Refitting C34 MKII

[girmann]

Hmm... so at what point do "spring maintenance upgrades" become a refit?!?

It seems like everything I touch leads to more ideas for a project. For instance, some ham-handed lunk (me) broke the head sink drain adapter (which proved nigh impossible to find) so I got myself a whole sink drain assembly instead. I justified buying the whole thing by saying that the old one was starting to rust anyway. Of course the new one didn't fit right away. Of course the old caulk was impossible to remove. Regardless, it turned out so nice that it made me realize that I need to replace the faucet as well, because it's pretty much corroded at this point. Which lead me on a goose chase to find a decent looking shower faucet combo. Lots of nice people on the internet have made suggestions - saying that RV faucets are the same and much cheaper. But in a couple hours of searching (when I was supposed to be working), turned up nothing other than either wall mounted units or ones that had a "diverter". But nothing that resembles what we have now. As they say, "More research is indicated..."

While shopping for the sink drain, I also thought about the malfunctioning masthead wind sensor that had to be replaced and was thinking about how borked the whole electrical system has been since we bought her two years ago. All of the gauges were off by a lot, including the tach (how do you get *that* wrong?). I did some minor adjustments to those to get them back into spec. The knot log has never read the correct speed (despite my best attempts at googling) and the masthead sensor hasn't moved since the sea trial. While I'd love to blame the PO, they're our "back door" neighbor in the marina and I just can't believe that they would swap out working instruments for bad after the sale. Also the panel volt meter is completely messed up. I can't figure out why it's reading so wrong sometimes and completely correct other times. It doesn't make any sense. I need to research what else I could do here, but when an expensive meter from the yard (Fluke 177) read 12.6 on the bateries and the panel meter reads 11.8, you know something's wrong. the obvious solution is to check the wiring and replace the meter, but is there a better way? I don't know yet.

All this was running through my head at the chandlery when suddenly a complete i70 kit (wind, speed, depth, itc5, and display) ended up in my cart and brought it home ( the masthead sensor was going to be $700, but the whole kit is $1100. What a bargain!). I guess that's going on the to-do list. The 20 year old charger is also on its way out and that's going to have to be replaced, too. The nice people at Guest were willing to take my call, but not able to help.

Last year I took out the aircon to "fix" it. The PO said that it just needed a new "printed circuit board", but when I opened up the control box, there were no boards in there! After two months of banging my head against the wall, trying to figure out what part of the electronics were bad (the Ocean Breeze people were very helpful and patient) I discovered the latching high pressure switch had tripped. In my defense, there's no way to push the button without taking the whole thing out first. One push of the button and it was working again. However in removing it, I noticed that the bracket that had been fabricated for the unit was held in place with some faring compound - which had failed. It's dirty and grimy in there and the wooden bracket is still bare wood. A good epoxy paint for the bracket and some elbow grease in the hanging locker where the aircon is located is needed to clean it all out. Then I'll add some proper fiberglass tabbing to the bracket so that it stays in place this time.

Then there's the battery management that needs to be taken care of. There are no bus bars for the battery connections in the house battery compartment, leading to a mess of connections in the compartment. Plus I need to replace the battery hold down for the starting battery, since needing to cut that off after it became completely jammed.

Since I took the stick down to have a look at the masthead wind sensor, I might as well call a rigger. As near as I know, the standing rigging hasn't been replaced since she was new. In 2001. That won't be expensive, right? And it's not difficult to get a hold of a rigger in the middle of the spring, right?

And then there's the issue of the autopilot, which is sitting in the workshop but hasn't been installed. Oh, and then the sails are also original.

I've owned a boat before, this isn't my first rodeo (but it is my second! Ha!) All of a sudden I'm realizing how much she needs. Or doesn't, I suppose. If I wasn't "floating" in a parking lot right now, this could all be solved by just throwing off the lines and dealing with what I have with me instead of worrying about what's coming.

So all of this to ask, am I 50% through my spring maintenance, or am I 10% through a refit? 

Mark
#1488

[waughoo]

Mark,

That was INCREDIBLY entertaining to read! I am in a similar boat (pun intended) with my off season maintenance and repairs.  The weather is turning here and I am getting antsy that the boat isn't put back together.  Along the lines of your electrical system, I started with installing a dedicated start battery under the aft cabin berth and have nearly come to a full electrical system upgrade as I found none of the large gauge wires in the boat were fused!!  It is how it goes with projects especially if you like them.

[KeelsonGraham]

"BOAT"

Break Out Another Thousand.

[Jim Hardesty]

FWIW

I enjoy working on Shamrock.  But.  I like sailing better.    I strive for a good balance. 
Jim

[rmjohns]

I ended up creating an online trello board for all my work items and categorizing them as must do, would like to do, next haul out, in progress and done. Helps me keep them all organized, documented and prioritized and being online, I can update it from home or the boat.

Plus I have a history of when I did what.

[Noah]

Good idea to keep a chart/record. Like everything in life, the boat is a constant battle between "needs" and "wants". It also, for me involves a lot of emotion that tends to cloud issues. I remember an old story attributed to Ted Turner when he was having "financial difficulties." A reporter asked if he was in financial trouble and he said "you will know when I am in trouble when I start selling my boats."  Lots of emotion with our boats!

[Holger Dieske]

... lol, I know that. When I mark something as done at the top of my todo list, I always have to add two or three things at the bottom.

And something else about planning: everything I plan will end up taking 3 times as much time and 2 times as much money as planned. :)

Holger

[Jim Hardesty]

And something else about planning: everything I plan will end up taking 3 times as much time and 2 times as much money as planned. :)

Sounds about right.  You are a wise man Holger.
Jim

[rmjohns]

@girmann/Mark,
    How long have you owned the boat? I'm coming up on two years now and I've done most of the bigger items, except maybe the standing rigging.  I'm hoping now it's just maintenance and sailing.

Rob.

[KWKloeber]

... lol, I know that. When I mark something as done at the top of my todo list, I always have to add two or three things at the bottom.

And something else about planning: everything I plan will end up taking 3 times as much time and 2 times as much money as planned. :)

Holger

My rule of thumb (and it pretty much works out) is that no matter what job is it, when I tackle it I find there's one other thing I need to do either before starting or before finishing it up (I'm not talking about just buying materials beforehand or returning excess materials afterward!)

On the boat that ratio increases from one to one to two-point-five to one (in the wrong direction.)   

[Ron Hill]

Holger : I see that in the repair world the Euro has the same problem as the Dollar!! 

A thought

[girmann]

This is a really good idea. Thanks for the suggestion!

I ended up creating an online trello board for all my work items and categorizing them as must do, would like to do, next haul out, in progress and done. Helps me keep them all organized, documented and prioritized and being online, I can update it from home or the boat.

Plus I have a history of when I did what.

[girmann]

I've powder her for two years now. I like sailing more than doing upgrades, but I think this is the year...

@girmann/Mark,
    How long have you owned the boat? I'm coming up on two years now and I've done most of the bigger items, except maybe the standing rigging.  I'm hoping now it's just maintenance and sailing.

Rob.

[girmann]

Hmmm... looks more like a refit. More details to come...