Topics

  We have the original cabin aluminum tracks for the curtains but no sliders.  Are the sliders still made?

Cheers!

Peeled the frames off, stripped paint and installing.  Will get the "glass" next... clear glass... not the smoked.  I like the view from down below.

     Had a chat with Clive at Sea Frost concerning the Sea Frost BD refrigeration on Amity.  The unit is equiped with the water cooling boost option which was never hooked up when the unit was installed by the previous owner.  Only cooling is with the fan. The compressor unit is in the port cockpit sail locker and is subject to ambient engine heat when we're under power.  Not good.

    My question to Clive was if he saw any problem with using one of Amity's fresh water tanks for the Sea Frost cooling water loop BTU dump.  Since one side of the tank is comprised of the hull skin, that side would fairly effectively bleed the heat from the reefer cooling water through the hull skin thence overboard.  Plan will be to feed tank water to the compressor box from the bottom of the tank.  Return (warm) water will be fed back into the tank at the top.  He saw no problems so that's a new project on the list.  If this works it should reduce the daily refrigeration amp load somewhat and eliminate the need for another seacock and seawater strainer.  Since fresh water will be the cooling medium, the reefer will not suffer any corrosion or blockages  in the heat exchanger.

  Because the teak & holly veneer on Amity's cabin sole has largely failed, we will be removing the veneered plywood entirely.  The reason I'm posting this is to see if anyone reasonably near Essex CT. wants the plywood pieces for serving as a cutting pattern for installing a wood sole in their cabin.  Just thought I'd ask...

Cheers!

   Have a Westerbeke W44B tied with the domestic H/W tank.  Does anyone see a problem with installing valves to isolate the feed & return engine coolant lines to the H/W tank?  Reason for doing so would be to loop-out the tank in case the tank develops a leak where the coolant leaks into the fresh water side of the tank or vice versa.

Any one install a Webasto (or equiv) air heater?  How/where did you install it and where did you exit the exhaust?

  Have had a water leak onto the nav. desk... been that way since we got the boat last summer. Specifically the drip emerges from the stanchion bolt access plate opening located above the wet locker. See picture.  Assumption has been that the water was from the stbd. aft port or the stanchion base.  Rebuilt & re-sealed the port & all the stanchions.  No joy.

  Nextly, we re-bedded all the deck & cabin top hardware.  Because of the cabin inner-liner the leak could be coming from most anywhere and running downhill until it found an opening.  Discovery this weekend was that the leak is coming from aft... from the forward end of the cockpit coaming.

  Why the leak?  When the teak coaming trim was applied by Pearson, they likely bedded the teak in silicone caulk/sealant.  Over the following 41 years the sealant failed and allowed water to migrate under the teak and thence into the core  Once that happened, all bets were off.  Every hole drilled for mounting cleats, winches & so on was a water drain into the coaming wood core.  From there, somehow, water migrates in the lower lip of the liner to the lowest point & drains.

  The proper solution is to pull all the coaming hardware (again), remove the teak, open up the soaked wood core, re-core, re-bed the teak, refasten and re-mount all the hardware.  No small job.  Too late this year to get into that party.

  As a temporary fix, thinking right now is to just caulk the teak with polysulfide to at least stop the leak.  The core must be mush by now so next year the job will be to do the core job.

 

  While on AMITY yesterday doing some finish-up torquing of the re-bedded stanchion basis, my eye wandered over to the ill-placed fuel fill plate in the stbd. waterway.  With all the discussions regarding water in fuel, seems to me one of the best ways to mitigate the problem for our boats is to sort out a way of keeping the fill plate clear of over-running waterway water as much as possible.  The only seal keeping water out of the fuel tank is a $.35 o-ring. If it is submerged over any length of time the chances of water getting by it are increased. Not good and a poor design.

  Possibly the simplest way to keep waterway water clear of the fill plate would be to install a 1" to 1 1/2" tall fill standpipe.  The existing location of the fill is well clear of foot traffic and could accept the standpipe without any safety impact.

  Any thoughts? 

