The Big Dig In Danvers
I finally got up the courage to drill a hole in my deck today – to hopefully find the outer limits of the rot extension. After I subdued my intrinsic belief that all holes in boats are bad, it was real easy to drill a few more and to even get a little drill happy! After talkin with Roger Olsen about this, I learned I probably should have drilled larger holes… 1/2″ instead of 1/4″. But never the less, it looks like the rot extends fairly far out, farther than I will be able to pick out, and then fill with epoxy from the narrow tunnel between the two layers of fiberglass. I’m afraid the Skill Saw might have to come out and play soon.
I was able to remove the vinyl letters from the whale strake using a hair dryer. It’s one of those non-essential tasks that was high on my priority list. Removing the old name really does alot for me. Crystal Swan II or as we affectionately had been calling her – Kristal Shit Dos – is no more.
I’m working on a few projects concurrently – the only way an ADD victim can make it thru the day. It’s an occupational hazard I do believe… computers make me crazy. Anyway, what was I talking about? Hey, how about baking some cookies. The bulwarks, which I plan to paint with a 2 part Linear Polyurethane, need to be stripped, and prepped. This is one of the cosmetic jobs I think needs to get done before she goes in the water. It’s a sizable task… but I enjoy every second of it. Nothing beats the feeling of a sharp scraper removing years and years of old paint. Found a small spot of rot in the bulwark near a bolt, I’m sure I’ll find more spots as I keep uncovering bare wood… another good reason to multi-task… nice to find these little list additions sooner rather than later.
Thinking that you could get 4″ – 5″ deep, of that soggy core removed with a long blade in the sawsall .
Don’t fret too much about your bulwarks rot problems, as they will continue to plague you with on-going rot problems through-out the years.
I had the chance to up-grade my Hondo Mahogony bulwarks to Teak , recently and that was a very time consuming and expensive task.
Of course a few years before that I had to remove parts of the hull to deck joint cover board and the 2″ x 2″ bulwarks stansions because of rot there.
At this time I replaced the problematic 2 x 2 wood stansions with bronze stansions,,,,, Roger had rot problems in similar locations on his first BCC Xiphias.
When I met Mark Fuller, who just purchased Xiphias, a few years back, he found much rot in her bulwarks and deck core around the mast partners hole.
I think I noticed another soft wood – begining rot problem in the plywood cabinet lower part, port side in the head compartment, near the floor, as evidensed by a line of mildew there.
What ever, take your time, yes you will have many projects going at the same time, if you get in a hurry the costs accelerate too.
I opened a wholesale account with Port Supply, the wholesale end of West Marine, to help keep my repair costs lower, and that helped a lot.
Currently I am replacing my mast and bowsprit, and what a job that is !
As Larry says, all the work and money, that you put into your BCC, is a good investment, because you really have something worth while when you finish.
Hang in there,,,,, Douglas