Water filter

We haven't had a need for hot water from our galley sink and adding hot water to it would add more complication to our fresh water system not to mention keeping water hot on demand. We would have to run the water heater all the time just to have hot water once in a while.

So, we decided to use the hot water tap of the galley sink and plumb in a water filter. The water was slightly metallic tasting, but not more than you would get from drinking out of a stainless steel thermos. We went with the Shurflo WaterGuard system. It uses replaceable filter cartridges which is nice. I installed a tee after the water pump- one side feeding the galley sink for washing dishes etc, and the other side feeding the water filter.
I mounted it in the 'Bad Space', a not so easy to access space outboard of the sink, and aft of the stove. Getting things in and out is even harder than with the old icebox. Why the architect designed the storage like he did is beyond me. In many boats of this size/class the space is used as a quarter berth.

Varnish update

The weather is definitely cooling off, the varnishing season will be over before I/you/we know it. The main hatch now has 4 coats on it, the ladder has 3 new coats on top of the old, but the treads will need alot more as they get very heavy use. The interior varnish is still holding up pretty well, but the handholds and a few other spots are pealing, so I'm tackling those slowly.

The veneer is in sad shape (right: lower right) and we'll have to do something about it.
I believe the interior is Burmese teak as it is more reddish than golden.. but I might be wrong.

New Binoculars

We lost our boat binoculars in spectacular firefight with some alien pirates off the coast of... Ok, that's not really what happened. They went for a swim just off of the G "5" buoy in Port Jefferson harbor.
So I had an opportunity to get a new pair with some bells and whistles. I got a pair with a built in compass and optical rangefinder and... they float.

These are 7x50, whereas the last pair was 10x30 which meant a little more magnification (10x), but less field of view and not as bright (30mm). 7x magnification is apparently the most zoom that the average person can manage to hand hold comfortably on a boat less than 50ft. I don't disagree- on the other hand, I didn't have trouble with 10x.

Steering refit

We've been using the emergency tiller to steer the boat, which for a 36' boat isn't too crazy. I've heard some people say that wheels on boats under 40' are unwieldy (unwheeldy? har har) and not efficient. In any case, the tiller attaches to the top of the rudder post and provides a 3' lever that makes steering easy for one person. When we came down the Sound in May during a storm there were points when Emily and I were both putting our full weight in the tiller to steer the boat- that was fun and not scary at all.

Fixing the steering has been on our list of projects, but as the tiller works, it's been on the back burner. The system is a rudder attached to a post that comes up through the hull upon which the quadrant, a pie shaped metal piece about 12 inches in radius the center being fixed to the rudder post so that as the quadrant rotates from side to side on its axis the rudder is in turn moved. The arc of the quadrant has an upper and lower track that the steering cable rides in and as the cable is pulled from one side or the other the quadrant moves. The cable is wound around a drum at the bottom of the steering pedestal and so as the Wheel turns, the cable is taken up on one end of the drum and unwound on the other in turn moving the rudder. Whew, wouldn't a picture have been more clear? Yes.


This is a simple sketch showing a side view (port). There are 2 more sheaves (pulleys to you landlubbers) between the drum and the quadrant that change the direction of the cable and alter its angle between the two.

So, we have a drum, a rudder, a rudder post, a quadrant... but no cable. So I've been researching the cable dimensions and the proper way in which to reeve (sailor talk for passing line or rope or similar through or around another object) the cable around the drum and the quadrant. Here is the drum which is in need of cleaning and re-greasing.

Cabin top cleaning

We had not paid much attention to the fiberglass gelcoat on the cabin top since we purchased Mola Mola and it was in bad shape then. Fiberglass boats are coated often coated with an epoxy or polyester resin that provides a glossy finish to the fiberglass that protects it from UV and light physical damage. It is not impervious to wear and after a few seasons begins to oxidize, turning dull and chalky. Our boat was at the very dull and very chalky stage and I thought it would be a good idea to clean it. I purchased 3M Restorer & Wax that cleans up heavy oxidation and has a built in wax component. It worked like a charm and the cabin top is much much nicer looking, almost shiny in parts. Before too long though, we'll have to sand off all the gelcoat and repaint it as there are several deep gouges and chips in it. We could re-gelcoat it which is expensive and tricky to do I'm told, but Petit and Interlux make very good polyurathane topcoats that will more than fit the bill.

The first picture is a sample of what the cabin top looked like. The oxidized gelcoat traps dirt and oils and regular soaps and detergents don't even touch them which is why I went to a specialty product. The second is chalky gelcoat which washed off and was suprisingly hard to get off my hands. The last two are pictures of the cabin top after cleaning.

1 out of 1 Chaz agrees: Human hair is the best paint brush!

We finished cleaning out the icebox cavern and got it coated in primer. This helps us to visualize how we would like to construct the new cabinets. We use Gripper primer as it is very durable and resilient. It fills in small scratches and gaps very nicely and dries wicket fast. We primed everything in April with it and it still looks great even in the head and bilge where it gets very wet.
In painting the ice box space I had to lean way in to reach the inner hull. No paint job is complete without getting some in your hair, and so I did. The space looks nice and clean and we've pretty much figured out what we want to do for cabinets. Woohoo!

Batten down Varnish the Hatches!!

After letting the polysulphide caulk cure a good long time, I've put the first 2 coats of varnish on the main hatch. Very exciting!

The teak used on the hatch is much more golden in color than the teak of the coamings and railings leading us to believe it is a different variety of teak. Teak at the time of the boat's building would have come from Indonesia or Burma, so presumably the teak used on the boat could be a mixture of both.