We arrived with a list of projects, just like everyone else, I'm sure. Greg was determined that we were only going to be in the yard for thirty days, unlike last season when we were here for three months. We never expected to spend four weeks just doing blister repair. When we bought Gitana she had been out of the water for at least two years and the hull had dried out. Consequently, the hull inspection didn't reveal blisters. However, once she was back in the water, the water began to seep back in. When we hauled her out last spring Greg started to find blisters.
Greg jumped on the blister problem as soon as the boat was on the stands.
There are two schools of thought on blisters in fiberglass: those who think there isn't anything to
worry about (the smallest group) and those who think that they will undermine the integrity of the hull (which is how Greg thinks). When the gelcoat is breached and water enters it interacts with the bonding material in the mat (it doesn't affect the roving) forming an acid. The acid creates more osmotic pressure, causing more water to be drawn in. This creates more pressure on the gelcoat leading to more damage.
A few blisters turned into hundreds. All the bottom paint needed to be removed and every blister identified and ground out. Greg found patches on patches and poorly completed work. He ground day after day for weeks. Everyone in the yard new about the guy doing such a thorough job on his hull, and most stopped by to talk about it (adding to how long it took to finish - so if you plan to do this be sure to add this to your time frame). There is a tool called a "hull peeler" but unfortunately not down here with us.
Down to the gelcoat.
We had some keel damage from a close encounter with a rock last year so Greg needed to do some fiberglass work on the keel. The solid red area on the keel is last year's repair that didn't need to be redone.
Gitana is 34 feet and it took 3 gallons of epoxy to fill the blisters (epoxy and fairing filler) and create at new barrier coat. Greg put three layers of epoxy with barrier additive. This was intensive since the coats went on one right after the other. Finally bottom paint was applied while the barrier coat was gelling to ensure good adhesion.
Note the shininess of the hull from the wet epoxy.
The finished product. People who were looking for us walked right on by because they were looking for the spotted hull. They were really surprised because the transformation was so quick after weeks of looking like a leper. The project took four weeks +. The stands have been moved and the spots repaired but they still need the barrier/bottom paint treatment.
Gumby takes a break. Greg had initially insisted that we were only going to work on the boat for 30 days and that was it! We were going sailing. Now after spending four weeks just on the bottom, he has decided that he can't stand having all these uncompleted projects so we are staying for an undetermined amount of time. This isn't too terribly bad since we will be able to celebrate Christmas day with out friends, Rose and Robert (Rose is making a BBQ turkey with a bottle of wine in the stuffing - sans bottle), and be here around January 10th when our other friends return from WA with our mail. I hope at that point we are ready to go though because I am getting tired of living in a dirty tree house.
Now I have not spent all my time sitting around "playing" with my computer and sipping wine. I consider being the galley slave a significant job but I have tackled a few projects myself. No. 1, since I am the official toilet mechanic on this boat, I rebuilt the toilet pump assembly with the new kit we purchased (last year was more of an emergency repair). I'm getting much better at getting at the impossibly located nuts on the base and although I got very hot and sweaty while working on it, I was never tempted to smash the damned thing. Now I just have to wait to get some water under us to see if I did a good job. Note the dainty little girl tools.
My second major project is creating a new V berth mattress from a foam Walmart mattress-in-a-box.
Greg did this several years ago for Comocean. That project turned out very well. This time its turning out to be a bit more difficult. I don't mean to complain (much) but he had a nice big table that was smooth to work on. That foam mattress was all one piece. I'm working in Amby which is a bit tight for a queen size mattress and the plywood is very rough. I discovered, too late, that the steel box tubing stands like to tear the foam too. My biggest problem, and take note if you plan to do this too, is that the mattress has egg-crate topped with a separate thermal foam glued to the high spots. I did not see that important feature on Walmart's website. I had planned to cut the mattress on a diagonal and flip one over. Can't do that. I have to try and glue a corner on the inverted piece to create the mirror image of the other side. I'm using a heavy duty spray adhesive which is curing as I write this. We'll see how it turns out. I'm hoping that once its in the cover, all will be fine.
My other major project was a "wana do". Gitana's former owner was very fond of having lots of stuff
on the walls (Robert corrected me "bulkheads") - either screwed or stuck on with industrial strength sticky Velcro. He also was addicted to 110 power and power strips which he screwed into the bulkheads (I like "walls" better). To run the big, fat plugs around he cut lots of 2" holes in the bulkheads. The result is a horrible mess! Rose had shown me last year how to use the heat gun to strip varnish and I couldn't wait to start. Last year we found a great heat gun at the Home Depot here in Guaymas. I've waited all summer to get my hands on that thing. Now its my new best friend. I keep finding more and more stuff that I want to strip - to the point that Greg has demanded that I stop.
After a couple days the stripped wall was starting to look a little better. Robert and Rose have shown me how to make plugs on their drill press and loaned me a set Forstner bits to prep the holes for the plugs. With all my new skills I may have to start a new profession.
Before and after.
Cinnamon tried to help but hot heat guns and wet varnish didn't seem like things he should mess with so he pretty much just tried to stay out of the way in his "tent"
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