July 2015 - S/V Akupara

July 31, 2015July 31, 2015

Too hot…

It has been one of the nicest summers we have had in a long time and we are not in the water, go figure. It has also been way too hot to work on deck under the greenhouse! So that has left interior work to be completed which is fine as it will all need to be done sooner or later anyway.

On Monday Paige came to lend a hand and she set to work painting another coat on what she and Fynn had completed the week before. Although I am sure it will continue to get scuffed and dirty as we progress and require another coat, it is sure nice to see what Akupara will eventually look like.

Tuesday to Thursday I was by myself and managed to get a lot accomplished. I was able to sand and stain a lot of the interior wood in the foreword and aft cabin.

Sanding the aft bulkhead in the aft cabin.

So what did I use? Well, part of the overall plan for Akupara is to be as maintenance free as possible and to that end I went with Natural Teak Cetol and Clear Gloss Cetol.

I know, I know. OMG. I didn’t use varnish or hand rubbed finishes or mother of pearl or whatever else, but think back to my last statement. Low maintenance. If I get a scratch, I simply have to do a light sand, put a coat of Cetol and then a coat of gloss and I am done. Every couple of years when it starts to look faded, the same applies. It also means that I only need to keep 2 cans of product on hand at all times. IF we have any wood on the exterior, and that is a big IF, it will also have the same products on it.

And yes Joe, I said gloss 😉 even though you don’t like glossy boats. So far I think it is looking pretty darn amazing considering the state it was in when we purchased Akupara.

I challenge all of you javex bottles to sand your interior wood with 120 grit sandpaper and have any wood left at all. Gotta love 40 year old boats when the teak ply was still made with some meat and not just paper thin.

Speaking of sanding, mu random orbital sander bit the dust so I went out and bought a Dewalt Random Robital Sander that accepts a vacuum cleaner hose. Gotta say I love it so far. The amount of dust that escapes is minor to say the least and the majority of it ends up in the vacuum.

I am coming up to a dilemma though and anyone with any experience doing this I would love to hear from you. I will soon need to repaint all of the fiberglass sole. Right now it is a horrible yellowish colour and it needs to be white. I have asked several folks but have yet to get any good advice. I do not want to sand as that would destroy the nonslip.

Another thing I love about these old boats is that all of the panels can be removed by simply unscrewing them. As I come back to do the electrical and plumbing work, this will make it a lot easier.

So the current plan is to continue refinishing all of the interior until it begins to cool down and then we will get back to working on the deck. As well, this will give us a big sense of satisfaction and help to clean out our basement.

July 31, 2015

“That guy”

Sometimes I really have to wonder about myself and why I seem to attract certain kinds of people. I also have to wonder to myself, what makes these certain kinds of people want to share their advice with me.

Let me back up and shed a little light on this.

Every boatyard, marina, yacht club, coffee shop, bar, and workplace has one I am sure of it. You might even know the guy. He is by all appearances a nice guy, non threatening, somewhat likeable, apparently happy and on and on. It isn’t until he opens his mouth that you begin to scratch your head.

If you are talking about jet planes he will very quickly interrupt and immediately dominate the conversation sharing his vast personal knowledge and expertise on jet planes. The fact that he has never flown makes no difference. He is the worlds authority on jet planes. Well, this is equally true for boats. There is always “that” guy, who knows more than you ever will, who has more experience than you ever will, and will always be, well let’s just use the word better than you. If you are doing something in an A-B-C fashion, he will quickly point out, and have some kind of story to prove it, that you are doing it wrong and it should be done in a B-A-C fashion.

I have once again attracted “that” guy. I was on holidays this week and spent a considerable amount of time in the boatyard working on Akupara and low and behold, “that” guy spotted me. He seemed friendly at first but within minutes he set out to prove how much more he knew than I.

Look, I do not pretend to know everything. If you scour my blog I challenge you to find one place where I have stated that I knew more, was smarter, or was just all around better. I guarantee you that you will not find it because I know it is not there. The entire purpose of this blog was to record the process of rebuilding a Whitby 42 in order to measure our own progress, share with family and friends, meet other Whitby 42 owners and perhaps start a dialogue about projects where we could share our knowledge. I also thought that maybe, just maybe, someone who is considering attempting a project of this size might either find inspiration, learn something new, or wise up and not start it to begin with. I did not start it to mesmerize the world with my greatness. Will I make mistakes, of course, who doesn’t. Will people offer valuable advice, of course, and I will take it into consideration. But ultimately this is our boat, our project, and we will do it whatever way we decide to do it and the outcome will be ours alone.

