Launch Date

Finally we have a launch date.  The plan is as follows:

Tue 14 May:  Use the travel lift to move the boat back into a work shed for spray painting below the water line

Wed 15 May: Shane the spray painter will prepare the boat by masking above the waterline

Thu 16 May:  Shane spray the hull with 2 or 3 coats of epoxy

Fri 17 May:    Shane will finish spraying the 4 coats of epoxy and about 3.5 hours later will spray 2 coats of antifouling

Thu 23 May: Boat will be lowered into the water (having allowed sufficient time for the epoxy and antifouling to set)

Fri 24 May:   The mast will be stepped and boat berthed at the works jetty

Sat 25 May:  The boat will be loaded with a trailer load of equipment from my garage

Sun 26 May:  We will ferry the boat to her pen D81

Everything has been arranged: the shed has been booked, the 15 ton crane has been booked, and Shane the painter, Steve the rigger, and Greg the electrician have been scheduled.

There is enough "slack" in the plan to make me confident of the splash down date with one risk: the weather.  If we expect weather on 24 May that will cause high winds or high swell we will have to postpone the stepping of the mast.

I have checked this blog and the first entry regarding Pachuca's hard standing for what was to become a major refit is dated 26 May 2018 and covers the boat's lift out that must have been done a few days earlier.  That means that the boat will have been out of the water for this refit one full year almost to the day.

Forward Bulkhead Finished

Working under Bruce's direction I put in several hours of effort to clean out the perimeter around the large panel that had been poorly fitted in the forward bulkhead and prepare it for filling.  It took hours to dig out the sticky Sikaflex using a combination of electric tool, Stanley knife, paint scraper, and rough sandpaper.  After that we then laid several coats of Everdure on the sanded bulkhead then Bruce proceeded to fill join with Epiglue, which is peerless in its adhesion and rock solid strength.  We then performed several iterations of fairing the entire bulkhead with liberal applications of Megapoxy filler followed by sanding.  A lot of filling was required because we wanted to remove any ripples in the bulkhead as well as any evidence that the bulkhead had been filled in with panels.  Next came the painting with one coat of No Rust primer followed by one top coat of Northane.  I included the painting of the sides of the V-berth (ie forecastle) area.  (The ceiling did not need a repaint.)  Bruce and I agreed that the result was very good.

In center is square panel that I had fitted in Hawaii and was OK

Everdure applied, ready for cleaning and filling

Bruce filling in perimeter with Epiglue

For days I had been eyeing the sail lockers which did not have an urgent need of repainting particularly because they are usually closed up and full of sails, but presented a golden opportunity given that they were empty and wide open.  It was a case of now or never.

It took just over two days to paint the sail lockers: 2 hours of sanding the first day, more sanding and the first coat of No Rust the second day, the Northane top coat the third day.  I made the wise choice of using a roller wherever possible which saved several hours of work and resulted in a better result.

In order to repair and repaint the forward bulkhead I had removed as much of the windlass mechanism from the bulkhead as possible.  I managed to mount everything back correctly with the aid of sketches and photographs that I had taken, but a test was required.  I could not do the test that afternoon because Bruce's wife Dolfie had parked her car directly under the bow of the boat and our relationship would have been somewhat strained had I dropped my anchor on her bonnet.  But early the next day I successfully lowered and raised the anchor from the cockpit.  I raised the last few feet of chain using the foot switch at the bow and when the anchor hit the roller everything went dead.  I went below and saw that the breaker had thrown, which was good.  It means not only that the windlass is protected from overload but also that I would be able to raise the anchor from the cockpit without fear of damage if I misjudged the raising.

Perimeter filled in with Epiglue

Bulkhead coated with Megapoxy filler

Forecastle work finished

Galley and Forward Bukhead

The week presented the usual obstacles that slowed us down and a new front of activity.

Installation of the new pressure water tap has caused us a of time and effort.

