Anchor lockers are covered in-depth around here - this is my story of addressing this area. I'm thankful for this community and all the others who did this project before me so I could have a reference. Materials used: ACX Plywood, 1708 fiberglass cloth, TotalBoat polyester resin, Totalboat...
My attempts at getting away with a project for labor-only were once again thwarted. I took the lifelines off last fall with the intent of taking them home and scraping off all the old plastic coating. The turnbuckles initially wouldn't unthread, so I took the whole tangled mess of wires and...
I actually finished this project. Between early cold last November, graduation this Spring, and vacation in early Summer, I got this section (and hopefully the ONLY section) of core repair finished over multiple weeks this Summer. Products used: TotalBoat Wet Edge - Off White, SoftSand...
Two beautiful days of warm weather allowed me to get a fair amount of work done towards finishing this section of core repair.
Materials used: 1708 fiberglass mat, TotalBoat High Performance Epoxy, TotalBoat TotalFair Epoxy Fairing, TotalBoat TotalProtect 2-Part barrier coat (tie-coat)
When...
Self-tailing winches. Luxury? Necessity? Answers might vary. Since the majority of my sailing will likely be single-handing in the future, I decided it was time for an upgrade to the standard Lewmar 16 2-speed winches that seem to be the default from the factory. Priced new, they're out of...
Core rot. The bane of many owners around here. I took the less-popular repair approach of coming from the top. Given the condition of my deck, I figured either way, I need to refinish this area. Plus, I couldn't bear the unholy mess it would make on the inside. The deck had noticeable give to...
Just another instrument panel refresh on a 37 year-old boat. There's plenty of postings from other folks around here to draw inspiration from.
These are the steps leading up to installation on the boat. I set out for functionality and strength over beauty. I shared this vision with the...
Sanding, thru-hull removal, rudder repair, fiberglass work, and painting. All the fun I had while hauled out.
I bought Sigla bottom-unseen. The previous owner had a rough idea of when it had been out of the water last, but not many details. She didn't come with a trailer, so after an...
All of hoses in the cooling system on my Westerbeke 10 Two appeared to be original from 1985. One hose had already blown with the previous owner, so I decided this should be a project to tackle early on. This project ended up spanning many months as new "opportunities" arose. So, let's jump...
Small project? Yes. Lessons learned? Definitely. Didn't take a a ton of pictures during the change (due to the mess). But took some post-pictures for reference. This was my first time performing either of these tasks.
Starting with the oil change, after warming up the engine, this electric...
While changing out my impeller earlier this year on my Westerbeke 10 Two, I also attempted to remove the zinc in the heat exchanger (expecting that it might have not been replaced recently/ever). It's kind of tight access, and I didn't want to bend it all up by cranking on it. All I was...
Sigla came with a SEAFLO 750 bilge pump located in the center bilge compartment (crudely wired directly from the battery) and leftover wiring from an old Rule pump in the aft bilge. I replaced the SEAFLO wiring with proper terminals and stranded wire (my very first project). But the pump bit...
Being a new boat owner, every day is a new day. Our boat does not have a trailer. Something to consider for the future, but for now, we have to overwinter in the slip. Thankfully, we belong to a great sail-only yacht club that has even better members.
Since we're in Kansas, ice is always a...
Actually, we do. While running the engine the first time, I noticed it got pretty hot (still wasn't sure if I could even trust the gauges), but it wasn't spitting water. I had a pretty good idea of the cause. Thankfully, I think (hope) we avoided any permanent damage.
Yeah, tons of people...
Our boat had sat lonely in the slip for a year. She was checked on via video. When the bilge got too full, someone came to break the airlock on the auto bilge pump. Come wintertime, the aerator was splashed to keep the ice at bay. But she wasn't taken out last season. So, there's a year of...