Back to work

Can you believe it's the middle of November? How time flies when you're sail boat racing!

I crewed on a Hanse 400 for the last three events of the VARC season.  The first regatta was a bit of a bust as we only got in one race on Saturday due to lack of wind, and Sunday we blew out the main sail in the first race in 20 knots of wind and had to retire.  I was assigned to foresail trim Saturday and main trim on Sunday.  The second event was a distance race from Jerico to the Fraser river's south arm light and back, but we lost all wind just after turning for home and we had to retire. I was trimming main sail agian. The last regatta went a bit better as we completed 5 races over the two days, but finished a dismal 12th in a field of 14. I was trimming main again.  I admire the skill of these skippers who put their boats within a few feet of each other going in all directions and manage, for the most part, to avoid trading paint.

Haven't got much done on Blackheart lately and now the weather is colder and days are shorter I don't feel much in the mood to tackle sanding fiberglass.  But the work must be done so as the saying goes "suck it up princess".

I did manage to clean out the diesel tank and was happy to find there was very little water and not much crud to clean out. I pumped 27 gallons of diesel through a 30 micron filter into 5 gallon fuel cans, scrubbed out the fiberglass fuel tank with brushes, rags and solvent and then pumped the diesel back into the fuel tank through a 2 micron filter.

I also replaced the fuel pick-up from a rubber hose to a copper pipe with a 90 degree bend at the bottom which rests tight on the bottom of the tank.  I also noted that the fuel vent line did not protrude down into the tank at all so fueling would fill the tank completely to the top and overflow via the filler pipe.  The tank side of the vent fitting was threaded so I installed a 2'' pipe nipple which should cause fuel to squirt from the vent hose when the tank level is 2'' from the top.  Also previously installed a whistle in the vent line which should warn me when vent line begins to fill with fuel and prevent fuel from venting onto the teak deck.

I spent most of last weekend sanding the V-berth in preparation for painting. I still a long way to go.

Summer, Summer Everywhere

Summer finally arrived late in July. We spent our vacation sailing Blackheart every day.  Nothing like 15 days in a row of sailing to get to know a new boat.  Most days we enjoyed10 knots of wind and flat water with a few days of 15 - 20.

The only issue that popped up was a fuel pick up problem which I found was due to an exessively long fuel pick up tube which slid up the tank during an acute heeling angle and was lodged there.  There is a lot of crud in the tank, so I installed a 30 micron filter/water separator between the tank and aux fuel pump.  I'll clean the tank thoroughly this winter.

Our neices and nephews  and the neighbour's kids think it's great having a pirate ship  moored in front of the cabin flying the skull and crossbones.

Some awesome sailing the past few weekends.  Lots of positive comments from neighbours, passing boats and gas jockeys.

Finally got around to purchasing a bosun's chair and went up the mast this weekend to tidy a few things up.

- I lost a jib halyard up the mast some months ago so I fed a line weighted with 1/4" nuts over the sheive and down the mast.  This worked like a charm and I was able to thread the new halyard in.

- I also installed a tube type radar reflector at the top of the intermediate shrouds.  These were quite loose, so I hand tightened and then added two turns.  Leewards are still slightly slack in a 10 - 15 knots so I'll add another turn next time up.

- Inspected all fittings and found no problems

- Taped shoud ends

- Replaced the spinnaker uphaul line

Summer, Summer wherefore art thou Summer

So far summer in the Pacific northwest has yet to arrive. We were lucky to get sunshine last weekend and  we decided to spend it on board Blackheart.  We arrived about 10:00 a.m. and set sail for Plumper Cove on Keats Island.  With 8 knots apparent, we sailed closed hauled at 4.5 knots.  We arrived at Plumper to find all moorings taken so we motored over to Gibson's Landing for fuel and water.  First attempt at docking Blackheart went well although the current pushed the bow away before we were secure and then had to jockey a bit to bring the bow around.  After fueling we tied up to to municiple docks and went in for an ice cream.  4 hours at the dock is now $12! I know!  We had lots of positive comments on Blackheart which really makes all the hard work more rewarding.

We sailed out the "Gap" and around Popham Island before the wind died and motored back to our mooring. We spent Saturday night on board Blackheart and Sunday had very little wind so we motored over to some log booms and practiced our docking.  We took some speed readings for future reference and was quite suprised to find we make 3.5 knots at idle and 6.5 at full throttle.

Vacation begins next week so I hope summer will finally arrive and we can get two weeks of sailing in.

Splash

We launched Blackheart on Saturday, June 11, 2011.  We were hoping to make it in time for the Round Bowen Island race, but it wasn't to be. 

