Spring and Shipyard Geometry

Photo: the view west from the pilothouse window

The blog has been quiet for a long while, so long that you might have thought we were hibernating like the bears. Nope, February and March we have kept busy with boat projects, all part of the annual Spring Outfitting preparation for our 2015 cruise north. Inside the galley has a new, functioning cooktop; outside the hull sports a new coat of bottom paint; the all-important engine room has accounted for hours of routine preventive maintenance and a snazzy new LED lighting installation...  If you've read my spring prep posts from previous years, you know the routine.

Photo: A sudden microburst hailstorm turned the docks white... briefly. 

Some days weather makes it more comfortable to work on inside projects, but there's always time to take a break and head outside for a visit on the dock or a stroll along the waterfront. That said, I still think heavy rain squalls and hailstorms are best viewed from the dry side of a window - I am such a weather wimp! During our brief stay "on the hard" for the annual haulout, I wandered the shipyard with my camera intending to record an anchor and propeller photoshoot, until shapes edged into my shooting consciousness. Everywhere I turned there were interesting geometric shapes to draw my eye: circles, squares, triangles, rectangles, arcs, ovals, lines parallel or converging... everywhere. These were all standard shipyard items, things like tools and supplies, but they carried such interesting patterns that I had to capture a few. Here's a brief sample: 

Anchors and propellors will have to wait for their closeups, I'm having too much fun with geometry. 

Shipyard Status: an early report

Each week in the shipyard has brought a new set of visual surprises, both inside and outside the boat.

Inside: 
A proper hull inspection calls for visual access to both sides of the fiberglas, even those hidden spaces inside the cabinets that line the salon. Everything in the room was moved away from the walls and piled topsy-turvy in the middle. The usually tidy salon is now littered with tools, project supplies and "stuff" from inside the cabinets. Protective materials do cover windows and finished surfaces, preventing any damage from traffic and incidental contact. 

The floor in the guest head (bathroom) was modified to raise the commode and replace the outdated 1980's linoleum with teak and holly flooring. Even in this unfinished state, it's an improvement!

Master Stateroom and ensuite flooring upgrades are also underway. The living spaces will be gorgeous when the raw wood receives a satin finish and new carpeting covers both stateroom floors.

Outside: 
The large yellow trailer holding our 70,000+ pound boat was partially disassembled as other hull supports replaced the trailer's cross members. Now there's an interesting assortment of supports holding the boat steady.

The huge heated building holds many other vessels, each one undergoing some messy, smelly, really smelly, projects. Outside air is pumped inside each boat through a system of plastic tubes, keeping the interior spaces surprisingly fresh. It's a relief to breathe clean, unscented air, free of fiberglas, paint, solvent and other strong shipyard odors when we're inside Rhapsody.

Photo: here's where the air tube connects...

Photo: ...and here's an inside view, looking out toward a filter.

Rhapsody's exterior has been poked, prodded, explored and analyzed, and now sports more than a few spots and a lot of green tape. Not an attractive look, but it's temporary.

These are just a few photos from previous weeks, a brief sampling from early stages of the 2013 project. It's all necessary and routine, but I can't wait for the stage where the hull gets pretty again. Looking forward to that time, we're pondering fonts and color choices for the name decal.

Photo: sample .jpg from the sign maker

Photo: decal test strips for spacing and color 

Settling in at the Shipyard

Rhapsody was carefully lowered, slowly and gently, onto the largest, longest boat trailer I have ever seen. 

The building was nearly empty when we first arrived.

Notice the blocking along the hull, placed to hold her snugly in position.

The yellow set of stairs, topped with a wooden platform, was a welcome improvement over an aluminum ladder.

New neighbors arrived via the TraveLift. 

Our side of the building was a busy place, fully packed with boats this past week.

The yellow trailer has been a convenient piece of equipment since the shipyard has moved Rhapsody around a bit since haulout: into the building, out into the yard, back inside the building, in and out more than once, shifted to different spots. Logistics at work.

Hauling Out

Out of the water...

...and under cover.

Rhapsody is at the shipyard, well-situated in a heated, covered building, ready for several projects on her exterior and interior.

Why Do We Haul Out?

The expected "few days" grew into thirteen days on the hard, and we are finally back in the water, relaunched yesterday. The question remains: why do we haul out?

Part 1: Planned Activities
Hauling out is part of our annual Spring outfitting and trip preparation routine. RL visually checks the condition of the hull, bottom paint and running gear. Additionally our marine insurance company requested an out-of-the-water inspection by a certified marine surveyor this year , a once-every-five-year requirement. We anticipated a brief stay in the boatyard to accomplish a short project list beginning with power washing, scraping barnacles and bottom paint.

