Brightwork

I didn't know what sailors were referring to when they said they were working on their bright-work. Well I now know that they were talking about the exterior wood on their boats. I don't know if the interior wood is called bright-work too but I can tell you that refinishing bright-work is hard work because that's what we did this weekend. Apparently the sun's UV rays will destroy any finish you can put on so every few years you must sand off the old finish and put on new. I am using spar varnish with a satin finish. There are probably better products but I really like the way the wood looks when I use this product.

We cleaned (or I should say, Bev cleaned), we bent on the sails, and we organized the interior to get ready to go sailing. Jessica put the tender together and pumped it up. I am very satisfied with our progress.

Plumbing Upgrades

The new through-hulls are installed and the boat is back in the water. Since the galley counter had to be removed for the sea-cocks, I took this opportunity to install a new engine exhaust muffler. I had used the old muffler from the old engine and although it worked, due to the top inlet, sea water would periodically flood the engine. This was not good! I solved the problem last year by just shutting off the raw water sea-cock before shutdown. This cleared the muffler of any water before the engine was shut off.
I ordered a new Water Lift muffler from Dave at the marina. It has a side inlet so now I have water running down hill which is good. The new muffler is larger so I glassed an extension to the mounting pad and the old exhaust hoses worked fine. I ran the engine and have no leaks so life is good again.
Bev, Jessica, and Patrick will arrive this afternoon so the rest of the morning will be spent getting the interior back together and clean.

Pre-Launch

Summer Snow is not in the water yet. I spent 3 days (May 18-20) in Corny installing new "through-hulls" and seacocks. These are the fittings that allow your sinks to drain and for engine cooling water to be drawn in from the lake. They are pretty important if you want to keep your boat floating because a failure of the "through-hull" or valve (which are below the water line) can sink your boat. The new parts have been installed and some minor cracks and scratches on the keel have been repaired with 5200 sealant. The sealant takes 7 days to setup so I expect to "splash" on Friday, May 28th.

I am also installing a new engine muffler to get better exhaust/cooling water flow away from the engine. Just a few "boat units" and we'll have a much improved water control system.