And Now Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Updates...

Scraping the remains of the caprail varnish on a hot Savannah Saturday

It’s been a while since the last update here – a little more than three months – so today’s post is going to be a game of catch up. It’s likely to get a little long as well.

For those who would prefer a condensed version, here’s an update of the last three months in one paragraph: the wayward mast and boom finally arrived, more electrical work has been completed, the water tank and waste holding tank lids have been removed, the tanks cleaned/repaired, and new lids fitted. The bottom was sandblasted, more joinery jobs were completed, and JO BETH is being prepped for her hull topsides painting. Lisa and I have finished removing the majority of the old and degraded varnish and pulled off the anchors and chain for maintenance. That’s it in the proverbial nut shell.

Reading that paragraph will tell you what has happened in the past three months, but much is lost without the details. A good portion of that time has been extraordinarily stressful, easily the most worrisome times we’ve had in this entire process. The bulk of this stress was centered on the delivery of our new mast and boom from the manufacturer in California - more on that in a moment – but the discovery of new work necessary to be done, the expansion of projects already underway, and unexpected material acquisition issues added to the mix.

With the painting of the hull now beginning, the portion of the refit in which the visible transformation of JO BETH will become apparent is underway. Once the paint work is completed, she’ll be fitted with her new mast and rigging, the interior work will be completed, and her new canvas and cushions will be delivered. Make no mistake though, that is still a lot of work to be done. Stress is to be expected in a job of the magnitude and depth with which we are doing. We were hoping for a launch date of the end of this month, and to be back in our home marina by August. Now, it’s looking more like the fall before we’re aboard full time.

Our new mast, nestled in amongst other masts, in the Hinckley rigging shop

Spar Delivery

If you’ve read this far, then I’m presuming you’re interested enough in knowing the details of the past few months. The obvious starting place is the mast and boom. I’ve written in previous posts about the damages and wear on the boom. After much consideration, we decided that putting a 30 year old mast in the midst of a brand new boom and rigging just didn’t make sense. So we bit the bullet and had the spar builder, LeFiell Manufacturing in Santa Fe Springs, California, build a new mast. In hindsight, that was the easy part. Shipping the mast and boom, which are essentially long and skinny aluminum tubes, from California to Georgia proved to be a huge challenge. Every boat hauler we spoke with didn’t want to handle just the mast and boom – they wanted to move the entire boat. We considered shipping the spars on a LTL basis – less than trailer load – on a flatbed carrier. Basically, the driver will bring the spars on a flatbed for a minimal charge, provided there’s room to do it safely.

We thought this was in the bag – LeFiell had located a driver they’ve used before for LTL carriage who happened to have a run to the east coast – and he agreed to bring the spars. Unfortunately, when the driver arrived to pick up the spars, there wasn’t enough room on the trailer. Back to square one.

After doing some research on my own and getting some recommendations from others, I located a driver. He agreed to move the spars for the LTL rate, which was a bargain, as the per-mile charge was ½ of what we were expecting to pay for a dedicated load, meaning our spars were the only freight being carried. We agreed on a delivery time and date, and the deal was done.

Or so we thought.

The mast and boom were picked up in California as arranged. Then, they and our driver disappeared. Aside from one or two text message exchanges, he was AWOL. For nearly 8 weeks, we had no idea of the whereabouts of our mast and boom, despite our repeated efforts to find our spars, locate the driver, and secure the delivery of the mast and boom. We only had brief and evasive replies by text messages. Eventually, we were forced to involve our insurance company and law enforcement. Then, out of the blue, the driver appeared at the Hinckley facility in Savannah. Mast and boom delivered, only slightly worse for wear, but with no explanation or apologies.

The driver we hired is a man named Daniel Steadley. His company is Big Dog Marine Transport, based in Charleston, South Carolina. Mr. Steadley came highly recommended, from people I trust and have done business with. I researched him before contracting with him for the delivery, and found only a few negative comments spaced out over a few years. Nothing very alarming popped up.  As time wore on, I did my own checking into Mr. Steadley and Big Dog Marine. The company business address in Charleston turned out to be a UPS Store mailbox. When all was said and done, the delivery of the mast was six weeks overdue.

