Cleanup - Exterior

Before I could really start cleaning and scraping and re-painting the boat needed to be moved. For one thing, it was under some trees, but more important - it was ten feet from my well. Not exactly where I want to be scraping off old bottom paint.

The boat was too far back on the trailer so I wanted to first move it forward. Seemed the easiest thing was to lift the boat and move the trailer back. I made some supports using 4x4's and 2x8's and used those to lift the boat up. That worked out well but the trailer had sunk in the ground a bit and needed a bit of help from the Rover to move it.

After moving the boat to a better spot I blocked up the trailer and dropped the keel onto the trailer.

The powerwasher has been instrumental in taking off the barnacles and most of the old bottom paint. Where the paint does not come off requires a bit more agressive cleaning.

Rudder and Tiller Something to do in the garage. There are a few repairs to do on the rudder. Nicks and dings, cracked fiberglass and the like. Enough to make the rudder a good starting point to learn making those repairs.

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Preparation for moving the boat. First step is to position it corectly on the trailer. To do that it has to be lifted off the trailer. This is part of the jacking supports.

It's about eight inches forward and the trailer just about balances. There is almost no weight on the hitch, but the boat still needs to move forward, so that should change.

Out from under the trees and moved to a clear spot on the other side of the garage. The short wheel base Land Rover makes for a good tug around the yard, but I won't be towing down the highway with it.

The starboard side had not been washed off when the boat was under the trees. The yellow stains on the white part of the hull are on the starboard side only. The heavy stains at the waterline make me hopeful that the boat at least floats!

I moved the trailer winch down on the frame hoping that everything would line up better. Wrong! The boat has to move forward more still and the bow should move up. It may also be that the trailer bunks have assumed an incorrect bend from when the boat was positioned wrong and replacing the bunks will correct the problem.

Starting to clean the hull. Most of the grime and old bottom paint is coming off easily - with a little help from the power washer.

The worst is yet to come! The majority of the barnacles are on the bottom near the keel - and in the area between the trailer bunks. I will have to raise the boat off the trailer and may have to pull the trailer out from under the boat as well.

Stripping off the old bottom paint. A good hour's work to clean this area and this part is easy to get to. I tried out some paint stripper on the rudder and it seemed to work OK and didn't damage the gelcoat so I tried it on the hull. I'm not worried about the blue stains on the gelcoat since it will be getting another coat of bottom paint but I would like to get the hull as smooth as possible.

I've found a half a dozen little holes like this. I thought they were from damage from the barnacles but I was told that there are from blisters in the gelcoat. They weren't really evident until I started cleaning the hull. This one is about one quarter of an inch long. Another reason to clean off as much of the old bottom paint as possible.

The view from my bathroom. Incentive to get it all done. (the boat!)

Putting the rubber extrusion back in the rub-rail. This had popped out in places. I found a lot of dirt had accumulated in the groove in the rubber where it should seat in the aluminum. I scrubbed it all with a brush and hot water and picked a hot day to put it all back in. A few light taps with a rubber mallet helped in a few places, too.

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Revised 02/07/2005

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	Preparation for moving the boat. First step is to position it corectly on the trailer. To do that it has to be lifted off the trailer. This is part of the jacking supports.
	It's about eight inches forward and the trailer just about balances. There is almost no weight on the hitch, but the boat still needs to move forward, so that should change.
	Out from under the trees and moved to a clear spot on the other side of the garage. The short wheel base Land Rover makes for a good tug around the yard, but I won't be towing down the highway with it.
	The starboard side had not been washed off when the boat was under the trees. The yellow stains on the white part of the hull are on the starboard side only. The heavy stains at the waterline make me hopeful that the boat at least floats!
	I moved the trailer winch down on the frame hoping that everything would line up better. Wrong! The boat has to move forward more still and the bow should move up. It may also be that the trailer bunks have assumed an incorrect bend from when the boat was positioned wrong and replacing the bunks will correct the problem.
	Starting to clean the hull. Most of the grime and old bottom paint is coming off easily - with a little help from the power washer.
	The worst is yet to come! The majority of the barnacles are on the bottom near the keel - and in the area between the trailer bunks. I will have to raise the boat off the trailer and may have to pull the trailer out from under the boat as well.
	Stripping off the old bottom paint. A good hour's work to clean this area and this part is easy to get to. I tried out some paint stripper on the rudder and it seemed to work OK and didn't damage the gelcoat so I tried it on the hull. I'm not worried about the blue stains on the gelcoat since it will be getting another coat of bottom paint but I would like to get the hull as smooth as possible.
	I've found a half a dozen little holes like this. I thought they were from damage from the barnacles but I was told that there are from blisters in the gelcoat. They weren't really evident until I started cleaning the hull. This one is about one quarter of an inch long. Another reason to clean off as much of the old bottom paint as possible.
	The view from my bathroom. Incentive to get it all done. (the boat!)
	Putting the rubber extrusion back in the rub-rail. This had popped out in places. I found a lot of dirt had accumulated in the groove in the rubber where it should seat in the aluminum. I scrubbed it all with a brush and hot water and picked a hot day to put it all back in. A few light taps with a rubber mallet helped in a few places, too.