Lady Iris Renovation

This may have been my funnest project yet on this sailboat because of all the leaking problems I’ve been having.  When the windows were removed it became obvious why they were leaking, unfortunately I failed to take any pictures of this project.

To remove most porthole windows on sail boats you first remove the screws on the interior side that is holding the unit to the boat frame tight. Once removed you need someone on the outside to work the silicone bead from around the window and push the unit in to the boat (it helps to have someone inside to pull and or just catch the unit).  Now you can see the previous seal (if there is anything left) and any damage from leaking to the core of the boat around each window. 

In my case the windows that had leaked for many years had rotted out the wood layer between the sections of fiberglass. It was a beuatiful sunny day with another one tomorrow, so there will be time for each windo hole to dry out.  Once dried out I took a knife and dug out as much of the rotted material as I could and cleaned up the sides of the entire window hole and then filled in the rotted areas with polymer resin fiberglass mixture I was able to buy at Lowe’s.  This step is to backfill the core to strengthen the structure from the lost material.

Each window unit had to be scraped to get all of the previous seal residue off, this step is extremely important.  If you leave any of the residual sealant on the frame it will not seal properly when re-seated.  I used a small metal paint scraper for the bigger pieces and then used a small hand sander with 80# grit to go over the entire sealing area for a finishing. It worked great!

I also used a 120# grit paper and went over the entire outside of each windo just to brighten them up and remove any small damage spots from the years.

OK, now it’s time for a new seal.  It was highly recommended to use Butyl tape as my seal, and wow it worked fantastic!!  Butyl tape is used primarily on RV windows and plumbing to keep water out, so go to your closest RV repair shop and ask for 1″ Butyl tape.  I bought a 12′ roll and that was perfect with just a little left over to use for the main hatch up front.  It’s kinda like working with playdough, so you have to be careful not to stretch it.  Keep it thick all the way around the window so that it is a little bit difficult to push the window back into the hole in the boat.  I went to the outside of the boat to see if I could see any light coming through on each window to help me insure the seal was solid.  Replace the screws to tighten down the window and then move to the next one.

Each window now needs to have the bead of silicone replace on the outside as an added measure of protection.  It was again highly recommended to use 3M 100 Silicone, but I could not find it anywhere so I went with 100% silicone.  I suggest wearing a pair of latex gloves or some type of protection because you will need to use your finger to smooth out the bead.  If you buy the larger tube of silicone you will need an application gun of course, and then run a solid bead of silicone around the entire window on the outside of the boat.  Don’t be stingy, this stuff is great for keeping out water.  Use your finger to press the silicon into the gap and make sure there is a solid layer still left along the outside of the window.  If your porthole windows also have a decorative frame now is the time to place that over the silicone.

All done, and man do I feel great … heading home again.  What tactics or issues have you ran in to with re-seating sailboat windows?  Leave me a comment

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replacing sailboat windows, reseating sialboat windows

Our first sailing trip out alone, my dad and I, there was a notice of incoming weather … but did we listen?  Not really.  Honestly, we lucked out overall but seeing the potential weather coming in around us was enough to make me change my tune about the marine weather forecast.

We left it was a beautiful day, sun was shining and moderate winds.  Since we knew the winds would be picking up I did put on the smaller jib sail in preparation.  The first hour of sailing was absolutely fantastic, and then as we approached the Corpus Christi Bay area we could feel the increase of wind gusts from the loss of land protection.  I will say that it was a blast at first, the sails filling up and feeling the boat lung forward with the increase in pull.  But after about another hour the gusts were creeping up to 30+mph and we had WAY too much sail … not to mention we began to see 3 different storm cells coming together all headed for our location.

Where was our foul weather gear?  In the storage shed of course!

Oh well, no time to fret it was time to teach myself how to reef down the mainsail.  Who say’s book knowledge is useless in the field? (that would have been my dad), well I’m here to tell you it did help.  I at least knew that it was possible and that the sail was equipped with the eyelets and hooks all I had to do was get to the sail and make it happen. 

I had dad point the boat in to the wind to release the pressure against the sails and then lowered the sail to the reefing point and set the hook at the mast, as I made it down the boom to tie down the sail the wind caught the boat and pulled her around.  That was scary!!  Dad attempts to point her back into the wind, I don’t have much time but I am able to get a moderate tie down done but it isn’t pretty.

It works, but I brought my sailing mentor out the next day to rig up the in-boom reefing system for next time.  Check back and I’ll pull together some video, pics and overview of how that system works on this boat.

Gotta story?  Share it below:

Emily

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foul weather sailing, marine forecast, reefing sails

This subject has haunted me since I bought this sailboat, what is gelcoat and when does my sailboat need it?  Here’s the answers …

But before I begin I HAVE to say that the most important part of repainting your sailboat is the preparation!  Be ready to sand and tape your tail-end off.  I started out trying to cut a few corners here and am now paying the price in repainting areas and additional sanding. 

And don’t decide to do other projects on the boat while someone is painting the outside!  It will take a couple days for the gelcoat to completely harden, and even though I left the non-skid areas unpainted there were a lot of dings in the paint from their shoes.   Yeah, I had an electrician looking at a problem and my nephew helping me fix the sink drain all at the same time I was paying a contractor to spray on my gelcoat … learn from my mistakes here!

