Cup Holder for the Nav Station

I have finally put a cup holder at the navigation station.  Having a hot cup of coffee or soup while at the nav station in rough conditions has carried a big risk of accidental tipover into the computer keyboard or other navigation equipment.  I've looked at plastic fold-out holders in boat shops but to me they seemed small and flimsy.   

This week I took advantage of Reggie's electric tools and made a cup holder out of spare three-ply.  I couldn't get his electric saw to track properly so I used his jig saw to cut the pieces as well as the slot for the handle.  I put it together using small pins and West System epoxy as glue.  There was no belt sander so I used an angle grinder with a sand paper pad to trim off the rough edges.  I then finished off the sanding by hand and laid 2 coats of varnish. 

OK, it's a bit rough but it should be strong enough to get me back to Australia.  There I'll make a proper one out of jarrah using my table and radial arm saws, router, belt sander, etc.

Total outlay for the cup holder: 5 pesos for the clavitos (tiny nails).

Caulking Applied

Reggie started yesterday morning by buzzing off the tops of the screw hole plugs with a small angle grinder.  He was fast and made it look easy, but I could see how a slip of the hand would have resulted in a scored the decking.

Then he applied the caulking (SIS 440 from "Teakdecking Systems") at the bow by hand using a paint scraper. I had expected him to spend hours carefully masking off the decking so that the caulking went only in the joints but Reggie said that masking is required only when repairing an existing deck.  With a new deck there is the luxury of being able to get the caulking all over the decking in the knowledge that it will be removed during the sanding process.

In the cockpit with its longer runs he used a pneumatic tool for pushing the material out of the cartridge.

Reggie finished the caulking at about noon on Friday and wanted to give the material 2 days to dry before resuming his work which fit in nicely with the advent of the weekend.  I expect to see him again on Monday morning.

I had already provided an extra 4 cartridges of the caulking but Reggie could see that he would still be short, which perplexed him because he's usually very good at estimating quantities.  He soon discovered the problem. In order to avoid a nominal price rise the company has simply put 10%-15% less material in the cartridges.  He realized this when he glanced into the back of the cartridge and saw that the pushing plate was 2" further up than usual.  Some bright MBA must have thought that one up but it could wreak havoc to a quotation.  Reggie felt bad about socking the extra cost to me, but I had no problem with it at all - and he'll be prepared for future quotations.  So far I have supplied 12 extra cartridges at $21 USD each.

I had long chats with Reggie while he worked and learned more about teak.  He said that teak must be installed in a humidity of no more that 15%. . I replied that this would be very difficult to achieve in a place like Port Townsend and he said that from that perspective La Paz is one of the best places in the world for the installation of teak decking.  He once had to re caulk a boat that had very recently been caulked in California at great expense.  In the dry climate of La Paz the wood shrank leaving gaps along the sides the caulking.  However, if a boat teaked in La Paz were moved to, say, humid Seattle, the resultant expansion of the teak would squeeze the caulking out a bit but the seal would be maintained.  If the boat were then bought back to dry La Paz the wood would shrink and the caulking would settle back down into the joint.

I asked him about the care and feeding of teak.  Specifically, is using teak oil OK?  The response was a definite No, unless only a tiny bit is applied only on the wood with a rag.  The problem is that the oil will soak into the wood, work its way to the edges, then break the seal of the caulking.  He saw a guy who had used a lot of oil on his large brand new boat find that the caulking started to come out when he washed down the deck.  In front of Reggie the man pulled out a long run of caulking as though it were a piece of cord.  The deck was basically ruined because even by using gallons of acetone he'd never be able to get all of the oil out.  (The outcome?  The man copped out by giving the boat back to the bank.)

There is a material that can be used that needs frequent replacement but is easy to apply.  I don't want to get into a binding and possibly expensive maintenance routine, so I'll probably leave the teak au naturel.

Ready For Caulking

Mixing the Epoxy Bedding Compound

The spacing between the pieces of teak that I noticed yesterday represented actual bedding done, rather than just preparation.  Today I remained on the boat to watch Reggie complete the bedding down process and hopefully learn a few things.

