Swim ladder success!

Well I finally got the swim ladder installed. I was thinking it would be one of the easier projects! Well by now I should know that there are no easy projects. This is the finished product.

So the first thing that was an issue with the ladder mounting plates had a little lip on them. So I could not mount it flush to the hull. Plus I wanted to have something to spread the stress out. So I went with some wood. I stained it and wrapped it in fiberglass and epoxy. That should help keep it protected from the water.

The part that was really hard was figuring out how big of a backing support I would need. I couldn't find anything that gave an idea of square inches per pound of pressure or anything like that. So I just figured I would make sure to over build it so it was plenty strong enough.

Some how when I got the 4 stainless steel bolts to put this all together I though 2 inch bolts would be long enough. With the 3/4 inch wood that the ladder is sitting on, plus the 3/4 inch wood for the backing, they where not long enough.

So had to run and get 4 more bolts and pull everything apart. Clean everything up and apply more butyl tape to all the bolts. I ended up with one bolt a lot longer then the rest. So I had to run off and get the right sized bolt. Pull it apart and clean it all up again.

This time everything went together just as expected. Got it all tightened up. Tested it and it held my weight without a problem! So finally a task totally done and complete!

Moving inside.

I know this is supposed to be a blog about sailing a Reinell sailboat. Before we can sail we have to have the boat all set up and ready to go. I think we are almost there! I really only have the swim ladder and we can put her back into the water. The rest really is to make the inside look awesome and by very usable and comfortable for us.

Looks like I finally got all the leaks and the hardware stuff on the outside taken care of. So now I get to move on to the inside.

I am even more excited and nervous about this aspect of fixing / customizing our boat for us. I mean what is a good set up for us? What works on a sailboat and what doesn't? It's not like I have ever been on a sailboat to get some ideas.

Plus it is not like I have a lot of space to work with. There is like 16 feet from the front of the V berth to the companion way. Plus a little quarter berth that is perfect for the youngest. So in that space we need our space to sleep. We have a little sink and an area to make food plus a little ice box. A spot for the table and a place for the little john.

We we got the boat there was really nothing inside. So no ideas to start from really. Just a blank slate we get to make in any way we want to. That whole blank slate and filling it with something creative is definitely not my strong suite.

So the first thing that I saw was a problem was the front of the V berth. It had an area that really was wasted. Couldn't store anything or make use of it really. So that was an easy thing to see needed to be fixed for us.

What the V berth looked like after all the old nasty 1970's carpet was removed from the inside.

One thing I see is a lot of is having lockers everywhere. So I figured I would make one to make better use of that space.

I figured some furring strips epoxied on both side so that I can secure the face of the locker to it. Then I epoxied to horizontal furring strips to place a shelf on. Then I fiber glassed them to the hull just to make sure.

Then I used some cardboard and made a template for that area the best I could. Then I used that to cut that shape into a piece of 3/8 inch plywood.

It ended up with a really odd shape to be able to fit all the different contours of the boat.

Then I cut an opening. Then just cut a solid piece for the door. Stained them and applied several coats of varnish. For some reason the varnish on these pieces really was not very smooth. I kept carefully applying a coat. Letting it dry, then sanding it. Then carefully apply another coat, then lightly sand it. I tried foam brushes and regular brushes. I even went out and got a new can of varnish and tried thinning it out a little bit. I just couldn't get it to turn out as good as I wanted it to.

Because it can get dark in this area I figured some lighting in the locker would be a good idea. So I wired a small strip of LED lights. I put in a USB charge point for our electronics.

It is nice to be moving forward. It is nice when I can look and see a difference with what I am doing to the boat.

Just a few more steps and I am positive we will be able to be back sailing again!!

New port light #3 of 3! Finally done.

Well it looks like the saga has come to an end! I think I figured out a way to have shiny new plexiglass on the boat.

Seeing how the screws into the wood were not holding on very tight. Noticing that the professionally made ones bolted through the hull. Much easier to get them nice and tight, much harder for them to come out! I wanted to find a way to bolt the port light to the hull.

The inside of the boat is just bare fiberglass. No wires or anything important in the way. It sure looks like I should be able to drill through the boat and bolt the portlight on. I did see that one of the screws lined up with the little bulkhead we have in this boat. No surprise there, life as usual. Always something, right?  I can easily drill out a small area for the nut to sit neatly inside.

All that is left to do is get the bolts and drill more holes in this little boat. So I was able to get a bag of 100 stainless steel bolts the right diameter. I also got fender washers and nylon locking nuts.

I was able to remove all the screws holding the starboard side and the portlight stayed stuck to the boat. So I was able to just drill through all the holes.

Carefully lined up the drill, and drilled away. It went through the balsa core pretty easy. Took a little bit to get through the fiberglass on the inside. After drilling all the holes, I cleaned up the inside a bit. Some of the fiberglass holes were a bit rough.

Then I started wrapping butyl tape around all the bolts that I would be using. Making sure that I had enough to easily fill the holes in the plexiglass and the boat. I made sure to wrap it down the bolt pretty far to make sure I would have some butyl tape contact the hole I drilled and fill the space between the bolt and the hull. Man do I know how to have a good time or what?

Then cleaned up the inside fiberglass. Bolting through the boat and making sure to have large washers on both the inside and the outside. Then tightened it down, not cranking down really tight. One thing that prevented that is that the bolts that I could find was considered a "security" bolt. So it has a special head that used a special tool bit. After tightening down a few of them I snapped the bit. Luckily I got 4 bits just because of that.

Made sure to use plenty of butyl tape around all the bolts. It looks like they sealed up pretty good. The next thing to do is test it. So I grab the hose and soak down the portlight really well. Not a drop of water on the inside!!

Some of the bolts needed to be so tight that they snapped the bit. So I had to make a tool to be able to tighten them enough. Looking at the two little round places for the bit to hold on, it looked like a nail would fit in there. Luckily I had some finishing nails that fit pretty good. So I pounded two through a little board with a long handle. I was able to really tighten down the pesky few that needed to be really tight!

Simple wood and nail tool

Put the bulkhead back in place to mark where I need to drill a little hole to make room for the nut. Luckily I was able to bulkhead right next to the nut and screw it into place night and tight! So something went quickly and easily. Man I like it when that happens.

Then the next day I was able to repeat that whole process on the port side! Now I have 2 shinny new portlights to look out of. They sure make a difference with how much light gets inside. Not the most perfect or beautiful of jobs. But so much better then what was there before.

I am so glad that most of the anxiety of trying to figure out how to work on a boat and doing it right, is gone. There is so  many new things that I have had to learn. It is very different then working on cars. That is my greatest amount of experience working on and fixing.

I have just been so worried about messing it up. Cutting the plexiglass, you can't just put it back together. If I don't seal something up perfectly and we are in the middle of the Puget Sound it would be really really bad for us. Its not like driving down I-5 and having something not working on my car. I can usually get to the shoulder.

I am very glad and happy so many people share their experience, knowledge, and information on the internet. It would have been so much harder for me to try and figure this stuff out if it wasn't for people sharing with the world!