upon the world : The nitty gritty

As much as we'd like to think that most of the heavy lifting is behind us now, Gabe and I recognize that Maracujá is far from the pristine vessel we envision her to be, as we glance over the nicks and scratches on the heavily oxidized hull. A ship's hull becomes oxidized as UV rays, oxygen and environmental pollutants degrade the top layer of the gel coat. Washing a boat and applying protective wax regularly is essential to keeping her topsides looking good. Our boat hadn't seen that kind of service in years, it seems, and we hoped we could do something to lift her tired look.

We just knew that the sparkling, crisp white of the hull was hiding under that hazy coat of neglect and all it would take was a bit more elbow grease to bring the best out of her exterior. We waited for 2 full days of warm, sunny weather and began the excavation. What we uncovered, though, surprised us. After scrubbing the boat thoroughly with biodegradable soap and water, Gabe began by applying a 3M cutting compound with a large pad on a polishing machine. The cutting compound is designed to lift a thin layer of the existing finish, removing the oxidation and distributing microscopic particles of the finish to fill imperfections.

Just a few passes of the machine and we knew that the back breaking effort was going to pay off.

I worked the same compound by hand into the area near the freshly painted boot stripe at the waterline, to avoid lifting the new black paint and working it into the white of the hull. We worked in unison as a team, like we always do, getting all of the hull done by the end of day one. The boat already looked a million times better, but she needed a coat of polishing wax to seal the gel coat to prevent it from degrading and give her a real nice shine. Seeing this enormous improvement we came to work the next day with enthusiasm. It was going to be another hard day of arms over head, rubbing and buffing, moving the heavy scaffolding around the boat. We called it our "cross fit". A hell of a work out, pulling the metal structure around, climbing up and down both it and the access latter to get up on the boat. But it was going to be really worth the effort. Maracujá deserved this facelift.
At the end of day two, exhausted but exhilarated, Gabe and I admired the transformation.

Before

After

The times we waited for weather to cooperate with our exterior projects, Gabe and I tended to some business inside. The business of putting in new, fresh water toilets that is.
And the dirty business of replacing all the rotten, old plumbing, cleaning one of the existing holding tanks and replacing one of them with a new one.

Testing out the comfort level of our new heads Poopy plumbing

We yanked out the existing, clunky fridge assembly that was an energy guzzler and replaced it with a new, water cooled system that draws salt water through a special seacock to cool the heat exchanger and keep the small O-plate working as a freezer, while cooling the rest of the ice box to function as a fridge. Simple and efficient. I had to dive deep into the ice box to clean all of its crevasses before I deemed it acceptable for use. Gabe’s parents joked that there must have been a bottle of vodka hiding at the bottom, when they saw the photo below (centre). I found pretty much everything but a bottle of vodka glued to the mucky, grimy deposit on the walls of the fridge, including a collection of metal caps from unpalatable American beers. The previous owner was clearly not a Polak and lacked the taste for finer things.

Along with outdated refrigeration out went seized seacocks, disintegrating engine hoses, a broken water heater, an inadequate electrical panel, a degraded galley sink drains, and a rusty ole’ stove; all replaced with a new lot.

Little by little we see our boat reveal herself for the modern, energy and space efficient cruising boat that she’s meant to be.