Part One - Part Two
It's been a long time since I wrote part one of the Jaunty saga, my apologies. Incessant rain and wind for days has led me to bring you up to date. I paid off the builder and picked up my project after about ten months. I will say no more about that save ask for and check references.
I think allowing photos to speak their thousand words apiece is best coupled with a line or two of explanation.
Below you can see the transom well which allowed only ten inches of transom "height" above the waterline, even less with the drain holes. Some cockpit framing was installed.
The hull was supposed to have been sheathed in Dynel and epoxy completely. I found an area on the transom which was not sheathed but had been painted over. I used Citristrip to remove the paint. It proved to be a larger area than I imagined.
Ultimately, I found the area with no Dynel went along the Starboard side up around and including a portion of the bow transom. The bare area was intermittent. It appeared that maybe the builder ran out of cloth. The port side was also stripped and found to be properly done. It required removing the rub rails.
I redid the bare areas with Dynel and epoxy. This job required the construction of some kind of cover from the weather in my back yard. My wife was not happy. You can see new rubrail installed on the starboard side.
I removed the 10" high motor well and cockpit framing. The skegs were removed, too. Below is the framing wood showing some kind of glue drizzled onto the wood.
I filled in the transom cut outs preferring to go with a transom hung outboard. I epoxied a total of three layers of ½" ply onto the bottom in rabbeted steps. I did the same for the transom proper.
The transom was faired and I built and installed two new skegs.
New cockpit fore and aft bulkheads and framing were installed. New cockpit sole pieces have been cut and fit. When the cockpit sealed with epoxy those will be installed and that area below will be completed. Weather is standing in the way. That is ongoing.
The main companionway hatch was not built to my taste. The sliding rails were not parallel nor level, dipping in the middle almost a quarter inch causing the hatch to stick badly. I removed the hatch in two pieces, leveled the rails, and built a new hatch. The new hatch is framed and filled with plexiglass in order to allow more light below. I made new companionway slider boards as well. I installed a deadlight found at a sale and painted the boards a bit to give me some sense of something being finished.
Well, I have run on. Jaunty has been in my backyard since late June of 2010 when I brought him home and began my rework of many areas and new work I've done both inside and outside. Each photo in the above epistle represents weeks of work at times and hundreds of hours of effort. I had hoped to have a finished exterior with partial interior so I would not have to build it myself. I had no building, very little gumption, and clearly too much money. Now I have much less money, a tarp and plastic and wood structure in my backyard, and no boat yet. I still have very little gumption. If Chuck allows me a part three, I'll show new work in the offing and hopefully a more finished project. I've lost two boating seasons so far having to do this work, at sixty five and gimpy I don't have many boating seasons to waste. As Snuffy Smif used to say, "time's a wastin'!" |
