2021-2022 Winter Refit Part 9

The final touches were made before we splashed, and I am pleased with the results given the relentless effort put forth the improve the boat. I put down a coat of BilgeKote white then began installing hoses and hardware. It all came together as was designed with only a few exceptions to the plan.

The freshwater system benefited from a new pressure tank and a new supply manifold, but I mistakenly used Teflon tape on all of the joints. A quick redo with 5200, and the system was back to being water tight. The initial pressure charge was around 36 psig and the system re-pressurized when the pressure dropped below 18 psig. After a one hour pressure-hold test, the sytem lost 2 psig. I will have to find that leak another time.

Last but not least, Norwalk Cove Marina sanded and painted the bottom and washed and waxed from the rub rail down. I would normally do these jobs, but time was tight, so I decided to let the yard do this work.

Here are the list of projects that we finished during this Winter refit:

1. Replaced 4 engine compartment thruhulls for the aft head discharge, generator supply, engine supply and generator exhaust. I also re-organized where some of these were pulling from and installed hull-side strainers instead of using integrated hull strainers for the supply thruhulls. This project also included new hoses where necessary as well as brand new strainers that were re-located onto a custom-designed fiberglass frame. There should never be another drip of seawater onto my drive train or steering systems!
2. Eliminated 1 engine compartment thruhull used for the watermaker and combined it with another one. This thruhull was right at the entrance of the engine compartment and always made it tricky to get into the area.
3. Rebuilt the entire drive train downstream of the gearbox. A new CV joint, completely re-built Aquadrive, new shaft seal, cleaned up propeller shaft, brand new cutlass bearing, completely re-built MaxProp VP propeller with PropSpeed applied and new shaft and propeller zincs.
4. Rebuilt the entire steering system from the helm penetration down to the aft bulkhead. Three new U-joints, a completely new bevelhead, cleaned up shafts, and media-blasted/powder coated the bevelhead base frame. I also cleaned up and re-painted the Mamba autopilot.
5. Rebuilt the entire freshwater system between the supply pump and the filter. A new pressure tank, new hoses and a new bronze manifold with a 0-60 PSIG back-mounted pressure gauge. It is so nice to have this piece of data on this system.
6. Two new Webastos, pumps and ductwork installed replacing the original systems.
7. Sanded the hull and painted two coats of antifoul paint
8. Cleaned and repaired the mainsail with two small holes
9. Replaced the genoa sheets with a smaller diameter single sheet. I tied a bull knot at the clew; let’s see how that works out.
10. Replaced the entire lazy jack and sail bag with a new one from Mack Sails
11. Replaced the bimini from Hallberg-Rassy
12. Installed an EPIRB
13. Rebuilt the Bauer Jr II dive compressor skid with media blasting and powder coating the frame, rebuilding the engine, and rebuilding the key components of the compressor.

There were several smaller bits that were tackled this Winter. I regret that I was not able to 100% resolve the cockpit hatch leak, install the AIS and install both 12V AGM batteries. These will be one of the first things I will tackle this season once the weather warms up in Annapolis.

In one year of ownership, not counting insurance, docking, mooring, haul out, blocking or storage costs, we spent around $32,000 in pure boat maintenance activities. These are 100% installed projects. We have another chunk of projects that are in process (as mentioned in the previous paragraph) and those costs are not included in this number. This is what we had expected to pay for maintaining and upgrading the boat. A majority of these costs were performed by our own hands, and so we feel good about this because we know the boat that much better.

Thanks for reading our blog and showing interest in the refit this last Winter!