Work in Progress, May 2011

Despite the lack of blog entries, work has been progressing.  We are usually too tired and it is too late by the time we finish working, clean up, prepare dinner, wash the dishes, check email, and get ready for bed.  Part of the problem is that we are not allowed to use our van-camper for sleeping in the parking lot.  So we cook within, rest there, and generally relax in the Roadtrek.  But we sleep in the double berth (starboard side in our SR-34) and attempt to keep it free of sawdust, epoxy, sandpaper, and all that goes with working on the vessel.

A number of distinct projects are on-going at any one time.  The most recent is the revamping of the sole of the center cockpit.  When John Marples and Jim Brown designed the 34, they keep to the center cockpit and deep centerboard of earlier Searunner models.  The centerboard trunk serves as the step for the mast and the sole of the cockpit is installed on top of the trunk.  The plans call for a removable cap to the trunk as part of the sole.  Etak never get this cap.  The plywood for the sole has  teak runners running fore and aft that serve to channel any water in the cockpit to the drainage area just forward of the pedestal.  This picture should help visualize what I am attempting to explain:

Those holes in the forward part of the sole is for drainage into the sub-sole area,a bout 12 inches below what you see here.  There are holes in both sides of the hull well above the water line that allow the sub-sole area to get rid of the water.

In this photo you can see there are now holes beside and aft of the pedestal.  They would drain into the lockers below since there is no sub-sole here.

After removing the pedestal, I stripped off the teak runners in order to get to the very old plywood that is deteriorating with over thirty years of exposure to the elements.  The next job is to sand out the worst of the wood, then begin the epoxy treatment to preserve what is still good.

I started with only epoxy resin and cotton swabs to get the liquid down into all the staple and screw holes.

Looking aft you can see the cut out of the top of the centerboard trunk. The two circles about 2" in diameter are when the old diesel and water fill openings used to be.  They will be filled with bog and capped off.  I have not decided where the new ones will go yet, but they can be added anytime after the sole is complete even if I choose to place them where they were before.

This is how epoxy darkens up old, dry wood.  One coat of resin only is now covering the portion of the cockpit sole prior to other coats and fiberglass cloth.

I hope to add in some photos of the other jobs we are working on as we jump from one to another.

It will be a long time yet before we can hoist any sails, but progress is being made!