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More work on the port bulwark
today.
Started building a new
tiller for the
boat.
I began building the port
bulwark
today.
How to lube the rudder pintel and gudgeon
here...
Today I cut off the old traveler base from the stern deck. The Fein
Multimaster made short work of it. Read more
here.
Between rain and the summer heat I haven't accomplished much, but this
weekend I did begin work or finalizing the installation of the
forward hatch.
Today I cut the first of three openings into the starboard bulwark to
accommodate the
hawse pipes.
Between temps close to 100 and a week of rain, I have done little to the
Bristol. I took the time to figure out how to mount a strobe to the
masthead. More here...
Finished sanding the starboard bulwark this weekend and applied 3 coats of
System Three primer. More
here....
Added a coat of epoxy to the stern bulwark
caprail
and spent the rest of the weekend fairing the exterior of the starboard
bulwark with an air driven long board. It looks almost perfect now.
Today I finished most of the work on the stern bulwark caprail. It is glued
and screwed in place, and roughly shaped. More
here...
Today I drilled, tapped and mounted the
mainsheet return block. I applied the finished coats of System Three
clear gloss LPU to both sides of the
bowsprit and taped off and applied nonskid to the top side. I also began
work shaping and mounting the teak
caprail on the stern bulwark.
Today, after work I installed the mooring bit on the bow. It is permanently
glued to the deck with epoxy, and attached with hex head bolts as well.
Here are the details.
Today I continued preparing the mounting holes for the deck and cabin top
hardware. I finished the dorade guard for the weather deck dorade
here; I finished the dorade guards for the cabin dorades
here, and I worked on mounting turning blocks for the traveler
car control lines
here.
Another coat of epoxy on the cabin top
dorades. I also bored and filled the mounting holes for two dorade
guards that will act as mast guards. Finally, I mostly installed the first
of two solar vents: one in the
lazarette hatch and one in the
head.
More work--almost finished--on the cabin top dorades. Check
here for the details.
Today I glued down the
dorade box to the foredeck.
I spent most of the weekend fighting a head cold and had little energy to
work on the boat. I did some work on the starboard
dorade vent, and primed the
stern
bulwark in prep for fine sanding. I also prepared the bored holes for
two stern
fairleads.
Not much time for the boat this weekend, but I continued work on the
stern
bulwark.
I started building the
stern
bulwark today.
Today I cleaned up the
scuppers
on the starboard bulwark.
I installed a
weather proof chainpipe on my foredeck today. I also added a
good luck star
to the front of my bowsprit.
I installed a new
deck drain
for the starboard side deck.
Found the teak for the bulwark caprails, the cockpit coamings and new
covering boards for the cockpit. Look here...
I built a
dorade box for the weather deck today.
I am still working on the bulwarks. The summer rain and the high temps have
slowed me down.
I began grinding the gelcoat in preparation for the
bulwarks...
Received the Garhauer traveller risers today that I ordered from Strictly
Sail Miami. They are gorgeous! take a
look...
Since I am building bulwarks with 2" wide caprails, how to protect the
finish of the caprails with people stepping aboard at the gates. See the
step pads I am having cast for the
boat...
This weekend, I worked on the
dorades, mounting
winches on my cabin top, and prepared for the Garhauer
traveller risers which should be here this week...
Today I began milling about 100 bf of teak. It is needed for the cap rail
for the bulwarks. Stay tuned...
I began rebuilding the dorade boxes today. More
here... I also primed the
dodger coamings and the aft area of the cabin top.
More details of work on the outside of the cabin top are
here...
I received my Bristol builder's plaque
from the foundry today. It's gorgeous. If you would like one, I have more
for sale.
I designed and having cast a new
bronze builder's plaque for my B29.
Learn more about how I'm painting the
Bristol and what paint I'm using
here:
Started building the
seahood...
For the past month I have been giving
the Bristol a new bottom Job,
including a barrier coat of West System, and primer in preparation for her
antifouling paint. Not very exciting, just back breaking work in the Florida
heat.
Added a new
woodworking project page
to cover various steps in adding a cherry interior.
December - Work continues on the
cabin sides. I began making patterns for the plywood from foam care poster
board. It worked will and allowed me to even sand in spots that needed
delicate adjustments. More
here:
November - More work preparing
the interior of the cabin sides. Read more
here:
October - Spending my weekends this
month sanding the plugs for the portholes. Boring work. Should be done by
the end of the month.
September - This summer has been a loss
as far as work on the boat is concerned. Between the scorching temps inside
the cabin and the afternoon rains I gave up trying to continue the projects
until better weather. I did discover a problem with the keel which I solved.
For one reason or another, there was a space inside the encapsulated ballast
between the sides of the lead and the insides of the fiberglass keel. This
space had filled with water which slowly seeped from an old poorly done
repair to the front bottom corner of the keel. When I began cleaning out the
old repair, and grinding down to clean fiberglass I discovered the seepage
and began investigating.
