December 16, 2004 - January 10, 2005: Not much got done on Botany Bay's projects as I had to have my left knee rebuilt. Dr. Feder did an amazing job cleaning out the joint and following up the post operative recuperation.

November 12-15, 2004: Botany Bay's engine is coming through the refit with only a few problems. I had to replace the dipstick tube (the bottom end broke off, luckily I could retrieve the broken piece off), got the exhaust manifold resurfaced, obtained a honest to goodness Perkin's return spring for the kill solenoid. I readjusted the injection pump because of clearance with the kill switch leaver. It is was offset about a pencil line width to one side, it is probably half as much to the other side. I have the raw water pump off for rebuild. I have removed the fuel lift pump as it is almost 35 years old and probably should be replaced. It turns out it is a 4-108 pump (4 bolts) instead of a 4-107 pump (2 bolts). Probably a cross over year in the production cycle. I also ordered a gear pump for transferring fuel and polishing the fuel. Tom and I will be installing nearly identical systems on Botany Bay and Alegria this weekend!

October 23-24, 2004: The battle is now well joined! It appears that the first winter project will be giving the old Perkins diesel engine a careful once over. The last careful tear down and refit was back in the fall of 1999 before heading out to Kwajalein so she is well due. I have removed the exhaust riser and salt water injection point (I was seeing the start of corrosion around the water injection point), the exhaust manifold (the exhaust manifold to head connection nearest to the transmission was leaking), the header tank (to replace the 5 year old thermostat and make sure that the aluminum tank can be removed from the steel bolts), the injectors (last rebuilt in 1998 with the injector pump) and pipes, raw water heat exchanger (last cleaned of calcium deposits late 2000 while at Kwajalein), swap out the original starter (which has quite a bit of corrosion) with the spare one purchased for the trip home from Kwajalein to LA, the forward/starboard motor mount bracket (under the heat exchanger) will be cleaned up and repainted. The injector rebuild and having the exhaust manifold flange to the cylinder head will be sent out for work and should be back in a week or so. I will also take this opportunity to get the engine controls correct for the new Edson steering system.

October 10, 2004: Well, winter is coming and the fall project season is upon Botany Bay and Alegria. It appears that Alegria has fouled an injector and so we will be delving into removing injectors for service while also doing valve lash adjustments and the like. Botany Bay has quite a few little projects remaining after finishing the big refit of 2003. There is a link below to last years project list and completions as well as the new list for this year. There are quite a few things but unlike last years projects these can be taken into in small chunks and not drive Tom and I to distraction!

October 1-3, 2004: Arrrrrrh! Tis time for a pirates booty to be found at Cat Harbor with the Corsairs of Emerald Bay! In fact it was quite the adventure with Botany Bay and Alegria sailing together for the first time in a while as Tom and I have 

September 18-19, 2004: Corsair Yacht Club's Labor Day cruise was wonderful, the sail over was one of the best of the season, the sail home was the roughest, I was single handing back from the island with a single reef in the main and a bit of the Genoa out and was still a bit overpowered sometimes. The mid channel was 26-28 knts with short periods above 30knts! The seas were about 8 feet with an additional wave train coming in about 30 degrees offset from the first at about 6 feet. A real washing machine!

September 3-6: Labor day at the cove! A wonderful time was had by all, one of my Kwajalein beach towels disappeared from the cockpit rail where it was drying! Luckily Al Kim noticed a blue splotch on the bottom 20+ feet down and retrieved it for me! His free diving skills are amazing, I would not have had a prayer of getting it without diving gear! 

August 20-22, 2004: The second weekend of cruise week! While I had missed the intervening week of festivities (including champagne bingo!) I did make it back for the second weekend of Cruise week! Another day over at the Boy Scout camp seeing the amazing salt water aquarium setup which they maintain to teach salt water biology to the Boy Scouts who cycle through the facility for a week at a time. Quite an amazing operation!

