Outside Work - 2014

The northwest Washington weather beats the hell out of a boat. Especially if you are not in the salt water environment.
This is the main reason I am installing a sea water wash-down system. If you can replace the fresh water in leaky places with salt water it will pickle the wood instead of causing rot.
So my biggest mistake was using canvas on the walking side decks. The water has no place to go should it get up in behind the canvas.
This can happen with just a minor leak around a cabin window. So off with the canvas... Learning curves are expensive...

The work on this page took 2 months to complete. So no launch this year.

In my original design this area on the side of the pilot house was in accessible from the inside, so no inspections could be done. So here I removed all the canvas from the deck and took out a section of the pilot house side wall.

If you look in the back you will see I also removed the "removable" panel I built last year (see 2013) so I could inspect underneath. The idea works great, because any part affected by water will peel the paint. I only had one little section where the paint was coming off, but no damage underneath.

So I will attempt to do the same thing on the pilot house side wall.

 Here there was an issue with water so I cleaned and painted the whole area, new insulation and a new deck section. I took out a lot more then was needed but now the captain can sleep well knowing the ship is ship-shape.
   
New deck piece in and "greened". I use copper Naphthalene to kill all the rot causing micro organisms in the wood. The back side is also greened and painted...
Then we'll give it about 3 coats of Alkyd Enamel, now called "Porch Paint", and then a no slip sandy finish.

I also had an issue with the sliding door being sticky at times and almost immovable, so I removed it and the framework to re-work the design.

Here the door is shown upside down. You are looking at the bottom groove.

Fred Merrifield, the carpenter who built the door, and I, over a few beers, figured out that the problem was the wood riding on the brass rail. The wood would get wet and temperamental but when dry would work OK. So we decided it should slide on nylon, a natural lubricated surface and Fred suggested a nylon screw or bolt. Drill the hole in the wood and put the threaded portion in the hole and then let it ride freely.

I found a cap screw where the cap end fit perfectly into the groove so it wouldn't turn, as shown above. I spent hours filing all four of them down to the right height but it worked out great. The door slides like a dream now.
   
Here is a close-up view. Here is the opening all ready for the cover to go on with new insulation in place. The cover curves up toward the front of the boat and it is slanted at the same time so it was a bear cutting and fitting it.
   
Here it is with 2 coats of cetol, ready to install. It is MDO board underneath and teak and holly panel over it. The teak and holly paneling has gone up 100% since we bought the last piece. This one was over 200.00 ! Yikes ! Here it is in it new home. The side of the boat is now sealed again, against the brutal Northwest weather.
   
On the forward deck as seen here and around the pilot house I had installed oak strips on the top sides. I did it all with Gorilla glue and when I returned this year the glue joints separated and cracked. This upper strip was also holding back a lot of water because it could only drain to the aft side. Hence it filled the window sills with more water. I decided to remove all these upper strips. From this point forward I am only using West System Epoxy for all outside gluing.

After removing the strips I sealed the cracks withe epoxy and sanded it out ready for painting.
   
Hatch resealed and coated with cetol. When I sat on the pilot house brow about a week ago it all fell apart. Both sections went out from under my ass and hit the deck. More of that damned Gorilla glue biting me back. Here is the pilot house brow repaired with West System. Now to finish the windshield sills.
   
Port side canvas removed and sanded and some bondo repairs. I removed the stairs and back panel for inspection. Side of ship removed and bad wood replaced. Frame work half installed.
   
Framework done. Fitting the side panels. I inspected the area behind stairs. All OK. Replaced the rear panel and stairs. Insulation installed and sprayed with green paint. The paint hides all my marker pen marks on the foam.
   
Both panels done.. Yeah !!!. Window sills in and everything masked ready to caulk with pure silicone.