But, delivered they were, and mostly none the worse for wear. There were a few paint abrasions on both of the spars and one or two deep scratches on the mast, perhaps because the packing tubes sealed by the factory were disassembled and resealed with an inferior tape for reasons only the driver could explain, but he didn’t. A cleat was pulled free from the boom. Some touch up paint and reattachment of the cleat, and things will be good.

Our LED steaming and foredeck light, newly installed on the mast

The arrival of the spars meant that work could continue. The Hinckley electrician began dressing the mast with navigation lamps, wind instruments, and cabling for the VHF radio transceiver. The joinery shop is making pads for the halyard (lines used to raise and lower the sails) winches to be attached to the mast. The pads will be made of teak and prevent the aluminum mast and bronze winches from contacting one another, thereby causing corrosion. More work on the task list.

Two views of our aft water tank; above is the tank before cleaning and re-coating; below is how it looks after repair and re-coating 

Interior “Head” Aches

Our water tanks, long contaminated and unusable, have been refurbished now, and the new lids fitted. The old lids were wooden, coated on their undersides in an epoxy coating, and as they deteriorated from age and wear were the primary cause of the tank contamination. The new lids from Pacific Seacraft are fiberglass and fit the tanks perfectly. We also discovered two cracks in the forward water tank. The tank interiors have been refurbished, the cracks repaired, and the interiors completely re-coated and sealed. The same was done with the black water/waste holding tank.

Then there’s the head (toilet). In an earlier post, I wrote about how we decided to replace the entire system, bowl and pump assembly, since it only cost $100 or so more than a new pump alone. When we received the new head the interior and rim of the bowl were unglazed. Everyone was dumbfounded as to how this could get by two QC checks (one at the porcelain factory and one at the head manufacturer). The on-line dealer, of course, offered an exchange for no extra shipping, so we sent it back. Weeks later, after having received a full refund, we are notified that the manufacturer is “experiencing supplier issues” and the dealer has discontinued the item indefinitely.  Just buy it from someone else, you say?  Well, just so happens we got this one on sale at a really good price. Having to pay almost half again as much caused us to rethink our choice of head.

Several years ago we had discussed changing the whole system to a La Vac, which uses a vacuum created by a pump to empty out the toilet bowl. Hydrodynamic physics, plain and simple. The theoretical advantage is fewer moving parts to break and clog. I’ve now done some research and found an electric La Vac with manual pump back-up can be had for less than the price we had paid for our unglazed replacement head. Also, Lisa has confessed she would like the toilet seat to be a little lower to the sole (floor) of the head since her feet don’t touch when she is seated.  A La Vac would definitely be lower than our original head. I’ve also placed a call to Pacific Seacraft to see if they can help us find the original head and or pump for a reasonable price. A final decision has yet to be made.

Much of the interior electrical work is finished, or nearly finished. The electrician was impressed with one of our favorite boat show purchases, the light over the galley sink that uses touch to turn on. Swipe it one way and the white lights come on; swipe it the opposite and you get red to protect night vision. There is plumbing work still to be done, along with mechanical work and joinery projects. The canvas work is just now getting started. A good portion of the work remaining can’t be done until the boat is off the ground and back in the water. Even then, we will be conducting sea trials to test new systems. There is still much to do.

Cover & protect materials going on in preparation for painting

Sandblasting and Painting

Lisa and I also decided to sandblast the old layers of the anti-fouling bottom paint from the hull bottom. The paint build up was noticeably thick, and was getting to the point where additional coatings would not likely adhere. The boatyard has no sandblasting equipment in house, but had rented a unit to do the same thing to another boat’s bottom. Originally, we were going to put this off until the next haulout for maintenance. In the end, it may sense to do the sandblasting now, might as well, so we did.  Better now than with the new hull paint. The sandblasting opened up some minor blemishes in the hull which have to be repaired as well. While many of these jobs weren’t planned or budgeted, they did need to be done, whether now or later. The bulk of them will not likely have to be done again for as long as we sail JO BETH.

JO BETH before her bottom paint was sandblasted away, above...

 ...and after; her new bottom color will be a deep, brick red

The painting of the hull is a big milestone. This represents a huge transformation of the boat. We are using the paint color cards, trying to determine whether we want Oyster White, Off White, or Eggshell White as the hull color. Then there’s the striping. Navy Blue or Flag Blue? Dark Blue or Aristo Blue? Decisions!

