Long, long, long boat projects

[Cheechako]

Congrats! I've had 2 year projects but that's about it. They are never done. I've found that the "left to do" list starts loosing things if you start using the boat. You then start saying: "WTF... I really don't need to do that!"


After 40 years of boating I now kinda say:"is spending months of mess making, money spending to replace the fridge insulation, door and counter top easier than running the engine now and then? ....and being on the water"

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by gamayun

Sheez, Skip. I'm in complete awe and amazement at your commitment. Congrats!! As to my worst boat project -- three months of bottom work and mast work and no sailing. It about killed me.

It was probably easier for me to go without since I had been boatless for so long. I also managed about ten years of cruising off and on before becoming a CLOD so had scratched the itch already.

That being said, it's TIME to get back on the water. First time with the sails up made my heart go pitter patter.

Going out this evening with the wife after it cools off a bit for a dinner and sunset cruise.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Congrats! I've had 2 year projects but that's about it. They are never done. I've found that the "left to do" list starts loosing things if you start using the boat. You then start saying: "WTF... I really don't need to do that!"


After 40 years of boating I now kinda say:"is spending months of mess making, money spending to replace the fridge insulation, door and counter top easier than running the engine now and then? ....and being on the water"

Now I've got all the big bits sorted out I absolutely plan to go into this exact mode.

I'm making new lists. The important, keep the boat floating and moving list that will of course get priority. Then the list that will have stuff like "one of these days I need to put a new gasket on this fitting because it leaks a drop of water occasionally" that will get done when it gets done.

[Panope]

Well done Skipmac! Pretty hard to beat the satisfaction of completing a BIG boat project.

My project spanned 14 years with about 8 or 9 of those with active work. As someone else said, the projects will never end. I'm fixing to tear-out the forward 1/3 of my interior and replace with a new layout, but I'll wait a few more years before the boat is laid-up again.

Now, let's see some pictures of your boat

Steve

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by redhead

We are in year 2 of our refit. As I've said elsewhere the priority list when we started looks nothing like the priority list now. Ahhh, the naivete'.

Done -Deck leaks (actually toe rail leaks). ALL leaks done. New battery system, new charging system, new alternators, hoses, belts, 2 new heads 2 new showers, new galley floor, new sail covers, new lazarettes, new engine hatch.

Still to do - all cosmetics (upholstery, cabin woodwork, cockpit wood refinish, new gray water tank, some rewiring, power supply to windlass.

Also done - new skills, new friends, new part of the country, same husband (which may be the most refreshing/surprising of all).

We have some more electrical to do and then everything else can wait. Your completion gives me fresh incentive. Pictures please! And enjoy your sail!

Pictures to come.

Reading your list (and others) keeps reminding me of other things done that I didn't put on the list. This time, holding tanks. I took out the old, leaky, very smelly bladders and installed new custom made to fit in a locker, gravity drain, PE holding tanks and all new Trident hose sanitation hose. That should deal with the stink for a while.

Same wife, bless her heart. But I did earn my boat time. We sold the last boat and moved on land and now have a house that's all paid off, are totally debt free and I have done the majority of the back breaking parts of remodeling every room in the house (one bathroom left to go) and landscaped the yard so much that every neighbor on the block hates us for showing them up. I think our yard should be designated the Gainesville Botanical Gardens.

And yes, all the deck leaks. I think, cross my fingers, that I now have a totally dry boat. Guess I'll find out soon enough.

Sounds like you're well on the way to getting yours done. Keep it up, the end result is worth it!

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Don C L

See? This all really argues well for the virtues of owning 2 boats! One to work on in the morning and one to sail in the afternoon! ...Nah, I don't think my wife will buy it...