He first removed all of the numbered boards then cleaned the fiberglass and teak contact surfaces with acetone.

Spreading the Bedding Epoxy

Screwing Down Board on Bedding

The "glue" that Reggie uses to fasten the teak to the fiberglass surface is a 2-part epoxy.  The material is thick and gooey and Reggie mixed it using a shore powered electric drill with a special attachment.   He mixed only enough for about 1 hour of work because the material hardens relatively fast.  He began at the bow, using a spreader to lay down an area of compound, then lay the appropriate boards down and screw them down using an electric drill. After completing the work on the bow he removed the door to the chain locker lest stray glue bind the door to the frame.  He then moved to the cockpit where he bedded down the sole.  His assistant supported by laying down globs of bedding where required, preloading the boards with screws, handing to Reggie the next board to be laid, etc.

Tapping in the Plugs

After this effort Reggie took a well deserved break.  We got into his SUV and picked up 3 more tubes of caulking at Lopez Marine then visited a car parts shop where he selected a 3 meter long strip of wonderfully compressible rubber trimming with a profile of 24mm x 8mm which he thinks will do nicely for sealing the chain locker door.  He plans to attach the rubber using teak caulking.

Proud Plugs Ready for Sanding

The next task was to insert a wooden plug over every screw hole.  He mixed a small amount of West System 705 epoxy then his assistant led the way by putting epoxy into the holes using a large ear cue tip while Reggie followed gently tapping in the plugs with a hammer.  The inserted plugs were very "proud" above the surface of the teak, but the sanding process should take care of that.

After Reggie finished  I remarked that this work could result in a disaster if attempted by an incompetent.  Once the teak is down it is down for good, so it has to be right the first time.  If the plugs do not make a near perfect fit they can either split the teak or leave unsightly gaps.  (Don't worry about the future.  Reggie figures that the teak decking will be good for between 30 and 40 years.)

At this point it was only 11:30 AM and there was nothing more that Reggie could do until the expoxy around the plugs dried.  I was glad to see him go and hopefully relax for the rest of the day.

I then made a belated inspection of the ceiling below the cockpit and saw that many screws had protruded in sections of the cockpit seat and sole that did not have a plyboard core (mainly along the edges).  This did not bother me too much because I had told Reggie that his job came first and I would deal with any screws that showed below.  (I'll probably grind them down after my return to Australia.)  I was sure that Reggie had told me that the modern technique is to hold teak down with glue only and no screws.  I asked Reggie about this today and he told me that he used screws to deal with the thinner non-cored areas of the decking.  However, he had placed the screws much farther apart than the usual 1 foot.

I then peddled over to the immigration department where I was asked to return late next week to their new premises.  That will have made 6 visits for a process that should have required 2 visits.

A few days ago I received my quotation from the boat yard - actually "La Marina del Palmar" rather than Abaroa's next door.  (They are both owned by the same family.)  It came it at a whopping $780 USD for the liftout, cleaning of the hull, 3 days on the hard, and application of 2 coats of antifouling that I will supply.  The quotation for the installation of the Dynaplate was $185 USD which I consider to be more reasonable.  (Remember that I am not allowed to do any external work on the boat while it is in the boat yard - the yard staff must do it all.)  However, I returned yesterday afternoon quotation in hand and produced a 30% haul out discount that I had won at the Bay Fest event a few months ago.  That dropped the haul out package cost from $780 to $546, a saving of $234 USD.  YES!  Ya Gotta Win A Few.

Preparing for Bedding Down the Teak

I returned to the boat after Reggie left for the day, but it looks like he has put in a lot of spacers and done a bit of masking in preparation for the bedding down process.

I was at the immigration office at 8.45 AM and soon a senorita approached me and explained in pretty good English that their internet access system was still down (since yesterday).  I asked if I could hand in the bank receipt of my payment of the latest ripoff.  She said OK.  Another English speaking senorita approached and said that she was aware of my case and took the papers, saying that she would deal with it.  Then she gave me an explanation of their situation.