August 13-15, 2004: It is time for the Ashbridge cruise! A race up to West end, around eagle rock and back, staggered start so I bring my crack crew of Kent Nelson and Mike Fuchs to help in my assault on the trophy. We departed King Harbor in the early afternoon on Friday the 13th (sounds ominous to me as you Never sail on Friday much less the 13th) and were ready for the racing on Saturday. We did pretty well, holding our own but as I (yes the captain did choose and thus must be held responsible) chose to take the outward passage and the racing boats took the inward passage I lost some significant distance to the old timers but did reasonably well. We were 4th out of a field of 6 but the top 2 were hard core lightweight racers so I would say second out of a field of four "real vessels of merit"! Dinner and the punch bowl were wonderful and we had a wonderful sail home with a crew of four as we picked up Lance who needed to work like the rest of us instead of spending the rest of the week over at the cove! 

July 17-19, 2004: One fish, Two fish, Red fish, New Fish! It is new fish in the cove weekend as as there are not many new fish for 2004 I was drafted although I won't be a full member until the August Dinner Meeting. The fire was HOT, the coals were ready and the Luau was planned by the new fish in the cove (i.e. new members) of Corsair YC! We cooked and we cooked and made a huge mess of ourselves, our aprons, and the like! I think everyone would agree that is was one of the most memorable dinners in the cove for the year. Those of us who helped with the decorations will always remember the "folded fish" which drove grown men to tears!!! 

July 27-29, 2004: Refurbishing the house battery bank, take a look at the "house bank" section under "equipment", after four equalization cycles the bank has evened out and has 625 amp-hours of capacity after 4.5 years. The original capacity of the bank was approximately 645 amp-hours originally and the specified capacity is 660 amp-hours. I have also added some links about battery capacity.

July 26, 2004: Repaired the fan on the inverter with plastic super glue! Total cost to repair $2.95! See the inverter section for an update and pictures. This will allow me to refurbish the house bank with the equalization cycle and high rates of charge.

July 19-25, 2004:Replaced the water pump on the diesel, see the section on the main engine for a discussion of the trade offs of changing to a different belt system. In the end, with the help of dear old dad, I realized that the current system has worked very well for the last 8 years and it is probably best to just do the same!

July 17-18, 2004: Corsair Yacht Club new fish in the cove weekend. While I am not yet a full member of Corsair YC I helped out with the new fish in the cove dinner where I learned all of the tricks of running a dinner for 150-200 people at the Emerald Bay facility. It turns out that the water pump on the engine (fresh water pump) is failing and starting to leak so I will have to replace it.

July 9-11: Another beautiful weekend over at Catalina for the weekend with Tom and Alicia on Alegria

July 2-5, 2004: What a wonderful weekend at the Corsair Yacht Club facility at Emerald Bay! The first trip to the Island after the refit, there are a few systems which are still a bit our of whack but she sails well.

June 17, 2004: LP stayed shiny overnight and the decks were dry, sanded with 220 and then applied 1/2 quart of paint. Looks like complete color coverage, all that is left is to apply non skid paint. Will spend the weekend bolting down the cockpit hardware and then paint the non-skid and let cure! Almost done!!!

June 16, 2004: First coat of LP in the cockpit after yard work. It covered most things but not all, will need one more coat. It takes 1/2 of a quart to do all of the cockpit except for the sole and one of the bridge deck non-skid areas. Just using the excess in the roller to build up layers for color on the non-skid areas.

June 15, 2004: Continued to sand out the cockpit, it is taking a bit to get everything just the way it should be

June 14, 2004: Spent the morning getting the last of the yard grunge out of the cockpit and get it mostly sanded down for painting.