How about six boats. 19' ski boat, two kayaks, two dinghies and a sailboat. One more and I might have ended up homeless with no boats at all.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Jolly Roger

I’m nearing the end of a major refit of my 1977 Down East 45 which I bought five years ago - at least I hope so .
I not only photographed all my projects as I went along, but I also wrote about them and have so far sold ten articles to The Good Old Boat Magazine. This has earned $4,800 which has helped off-set a bit of the costs thus far.
Modifications and improvements so far are:
Changing the rig from a ketch to a brigantine schooner. (A whopping job).
Designing and fabricating a 24 foot long yard on the foremast with a square sail, which rolls up inside the yard.
Changing all four sails to roller furling with new sails.
Re-routing all control lines into the cockpit – including the square sail control lines to new self-tailing winches.
Replacing the ten foot wooden bowsprit with an aluminum spar, and modifying the bow roller.
Fitting a new Maxwell windlass and re-routing the chain to make it self-stow.
Installing two 35,000 btu marine air conditioners.
Remodeling the aft bathroom and installing a full size bath with spa jets and a heater. Also a new electric head.
Remodeling the forward bathroom, with a new electric head and shower.
Remodeling the aft cabin to make a queen size bed and seats.
Remodeling the galley, including a washing machine and deep freeze.
Ripping the mucky old vinyl head liners out, and refitting plastic paneling throughout, replacing the side panels in the saloon at the same time.
Restoring the teak and holly cabin sole throughout.
Completely replacing all the old water pipes.
Fitting new pistons and bearings in the three cylinder generator engine, along with a new 6.5kw generator end.
Ten new batteries and heavy duty rewiring throughout.
Remodeling and re-positioning the davits.
Making an electric dinghy hoist to replace the hand tackles.
Installing a new HD radar.
Building a center console in the wheelhouse for all new instruments.
All these are described in detail at Schooner Britannia, renovation of a Brigantine Schooner
I still want to remodel two more cabins and the chart table, but you can go on for ever with a boat.
We hope to do some ocean sailing after the hurricane season finishes in Florida. If we manage it you will certainly see us coming.

I followed your refit and rigging work. I have to say you took on a couple of things that far exceeded my ambitions. I'm happy just to keep the same rig and install a new roller furling system.

Like the idea of writing up some of the work. Maybe will give that a go when the final list gets just a bit shorter.

[skipmac]

I've a pretty good idea of what you're feeling. Though I'm pretty sure that a 7 year rebuild would kill me!

When I managed to fall off the deck one evening and land on top of a shipping pallet my rebuild literally almost killed me. I never gave up but there were times when the end seemed very far away.

My first serious re-fit & rebuild of a boat comprised doing about 1.5-2x of that which you mentioned, solo. And by the time I splashed her 8 months later, I was beyond fried. As was my Visa card But she surely made a nice little private island, & sailed pretty well too. Maybe another's in the picture... someday.

You must have been working on the boat full time. I did have help for parts of the project but the bulk of it was solo. You get really inventive when you have to push one end of a wire and pull the other at the same time. Or hold a nut inside a cabinet while tightening a bolt on deck (vice grips are very handy tools).

One thing that becomes glaringly obvious when you do a rebuild & or refit like this, is that it's easier to build much of what's broken, from scratch, than it is to rebuild things the way that they were. Plus you learn a whole new vocabulary of foul words & thoughts to direct your frustrations at the previous owner(s), as well as the builder. Regardless of whether they're living or dead!

I wore out my standard, four letter vocabulary and started cussing in other languages for a little variety. I can insult and embarrass in Spanish, French, German, British (not to be confused with American English) and even a little Greek.

Agree that building from scratch is often much easier than repairing. Rit it out and start over again but occasionally that didn't work or wasn't an option.

Though, too, you also learn a Huge amount about how boats are put together, & multiple techniques & materials to use to fix them, etc. As well as how under-educated you were about boat maintenance, & construction prior to doing the tuneup at hand. Even if you were an "expert" before. Then, ironically, a few years later you cringe when you think of some of the work which you did during the rebuild, as you then know so much more than you did when you finished the refit.
It's Crazy!!! But I truly value the knowledge gained from it.

