To the gelcoat and beyond

It has taken about 60 man hours but finally all the bottom paint is off.

Step one - Internalional Interstrip and scraping

Step two - Hempel paint remover and scraping to get the tie-coat off

Step three - sanding - sanding - sanding

And the problem?

 Now all the paint is off it is clear that where the bootstrap had been painted there was no tie-coat and the gelcoat has deteriorated and cracked. Were it was protected by the tie-coat or topsides paint it is fine. Best of all there are no signs of osmosis blisters.

TillerHand v TillerClutch

You may have seen a TillerHand on the tiller of little Grace.

TillerHand in my humble opinion is good for giving some resistance to tiller movement so you can let go for a few moments but it is not easy (fiddly) to lock it off completely and by the time you have it needs adjusting. Perhaps more useful and the fiddling not a problem when you don’t have to make a lot of adjustments in open water but where I sailed last year I found I was yearning for something I could release and know the tiller was locked but that would free up when I took hold of the tiller again.

I was half way to designing one on the back of an envelope when I came across TillerClutch. I have not been able to try it yet because of the problems with the hull of Little Grace but it seems to be everything I was hoping for.

Update: The line used by the Tiller Clutch gets in the way when starting the engine and manovering at slow speeds. Otherwise it is a great improvement that makes it possible to leave the cockpit for a few moments, to deal with  sails, lines, fenders, check the GPS etc. or even go into the cabin to check the chart.

Just as important, on returning to the helm, the tiller clutch is released with one movement of the leaver and course corrections can be achieved quickly.

Click here for some video for the Tiller Clutch in action on Little Grace.

Under wraps

Click to enlarge

Work continues

The sailing club's boat shed has some holes in the roof and the local bird population makes contributions to the rain that dips down from time to time. Additionally the end of the shed is open to the elements. But even with all this there is nothing like the beating Little Grace would get from the weather in our garden every winter and spring. Even though she was covered last winter the covers themselves did a lot of damage as they shuddered and shook in the unforgiving winds.

Although it would not last long where we live, in the relative calm of the boat shed the van/car cover pictured above seems like a good investment at €200. It protects the work being done now and will protect the finished boat during future winters. It is tall enough and wide enough to allow work on all areas in comfort and at the moment the other side is opened up for ventilation.

A new home

When we started to convert our barn so our horses could live at home in 2010 we intended that Little Grace would be kept at one end during the winter and refurbishment, suitably protected from being nibbled.

There was more than enough room but we did not anticipate how much dust would be created by the horses' bedding, because of which Little Grace stayed in the garden last winter.

Little Grace in her new home

A few weeks ago I joined the local sailing club, whose members have about 100 motor boats and 100 yachts between them. We moved Little Grace to her new home two weeks ago, where I can work on her under cover.

Cracking up

For a few days I have put off looking closely at some cracks in the gelcoat that have appeared on the waterline over the winter. Today I bit the bullet and went deeper. The excavation revealed, what looks like, a previous poor repair. It seems there is nothing else for it but to strip the hull to the gelcoat from keel bottom to waterline to check for further problems.

The history of how Little Grace came into my possession and the first year of sailing before the start of her blog is now complete

You will find it listed 1 to 10 on the right of this page.

It's Epoxy cold

Not a lot has been done to the boat recently. First there was the pleasant interruption of a family visit. Even though I'm stressed that little Grace's progress towards the water is slow, I did not think I could put my mother and sister in overalls and paint brushes in their hands, but I was tempted.
 
 

On a day out we found Little Grace was not the only one not ready

and that her refurbished summer residence was mostly empty.

Apart form the family visit and work, the main reason for delay has been a change in the weather:

 from this

to this

and it is so cold that the Epoxying I did in the garage yesterday has still got a texture like toffee.

Work starts on aft and cockpit lockers

With the help of my son, James, during a visit in mid April, most of Little Grace was rubbed down. The areas left untouched are the outer hull and the rubbing strip.

For a long time I have set the ladder up like this; now I realise it makes sense to turn it the other way so the pushpit acts as a handrail! I'm slow but I get there eventually.

However hard we and subsequently I have tried it seems impossible to get all of the old paint down below off . Every time I think it's done and what is left is good more flakes appear.

After vacuuming and cleaning everything with Hempel's pre-clean (good stuff) I'm ready to progress to the stage where it actually feels like I am getting somewhere. This is not least because the coating of dust from all the sanding (40 and 80 grade) and abrading has been removed. Sanding had been done by hand, and three types of electric sander, which was used was dependent upon suitability for the different areas. Where necessary paintwork was abraded using a wire brush and Wolfcraft and Mirka fiber abraders attached to the electric drill (mains powered). This was all in addition to using a number of paint scrapers.

