We were particularly unproductive throughout the winter on the various maintenance that we had intended on Fantasia. Greg's father decided that having a quadruple bypass was more important. After they fixed that, there was rehab, and many doctors appointments. This kind of interfered with our boat maintenance schedule! Greg's father is doing fine now.
We had intended on performing keel maintenance, so have decided to defer that to the fall. Instead, we have decided to concentrate on three main activities:
- Thoroughly clean and fix problems on the hull and rudder
- Run all the lines back to the cockpit [Note: didn't happen]
- Perform upgrades on the things attached to the mast
To clean the hull, we started with a thorough pressure washing of the hull and cockpit. We also pressure washed the teak. While pressure washing, we discovered that there are a number of small holes in the gel coat just above the water line. We have ordered the gel coat repair stuff, Spectrum Gel Coat Patch Paste Repair, and will be repairing it after it comes in. The paste is considered hazardous, and thus can only be shipped by UPS Ground, so be prepared for long lead times. You may think it would be a good idea to keep the paste on hand, but it has a limited shelf life, so order it before you need it, but not long before you need it.
After pressure washing, there were still stains, particularly just above the water line. We got some Davis Fiberglass Stain Remover. This stuff is just great. You just rub it on, with very little elbow grease, let it sit for a few minutes and wash it off. Use gloves, as it is an skin irritant.
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Before and after of using Davis Fiberglass Stain Remover. Also shows the holes in the gel coat. |
To run the lines back to the cockpit, we purchased a Spinlock triple rope clutch. This will be mounted on the port side of the pop top. To make room, we are shortening the handrail on that side.
On the mast, we are:
- Replacing the VHF antenna
- Running new coax for the VHF antenna
- Adding a windex to the antenna
- Adding an anchor light
- Running a new wiring harness for the anchor light, steaming light, and deck light
- Adding a new deck light and steaming light
- Adding a new spinnaker crane
We will be posting additional articles with details of these projects.