 As we motored up to the cabin at Williamson's Landing, we passed the race leaders on their spinnaker runs along the north shore of Bowen Island.

We're tied up at a mooring bouy in front of the cabin for the summer.

New Furler

We got some great deals at the boat show.

First we purchased a furler from Pro-Tech Yacht Services. After considering my options, I elected to purchase the Harken Mark IV unit 1.  Installation was dead simple and took about 4 hours.  Only issues were that the toggle that is required between chainplate and forestay utilizes 1/2" clevis pins. My old rig uses a 9/16" pin.  So I drill the holes in the toggle and had to make a 9/16" pin. I also had to trim the original shackle slightly so the furler would fit over.

I supported the mast with a couple of halyards and removed the tension from the backstay, pulled the clevis and shortend the turnbuckle by 1.75" to accomodate the toggle.

I fed each section of foil over the forestay and dropped the bottom end through my forehatch which allowed me to insert the joints, glue and screws at a comfortable height above the deck.

Winch Farm

I've heard these old IOR boats refered to as "winch farms" and I can understand it since there are 10 winches.  It appears they have not been services in a very long time.  This is my first time servicing winches so I had no idea what to expect.  It ended up taking about an hour and a half to service the larger ones and about an hour for the smaller ones.  Pretty simple once you've done one.

Teak Deck Repair

Well I've been unable to get much done over the past few weeks due to a bad back, but I'm finally starting to feel a bit better so I'm making some progress again.

The foredeck has a bad spot where the lifeline stantion was pushed through and had been patched with an ugly layer of epoxy that didn't do much except look bad.  I used a heat gun to soften up the epoxy and then prised it up with a thin pry bar.  I've scraped away all the soft wood and will allow it to dry out for a couple of weeks.

 I must say I was a bit disappointed to find that the teak decking was originally only 1/4" thick and had been sanded down who knows how many times, leaving little more than 1/16" remaining.  The teak was laid down on top of 1/4" of mahogany exposed to the interior, and then 1/4" plywood with a layer of fiberglas between the plywood and teak.   Unfortunatly I think I will have to continue with the Cetol coating rather than leaving the deck natural since the wood is so thin.

This is the damage done when a lifeline stantion was hit hard and poked a hole through the deck.  A bad repair alowed water penetration and the plywood under the teak began to rot.

The water eventually made it's way down to the oak beam and caused about 6" to rot. Forunately there is still enough solid wood left resting on the gusset support. An hour or so with hammer an chisel to cut out the rot and shape the beam for a patch

The teak appears to have originally been 1/4" thick but after who knows how many sandings and refinishings over the past 33 years, it is now only 1/16th".  I've cut back the teak with staggard joints

A new peice of oak married to the original with epoxy and screws.

The deck is composed of 3 - 1/4" layers.  Here the interior layer is in place and thickend epoxy has been spread on prior to installing the middle layer of plywood

Finally, new teak strips are screwed down to the new plywood.  The screws act as spacers and pieces of "all-around" act as washers to prevent the screw heads from slipping between the boards. Next step is to fill the gaps between the boards and let it cure and then sand it all down to the level of the rest of the deck.

I can't believe that May is almost done and I'm still working on the deck.

The patch on the foredeck turned out not bad but we'll have to see how it looks once the CETOL is on.

I found 4 or 5 other bad spots that also needed patching, but none as bad as the foredeck.

V-berth construction

The next item on the To Do list is to re-vamp the V-berth.
This boat was built more for racing than cruising so the primary function of the forepeak was sail storage and staging.

Since we'll be doing more cruising than racing, we're looking for a little more comfort.

Unfortunately I forgot my camera the day I started the demolition so I don't have the before pictures, but here's a few pics of the work in progress.

 Here you can see that I have cut down the port side of the V-berth to lower it by 13", and I have removed the sb side completely.  The reason for this is that the sides were not symetrical.  The board lying next to the hammer will be the new top of the V-berth. It will be just shy of 7' long and over 5' wide at the aft end.  With 5" of foam, it should make a comfy bed.

The best method I have found to cut things out is to use an angle grinder with a very thin cut off wheel to cut through the fiberglas where the vertical meets the horizontal.  Once the joint is cut all around, a good smack with a hammer  usually will break the pieces apart.  I can then slide a thin pry bar under the tape and prise it off.  In this case it seems as though the fiberglas of the hull might not have been prepped properly before taping all the plywood sections in, as the tape just popped right off.

