SO WHAT DID YOU DO WITH OR ON YOUR C-DORY TODAY??

Sometimes I procrastinate. Sorry but it's the truth. About 4 years ago, I bought a radar reflector "kit". It was the round style, 3 aluminum disks that mount together, intersecting, and then you hang it in a rain catcher angle and whalaaa, you show up better. It didn't come with the parts to keep the discs at 90 degrees and I just put it on the shelf, sort of forgotten for .... until I was looking for something else last week when it popped up. OK, so now it is finished, and will be hanging on my aft rack, under the Inflatable, and is still able to be collapsed at will, to flat, and put into a drawer for trailering.

Thanks Barry, I knew it would work -- sometime.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

1_10_2012_from_Canon_961.thumb.jpg
 
This weekend I completed the install of a new HDS7 gen 3 chart plotter. I hooked it up to our Standard Horizon 2200 AIS/GPS radio and confirmed from my driveway that I was picking up the AIS targets. I took the pressure washer to the bilge areas and got what I could reach with the high pressure stream washed up. I cleaned out the screens on the bilge pumps and confirmed both were working. Also confirmed that both fish box pumps were working. The pumped about 10 volumes of fresh water through the fresh water system to flush out the RV antifreeze so the fresh water pump is working. I ran some into the shower to flush the RV antifreeze out of the sump and confirmed that the shower sump pump is working.

I played with the new GPS and confirmed that it was seeing both the new Simrad autopilot (installed by EQ earlier in the year) and the heading sensor. I now get radar overlay.

I also made some progress on the washing/waxing project. The roof and the brow are all polished back up - started with McGuire's oxidation remover and then hit it with the fine polish. Still will add some wax on top of that. Also got the outside of the cabin on the front and the entire starboard side done. Still have the lower parts on the bow, the port side and the stern to do. I also pulled the Wallas stove out for delivery to Scan Marine tomorrow.

Joyce washed the slant back canvas and treated it with 303 fabric guard. She also washed the inside of the windows. It won't be too much longer until it's good to go for the summer.
 
While still at Newcastle the other day, Chuck and Penny on Two Bears came in. We had a fun evening on the dock visiting and decided to head into the Gulf Islands to avoid the weekend party crowd at the park. We slow cruised in company to Pirates Cove Park on De Courcey Island and enjoyed the park. They headed south the next day and we went in to Ladysmith to see the facilities for July's gathering. They are very nice with interesting history of logging and mining early days. We headed back to Nanaimo and had Nomad with Andrea and Martin join up near the harbour. Another nice evening at Newcastle Island with Bill and Dorothy of Blue Skies joining us for a while. They spotted us from thier balcony and saddled up to come visit. So nice to have friends! Nomad made a good run Monday afternoon to Comox in calming seas. We've had a great week with our mini gatherings. Next is a couple weeks north of Desolation Sound in June.
 
Finally got out for some spot prawns in the San Juans on Saturday with Kim. Tried on Friday, but was all 3' slop out there so nice dice.
Stayed at Cornet Bay overnight and Saturday was beautifully calm with no current, a recipe for success. Yes, finally!
Relieved that rail on 25 will handle pulling heavy pots with the Ace Line Hauler. Kim is a great skipper as I'm hauling. Gotta teach her to haul! :D
 
I rebuilt my Jabsco wash down pump for the umpteenth time.
The one in my boat all winter went "gunny sack" over the winter.
I had two other pumps/motors and pieces in a box of tricks. I was able to come up with another working pump for this season. The 3rd pump motor in my box of tricks works fine so probably will be able to scrounge up another for next season.

As we live in the boonies up here parts are not readily available. 40 miles of ocean water to the west and 45 miles of woods in the other 3 directions. No wash down pump stores.

Anyway.......mine works now and life is good and the salmon are running yet.
 
Over the weekend we practiced boating skills and survival drills on DoriDaze to get ready for a trip to Alaska. It was 3 to 5 ft waves in the St. Helena sound (South Carolina)

Took on a lot of water and had quite a bit in the cabin. Looks like water is running between the gelcoat (where is has delaminated) and the fiberglass--so starting to prep and paint the anchor locker and all places below decks that can be reached today. Lots more to do in the next 20 days until trip time.
 
larhayden":3k6p4q0v said:
Over the weekend we practiced boating skills and survival drills on DoriDaze to get ready for a trip to Alaska. It was 3 to 5 ft waves in the St. Helena sound (South Carolina)

Took on a lot of water and had quite a bit in the cabin. Looks like water is running between the gelcoat (where is has delaminated) and the fiberglass--so starting to prep and paint the anchor locker and all places below decks that can be reached today. Lots more to do in the next 20 days until trip time.
Click to expand...