Absolutely. I came away with a very intimate knowledge of every part of this boat. Something breaks I at least know where to look to start figuring it out.


You also learn that one variant of Hell involves sanding a hull, over, & over, & over again, solo. While wearing; coveralls, rubber gloves, a respirator, a sock hood, safety glasses, & hearing protection. So that you're in this "bubble" which completely isolates you from the world. And at day's end, you look like the Pilsbury Dough Boy, due to having 98% of your body covered in white paint/primer dust. So that all anyone can see of you is your lips & nose, from where the respirator covered those bits of skin

Fortunately didn't have to do too much of that but I did a couple of jobs exactly as you describe; respirator, ear muffs, full suit. Doing this summer in FL is a real risk of heat stroke.

Oh, & I learned that Duct Tape is great for removing the tiny fiberglass fibers which get into your skin when grinding glass. As well as when a cold shower makes more sense than a hot one, or vice versa.

Have to remember the duct tape trick although I try to just cover up when getting into fiberglass.


So... I'm VERY glad to hear that you've finally gotten her wet. And don't worry, you're almost at the end.

I CAN see the light at the end of the tunnel.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Panope

Well done Skipmac! Pretty hard to beat the satisfaction of completing a BIG boat project.

My project spanned 14 years with about 8 or 9 of those with active work. As someone else said, the projects will never end. I'm fixing to tear-out the forward 1/3 of my interior and replace with a new layout, but I'll wait a few more years before the boat is laid-up again.

Now, let's see some pictures of your boat

Steve

Was wondering when someone would chime in with a really long boat project but 14 years? I might be too old to sail if I had taken that long.

Good luck on the next stage.

[Incentivenz]

Guy two boats down from us on the marina started building his Warwick 44 on his farm in 1977 and launched it in 2011. Beautifully finished boat though.


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[GafferMate]

It is seven years since starting the refit of PILAR, still more to be done but am delighted with the progress. Perhaps that it took us 16 years of enjoying the building and living aboard, before finally casting off the docklines (in 1991) makes it possible for me to continue being okay with simply being a 'parker' in paradise, not a cruiser.

[KJThomas]

Never ever put a boat in the back yard, and take up boatbuilding as a trade.
At one stage had the "builders house" and "boatbuilders yacht" at the same time, while we lived in a caravan. With a toddler.

6 years building first time round, 12 years in the water then 20 in the backyard.

[KJThomas]

Originally Posted by KJThomas

Never ever put a boat in the back yard, and take up boatbuilding as a trade.
At one stage had the "builders house" and "boatbuilders yacht" at the same time, while we lived in a caravan. With a toddler.

6 years building first time round, 12 years in the water then 20 in the backyard.

Must have been nuts. A severe case of "build a boat syndrome".

[KJThomas]

And working on other boats all the time keeps giving you new ideas and better ways of doing things, as the skill level rises.

Not always a good thing.

[UNCIVILIZED]

The "fun part" about boat repair & building. About 3 year back I was renting a house from a friend of the family, & we had to fix the mounting bolts for the toilet. As it ha come adrift. Again. Well, the wooden flooring underneath of the tile was damp, & thus wouldn't grip any threaded fasteners. So he decided he'd through bolt it to the floor, but started bitching about having to go to the hardware store for special drill bits for the tile, longer bolts, etc.

Well, 90 sec. later I was back with my hammer drill, ceramic bits, & my organizer kit box full of 60lbs of various sizes & lengths of stainless nuts, bolts, & washers. Needless to say, he was a bit astounded, followed by being curious. To which my reply was obvious. "Bob, after working on boats for a few decades, a good bit of it professionally, well... you acquire a few things"

The downside: You want to use WEST System & 5200 to fix everything in the house, & think that all non-stainless or bronze fasteners are crap!