The first of many steps to prep the hull for primer and paint

One of our future projects is the installation of a windvane self-steering system on the rear section, or stern, of the boat. We have an electric autopilot, which consumes a lot of power when in use, and on long passages can be a detriment. The windvane system uses the wind. However, to install it, we have to remove our boarding ladder. Removing the ladder before painting was another “might as well” decision. We’re now shopping for a side installed ladder, which will fold up and stow when not in use. One we are considering is made by a company called Mystic Stainless& Aluminum, of Mystic, Connecticut.This is how budgets get blown away. And as I said, decisions!

As the work to remove oxidation, contaminants, etc., from JO BETH's hull progressed, her former name, PUFFIN, emerged

Progress will begin to move rapidly once  JO BETH leaves the paint shed in a month or so. Still, countless decisions remain to be made. But, by middle or late July, with fingers crossed, JO BETH will be afloat once again. Stay tuned!

Getting in Deep

Jo Beth at Hinckley Yacht Services, Savannah, GA

A little more time has passed than I’d planned for between these refit updates. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as it means the work by Hinckley is really moving along now. Nearly all of the ordered materials have arrived, decisions regarding fabrics and colors for the interior have been made, and the weather is (finally!) warming. 

We do have the occasional issue arise when some new piece of equipment doesn’t fit exactly right, or there’s a question as to how new wiring should be routed, and so on. Quick and simple things mostly, and so far, all easily resolved.

One decision we did make was to replace our mast. I wrote about the extensive corrosion and fatigue damages to our boom, and once the decision was made to replace it, along with the standing rigging and chainplates – the wires that hold up the mast and the hardware they attach to – it didn’t make sense to put all of those new things on an old mast. Fortunately, we were able to get one ordered in time for it to ship with the new boom. They are somewhere between Georgia and California, hopefully closer than further, and should arrive by middle of the week next week.

One of the dozen or so fatigue cracks found in our old boom

Another big decision we made was to replace the through hull fittings and seacocks. These are the fittings and valves which control the flow of seawater into the hull and allow water to be drained from the decks or discharged from inside the hull. Seawater is drawn in from outside the boat is used aboard the boat for a variety of reasons: engine cooling; flushing the head (known as a ‘toilet’ on land); deck wash-down and cleaning; dishwashing, etc. The seacocks are constructed of a bronze housing with a stainless steel ball valve within it. The stainless steel ball is attached to a handle and has a hole through its center; when the hole is in line with the opening in the hull, water can flow in or our through the valve. When the valve is closed, the ball is turned so the hole is no longer in line with the through hull fitting opening. 

Thruough hull fittings...

...and a seacock

Seacocks are generally maintainable, but after thirty plus years of service, ours were very tired and worn. It goes without saying that keeping the water outside of the boat is vital to our success – hence, the decision to replace them. All of the seacocks and through hull fittings on the bottom have been addressed. Those for the deck drains and pump discharges will be done a little later.

The biggest job in the works at the moment is that of replacing the cabin overhead liner. Pacific Seacraft boats are built with a stitched vinyl headliner fitted with zippers to allow access behind the headliner for repairs. It’s a good idea in theory, and works well if all the nuts and wiring one needs to get at any given time are in close proximity to the zipper location. In practice however, it didn’t always work so well. The single biggest issue we had with the overhead was with the zippers. On Jo Beth, they were metal and tended to corrode and get stuck. Plus, the headliner was looking dingy with its age. It was time for it to go.

The new headliner will be a paneled system, secured in place by wooden strips, or battens. The grid for the system is in place now. This new system will markedly improve our access to fittings, wiring, etc. and make maintenance much easier. It does reduce the headroom in the cabin by about an inch and a half; fortunately, not a problem for Lisa and me!

Looking up at the grid structure for the new batten and panel cabin overhead

Two of the more challenging tasks crossed off the list were the choice of a fabric for new interior cushions and the replacement sink and fixtures for the galley. Lisa wanted to create a cozy, homey environment for the two of us aboard Jo Beth, just as she did in the rebuild of our home in Miami following hurricane Andrew in 1992. Boat fabrics require different considerations for those in a house, and must be able to stand up to sun, sea, and salt. After perusing countless fabric swatch books and placing dozens of sample swatches around the boat, she finally decided on Sunbrella Cannes Parchment. While she had hoped to bring in some warm colors similar to the upholstered furniture in our house, it was decided a neutral pallet would be more versatile, enhanced with colorful accent pillows.

