Exposed Core

At Reuwer Boat Works, Winsome's damaged fiberglass deck and balsa core are in the process of being removed.  As we expected, the damage is pretty severe.  The photo at left shows that much of the rear deck above the lazarette had rotten core which had to be removed.  At this point, Reuwer has removed damaged areas of the side decks just aft of midship.  Now that Winsome is completely under cover for the winter, we've removed the lazarette hatch, the forward hatch, and the main sliding hatch.  The main hatch was brought home so the old teak plywood inlay can be replaced with new.
















Our machinist friend is busy working on fabricating a new aluminum instrument panel that will accommodate a new VDO tachometer, oil pressure, and water temperature gauges based on my layout at right.  The proposed layout includes a vertical cluster of navigation light switches and autopilot harness.  The lower horizontal cluster consists of blower motor, choke, and ignition moving from left to right. 


Once all the fiberglass repairs have been completed (hopefully in February or March), arrangements have been made for Winsome to be hauled to Sailing Associates in Fredericktown, MD where she'll be refit and recommissioned.  Sailing Associates was chosen because that location is quite a bit closer to home and there's a marine hardware store within walking distance.  Once Winsome is back in the water and re-rigged the plan is to sail her to Raritan Bay via the C&D canal, Delaware Bay, Cape May, and then up the coast of New Jersey.  We chose this location because it's very close to our home and puts us within easy sailing distance of Long Island Sound, Narragansett Bay, Buzzards Bay and Cape Cod.   




 

   





 

Fiberglass Repairs

"Maintaining Winsome" should now read "Restoring Winsome".  After last year's frenetic repair schedule which allowed us to get some great projects accomplished, Deb and I (read Deb) decided to dig a little deeper and take care of the deck fiberglass. This will be the first time Winsome has moved from her jackstands in the Green Point Landing boneyard since 2012 when she was hauled out after Hurricane Sandy!  A year after our last blog post she's on the slings and heading back to Reuwer Boat Works.  Leading up to this post, Debbie and I have been busy removing the mast and deck hardware so she's ready to go in the shop.  Deck hardware removal is definitely a two-person job; one person is on deck with a slotted screwdriver and another needs to be down below with an assortment of wrenches.  A contortionist is required below decks to get at the various nuts and washers, and someone with the patience of a saint should be posted on deck since they'll be sitting for an eternity holding a screwdriver waiting for Harry Houdini to finish up!  I told Debbie that removal is the easy part...

All hardware was bagged and tagged, and open holes were covered with aluminum tape for the short time that Winsome would be exposed to the weather.  Not surprisingly, the aluminum tape covering the bolt holes has been keeping rain out better than the actual hardware.

We decided to keep the forward hatch, the lazarette hatch, and the main hatch on the boat until Winsome is rolled into the shop, but we did begin removing the portlights.  These openings were also covered with aluminum tape.  Our intention is to refurbish the portlights serving the head, locker, and forward cabin and to replace the existing deadlights in the main cabin with a tinted, resilient material, possibly acrylic or polycarbonate.

Here's Debbie working to remove debris from around the grab rail holes.  As you can see from the photo, it was a beautiful cool, sunny, and breezy day in Rock Hall.  It made the work much easier going, as we dreamed of launching Winsome in spring with a new lease on life.