The immigration office is in the process of moving to new premises at 5 de Mayo and will open at their new location on Monday.  The young lady said that she did not expect to have access to their computer system today, but she was hoping for access tomorrow or Friday.  Their plan is to clear all pending work before they move, and she assured me that as soon as she gets access to the system she will process my paper work immediately and would expect release of my FM3 that same day.  She agreed that it was a good idea for me to check with them tomorrow and Friday for a result.  I thanked her for giving me such a good explanation.

I then returned to the apartment building and paid Teresa 3500 pesos for my last month of rent.  I'll be paid up until 27 August but let her know that I'll be vacating at around mid August.

Trap Explained and Reggie's Progress

I visited Eco Naviera at noon today to find out what they had learned about the 598 peso penalty from the immigration department.

The problem seems to be airline agents in a hurry.  During my return to Mexico from my Christmas visit to the USA nobody bothered to ask me about my status in this country.  Some agent filled in a form on my behalf and ticked "tourist" rather than "resident", and a green piece of paper to that affect was put into my passport.  Had I removed that piece of paper from my passport when I handed it in to Immigration nothing would have been said, but when the local manager saw the piece of paper he deemed me as having two documents and charged me for the tourist visa that I didn't need and didn't even know that I had.  Yes, the immigration department knows that it is all bullshit and I don't even need that tourist visa.  Indeed, I don't even understand the connection between my renewing my FM3 and an existing tourist visa that I don't need or want, but them's the rules.  So I've paid the money into the bank and tomorrow I'll visit the immigration office and get the process moving again.  ... At least it wasn't mordida (corruption), but rather a legal bureaucratic ripoff that can be found in every society - and in the spectrum of traps for the wide eyed traveler I guess this has been relatively small.

While I was in the Eco Naviero office I thanked the man for giving me the advice about Guadalajara, because Brenda and I had spent 4 great days there.  I talked a bit about our bus trip and he said that the entire northern  part of Mexico is a "no go" zone for tourists because of the drug related crime.  I told him that we had considered passing through Tampico, Ciudad Victoria, Monterrey, and Saltillo but had decided against it not because any danger that we were aware of, but because Tampico seemed expensive and touristy, and Moterrey seemed too industrial.  I proudly told him that we had passed through Zacatecas and Durango.  Zacatecas is OK but he pointed out that Durango is the epicenter of the crime and we were fortunate to get through OK.  (Gulp!)

Starting Work at the Bow

Reggie arrived this morning with his regular helper and they began work at the bow.  We had a discussion about what fittings were to be put on the final product.  The same hinges and lock will be used as before, and the fairleads will be used again.  I asked that no provision be made for the anchor windlass foot switch because there is no point in mounting the switch if I will not install a windless battery until my return to Australia. Once the door is in place he'll take measurements and send me to a car shop to get rubber trip for sealing the door. 

A Day's Work

Reggie has almost finished cutting and fitting the wood, but there is much to be done.  Every plank must be removed and laid over a bedding compound.  Then the wood plugs must be put over every screw.  Then everything must be sanded.  Finally, the caulking must be done.  I'm looking forward to seeing these operations, hoping to learn a lot more about teak work.

Mixed Day

It's been a mixed day and I'll dispense with the bad part first.

Shortly after Reggie and young Nahum were settled into their work I went to the immigration office.  The guy at the counter told me for the second time that the FM3 wasn't ready.  Instead of going away I said "Catorce dias pasado.  Hay una problema?"  (14 days passed.  Is there a problem?)  He went away for a few minutes then came back with an explanation that I could not understand.  I asked him to speak more slowly, then he said the work "penalty" in English.   Huh?  ... er ... What penalty?  Something about my having two documents instead of one.  Huh?  The penalty was over 500 pesos.  Eventually an English speaker was brought out and he "explained" that I was here in Mexico on two documents, a tourist card and an FM3.  What tourist card?  I've never had a tourist card.  Last year I got my first FM3 with no mention of a tourist card.  None of it made any sense to me so I told them that I would get help from Eco Naviera.   

I visited Eco Naviera two hours later and after looking at my copy of the notice of the penalty, the experienced man could make nothing of it either.  He said that maybe I had made a mistake in my on line application.  I told him that I had been pretty careful in filling out the document, which had been checked and passed as OK when I made my personal application.  Had they detected a problem then they would have asked for more money at that time.