Several years ago at the marina, I met another “that” guy. I was planning on going offshore with my Alberg 30 at the time and the boat was obviously being set up for just such a trip. Well, “that” guy came along and proceeded to tell my a hundred reasons as to why I would be stupid to attempt it, hurricane winds, 60 foot waves, and I would never be able to complete it. Turns out that he has never been offshore, and basically has never been out of the marina. When asked about his adventures on the high seas he quickly went off to tell me all about his missed opportunity in life and how it was somebody else’s fault. Last I heard of him he ran his boat aground just outside the marina and had a nice hefty insurance claim to make repairs. Of course, the rock that he hit was never, had never, and will never be on any chart.

So back to the original question. I wonder if it is me or something about me that attracts this type of personality or is it just so common that it affects everyone? I am not sure but I think my Summer Resolution is going to be to immediately call bull shit from now own, and get on with my project.

At some point, someone may realize that I do actually have a grain of knowledge about what I am doing, and I do have a plan on how to get it done. I may not be right, and I am sure there are a 100 better ways, but let’s just agree that if you are going to start impressing me with all of your knowledge, I am going to call bull shit and walk away. So in order to avoid the potential uncomfortable moment, perhaps save it for someone else.

That being said, if you are looking to share, please go ahead, if you are looking to impress, move on.

Damn, I really need to get Akupara out of this boatyard and into the water before I turn into one of these guys who’s boat keeps getting moved farther and farther to the back of the lot, or the Boulevard of Broken Dreams as I like to call it.

In case you are interested, there is a short video that can be seen. It isn’t the greatest, but it will definitely give you an idea of where Akupara is and the company she is forced to keep at the moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2maxxGLL8Q

July 24, 2015

Scary days ahead, but all part of the plan!

I have a very scary anniversary coming up in August and I cannot allow myself to reach it.

30 years ago on my 15th birthday I was caught smoking cigarettes and I have been a heavy smoker ever since. I do not remember exactly when I took my first puff, but the day I was caught sticks in my mind. I was young, active, healthy, heavily involved in Martial Arts and yet I started smoking. I still do not know why I started, it wasn’t to be cool or to fit in or any of those reasons but regardless I did start and the time has come to stop.

In my build up to this I have read a lot of material and one of the things that is repeatedly stated is to tell everyone you know, so what better way than to announce it here.

I have set a quit date of Wednesday July 29th, 2015. I will be successful.

How does this fit in with rebuilding a Whitby 42? Easy, if I do not quit, I will probably be dead a lot sooner than I am planning on and that would just make for a shitty ending to this blog. After all, the goal is to complete the project and someday sail off into the sunset isn’t it? Kind of hard to do dead, or with an oxygen bottle or with any of the other possible outcomes.

Did I mention that the Admiral will be out of town for a week and August is away at camp.

Paige – I would advise that you find something to do, consider this fair warning, run, run now while you still can 😉

July 22, 2015August 10, 2015

Spare parts…

Well I am finally getting around to starting to sort through a lot of the spare parts that came with Akupara and a few things that I had in the basement as well. So far I have managed to sell my 8′ sailing dinghy and the old windlass off of Akupara.

As I continue to sort through all of the goodies and not so goodies, I will continue to sell as much as possible. Hopefully put a little bit of money back into new goodies 😉

One man’s junk is another man’s treasure!

UPDATE:

I have also sold the Icom M710 and AT130 autotuner. I kept the Pactor modem for when I purchase and install the Icom M802.

UPDATE:

I sold the ST2000 Tiller Pilot and remote that was on Akupara as well. Not much use to us as I plan on fixing or replacing the main autopilot aboard Akupara.

July 21, 2015July 21, 2015

8 screws, 20 holes

It never really surprises me, okay it obviously does because I am writing about it, as to how many shortcuts people will take. I have been guilty of taking shortcuts in the past as well but I don’t understand buying 10 opening stainless ports at $500 bucks a piece, ripping out the old windows, and jamming in the new ones without filling the old holes, and then wondering why your windows leak!

I will say that at least they used butyl tape and not 3M5200 to put them in…

Paige and her boyfriend Fynn came to help on Saturday and managed to get a fresh coat of paint in the aft cabin, wow it is like night and day. It is of course going to get all dirty again as we continue to work on all the projects but at least it is our dirt at that point.

We were at Costco on Sunday and I spotted these little beauties. I had previously priced tem at Home depot and they were about $30 each but we got these for $26 for two. These ones are destined for the vberth but the more I think about it, the more I want to go back and purchase them for all of the electrical outlets in Akupara. I hate having some kind of device to charge and not being able to find the silly little wall wart.

