Joyeux Refit Log: Putting it all back together

This phase of the rebuild took a lot of time...and patience. As I did virtually all the work myself, I discovered many things the hard way. 3M 4200 Fast Cure did not work on the boat because it was too unstable. The turnover here in Rio Dulce isn't fast enough to prevent partial curing in the tube, and when I applied it to fittings it cured too hard too quickly to get a watertight seal. So a number of fittings had to be taken off (again) and re-sealed with either Boat Life Life-Caulk, or Sika construction adhesive. I only used 3M 5200 in a few places that I hope never to have to touch again as it is the most permanent of all the adhesive sealants available here.

Many fittings that had been on the boat before now wouldn't fit. The hatch in the Head had to have a new raised fiberglass shoulder, the companionway handrail no longer fit, the windlass and mast collar had more layers of fiberglass added for strength, the arch needed new feet, the new stanchion bases needed to be shimmed to the deck to make the stanchions sit erect, etc. etc. etc.

All of the canvas snaps and other small parts needed to be re-fit since all the holes were filled prior to gelcoating. The side port acrylic got cleaned with muriatic acid and I had TAP Plastic cut 8 new ones of polycarbonate. Days after re-installing them the workers splashed acetone on them, and now I have another set waiting for me to install when the sealant gets here from the US. Check out the Wauquiez factory cut in the headliner for a side port..

Meanwhile the interior of the boat was a mess. There were gelcoat splashes everywhere they didn't get a good seal on a hole, there was the usual 3^rd world boatyard dirt tracked in etc. The deck fill for the starboard tank had leaked onto the cabinet in the head, which was made of pressboard (!) so a new one was made, along with a number of carpentry jobs I wanted done. The old Dickenson diesel bulkhead heater went away and was replaced by a set of shelves. I had two storage bins made to fit under the V-Berth bunk. I did a lot of interior varnishing. The new cabin top handrails were made of teak from the Peten here in Guatemala after a careful selection process.

I had the local machinist busy as well. We designed and he built a new chartplotter pod/stand which rotates from the helm position into the cockpit so we can see it from under the dodger. He built new barrel bolts for the foredeck lockers and coaming boxes. I had had an arch and solid rails aft of the lifeline gates built in Mexico in 2008, and now we finished the job with solid rails forward to the pulpit. The list was seemingly endless.

After 13 months we have only a few small items left on the list, and I am whittling it down daily. My long-term motivation is now short-term. If only things would stop breaking.

In the Water