These fiber brushes are brilliant time savers,
I have several varieties.

Photo taken spring 2010.

The feeling of getting somewhere is also because I will, at last, be adding something instead of removing it. One of the big things I want to add is a proper gas locker. In 2010 I kept the gas bottle in a sealed box. I removed it from this and put it in the cockpit, attached to the cooker using a flexible pipe, when required but that's not very convenient or sexy.

A previous owner has added gas piping from the port cockpit locker to the cabin. The owner I brought Little Grace from used this but just put the gas bottle in the cockpit locker, which drains straight into the bilge. I don't share his death-wish so I will set the new locker up so that it vents through an existing aft fitting. I corked this last year (literally) as there is nothing attached to it.

As the aft drains/vents are there it seems sensible to think that the person who did the major refit and added the gas pipes had a self draining/venting system but there is no evidence of it. There is a bilge pump but its vent is on the starboard beam, as is the vent for the electric bilge pump, so the mystery remains.

As adding the gas locker is a big change I decided to start work at the aft end of the boat, which will allow me to work on the cabin as the various stages are drying.

Aft hatch removed.

The gas locker will go in the port cockpit locker, where the original piping is.

Last year I decided the aft hatch is the wrong way up. The fenders are kept in there and to get them in it is necessary to get down low to push or pull them under the hatch lid, which impedes the tiller if it raised too high.

So I have removed it and it will go back in the other way up so the lid folds down onto the deck. We will have to be careful to fold the catches back to avoid breaking them by putting pressure on the lid once it is on the cockpit sole but it should make access much easier and will not get in the way of the tiller.

To bind the remaining paint and seal the wooden struts to protect them from sea and rain water brought in on the dock lines etc. I coated everything up to the waterline in thinned epoxy. Then I rebuilt the glass-fiber sheathing or added it where I thought some was required using epoxy.

It is said that if wood is not dry enough (not more than 12% moisture) it will rot if it is sheathed in epoxy. I decided it was make or break and went for trying to make the existing structure more robust and waterproof. Where there has been water in contact with the wood in some low lying places I am hoping the fact that I will only use epoxy, with or without glass, up to the line of the cabin sole will mean that moisture can escape further up and from the side facing away from the bilge. Little Grace has been dry under her cover for some time and has been baked in the sun for nearly two weeks, so we shall see what comes of it.

Sheathing in epoxy and epoxy and glass-fiber in the lower part.

I also added some glass-fiber to the join of the hull and the transom.

The existing drainage hole leading to the bilge was small so I enlarged it and added two more, one leading to each of the cockpit lockers and from there into the main bilge, my logic being that water can drain even when the boat is heeled. I sheathed them using small overlapping strips of glass-fiber. My hope is that if I can get the water to drain away efficiently and, in  effect, have a glass-fiber tray in the bottom of the boat the wood will no longer be vulnerable.

 

The next stage is discussed here. 

A timely intervention

It is obvious that a long time ago someone fitted out little grace very well. It is also obvious that she has gone without proper maintenance for a long time since that knowledgeable person sold her. The person who owned her before me did not have her long. Although they started work they did not get very far and to my mind some of the changes were cosmetic, although others, such as replacing the portlights, were more fundamental and an indication of good intent.


The archaeology of the paintwork and evidence of previous fittings on the inside of the hull suggest that there has been only one major refit and refurbishment since original production. Amongst other things the person(s) involved in that put in a V birth, took out the sea toilet and replaced the original locker. It is not clear if the shelving was a later addition but the workmanship is of a lower standard, which suggests it was. The owner who had Little Grace before me had replaced the facing/cabin lining for these.


Now the good work of whoever did the major refit is on the verge of giving up permanently. Water that has been in the bilge since the condition of the glass fibre sheathing deteriorated has got into the woodwork and caused it to rot, as the photos below show.

A rough repair

Aft locker

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Something that used to be kept in this cockpit locker was rusty

Bilge area

Spring 2011 - Trying to get the refurbishment done this time

Out of the depths of winter, a particularly long and cold winter (again), Little Grace emerged into the spring sunshine sometime in March and then again in mid April.

The weight of the snow had damaged the old cover. This new one gives total cover to keep the rain out, important now that the deck fittings have been removed.

Additionally Little Grace is baking under there to dry out the wood in the bilge that is damp so that I can sheath it.