We arrived at Akupara late yesterday and it was cold and raining of course. Andrea set about working on the last of the sanding and I was at a bit of a loss as to what I should do. We had stopped and picked up sandpaper including some 80 grit for the belt sander, and I thought what the hell, need to find out sooner or later if this is going to work. So, I started a test spot on the main cabin top and that quickly developed into rough sanding the entire top. It took me approximately 3 hours to complete the horizontal surface. Not bad. I will have to go back and get into some of the tighter places with a palm sander but for the most part it is sanded enough to apply an epoxy primer. I still have lots of work around all of the stanchions etc so the side decks will be a while yet. I calculate that one good day with the belt sander and I will be able to complete all of the large surfaces. It will probably be another complete day at least with a palm sander to knock down the harder to reach areas.
I spoke to a rep from Interlux paint at the boat show and he advised me to use a two part epoxy product and paint that is perfectly legal in Canada but for whatever reason is not sold here. Looks like I will have to head south to get some.
The plan is to use 80 grit in order to provide good adhesion for an epoxy primer. Then knock that down with a finer grit, and quite possibly a third time as well. Then it would be ready for paint.
Because this is such a giant pain in the ass job it is easy to want to take shortcut but any pro painter will tell you, the trick is in the preparation. Guess the sound of sanders is still in our future for a while yet.
We had a very fruitful information gathering day at the Vancouver Boat Show yesterday. Unfortunately the boat show itself changes very little from year to year and to be honest, in my opinion, is not really worth the money paid to get in the doors anymore. I guess once you have gone to a whole bunch of these, they start to all just become the same. The same vendors, the same dealers, the same products with “Boat Show Sale” plastered all over them.
For new boaters or for someone who is shopping for a new boat, it is probably a fantastic show, but as we do not fall into either of these categories, it could have been a lot better.
Andrea and Paige came with me and we did the rounds of all the booths stopping to talk at several that were of interest. Before going down there were 3 things that I wanted to get some answers for. Engines, watermaker repair, and interior cushions. On top of that we did get some current prices for items that we know we will want down the road, but as for spending money, I think grand total we spent less than $200 including admission. The only reason we spent so much, is that I found a great set of LED Spreader lights that I knew we needed, and of course I had to restock on Rescue Tape.
Rescue Tape and Spreader lights
Rescue tape has become my standby for more uses than I can possibly explain here. For those of you who have never used it, I would suggest buying several rolls and throwing them into your toolbox on your boat! I always buy Rescue tape and I always have several rolls hanging around! This time I bought 3 small rolls and 1 large one for $50. I don’t like plugs for products but this is one that has saved our bacon on a couple of occasions, including when the water pump bearings disintegrated and I had to MacGyver a fix with an old deck wash down pump to get us home. Another time when a cooling hose rubbed through on the alternator and we did not have a spare hose. It was not pretty, it would not have went 1000 miles, but as long as we kept the RPM low we were able to limp 30 miles back to the marina on an absolutely windless day. Check out their website Rescue Tape and seriously get yourself some. You will find a million uses for it. And maybe they will send me a few free rolls for this plug! 😉
The spreader lights we purchased were not a planned item but in this case I managed to get them for about $50 each.
We spoke to a representative from La Fabrica Marine and discussed high level the overall plan for the upholstery, the mattresses, the cockpit cushions, and the dodger and bimini. This is going to be a very expensive endeavour with initial ball park estimates of $8000 plus. That being said, we are not looking at this project as a weekend boat where it would be okay to have 3-4 inch mattress pads, and will be going with real custom mattresses and we also have some fairly specific requirements that I will not give away just yet. As well, La Fabrica does very nice work. They have our name and number and we will set up an appointment post boat show for them to come out and take some measurements and give us a more accurate quote.
Lots of information to review
And finally the big reason we went to the boat show. To get some information and pricing on the repower. Let me start this by saying any time I have a hard time getting a price online, I smell a rat. Try searching for a price online for 75hp diesel engine from one of the name brands. Good luck and if you find a place that actually lists prices let me know, and I will post it here for everyone to have access to. The second thing that makes me squirm is when they pull out their little list of model numbers and prices exactly like a slimy used car salesman. Their is no mystery to the fact that the 10% off boat show special is a crock. And you only have until February 29th to make a deposit and secure that price. I happen to know that the price for a Yanmar is almost the same this year from last. Hmmm. In any case here are the numbers and the models for each of the engines we looked at.
Beta Marine – Beta 75 – $18871
Beta Marine – Beta 60 – $15535
Nissan – SN110 – $14897
Mitsubishi – SM105 – $19123
Yanmar – 4JH4 (75hp) – $16917
All of these prices include mounts, basic panel, and gear box with slight variations as to what each of those are.
