Last week, I went to commence work on our future home. I'm a reasonable
day's drive from north of Atlanta to St. Pete, so I expect I'll make many
trips up and down the road in the course of accomplishing all we want to do
on her. Nothing had been done, despite having already set things up with
both the yard and another contractor, since the boat landed on April 2, so
I'm anticipating that, unless I'm there, it will be the same in the future.

We're making progress very slowly. Last week was the first I was back since
the purchase and very exciting shakedown and delivery cruise. Providently,
we did not make it into Charlotte Harbor Boat Storage, going very firmly
aground and having to be pulled off by BoatUS to the tune of many hundreds
of dollars, but it was less than the thousand deductible - and lots of
damage! - we'd have suffered had we been in that yard, with the eye of
Charley passing directly over, and mayhem abounding as a result.

So, we're in Salt Creek Marina, and the only casualties from all the
hurricanes was the awning and some small bimini tears. My shoulder
operation went well but there was an infection which set me back; I may need
another operation later, but we won't know until this round of therapy is
finished. In the meantime we're still trying to sell both our houses.
Lydia's first listing contract expired this month, and she has a new
listing, with a large caravan of realtors looking at her house on Tuesday.
I've had a sign up on the dock for a few months and have a very interested
couple who say they're going to make us an offer, but have not yet; they're
coming back next weekend for their 4th visit. Practically speaking, we
can't leave without our homes selling, as we don't want to put them in the
rental fleet, and I likely will have additional issues with my shoulder,
causing further delay. However, I've learned, over my life, that all things
happen in their own time and pushing them rarely works to do more than
frustrate the pusher! I will, however, this week, list my home.

Back to the boat, our trip over to St. Pete was very exciting. I don't know
if I'd told you about it (let me know if not - it's quite a story), but
among other excitement we tore the transmission out of the plate on the bell
housing, and had the stern head clog completely (salts in the very high
vented loop pipe), and the forward head leak a lot - we rebuilt both of them
while we stopped in Key West to get a come-along to pull the tranny in tight
enough to have reverse (I'd managed to horse it into place and use rope to
tie it, but that only worked for forward; it pulled out again in reverse).
However, in very rough weather (25-30+ the entire two weeks), we were
thrilled with her performance in every regard. The plumbing was dealt with,
and the tranny sufficed as it was, following our dead-sticking a couple of
anchoring and departures, until we could get the come-along. These were
really very minor nuisances in what was otherwise an unabashedly marvelous
trip.

On the subject of work we're doing/plans progressing, I'd originally thought
to scrub and paint the bilge with some sort of mega-gloss paint (think Miss
Munley). I'd brought up the concept in a variety of forums since there were
some comments about trying to make their boats look better.

I got enough negative feedback about painting the bilge that I'm not doing
it for the time being. There was water over the engine pan when I arrived,
having turned everything off before I left (so, no automatic bilge). I
drained it, and then squirt/sprayed the entirety with a degreaser and let it
sit a couple of days while I did other stuff (see below). I then hit it
with a hard spray of water, flushing aggressively, and pumped some more.
After that, I did the spray-the-sides route again, following up with a scrub
brush, and rinsed and did more power (hose pressure) washing of the bilge.
The washing process wasn't much different from what we did during the
survey, other than that I scrubbed rather than just hosing it off.

So, it's reasonably clean. I was advised against an oil base or alkyd paint
due to mildew propensities, and went with a high-quality exterior gloss
primer with mildewcide mixed in for the vinyl covering on the walls. It
looks great, and I expect I'll not use anywhere near the entire gallon in
doing the entirety of the vinyl, plus the various flat under-cushion places.
I got it at Home Depot, and the paint specialist there recommended it
specifically - and yet, it was under 16/gallon. Put it on with throw-away
(bristle) brushes and it went on very easily, even with the very rough
surface of the vinyl Charley Morgan liked so well :{))

Everyone I talked with, and whose marine chops I respect, told me to use
high quality exterior latex, just like on the house, for anything in the
interior. So, I'm going to do the repaint of all the wooden surfaces which
are invisible normally, and reserve judgment on the vertical visible
surfaces, which are currently sort of eggshell, or almost Island Packet
ivory, in color, where they're not teak.