I made it clear that I'm not concerned with the money, but I must (1) understand what the penalty is for and (2) be assured that the claim is legitimate.  I found it suspicious that they were happy to keep asking me to come back with no explanation, and it was left to me to ask them if anything was wrong.  Eco Naviera will look into it tomorrow morning.

Aft Seat Planked

I got back to the boat pretty steamed up but felt better when I saw how much progress Reggie had made.  A chat with Nahum about soccer and other endeavors of 12-year-olds settled me more.  Nevertheless I knew that if I just sat around I would start brooding so it was best to keep active.   I had earlier written down the requirements for a quotation from the Abaroa boat yard, including a step by step description of the installation of the Dynaplate.  I took that list and ran it through the Google translator to get a parallel specification in Spanish.  Armed with this I walked over to Abaroa.

Companionway Step Planked

That visit went very well.  The girl - who knows little English - read the Spanish text and got the gist of what I needed.  She then called a fellow over who turned out to be Antonio.  We discussed the job across the language barrier then he suggested that we visit the boat.  Ahora?  I asked, pleased that I was getting such fast and close attention.  Here at the boat I was able to show him the Dynaplate, the copper grounding ribbons, the below-cockpit section from which the two large batteries must be moved in order to allow access, and the lazarette where I showed him the tuner and the place on the floor where the slit must be cut to allow the copper grounding ribbon to pass to the Dynaplate.  He then wanted to see a profile of the boat and I came up with the official diagram of the hull, which pleased him.  Once I realized that he wanted to know the sling points for the lifter I showed him the "sling" signs on the cabin sides and that really pleased him.  I was very happy with the transaction. Antonio went away with an detailed and accurate conception of what is required, and tomorrow I can expect a firm written quotation.

By the time Antonio and I got to the boat Reggie and Nahum had already left for the day.  Reggie had hung in there until he got the rest of the cockpit laid out.  In the photo of the companionway step, notice how Reggie has angled the planks to match the line of the hull.  This is the mark of a true pro.  I expect him to start on the bow tomorrow.

Day 5 - Cockpit Sole Planking Completed

Reggie has finished laying down the cockpit sole and has laid down the perimeters of the aft seat and small step leading to the companionway.  The cockpit now seems to have a much richer texture and gives a hint of the effect to be expected from the finished product.

After some effort this morning I've managed to procure a hose, adapter, and clamps which should enable me to extract the engine sump oil using the entire filler tube.  The short length of plastic reenforced water hose fits over the filler tube and makes a seal when I put a bit of tension on the clamp.  The 5/8"-1/2" nylon connector is for joining that hose with the manual extraction pump.

Tomorrow is Sunday, Reggie's day of rest.  There isn't much that I will be able to do in the boat because the cabin is crowded with tools and material, but I know that all I have to do is to walk on board and before long I'll be engrossed in some project.

By the way, yesterday's threatening weather came to nothing.  There was no rain other than a few drops yesterday afternoon.  Here is the prognosis for what was big bad Hurricane Dora.

Day 4

Reggie has laid most of the boards on the sole and has started on the aft seat.  He left at about 2.30 PM telling me that he would work a few hours tomorrow (Saturday), but not work on Sunday.  Before he left I handed him 23,300 pesos, just over $2,000 USD, to cover half of the work.  I'm having to "milk" the ATM every day for the 6000 peso limit and I didn't want to accumulate too much cash on my premises.  It is all done on mutual trust.  I handed over a stack of 500's, 200's, 100's, and 50's with a slip that listed the current exchange rate, the conversion, and the number of bills in each denomination.  He didn't even count the money and took it home to do the counting there. 

After Reggie left the temperature dropped quickly (from 105.7 F in the cabin), the wind picked up, there was thunder, and dark clouds threatened.  This is the effect of Hurricane Dora, working its way to the NW more or less parallel to the Baja Peninsula.  It will be due west of La Paz on Sunday morning, but fortunately by then it is expected to have degenerated to a Tropical Cyclone.  Nevertheless it is expected to result in badly needed heavy rains for this area.  That won't be good for my teak work but it will be great for the ecology.  I have cleared the cockpit of Reggie's electrical tools and removed the tarps.