The gentleman who we spoke to from Beta Marine actually ran the numbers for the Whitby 42 and although I do not have them memorized, the 60hp would do the job providing for hull speed at max RPM but there would be nothing in reserve. The 75hp would provide hull speed at around 2800 rpm and still have quite a bit in reserve. That sealed the deal and eliminated the 60hp. I have been in a situation where I needed a bit more power and didn’t have it, and I do not want to be there again.
I have not studied the graphs yet as I said but high level the Yanmar claims to be the most fuel efficient.
The major question I have in my head right now is something that the Beta marine dealer said. He claimed the Beta is a lot more like the Ford Lehman in that it is a big solid engine that will last forever. The Yanmar on the other hand seems to be the favourite. Everyone claims they have a Yanmar as though it is a status symbol. I am concerned that it is marketing hype and perhaps not of the same heavy duty construction as the Beta.
Everyone we spoke to ball parked the install at around $5-$6. So with taxes, we are looking at a $25000 job. I will take my time with this decision as I do not want to have to do it again that’s for sure.
Repower info
As we dream about getting closer to launching Akupara the inevitable question of where are we going to find moorage is starting to come up of course. All of our boats since we moved to Vancouver have been kept at Point Roberts Marina in Point Roberts, Washington, and we had the good fortune to run into Tanya who works in the office at the boat show. Tanya has always been fantastic to us! She is always happy to see you and always willing to find a way to help you out. We have never had a complaint at the marina that was not taken care of almost immediately, and so far, we have never been concerned about the safety of our boats in the marina. There is quite a community at the marina and we have made lots of great friends there. Tanya assured us that when we get close to launching to let her know and she will do everything she can to get us into a slip. It is nice to know that some places actually value and want your business. I think we will be putting Akupara there until the day when we move aboard, at which point she will need to come back into Canada.
White paper masks may make you feel like you are in the latest episode of Grey’s Anatomy and that you are performing some kind of life saving operation but let me tell you that they are useless when it comes to stopping sawdust from getting into your nose!
I am sick of sawdust. It covers our clothes, it gets in our nose, it is in our cars, in our beds, in our hair, in places I am not going to mention and it is persistent. We will work all day Saturday and still have sawdust appearing out of nowhere on Wednesday.
But the absolute worst part of sawdust are the dry boogers. For days afterwards it feels like someone has lined your nasal cavities with a thin layer of concrete. We have tried white paper masks and respirators, and almost anything else you can think of to no avail. About the only thing left is peeing in a handkerchief and covering your face with it. (Apparently that is a way to make it through tear gas)
Thankfully, oh so thankfully we are almost done with sawdust for the most part. Our gigantic pile of wood to sand has been reduced to 2 piles, one in our basement and one in the cockpit. Considering these piles required 5 truckloads to move each way, I think we have done an amazing amount of work. Okay it only took a year of sanding on Saturdays, but it is still a lot accomplished.
We have this almost down to a science now. We have all of the “To be sanded” items on one side of the cockpit. Andrea and crew, if they are there, sand in the middle of the cockpit. The pieces then get moved to the other side of the cockpit as they are completed, or handed to me inside to install.
There is also the cut and ready to install pile, where each piece is stacked next to its former self. For the most part these only need the edges sanded wherever I have made fresh cuts.
And lastly is the plywood scrap pile. Not that any of it is scrap and I am sure all of it will eventually be used but a pile none the less.
I find that old plywood has a rather bad smell to it in some cases and any piece that we can replace without major difficulty is being replaced. I also have a strong belief that we have reduced the overall weight of Akupara substantially as 40 year old plywood just seems heavier.
We managed to make a lot of progress yesterday and it feels good to be back in the swing of things.
The admiral and I were both feeling the same way at the end of the day. Thrilled to be approaching the end of the wood sanding, but scared of the next stage which involves sanding the cabin liner and the decks.
Never mind Grey’s Anatomy for those jobs, we are going full Breaking Bad! IF there is anything worse than sawdust boogers it is fiberglass boogers!!!
With a little help from my 2×4 friends we have managed to keep the sky up for now! It really did not need a lot of help but these 3 supports will at least keep the center up if nothing else. As you can see in the picture, Akupara’s poor old decks are covered in sawdust. Not long now and it won’t be sawdust it will be gel coat and Fiberglas dust as we transition to sanding the decks.
