Living Aboard A Sailboat

Plugging Holes

I’ve been taking care of a bunch of small boat projects around the boat. I’m still waiting on the insurance company to submit an offer to settle for the damage done two months ago. It’s been a long and frustrating process as patience isn’t one of my virtues. Once the insurance payoff happens, I have to move the boat about 4 hours up the coast to the boat yard that will do the work. I don’t want to get started on a major boat project and have the boat in an unmovable condition when I finally have to get it fixed. So I’ve been stockpiling parts and tools for the list of major projects I’ll get started on after the boat is sailable again.

Since we changed the sail plan from a cutter to a sloop set up, were a lot of hardware items on the deck that were eliminated. Also, I’ve removed the lifelines and their stanchions from the deck. All these things require that I seal up the holes through the deck so that water stays out. I’ve been learning about epoxy and experimenting. There was a section of the ceiling over that navigation station that had delaminated. As this was a non-structural part, I’m using it as a tool to learn and practice with fiberglass.

This week I’ll also be replacing the last two halyards, leaving only the mainsheet as old running rigging. I’ll change that out when I move the main sheet traveler from the stern to above the coach room, as it will modify the length of the line.

1 comment