Winter 2004-05

Hardware: Off!

The first step in prepping the decks was to get all the old hardward off. This is always a treat as the fasteners for deck hardware are invariably difficult to reach and either bent, badly corroded, or both. Fortunately, Tim volunteered to help with this part of the project, making the whole affair much easier. With Tim on deck, I was able to crawl into various dark recesses of the boat to get to the fasteners. The worst areas were along the side decks, as access to these areas was extremely poor.

As we were stripping hardware off we found that the original Pearson-installed aluminum backing plates were absurdly thin, and many were severely corroded—often to the point that the plates could be pulled off over the fasteners!

Over the course of several hours we were able to remove the bulk of the deck hardware, and we soon accumulated a large pile of hardware.

Once this was done I turned my attention to the ports. I knew that removing the ports and deadlights would mean that I would have to repaint the main cabin overhead and replace the foam-backed headliner that I had installed just the previous year in the head compartment, but since we were going to be awlgripping the whole boat, I wanted to either paint or powder-coat the aluminum port and deadlight frames. Removal of the ports was difficult as they were bedded in an incredibly tenacious silicone sealant. However by carefully prying with a 5-in-1 tool I was able to ease all of the ports and deadlight frames out.

One of the last items to remove was the engine control panel's wooden frame which was installed just the previous year. I was careful not to damage the frame while removing it, but it proved to be one of the most difficult pieces to remove on the whole boat. It was bedded in 3M's 101 sealant. This stuff was amazingly adhesive and after much careful prying I was able to break it free, but it actually removed a large chunk of gelcoat with it!

Additional Deck-Destruction

Once the hardware was removed, there were still a few things to remove: the seahood and the toerail.

The old seahood was a fully functional, but horribly ugly affair put together with plywood, covered with rough, painted fiberglass, and a large attachment flange. The hood was through-bolted with fasteners into the main cabin. Additionally, the hood was bedded in 5200 adhesive. Removal was straightforward: I pulled the through-bolts and then cut the seahood away using a reciprocating saw, keeping the blade between the flange and the cabintop. Within a few minutes the seahood was gone.

Lastly, I turned my attention to the old toe-rail. A couple years prior, I had taken some time to clean up the badly weathered toe-rail, but it was now time to replace the rail as part of the overall exterior restoration. Removing the toe-rail was actually easier than initially anticipated. I began the process by attempting to cut the rail away using a reciprocating saw, but after just a few minutes I found that it was easier to just pry each section loose using a cat's-paw. The rail simply pulled loose over the fasteners in many places, indicating severe water damage. In other places I simply broke the rail at each fastener, then backed the screws out with a drill.