There were several freshwater leaks, as previously described, discovered during the rains. Some of the water going into Grant's bunk area was coming from deck hardware that needed rebedding, some from the throughbolts of the rub rail. We removed the rub rails last weekend (in a partly-sunny period before the next rain was due; Grant helped) and took them back to the house; whatever bedding compound had been used had not aged well. It resembled the gray mastic putty that is used in sealing domestic windowpanes into old-fashioned multi-paned wooden windows. It crumbled and fell out when we turned the rails over. I carefully sealed every throughbolt hole with a length of duct tape folded over at the end to allow me to remove it easily later. You can make out the duct tape at the hull-deck joint in this image:


Derek continued working inside the boat even during the rain of last week, and he even rebedded the deck hardware that had been leaking, with some help from Ken (Happy Birthday, Ken!) and Coy, who each took turns holding the screwdriver. Nice job! And it was tested almost immediately. The only thing still leaking is the chainplate for the port aft standing rigging, and that's only still leaking because Rick the Rigger has a very full schedule... we are hoping he and his merry band will get to our boat this week, so we can finish putting the portside rub rail on (the port aft chainplate goes under the rub rail, so we don't want to have to take it off again when he gets to us). Inside, Derek installed a new electrical panel that is hinged for easy access to the innards of the electrical compartment. To be replaced by a more in-focus picture soon, I hope:


Back at the house, we cleaned the rails and Derek sanded and oiled them when the weather was sunny enough to let them dry:


Meanwhile, I started learning the ins and outs of the heavy-duty SailRite sewing machine we got in order to do much of our own canvas and upholstery work. That is, when the cat would let me:


My very first sewing project was putting a tunnel into the bottom of the engine cover that had blown off our boat in some of the heaviest storms. Ken and Sherry found it in the weeds downwind of our boat while they were out in their dinghy, and Ken returned it: Thanks, Ken! I sewed a tunnel into the bottom seam, and used a lacing bodkin to thread cord into the tunnel so that the cover can be secured.

My next sewing project was a pair of throw pillows in a fabric Grant liked when we went to choose settee upholstery at Grant's Foam and Fabric Shop (very cool place with nice, helpful people and good prices. M-F 8-4). I kind of liked the way the pillows turned out (and they were cheap to make, I bought a king-sized bed pillow on sale at the exchange for under $7 and cut it in half, restitched the case so that it was two cases, saved out a bit of the stuffing for a small bolster (later), and then made the pillow covers (throw pillows, not shammed). The whole cost, including a yard of the fabric (there's some left), was $15, and I can still make the bolster with what I have left over. Pay no attention to the sofa on which the pillows are sitting, it's part of the house we're renting :-)


At the boat, Derek had cut smoky polycarbonate to cover the rather ungainly holes and mount the new instruments at the helm. We found that these were not opaque enough, so we also sprayed the backs of them matte black before Derek mounted them. Here's how he cut the biggest hole he had to cut: the control head for the autopilot:


And here's the instrument panel now (will replace the image soon with a better one):


Finally, the weather cleared Friday and we worked over this weekend to rebed all of the rub rails except the one that the chainplate interrupts. We used acetone to clean up and 3M 4200 as the bedding compound. The hull-deck joint itself seems quite sound, so we concentrated the compound around the holes for the through-bolts and also a top and bottom bead to seal the rail along its length. Here are some pics of that:

Derek applying 3M 4200 to rub rail.


Rub rail ready to mount.

(There is a pictureless interlude while Derek crawls around inside putting on nuts and washers while Heather mounts the rails and drives the bolts through from her side. The first one was very awkward, and thanks to Terry from Grape Escape and Ken (again!) for zooming in when it looked like I was going to lose the rail for a minute there. Despite the rough start, Derek had the tougher job, IMO, but I did get a sunburn on my right ear -- ah, the sacrifices we make for sailing...!)

And voila:

Rub rail mounted and cleaned off.

We got faster at it as we went, and we think it will go pretty fast when we do the last one and then swap the boat end-for-end at the dock so that we can tackle the really interesting problem of removing the rub rail that has rotted off on the starboard side and drilling the holes in the new rub rail (of course these have to match the existing bolt holes in the hull-deck joint), making the angle cuts, and mounting it for the first time (I sure hope that curvature is relatively easy to emulate!) Be assured that whatever crazy stuff we do, you will get to read about it.

Our friends and neighbors at the marina keep asking whether we are almost ready to leave; today Derek let Ken look inside and the lad fell about the place laughing; that would be no. There's hardly a spot to stand in at the moment, as Derek has the various wiring guts all over the salon and passageway floors... but we are making progress. With good weather ahead, what more could we ask?!