June 13, 2004: And we bolted down even more parts and pieces, everything forward of the cockpit is bolted down except for the bow roller, the dorade boxes, hatch in head, and the deck vent for the hot water heater. The bolts are down for the hatch, however, the hatch and sea hood need to be painted. Now onward to the cockpit

June 12, 2004: Tom and I spent the day bolting down hardware on the decks, we made a lot of progress, now with lifelines and the like she is starting to look like a boat again

June 10, 2004: Applied second coat of non-skid to the side decks, the previous layer stayed glossy even with using pure brushing thinner instead of my normal 50/50 mix with brushing thinner (2333N) and spraying thinner (2316). The gloss of that layer was somewhat higher than the other portions of the non-skid done with the 50/50 mix. This coat went down with the 50/50 mix. The side decks need approximately 8oz of unthinned paint with 2oz of 2333N, 2oz of 2316, and 2oz (by volume) of non-skid beads. This is equivalent to 8oz of beads per quart of unthinned paint. Two coats seems to result in a very even surface. Yesterday's weather had temperature when painting of approximately 64 degrees at 65% humidity, the high was 70 degrees at 53% humidity, the nighttime low was 61 with a dewpoint of 56 degrees and a humidity of 85%. The decks were wet this morning, the low was about 3am and the sky was clear. Tonight should be similar with some additional overcast to help keep the decks warmer. 

June 9, 2004: Applied first coat of non-skid to the side decks, this is a bit of tricky business as the portlights were installed with a silicone based sealant which tends to cause significant fisheye problems with paint. So, first I scrubbed the decks with simple green, then scraped any suspicious areas with a nice sharp razor blade, then scrubbed the decks again with simple green. Then I wiped the decks down with Interlux 202 dewaxer/degreaser, sanded with 220 grit, and finally re-wiped the decks down with Interlux 2333N. Amazing that I ended up with no fisheye problems at all! Tomorrow morning I will apply the second and final coat of non-skid on the side decks which will make way for installing all of the stanchions, chainplates, deck fills, sail tracks, and other related hardware.

June 8, 2004: Finished hatch slide installation with ability to remove without having to pull headliner, reinstalled headliner.

June 7, 2004: Installed bolts in coach roof for the sea hood

June 6, 2004: Installed insert in rub rail, drilled hatch slides and developed T-nut based solution to allow removal of the hatch slides without removing the headliner. 

June 5, 2004: Pulled headliner down, installed rebuilt hatches on coach roof, installed hand rails.

June 4, 2004: Tom and I installed the new bow pulpit! We also installed the top works of the Lighthouse Windlass!

June 3, 2004: The new bow and stern pulpits arrived! I have cockpit seats! The new bow pulpit is wonderful. Tom and I test fit them last night and only a couple of mounting holes needed drilled out and none nicked the core so no epoxy work! The new gate stanchions, cockpit seat tops, and companionway hatch guards should be ready on Monday!  

June 2, 2004: The hatch slides and the spacer to raise the traveler up 3/8" are made of UHMW plastic and the UV of the tropics was pretty hard on them. I took the originals over to Plastics Depot and they are making replacements. Total cost was about $50, what a deal! 

June 1, 2004: Tom and I installed the remaining three portlights and then I spent the evening cleaning up the excess sealant. It is amazing to have crystal clear windows again! 

May 31, 2004: Tom and I test fit all of the new portlights except the one in the cockpit (the painting is not finished there). We also masked and papered any part of the deck which might get a hand print of silicone sealant! The side decks still need a couple of coats of nonskid paint and I don't want to be fighting fish eyes! We managed to get the three forward portlights installed, I installed another three after dinner with some help from my dock mates and finished up about 3am! Three more portlights to install, they really look wonderful!

May 30, 2004: Tom and I finished the installation of the new rub rail, we used a total of 15 tubes of 3M 5200 with almost no wastage, that thing will never leak again! It was a long day though! We also worked on Alegria's batten pockets which seem to not reliably hold onto the battens.

May 29, 2004: Tom and I started final installation of the new rub rail. It became apparent that I had not purchased nearly enough 5200! Off to Home Depot for 12 more tubes! We finished about half of the rub rail this morning then I spent the afternoon getting the portlights ready to be installed. I also reinstalled the rebuilt foredeck hatch!

