial, though, where it met the hull. Also, great gobs and fillets of polyester resin mush had been emplaced on the underside of the decks before the liner was installed. I tore the liner loose and tried to chisel off most of the hardened mush.
By the end of the day I had the inner liner completely removed from the head/hanging locker area and most of the mush chiseled away from the port side. I ground some of the old paint off the port side knee before cleaning up the dust and refuse I had created and calling it a day.
nd I jumped back into the boat projects in earnest. Saturday saw me up the mast to loosen the jumpers a bit and look things over. I rigged the halyards securely to the bow cleats, put on my frog system, and went up. I discovered a broken strand in the starboard upper, which means that there are broken strands in both upper shrouds. Time to replace them!I loosened the jumpers and came down. After removing the cotter rings from each turnbuckle, I loosened the rest of the rig and then tried moving the mast head back (it had been leaning slightly forward). The backstay bottomed out before I got the mast truly vertical. The backstay needs shortening by about an inch. The headstay I don't know about. Last winter when we replaced the headstay we attached it to the most substantial tang. That happened to the the topmost. We hung the jib & spinnaker halyards off the two lower tangs, which is fine except that the spinnaker halyard needs to be above the headstay. When I unstep the mast I'll need to replace the middle tang with a substantial one ready to accept the headstay.
Having gotten the rig good and loose I decided it was time to remove the chainplates for the aft lowers. I went below, chiseled some paint off the nuts, and then unbolted them. The bolts were common galvanized carriage bolts, heavily rusted, but they came out easily with a couple of taps from a hammer. Then, on deck, I pulled out the chainplates with a pair of pliers.
Both chainplates were homemade of 1"x1/8" SS and were about 7" long. Both of them had been bent into a S curve in order to fit through the chainplate slots. The slots did not line up with the knees. I cleaned out the polysulfide from the slots and taped over them to prevent water from entering.
As soon as I arrived Sunday I mixed up some TSP and water and started scrubbing down the head and hanging locker where I had torn out the cabinetry before. The scrubbing was needed before I could grind paint; if there's any oil or wax in the paint, sanding and grinding can spread it around. Potentially this could cause paint or epoxy adhesion to be poor. So I scrubbed.
After five or six rinses with fresh water the paint was ready. I was about the start some grinding when instead I decided to grab the Dremel and have a go at the inner liner. I sliced into it with the normal ceramic cutting wheel and it went through the thin liner like butter. The liner looked like a chopper gun construction and it could be torn by hand in places. The liner was much thicker and more substantial, though, where it met the hull. Also, great gobs and fillets of polyester resin mush had been emplaced on the underside of the decks before the liner was installed. I tore the liner loose and tried to chisel off most of the hardened mush.
By the end of the day I had the inner liner completely removed from the head/hanging locker area and most of the mush chiseled away from the port side. I ground some of the old paint off the port side knee before cleaning up the dust and refuse I had created and calling it a day.
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