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.