Back to the bilge, I'm going to think about that for a while, at least in
the areas which are likely to be submerged. For the rest of the hull, I'll
do the same paint. And, there will be a fair amount of it, too, because...

I'm taking out the AC, and the stern ducting is already gone. I bet I
gained not less than a cubic yard of storage just with the piping. It made
the painting of the interior of the closets a great deal easier, I can tell
you for sure. The forward pipes are next, and I believe I have the stern
unit sold; the forward and the generator will go on consignment with the
yard guy I'm using.

I'm taking out the generator because it takes up so much bloody room, and
everything I read suggests that I should easily be able to get my solar and
wind power to keep up with a very large load (I don't yet have the foggiest
of clues about how much electrical budget I'll need, but if I can generate a
couple hundred amp hours a day, it shouldn't matter!). I'm also doing new
refrigeration, beginning with taking off the counter top and redoing the
insulation, also probably adding insulation *inside* the box, and redoing
the top to include two holes and stout insulation. I've not yet really done
enough research, but it looks like Glacier Bay DC and holding plates, with
"gray board" with foil on both sides, about 4" buildup on all sides (making
about an R60). That should still allow me a usable reefer/freezer
compartment which is bigger than my home box! and if I use small circulating
fans, the usage of the compressor ought to be fairly minimal. If I was
happier about the evaporators, I'd use that, as the load would be spread out
more evenly, but, as above about solar and wind.

This trip, I got repairs and restitching on the torn bimini (chafe from the
flapping tattered awning), the MackStackPack (old, worn) and a new zipper on
one of the Vee cushions' covers done and all reinstalled, the old aft head
piping (and the Lectra-San) removed in prep for getting the tranny out to
get the new plate and then realign with new motor mounts and stuffing box.
In the course of getting out the Lectra-San and the associated piping and
wiring, a great deal of the hull exterior was exposed. When the two reefer
units and the genset's out, I'll do the same for the engine room - spray
down with cleaner, let sit, hose off, spray and scrub and rinse, dry, then
paint in white gloss. That engine room has enough room to actually *work*
in, if there's not so much stuff in the way!

The carpenter is started on making the aft berth queen width with the added
step and storage at the bottom in the aft cabin, as well as chasing the
various leaks, beginning with removing the staysail traveler and refinishing
the wood under it before rebedding. Most of the leaks, I think, are a
matter of rebedding, so it's pretty straightforward. He'll also be doing
the workbench modifications to allow a flip-up access to umpteen bins'
storage in the walkthrough (see M46Mods in my gallery - another Munley
idea).

The folks who will take out the generator will also resolve the running and
masthead and spreader lights issues. I'll take off all the radios to have
them checked out and then, if they work on the bench, start tracing where
the problem lies on the outside. I'll also take off the windlass and have
it serviced, even though it works just fine, as there's a fair amount of
corrosion on it belowdecks.

An arch is in the future, and I got some great ideas from a couple of folks,
one of whom knew of a M46 for sale in the PNW (Misty Isles) due to a divorce
and buyout by the wife, who doesn't want the boat.

All in all, a most productive 3 days (the first it was raining 1.4 inches in
6 hours, so we didn't do much outside the boat other than move the tools
inside! - and I left on Friday AM). I'm expecting to go back in 4 weeks
(well, three, really), to hit it some more. This time I'll be taking along
a guy who's building his own boat, but would like to see at least *one*
project finished! I'll have some updates to my gallery after the next
visit - all the pix I took this time were of destruction/removal! - when
I'll document the new/repairs work.

L8R

Skip and Lydia, champing at the bit, now that refit has actually started!

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig
http://tinyurl.com/384p2

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain