Chain hawser pipe

While working in the anchor locker I installed a anchor hawser pipe to lead the chain and or rope lower in the hull. I have read a lot about getting the chain weight further back in the hull to help improve the ride. The previous owner had all the chain and rope high and really as forward as it could go. With this change it now dumps down right at the forward flat of the hull. I could run it back further but it would have to be pulled. I don't want to have to have someone below deck pulling chain every time we hoist anchor. As you can see I ran some light weight rope through the pipe to make sure it all ran through on its own. I figure the bigger rope is heavier so it should "flow" as well as the lighter rope.

The Westsail drawing says to run 2" pipe but I ran 3" to make sure the eye at the chain/rope connection does not get hung up.

Here is a picture of the pieces I used for the pipe. It is all 3" PVC drain pipe. The top piece that attaches to the deck is a toilet flange. I made a plywood piece that will get epoxied to the hull then the toilet flange will get screwed to that. You can see I cut some of the flange off because it was hitting the bowsprit bolts. Then there is about 24" of straight pipe then a 45 degree elbow, then a 12" straight.

 

The area that the chain gets diverted to does lead to the low bilge. That way any water that comes aboard with the chain can drain into the low bilge. Plus there are holes on port and starboard sides for air flow.

This pipe is not permanent yet as I want to see where I mount the windlass before I epoxy all the piping in.  

 

Chain Locker Bulkhead Complete

I'm a little behind in my postings. But life and working on the boat are keeping me busy. Here is the finial version of the chain locker bulkhead repair. I ended up painting it white because I think the white will help brighten up the space. With all the dark wood a little paint won't hurt. If I end up not liking it I can put veneer over it. All in all it turned out well. To recap the bulkhead had rot in it from the Samson post deck opening leaking. I cut all the rot out and made a patch for the bulkhead. I did make a new forward piece for the V-berth floor as it was cut too narrow. I epoxied the new bulkhead patch and the new V-berth piece in. I used 2 layers of 4" tape to attach the v-berth floor to the hull. 

Deena did all the painting. It was stinking hot the day we were working, but we did really enjoy it. We can't wait to be done so we can take Nellie Jo sailing.

 I figure since we are up there we might as well paint that area. I used premium exterior enamel. I did some research and pretty much decided it should hold up as well as bilge paint. I did prep all the surfaces properly. Time will tell.

Wire on crack and crack in the eyes

I took all the hardware off the bowsprit and the rigging, meaning the bobstay and the whisker stays. I cleaned them up and used a magnifying glass to inspect the ends. The picture below is the lower end of the bobstay. I thought it looked OK until I used the magnifying glass. If you notice the fitting is not swollen at all.

My bobstay fitting on the hull has a bit of pitting on it but it looks to be fine. I will install a zinc on it just in case.


Here is a picture of one of the whisker stays. See the cracks in?


See the cracks running left to right?

I will also be replacing all the turnbuckles which are closed body to open body style.

And here is the answer. I figure since this little ship is going to be our home I will go ahead and replace all the rigging and use the old as spares. I'll rather be safe than sorry in the middle of the ocean!

The tangs are for the boomkin. I have the original 1" version.  I removed the whisker stay tangs and they both look good. The bolts had just a wee bit of rust which came off easy. I will reuse the whisker stay tangs.

Chain Locker Bulkhead Part Deux

Do remember that the bowsprit was rotten, one of the Samson post was rotten and the bulkhead at the chain locker was rotten? So if you look back at part 1 you will see what I had to deal with it was not pretty...but doable. Here is a picture of the what was left once I cut back to solid wood.

 

 

I had to make a template of the bulkhead and where the hull was so I could figure out how to repair this.  As you can see above I was making a cardboard template to see if I could replace the whole bulkhead in one shot. As it worked out I found out that I would not be able to use one piece of wood. Soooo, I sat back and looked again. I could just make a piece that would replace just the rotten wood. Below is the first template I made to just replace the rotten wood.