Sunbrella Cannes-Parchment

The difficulty of finding a replacement galley sink surprised both of us. The existing dual bowl stainless steel sink has seen better days, and while it’s plenty deep to contain things such as glasses, plates, etc. in rough conditions, it was too small to put a pot in on either side. Our choices were to either replace or refurbish it. The costs for doing either were the same, surprisingly. So began the search.

You’ve heard me say it a thousand times: space on a small cruising yacht is limited. So it was with the space allocated for the sink. The structure of the cabin interior allows no room to move, either front to back or side to side. Every ready-made sink we found fit in one dimension but not the other – without fail. Eventually, after visiting dozens of websites, consulting with restaurant supply companies, and visiting a couple of interior design firms, Lisa found a sink online which will work. It’s a granite composite sink. Very heavy duty, and very durable, it is a residential bar prep sink, made from a mix of 80% granite dust in an epoxy resin. A little bit of trim work around the flanges and we will have a beautiful and much more functional sink installation. She even found a pull out spray head faucet in a matching color! Pictures will follow once the installation is started.

Electrical work in progress

Jo Beth’s electrical system is another area where a fairly large job is underway. We’re not rewiring the boat, but we are removing old and unused wires and replacing our aged electrical control panels and breakers. We’re adding a battery management panel, (batteries are our electrical lifeline when we’re at sea), and with it a monitoring panel for tank levels and electrical consumption, as well as consolidating switch locations and the system layout.

Jo Beth's new dual filter fuel filtering system

 We’re hopeful for a launch date sometime in early June and to be done with sea trials and the like by the end of June. Mechanical, carpentry, and electrical work are continuing and rigging and paint work will begin soon. More updates will follow as things move ahead. Stay tuned!

The Miami International Boat Show!

Strictly Sail, Miami International Boat Show

For the past few days, Lisa and I have been in Miami at the Miami Boat Show and the Strictly Sail sailboat portion of the show. Sponsored by NMMA (National Marine Manufacturer's Association) and Progressive Insurance, it's one of the largest shows around. It covers three venues; two marinas and the sprawling Miami Beach Convention Center. It was a good show. We were able to make a lot of the critical equipment purchases for our refit over two days spent between the sailboat location and convention center, see some old friends, and enjoy some really good Caribbean and Cuban cuisine.

The show did come with it's quirks, as much in this fun and diverse city always does. Snafus in shuttle services between the venues and parking left us stranded once and standing in long lines frequently, but such is the nature of the event. Regardless, for anyone searching for equipment, shows like this are the ticket - we were given some amazing deals, and negotiated even better ones from an array of vendors. I highly recommend it. Just be prepared to reset your clocks to 'island time'.

Be Prepared to Stand in Long Lines for Shuttle Services

Today, we're going to our old neighborhood to see how things have changed and who's still around. We lived here for about 10 years, and left in '98.

Test Fitting the New Reverse Cycling A/C System

The refit itself is progressing. When we left for Miami, the A/C and heating system and new refrigerator and freezer installs were nearly finished. A quick call from LeFiell Marine in California confirmed our new mast and boom are nearing completion and materials we've ordered through Jo Beth's builder, Pacific Seacraft are getting ready to ship. I expect the pace of things to really pick up over the next few weeks. Exciting!

Ressurection

The last entry on our blog was in January 2012 – two years, almost to the date. Much has happened in those two years, and most of it isn’t related to Jo Beth or sailing. In fact, for the vast majority of that time, Jo Beth sat afloat in her slip; forlorn but not forgotten.  Patience pays, and now things are on the move once again, both for Jo Beth and for us.

Lisa was in Atlanta for those two years, dealing with her mother’s changes in health. I was in Savannah, working, and experiencing a boom in business. Now, Lisa’s mother has moved to St. Simons Island, GA and lives in a lovely senior community on the northeast end of the island, very close to Ft. Frederica National Monument. My business is still doing well, Lisa is now home and working with me handling administrative tasks, and Jo Beth is at Hinckley Yacht Services in Savannah, undergoing the beginnings of a much needed refit. 