May 28, 2004: I picked up the hatches and portlight frames today. The powder coat process is beautiful, the guys at Marine Windshield in Costa Mesa are truly remarkable! The SilPruf sealant for the portlights arrived today, 24 tubes of goo! Then I went to West Marine for 4 tubes of 5200 and 4 tubes of white lifecalc and some other odds and ends.

May 27, 2004: Tom and I lightly bolted the rubrail to the hull deck joint. Now I can mask it off to put 3M 5200 under the joint.

May 26, 2004: One more coat of nonskid LP on the foredeck and coach roof.  

May 25, 2004: Cleaned decks and part of below from the time in the yard. 

May 24, 2004: Botany Bay splashed this afternoon (about 1pm) and I spent the afternoon watching for leaks and cleaning up. The engine is not hooked up to the coupling and the steering system is not installed so she was towed back to her slip. The only leak appears to be the P.S.S. shaft seal which may have gotten a bit of oil on the face and had to be cleaned to stop a minor drip. 

The work performed at King Harbor Marine Center was wonderful, I have nothing but good things to say about them! 

May 20, 2004: I installed the transducer for the new ST60 depth sounder this morning, luckily it is the same diameter (2") as the previous standard horizon unit. Extracting the old unit from the hull proved rather difficult though, in the end, I used the hole saw trick (drill it out with a 1 7/8" hole saw and then pick out the bits left behind). I have to go to West Marine and get some water based bottom paint for the transducer as it can't handle solvents.

I also applied another coat of bottom paint to the jack stand pad areas and the rudder. One more coat of bottom paint and then I let the whole thing cure until Monday.

May 19, 2004: The third coat of LP was applied to the transom after sanding the second coat very lightly with 220 grit. An additional coat of Micron Extra was applied to the rudder. This coat seems to have achieved full coverage. Called West Marine about the boot strip tape (three colors, 2" total width, black, gray, and silver), they only have one 50' roll and I need two so they are ordering it and should have it by tomorrow evening. Good thing I called!

May 18, 2004: The second coat of LP was applied to the transom after sanding the first coat very lightly with 220 and wiping the surface with 2333N. An extra coat of Micron Extra was applied to the leading edge of the rudder.

In the evening a third coat of bottom paint was applied to the exposed blocking pad locations. 

Thus far luck has been with me, there has not been any significant dew on the hull since May 15th! The LP on the hull is hardening up very nicely with no damage from moisture getting to the paint too soon. 

The current plan is to splash the boat on Monday so I will be spending some time this weekend installing hardware required to make Botany Bay watertight. Actually, most of the holes are well above the waterline but it would be nice to get them sealed up anyway.

The hatches and window frames are ready at Marine Windshield. I will pick them up next week after Botany Bay is in the water and ready for them to be installed.

The new depth sounder has been tested and functions correctly, now it is just a matter of extracting the old transducer. It is in there pretty tight, spent a couple of hours destroying the old transducer and trying to get it out of the hull. I have the backing nut and backing plate off, the flange outside the hull has been removed so now all that is holding it in place is the 3M 5200 between the threads and the hull. The new ST60 depth transducer is exactly the same diameter but uses a completely different connector. The original unit uses an RCA style connector while the Ray Marine hardware uses three spade connectors. The next step in removing the old transducer is to get the right size hole saw and re-bore the hole.

May 17, 2004: The first coat of LP was applied to the transom after sanding the primer with 220 and then wiping the transom down with 2333N. The result is some of the best painting I have done.

In the evening a second coat of bottom paint was applied to the exposed blocking pad locations. The bottom paint damaged by the travel lift slings was sanded and a coat of Micron Extra was applied.