It was extremely hot on Saturday so we did not manage to get a whole heck of a lot accomplished but it feels good to be back working at her again. I am also on holidays next week so hopefully I will be able to make some good progress. This weekends plan is to remove all of the rest of the windows and start filling some of those extra holes if all goes well.

And finally I sold our little sailing dinghy last night. I had grand plans of keeping it as a backup tender and sailing through anchorages on warm days but the reality is it would be one more thing to drag on deck, one more thing to store all of the extra parts, one more thing to worry about, and we already have two rigid hull inflatables, how many dinghies do we really need?

July 10, 2015July 20, 2015

Scuba…

What the hell does scuba have to do with rebuilding an old boat?

Well a lot more than you might think actually.

Tomorrow we are going to finally get back in the water. Not with a boat of course but with scuba. All of the family are certified open water divers and we really enjoy the few times we have managed to get out. Part of the grand plan is to have the ability to dive whenever and wherever we so desire. Of course this necessitates owning our own equipment and we are partially there, but we still have a long way to go.

Although scuba diving is considered a sport or a hobby, I actually consider it a safety skill. In the event that we need to clean the bottom of Akupara, or make an emergency repair underway, with scuba we have that ability. I figure that the I overall cost of owning our own equipment will be offset by the dollars saved in not having to haulout. And who knows, maybe we will even be able to make a few bucks diving on other peoples boats, or retrieving that priceless Rolex that was dropped off of the mega yacht when they reached for the glass of spilling champagne! 🙂

July 6, 2015

A small restart.

Yesterday I managed to finally get restarted on Akupara!!

As I thought I was a bit disorganized as we have definitely lost our rhythm. Oh well, I managed to get some more painting completed, I did a fair bit of organization of tools that had managed to grow legs and hide all over the boat. I also got the upper cupboard reinstalled on the starboard v berth. Amazing how you can remove a bulkhead and replace it with a new one in the exact same position and yet somehow the next piece is just a little too big. I absolutely love my oscillating multitool, it comes in so handy in so many different ways and this time I used it to make precision trims of the cupboard!

Since we are starting to close things back in temporarily, it all needs to come back out for the sanding of the liner, I also started making the wiring harness for the new windlass. Akupara came with just enough heavy duty new wire to get this done.

My random orbital sander has died and will require a replacement or two as we will need it in order to continue.

And last but not least we have a few stowaways. A lovely little nest of wasps has taken up residence under the shrink wrap. I will destroy the little stinging bastards this week!

We are in the middle of a heat wave in Vancouver right now but thankfully inside Akupara is not that bad, but it is almost impossible to work under the shrink wrap on deck. The only advantage is that Akupara is as dry as a bone.

July 5, 2015

Storage

Well it may sound a little strange to anyone who knows the Whitby 42 but in my opinion there really is not a lot of room for storage. I guess for the weekender or the occasional week long traveller there is ample storage but for the liveaboard, there does not seem to be a heck of a lot. Don’t get me wrong, there are lots of nooks and crannies, cupboards and drawers but when you really start thinking about all of the spare parts, clothes etc that a liveaboard needs, it starts to get small real fast. So, one of the things that we are going to try to do as we refit Akupara is to find plastic storage boxes that fit in all of the spaces in order to remain somewhat organized. The ultimate solution would be to have some kind of custom made containers that fit to the curve of the hull in the lockers as an example but I would not know where to get such a thing and I do not know how to weld plastic so that will not happen unfortunately. We like the Rubbermaid type containers. They keep clothes dry, and spare parts organized but we have also used those vacuum bags for larger soft items like blankets and they work great if you have a vacuum handy.

It is strange tackling a project this big as your mind is all over the place at times, especially after being away from it for a while. Back down today to start getting back into the swing of things.

July 3, 2015

Back to work, okay maybe tomorrow…

As my previous post mentioned, we had a family situation come up that took up a lot of our time. My uncle was hospitalized here in Vancouver and my cousin Martin came to stay with us for what was supposed to be a week or so. Well, as with everything, especially boats, all original time estimates need to be tripled at the minimum. So in this case we were able to share our home with Martin for almost a month. He is a fantastic guest and although it was a difficult time, with a lot of worry, we did manage a lot of laughs and perhaps shared a beer or two once in a while.

We are sad to see him go, but are sure that he is anxious to be on his way.

Start checking back again as the updates should start coming in as we settle back into our routines and get back to work on restoring Akupara.