Last Cockpit Seacock

Had another good weekend. Got the last seacock installed for the cockpit drains. Trying to do it myself wasn't easy though. I used the boat hook to keep the thru-hull in place and got the seacock base started on the threads. I then used a zip-tie to attach to another seacock to keep it from spinning. Got out of the boat and tightened the thru-hull down. Epoxy squeezed out from the base, that needed cleaning up. Luckily I was able to do this early in the morning where I could wait the whole day for the epoxy to cure. Unfortunately, I didn't finish curing. The outside of the fiberglass base was solid but when I removed the thru-hull, the center was still pliable/soft. I put the blue drain hose back through the hole for rain water to drain in the meantime. Soon, I'll be able to seal this seacock, and get new hoses on the hose-barbs. The current hoses on the other three are not very secure, at best I was abe to get one hose clamp around the hose.

Other project I wanted to do was attach the anchor chain to the boat. Not sure there was ever a place to attach the chain or rode, so I got a U-bolt, drilled holes to attach it. Then I put a soft shackle I made on it and the end of the chain, so now, when I deploy the anchor, the chain is not all going to find the bottom. The chain is about 140ft, so I could probably cut some of that down and attach some rode. Not sure the rode that came with the boat had ever been used or if it's even good to use.

These two things were projects I've had on my list a long time. I'm happy I can cross off a couple things. A good part of the visit, I was working on the rudder. When I tap on the rudder, there were hollow sounding areas, I cut part of the skin out to get epoxy behind those areas. I plan to post more on this when I have more work on it completed.

Squeezed epoxy into the gap before tightening thru-hull

I may cut the extra length off the threads

Last couple weekends have been pretty productive. I've been able to cross off a few projects off my list. Every little bit helps. Thanks for stopping by.

Spring Launch

I'm still here!


I've been busy on some things around Rhapsody. I have been taking hardware off the mast and looking over its condition as I get things ready. While I like being able to do as much as I can myself, I'm starting to think it might be worth reaching out for help along the way. I'm looking to hire out some work with the mast, and getting the bottom sanded down by the boat yard in preparation for fixing some things and then applying the barrier coat and bottom paint. I'll at least talk with a shop and the yard to see what might happen. In order to work on the bottom, I'm thinking to have the boat moved from the trailer to boat stands as it would be easier to work around. In the following pictures, you can see where some of the old repairs had failed. Some of these low spots need to be filled and sanded.

down to the fiberglass

In the meantime, I've been working on my crazy idea with the fuel tank. It's a lot of work and getting closer to getting completed, although no idea when that will come. I've had a couple bad colds lately that prevented me from wearing a respirator mask so work slowed down a bit. I do have a blog post ready and waiting for additional updates and will be posted when the tank is completed. Once the tank is ready, fittings installed, then I'll be able to reinstall the engine, new muffler, seacocks, hoses, and reinstall the shaft and propeller.


I haven't used the dodger that came with the boat. Apparently, the little box of miscellaneous parts on the boat didn't have the bolts needed to attach even the frame. So, I got what I needed for the frame and have that ready for later. I also laid out the dodger to see what pieces I have. I didn't realize it before, but it seems there's enough pieces for the cockpit to be mostly covered, except the stern rail area. I'd like to change all the canvas to Sunbrella Linen color but what I have will work for now. Changing canvas can wait until the boat is already in the water.

While there's a lot of work left, I'm currently planning to launch Rhapsody in the Spring. I expect the refit to continue throughout winter like before and keep working on what I can until then. Hopefully it'll all work out in the end.

Looking forward to getting out on the water again.

Head Hoses Removed

I spent a good part of the day removing the hoses from the head. Everything went well, mostly.

I first removed the vent hose. I had to route it past the other hoses and through the counter top. I ended up breaking the part the hose was attached and left the hole open.

The hole is to the right of the black hose

The vent is just below the toe rail. The silver cap is for waste

The first part of the larger hoses I removed was from the waste deck fill to a switch between deck pump-out and overboard discharge. The worst part of this was there was a little deposit left in the hose. Thankfully, there wasn't much but it did smell pretty bad for a moment. Thankfully, I had lots of paper towels and some cleaner/disinfectant. I covered the hose with a plastic bag and a rubber band.



The dark part by the thru-hull is the mess made.

After covering the hose with the plastic bags, everything else wasn't too bad. I removed the rest of the hose going from the manual pump to the overboard discharge thru-hull.

Here the hoses are on the deck that I soon put in a black trash bag.

Removing the hoses from the head cleaned up the space under the counter. The white hoses that are left is for the bilge pump. The clear ones are for the sink that's in the head. I'm thinking to remove the sink from the head. With the size of this boat, it doesn't seem necessary to me to have a second sink. I also cleaned up some more of the space, like the caulk that held the head/holding tank and the dirt covering the counter. Now it's more ready for installing an Airhead.

 I was thinking of how it would be to remove and cover the thru-hulls when I haul the boat and make some more room under the counter. Another thought is to keep the thru-hulls in place, at least the one under the counter, maybe for a watermaker in the future. Of course I'm not going to continue with the one used for the head so it'll be replaced with a new one. The other thru-hull to consider is the one that was used for the head's water intake. It's right next to the battery so I'm thinking that can definitely be removed and covered. One less thru-hull to worry about.

This thru-hull can be removed

I was going to remove the tiller to bring home to refinish it and fix the crack on the hand-hold end. When I went to loosen the nut, the whole bolt turned as well. Now, I'm trying to think of how to remove it. There's no way to hold both ends. The smooth side is recessed. I'll have to figure out how to remove it in order to refinish the tiller.

Seacock Project - Complete

Today was a good day.

I found out that the carpet pieces are attached with Velcro strips. I was thinking to change them out sometime so this might be easier than I expected. This project can wait but I can still look and see what's available.

I continued the work on the water strainer. I attached the fittings to the strainer then the hoses. Since I ordered 2ft of 1/2" hose, I had to cut it down. I attached it to the pump on the engine first then ran it to the strainer for measurement.

When I attached the 3/4" hose, I filled the reservoir of the strainer with water to prime it, then got a bucket full of water and ran it through the engine. Engine started up right away and sounded quite nice.

I then cleaned up the thru-hull and flange base of the seacock. I marked off the area around the fiberglass base with tape. I used Sikaflex 291 for the base and the thru hull.

The following is pictures of the work.

 

 

 

 

Once the thru-hull and the seacock was mounted, I attached the hose with two new hose clamps. All the hose clamps I used were new. On the 3/4" hose, I used two on the seacock and the strainer input and on the 1/2" side, I used one on the strainer output and one on the raw water pump.

 

 

I'm happy this project is finally completed. I really hope everything holds together when getting the boat in the water.  This was an important project. I learned a lot about this project along the way and feels good to finally be done with it.