Bilge, Tank, Windows

I used my spare time such as when Bruce was helping Stephen with the mast or during a  circuit with suppliers to paint the aft part of the bilge: in the cabin on both sides of the engine compartment and aft of the main cabin bulkhead between the quarter berths. The entire bilge has now been painted except the section  in  the steerage area below the cockpit.

Bilge painted around engine compartment

Bilge painted aft of engine

On Thursday we had the necessary materials and equipment in place to begin installing the new polycarbonate windows.  The firm plan was to take each of Pachuca's battered windows that had been taped around the edges to hold them together, lay it on the polycarbonate material, then use it as a pattern to cut the new window and drill the holes in the exact positions.  The accuracy of the holes was concern to me because being even 1 millimeter out would cause of problems.  The windows came with plastic covering on each side,with the inner side already coated around the edges with a special primer.

The first window took us about 1.5 hours to install.  We had to carefully mask off both sides of the window opening in order to prevent the thick black tar-like sealant from oozing onto the window surrounds.  We had to deal with screw problems where some  of the 3/4" in screws would not grip, forcing us to use 1" which presented a danger of bulging the the lining inside of the cabin.  The sealant came in large "sausages" which was applied by Bruce using an air compressor and a special gun.  The worst was the cleanup of the copious amounts of excess sealant using toilet paper and either mentholated spirits of "Prepwash".

On Friday we managed to install three more windows. leaving the two aft port ones to be installed after the weekend.  Yes, we had been slow but were very satisfied that the windows had been properly installed and confident that they would never leak and be very strong.

Bruce had  picked up the repaired water tank earlier in the week and the last thing that we did on Friday was to carry it up to the cockpit for safekeeping.  It was reported that three leaks had been found in the vertical weld of the leaking corner.  In the coming week we will  lower the tank into position and I will re connect the lines, test for leaks, and hopefully sign off on the complete replacement of the boat's fresh water system.

Only top spreaders in place at this point

Looking from radar support past lower spreader brackets

Bruce spent most of the week assisting Steve in the reassembly of the mast.  By the end of the week the steps had been fitted, along with the masthead light, both sets of spreaders, storm trysail track, and various blocks and sheaves.