(Man, did I itch after that. I was wearing shorts and the fiberglass is not painted where I was sitting!)

 

Below is the piece I cut out of 1/2" plywood. The original wood was 1/2".

 

 

I fiberglassed in the piece with 4" wide cloth at all the edges inside and out. I also fiberglassed it to the deck above, it was not installed that way. I figured it would only help.

 

I will also fiberglass it to the new v-berth front piece of wood (The bed floor). Look at the pictures above. You can see where the wood has pulled away from the hull. The piece was cut too narrow and the fiberglassing on the wood was not that well. I have removed that piece and have a new wider piece ready to be installed.

Bowsprit Complete!

Last weekend, September 8, 2012 I was able to install my bowsprit. Did I take a picture of it installed...well no. Why you ask....because I forgot! I do have pictures of it installed...just not the whole thing. Keep reading and check out the pictures.

All told it has two coats of West Marine penetrating epoxy, two coats of primer Interlux primer  and four coats of Interlux one part polyurethane paint.

 

The picture above is when it was finally ready to be moved to the boat. I still have to do the platform. I will use Cetol light on it with gloss over that. Below is it sitting sideways waiting to be installed. I was doing the install by myself so I tied a halyard to it in case I dropped it over board!

I had bought a used anchor roller with a 4" bronze roller. I mounted that on the starboard side, moving the original roller to the port side. No they don't match, but does that really matter...I don't think so. If you think they should then go buy your own boat! LOL!

I did have to drill another hole in the bowsprit but I did not see that as being an issue. I had to temporarily mount the platforms so I could cut the port side one to allow room for the  port side roller. I used a small hand saw to make the cut through the teak platform being careful not to cut into my newly finished bowsprit.  Yeah...that didn't work so well. I cut a 1/8" deep groove into it. Dang...I hate that!

I filled it with epoxy and painted over it. So now my bowsprit has a blemish. (Like I did a Bristol job on the rest of it...yeah right.) Any way...I hauled it down to the boat and started to check that all the bolts would go in the holes, everything lines up etc. Now I had done this at the house, but one more check won't hurt. Things were a bit tighter than at the house and i did have to run a drill by hand through one of the bolt holes due to the build up of paint and epoxy. But it was no big deal and it was easy.

I ran the 3 bronze bolts through the bowsprit so I could mount the tapered piece to the bowsprit before I mounted it. I used a butyl tape that we use at work to seal the taper to the bowsprit and between the taper piece and the deck. (What the heck is the name for the "tapered piece"?) I used the butyl tape as I know for a fact that stuff sticks, is waterproof and lasts for decades in the sun. It is used for sealing flanged duct joints. You can see in the pictures below that the tape oozes out and can be cut or peeled off. Look at the forward most bolt in the top picture you can see what it looked like before I peeled it off. (The life caulk you see was used in the opening at the very peak where the sailsail bracket meets the teak.)

I did not mount the samson posts as I did not have the chainlocker bulkhead complete. That will be the next post. See you then!

Lemon Oil = WOW

Earlier this week as I was working on the bulkhead (that is an upcoming post) my wife was oiling down the interior wood with lemon oil. Most of the interior wood is in nice shape. The galley area and the chart table area is bleached out. It really looks bad. For the most part the wood is solid just ugly from no one taking care of it for a while.

You can see in these two pictures that the wood is just nasty looking.

 

 

But look at the pictures below now that Deena has oiled the wood down. Wow it is a great thing! The wood is actually nice looking. She had only put down one coat, (Do you "coat" with lemon oil?) But the wood really sucked it up.



We have been back to the boat several days after the oil was applied and the wood still looked great.

We were both truly amazed. I thought that in a few hours the wood would go back to looking ugly but with an oily film on it. Nope it still shines. We were there last night and it looks great.

 

This means we will stock up on lemon oil and keep the wood wiped down. It looks so nice, it sure make it easier to look at than that bleached out wood!