March 2015. OMG. Still in the boatyard.

Green Cove Springs, FL
(still????  yes, still ..... how do you spell ARGGGGHHHHHH?)

Sure, when we first arrived at the Green Cove Springs Marina boatyard on November 6, we knew we had at least 2 hard months of work ahead of us.  Some of the jobs were routine chores that were neglected for the past 1.5 yrs and some were projects that we had been waiting for the boat to be out of the water to tackle. And some things just took us by surprise.

1.  Varnish.  Our teak is used to some tender loving upkeep about every 6 months.  So there was a penalty to pay for letting 3 rounds of maintenance go by.  By the time we returned from Christmas in MN, we had finished stripping and adding 6 coats of new varnish to teak on the hull, bowsprit, forward deck, companionway doors, butterfly hatch and dorades.  Good thing too because January in north FL is cold! Many days were lost to either rain or 40degree weather.  Seriously.  40 deg and blowing 20 knots ... those days I did not step foot off the boat all day. But now everything except the teak that surrounds the cockpit is looking good.  Between the weather and the extreme dust and dirt in the work yard (and I do mean EXTREME dust b/c everyone around you is working on their boats, and it seems that all boat projects involve sanding), this last varnish project was intentionally delayed until we are in nicer conditions (not b/c I'm a lazy slug ... which ended up being my other option now that varnishing was over!).

2. New sails.  Our big boat improvement for the year was purchasing 5 new sails and "stack packs" for the main sail and mizzen sail (which enable us to drop the sail directly into the pack and not tie it off to the boom ... super convenient).  New head sails. And a new toy called a mizzen staysail that will fly between the main (big sail in front) and the mizzen (small sail in back). We've been told it's awesome!

New main and stack pack.

Looking so pretty, all waxed and freshly painted. Too bad about the dust ...

 

2.  Motor Mounts.  The old and rusted state of our engine mounts have been a topic of conversation since we bought the boat.  Getting access to all four mounts was not going to be easy.  Nor was easing the mounts out of their rusted based in the hull.  Basically, those babies were now one with s/v Maja.  And they were determined not to move.  The motor mounts have haunted Dan for years.  He even went so far as to buy a set of 4 mounts a few years ago in the event we had to do an emergency repair.  And he started working with the boatyard mechanics on Day 1 on a strategy to replace the mounts.  "No problem" we were told (repeatedly), "we've done hundreds of motor mounts".  On Day 35, they threw in the towel, telling us "we've just never seen anything like that before", as if it were some consolation.  In January, Dan started interviewing every Westerbeke mechanic in the area who would travel to Green Cove Springs, AND who had permission from the owner to work in the boatyard.  Seems that the owner keeps a list.  A total of 3 mechanics.  Two we hated and that left us with Al.  A two-week wait to get on his calendar became a 3-week wait, but on January 28th, we became proud owners of 4 new motor mounts, thanks to 3 strong men laboring for 8 hours.

Step one was accepting the fact that the mounts were not going to move, ever,, so the engine would have to be lifted and the mounts cut off. Yes, that small hole (above) in the step was used to hoist the unattached engine and hold it there while the men did their swearing and sweating work.

 

 

Meet Al.

 

Access to the engine requires removing the companionway steps. It was 45 degrees that day, so I had the choice to either stay outside all day, or stay in the boat. Yeah, easy enough choice, with my electric blanket and remote control!

 

Dan has had a long list of engine projects.  Our shower space has served as his garage to store engine parts and tools.  Starter, transmission, alternator, heat exchanger. Dan pulled the prop, repacked the stuffing box, installed all new grounded copper (helps with radio transmission), new transducer, new hoses and more new hoses. Replaced impellers, changed filters, removed/serviced fuel injectors, rerouted wires in engine room, installed new seacocks, installed 2nd high-water bilge pump. Replaced the propane controller for the stove.  Installed a new MTTP controller for the new solar panel (which took 3 attempts b/c the solar panel negative/positive wires were mislabeled).  As you can imagine, some of these projects were small but none of them were completed without some glitch!  Waiting for mechanic, ordering parts, reordering parts b/c the wrong ones were delivered, sitting on hold for 30 minutes waiting for technical support.  Delay after delay.  Such is the life.

 

3.  Davits.  The risk of spending too much time in a work yard is that you start to pay attention to other boat's projects and you start to meet the local talent. Thomas was our downfall!  He's a local welder who we watched do beautiful work on other boats.  Davits are the stainless steel structure that hangs behind the boat and carries our dinghy (rubber boat) and our solar panel.  So, it's a pretty important hunk of metal, and Dan has long lamented over the dings and deficiencies in ours (things you worry about when the seas get rough and the dinghy starts to bounce around).  So, by February, we were planning a new davit system that Thomas built on site for us.  This project was so typical of most of our boat projects .... what should have taken a couple of weeks to complete in February was finally finished on March 12!



No Davits.

Building davits

 

 

Meet Thomas ... the mobile welder.

 

4.  New solar panel.  New davits had been on our mind since because we decided to upgrade our solar panel and add a bigger 24watt unit.   Bottom line, it doubles our solar power output. Which obviously is a good thing.  But it's a bigger panel and needed a better davit system to support it.

 

Our old davits had a bar across the mid point that you had to duck under when climbing up the ladder or bonk your head (the usual approach)

 

 

5.  House-hunting with Michelle in Savannah.   There were several weekends when we travelled to Savannah to look at homes with Michelle.  Her house-hunting experience was gut-wrenching as she was only looking at a specific neighborhood, Ardsley Park, and she was over-bid on 4 home offers she made, and one contract failed the home inspection (miserably). During her house-hunting adventure, she learned that Property Virgins (HGTV) was filming in Savannah, so she sent in a video of her story and was accepted!! So between filming the show, and her own constant searching, they did find a home to buy in Ardsley Park that will be featured on the TV show later this year.  They closed on Feb 20 and we went to Savannah to help them move in .... the weather turned very cold and rainy and windy so we stayed for 10 days!!!

 



 



 

March ... still here in the boat yard ... who would have thought we'd be here long enough to see boats that launched in November come back for summer haul out?  ARGGGGGG......

 

The good news is that all those engine parts went smoothly back in place and Mr. Westerbeke has VAROOOMED to life ... the sweetest sound!  We must be getting close.