Taking Care of a Lady.
It took us months but there she is in all her restored glory ready for new adventures. Completed as hull #54 on the 7th of March 1969, our Imagine turned 50 this year. Radu discovered on the day that this hull ID number is actually a date! 3.7.69 hull 54. Research revealed that before 1972 boats were given arbitrary numbers like this one… Happy birthday Miss Imagine!
Monsoon-like rains in October revealed that the fifty-year-old wood of the toe rail was brittle and we had leaks in cabin lockers below. That sparked a detailed toe rail repair with a new product Allwood (made by Allgrip) which turns into a glass-like finish after the 6-8th application and making the wood completely water tight. But we didn’t stop there and stained and glossed all wood on deck, the companion way, the cockpit…
Here a glimpse of the work. A more detailed post later in a month:
The endless list of projects completed over the last four months:
1 Installation of new chainplates for all shrouds & back stay
2 New additional solar panel with MPP charge controller for smart charging
3 Installation of two new Anderson self-tailing winches including fabrication of winch plates
4 Head sail repair & new lines
5 Furler maintenance, new line & faster blocks
6 New reefing lines for main sail
7 New anchor roller & made new anchor snubbers
8 New muffler box for engine, new engine shut off extension & new oil pump
9 Moved diesel intake of one diesel tank to cockpit for easy filling underway
10 New manual bilge pump for cockpit
11 New handle for on/off switch of hydraulic steering system under cockpit floor for use of windvane
12 Toe rail repair, varnish with Allwood & Allgrip paint along toe rail on both sides
13 Allwood on deck wood: on hand rails, eyebrows over the port holes, forward & stern hatches, windlass plate & on heater deck plate and reassembly
14 Allwood on all cockpit wood, cockpit table & companion way
15 New wood back rest for cockpit, varnished & made pillow with snaps
16 New stern light
17 New propane tank fittings
18 Dinghy repair (Stan’s in tubes to repair pin holes), Allwood on wood & new painter (tie) & maintenance with Hypalon protectant
19 Dinghy cradle fabrication out of wood including installation on cabin top & Allwood
20 Sewn fender covers & shade covers for cockpit
21 New ties for life raft
22 Deck wash down quick connect including manifold in bilge
23 New cocktail table (top sitting on the sewing machine) with new ties
24 Addition of door to cabin storage
25 Cabin floor board repair
List of still-to-do projects
Medium
1 Install new depth + speed instrument
2 Foot pumps for both sinks & add salt water faucets
3 Fiberglass chain locker divider
4 Outboard rail bracket
5 Stern anchor bracket
Big
1 Fix water tank in cabin floor, install new cabin floor with large bilge access boards on hinges
2 Fix water intake at v berth & remake v berth storage access with large openings on hinges
Wishlist
1 Five Lithium Batteries & controller to replace old AGM battery bank
2 Three more Anderson self-tailing winches
3 New mattress for v-berth & new covers for cabin mattresses
4 New galley & head counter tops