First - Thanks to everyone for the great info here on sailnet....
Well, the old girl finally came out of the water to get a bottom job. Sounds simple, yes? Just take down the mast, motor to the deep water ramp (2 hours), get on the trailer and take her to the shop where the local fiberglass Guru has his way with her. I'd planned on replacing the head and sanitation hoses while she was out of the water. I know it can be done in the water...but I'm a novice at most of this stuff.
simple...sure....right...
On the way to the deep water dock, the engine looses power and gets really loud. The guy motoring her down there shut off the engine and phoned for a tow about the same time a front moved through with 35 mph gusts. Nice. He tosses out an anchor and it doesn't hit bottom - hauls it back in, adds every bit of line on the boat to the rode and tries again. Gets it to stick before running into the rocks (we're on an inland lake). The powerboater arrives and gets her to the dock and on the trailer and to the shop without incident.
Inspection reveals the engine didn't overheat - all the coolant is still there. Impeller is good. Strainer is clean. Exhaust hose needs replaced, but is sound. Mixing elbow - not so much. It had basically disintegrated from corrosion. I was surprised as this is a lifetime freshwater boat, but after a few hours on google, I find this is a 'wear item' and can expect to replace them at least once every 10 years. This one made it 24 years - guess I got lucky. Lucky like Russian roulette. I don't have the tools to break the elbow off without risking damaging the threads, so I turn it over to a pro. $$$$Cha-Ching$$$$ This is where I was introduced to the wonders of marine grade parts. I had no idea reinforced exhaust hose was so expensive. Of course, I need 18 feet of it.
I got the head and hoses replaced and the smell is gone! That was no issue - the only surprise was having to pull the deck fitting for the pump out to get the hose on the barb.
Fast forward a week and the boat is back at the marina getting the mast stepped. My wife and I notice the bilge pump is cycling every 4 minutes. That's a bit much considering this is (was) a dry boat. I go below and tighten the strainer basket wing nuts to stop the leak. Yipppeeee! A ZERO cost fix and I look like I know what I'm doing in front of the Misssus.
Fast forward a few hours and we're back at the slip putting everything back on the boat and getting her cleaned up. We top off the fresh water tank and a few minutes later, the admiral notices the bilge problem returns. No problem! I know how to fix this. Nope. My previous 'fix' to the strainer is good. Takes an hour of climbing around the bilge to figure out the potable water hose from the tank to the pressure pump got dinged while dorking around with the exhaust hose. We empty the tank and call it a day.
Next day, I show up armed with bruises, cuts and a new length of hose from Home Depot. I replace the hose in 15 minutes - again - super rep points with the wife. Fill it up - and there's another lead...the thru hull to the tank worked loose - drain the tank, tighten the thru hull. Fill it up...DRY BOAT!
Now onto the fun parts. We reworked the mainsheet - took it out of the rope clutch and instead ran it through a shiny new triple block on the traveler, freeing up a clutch for the reef line now lead to the cockpit. I replaced the clutch while I was there - the old housing was cracked right around the axle and was ready to give up the ghost.
What a great experience. Prior to this, we'd not done much in the way of upgrades or work to the boat. Just replace some parts that were worn. In this case, we ran out of money before we ran out of inclination.
And after watching the fiberglass guru work, I'm no longer afraid of the epoxy. I know he makes it look easy, but I'll start out small and in the bilge (I need to move the battery tray) and then maybe ... one day ... the top sides!
The admiral is now happy with the smell and we'll be spending more time at anchor when it warms up a bit.
Next up -
1. sand and treat the teak
2. replace all the portlights
3. get the traveler to work a bit easier
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