May 16, 2004: Sanded out the transom and applied two coats of Interlux 404/414 primer thinned 25% with Interlux 2333N. The normal wipe with 202 dewaxer, sand heavily with 80 grit, wipe with 202, apply primer, sand with 220 grit, wipe with 2333N, apply primer and sand with 220 grit was followed. The HIN was protected with blue tape through these steps. 

The exposed blocking pad locations were sanded, some minor osmotic damage was found and repaired with 3M vinalyster putty and a coat of Interlux 2001 barrier coat applied, 5 hours later the first coat of Micron Extra was applied.

May 15, 2004: Sanded out hull for last coat of LP, ready to paint by 9:45am, a nice, dry, hot day. For some reason the paint simply would not flow out. Specifically there were millions of bubbles in the paint after application which normally all pop about an inch behind the roller and it simply was not working, tried all the tricks, changed thinner ratios, worked in the sun, worked in the shade, etc. Finally sat down, had a coke, and tried one last time, PERFECT. No change in the thinner, worked in sun, in shade, almost could not go wrong. Slight change in the weather, more overcast and the humidity came UP! In the end, a spectacular last coat of pain, no runs, no sags, no voids, no bubbles, probably one of the best coats I have put on.

May 14, 2004: Today I helped Tom do final installation of his new 18" maxprop. It is turned by a 56HP Yanmar diesel and has an SD40 Saildrive. The recommended initial setting for the prop is 18 degrees of pitch which is equivalent to 11 inches of pitch. Then we took Alegria out for a quick spin. With the two bladed Martec folding propeller the vessel would run at 2900rpm and achieve 7.3 knts of boat speed on flat water, above 3000rpm we would have significant vibration. With the Maxprop at these settings the maximum in gear rpm was 3800 (not to be run at for any length of time!) and achieves 7.3-7.5knts of boat speed at 3000-3050rpm. We need to determine from Yanmar what the preferred rpm is for this engine. From some web resources it appears that the preferred operating RPM for this engine is 3200rpm but I need to verify that.

Botany Bay was reblocked late in the day and although there was some marring of the bottom paint (it was still soft), the topsides LP held up with minimal scratches. If I can get the final coat of LP on tomorrow it will have 9 days to cure and should be hard enough to be put in the water with the travel lift.

May 13, 2004: This evening I will make a decision about applying one more coat of LP. Hopefully Botany Bay has the full 6 coats of bottom paint applied and is ready for re-blocking. It will probably take me a day to get the support stand locations prepped for bottom paint. So, probably out of the water all next week and then splash the following Monday. Assuming Tom's 18" Maxprop arrives today Alegria will be coming out of the water this afternoon and Tom and I will install the new prop to replace the folding prop which lost a blade on his last trip to Avalon. 

Alegria is out of the water now, the new MaxProp is ready to install, however, the SD40 saildrive needed a new zinc and no one seems to have one, Diver Joe is going to get Tom one first thing in the morning and help me to install his MaxProp a second time. 

Tomorrow I will have Botany Bay reblocked so I can get started with the areas under the jackstand pads. Tom and I also removed Hans the self steering vane off the back of Botany Bay and tomorrow I will prep the transom for LP!

May 9, 2004: Applied what may be the last coat of LP, I had to patch a little spot where I missed painting the sanded spot and hopefully it will blend in, if not, one more coat. Reinstalled the rudder, applied second coat of bottom paint. 

May 8, 2004: Tom and I worked hard on the boat, installed the 5/8" bolts plugging the old holes for the kelp guards, installed a new cutless bearing, dropped rudder, sanded it out, applied barrier coat and first coat of bottom paint. Installed new bellows on the PSS dripless packing.

May 6, 2004: Applied first coat of LP to the hull. It looks wonderful, two more coats of LP to go! Still need to drop the rudder and finish sanding and primer. I have to pull the propeller shaft also.

May 5, 2004: Applied second coat of Micron Extra, this coat is green. Pulled the V drive out to get access to the coupling. Worked on plugging the old kelp guard holes. Went to Lovelady hardware and found 5/8" Silicon Bronze bolts, I will install four electrically disconnected bolts into the existing holes and then bed them in 3M 5200. Sanded out aft end of hull which I could not reach in the water. Applied last coat of primer to hull.