Just wondering a little bit more about the conditions. I've never had water in my cabin other than water I tracked in from the cockpit and I've certainly been in waves taller than 3-5'. So I'm just wondering what specifically was going on that resulted in quite a bit of water in the cabin.
 
Thanks for the note. Over the past year we have had fresh water in the cabin after a rain. But last weekend was the first time having salt water in the cablin---about 5 gallons every 2 hours for about a day.

We are suspecting water was coming through the windlass and into the anchor locker, which was partially blocked from draining. Water was seeping under the port bulkhead where some gel coat had peeled off and then into the cabin

It is frustrating to have all this water in the cabin, especially after making a lot of improvements to the boat. The fiberglass seems sound, so we are not sure what else is going on. I have researched this site many times to see how folks have dealt with water in the cabin. But thanks for the note. For the Alaska trip, we are going to cover the cabin floor with dri-dek to help keep our feet dry. Let me know if you have any other ideas. Thanks.
 
Given your description of how the water is getting in, I would want to give the anchor locker bottom's tabbing a good look over. Where you see "peeling gelcoat," might actually be the tabbing come loose (not uncommon), which would allow anchor locker water to drain below the locker bottom into the boat.

More about tabbing:

In most fiberglass boats, when two areas are joined, tabbing is used. This is a strip of fiberglass that spans the joint between the two areas and bonds them together. Picture a piece of masking tape joining the side of a cardboard box to the bottom, only make it fiberglass wet out with resin.

Tabbing can fail, for various reasons. A spot that didn't get prepped, making it take a sharp corner (it prefers a gradual bend, for which "fillets" are often used to fill in a corner and make it more gradual), some extra stress, slightly poor fit of a panel initially, resin added to other resin after the chemical bond stage is over, but without enough sanding, etc. etc.

So, if you see something that looks like thick "tape" bonding the bottom of the anchor locker to the hull side or to the bulkhead that separates the locker from the V-berth (you'd see a slight "gap" or "slit" around 2" up from the corner), then you likely have a small failure of tabbing. It can be repaired.

There can also be a similar problem (at least on 22's) where the anchor locker drain exits the boat. On the 22 it goes through a tabbing area to do this, and sometimes there was a gap, and a resultant leak.

Of course it may be something completely different, but this is something that is not unlikely.

Another thing is that when on boats likely to take green water or heavy spray over the bow, I've always had a canvas windlass cover (Sunbrella or other fabric). This helps to keep salt/water out of the windlass, and also away from the hole where the rode goes into the boat. I also like to mount a windlass on a slight "pad" to keep it from being right at deck level, but the cover is easier to retrofit (I like both though if possible).
 
Again, thank you greatly for the response. What you describe as a "failure of tabbing" is definitely happening from under the port bulkhead. It looks like a solid piece about 2 inches from the bulkhead that lays on top of the fiberglass and it is leaking through there and into the cabin.

My attempt to repair is to paint the anchor locker with Interlux Bilgekote to keep the water in the anchor locker. (Also paint where other gelcoat has peeled off in the boat). I planned to do this tomorrow, so if it sounds like a bad idea, please let me know.

Also, I called Lewmar yesterday to see if they have a stock cover for the windlass, but they do not. So, I will try to rig up something to help keep the overspray from getting into the locker.

Also, I stated to take the rubber rub rail out in order to take out the screws and caulk around them (as I read on the website); but the rail has pop rivets, not screws!

Again, thanks for your insights about the tabbing and the windlass.
 
When you say the "port bulkhead" from the descriptions above, I assume you are talking about the bulkhead that separates the V-berth from the rest of the cabin and not the bulkhead that separates the cabin from the cockpit. Correct? Also, I wouldn't just paint and count on it to seal. Paint flakes and breaks easily at sharp corners. It's not really a good sealant on anything but a nice flat surface. I'd first spend some timing making sure I really knew where the water was coming from. Rub rails have leaked, bow guards have leaked, anchor lockers have leaked and the water/gas fittings have leaked on different boats. I'd start with a hose and perhaps a sprayer with a little fluorescent dye mixed in to figure out exactly from where the water is coming.
 
Check the brass bow guard for leaking. 5 gallons is quite a bit of water in 2 hours and unless the nose of the boat was plunging beneath the waves really regularly, I can't see how you would get all that through the anchor locker. We had a 25 and it was pretty hard to dip the hausepipe into a wave.

Greg
 
Yeah, I would say paint is a bad idea and won't work. And to make it more annoying, you will have to grind/sand it back off in order to prep for glassing.

