Part 2 - Columbia 29 refit, in the Rocky Mountains

[jhulmer]

Originally Posted by 406Columbia

WOW, looks very nice. Having the lifelines to attach to looks very easy. Your paint job came out great. What kind of boat are you working on?

This is my Cabo Rico Tiburon 36 - The refit from hell. When going through hell just keep going!
I started with the PVC pipe attached to the stanchions but you can see in one of the pictures I changed to running a 1x4 the length of the boat on each side and securing those to the chain plates. Double up the 1" PVC pipe on the arches for strength and use a white tarp for good light. The green just about drove me insane. Hamilton Marine had the best selection of big white tarps. I put cheap 6mil clear plastic under the white tarp to stop chafe on the tarp. You can pull up the sides to have great air flow and still have shade.
Jim

[406Columbia]

Originally Posted by jhulmer

This is my Cabo Rico Tiburon 36 - The refit from hell. When going through hell just keep going!
I started with the PVC pipe attached to the stanchions but you can see in one of the pictures I changed to running a 1x4 the length of the boat on each side and securing those to the chain plates. Double up the 1" PVC pipe on the arches for strength and use a white tarp for good light. The green just about drove me insane. Hamilton Marine had the best selection of big white tarps. I put cheap 6mil clear plastic under the white tarp to stop chafe on the tarp. You can pull up the sides to have great air flow and still have shade.
Jim

HAHAHAHAHA the refit from hell had us dying. We get it, its one thing after the next! We will be shocked when our boat is finally in the water. I checked out your refit page, your doing beautiful wood work. Keep it up, the teak looks fantastic and I wish I had your talent!

SO.....speaking of the refit from hell. I decided to remove the stainless steel mast arch, blast and paint it, etc. To remove the mast shoe and re anodize it and re-install, etc. Figured removal would be too easy right? Wrong! The arch came out after much effort, then proceeded to drop a half a pound of fiberglass dust and paint chips onto me. he hardware was in bad shape and some wasn't long enough for proper safety margin. So that will all be replaced.

Then the mast shoe, what a nightmare. The bolts holding it down started spinning but we couldn't locate the backside (the head) to stop it from spinning. That is because the previous repair involved glassing over the heads. At some point, likely before the stainless arch the glass was cracking and whoever repaired it didn't do the best job in the long run.

So we will be grinding it way out, reinforcing it and glassing it over and of course I will be using heavy bi-axial cloth and epoxy. Might build in some additional support out of airex.

Additionally, glassed in the remaining three salon port-lights using some heavy chopped strand mat. We oversized the glass to strengthen the cabin trunk out and look nice. basically spent the whole weekend laying up glass, fairing, sanding, laying more glass, etc.

Also, glassed in the quarter births from the inside leading back to the outboard well. So now both sides are glassed and its strong as heck and will be easy to clean. I forgot, we removed ALL the old electrical panels and battery switches, etc. Some looks like 1960 era for certain, some is new and never wired up so we will salvage some of it and junk the rest.

[Don C L]

You were lucky, my shoe was corrodo-welded to the mast!

[jhulmer]

Yeah the shoe looks good! your lucky!

Sanding out fiberglass is the worst hell. Especially when it's a bad repair because all has to come out and start new.
You guys are doing nice work and soon you will see the pen light at the end of the long tunnel. I was hoping to launch this month after 5 years of weekends and holidays and any time I could steal to finish this refit. But, This whole covid thing will push me into next month. I can use the extra time. The list doesn't seem to get shorter! However, the mission critical projects are almost done and I would rather work on the other projects looking at the water and not the yard! Able to sneak in a sail in between.

[406Columbia]

Originally Posted by jhulmer

Yeah the shoe looks good! your lucky!

Sanding out fiberglass is the worst hell. Especially when it's a bad repair because all has to come out and start new.
You guys are doing nice work and soon you will see the pen light at the end of the long tunnel. I was hoping to launch this month after 5 years of weekends and holidays and any time I could steal to finish this refit. But, This whole covid thing will push me into next month. I can use the extra time. The list doesn't seem to get shorter! However, the mission critical projects are almost done and I would rather work on the other projects looking at the water and not the yard! Able to sneak in a sail in between.

That sounds like a great plan, working on the water! Post up a pick when you can and appreciate it. We are getting closer.

[406Columbia]

Lots of fairing, grinding, sanding, etc. Was prepping the bilge for glass and ground the bottom and hit water! Turns out the void between the lead ballast and hull was full of water. Good thing our ballast doesn't rust! Found the entry point toward the top of our bilge, so we cut it all open and got all the water out.

Then we cleaned out with acetone, drilled a relief hole and shot it full of expanding marine foam from west marine. Also ground out the bottom side of the mast step, the marine-ply core was cracked a bit and it had been drilled into for electrical cable.

The plan is to fill the entire area with bi-axial and re-install the aluminum mast support arch. To further tie the arch into the bulkheads and spread the load out I will incorporate some G10 in a few area, pictures to follow.

