weekend projects progress!

After a relaxing evening with Len Friday night, and sleeping in on Saturday morning, we were refreshed and ready to tackle the old bow plate mess in earnest.

Before the bow project was tackled, Cap'n made a quick fix of our water
pressure regulator.  The old one (original to the boat) went kaput, and
the new one came in the mail last evening.  Gotta love Amazon Prime;
it was half the cost of West Marine, and free two day shipping!
Another project, tah-done :)  I love having a handy Cap'n.

When the bolts for the anchor chain guide came off, we
were able to see what sad, sorry shape the whole bow
plate was in.  In fact, I no sooner snapped this picture,
and that piece to your left fell into the water!  Again,
notice the pin to the right.  That was the only thing
holding our roller furling (forestay) to the deck; it
was not attached to the chain plate as it should have been.

It took nearly the entire afternoon on Saturday to simply remove the dozen
bolts up in the bow.  It would have been easier on Cap'n if I folded myself up in
the bow and held the nuts while he worked the socket set taking the bolts
out on deck. After the second nut came off, I was in a sweat and about to have
a panic attack. I cannot take being in tight, closed in places with no air.
I. simply. cannot. Look how degraded the bow plate was on deck; the
aluminum was flaking, crumbling, and like powder.  Notice the roller furling
 is laying on the foredeck on a boat cushion.  Back to the being folded up
in the Vberth...Cap'n had to take over down below.  He's a trooper.  He
never gave up, and in spite of being a sweaty mess with a scraped up
back, he hung in there and gotter' done.

For the record, we're not the only ones with boat projects!  Our neighbors were
working on their bow Saturday afternoon, too.  Their Cap'n did a fiberglass
repair job on a few little boo-boo's, then repainted the stripe.  It turned out great.

Once the old bow plate was off, Cap'n used a Dremel to grind down the surface
and even things up.  Because the aluminum bow plate was not properly
attached to the chain plate for additional strength and support, when the jib
sail would be under load, it was lifting the entire plate off the deck.
Several bolts had been pulled up so, that the fiberglass was cracked and
humped up like an ant hill.  I'm sure this is where I was getting an
occasional leak into the Vberth.  The water was seeping in through the cracks. 

This is the old chain plate the attaches to the very front
of the bow.  Not only is it not thick enough, it had these
crazy angles going up and over the fore peak.  Every bend
in the chain plate weakens the strength of the metal :(

So, in addition to grinding down the 'ant hills' in the fiberglass, Cap'n
did some grinding in the front as well, so the new chain plate will have
only one bend in it. 

Next, Cap'n used poster board to make a pattern for the new bow plate.
The 3/8" bar of stainless steel in his hand will be the new chain plate.
It is not only thicker, it is wider, too.

 

 

From there, he went to Dave's shop here at Banana Bay to make a 3-D
pattern out of wood. 

It was beginning to take shape!

And Willis eventually woke up to see what was
happening in the world...

Hey, it's really coming together! Now imagine it all in stainless steel :)



Before Cap'n could see if his template fit, he had to cut the rub rail where
the new stainless steel sleeve will fit in its place.

We paused after dinner to walk over to our old spot on the Pointe
to enjoy another beautiful Florida sunset.

FITS LIKE A GLOVE!  The one thing Cap'n has left to do is to add a wedge
of wood along the side so it covers the bolts you see here.  Then he
will drill holes through the stainless side, and bolt the whole thing
to the hull of the boat.  Of course, there will be bolts on the deck, too.
In fact, his plan is to cut a piece of starboard in the same shape
to put underneath so that the fiberglass deck is 'sandwiched' between
the stainless bow plate and starboard down below.  Super, super strong!

Cap'n also made a slit where the new, heavier chain plate will come up.
I was so excited with his handi work!

And when all is said and done, the new bow plate will be similar to the
one you see here on our friend Travis' boat.  The only difference is ours
will be one solid piece all welded together.  See how the chain plate comes
up and the forestay/roller furling is then shackled directly to the chain plate?
That's how it should have been designed from the beginning.
I dare anyone or anything to play chicken with Marquesa when she's all
 put back together!  WAY TO GO, CAP'N!  I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!

I have to say though, this isn't my Cap'n's first rodeo fabricating boat parts.  As a retired tool and die maker from General Motors, he made a lot of boat parts through the years.  On our first sailboat, a Chrysler 22', it had no stanchions, life lines or stern rails.  One mis-step, and you were falling into the lake!  My main man once built a stern rail for Celestial out of one inch stainless tubing that he bent with a pipe bender and used the hydraulics from Pap's wood splitter to make it all work- true story!  And it also looked beautiful and fit like it was made for the boat :)

With that, it's now time for a hot tub....G'nite, y'all!