July 16, 2017
We have a name! The owners of Cape Dory Typhoon hull #1044 have decided to name her Joule. Webster has 'joule' as "a unit of work or energy equal to the work done by a force of one newton acting through a distance of one meter." The owners will no doubt be harnessing the energy of wind and wave, bringing Joule's lively form to function. Congrats on a great name!
I began early in the morning to beat the heat, starting on removal of the coamings and associated hardware. Today's to-do list would be a continuation of yesterday's: removal of brightwork and hardware as a prep for sanding and fiberglass repair work.
The starboard bronze winch base came off without fuss. At some point in Joule's life, previous owners had done some re-bedding of various deck hardware and at least a portion of the brightwork. What I noticed through a couple days of disassembly is that 1. the original bronze fasteners were discarded and replaced with stainless, and 2. the bedding compound chosen was 5200, or the like. The dissimilar metals would not be my first go to solution, and I certainly would not be bedding with any parts of the boat that may require a take-down for repair or maintenance with 5200. Correcting as we go!
With the winch base off the starboard coaming, I removed three fasteners securing the coaming block.
I then turned to the coaming cleat and attempted a hand-powered removal. With no luck, I applied a small shot of PB Blaster (not worried about staining the crumbling coaming board) and waited a few minutes for the magic to happen. After working another portion of the boat for ~10 minutes, I returned to the coaming cleat with an impact driver. The impact driver, along with the penetrating oil, made quick work of the bronze fastener.
The aft fastener's head did snap in the attempt to remove it, but the cleat was easy enough at that point to remove. A pair of pliers helped to pull the stubborn fastener from its resting place.
With the coaming block fasteners removed as well as the coaming board hardware, I then pulled the ~8 screws securing the board itself. Once I had the fasteners out, the board was no closer to removal than with the fasteners in. Again, 5200 was used over the length of the board to bed it to the lower fiberglass coaming. I scored a line as deep as I could with a utility knife attempting to partially separate the coaming board from the fiberglass, and then used a flat bar to gently pry the lower portion of the board away from the fiberglass coaming.
This was an exercise in patience since the boards had so much wear and tear on them, including dry-rot. The starboard board was exceptionally bad, and prone to snapping in half lengthwise if I moved to forcefully. The technique I deployed was to work the short end of the pry bar up as high as I could between the board and the fiberglass and placing a plastic covered wrench between the exposed portion of the pry bar and fiberglass. At this point I applied leverage to the pry bar, increasing tension slowly as the 5200 gave up its ghost. I worked down the length of each coaming board in this manner until the boards were released from their bondage.
With the Florida heat and humidity coming into full morning mugginess, I took a break from the hard stuff and settled on removal of the two short portions of lifeline while rehydrating. The owners decided to discard the one lifeline stanchion on either side, and to bring Joule back to her original deck plan.
While I was working midships, I pulled the midship deck cleat on the starboard and port sides. The owners also decided to pull and discard these two cleats for the same reason as the lifeline stanchions.
Placing a locking wrench below, I then backed out the stainless machine screws. It was interesting to find three metals, all dissimilar to one another, working to keep this toe-snapper on deck. We have an iron backing plate, stainless steel fasteners, and a bronze cleat.
I repeated the exercise on the port side.
I wanted to get to at least one of the toe and rub rail assemblies today, but would first have to remove the jib track. The aluminum jib track was mounted to the top of the toe rail and secured with stainless machine screws/nuts. With a locking wrench on the nut, and penetrating oil added to the screw head as well as the backing nut, I began working the impact driver and slowly backed out the screw, or in most cases, dropping the nut from the screw. A few of these fasteners were stubborn members of the resistance movement, but with some coaxing I was able to extract them and free the track from the rail.
It was obvious that the track had been on there for many years, possibly original to the boat.
Examination of the underside of the track confirmed need to replace these jib tracks.
The port jib track was removed in the same manner; and with the exception of a couple of fasteners, the track came off without issue.
Again, the corrosion on the underbelly of the port jib track called for "repeal and replace."
The cockpit locker lids are scheduled to be replaced as well, and with sanding in the near future, I took the opportunity to remove these two brethren.
Starboard and port locker lids removed and set aside.
I was ready to now begin work on removing the starboard toe and rub rail assembly. The toe rail and rub rail are separate lengths of rail, with the toe rail placed at the outboard edge of the deck and the rub rail placed at 90 degrees and just beneath a slight overhang of the toe rail.
Nearly all of the toe rail fasteners came out without issue. I used a utility knife to dig out the old bung, cleaned out the debris, and then used a flathead screwdriver to remove the fastener - repeated 28 times. The fasteners were set on 8" centers.
The rub rail was removed in the same manner, and was made up of three sections. Securing the aft end of the middle section with line, I made my way forward one fastener at a time until the board was removed.
Again, the 29 fasteners were set on 8" centers.
With the toe rail and rub rail off, I worked to clean up for the day.
Up next, I will remove the port side toe and rub rail assembly, the taff rail (pictured in the foreground below), as well as the balance of the companion way trim.
Total Time Today: 4.5 hrs
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