 

 Jo Beth being prepared for hauling at Hinckley Yacht Services, Savannah, GA

 

Refits on yachts are complicated. If you’ve ever remodeled or rebuilt a house, you have some inkling of how it works; decisions on what goes where; choosing colors, patterns, and styles of fabrics and furnishings; and managing the budget and the project. Add to that, the complexities of a small sailing yacht: small, cramped spaces, exposure to salt water; dual power systems, (12vDC and 120vAC); mechanical systems; and you have the makings for endless hours spent in the boat and the boatyard offices with trades persons, poring over catalogs and equipment websites and sailing forums. But, I gotta confess that I’m having a good time.

Jo Beth is more than a weekender sailboat, or a vacation home. She’ll be our permanent (or at least, long term) home, our cocoon that will shelter and protect us from an environment in which, without her, we’d most certainly perish. We’ve rebuilt homes after hurricanes, and remodeled homes bought, lived in, and sold. However, none of those projects were done with the thought in mind that we’re dependent on the house for our very lives, that without it, our lives would be in very real danger. Refitting a yacht requires a different perspective.

So, perhaps you want to ask what exactly is involved in the refit of a yacht. It depends. Just as with a house, a refit can be minor or major, both in scale and cost. I’ll cut to the chase and say: Jo Beth is undergoing a major refit.

We’re updating her electrical and mechanical system controls, and installing an air conditioning and heating system, as well as replacing our ancient water cooled refrigeration/freezer system with a modern, air-cooled one. The auxiliary diesel engine fuel system is being updated with new lines and filtering systems. New fresh water lines will be installed and the water system pump replaced. We’ll be getting sails repaired and perhaps replaced, more efficient sail handling systems fitted, new rigging, and the mast, boom, and hull painted. Pumps will be replaced and rebuilt, the toilet will be replaced with a new one along with new plumbing, and the water storage and waste tanks are getting a thorough cleaning and will be capped with new lids and inspection ports. 

Jo Beth in the slings

New mooring cleats will be fitted on deck, and the sheet and halyard winches which control the sail handling lines will be rebuilt or otherwise serviced. The anchor windlass will be served and new railings and lifelines are to be fitted.  The exterior canvas coverings are all being replaced with a new color, and will be modified to better fit my and Lisa’s sailing style. New navigation lamps, low power consuming LED’s, will be fitted on the mast and the remaining exterior and interior lights will be updated with LED bulbs. The cabin overhead material is to be replaced.

And these are the major tasks.

The work is underway, but progressing slowly. The recent holidays followed by persistent and unusually cold weather have slowed our progress. We remain optimistic and hopeful, to begin moving aboard in early summer. 

Why are we doing this? Because it’s what we want and it’s who we are. Lisa and I met at a marina where I kept my first small sailboat. We started sailing together on that little boat, making short weekend trips along the Georgia and northern Florida coasts and were married 51 weeks later. To live aboard and sail on our own boat, capable of taking us wherever in the world we want to go, has been our one persistent dream. I’ve never thought of myself as a patient person, but I must be more than I’m aware. Jo Beth is not just any boat however; she’s the boat. We knew, from our early days together on boats, that a Pacific Seacraft was the boat we wanted. We’ve owned her for nearly 11 years now. Her time – and ours – has come.

I’ll be much better about keeping current with our news here. I suppose I’d be hard pressed to do worse! 

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I mentioned in the last blog entry I was moving this blog to WordPress. That may happen still; however, the Blogger interface seems somewhat better since Blogger became a part of Google. For now, we’ll stay put.

A Traveler's Tale, Part II

The old traveler assembly

While Jo Beth was hauled at Tiger Point Marina & Boatyard in Fernandina Beach, Florida, we took care of a few projects that needed doing. Repainting the bottom and the below waterline fittings with anti-fouling paint was one job. Changing the sacrificial zinc anodes was one more, and another was the replacement of the propeller shaft seal and the cutlass bearing. The propeller shaft seal is just that; a seal that prevents water from entering the hull through the hole where the propeller shaft exits the hull. The cutlass bearing is a bronze tube with a slotted rubber sleeve and fits into the tube the propeller shaft fits in where it exits the hull.

