Second Day on Hard Stand

This is Tuesday, the second day of Pachuca's hardstanding at Abaroa's “Don Jose” boat yard and things are going extremely well.

Hull Not Too Fouled at Haulout

Scraping the Lead Keel

Under the Cockpit Before Cleanup

Yesterday Bob Carroll arrived at 8.30 AM to help me fand soon we were on or way to the boat lifter which is only a few hundred meters from the marina. Bob was well ahead of me when he reminded me that the boat would have to be turned around 180 degrees and backed into the lifter. We set up our lines accordingly. Fortunately two men at the jetty in front of the lifter helped us out and soon we were turned around and being pulled into the lifter breech first.

Soon after the high speed spray was put on the keel I saw the problem, and after the hull cleanup Antonio told me that big patches of old antifouling were peeling off the lead keel and it should be sanded back to the bare metal so that two coats of primer could be applied before the antifouling was rolled on. I agreed. The labor and materials for sanding and priming both the keel and the “boot topping” at the water line was quoted at $465 USD and I gave the OK. This was one of those jobs that I was going to do in Fremantle but is being done in La Paz.

The rest of the day was quiet. Somebody began to prepare the keel with a chemical remover and scraper, and we engaged in some discussion about the Dynaplate. I presented to Antonio an inside view of the problems of selecting the best site for the Dynaplate.

Keel Scraped and Primered

Fitting the Dynaplate (Antonio at Right)

Batteries on Cabin Sole

Bedding Dynaplate on Epoxy

Dynaplate in Position

The real action was today, Tuesday, and as far as I am concerned we are “over the hump” with the hardstand project.

We started by Antonio removing the two large batteries. During his effort I heard a crack and said “cuidado por favor!” (carefully please!) and later discovered that he had knocked one of the surge protectors off its mount when I noticed it plaintively blinking its light from below the batteries. With the upper batteries removed we had a look inside and it became obvious that the lower batteries would have to also be removed. I asked him for some time, and he said that he'd be back in 20 minutes. He came back in 20 Mexican minutes, which was more like 60 minutes, but that suited me fine because by the time he returned I had the two lower batteries on the the cabin sole and was almost finished removing their supporting platform. Soon that platform was out and for the first time during my ownership of Pachuca we had a clear rand elatively unobstructed access to the area under the cockpit.

Antonio drilled his first pilot hole from inside the hull and the position on the outside of the hull looked good. He then drilled the other three pilot holes, using a cardboard template that he had made.

We then fitted the Dynaplate on the outside of the hull over hull and saw immediately that the compound curves of the hull presented a problem. Pachuca has more curves than Bridget Bardot in her prime. The resultant gaps between the flat Dynaplate and the curved hull looked much too large to be dealt with 3M 5200 compound, so I suggested spacers. We agreed to use spacers of 2” diameter of “starboard” plastic material.

When I returned from the lunch break Antonio told me that there was a change of plans. His
boss, who I take to be Senor Abaroa, who owns the yard, deemed the spacer solution “feo” (ugly). He didn't want Pachuca hauled out in Australia to have people see what an ugly job had been done in La Paz. Professional pride. I liked that. The new proposal was to sand that area of the hull then bed the Dynaplate a layer of West System epoxy. It would be very strong, impervious to water, and provide a perfectly fitting bed. As soon as Antonio said that I could see that it made beautiful sense, I thanked him, and gave the OK.

At the end of Tuesday the Dynaplate had been located, its holes drilled, and it was seated on a bed of epoxy which would be cured in the morning. The keel had been sanded with a machine, primed, and faired in spots with epoxy. The first coat of antifouling had been rolled on the hull.

In addition of playing the role of anxious and ever watching boat owner (“Don't worry” said Antonio. “I've got to get all of the way to Australia!” was my reply.) I spent 4 or 5 hours of serious hot and dirty work cleaning the dark recesses of the under-cockpit space. On the surfaces I cleaned off the wood and fiberglass dust of Reggie's teak effort. At the bilge level I dredged out years of accumulated muck that had settled into a hard layer of mud. In that mud was rusted bolts, washers, bits of wire, shards of timber, etc. There is a “dead” section that holds probably 20 liters of stagnant water that would remain so unless there was massive flooding into the bilge. This water was seriously smelly, and unpleasant to remove one cupful at a time, followed by one spongeful at at time. I also reconnected the aft drain hose that we had removed for the teak work, firmly clamping it instead of having it merely slipped on as before.

I was VERY happy with the progress and the standard of work. We were on track for a splashdown on Friday.

I celebrated this hopefully last successful hurdle during my working summer in La Paz with my first beer in over 3 months. In the last week I've been easing up on myself in preparation for my reentry to “normal” life, but more on this later.