We still didn’t get to finish anything today, but we did get a surprising amount of stuff done!
First off, we had already removed most of the old wind vane autopilot system, but the main tubing was still fiberglassed to the inside of the transom. I got in there with the power tools and cut that out. By lunchtime I had a buyer for both the wind vane and the old radar post that went on the back! So I got some money and a lot of space in the back of the boat got cleared up! (it was getting hard to walk around…) The big problem we have now is that there are 2 very large holes in the back of the boat that we either have to bolt a cover over or repair the fiberglass on…
While procrastinating on other things, I picked up one of the pieces of floor by the mast and found this little doohicky. I think it has something to do with the previous owner’s telephone/weather/modem setup.
So Jason and I have been planning this build and all the pieces we want to order for months now. One thing we had decided on was to use electric toilets with the built in grinder pumps and also that we were going to buy bidets for each of them so we don’t have to bring toilet paper in large quantities on the boat, store it, and keep it dry. Ironically, we were planning on placing the order right after the pandemic apocalypse hit and stores were sold out of all toilet paper. The company selling bidets said that this is the busiest they had ever been and there’s a huge backorder on all of their products. So something that we could have gotten in a few days now took 3 weeks because suddenly everyone realized toilet paper might not always be around. Figures! Either way, it fits our new toilets like it was made for it!
We have been trying desperately to finish up the installation of the piping and valves for the sewage system replacement, but keep getting blocked by stupid stuff. We had the fittings all tightened into the valves with plumbers tape. Luckily we did a test fit with water instead of waiting until the system was in service.. but they leak. So we had to take everything back apart and redo the joints with plumbing “goop”. We got one valve back together and installed today. We will let it sit overnight to make sure it doesn’t leak before putting the upper valve on the tank.
It always seems like the smallest things always break. We started to replace the holding tank vent hose, which is smaller than all of the others we had already done and should theoretically be completely empty. Unfortunately it looked like the previous owners overfilled their tank multiple times so it was caked it, for lack of a better description, bits of toilet paper and poop. Awesome. All completely dried luckily, but check your tank level!!!! And, of course, the vent fitting going through the hull broke right in half when we removed the hose from it!
No marine stores locally had the fitting in stock and we had to order it on Amazon but due to shipping delays it might be 3 weeks before we see it. Maybe someday I’ll get this project wrapped up!
So that’s another hole in the boat. The current count for undesirable or accidental holes in the boat is as follows:
(6) unused thru hulls
(3) holes in the hull
Multiple places where screws once went, but now need to be sealed.
Let’s just say that some point in the future we will be doing a lot of fiberglass repairs to this ole girl. Speaking of fiberglass… the paint on Peregrine is chalky and gross. It bothers me on a fundamental level because I like shiny things and I really like making things shiny! We stopped by the storage shed the other day and I grabbed the tub of chemicals that we inherited from the previous owner. In the tub was a bottle of fiberglass cleaner and a bottle of wax! I was procrastinating again so I went up top to see if it would do anything. Turns out… it’s awesome! The paint that I buffed is shiny and glossy! I really want to bring my real power tools and get to work on the rest of the hull!
One thing that people have commented more than once about our boat is how big the main winches are! (I actually hadn’t noticed the winches at all. They’re where they need to be and that’s as far as I got!) They’re size 58’s which is apparently gargantuan.
So that’s enough procrastinating. The only 2 required projects in order to be completely finished with the forward half of the boat is the sewage replacement (waiting on parts) and the fiberglass structural repairs. I already posted a picture of me crawling in where the drawers go under the bed to work on it, but I had to get in there most of the day today with the heat gun to remove the paint from the fiberglass so the new fiberglass would stick to it. It was a long day and my arms are very very sore!
We figured out at the last minute that we’re missing the filler that we mix into the epoxy to make it stronger so we can reinforce some of the gaps in the structure before we lay the new fiberglass down. Looks like we get to go to West Marine tomorrow! I did actually manage to get the area prepped though, so my time in tight spaces is almost at an end! Huzzah!
One parting comment: literally every single time we’ve gotten in the car for any reason for at least the past few days, the “Hot Girl Bummer” song has been playing. I mean, it’s really catchy and I like it.. but maybe play something else for a while?
