Preparing for the summer 2024

    I have owned a sailboat for...was it three summers already? Anyway, me buying a sailboat and me after owning it for a several seasons are two different me-s. It has been quite an interesting journey so far and I definitely do not regret buying a sailboat. The only thing I wish for is to sail more than I actually have. 

    My current boat-related affairs are mainly connected to preparing the boat for the summer 2024: sanding the bottom and preparing it for painting, updating standing rigging: renewing shrouds and stays. In fact, repairs is a rabbit hole and one thing leads to another, so it is important to make a decision on what is absolutely essential to fix and what can be skipped for now. But remember, that whatever you skip now will hit you later :)

Before and after (keel still not sanded)

    I have not applied any kind of antifouling since I bought the boat. As a result, whatever antifouling there was deteriorated and barnacles started growing. Before the summer of 2023 I scraped them off and thought that it would be sufficient effort for the coming season. When I lifted the boat after the season I knew that there will not be any room for cutting corners anymore: I needed to repaint the bottom. And it is my most current mission. 

    My first step was scraping the barnacles off with a scraper. After that I rented a rotary sander from a shop nearby. I did not have any experience with power tools, so I was really stressing about how this part was going to go and whether I would accidentally cut a hole in the boat's hull. It went fine and I did not cut any hole. It was a great confidence boost for me, and I felt like I could definitely complete this project.

Keel after sanding

    After completing each little step I was taking pictures and sent to my more knowledgeable friend, whose father knows a whole lot about sailboats and their maintenance. As I kept sending pictures, my to-do list kept a-growing. For example, my next step is to sand the rust off the keel and apply some epoxy filler in those spots to prevent the corrosion from spreading. I am waiting for favorable weather conditions for that. We had quite heavy snowfall last night. Yes, in the end of April. 

    Meanwhile I am waiting for the snow to melt away, I am reading about the epoxy filler and watching videos on how to apply it. I have never done anything like that in my life, but I feel like I can totally do it. Since the scope of work has grown tremendously, I feel like it would make sense to get my own rotary sander. I am thinking of buying one that uses accumulators, because my boat is standing quite far from the nearest socket and I don't want to be carrying a lot (30 meters) of wire with me. 

    My next step in repair work would be sanding the rust off the keel. Once I clean the rust off, cover cleaned spots with epoxy filler and sand it I will apply four layers of primer, to make a good foundation before painting with antifouling. That's it for now. I will update this post as I make progress.

                                                   

                                                                Me mixing the epoxy filler.

                                          

    After all I found time to go work on my boat a bit more and finish sending the keel and apply epoxy filler whenever it was necessary. Needless to say I discovered more rust around those spots that I knew had rust on them. But it was not too bad after all. Once I was done sanding, I degreased the surface and applied the epoxy filler. There is nothing romantic about this part so I will just fast-forward through it.

Before and after applying epoxy filler

Meanwhile epoxy filler was curing I used some chemicals to clean off the barnacles etc.