Deck re-coring
I have started to cut some of the known pieces to do the re core. We have had marine plywood start to accumulate from all of the other projects and the scraps I have been saving for all of the areas we will need to recore. I anticipate having to purchase a couple more sheets for the interior yet so we should have lots left.
Vberth door
I also managed to get the vberth door sanded and hung, only 2 doors left now and we will have no more big pieces left to sand.
Of course we still have a lot of small pieces and trim etc but we are actually coming down to the end of sanding wood. It will be nice when it is finished. Paige has volunteered to come and help us this Saturday so we should make a little extra progress.
Next weekend is the Vancouver Boat Show so not a lot of work will get done. I will write a post about our findings when it is over.
As an aside you may have noticed that we have not been staining any of the pieces we have sanded lately. This is simply due to the temperature inside of Akupara, it is too low. Hopefully it will be a little warmer this weekend and we can get the wood stained.
Just reviewing the Moorage rates for 2016 at our previous Marina, Point Roberts Marina, and I am somewhat frustrated to say the least. I just paid for another 6 months of storage in the boatyard and it is almost the same price as a complete year in Point Roberts Marina. We knew this was going to be an expensive endeavour but damn, double the price to keep it on land as opposed to in the water! Shelter Island Boatyard needs to rethink their prices!
Another GREAT reason to get Akupara finished and floating on her own bottom, I will save almost $3000 a year just in moorage! Hmmm, $3000, that could buy me a….. 😉
Lots of dollars, but doesn’t make a lot of sense that’s for sure!
Okay maybe not the sky, but something definitely did not look right as we drove up to Akupara yesterday.
Cover collapse
I knew this was coming but I just did not know when exactly it was going to happen.
The puddle of Ice and WaterThere was a heck of a lot of waterProbably a good thing these drawers were piled here to help take the weight
We had a bit of snow last week one morning and obviously it was enough to gather in the low spots on the shrink wrap and as the temperature climbed a bit, it created a depression which continued to collect water when it rained this week. Thankfully the cover collapsed over the main companionway where it rested a little on deck, a little on the drawers that are queued for sanding and on the helm. I had to poke a small hole in the tarp and let it drain into the cockpit. I enlarged the hole to about 1/4 inch in size and after an hour or so, enough water was gone that I could stand up underneath the cover, and push the remainder outwards with my back. There was a layer of about an inch of ice on top of the water that was sent crashing overboard. Today I will have to go back and re-enforce the frame with some vertical 2×4’s and I will attempt to shrink the shrink-wrap a bit with a heat gun to tighten up the loose areas.
I think this is an omen. It is foreshadowing at least. We need to get back to hustling and we need to get the decks completely prepped for paint as I doubt if we would ever see another year out of the shrink wrap and I do not want to pay to have it done again.
Once the crisis was over and we fixed the falling sky issue, we began to work on the layout of the galley and pantry. Remember a while back I had started into the pantry and then I stopped. My reason for stopping was that I did not want to go and make a bunch of dividers and shelves only to find out that none of our containers would fit, so we brought all of the new containers down to Akupara and played organization for a while trying to find the best layout for all of the storage.
The pantry layout.
We have been thinking about the galley as well. The shelf behind the stove needs to come out yet, but for the same reason as not finishing the pantry, I wanted to be able to build everything to fit. We have always felt that the height of the shelf was a bit odd and after trying to fit containers etc in, it only reinforced our belief.
Trying to determine the eventual height of the shelf and layout
I think we need to slow down a bit on the galley and come to a final decision as to whether or not we will build in a microwave, dishwasher, coffee maker and where the wine fridge will go. Joke 😉 But in all honesty I think we need to spend a bit more time designing this. One of the major beefs about the layout currently is that anything you put on the shelf behind the stove is almost useless if the stove is on as you need to reach across directly on top of the stove.
Over the holidays I glued (contact cement) arborite to the panel for the area behind where the electrical panel was, which I have planned as the new spot for the watermaker, and to the new drop down electrical panel and electronics area at the nav station. We brought these pieces with us and I installed them temporarily to ensure they fit. One did and of course one did not so I will need to do some trimming, but overall we are pleased with the black look.
Nav station – hinged electrical and electronics area.Previous electrical panel area and new watermaker location
As you can see in the picture I still need to glue arborite to the tops of the chart locker, tool storage area.
I am still not sure what the official name for this spot is, but I am inclined to just start calling it the hallway.
So all in all we had a productive day, on top of all this, the Admiral managed to get a few more pieces sanded and ready to be stained.
Our basement is slowly emptying out to the point that I was able to create a temporary workbench out of some old plywood I had on top of sawhorses and really start organizing some of the remaining straggling pieces.
