Yep, it’s true. No Alan on Monday. I had a customer bring me a chunk of walnut for a birthday present (or maybe just because I’m a nice guy!) I don’t have much time to devote to the blog today because things are HOPPING! We did do a fair bit of boat moving yesterday.
And I was extremely pleased to get this boat from in front of the stockroom door in this building. We got room to move now! The owner wanted to flush the engines so he needed to be outside.
The brothers had a good day to sand and prime some windows yesterday. It did get up into the upper 80s’ and plenty of sun, although we did experience some periods of scattered rain drops from time to time.
The electronics got pretty much wrapped up yesterday although there is still a bit of wiring here and there to complete.
And Kevin decided to try his hand at come carpentry work (well actually was coerced into it). It was just a swim platform and not fine carpentry.
We had a GB32 with a bad fitting that feeds the stuffing box. The original was just a thin bronze elbow with a stub brazed on. It finally broke after many many years. We replaced it with some more substantial plumbing.
Anything Can Happen Friday
High of 86 today! Maybe I can abandon my little desk heater at last. As usual we start off the day with a launch. This boat had fairly new bottom paint but was not multi-season paint so we scuffed off the oxidation from the surface before launching.
We didn’t even have to commission this boat since the owner does his own and took delivery right out of the lift.
We had to install a new outboard in a little Cape Dory yesterday. The new one fit quite a bit differently so we ended up having to have a custom bracket made.
Pat pointed out the tires on the trailer of this boat. See if you can spot the problems. I wouldn’t take this thing to the corner with a boat on it!
The 42 work is still going on. They got a real good start on the Vacuflush systems yesterday. Here is one of the vacuum generators installed below the sink.
We also had to cut some platforms to hold the holding tank and other equipment down in the engine room.
Carlos did a great job of painting the lazarette – which was less than desirable when we pulled all the crap out. It is now bright, white and clean — as was he when he came out of there.
He also had time to get the props and shafts cleaned up which were highly barnacled when the boat came in. He sanded everything bright and then put on a coat of Pettit Barnacle spray on it all.
Many hands make light work? There was a lot of work going on out on the 42 yesterday but I did notice people dropping out one at a time late in the afternoon. I imagine stress levels were fairly high but at least they had John working with them. The boat was supposed to be ready today but by any stretch of the imagination I couldn’t see it being done by the weekend. Too many projects. The heads are at least sitting in the boat.
The board they sit on got put on hold yesterday but now they are back on the schedule. This is crucial since we need to bolt the toilets to something.
They did find the time to compound and polish the battery boxes.
The head grates were evidently a bit groady so they got cleaned up. They also evidently polished all the fiberglass surfaces in the heads as well. This should tidy everything up.
There was also a lot of small paint projects to take care of.
The old electronics have been removed and some of the new stuff has been semi-wired but not actually installed yet. The old stuff was so old that John even agreed to throw it in the dumpster – now that seldom happens!
On another note: The trucker finally showed up to load the boat that is West Coast bound. Of course to set the boat down in the truck bed as low as possible the props needed to be removed. They obviously had not been off for quite a while since they were a real bear to get off.
You can see in this shot why it is necessary to remove the props.
I got this shot before they got wooden bracing on the flybridge but the truck left before I could get a final shot. Evidently there are strict time limits on getting across the Bay Bridge with loads like this.
Mid-week Pick Me Up
Yesterday (and today) was all hands onboard on one particular boat I have taken to calling “Silk Purse” for obvious reasons. There is still a weeks worth of work to do on this boat before Wednesday — it is always good to instill a bit of defeatism in the crew. We have been compounding on this boat for long enough to give it a paint job it seems. It does shine now (in some areas).
We are expecting Vacuflush heads today (maybe) so the old systems were ripped out. We will be running all new head hoses as well. Of course the flooring was a bit “off” under the old heads so new pieces will have to be made to match. Fortunately we had some parquet flooring made up so we can maybe get this done.
Since the boat is also getting all new electronics, transducers have to be installed as well. This was an old unused bronze thru-hull which we had to grind out to put one of the transducers in that spot. It just wouldn’t budge.
We also changed the anchor and chain. There was some massive chain on this boat so we downsized a bit and were able to get a lot more chain in within the same weight range.
We evidently put a boom winch on this boat many years ago. This winch had the same problem as one we had in storage this year. If corrosion gets inside the switch, it won’t work any more. We just took it apart and cleaned everything and it works fine now. Of course there was a fair bit (lot) of rust on this unit so we had to do quite a bit of cleaning and painting on it.
Goes hand in hand with Frantic Friday which is how we ended the week. Some guys actually worked over the weekend. Still 2 weeks until Memorial Day but only one week until my birthday with is the 20th and as we know, Alan takes the day off for his birthday. They started off moving boats first thing as is usual.
This is the quickest mast job to date. From stripping and sanding on late Friday (around 5 pm) to completed paint job and reassembly on Monday. I didn’t inspect the paint too closely but it looked fine from camera distance. Have we set a new goal for future mast work?
The boot and cove job turned out great. This was going on late Friday and the unveiling also happened over the weekend.
Notice how blue it looks with the masking on it compared to the finished product out in the sunlight.
We were also back on the keel repair first thing this morning since we got that stripe job done. This won’t take that long now that the fairing is dry.
From The Workshop
I appreciate the nice comments on my Urchin Ornaments. This weekend it was all about Mother’s Day (which I forgot to mention in the blog on Friday — my apologies mothers!) One is a potpourri pot and the other is a little lidded box.