It's remotely possible you could get caulk to work somehow, but I don't think it really would ('course I'm not looking at it - any photos?) and it would be yet another mess to clean off to do the repair right.

Again, I can't see your issue, but just to take an example that is somewhat easy to describe. Let's take the example of a cardboard box again. Say the side and the bottom are made from two separate pieces of cardboard, and then 4" masking tape holds them together. The cardboard is your bulkhead, and the tape is your tabbing.

If that tape failed, I would cut out any loose tape with a utility knife (and or Multimaster or other tool), then sand/grind (i.e. coarse paper, something like 60 grit) until I have smooth surface with nothing loose. If there is gelcoat and it is tight to the surface, you don't need to get every last trace off. Then I would mask everything off (to keep it neat), clean the area to receive the work with a solvent, and then, if there is a 90º corner (such as at the box bottom), I would thicken some epoxy and make a fillet (which is sort of like a little bead of caulk that turns the 90º corner into a mini-45º corner). Over the fillet I would put new tape (you can buy this as tape - neater than cutting strips from a big sheet), soaked in epoxy resin. Roll it all down (or squeegee) to make sure the air is out, and let it cure. Then you can paint over if you like (necessary if it will be exposed to UV).

I'm sorry if this sounds like too much of a pain, but if your issue is what I'm visualizing, then it's probably the way to fix it "right." I can recommend a really good free "book" that you can get online that describes and shows all this with clear line drawings. It's put out by WEST System epoxy. WEST is a great brand, and often easiest to find locally, but the same will apply to any good epoxy (i.e. not hardware store 5-minute stuff).

If you go to this link, then each of the illustrations you see will be a chapter of the book (which is also available in paper form).

http://westsystem.com/ss/use-guides/

I re-did parts of my rubrail last summer. They are put on with rivets. I went back with screws. There is more detail here (and also in some other threads if you search - I got inspiration from those who had gone before me).

Rubrail starts about 1/3 of the way down this page:

http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?p=267126
 
Bill K":2mfug7vk said:
I have a soft rubber ball stuffed into the hole the anchor chain goes through because I don't have a windlass cover.
Click to expand...

Good and simple idea! I don't have a windlass mounted yet, but in a similar spirit I use sections of pool noodle on the foredeck: One keeps the ~12" of chain between the roller and the hawsepipe off the deck (when anchor is up), and the other (fatter noodle) goes on the anchor stock and rests in the roller's channel to keep it from shifting around when trailering.
 
I finally got busy and replaced the gland nuts on my Sea Star steering today. We've been working on the beach house to get it on the market, so boating has not been high on the priority list.

I also went out to a local Aviation maintenance facility and picked up a gallon of mill 5606 hydraulic fluid. It is a recommended substitute. A gallon was only $10 more than a quart of SeaStar hydraulic fluid from local dealers. I need to decant it down to a size that is convenient on the boat, but this was a pretty good deal.
 
I pulled out the Wallas for a warranty repair and installed a new VHF radio as well. Took two hours.

The Wallas has been making extra fan noise and overheating regularly just starting late last month. I called and they suspect that the fan needs replacing and that the fans in the 1300 were sometimes weak from the factory. So off it goes tomorrow. Still love it but want it working perfect again.

Our original VHF was dated and not longer sounded right. The antenna connection was broken when we got the boat and I think the radio may have been used without that connection working plus age = we can't really understand most of the noise coming out.

So now I have a Standard Horizon GX1700 in its place that we have some good experience with from a past boat.

And the trim tabs no long leak!!!!!!!!!


Greg
 
Put in new today:

1 Perko 1/All/2 switch
1 Blue Seas 50 amp breaker
2 new Interstate deep cycle batteries
1 new scotty female socket
1 new scotty male socket part
1 10-amp fuse for bilge
replaced 2 wires that had some traveling corrosion

Removed today
Control box for TrollMaster (superseded by my Arduino Bluetooth/iOS invention)
 
Put it away, for a few days, after yesterday, which was the Race to Alaska start. A very thorough workout and salt bath for SleepyC. Our assigned position was Point Wilson Light to the buoy. the general area of the Point Wilson rip tide. The race started at 0530, right after the tide switched to a big ebb from a big flood. Tide range was about 8 feet, and it was essentially the main tide of the day, thus also, the largest rip of the day and close to the largest of the month. The choice was intentional, to take advantage of that huge ebb current for the paddlers and rowers to run west through the Juan de Fuca Strait, to Victoria, BC.

It was a very interesting, challenging and rewarding day. A good day to put the C-Dory through her paces, and it did not go entirely unnoticed.

(See the Race to Alaska thread)

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

JC_Lately_SleepyC_Flat_Blue_070.thumb.jpg
 
Back
Top