I also took a closer look at the booms yesterday and discovered that both the main and the mizzen are rigged with 2 reef points set up for 1 line reefing for each point. This is a nice feature that I do not recall seeing before. On our previous ketch’s, neither had a reefable mizzen.
We are approaching another milestone here soon. We are nearing the completion of the interior wood sanding. I say we, but in reality it has been the admiral performing all the sanding and I do the installation and staining. There are 2 more doors in our basement, 3 drawers, and a bunch of trim pieces. On Akupara there are about 5 drawers, 1 door, and a bunch of trim pieces as well, but the majority of all of the wood sanding is almost done. That was a gigantic job! When it is complete, we will need to move on to sanding of the liner in preparation for new paint and of course the multiple sandings of the deck.
I have to admit that I am getting tired of owning a boat that does not float! Farley Mowat wrote a book entitled The Boat who wouldn’t float. I never actually read it but the summary sounds all to familiar.
“It seemed like a good idea. Tired of everyday life ashore, Farley Mowat would find a sturdy boat in Newfoundland and roam the salt sea over, free as a bird. What he found was the worst boat in the world, and she nearly drove him mad. ”
I do not believe that we have the worst boat in the world, and I do not believe that Akupara is driving me mad, but there are a lot of similarities! Akupara as of right now is not ready to be launched, and the idea of being on a floating, sailing boat is starting to drive me mad.
We are about to round a new corner. A really expensive corner. We are very quickly approaching the high ticket items. Electrical, mechanical, plumbing, rigging, cushions. Up until now it has been new plywood and lots of sandpaper and a few cans of paint and stain. Of course because it is all Marine Grade, it is still expensive but not like what is coming.
I do find myself drifting into the realm of well, that can be completed once we are afloat, which is a dangerous path to follow, but it is very hard not to. If she was in the water, we would at least feel her move a bit, and at least be out of the dirty boatyard.
I am thinking that I am going to re-prioritize our projects so that we can launch if we decide to at any point. So, that means the focus would shift to the hull. New seacocks, a few fiberglass repairs, and new bottom paint. After that would be the deck. Finish the sanding and hole filling and re coring. Once those items are complete, we would have a floating watertight boat. Of course she still would not be able to go anywhere under her own power so the rigging and the engine have to fall in there somewhere.
We can still use Akupara even if the odd drawer face is not sanded and stained. The electrical only needs to be able to start the engine and charge the batteries, after-all I like gimballed oil lamps, they are classy and we have a lot of flashlights. We have an icebox and new refrigeration can wait. Never had it on a boat before why do we need it now? And interior cushions are a luxury, we could always use cheap inflatable mattresses.
And that is how projects start to never be finished. And how a boat will never float. I don’t care if I re-arrange the order of the overall project list, but we need to Stay The Course, and get all of it done before Akupara hits the water. Well at least most of it anyway…
I need to stop looking at all of the beautiful photos of tropical island paradises posted by sailors on Instagram and Twitter.
Where to start. Not much has happened on Akupara over the last little while with the holiday season going on but hopefully we can get back to being focused again. The galley has been on my mind as I really cannot start anything until we have a plan as to how it is going to be completed. What I mean by that is we want to have everything in the galley sealed in Tupperware containers for a couple of reasons. Firstly is just general organization, I hate not being able to find what I am looking for, and secondly, is with the eventual plan, having everything sealed is a good anti cockroach prevention approach. So to that end we made a trip to Walmart and bought a few items to get started.
I think in total we purchased somewhere in the neighbourhood of 30 containers of different sizes and shapes. I am calling them “Tupperware” as I think that is the clearest description but they are a different brand. We purchased a bunch of smaller ones for the pantry which means that I can now complete that area as I know how big to make each individual shelf, and we purchased enough to line each side of the vberth and the aft cabin upper shelves. I am a huge advocate of dry socks and underwear, and by storing all of these items in nice organized containers, with a packet or two of desiccant inside, I can be assured of dry undies no matter what. At least that is the plan. And of course it will keep little critters from nesting in our clothes, hopefully. As for the galley itself, I think we have about 10-15, I do not really remember. The plan is to bring all of them down to Akupara, dry fit, and decide where we want the shelving, how we want it divided, and what makes the best use the available space, before we start building it in permanently.
We also went down to the local marine store and purchased a few needed fittings and hose for the watermaker, I have laminated the face of the new electrical panel area, and we took down all of the Christmas decorations, thank heavens. It is nice to have them up each year, but it is always nicer to put them away again, everything seems so organized without all of the clutter.
And as you have probably noticed, I have updated the theme on the website. The comments section was not previously working, hopefully it is now.
