Breaking All the Rules ...

[homeless]

Originally Posted by hpeer

If you do the rigging consider stalok or similar fittings. Then you can do the job yourself. And it is cheaper the second time around as fittings are reusable except for small, cheap, disposable cones.

Did you say your fuel tank is integral to the hull?

This will be the only time I replace the rigging before sale, so the priority is to minimise the cost of this round by reusing as many of the current fittings as possible. Yes, all tanks are integral.

Another lesson for anyone building a boat ... tanks should not be integral, but should be removable for servicing and replacement.

[Snowpetrel]

Originally Posted by homeless

1. All flammable liquids, thinners, fuels, paint, gas to be removed from the boat before welding except the port diesel fuel tank. There is a surprising amount of this on the boat with all of the work going on, but I don't smoke or cook on the boat at the moment, so hopefully won't blow up.
2. All flammable materials cleared at least 8 inches away from the holes (wood, spray on foam, wiring, pipes, sonar sensor etc). This has taken a few days with hole saw, jig saw, and chisel and left quite a mess to clean up.
3. Sheet cement to be used as a heat block where it is not possible to clear all material.
4. Any oil residue on the engine room walls or in the sump to be removed.
5. Diesel tank to be washed with water but not thinners.
6. Diesel tank to be ventilated, then filled with inert gas.
7. Plate to be heated with flame, then welding done with TIG.
8. All welding to be done from outside the boat, so any pits or thin plate section will be drilled or ground through the plate first instead of filled from inside. I drilled 3 more holes through the hull today, and will drill a few more tomorrow.
9. I am to stand by inside the boat with hose, bucket, and fire extinguisher. Not sure I will like being inside with the smoke and toxic fumes, but I guess better than losing the boat to fire.

Sounds very professional. If you haven't already, good idea to get a good half or full face respirator, not just for the welding, but also painting, sanding etc. Also watch out for sunburn when he welds. Aluminium welding has some serious UV...

[SimonV]

Originally Posted by homeless

I did get the rigging inspected in Sydney before I left. No major issues found.
The other reason to get the mast pulled is to check the corrosion at the mast base and repair. Think I will ask for another quote to just pull the mast and fix any issues found at the base.

Did they give you a certificate as this is all you need for the insurance if the rigging is more than 7 years old.

Sent from my GT-N7105T using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[downunder]

Originally Posted by Snowpetrel

Sounds very professional. If you haven't already, good idea to get a good half or full face respirator, not just for the welding, but also painting, sanding etc. Also watch out for sunburn when he welds. Aluminium welding has some serious UV...

After the death last year of a boat welder I would imagine it is now essectially mandatory with Workplace Health and Safety departments involvement.

cheers

[tfrank]

I purchased my Creekmore 36 (1962) after having seen her once a couple of years earlier. The hull is bulletproof and the Perkins diesel hums. After adding a/c, generator, chartplotter, refrigeration, windlass, new interior, running rigging, Tide Marine sail slide system, lazy jack and new North Sails with roller furling, I'm afraid to add up how much I've spent on a boat worth a maximum of 25 to 30k. But you know what? It doesn't matter. I love the boat and one day my kids will inherit. It's not for sale.
Many of you understand--it's a boat thing.

[homeless]

I spent most of the day doing prep for the welder who comes tomorrow.
Bailed the oil out of the engine room sump and hosed out the engine room to reduce oil and diesel residue, then pumped out the water. I decided the engine room would look a lot better if I painted the walls, so my to-do list keeps getting longer.
Hosed out the diesel tank again, and removed the ball valve at the bottom to let it drain. Removed the fuel lines from the engine room.
Removed more foam from under the shower.
Drilled about 10 more holes on thin plate sections to be filled with weld.
Bought new ball valves to replace the ones in the fuel line with rusted, bent, or broken handles. Took apart the fuel lines and riser tubes and stripped the corrosion off the aluminium and bronze fittings so they no longer look like a rusting fire hazard.
Washed out the bilges again to remove more of the mud.

I accepted the quote to remove the mast and replace the standing rigging on the condition they helped with sails and fixed any corrosion found on the mast base. The boat is aluminium, the mast is aluminium, but between them is a stainless steel plate ... which I will try to replace.

I also got my first sensible quote for antifouling. Yes, it costs more than all of the others, but that is because they are the only company that actually inspected the boat, saw the many layers of flaking paint on the hull, and decided that it needed to be sanded back and given a full coat of primer. The other quotes were just automated responses based on the length of the boat, with the assumption that new paint could be slapped over the old paint with minimum work. So far only about 3 companies out of about 15 have bothered to quote on the antifouling, so I guess they are all too busy ...

[KASHMIR]

It must be very hot and sticky doing all these tasks at the moment in SEQ, I am not far away and on holidays which requires a dip in the pool or beach regularly throughout the day.
Hats off for the progress you are making, good luck with the welder tomorrow.

[Antilag]

Don't forget to take pictures!

