Things are moving along as you can see by the list of tasks I hope to complete during the winter. Last month, I removed all the hatches to prepare for new deck paint once it gets warmer in the spring. I also took off the sliding companionway hatch’s stainless tracks to clean them up and fill some stripped screw holes. The large, round hole in the port side cockpit bulkhead used to have a compass, but when I changed to a flat, digital compass (Velocitek SpeedPuck) a few years ago, I covered the hole with a round piece of painted plywood and used 5200 to seal all around it. That wood is now coming apart, and I realize I need to do something else there, although I’m not exactly sure what at the moment. I’m toying with the idea of getting a new honest-to-goodness compass again and installing the SpeedPuck somewhere else, but right now, the jury is out on this one. Any suggestions?
I also removed the mahogany coaming tops and stripped all the varnish off with a cabinet scraper and a sander at 80 grit, then 150, then 220. Even though I had already done that only a couple of years ago, in my haste to get ORION in the water this past spring, I didn’t put on any maintenance coats of varnish. After two full seasons of relentless exposure to sun and the elements, much of the varnish had cracked and lifted from nicks, gouges and screw holes, and it looked terrible. Just think: A couple of coats in the spring would have saved me all this work. Well, I guess I learned my lesson. Never try to cut corners when it comes to maintaining the varnish.
A few months ago, I noticed my starboard quarter cleat had cracked around one of the base bolt holes. The other three bolt holes looked fine, but I didn’t want to leave anything to chance, so I decided to replace both cleats entirely. However, the nuts on the underside of the deck are incredibly difficult to reach. How in the world was I going to access them? Two words: child labor. My six-year-old niece - who, for some reason, is always interested in helping me work on the boat - jumped at the opportunity to cram herself in the cockpit locker and help position a long socket wrench on the nut so I could then reach in and remove them. I honestly couldn’t have done it without her! Sure, she got bits of flotation foam in her hair and all over her clothes, but I was impressed with how she stuck with it until all four lock nuts had been removed.
When the cleat actually came off, the aluminum just fell apart. I admit to some reluctance to removing it, as it’s original to the boat. But, I’ve already replaced a lot of original O’Day gear, and most importantly, it’s a safety issue. I’ll be replacing both cleats with stainless steel, Herreshoff-style cleats that are roughly the same size but with a larger hollow base that will allow a loop-spliced line to easily go through it and loop around the horns. I’ll have to seal the old holes in the deck and drill new holes for the backing plate underneath, but that shouldn’t be any big deal.
That’s the latest for now! More to come soon.