The sb side was shorter due to the hanging locker which has been removed exept the bottom. You can see the vertical bare patch where the hanging locker ended.  I'll cut the bottom back to the pencil line which lines up with the bank of drawers on the port side.  The coat rod is hung on the bulkhead and on one of the gussets supporting a deck beam, so I'll leave it open for the time being. I can close it in if we find it necessary to contain the clothes.
If feels good to get some work done finally.  I've completed the rough fitting of the new v-berth.

So it's time for the ugly bit ... sanding down the entire forepeak to prep for epoxy taping the plywood to the hull and then painting.  YUCK with an F.  Oh well, hope to have all the taping done this weekend.

Mast block collar

 Since the cabin deck rot was caused by water leaking by the bolts holding  pad eyes for the mast blocks, I've decided to eliminate them from the equation by fabricating a mast collar with eyes for attaching the blocks.  I traced the mast collar flange with hole locations onto some cardboard and then shaped a faceplate to accept the eyes.

Once I was satisfied with the template I cut out the two pieces from 1/4" s.s. plate. It was a bit tough to bend the face plate, but with some serious heat, some clamps and a 5 lb hammer I was able to beat it into submission.

I'll weld the eyes directly into pairs of holes drilled in the face plate once my blocks arrive to ensure I have the spacing right.

My new Garhauer mast blocks finally arrived and I think my mast collar should work pretty well

Once the weather warms up, I'll paint the cabin roof and then finish mounting the collar.  I'm tempted to remove the ear with the eye off of the mast so I'll have more room for the collar boot.

Cabin roof rot repair

Well it feels good to finally get started.  I've been puttering with cleaning and planning since September and trying to get Blackheart dry so I can begin repairs.

The cabin top rot is just aft of the mast, mainly on the port side, caused, I believe, by leaks in around the stand up blocks mounted on the cabin roof.

The roof is constructed from a layer of 1/4" balsa plywood (I think) to the inside followed by two layers of 1/4" plywood.

As you can see I have removed the mast collar since the rot extends under it.  The collar was glued to the deck with a very tough adhesive (perhaps GM 5200) which is near impossible to break free.  So, I used a heat gun to warm the collar, probably to a few hundred degees, and used a pry bar with a very wide flat base to apply some upward force.  It took close to an hour of continuously moving the heat gun around to collar to break it free.

I've used a sharp chisel to remove the rotten material on each of the three layers.  I've left at least 1 1/2" so subsquent layers of patch material overlap the layer below.  I'll leave this area open for a week with a heat lamp under to make sure it is thoroughly dry before fitting the new plywood.

Here's the patch in place.  It's 2 layers of 1/4" plywood on top of the 1/4" mahogany.  It's all held together with screws and West System epoxy.  The epoxy was thickened with fiberglas to fill gaps.

Here's the patch in place.  It's 2 layers of 1/4" plywood on top of the 1/4" mahogany.  It's all held together with screws and West System epoxy.  The epoxy was thickened with fiberglas to fill gaps.

I've finished the hole repair at the base of the mast by course sanding the plywood to about 1/32" below the finished cabin roof.  I mixed up a batch of West System Epoxy and added some micro balloon filler and troweled it over the patch.  It's now ready for the final sanding which I will do when the weather is warmer and I can tackle refinishing the entire cabin roof.



Blackheart - Peterson 35 Salilboat Project

Hello,

I hope to document my progress on the repairs and upgrades I plan to undertake on Blackheart, my 1978 Cooper Yachts - Peterson 35 (Ganbare one tonner design).

This is my first attempt at Blogging, so I hope you will provide feedback on how I can improve it as I go along.

I purchased Blackheart in September of 2010 and she was biginning to show her age as the previous owner was not able to keep up with the maintenance.

Besides needing a thorough scrubbing inside, she has a few major issues;

• 
  

  foresail foil is outdated and held together with duct tape - New Harkin Mark IV on order
• 
  

  sails are pretty rough - repairs will see us through a season or two, but new sails are on the wish list, replace #4 luff tape with #6 for new furler
• 
  

  replace halyards and sheets
• 
  

  replace mast base stand up blocks with base collar and new teardrop blocks
• 
  

  repair/replace foredeck hatch
• deck leaks - all through deck mounted hardware will be resealed - apply fresh coating of Cetol
• deck rot - two small sections of teak deck will need replacing
• cockpit rot - two small section of the cockpit side walls are rotten this boat was built for serious racing and has no lazerette seating which I intend add
• cabin top rot - small area of rot near mast
• replace cushions throughout
• replace teak sole boards
• remodel V-berth
• remodel head
• repair/replace engine guages

Well that's about it for tonight