Maintenance on Hard Stand

On Friday the 5th of September we put Pachuca back in the water after two hard weeks of hull maintenance.

When I sailed into Fremantle from Cape Town in April 2013 the boat had not been antifouled since Mexico in 2011.  I had her hull cleaned by divers in Argentina, Brazil, and Cape Town and Neil Huck commented on how surprisingly clean the hull looked when I arrived.  Unfortunately I was forced to neglect the boat for another sixteen months while I attended to the reestablishing myself in Perth and the renovation of the house.

Old Stove Before Removal

Being Removed

Burners Rusted Out

Stove Site Prepared

Good Fit

The boat had been out of the water for over two months on an exchange of three months of free hard standing for the use of my pen for boats visiting for the winter series of sailing.  I expected the maintenance effort to take about a week but the work took two weeks thanks to invaluable assistance from Paul Bylinski Jr in helping me in the installation of the new marine stove, which I had expected to do after the boat was back in the pen.

The hull below the water line needed sanding back to the gel coat when I purchased the boat in 2005, and now it needs it more than ever.  However, dry sanding is no longer allowed in the FSC hardstand area and I was not equipped for wet sanding.  I did the best that I could with scraping the loose flakes by hand, followed by wet sanding by hand using a metal mat.  I then rolled a barrier coat (Hempel "Hempatex" Aluminium 16300) to separate the USA style hard antifouling to the Australia style self oblating (soft) antifouling.  After that I rolled on two coats of blue Hempel Olympic 86901 antifouling, with three coats in the high load areas of the hull.  Unless I have the boat professionally painted next year (more on that below) I'll begin next year's hull maintenance prepared with a compressor and pneumatic equipment that will allow me to do a proper sanding job on the hull.  In the meantime it doesn't really matter since I'm not racing the boat and the roughness of the hull cannot be seen through the water.

I did a nice job of cleaning the propeller and shaft, then laid down a coat of metal primer from Pesle Marine Paints followed by two coats of Velox Plus.  These are products from Italy that are deemed to protect the propeller for at least two years.  They are not cheap at over $200 but well worth the price if it obviates the need for me to go over the side in cold waters to clean the growth from the propeller.  Besides, there is enough material remaining in the cans to last me several years.

I got my paint and antifouling advice and materials from Gary Martin, whom I have been dealing with for years and has always been a wealth of information.  (He also did a 2-year term as the Commodore of the FSC while I was away.)

Feeling Blue After Hard Day

Barrier Coat On

Clean Propeller, Shaft, Dynaplate

Rear Anode Not Yet in Place

I had the extreme good fortune of having Paul Jr take an interest in Pachuca.  Paul is a trained carpenter and in his renovation work showed himself to be a skilled all-arounder.  He spent several hours helping me fit in the new marine stove then returned for a full 12 hour session to pretty well complete that and other jobs.  I mentioned to him that I planned to find someone to fit new counter tops in the galley and head because it was beyond my competence and soon he had a plan of doing it all in stainless steel.  He made cardboard patterns of the surfaces, took photos and measurements, and will have a metal worker that he knows fabricate the stainless steel sheets, with turned up fiddles (edges).  Paul will cut the openings for the sinks and water taps.

I expect to take Paul out on the boat as often as he wants and teach him sailing.  And if he really, really likes sailing he would be a great partner to help me sail the Pachuca further afield such as the Houtman Abrolhos Islands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houtman_Abrolhos), which Brenda and I visited in about 2003 when we delivered that rust bucket Boro 34 sloop Jennica from Geraldton to Hillary's Boat Harbour. 

I got extremely good advice from Gary on the issues in having Pachuca professionally painted.  The sanding and painting must be done in a shed, which means that the mast must be removed.  If the mast must be removed then I may as well have it sanded and painted too (also in a shed).  As long as the hull will be prepared for a shed I may as well also have its hull below the water line blasted to the gel coat in the special shed.  I would prepare the boat by removing as much equipment and fittings as practical from the deck and cockpit.

The entire painting process would take about 4 weeks, with December and January being the best times due to the dry weather.  The ballpark figure of the costs are $20k for the deck and hull painting, $3k for the hull blasting, and I figure another $2k for the mast.  I'll have to go in preparing to spend $30k total.  That's a lot of money, but I spent $25k on an engine that cannot be seen, not to mention the more than $10k for rigging in over priced Argentina. The new paint job would be very visible and turn this classic S&S 39 into a head turner.

I used the word "would" because I'm not sure what I'll do.  It would not be a money thing, since a CUOF like me can afford the indulgence of such follies.  On the other hand, she still presents fairly well and I want to sail Pachuca without fear of putting a scratch on her precious hull. 

Anyway, Pachuca's back in the water now and I can rest for a few days after that those hard 10-12 hour days.