May 4, 2004: Overcoated patches with interprotect barrier coat 2002e and then applied the first coat of Micron Extra. This coat is red. 

May 3, 2004: Sanded out the blister patches. Pulled the bolts which fill the kelp guard holes. These had caused a significant leak on the return trip from Kwaj. I replaced the bolts when I returned while in the water, the bolts had significant crevice corrosion again. I will have to come up with a better way to plug these holes.

May 2, 2004: Washed hull carefully with water and then patched the ground out blisters with 3M high strength vinaylester putty

May 1, 2004: Ground out blisters in the barrier coat, there were only a couple of blisters which were not just in the boundary between the interprotect barrier coat applied in 1994 and the hull. The deeper two  were only one layer of fiberglass into the hull. All ground out blisters were cleaned carefully with water

April 30, 2004: Botany Bay is out of the water, currently preparing the bottom for painting.  

April 28, 2004: Ordered replacement bellows, setscrews, and o-rings for shaft seal. PYI recommends that if water injection is used that it be at their fitting instead of on stern tube. Additionally ordered two tubes of lubriplate grease and the grease kit (including one tube of grease, a zirc fitting, and a grease gun). I also ordered a complete replacement screw set for a 70mm hub maxprop. Botany Bay will soon be ready to haul out and get serious about the underwater refit!

April 27, 2004: Up at 6am this morning and finished sanding out the aft end of the port topsides. So, now the decks are painted with LP but need some non-skid here and there, the starboard topsides have two coats of 404/414 primer and one coat of LP the port topsides have a single complete coat of 404/414 primer with an additional coat on areas where the white gelcoat was sufficiently crazed that the underlying black gelcoat started to come through. Hopefully tomorrow morning I can sand out the primer and apply a second coat for coverage. Friday is coming soon with haul out, I need to determine which cutless bearing is required (1 3/8" shaft but is the stern tube a 1 7/8" ID or 2" ID, I think it is 2"), the outside diameter of the shaft log inside the boat is needed to determine which bellows to get to replace the one which has been on the boat since Feb, 1997 (PYI says life expectancy is 12 years, recommends replacement at about 6 years), still working steering gear issues, found local welding shop to do the work, will have to pull transmission to access bolts through hull for old kelp guards so will take down to the local Borg Warner shop for a quick once over.

April 23-25, 2004: Took an extra Friday off to work through painting issues and the steering system. Three days of difficult work but half of the hull has its first coat of LP and the other half has its first coat of primer. Started working steering gear issues. Looks like the new pedestal will need to move forward a couple of inches to leave room for the 6" idler sheaves but otherwise I think it will all work out. Keep an eye out for "in progress" pictures of Botany Bay coming soon! 

April 19, 2004: The Edson steering gear arrives! Those 6" sheaves are huge! Assembled the system from its components and it all looks very good, there a couple of quirks which will have to be worked out and there will be some welding below decks to get everything working correctly. The biggest issue will be reversing the direction of the engine throttle control as pulling on the control cable increases the RPM instead of decreasing it.

April 12, 2004: The Ritchie compass has arrived! It is beautiful, a new powerdamp compass card, all new stainless covers, absolutely wonderful, best money spent this far!

April 7, 2004: Edson has not yet shipped the steering gear, should ship Friday the 9th. Should get here late next week or early the following week. Hopefully I will have the cockpit completed by that time. Currently targeting haul out for bottom paint the following week. Planning on 5 coats of Micron CSC Extra, at 16hours between coats it will be 4 days for the 5 coats and then move the stands and do it again for the jack stands and any hull repairs.