The stainless steel sink had been sent out for a second modification.  In specifying the straight-through drain outlet we had forgotten that the drain was smack in the middle of the cutlery drawer (Duh!) and had changed it to an elbow fitting.  As expected the elbow did not clear the frame of the drawer at the rear, which explained why the flimsy low-profile plastic elbow had been used before.  We were ready for this and installed a new wooden brace just forward of the drain and removed the rear one.   We used a broad piece of jarrah which fitted tightly against the sides of the sink area and used International "Epiglue" glue the piece to the drawer frame below and the sides of the compartment.  The result was outstanding, rendering a system that was stronger than the original.

New tap with "caravan" hosing below that was later replaced

New jarrah support, rear one to be removed

We purchased a beautiful tap at "The Caravan Shed" in Spearwood which provided the high rise outlet that I was looking for and swung side to side, which would be especially useful for clearing the passage through the opening at the bulkhead leading to the starboard quarter berth.  We discovered that a thread of the fitting that I had purchased at Bunnings did not quite match that of the tap. The tap thread was BSP and the Bunnings thread was probably NPT.

I returned to the caravan shop and obtained a solution using their system neither of us was happy with the fragility of the push-in connections which tended to pull out and leak.  Then we visited the local chandlery and with some effort were presented with a solution involving stainless steel BSP fitting.  I questioned the fact that there was no rubber seal in the key fitting and was assured that the metal-on-metal contact would be waterproof.  We put the system together, switched on the "pressure water" breaker, and found that the joint leaked like a sieve.

Bruce then made a trip to Pirtek Australia and returned with an elegant one-fitting solution that unfortunately turned out to not be BSP.  So back to Pirtek where it was a case of the wrong part having been put in the wrong box.  This time Bruce returned with a two-fitting solution that worked fine so that by late afternoon the new pressure water tap was plumbed and working without leaks.

On Wednesday morning Bruce had noticed that I was restless and looking for something to do so he directed me to the problem at the forward bulkhead between the V-berth area and the anchor well.  In preparing the boat for the circumnavigation I foolishly cut a hole through the bulkhead and fitted a more or less waterproof hatch so that I would have access to the area if the anchor chain got tangled up.  This turned out to be a big mistake and in Hawaii with the help of Wally, a wonderful South African, I removed the hatch, re sealed the opening using two sheets of 10mm ply, and fiberglassed the anchor well floor and entire aft bulkhead that I had filled in.

Details of this work can be found at:
https://pachucaroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2009/01/anchor-wel-and-weather-fax.html,
https://pachucaroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2009/01/anchor-well-work.html,
https://pachucaroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2009/01/filler-panels-in.html,
https://pachucaroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2009/01/anchor-well-finished.html,

Preparing for sealing the larger panel

What I didn't know was that I had cut then re sealed the opening it a larger section that had been filled before my time, possible when the boat was built.  I discovered this when painting the forecastle in Mexico.  A bad job had been done with this section: not a very tight fit and bonded with a soft sikaflex-like material around the edges.  The predictable result was that the  hard two part paint had cracked along the edges of this panel.  My task was to expose the entire area and discuss a rememdy with Bruce.

The photos tell the story so far.  I have sanded the bulkhead to expose the joins and have started the tedious process of digging out the soft sealant around the edges of the original panel.

There is no structural issue because the bulkhead is composed of two 10 mm sections with a 5mm gap between the sections, with plenty of fiberglass at the face in the anchor well.  We decided to fill in the gaps with Epifill, sand the entire area, the paint the bulkhead with "No rust" primer followed by at least 2 coats of Northane 2-part paint.

The final photo indicates the location of Pachuca's earlier water lines in light blue.  I raised the boat's water line twice, about 4 inches each time.  With the boat being drier (e.g. rudder no longer full of water) and free of the cumbersome equipment and spares for long rang cruising I expect her to once again ride high in the water.