The job of the cutlass bearing is to cool the shaft. The shaft is made of stainless steel and as it spins in the shaft tube, it creates a tremendous amount of friction and heat. The slotted rubber sleeve inside the bronze tune of the cutlass bearing allows seawater to surround the propeller shaft, cooling it as it spins. It also allows seawater to reach the propeller shaft seal for the same purpose.

Another job was the installation of a galvanic isolator in the boat’s shore side electrical system. Last year, I wrote about a corrosion issue we were having on board. (Click here to read that post.) After months of continuing searching and testing, I finally made the decision to install the isolator. So far, so good; we had a diver go down just before Christmas to check the condition of the propeller shaft zinc. Jo Beth had been re-launched two and a half months earlier. If the isolator wasn’t working properly, the propeller shaft zinc would be severely deteriorated. I’m happy to say the diver reported the zinc looked brand-new.

The other jobs done in the yard fell under the heading of routine maintenance: an oil change; cleaning and re-filtering (called ‘polishing’) the diesel fuel tank and fuel; and the replacement of the engine to tank fuel return line. Of course, the bigger jobs awaited us back home and those are the jobs associated with the traveler and running rigging, and the work which needs to be finished before we can fully transition to living aboard Jo Beth on a permanent basis.

The bolts attaching the traveler to the deck are removed with little difficulty

Back in her slip at Brunswick Landing, we tackled the job of removing the old traveler. This began with an exchange of telephone calls and emails with the service folks at Pacific Seacraft. The traveler, along with the other deck fittings on Jo Beth, is mounted through the deck. In order to provide access to these fittings and fasteners, the headliner in the cabin is zippered panels of vinyl, the idea being the zippers can be opened to gain access to deck fittings, wiring runs, etc. Unfortunately, 27 years exposure to the humid and salty ocean environment had taken their toll on some of the zippers, one of which we needed to open in order to remove the traveler assembly.

So began a cycle of several days soaking the zippers and external bolts and screws in the traveler with a variety of solvents. For the most part, the solvents did their job. Unfortunately, the one stuck zipper refused to budge and finally crumbled into pieces. Reluctantly, Lisa grabbed her X-Acto knife and cut the zipper tape. Another project added to the list.

With full access, we began the process of removing the traveler assembly. The traveler track and car are mounted to an arched aluminum piece which was through bolted to the cabin roof. The first bolts to be removed were those securing the aluminum arch to the deck. With Lisa below holding a socket on the nut and me on deck, turning the large slotted blot heads, these were out within thirty minutes. The aged bedding material let go easily and quite frankly, I was alarmed at how little of it remained – and how easily it released.

Tools of the trade...

With the traveler and support beam off, we carried it up off of the dock to the marina parking lot. Years of working on and around boats has taught me to do this whenever possible if what you’re working on is too large or unwieldy to be carried below. As one old-timer I worked for once told me, “when you pull whatever apart, put all the parts and pieces in a coffee can or jar,” he said. Confident, I added “so you don’t lose them.” He looked at me hard for a second and finally said, “yeah, there’s that. But mostly it’ll drive ya crazy to lose things one at a time overboard. This way, they all go at once.”

One small bolt proved stubborn...

We spread out an old bed sheet on the concrete and laid out our tools: screw drivers, sockets, a spray can of solvent, P.B. Blaster, a four pound mallet, and a manual impact driver. I sprayed each bolt head on the traveler track with the Blaster and one by one, we worked the nuts off and the screws out. Amazingly, we only had to use the impact driver on one bolt to break it free. All the others were wonderfully cooperative. The entire job was finished in an hour.

Finished!

All that was left was to clean the old bedding from around the holes on deck and fill them with caulking, (we used 3M 4000), and get the new components ordered. This included replacement blocks for the entire mainsheet assembly and in addition, a set of lazy jacks and new bails for the boom.

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I've made the decision to move this blog to WordPress. Putting it nicely, the Blogger interface is just too cumbersome and difficult. The next post will be the final one for Blogger, and will include the new address for Jo Beth's blog. please stay tuned and get ready to change those bookmarks!