This morning I dropped by the immigration office after the prescribed 10 day wait.  My new FM3 visa was not ready and I am to return next Tuesday. It's a good thing that the immigration office is only a block away from my apartment, and it's also good that I'm in no great hurry.

Day 3, Seats Cut, Started on Sole

Seats Ready for Bedding Down, Sole Started

Fortunately Reggie's face improved over night and he was able to work his normal day.  He has completed laying down the wood for the two cockpit side seats and has made a good start on the sole (floor).  In the photo note the fine work at the back of the seat where he cut a curve on the piece to match the coaming and dealt very nicely with the taper at the aft end.  I've included an earlier photo of the seat to contrast these new lines with the previous ones.   As I said previously, the wooden pieces are only temporarily screwed down.  Later on they will all be lifted for proper bedding down.

Reggie's 12 year old son is named Nahum, which he told me was from the bible, and sure enough there is a Book of Nahum in the Hebrew bible.

Note Boring Lines Previously on Seats

Bow Section Stripped and Ready for Re-Planking

I am spending less time on the boat while Reggie is at work because I am not able to help him and there is no point in me sweltering in the cabin bored and restless.  (It was 105.7 F in the cabin yesterday at 6 PM, and today it's down to 102 F.)  This morning I found the aluminum place that both Bob and Reggie told me about and came back with thin strips for fastening the lazarette door cover that Doug made for me.  Reggie said to get them at least 1/8" thick which was exactly what I was able to find.  The strips are 1/2" wide with nicely radiused edges.  I then spent most of the afternoon on my bed in the apartment enjoying the air conditioning.  Lest I get too soft, my plan for tomorrow is to ride the bicycle to the other side of La Paz toward Pichilingue to visit two marinas and have a look at their boats.  ... I think that I'll wear my sombrero rather than the Comex peak cap.

Day 2, Carpentry Begins

Reggie and his young helper arrived at 7.30 AM and before long Reggie was at work at the bow with a small angle grinder. While he was taking a breather after that job I asked what comes and he said that he would start laying the teak.  He had brought with him a tiny workbench supporting a router and a planer. 

Grinding Around the Chain Locker

I had a brief conversation with the boy.  I told him that his English is very good and asked where he had learned it.  He replied that from the time he was a baby his mother taught him to name things in both languages, and he also studies it in school.  I asked him if school was out and he replied yes, with some glee.  Don't you like school? I asked. No, except for my friends there. While he went away for a few minutes I took the opportunity to tell Reggie what a fine boy he had: intelligent, attentive, and very polite; and that he is a credit to him and his wife.  Reggie replied that he's been fortunate with all three of his children.    He mentioned that the family is Christian.  I replied that that helps a lot. Later I asked the boy his age, which is 12.  He asked me my age and I told him 67.  He looked surprised and said that I look more like 57.  This guy is really really good and he will go far in life.

At End of Second Day

Reggie began the carpentry work and I figure that I'd just get in his way.  He agreed that he needed no help so I took the opportunity to do some grocery shopping, which is not a trivial operation using a bicycle on a blazing hot day.  I returned to the boat at 2 PM poured glasses of cold pineapple juice.  By then Reggie had had enough.  The constant wiping of sweat off his face had driven the fiberglass deeper into his skin and his face was burning.  I was glad to see him leave to get some rest and relaxation at home.

As you can see in the photo, Reggie has made a good start on the teak work.  The pieces are screwed in but when the woodwork is completed every piece will be removed and then laid on the bedding compound.  The edges of the cockpit surfaces -  such as where the seat meets the coaming - are radiused (i.e. curved).  The previous work had the square edges of the boards against the curved edges of the fiberglass, resulting in a channel that held water.  Reggie is putting a radius in the edge boards to match the radius of the fiberglass, eliminating any channels that can hold water.

Mission Creep

... Or rather Mission Leap ....