Anyone know whether 365 rudders are solid?  Are they glassed plywood?  Foam cored?

  Previous owner for some reason thought it fit to paint the cabin top with homemade "non-skid".  Appears to have used rattle-can enamel sprinkled with odd empty-ings from the vacuum cleaner bag.  Have been stripping it with gelcoat-friendly stripper.  The underlying molded-in diamond pattern looks perfect so why he did this is beyond me.  The crinkled look of the stripper on the cabin top is a plastic overlayment put on to keep the stripper from drying.  After letting it marinate for a day or so I go over it with the pressure washer.  Will take likely 3 stripper application cycles to get all the old paint off.  Messy job.

  Pulled the old '80's Raymarine gauges out.  Will fiberglass the openings closed in the next week or so.  In that area will be a Raymarine 3 in 1 MFD.  May also move the engine steam gauges up there as well.  Where they are located now next to the cockpit sole is ridiculous. 

  Anyone know a source for a Pearson builder's plate?  Sometime in the misty past Amity's went missing.

  First coat of Awlwood gloss on the coaming.  Will build 8 coats before the hardware goes back on. 

  On non-staysail rigged 365's I usually see two primary winches mounted on the fwd. end of the cockpit coamings.   I also see some with 4 winches.  Why the two extra winches?  Amity came with the 4-winch setup and while I have them off for refinishing the teak I'm wondering what the 4 winch config. was for.  Possibly for spinnaker handling?  Any info. much appreciated.

  Just finished installing two 6" Vetus mushroom vents in place of the stbd. side cabin top dorade box that served the main cabin and shower.  Reason for the change is the ability to close these vents to watertight in the case of serious sea conditions.  The dorade box could not be made watertight even with a screw-in plate which is a safety problem.

  Vetus vents are closeable from either on deck or below.  Units are 316 stainless, have integral screens.  When closed are about 2" in profile and can be stepped on.

  Will also be installing these for the two engine blower vents, the port side cabin top penetration where the heater chimney stack once was and the foredeck chain locker dorade... see attached.  Will send pictures of the installations.

Anyone routed their main halyard to the cockpit?  Would like to see pictures of your setup & routing.  Thanks & Cheers!

I have two Barient #28 winches for sale.  $300 + UPS takes the pair.  See picture.

  Since we're not going in this season, summer 2020 has been budgeted to get everything done on the boat which would have taken 2 or 3 winter units to complete here in the Northeast.

  The teak cap rail was on the list.  It likely hadn't been touched for 10 years by P.O. and looked disgraceful. The V-grove was a problem.  It was 3/4 filled with a mix of Cetol (which is a horrible brew), teak oil layers, varnish, dirt & God knows what else.  Since I'm an originalist, restoring the groove was a gotta-do.  After mixed results with a carbide scraper, I turned to one of man's oldest tools... fire.

  The Bernz-o-Matic, at 12"-14"waved over the grove for 20 seconds softened the goop enough so that removal with a putty knife was enjoyable.  I did this before any sanding of the cap since freshly sanded teak can/will darken slightly with a miscalculation of torch technique.  After goop removal, grove was sanded with folded 80 grit.  Looks good.

  Once the cap was sanded & prettied-up, a coat of Awlwood primer was laid on to hold it.  Over the summer will build ~8 coats of gloss Awlwood topped with semi-gloss.  Before the finish goes on, the cap has a good number of screws that need re-setting & re-bunging.  Cheers1

Not a tough decision for Amity.  With all the "social distancing" and so many restrictions we're staying on the hard.  Upside is we'll be able to compress all the multi-year repair/upgrade projects into this one summer.  New water heater, re-core deck under the windlass & bowsprit base, refinish everything in the cabin, re-bed deck fittings, replace fwd. sprit railing, re-bung & refinish & all teak on deck... and on and on.  Will miss sailing & sundowners with cruising friends. 

What are your plans for this season?

  Need to replace my Raritan 6g water heater.   Will be replacing with a cube heater.  Pictures, narrative, advice much appreciated if you have done the installation.  Cheers!