[406Columbia]

Hello,

Got the mast steps (20 total) all installed, took several hours. Laid out a chalk line, measured, drilled pilot holes, drilled again to size properly for tapping, etc. Wasn't expecting it to take all afternoon but it did. We feel its done well and to the best of our abilities. We opted to not rivet, but instead mount with 304/18-8 stainless steel machine screws with a pan head. I think they are 10-24 and are Torx, which is so much better for us than flat head.

We added one more step than needed at the very top. Idea being if your working at the mast head you can have your feet even. So we could have gotten away with 19. The color was a great compliment to the bare aluminum mast.

By the way does anyone know what type of aluminum the factory mast is? Not sure if it was ever in the brochures or factory materials.

In the process we removed a few broken off self-tapping screws and identified a few pieces of hardware to replace. Found a great method of shaping the winch base for the mast. Tape down some aggressive sandpaper (a sheet) to the spot you want to mount the winch base on the mast. Then work your wood or starboard down to shape over the mast until you reach the right shape. I'm sure almost all of you know that already, new idea to me.

So need to get that going asap and prep the mast winch pad as well as vents pads for the head and hanging lockers. Will be time consuming but will provide the perfect fit.

[406Columbia]

Well I had planned to use marine-ply for the base of the vents, but after much thought opted to use the marine foam. It will be much easier to match the curve using it even with a gauge.

Also, got the new chain-plate covers completed using .5'' starboard.

[406Columbia]

Hello,

Got more stain on the various wood around the boat. Prepping for the temporary greenhouse type shelter as recommended from some folks here (thanks). Got the 13x17 Tempress hatch cut into the dead space in the forward V-birth area. Actually reclaimed lots of storage space will make it into a watertight bulkhead type space. Anything to avoid ingress of water beyond the compartment should flooding occur due to damage in the hull.

Ideally I would like to do the same thing in the chain locker, but finding a suitable watertight hatch large enough and close to flush has been difficult. Still need to glass in the chain locker and the new compartment I cut today. Plan to reinforce with marine foam and or bi-axial and gussets.

On the Tempress products, they appear to be a great value. Fair price and what looks and feels like good quality fit and finish. Opens and closes smoothly, seems to lock positively and great template and instructions for those who don't want to just start cutting.

I may use the router and sink the Tempress hatch a bit closer to flush. That would mean building up the support for it a bit more but is not to hard to do.

More to come tomorrow on the shelter for the boat while more fairing and sanding will occur.

[406Columbia]

Decided to sink the hatch into the deck for the bed. Went about .25'' deep and it seems much better. Once fitting was all done I coated with epoxy to seal the wood before we paint it. Also to stiffen up the deck/floor for the sleeping platform I framed in the entire underneath with .75'' solid hard wood or marine-ply.

[Don C L]

It seems I am relegated to a permanent green color seeing all the work you're getting done! As usual, looking forward to seeing you guys up here at the islands with the champagne!

[406Columbia]

Originally Posted by Don C L

It seems I am relegated to a permanent green color seeing all the work you're getting done! As usual, looking forward to seeing you guys up here at the islands with the champagne!

Don,

Your funny, we wish we had the ability to be sailing like you have been! We are just thankful we have been able to get so much help and advice from folks who have come into our lives. The various tech support lines, friends and experienced sailors, etc. It's been a long process and we cannot wait to finish. Coming up there to the islands will be an absolute must for us.

Should have some pictures of our tent setup today to provide a bit of shade and protection from the elements while we work.

[406Columbia]

Laid up lots of glass. Ended up completing the inside patch below the water line with about 6 layers of heavy biaxial. Laid thickened epoxy in the seams of the bilge and over the foam I injected. Then laid up some chopped strand mat over the thickened epoxy. Covered the entire bilge with light woven roving to tie it all together.

Then finished up with one piece of heavy biaxial that I cut some darting into to fit around all the curves and turns in the bilge to make the area one monolithic repair. Laid up the start of the mast arch patch, ended up calling it a day at seven or eight layers of biaxial. Still need to add a few more.

Our forward shallow bilge had some de-lamination between the glass and the lead blocks for the ballast. I cut back much of it and pryed up what was left. Cleaned and shot full of thin epoxy, then filled the holes in with chopped strand mat and so far two layers of light woven roving cloth. I may layup a single piece of biaxial but it was a cosmetic repair so that might be a bit overkill.

Last thing was laying up glass on the forward v birth hatch we cut in. Making it a water tight crash type bulkhead so one layer of the heavy biaxial. Will end up laying in one solid piece in that entire space tonight hopefully, then on to the chain locker.

[Don C L]

I'm gonna have you sail in ahead of me in all the anchorages to clear out any rock outcrops!

[406Columbia]

Originally Posted by Don C L

I'm gonna have you sail in ahead of me in all the anchorages to clear out any rock outcrops!

Ha ha, hopefully we never hit anything like that. Just trying to over engineer a few areas. I think we will install a hatch in the chain locker to do two things. First keep the smell out from anything hauled up on the anchor chain, second create a watertight bulkhead.

Looks like we will use this

http://www.vetusmarine.com/Shared/PDFs/Page%20173.pdf