Days of Snow slows down Glassing

We take a day off and go Sailing!

Captain Dale took Adam and I sailing for the first time!! Jacob had fun too. Great sailing to the Narrows Bridge... took us 3 hours motor sailing to get back to Gig Harbor. The Narrows is called the narrows for a reason!

The only gillnetter with Purple Heart

The Gypsy's fuel tank mounts will not rot. Purple heart wood comes from the tropics of South America and is so dense that it burns up saw blades if not cut very slowly and will sink in water! A seemingly easy task to build new fuel tank mounts. HA!

Jacob cuts the purple heart to size (following the pattern of the former mounts):



Then they are sanded to perfection:

Pre-drilled for installation:


The screws are lathered in the wonderful permanent 5200 goop:


Mounted a tad off-level to the boats slight off-level:
One side is done! yay!


The Okume marine-grade plywood is hand beveled (I know I need a bevel router!)



Then all the plywood is coated 3x with penetrating epoxy to seal it from water and prevent rotting:

The plywood is set on top the purple heart, the fuel tank is re-positioned, the propane cooker is employed to clean up the 30 years of oil gunk build up underneath the tank, and then process is repeated to install the other set of fuel tank mounts.

Indoor/Outdoor carpet is placed on top of the plywood:

Removal of the Exhaust Flange

Jacob put this project off forever. Can you see why? However, he discovered that the sazall was not the tool of choice for the job.. instead, the grinder was employed to saw through a portion of the bolt, thereby heating and weakening the rusty bolts. The screws were then removed with bruit force with a huge wrench.

The sweet and fruity smell of Progress

A total of 6 holes were patched over the course of the past 2 weeks. A pungent and exciting affair.

The before pictures:

Now they are ground down and ready to be fixed:

Here Jacob has placed a waxed backing on the holes so that the glass can set:

The actual fiberglassing...

Drumroll....... the result! This patch is done from the inside. The outside needs to be sanded/grinded down and glassed to make it super bomb proof.

Grinding the old and preparing for the New

Jacob spent two weeks grinding the hull where the old hatches were in order to prep for new hatches and deck, as well as remove the gel coat from around the areas that needed to be patched.

Rehabilitating the Engine

This is the overhauling of Ezmerelda, the Gypsy's powerplant. After many weeks of laboring over a motor that never seemed to improve despite our efforts, the day of change finally came. The $15 worth of paint was pale in comparison to the amount spent on paper towels and cleaning products to prep the motor for the paint job. But victory finally arrived. It's not perfect looking, but only engines in the showroom are, rather than a boat.