Project Log: Sunday,
November 22, 2009
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I briefly entertained the idea of
beginning the deck or bottom sanding, but ultimately decided
that could wait a week--I just didn't have it in me this
day. Instead, I had a pleasantly light day, taking
care of a few odds and ends only. I began by
reinstalling my work lights and cords, and then vacuumed out
the water that had collected in the bilge (mainly in the
shallow sections above and adjacent to the center board
trunk, which drain poorly or not at all)
Now that the
boat was significantly cleaner, it seemed a good time to
crawl into the point of the stem and remove the stem
casting, which was secured with four bolts through the stem
and two bolts through the deck above. With nothing to
brace my feet, it was a bit of a challenge holding myself in
place, but not too bad.
The first nut came off easily
with a ratchet. The second nut spun the whole bolt
when I turned it. The third nut, infuriatingly, was a
smaller size than the other ones, and I didn't have that
size wrench or socket with me; what in the world was this
spate of single nuts of an odd diameter that I'd discovered
this weekend?
At this point, I gave in and collected
three pair of Vice-Grips, which I secured on the three
remaining nuts. Then, from outside, I used an impact
driver to remove the screws. All three came easily,
fortunately, despite the heavy application of cheap white
silicone sealant all over everything.
With the four
stem bolts removed, I reset the Vice-Grips on the two deck
bolts, and removed those from above. Then, with a
little persuasion to break the rubbery bond of the silicone,
I removed the casting. |
 |
With far too much effort, given its small size, I
finally removed the last section of old interior liner, up
in the chain locker. I'd originally left this in place
because during the original days of liner removal, there'd
still been several through-bolts holding this part on, from
the deck hardware that I'd yet to remove at that time.
This little piece was more securely stuck than any of the
rest of the liner, of course, but it succumbed to a minute
or two with a large crowbar, eventually giving way in a
shower of brittle, crystalline jewels of aquamarine-colored
adhesive. |
 |
The only deck hardware still in
place was a pair of bronze trim/screw rings on the Dorade
vent boxes near the mast, which I removed next. I also
removed a cable clam that had been in place for the mast
wiring, and made an attempt to remove the mast step, but
didn't have the right tools with me to chip away whatever
brittle stuff had been applied into the countersunk screw
holes, and the mast step resisted prying away by force, so I
left that for the moment. |
 |
I wrapped up the day's boat-relate work by loading
some of the interior debris into my already-full trailer for
a trip to the dump sometime soon. I wanted to be sure
to get rid of the piles of junk before the snow flew. |
Total Time Today: 1.5 hours |
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