[homeless]

The welder was late starting because he was waiting for a gas delivery, so only the holes on the port side have been closed, including 5 through-hulls and 3 drill holes to clean up corrosion pits. The welds are ugly on the outside, but will be primed, faired, and painted, and even uglier on the inside, but I guess if they keep the water out they are doing their job.. Tomorrow he should complete the starboard side welding, then I can prime and start fairing.

The rigging guys were on the boat again today working out how to get the mast out, and resolve the corrosion on the mast base. If you have an aluminium boat, and an aluminium mast, why would you put a stainless steel plate between them ??? Most likely we will replace the stainless plate with an aluminium one.

[monte]

Good move replacing the rigging. From memory you paid under 20K for a 120K+ yacht. Now isn't the time to be trying to cut corners. Refit it like you are about to set off around the world in it for 5 yrs and you and the next owner will be proud.

[japarker11]

"Puddle" welding overhead will be ugly. Hit them with a grinder to check for porosity. Minimal porosity is what you are seeking. A grinder will fix the goober look. You might consider using a hole saw and perform plate replacement in a circular shape in the areas of the pinhole corrosion.

On our 35 year old FRP boat, the the keel stepped mast was bedded on a stainless plate with a cast aluminum mast shoe bolted to it. The cast aluminum element was nearly totally corroded along will .75 inch portion of the mast section. We trimmed the mast section, and replaced the cast shoe plate with a 1.0 inch FRP plate section. Hopefully, this will isolate the cathodic potential of the two materials.

In our case, and probably yours, a plate that would span hull bearing points was required. Aluminum plate to span the distance with the mast load would have been too thick and not commercially available, therefore - stainless. The cathodic potential was not correctly addressed.

Great progress!

Originally Posted by homeless

The welder was late starting because he was waiting for a gas delivery, so only the holes on the port side have been closed, including 5 through-hulls and 3 drill holes to clean up corrosion pits. The welds are ugly on the outside, but will be primed, faired, and painted, and even uglier on the inside, but I guess if they keep the water out they are doing their job.. Tomorrow he should complete the starboard side welding, then I can prime and start fairing.

The rigging guys were on the boat again today working out how to get the mast out, and resolve the corrosion on the mast base. If you have an aluminium boat, and an aluminium mast, why would you put a stainless steel plate between them ??? Most likely we will replace the stainless plate with an aluminium one.

[Cadence]

Everyone has a digital camera today. Your lap top and phone probably takes pics. No more paying for silver processing.

Send some pics.

[JPA Cate]

Cadence, I agree it would be great to see some pics.

Homeless posted that his internet connection was a bit iffy, so I can see why he hasn't got involved in that. He's working hard and long hours on the boat, may just need to hit the hay at the end of the day.....

I hope all the work goes smoothly.

Ann

[homeless]

Day two of welding. All holes on the starboard side now closed. The welder was very conservative, and instead of just addressing the pits that had been drilled through the hull from the diesel tank he cut out the whole corroded weld seam, backed it with plate, and filled it. In all, welding took 6 hours at $70 per hour plus gas, totalling $550 which I think is reasonable considering the skill level involved, though it did take a few days of my time to prep, and will take a few more to cleanup, paint, repair the shower, and re-mount the sonar sensor. The welding did cook some large areas of paint and filler, so I ground them back until the edges were clean ready for priming.

The hull is a bit of a mess, with many layers of antifoul of various quality and flakiness, primer, barrier coats, as well as one or even two layers of fairing. If I had planned the haul out better I should have started with a sand blast down to bare metal, welding, then priming and painting. As it is, I don't really have the tools or experience to clean up the current paint, so have accepted a quote to wet sand and barrier coat the hull for $700. I will prime the raw aluminium around the welds between the sanding and barrier coat, but not sure I will bother with fairing. Once that is done I can apply the antifouling paint myself. Quotes to apply antifouling paint have varied from $1700 to $3300, but I should be able to do it myself for about $300 of paint and a few hot days in the sun.

The rigger who was going to pull my mast has been asked to fly to the Netherlands for a rigging job there, so my re-rig has been delayed 2.5 weeks.

I got a recommendation for a very experienced auto electrician who actually fixes starter motors instead of just replacing them. I took my fibreglassed starter in to him today and he immediately knew the brand, and quoted me $70 for a new solanoid, and also offered to remove the rust on the shaft which has been stopping the starter engaging the ring gear, so hopefully on Monday I will have a perfectly working starter again, though I do still have to pull off the bell housing on the engine and give the flywheel and ring gear a cleanup.

Tomorrow looks like another hot sunny day, so I expect to be out sanding, priming, fairing, and painting selected areas of the pilothouse and hull where paint is lifting or the surface is deformed.

According to the tracking website my Perkins gasket kits were delivered today, but I did not receive them, and won't start on the engine rebuild until I do.

[giant]

Sounds like you are making good progress and that is awesome. Interesting thread as I know very little about alloy boats.

What are the rates like there for haul out/in and hard stand per day?