Well the engine drip pan is back in finally. Glassed, sanded, and painted!!
You may have noticed that we decided NOT to replace the keel tank. I had contemplated it, also contemplated putting a holding tank down there as well. All I could think of was standing in the remnants of the old fuel tank up to my knees in stinking dirty rotten shit. Yup, empty it will stay. We still have a lot of fuel capacity with the 2 wing tanks. If and when we head offshore, if it is needed, I will pull the engine and install one but until that time, I will keep a clean bilge! ?
Well Prodigy Marine did in 5 days what it would have taken me at least 5 weekends. Sometimes it is a good call just to hire out the job!
The new and improved repaired Foredeck!
The foredeck is back together and stronger then ever, but I do have a huge concern with it. The rest of the deck now looks like “ass”. 🙂
In a strange way it is kind of scary to see the foredeck fixed and primed. I think we have gotten so used to seeing Akupara’s outsides in a run down dilapidated state that seeing her starting to look a bit better is a shock. Ok it is only 8 square feet of foredeck that is primed, and the hull looks like a patchwork of bondo, but the progress is real. As soon as they prime the hull and it is all a smooth uniform primer colour, it is going to be a bigger shocker.
I think we need to write off next weekend to finishing the sanding and repairs on deck. To have the hull looking fantastic and the topsides looking like crap is going to be hard to take. Having it all primed would be huge!
Today’s plan is to sand and paint the engine drip pan repair I did as well as a little more paint back near the packing gland so that the entire area is nice and clean and fresh for the new engine and shaft to be installed.
That will be a major milestone as well, imagine having an engine in the engine room? Akupara has been engineless Since February 1st, 2018, almost an entire year now!
In case anyone was wondering, the template that I had been using for this website was removed. This caused the site to be down for a bit. I kept getting cryptic messages emailed to me that to be honest I ignored. Finally donned on me what the issue was so I quickly changed to this template that you see now. And no I do not really like it. I will find a better one soon. Cheers
Sometimes as I mentioned in an earlier post it is easy to get discouraged!
After I posted last time I received an email from one of the few folks out there who actually read this blog. It said:
Subject: Hang In There!!
Message:
Don’t give up! You are getting so close. I have been checking back from time to time and it is good to see you back posting again. She will look so good after a new hull job. Maybe serve as an inspiration to continue.
Hang in there!!!
This email came completely out of the blue! To be honest I had pretty much figured nobody was reading the blog especially since it had been so long since I had posted. It wasn’t a long email as you can see, but it meant a lot!
And who says the internet is just full of bad things?
Thank you for the encouragement, it is much appreciated!!
To be completely honest we lost interest in this project in the fall. I struggled a bit to persevere but then got involved with some redecorating at home and that was the end of that. It jas now been 4 years since we started this and 4.5 years since I last sailed a boat.
The yard messaged me last week to let me know they would be tarping the boat for primer. I was a little shocked as nothing had seemed to be happening for a very long time. It was almost like, hey dumbass, you have a boat here you know! So I took a quick trip down and snapped some pictures and of course handed over more money.
So like all good New Years resolutions, I will head back down to the yard today and see what has been happening. I need to glass in the engine drip pan so that they can get the engine install started.
I think we needed a good break from this project. Now let’s see if we can get back into it or if we should try to sell an incomplete project and try to break even.
Fingers crossed we can do this. I miss having a boat in the water and I miss sailing but it has been so long now I am not sure it is a strong enough driver anymore.
Fingers crossed!!
All Tarped in!I hate how things always look worse before they look better. This is terrifying!Swiss Cheese anyone?Port side is really the worst, 40 years of banging against docks I’m sure!Still a few more areas on the bow!They reglassed the bow.And reglassed that giant hole where the anchor smashed into the hull for 40 years.
