Well after a month and a half being in the “Yard”…. Slow Flight (Flo) was ready to get back in the water.
Originally we wanted to drill and drain the skeg which we thought had water in it, fiberglass the patch hole, re-barrier coat and paint the bottom of the hull….maybe a few weeks of work.
Well…not so fast…we decided to take the hull all the way down to the bare fiberglass which required sand blasting and grinding the fiberglass blisters out that are known for boats of our age. No…we didn’t do this ourselves thank goodness! We had the yard do it.
After sandblasting, this is the skeg which needed fiberglass patches.After sandblasting we had to wait for the hull to “dry out” and let all the water evaporate and this took a LONG time. After a week or so not seeing moisture readings change, we decided to do more research and talked to Don on SV Windcharmer and low and behold his brother, who does marine surveys, had the same boat as we did! We learned that there were only 14 models of the Morgan 452 built. Morgan, the boat builder, asked his yacht dealers for input on what people wanted in a boat and built 14 models specifically for different regions of the USA and gave them to the dealers for FREE. We have the Florida version.Don on Wind charmer
We also learned that our boat’s fiberglass was layed up super thick and any of the blisters we were waiting to “dry out” would not cause any structural damage…so it was time to fiberglass it up!!!
Layers of fiberglass on a huge patch on the starboard side of the hull We call this the “chicken pox”. The boat yard grinded out spots on the hull where there were high moisture readings. Then they had to patch they all up by layering circular sized fiberglass. Here is the guy cutting the fiberglass into little circles A fiberglass patch on the bow…I don’t think Trevor made this one : ) Epoxy dripping from hull after being rolled over each layer of fiberglass.After the fliberglass layed up…it was time to sand and then apply the barrier coat/primer and then the bottom paint.
The skeg with the barrier coat on all shiny and no holes!!!
Skeg and rudder put back together with a new lining in the foot for the rudder post The paint crew!!!! We were pushed hard to meet the deadline so they had lots of guys on it.While we had all this time on our hands. Trevor installed our new wind turbine on our mizzen mast. A custom stainless steal bracket, designed by himself (Trevor) and cost about $300 usd.
Trevor installing the wind turbine and bracket All done! Trevor enjoying a job well done : )Now it’s time to “Splash”!
OMG!!!! It is so great to hear from you! We have been busy making plans to possibly cross the Pacific. We hope you all are doing well and let’s stay in touch : )
This is so great guys! Can’t wait to hear from you again. Bright blessings! Cooks
OMG!!!! It is so great to hear from you! We have been busy making plans to possibly cross the Pacific. We hope you all are doing well and let’s stay in touch : )
Awesome story-telling Flo!!