Pachuca Circumnavigation: Mast Painted

It was a big week centered around the painting of the mast (including the mast stump and boom).

I telephoned Bruce early on Monday morning and told him that I suspected a leak in the port water tank. With the tank full of water I was getting a slow but steady seepage of water from the aft starboard corner of the tank even though several checks confirmed that all of the hose connections were tight and dry. Bruce left his work on the mast and paid an early visit to the boat and confirmed the leak. He telephoned Sheet Metal Fabrication of Willard Street Bibra Lake and at 2 PM we got a visit from two representatives of the company who confirmed that the tank was indeed leaking. I told Ian, one of the reps, that I thought that both tanks had been pressure tested and he assured me that they had been pressure tested three times at 3 atmospheres. (So why the leak? Never mind. The tanks have been well made at a good price and these things happen.) After that visit I drained the tank and disconnected all hoses and the next morning Bruce helped me remove the tank and take it down to his car.

On Wednesday Roger from Yacht Grot left a message that a part for the manual water pump in the head had arrived and by Friday all plumbing had been completed and it as now a matter of connecting the port tank when it arrived in the coming week and testing the result.

Replacement light at right

I got an unexpected visit from Greg Hansen offering to replace the steerage light with one that he had salvaged from another boat. He knew that I was not happy with the huge amount of heat produced existing LED light, which was a replacement for the original which had failed after only a few weeks of service. I was delighted with the "new" light which appears to be superior in every way, and thanked Greg for thinking of me.

At 8 AM on Monday Steve Hartley from Taskers arrived with his mast trailer and the three of us loaded the mast, stump and boom and took them to Mike at nearby premises on Brockman Place for preparation and painting. Bruce spent much of the next two days finishing working with Mike to finish the sanding and painting the surfaces with epoxy primer. I visited the site at 4.30 PM on Tuesday to see the mast ready for painting and looking very good.

Devcon filler, ready for sanding

Filled area after sanding

On Wednesday morning Bruce telephoned me from Gary Martin's "Boat Paints" to tell me that they were doing a last minute switch to a new Jotun paint that had just become available. Bruce and I visited Mike at 4 PM after he had laid down the second top coat of gloss and I was amazed at the quality of the result. Mike said that the paint would get glossier as the thinner dried and it would be even glossier after the third coat. He spoke highly of new Jotun paint and told me that it was one of the best painting results he had ever had.

For the record, this is my understanding of the paint process:

1. All surfaces were sand blasted by Bruce, exposing many pits where corrosion had been dug out as only sand blasting can do.
2. All corrosion pits were filled with Devcon aluminium 2-part epoxy putty, and the filling was sanded to yield smooth surfaces.
3. Three coats of primer were sprayed using four liters of International "Interprotect" 2-pack epoxy high build primer.
4. Three top coats were sprayed using 2.5 liters of the new Jotun "Yachting Extra Gloss", a high gloss acrylic polyurethane paint in the color "Auria White".

Mast being loaded on trailer

Steve Hartley and Bruce tying down the mast

Mast at Mile's for painting

Thinner No. 10 that is optimized for a temperature of 28C was selected for use in the expected mild temperatures in the mid-20's.

The first two gloss coats were reduced with 30% thinner, and the final coat was reduced with 40% thinner to yield maximum gloss.

The accompanying photos were taken while the second coat was drying.

We all agreed that the mast looks brand new. Bruce pointed out that masts as sturdy as Pachuca's - large sections with thick walls - are simply not available any more. The way I figure it the mast is probably better than new because the new epoxy primers and polyurethane paints are far superior to anything available when the boat was built in 1983.

And I must comment on the outstanding job that Bruce Diggins of Albatross Marine has done to achieve this result. Back in December he organized the right people with the right equipment and skills and scheduled it all with the precision of a military operation. ... And the military operation continues. On Monday at 0830 the mast will be returned to the FSC boat yard and at 0930 Steve the rigger will begin the laborious task of reassembling the mast.

On Thursday we found time to begin the task of replacing Pachuca's windows. When I purchased Pachuca she had the original perspex windows that were so clouded up that looking through them must have been like trying to distinguish forms through heavy eye cataracts - they let the light through but not much else.

Bruce declared the first window that we removed to be the worst he had ever seen. After we removed the many small screws around the perimeter we found using a putty knife to slice through the silicone sealant caused the screw line to fall apart and we were forced to tape all of the perimeters before prying the windows loose. Keeping the windows intact was important because the plan was to clamp each perspex window to the underlying polycarbonate material then make an exact replica by cutting round the perimeter of the old window and drilling through the existing screw holes.

Mast after 2 of 3 coats

Boom, with Mike and Bruce in background

Bruce took the first window to the fabricator who agreed that the plan would work and would order the material as soon as he had all six of the old windows. The fabricator found it hard to believe that the crumbling windows had not been leaking but it is true that after Arnold, Reg and I re glazed them in Port Lincoln in 2008 I had no leaks through several storms and countless gales. Having said that, the forward port window was in particularly bad shape, no doubt badly stressed from that heavy wave off the coast of Brazil that knocked the boat over, bending two of my port stanchions.

Yesterday we removed the remaining 5 windows and Bruce took them to the shop. I then spent two hours removing the silicone sealant from around the three starboard window openings and Bruce would clean around the port window openings today (Saturday).

The existing 3mm perspex material will be replaced with 6mm polycarbonate material and the windows will be beveled.

The interesting thing is that replacing the windows has been little more than an afterthought. When Bruce presented the new polycarbonate companionway sliding door a month ago he commented that it would be nice to also replace the boat's windows. One look through at the ocean through the new door convinced me try to find time to replace the windows.