April 6, 2004: Tried throwing a tarp over the boat in the evening, I was a bit later than I should have been but the decks stayed shiny! Will experiment with the spraying thinner this weekend while working on the cockpit and will try covering portions of the deck after painting. Should manage to get the whole decks one color this weekend and get started with the topsides (waterline to the rub rail), hopefully I can get primer on some of that. 

April 3-4, 2004: The decks are white back to the forward edge of the cockpit! I seem to be having a bit of trouble keeping the paint from going dull in the evening dew. Painted first thing in the morning and still had dew problems. Talked to Interlux and they recommend trying a 50/50 mixture of the brushing thinner and the spraying thinner. Otherwise, try throwing a light tarp over the boat as late in the evening as possible without dew under it.

March 24, 2004: Ordered new steering system from Edson, see the equipment list for a detailed description of the choices.

March 23, 2004: Major sanding of primed decks, everything back to the forward end of the cockpit is ready for two final primer coats, then I get to move to the cockpit and finish up there.

March 22, 2004: Old D-515 Ritchie compass arrived at manufacturer for repair and a new housing. Total cost to rebuild compass and replace the chromed brass housing with a new stainless one was $495. Work should be completed April 8th and shipped back to me.

March 16, 2004: Sanded out the 410 Microlight filler and applied the first coat of Interlux 404/414 filler to the decks. Everything forward of the cockpit has one coat now, about half of the cockpit has a coat also as does the sea hood and companionway hatch. Hopefully I will get a day with good sunshine soon and I can get some pictures. The decks appear quite smooth and even.

March 15, 2004: Various gouges and imperfections in the nonskid were filled with West Systems epoxy and 410 Microlight Filler. Note that using this filler precludes painting the decks a dark color as this filler cannot handle extreme heat. These areas are very small and should not be any problem at all with white decks. 

March 13-14, 2004: Two 12 hour days of sanding the nonskid off the decks. New nonskid will be created from Interlux polymeric beads. I used a Porter Cable 6" random orbital sander with a vacuum attachment to contain the dust. The only remaining portion to sand is the cockpit sole.  

March 7, 2004: Final decisions about replacement steering gear from Edson, ready for ordering. Sent compass back to Ritchie for rebuilding and a new housing. 

March 6, 2004: The decks are finally stripped, getting quotes from the various local yards to determine how much of the work to do myself and how much to hand off.  

February 28, 2004: The windlass is back from Lighthouse, looks like new and the additional equipment for reversing direction and counting the amount of chain let out looks wonderful. All of the hatches and frames are off to Marine Windshield in Costa Mesa for rebuilding and powder coating. Using original equipment blanks from Bomar and powder coating bright white. 

February 3-12, 2004: Contra dancing in St. Croix! What a beautiful place! The sailing was wonderful, the diving spectacular, and the dancing sublime! 

January 19, 2004: New lenses are back from Plastic Depot and over in storage waiting for the decks to be painted. Lighthouse windlass is off at the manufacturer for preventative maintenance. Preparing to send all of the ports off to Marine Windshield in Costa Mesa to be rebuilt and powder coated, also having all of the frames for the big port lights powder coated with the same process. New hatch has been installed in the head. Remaining projects before starting to paint: Rebed upper shroud chain plates, remove lower shroud chain plates, install propane locker, remove rub rail, remove second dorade box, remove two foot switches for windlass on foredeck and install a third for reversing.

January 1, 2004: The beginning of a new year! Most of the major deck glass work is done. The foredeck heater stack hole is plugged up, the old windlass holes are reglassed, the old Yacht Specialties pedestal holes are complete, all of the random holes in the cockpit have been glassed up and sanded smooth. The remaining glass work: Install new hatch in head, remove the electronic instruments and glass up the holes, build propane regulator locker, and patch the mounting holes for the removed Deck mounted 406Mhz EPIRB. Assuming nice weather for Southern California I should be able to complete those projects this weekend and prepare to move forward on painting. I still need to rebed the cap shroud chain plates and remove the lower chain plates to make painting easier and I need to remove the new rub rail.