The solution was to drill several
holes in the bottom of the keel under the lead to let the water out, and
allow that area to dry thoroughly. I rigged a shop vacuum to suck a supply
of air thru the keel to remove any moisture. Then after filling those holes
I drilled a 1/2-inch hole at the very top and front of the keel right below
where the lead is capped off with glass, and began pumping in epoxy. Over
the course of 4 weekends I added a bit over 4 gallons of epoxy, completely
filling and re-encapsulating the lead. A hose directing a spray of water
kept the keel from getting too hot as the epoxy kicked. I can say now that
there is no barrier or separation or distinction between the lead ballast,
the surrounding layer of epoxy and the exterior layers of glass forming the
keel. It is all one solid, granite-hard formation.
May 15 - Spent some time with a sawsall
cutting out the icebox, Note to Bristol owners, the ice box is surrounded
with 2" of Styrofoam--the good news--except for the top which has no
insulation. It came out pretty quickly and I found a lot of mildew behind
and under the box against the hull--probably from condensation.
April 14 - Not as much time to work on
the boat as I would like, but I have added two bulkheads, where the old
hanging locker was--both define a new hanging locker only about 12 inches
wide. Before adding the second bulkhead and enclosing the space, I drilled
the starboard main and forward chainplate holes for the new chainplates,
beefed up the knees with some additional layers of woven roving, and bolted
down the hull to deck joint in that area--1/4" carriage bolts every 4
inches. All these steps would be more difficult if the hanging locker were
enclosed first. I also added thickened epoxy in the gap between the top
edges of the existing bulkheads and the deck head and cabin top.
Pictures
are coming soon. Stay tuned...
March 21 - Other weekend projects have
kept me away from the Bristol, but today I concentrated on
leveling the
boat in preparation for interior construction.
March 5 - I finished three knees
that brace the cabin top. take a look
here...
February 25 - Continued working on the
glassed over port holes.
February 19 - Attended Strictly Sail
Miami version this weekend. Lots of boats of course and in the midst of all
these are a few beauties: Tom Morris' M36 Daysailer and a Morris 38 he
sailed down from Maine; a Valiant 41, so ready for world cruising, all you
needed was a breeze, and a lovely Pacific Seacraft 31 without a trace of
wood trim anywhere.
February 4 - A low front sits over
Central Florida giving us cold rainy weather and preventing me from doing
anything productive on the boat. What I need to do now is fair down the
outside of each port that I glassed in. Perhaps tomorrow, stay tuned...
February 1 - Ordered a new
LED masthead tricolor / anchor light from
OGM Corporation in Austin, TX.
The light draws only .5 amps and the LEDs last for about 100,000 hours.
January 21 - This weekend I started
glassing over the old
portlight
holes.
January 7, 2006 - I removed the remaining
chainplates
today...
January 2 - The
headliner is gone in every nook and cranny of the boat and I have ground
a 10/1 bevel around all of the
port holes in preparation for glassing over the openings. I removed the
starboard main chainplate and plan to removed the rest of them this weekend.
Ever wondered what they look like? Read more
here...
December 26 - Still cutting away the
overhead liner. Working mostly under the side decks and upside down in the
quarter berth (what fun THAT is!). The pile of discarded liner grows. I have
taken out the pantry shelves above the galley counter, and started to
disassemble the hanging locker which will be rebuilt considerably narrower
and more useful.
December 14 - I am spending this week
and probably more to the tedious job of cutting away the headliner. The
large areas under the cabin top came out quickly; it is the detailed work
now under the side decks that takes careful wedging and cutting to remove.
More The details are not worth devoting bandwidth to, but I will put up more
photos soon.
December 11 - Today I learned a deep secret about the Bristol 29 and why the
hull works to the extent it does--poor craftsmanship hidden under the
headliner.
December 10 - I mounted a Harken halyard retainer to the
mast today. I also began cutting out the fiberglass cabin
headliner
throughout the boat.
November 25 - I began mounting hardware back on the
mast. I
also finished work on the combing for the forward hatch. I drilled and
tapped several holes and dry mounted the hatch in place. Once I paint, I
will make it a permanent installation.
November 12 - Today I continued working on the forward hatch
combing...
November 7 - I mounted all the hardware on the newly-painted boom today.
Here are some
pictures...
November 6 - Today I finished painting
the mast and boom. Take a
look for yourself...
October 30 - The weather has been unsuitable for painting, so today I
decided to tackle installing the forward
hatch...
October 15 - Sprayed the second coat of Orca White on the mast boom and
spreaders today. Read more
here...
October 9 - Sprayed the first coat of System Three LPU on the boom and
spreaders today. Read more
here...
