Zen and the Art of Houseboat Renovation

(May 7, 2012)

 

In everything, there is a lesson.  The last couple of days have been a challenge to me.  Actually, let me take ownership here and rephrase: I have allowed myself to be challenged by events of the last couple of days because I lost sight.  I lost sight of the fact that the journey is what matters.  And the journey should be fun.  I have lost sight of 'today' because I'm trying to rush to 'tomorrow.'

I need to refocus and be sure that my goal is to enjoy today and make the most of it.  

Today I made some calls regarding getting the windows tinted and having the green stripes covered with orange vinyl, and having her new name made and applied to her stern.  Gregg ordered new tracks for the window (thanks to a referral from a new friend who is also renovating a 1971 King's Craft)!

Today we made progress.

Awhile ago I read a book called, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (for those of you who know the story, this was part of the book club I eavesdropped on for a year because I was afraid to join...).  When I read the book, I really fell in love with the idea of knowing a machine the way the character knew his motorcycle.  Each day, I learn more about my boat, and I fall more in love with her.  I will take care of her, and together we will experience adventures.  

I will enjoy this journey, and I will enjoy future adventures (whatever they may be).  

For now, I will enjoy today, for in reality, it is all that I have.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The journey is the reward.
         ~Taoist saying

We’re in such a hurry most of the time we never get much chance to talk. The result is a kind of endless day-to-day shallowness, a monotony that leaves a person wondering years later where all the time went and sorry that it’s all gone.
         ~Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

To live only for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top.
         ~Robert M. Pirsig

Beyond Spring Cleaning...

(April 29, 2012) Day 2 of Gutting:

With a crew of 7 (Carlos, Cristobal, Wilmer, Roberto, Oscar, Gregg and me), it was time to get down to some serious gutting.  These guys were amazing!

We worked from 8:30-1:30, and when we walked away, things had changed.  Some of the crew worked on scrubbing her (not sure how long it's been since she had a good scrubbing, but it made a huge difference):

And the rest of the team tore out the built-in furniture, ceiling, insulation, paneling, floors, etc.  She's almost a clean slate.  Here are some progress pics:

This is a wet bar.  While I like the idea of a wet bar, this one is about 10 feet from the galley...if my friends can't travel 10 feet for their next drink, we have bigger problems.  This is going...

  

Gone!

This is the built-in on the starboard side.  The cushions were brittle with decay, the wood was rotted, and they had to go. 

  

The furniture is gone, now it's time to remove the paneling...

 Now the entire shelf has to go...

 The floor was rotted , we will eventually cut the floor board out, as well.

Moving on the galley now.  We will keep the stove/oven and the refrigerator.  Here is a before pic:

And after...

We even removed the wall between the galley and the stateroom.

Where did it all go?  I have no idea who over-stuffed these dumpsters!  

 

 Now that she is gutted, it is time to clean.  Our next job is removing rotten floor boards and scrubbing away 40 years of grime, mold, mildew and stink!

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end...

(April 28, 2012) Day 1 of Gutting:

Now that she's back in the water, we aren't wasting time!

Saturday I couldn't wait to get to work.  Gregg and I started the demolition (gutting) process.  Think of it as deep cleaning--destroying the grime, mildew and mold--and more importantly, making way for the new.

Gregg concentrated on the moldy ceiling:

The ceiling was held up by what seemed to be millions of screws (this is a slight exaggeration).  So....Power Tools!

And...the ceiling came down!

Tucked into the ceiling beams were lots of Styrofoam blocks.  These served as insulation.  When we removed them, we saved them in case we wanted to reuse them.  I think we are going to use a different kind of insulation, though.

I concentrated on organizing the hardware (vents, nav. lights, etc) that need to be reinstalled.  I also disposed of all the old rotten cushions from the built-in furniture.  Being in a marina means that this process will require lots of trips between the boat and the dumpster with carts of garbage.  A lot of work, but Good Riddance!

After a few hours of working, we realized that the demolition was a MUCH larger job than either of us realized.  Gregg decided it was time to bring in reinforcements for Sunday.  We asked his summer crew if they would be interested in helping us.  Sunday would prove to be a much more productive day in the demo process...

Back in the water; Let the Countdown Begin!

(April 27, 2012)

Finally, more than a month after she was pulled out of the water, the day to put her back in the river arrived!  I was so excited to get her back in the water, because:

• Now I can visit her anytime I want!
• I can grab a cooler, sit on her deck and meet the neighbors,
• We can get started on the work that needs to be done,
• THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS!

Per our contract, Bruce has 30 days from the time she is back in her slip to complete the work he agreed to do.  If he is delayed by two weeks, the agreed upon price comes down $1,000.00.  Another two weeks, another $1,000.00.  Let the countdown begin!

It was very cool to watch how the trailer works.  The part that her hull rests on slides, and there is a part that lifts.  So the trailer backs up until the parts that lift rest on the port and starboard sides of her hull.  They lift her a few feet, then the trailer backs up until the hull is resting on the part that slides.  He backs up a little more, then lifts more and slides until the entire boat is on the trailer.  One person could accomplish this alone.  Brilliant!
Time to load her up!

Now she's loaded up and ready to be towed back to Four Seasons Marina.  Here we are approaching the Marina (I wish I could explain how exciting it was to stand on her bow and watch the approach to the marina!):

And finally, almost back to her slip! 

Home Sweet Home!

Getting to know every inch of this vessel!

(April 18, 2012)
While she was out of the water, our to-do list included:

• Fix the pitting in the hull,
• Fix the keel (make it water-tight),
• Clean and/or replace the sacrificial metals,
• Replace the gate valves with ball valves.

We used an epoxy to fix the pitting in the hall.  First, her hull had to be sandblasted, to create a clean surface for the epoxy.  We sandblasted only the parts we needed to fix (the pitted areas of the hull and the keel):

Once she was sandblasted, we were ready to apply the epoxy to the hull:

 Layer one applied.  A few days later, Bruce sanded and applied a second layer.  A week or so after that, we sanded and applied the third layer.  Her hull is nice and smooth now!

To fix the keel, we applied fiberglass along the bottom ridge.  It extends up about 3 inches on each side.  This was a very interesting experience, and much "lower tech" than I thought it would be.  Bruce started at one end of the keel.  I started at the other and we met in the middle.  Once you mix the chemicals, you have about 20 minutes to apply the fiberglass and the epoxy, and about 90 minutes to work with it (rolling it with the special roller to remove any air and get it nice and smooth).  The stated timing is very accurate--thankfully we finished in just about 20 minutes.

Now we needed to clean the sacrificial metals and make a decision about replacing them.  The pitting that was on the hull looked like it was old--it had occurred before she was last painted (in fact, we suspect that the electrolysis was caused by the wrong type of paint being applied--paint that had metal in it).  There did not appear to be any recent pitting, so it looked like the sacrificial metals were doing their job.  Once we cleaned them, we determined that they were not too horrible.  While they were pitted, they were only about 20-25% gone (after 10+ years), and most articles I found said to replace them at 50%.  Since replacing them would delay getting her back in the water, and they were still at about 75-80%, I decided to keep them on another year.  I will probably pull her out of the water again next year to see how the hull looks and replace the zincs (which I think are actually magnesium).

 I really loved helping Bruce replace the gate valves with ball valves.  The through-hull pipe on the port side was stripped, so we had to sand the pipe and re-groove (I'm pretty sure that's not the technical term) the pipe.  This was hard work!

Gate valves:

 Ball valves (sea valves):

One great thing about having to completely renovate a boat like this, is that I feel like I will know every inch of her when we are finished.