Surfaces After Grinding Down

I had told Jak that I would discuss with Reggie the problems with the teak work at the bow around the chain locker sometime during this project, but Reggie beat me to it first thing this morning.  He stopped at the bow and asked about the teak work.  I told him that I had been planning to bring that subject up later lest he feel overwhelmed by my problems.  I explained that the big issue is that the lid produces a very poor seal and the ingress of water in a rough seaway exceeds the capacity of the drains. 

From his point of view the state of that teak would drag down the appearance of the boat, particularly in contrast to the new teak work in the cockpit.  Basically, it said that it looked terrible, and I couldn't disagree.  We repositioned the bow lines and moved the anchor from the roller to the foredeck in order to get good access for an examination.  The result was that Reggie will re teak the bow section at a cost of $800, making the total cost of replacing all of the teak deck work on the boat at $4,000, which to me is very reasonable.  The thickness of the planking, by the way, is 5/8" and not 1/2" as I reported before. 

Teak Stripped From Around Chain Locker

We then proceeded to clear the cockpit sole of fittings: three drains, the emergency steering port, and two legs of the steering pedestal.  The previous day I had removed the steering wheel and cockpit table.  Once this was done Reggie had to face the unpleasant job of grinding down the cockpit surfaces while my task was to go forward and begin stripping the teak from around the chain locker.  Before I went forward I produced two tarps which we set up to minimize the amount of dust leaving the boat.  I also produced masks for Reggie and his young assistant.  (More on him later.)

It was a hard day.  The morning started off extremely muggy, culminating in a little bit of rain - maybe a millimeter or two.  But then the sky cleared and I found myself stretched out on the hot deck under th blazing sun, removing fittings while trying to see through sweaty eyes.  After that it was a bit easier, in a kneeling position removing boards under a big sombrero. 

After I removed a few boards we could see that the fiberglass extends almost to the opening of the chain locker, which did not surprise me because all of this teak work is a retrofit and not part of the original boat.  Reggie will retain the teak lip that takes the lid because it is strong and well fiberglassed it.  He will install the new teak around this lip.

Reggie had it worse than me.  He was determined to finish the job today and by the time he finished at 2.30 PM he looked like a snowman, covered in fine white dust.  Much of that dust had invaded the cabin, creating a cleanup task for me.

Link Sheet To Protect From Sun And Rain, And Tarps For Dust

During one of our short breaks to discuss the job he explained the dynamics of the degeneration.  The water creeps under the wood and attacks the screws.  At first the screws swell, which is good, because the swelling enhances the seal.  But eventually the alloy of the screw breaks down so much that water works its way down the screw hole and starts "wicking" its way through the fiberglass core, eventually causing delamination.  Reggie figured that there was about a year left before Pachuca's fiberglass would begin to suffer.

I knocked off at 3 PM, went to the apartment for a shower, fruit, and a one hour nap in air conditioned luxury.  I returned to the boat at 5.30 PM and finished stripping the bow in the cool of the evening. 

So at this point all of the teak has been removed and the cockpit surfaces ground down.  The bow surfaces must be ground, presumably tomorrow.

Teak Project On The Way

When Reggie arrived unexpectedly at 10 AM and found me ripping the teak off the starboard cockpit seat he must have realized that I meant business.  When he asked if he could load his tools onto the boat I knew that he meant business too.  The cabin is now full of Reggie's things, including three heavy tool boxes, a box holding what appears to be West System gel coating material, a case of teak caulking cartridges, some power tools,  and a gigantic vacuum cleaner.

I asked him what the vacuum cleaner was for.  He said said for the grinding work.  What grinding work?  He said that the surfaces to take the teak must be ground back past the gelcoat.  Are you grinding down the non-skid surface?  Indeed he will.  Reggie said that there had been two mistakes made in the installation of the teak.  The first was that the gelcoat had not been ground out which explained why whatever glue was used did not stick very well to the surface.  The second mistake was in not grinding off the rough non skid surface that is created during the fiberglass molding process.  This allowed water to work its way through the nooks and crannies underneath the wood, leading to the galvanic corrosion of the screws (not to mention the leaks).  He told me that we were doing the work just in time because there was danger the fiberglass would be damaged by water working its way down the screws and percolating through the fiberglass.  He had checked and fortunately there is no damage at present.

Seats and Step Cleared of Teak

I told him that my goal for the rest of the day was to remove teak from the cockpit seats and the small leading to the companionway.  He said fine, we can remove the teak from the cockpit sole tomorrow.  I did manage to remove the teak from those seats.  Most of the screws were pulled out.  I sheared off those that remained then scrubbed and washed down all of the surfaces.

Snap Decision

I've learned the hard way to avoid snap decisions, but today I made an exception (gulp!)

Reggie arrived at the boat at 7.30 AM to discuss the feasibility of re-teaking the companionway step.  It was a "due diligence" exercise on my part and I didn't expect anything to come of it, figuring that I'd go ahead with the plan of simply painting the step.

After one look Reggie said that replacing the teak on only that section was out of the question on aesthetic grounds because the new thick (1/2 inch) teak would make the rest of the cockpit look terrible.  That meant that either the entire cockpit would be re-teaked or none of it.  In my mind I thought "Game Over: re-teaking the entire cockpit will be extravagant, expensive, and besides there is no time."  However, I let the discussion proceed.

I brought up the scale and difficulty of the job, particularly the cockpit sole, with its curved surface and fittings of the drains and binnacle.  He looked at it and said basically "What's the problem?"  He said that he could do the entire job in a week.  I explained the planned hardstanding of the boat at the end of the month and my impending 4-week trip to the USA soon afterwards.  He replied that he can postpone a job for an customer who will not return to La Paz until September and start tomorrow.  (Gulp!)

I asked him about fastening the teak.  He would use glue, with screws along the perimeters.  He assured me that the work would last, with no loosening or curling of the boards.  He also said that I would not have to fill in any of the screw holes as I had done so carefully on the companionway step because the glue material will flood the holes. He stated that there would be no way for water to work its way underneath the layer of boards.

Ok, so what about cost? I asked, figuring that this would put a quick end to the conversation.  He took some measurements, did some calculations, and told me that the cost for materials (i.e. teak, glue, a case of teak caulking) would be $2,000 USD.  Labor?  Well, normally he would charge $2,000 (which must be a formula of 1:1 between materials and labor), but he would do it for ... think, think, think ... $1,200 labor.  He pointed out that the $3,200 expenditure would enhance the value of the boat.   I could also see the benefit of being absolutely sure that no water is leaking from the cockpit floor to below, where I have no access for inspection due to the 4 large batteries stacked at the access point.

Hmm. At this point I was beginning to waver, then he struck the coupe de grace with the suggestion that I look at a cockpit job that he had done 5 years ago, where he had improved the aesthetics of how the wood was laid as well as doing the replacement job.  As an example of an improvement for my cockpit he pointed out that the boards on the cockpit side seats run athwhartship, whereas all boards should run longitudinally for better appearance
.

Reggie's Work on Robert's Cockpit

We walked over to the boat on another jetty and it turned out to be Robert's fine classic 45-footer which is next to my previous slip.  Looking at the work I noticed that Reggie puts plugs over the screws, rather than having their heads exposed as on Pachuca's teak decking.

During the walk back I asked him if the $3200 is a firm price.  He said Yes.  I asked him if I could feel confident enough to start ripping removing teak today.  He replied Yes.  I told him that normally I don't make snap decisions but OK, let's do it.

Looking Pretty Good After 5 Years

Reggie starts tomorrow.  That means that today I start ripping out the teak on the cockpit seats and drill out the screws.  This means that bits of screws will drop into the currently inaccessible area below, but when the boat is hardstanded the aft batteries will have to be removed for the fitting of the Dynaplate RF grounding shoe.  At that time I'll clean up the area, and pump some grease into the pedestal steering post while I have the opportunity.

Unexpected?  Yes.  Extravagant?  Maybe, though $3,200 seems like a very good price to me.  (I think that I am a beneficiary of the extremely subdued business activity during the high summer of La Paz, when the smart folk have cleared out.)  But as a cashed up old fart on the loose in La Paz am I Drinking? ... Gambling? ... Womanizing? ... Taking Drugs?  Nope.  OK, so I pamper my boat a bit, but hey, ya  gotta have at least one vice to add spice to life.