September 26 - Finally some dry weather and a weekend of sanding the
spars...
September 17 - Applied first coat of System Three water-reducible epoxy
primer, and rerouted the mast wires out thru a hose fitting. Read more
here...
September 2 - Spent today stripping mast of all hardware, filling screw
holes I no longer need and preparing it for repainting.
August 28 - Today I began the nasty job of removing the fiberglass
headliner
from the cabin. It's something I've wished to do for years and now I have to
before I can mount the new ports. Stay tuned for more on this..
August 22 - As I remove serviceable original Bristol hardware from my boat,
I will clean it up and put it here for
sale. A good opportunity to replace worn parts for your Bristol, or buy
a backup unit. Be sure to check back often.
August 17 - Details of a new winch base for the
mast, and a new rope
clutch base for the boom.
August 13 - This weekend sees me hard at work on the
boom. First all the old
holes, then drilling and tapping new ones and finally painting with 2-part
LPU.
August 3 - See my new anchor
chain
stopper I designed.
July 22 - My custom-made, 316 stainless steel trapezoid forward hatch
arrives via UPS from Mariner's Hardware. See the first pictures of it
here.
July 8 - Can anyone with a Bristol send me a
close up picture of the builder's plate? I have lost mine and want to
commission a bronze version. Thank you in advance!. Dodging the daily
Florida downpours has slowed down progress on the boat.
June 16 - One month to the day from when I placed the order I received my
new main from China. It is beautifully made, every possible chafe area is
leathered (even the luff slide cringles are leathered), the hardware is all
first class; I'm very impressed with the work and their performance and
delivery. I doubt I could find any NA loft that could turn around the job in
the same amount of time.
June 1 - Today I received the ports and the
forward hatch from Mariner's
Hardware. Pictures to follow as soon as I can, but let me just say these
are absolutely gorgeous, the metalwork is flawless and I am completely
satisfied. I would highly recommend their ports to anyone and would be happy
to talk to you in detail if you want....
May 15 -Since I shortened the boom I ordered a new main today
from FarEast Sails in Hong Kong. This
is the second main I have had. The first one is 17 years
old and still in great condition. Fareast is the largest purchaser of sailcloth
in the world and is the wholesale sail maker for many North American sail
makers. Their prices are about half: This sail costs 741.00 and will be 6.5
oz Contender Dacron, triple stitched, 3 reefs, full top batten, cunningham,
leathered corners, loose-footed with insignia and number. It will be here,
air freight, in 4 weeks.
May 8 - Began stripping hardware from the decks. Thankless
job and not worth mentioning; we've all done it.
April 29 - Finished the
bowsprit, shortened
the boom and spent time cleaning winches...details to follow...
April 16 - Finally got the old halyard winches off and drilled and mounted
new replacement winches...I
also finished work on the stainless
backing plate and tie-down system for the inner forestay / bobstay
backing block...
April 9 - Finished work on the bobstay backing block; finished leveling the
foredeck to receive the new bowsprit; and removed all the hardware off the
masthead in preparation for cleaning it
up...
Apr 1 - I make some progress designing the configuration to connect the
inner forestay chainplate to the bobstay chainplate, thus
tying down the deck to the bobstay...
Mar 26 - I discover a major structural
problem with my bobstay chainplate--one of the few things I asked my boat
yard to redo for me in 1995, and today's
revelation confirms why I almost always insist on doing all work
myself. Then I know it's done right, and I know how to fix it if something
breaks. If you put your trust in a boat yard, you had better be damn sure
that trust is merited...
Mar 19 - More leveling of the bow and I drilled the sides of the
bowsprit
to secure the side rails of the steel surround...
Mar 14 - Ordered new chainplates from
Schaefer
Mar 12 - Cold weather has kept me out of the garage and the boat this week.
This weekend I plan to complete the finish on the bowsprit, prepare the
anchor locker to receive the new sprit and if there is time, fill the
existing mounting holes and drill new ones. I ordered new bronze mounting
bolts for the staysail chainplate from
Bolt Depot, a great supply of stainless and bronze bolts and screws, and
you can buy them in singles instead of in packs the way Jamestown
Distributors requires.
This afternoon, I started prepping the boat
to receive the new
bowsprit, including new teak backing plates, filling holes, etc...
Mar 6 - I overbored all the mounting holes today...bowsprit
Mar 4 - Found the forward
hatch I want...
Mar 1 - Bought all the replacement
ports...
Feb 26 - Cleaned up the pullpit and bowsprit surround
and glued up the
final planks
Feb 24 - Glued up the third plank of the
bowsprit
Feb 19 - Miami and the Strictly
Sail boat show...with several surprises, like
Tom Morris in his new
Morris M36 Daysailer. Read more...
Jan 28, 2005 - Hauled Sally B in St Pete and
brought her home...
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