Refit Part 2 – In to the Shed

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In early December, Kinship was moved indoors.  Loyalist Cove Marina built a new building for repairs and storage in 2013 and we are lucky to have access to this great facility.  The building is a short drive from the marina, so there are height restrictions on the road, but these are about the same as the door height.

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The building has 4 doors on the far side that are just tall enough to allow Kinship to fit in.  There are currently about 12 boats in various states, some like Kinship in for relatively minor work, others in for a complete refit. Working on the boat in shirtsleeves in the winter is quite the treat.

Last week Dave (mechanic Dave in the case, there are at least 3 “Dave”s involved in this project) and Dixon got the pushpit rails off and now we have the arch on the boat to check the fit, which is just about perfect.

 

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The arch sits on the toerails and has removable feet that will allow us to remove the arch to get it outside and back down the road to the marina.

When we hauled out we noticed the keel joint had some cracking, this is just in the fairing, the plan is to redo the fairing with a layer or two of 18 oz glass and use a flexible epoxy so we don’t get a repeat.  We had the forward keel bolts checked last spring so I thought it was worth checking the aft bolts.

 

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I removed the holding tank and took a look.  Unlike the forward bolts, the bolts under the holding tank don’t have a plate to spread the load. I will add a plate and torque the bolts.  I don’t think this is related to the surface cracking at the keel joint.  The likely cause was a “dredging” incident in Belleville over the summer or just water getting into the layers of fairing material.  As Kinship has a keel shoe, I think it is just wise to improve the load paths here.

I have been struggling to get the wheel off the boat.  The paint has failed and the grip is badly worn.  Just undo the quick release and take it off I thought.  Well after 4 or 5 attempts with a hub puller, heat and eventually a hacksaw and some serious hub pulling it is now off.  I need to clean it up and send it to be powder coated.  Lewmar still sells the grips so it should be good as new before too long.  Once we have the boat fully back together I will see if we can put a wheel mount on the pushpit so we can take advantage of the quick release and open the cockpit when we are not sailing.  This should also make sure we don’t end up with the wheel stuck again.

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2 thoughts on “Refit Part 2 – In to the Shed

  1. Hello Kathleen and Matthew,

    We are John and Carla on Reverie, a Saga 43.

    I just found your blog today and look forward to following you. John and I purchased our boat in October 2013. We kept the boat on the hard that winter and then brought her south to Annapolis the following spring. We are now in Savannah , GA and getting ready to take the boat south to the Bahamas.

    We are currently on the hard (again) having some work done, inspecting the keel bolts, polishing the fuel tanks, new bottom paint, installing new Garmin electronics, and having new canvas made for the boat.The projects are taking longer than anticipated, but we hope to be back in the water soon.

    We have the arch like yours and think Doug did a GREAT job with the design. You will love the arch. Last year we added a wind generator and solar panels. Doug made us the cockpit table, which is also the perfect design for our boats. (It is a great place to clip onto during watches and a great size for dining in the cockpit).

    We hope to meet up sometime. In the mean time…. we will follow your blog.
    Cheers

    • Hi John and Carla,

      Thanks for the great comment, I have added your blog to our list and to the list on the Saga yahoo site. We spent today at the boat getting a few more jobs done.

      Good luck with the work, we are looking forward to reading about your adventures.

      Matthew and Kathleen

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