I feel a Frantic Friday in the making. The travel lift schedule seems impossibly insane and my requests seem to still be primarily ignored. You may want to call first if you are expecting to pick up a boat today or over the weekend. Even if you talked to me, please remember 110% of the scheduling is done by John — that leaves me with -10% of influence.
The keel repair got started and done to the point where some drying had to occur before proceeding.
The Grand Banks 36 with the flybridge is due to be set on a truck today bound for the West Coast. It is amazing how the look changes on this boat with that gone. It looks nothing like a Banks anymore.
Izzy got abandoned yesterday when one of the crew was out for the day and the other had to leave for a half day to take care of some personal business. I still couldn’t convince him that he had to do the whole crew’s assigned tasks.
And of course, the mandatory launch photo:
And although I didn’t believe it would really happen, the Cat trawler got moved into the building for painting. See, sometimes miracles do happen.
And they actually got the primer on. Now the next hurdle is to keep the job focused in John’s radar.
From the work shop
These were my practice pieces but I have given may of these away that ended up as almost works of art. The shell is an actual urchin shell — and very fragile. So far I have only broken one. The newer ones had spindles that were much more delicate and I found some tiny eye hooks that virtually disappear.
Anything Can Happen Friday
Pre-EOW. There seems to be about 4 days worth of work to accomplish by tomorrow. We found another keel problem on a Grand Banks that was headed to the bottom prep area. Hopefully it is a small one. Of course they blocked as low to the ground as they could to make it a bit harder for Kevin to do the repair.
On the same boat we are purportedly doing a mast and boom paint job. The cable on the winch is decrepit so we will be removing and replacing that during this job.
The stainless sleeve is now installed for the davit arm on the GB47. It looks great – much better than a painted aluminum one would have looked.
Here is a close up – not actually bedded yet, only a dry fit.
We also began the final buffing on the Legacy. Kevin had a full day of wet sanding with 1500 grit to prepare. He reported sore arm muscles this morning – yet he came to work any way! He got the transom buffed out and it looked marvelous but the photo didn’t turn out that well.
We get a lot of dogs come in and I quite enjoy it, being a dog person myself (dog-like?) I need to give my boy equal time.
We start out the day launching a boat (as usual). This boat was scheduled for last week but as you recall, we had to do a last minute keel repair on it.
We got the flybridge off the 36. Sorry I don’t have any details on that.
We painted the new bottom paint up to the area we need to tape on the new boot top on the Trawler Cat. We will be moving it over to an empty building today (tomorrow?) to be sprayed.
The polishing goes on and on.
Mid-week Pick Me Up
You may have noticed there was no post yesterday. I am officially entering the annual spring burn out. One can only take so much stress whether it be from too many tight deadlines, being ignored or just plain fustigated (like that word? It’s the word of the day and ever so appropriate!) I did have photos from Friday but just didn’t feel like posting.
They got the bottom job completed on the GB 42 over the weekend and the boat went to survey and settlement yesterday. Just in the nick of time (see what I mean about tight deadlines).
There was also a job going with no work order (or at least one I had no awareness of – I just love surprises!)
The keel repair should be done later today. Unlike the old repair, this one will not fail. It could fail around it but the repaired area will stay intact.
We got the little stern thruster installed in the Back Cove yesterday. It seemed to go a lot smoother without the owner helping. He is doing all the wiring but was fretting about a big hole in the bottom of the boat. I did tell him it was only a small hole compared to a bow thruster which we do all the time. No worries mate.
The DIY guy was with us yesterday to do another coat of varnish on his transom. He had a very nice attachment for his Cadillac Vacuum (Festool) which sands between the slats but I missed getting a photo. We love it when he comes since he is usually the bearer of liquid refreshments.
We had quite a bit of prep work on the little Glacier Bay. The bottom paint on the bottom is losing it’s adhesion and I can see a strip job in the future for this boat.
I think I would get a spot of claustrophobia painting the bottom on this boat.
I have come to hate Fridays here at the yard. This time of year every one seems to be a Frantic Friday — sometimes beginning on late Thursday and extending out. I guess that’s why they make beer.
We did get the barrier coat on the GB42 yesterday. We have one more coat to put on (right now) and within hours the bottom paint has to be applied. If you wait too long the paint will fall off — believe me I saw it happen to a boat that was in for storage last year.
It is the usual hubbub of activity with a survey going on, customers coming and boats being delivered. The survey is the GB 46 that is under contract and the CAT engine people showed up early to do the engine survey. There were also some launchings promised that are going to be touch and go.
I did notice some last minute commissioning and wash down on this boat that is leaving this morning. That almost explains the lack of people working out in the yard as there seems to be a plethora of people aboard (some inside the cabin — looks like a party to me).
This newly acquired Grand Banks has come in to get the flybridge removed as the buyer is having it trucked out to the west coast. He told me that boats are a heckuva lot cheaper on the east coast and more than pays for the trucking. As a side note, this is the only boat I have seen with Grand Banks Beige on the window frames exterior. He PROMISED he would paint them white. Cause they look like….. well you know.
We’ve been so busy that even I got out and worked in the shop yesterday. I put new insulation in part of a generator sound shield. I wanted to do photos of all the steps but had so many chemicals on my hands I didn’t want to mess my camera up any further than it already is. It’s a messy job.
Anything Can Happen Friday