Splash: Boat Preparations and Upgrades

A week off for spring break, along with rainstorms forecast for the first few days means that I’ll have a little more time for boat prep this year. This post is more of a maintenance note, but hopefully useful to other boat owners at some point.

First order of business is polishing and waxing. My daughter and I worked on the hull, melting the years away to make the Unsinkable2 look like a new-ish boat. This year I used Maguillar’s 3 part polish and wax. I tested it on my RV last year, working 2 side by side sections of fiberglass with the 3m Restorer and Wax, and the Maguillar’s. The result? The Maguillar’s system produced a noticeably brighter shine. The downside, of course, was that it was 2 times the work, because the polish and wax have to be applied separately. The shine was not twice as bright though, so it’s a matter of opinion as to which you prefer. The reason I used the Meguillar’s on the boat was because I had more of the product left, and I had an extra day to shine the hull.

Next was some followup work on the outboard. I have been completely satisfied with my Tohatsu 9.8 outboard, which I purchased several years ago. The only problem I have had was my own fault. Usually when I am done sailing I unplug the fuel line and let the engine burn off the last of the gas in the carburetor while I stow sails and secure the boat. This makes sure that fuel won’t evaporate in the carburetor and clog it up. Unfortunately, I failed to do this one time last year, and then the boat sat for a couple weeks in 100+ degree temperatures, and the fuel clogged the carburetor.

I pulled the carburetor off and ran the parts through a carburetor cleaner from auto zone, but still had trouble with the engine dying at idle. So this year I replaced the fuel filter as well, and picked up a service manual.

I tested it in the driveway, by stacking up a couple of plastic bins and filling the top one with water. The engine ran really well for a 10 minute test, both at speed and at idle.

Next up: fresh teak oil. Last year we weren’t as careful applying the teak oil, and when some of it got on the fiberglass it left a bit of a stain on the fiberglass. After a few months, the stains washed out.

This year, I used some blue painter’s tape to tape off all the areas around the teak. This allowed us to apply a couple of heavy coats of oil, and cleanup was relatively easy. In the future, it is definitely worth taking 15 minutes to tape off the wood before applying oil.

I still debate whether to go to varnish. Only two things hold me back – the inevitable yellowing and flaking away of old varnish, and the fact that the some of the trim around the companionway appears to be bonded with a permanent solution. Removing this teak may require building replacement trim.

I found a great way to check the keel cable turning ball. I held my cell phone over the keel cable tube, and took a picture with the flash. By taking one picture from above and another from below, it was pretty easy to see that the ball still is in good condition, and the hose seems to be in good shape.

I leave the keel down when in the slip (there is a tie rod at the slip entrance which requires me to raise and lower the keel 25 turns when entering/leaving the slip), so the winch and ball get regular use. I never store the boat in the dock with the keel up. If something were to fail, I don’t want 1,700 lbs of keel slamming down against the keel trunk!

With all this done, I was ready to put the boat in. However the weather and kids schedules weren’t entirely cooperating, so I had another couple of days on my hands.

I was enjoying work on the boat so much, I decided to take on the big job that was years overdue. Time to rewire the boat!

Most of the boat’s original wiring (from 1977) was showing signs of age. And over the years, several things had been added by stripping wires and wads of electrical tape. The battery compartment was a nest of wires.

I also needed to replace the original switch panel to accommodate several new items like a stereo, vhf radio, bilge pump, auxiliary outlet, and depth finder.

It took two days to rewire the boat, along with several trips to the marine supply and auto zupply stores. I used waterproof shrink tubing on every connection, replaced all the old wiring, and then used plastic tubing to route the wires and secure them out of the way with zip ties and adhesive hangers to keep the wires out of the bilges.

I also had to cut new openings in the bulkhead panel above the galley to mount the larger switch panel, battery tester, battery switch, and bilge pump switch.

It was a lot of work, but well worth the effort. The only remaining electrical task on my to do list is to replace the deck connector for the mast wiring. (I rewired the mast a few years ago.)

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