Gelcoat simply said is paint, not any kind of paint though.  This stuff will preserve and protect your boat, you can have it tinted with color, although it is typically used as the standard white.  The properties of this paint harden to make a solid sheild over any area you paint with it, but understand that like any paint it breaks down over time and needs to be replaced.  The picture to the right shows my boat with just the gelcoat having been sprayed on. 

I hired someone with experience to mix and spray on the gelcoat this first time, all I’ve heard was horror stories about doing this wrong.  After seeing it done I believe I could do this, the hardest part is timing.  MAKE SURE you have all your masking done BEFORE you mix the paint.  You have to combine a hardner and resin with the gelcoat to make the liguid harden in to the protective shield.  And that hardner does just that, you have a limited amount of time to transfer that paint mixture on to the boat before you have a canister of expensive goop!

I could tell it was time to gelcoat because the existing surface had a fair amount of small stress fractures, the prior owners had started patching areas on the boat that left tacky looking brown lines, and the non-skid areas are badly sunburned letting me know the boat had not had proper upkeep.

As you can see I did not gelcoat over the non-skid areas, the reason for this is gelcoat is thick and I did not want to risk filling in the textured areas too much knowing I still need to paint over them with a non-skid paint (which you can see I’ve started in the cockpit in this picture).  It also made applying the gelcoat easier since I did not need to tape off every section of non-skid, we allowed for the overspray to make the handpainting of the non-skid topcoat to match right up to the lines of the gelcoat easy.

I am using Rust-O-Leum brand boat top coat for my non-skid areas and adding in a anti-skid additive to give these areas additional texture.  You can get this at Lowe’s and in many different colors, I chose the biege because I liked the original beige that was on the boat.

Another couple hours of painting and the outside of this boat will be in fantastic shape again, moving on to replacing the grab handles, sail cover and porthole windows.

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paint a sailboat, sailboat gelcoat, sailboat non-skid paint

Had someone told me 8 months ago that buying a sailboat to renovate would bring me closer to many of my family members I would have laughed … and maybe even said “you don’t know my family”.  But I would have been wrong, and I’m glad I made the jump without the expectation, I could not have asked for a funner and more gratifying experience than what I have had renovating this sailboat.

Before I even took possession of the sailboat my brother-in-law started talking to me about things we could do to it.  Having no real experience and not know my brother-in-law that well I didn’t take him completely serious.  Even my brother (which has not been a real close relationship over the years) called me out of the blue and talked about the potential the sailboat had … I was getting a little excited about just having an experience that we could converse about.  I had no idea what would transpire over the next few months.

So that was in January and now it’s August, are you ready for this?

Before I even paid for the boat my boyfriend, Darin, shared with me how excited he was to learn to sail with me, WOW!  I had no idea, what fun that will be.  I couldn’t have asked for more support than he has given me all these months, and I can’t wait to install the beautiful new compass he gave me for the sailboat!

My sister was there with me when I took possession, in fact my favorite picture of that day was taken by her.  She was amazing, geniunely interested and excited with me.  Rumaging through the boat to see what treasures could be found, it was a blast!  Later that day Mike (my brother-in-law from before) turned us on to a sign maker in Rockport that owed him a favor, Cindy and I made a trip over and she helped me select a fabulous font and layout for the boat name … and we both couldn’t wait to get it put on!

That first week of messing around on this boat Mike help start getting the electrical traced out (even brought in help), brought me and Cindy pizza and drinks to celebrate on the boat!!  I could see his excitement as well … I was on top of the world to have these guys connected with me.  Cindy even took a day off to help me tear out headliner!!  That was the best birthday ever.

My Dad has been on board all along as well, supporting my decision, giving advice and helping me find additional resources to haul the boat and set up the gel-coat application. He gave me a gangbox (storage box for my boat stuff), helped move it into location and on Memorial Day morning even helped change out my dead bilge pump.  I can’t even tell you all the conversations / dreams him and I have shared …

My visit in late July was the trip that solidified the connection everyone was starting have with Lady Iris … Mike took me under his wing and taught me a ton about some core mechanical elements of boats.  He took on this task as if it were his own, and enjoyed it! I just found out he has even cut Lady Iris out of stainless steel for me … he never stops thinking of unique things we can do to this boat!

My sister made fabulous cushions for my settee’s … and I do mean fabulous!  She had helped my pick out the fabric a couple months back, and what a great call on matching fabrics.  Even though the inside is still kinda torn apart, I feel my sister when I walk down my companionway already.  She was there for putting on her name, and even the christening … it is all more fun having my family a part of it.

My brother, Roger, has jumped in an creted a custom tiller handle!  And it is absolutely beautiful, I can barely wait to get down there in September to see it installed and take her out on the water and wrap my hand around this piece of art my brother also put his heart in to.

I shared these few stories, out of many, to demonstrate how a project like renovating a sailboat can pull so many different people together and bond in the process.  If you have smaller children it could be extremely powerful allowing them to learn as well as connect with both you and the sailboat.  Watching the ideas and creativity of everyone involved has made what could have been an overwhelming experience – fun!  Let go, and let everyone have a part!

There is still a lot of work to be done, and I now look at it all as an opportunity to continue to connect with my family and build a living vessel that when I step on board I feel the presence of them all … as I know you can too with your sailboat renovation project.

Thanks to everyone that has jumped in so far … you have made this experience life changing for me, mom would be happy!

~ emily

Do you have a story to share too?  Leave me a comment

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rebuilding a sailboat, sailboat renovation