Bottom paint retards the growth of marine life such as barnacles, mussels, grasses, etc. No owner wants their boat to wear a hula skirt of waving green grass. This year a powerwash cleaning showed that only a waterline band of red would need fresh paint. 

Photo: hull before power washing

Zincs always need replacing when we haul out. These molded chunks of metal are sacrificial elements that reduce the corrosion on other metal components, important things like propellers, shafts, rudders and thru-hull fittings. (Click here for more information about zincs.) The before and after photos of the stern zinc gives evidence of their importance... only a tiny bit of that big chunk of metal remains on the lefthand bolt. 

Photo: the stern zinc has disappeared

Photo: a new stern zinc, installed

Photo: shaft zinc after one year of wear

Imagine what the propellers and shafts might look like without a zinc installed nearby. There are nine pencil-shaped zincs inside each of the Caterpillar engines which serve the same protective purpose, but these small units can be replaced while the boat is in the water.

The Ocean Pacific Travelift can hoist 100 tons, but it required just 36.7 tons of that capacity to move Rhapsody shoreside. It is impressive to track the slow, precise movement of that monster machine as Jeff transports boats, large and small, through the crowded boatyard and guides them into position. 

Photo: Rhapsody moves through the yard

Photo: a forest of metal stanchions wait to support the hull

Photo: adding wedges to block the keel

Back Afloat

We're out of the boat shed, out of the boatyard completely, and back in the water. It feels terrific, and improving weather forecast helps the overall attitude too. Launch day weather began pleasant enough and then turned gray and wet - do we always moor or anchor in the rain? Maybe it just seems that way, but we certainly needed the rain gear this time.


We watched an imposing, dense rain cloud approach as Boomer removed the front wall of the shed. The closer we got to our launch time, the darker the sky became. And then it poured, as if on schedule.

Rhapsody's bow looks so imposing when she's out of the water. Big, but pretty.

The boat certainly filled a lot of shed space, but Gilbert had no problem picking her up and then maneuvering the big TraveLift around the crowded boatyard.

We're heading back afloat, who needs sunshine?

Anchor Project (cont'd)

The original plan

1. Add 200 feet of chain to the existing 400 feet, using a specially-purpose link to connect the two lengths. Check.

2. Mark the entire chain in 30-foot increments, for convenience in anchoring and retrieving the chain. Check.

3. Load the 600 feet of chain into the large, lower chain locker… nope, won’t go.

Chain tends to stack in a tall pile, going vertical instead of spilling over and spreading out to fill the horizontal spaces. While the lower chain locker is large, evidently it isn’t tall enough to accommodate the extra length. The Capt. separated the two lengths again, and thought about the problem and possible solutions. Oh my, such a variety of potential solutions.

The revised plan was to raise the floor of the upper chain locker, installing sets of aluminum brackets to support a newly designed two-piece floor, aiming to provide more stacking height for the main anchor chain down below. With the help of a friend, super pattern-maker Dave L., the design was a relatively speedy process. 

The aluminum bracket pieces have been cut, bent, drilled and installed. 

The plywood floor has been designed, cut, painted and installed. 

The project provided an opportunity to adjust the slope and placement of the chain guide (chain feed pipe, drop tube, whatever).

The chain is still on deck, waiting for the boat to return to the water. We'll off-load the chain to the dock, winch it up and see how it stacks and distributes. I'm thinking positive thoughts about the results!

I only did occasional “gopher” errands and handed a few tools in and out of the chain locker, but the Capt. did the work and spent a lot of time climbing in...

...and out of that awkward space. Wow, is he ever limber and fit! 

And now you know more than you ever wanted to know about our Chain Locker Project! The plan is to relaunch Rhapsody tomorrow, so Boatyard News will turn back into Cruise News soon.

An Anchor Project

Spring Weather

The teak sports a shine again, coat #7, but the weather has really slowed down progress. At noon today it was 55 F in the shed and the outside humidity was 98%. Varnish just doesn’t want to flow or dry in those conditions. When it is chilly and damp you can forget about two coats a day, instead it’s more like one coat every two or three days. Warmer, drier weather is predicted for the end of the week. It’s Spring, it’s the Northwest, it happens. So it's time for some other projects on the To-Do list.

Chain Check Time

Rhapsody carries 400 feet of 3/8 inch chain on the main anchor. That’s usually adequate for our typical Alaskan anchorages, allowing a comfortable 3:1 to 5:1 scope in depths up to 80 feet. In deeper water or during a storm it would be nice to have more chain available, just in case. The Capt. hauled all 400 feet of chain out of the lower chain locker for routine inspection and thought about lengthening it, and possibly modifying the chain locker to handle the extra footage, etc. 

Both anchors are currently resting on the boat shed floor, and major portions of the chains have moved from chain locker to shed floor, to boat deck, back to chain locker and back again to deck… you get the picture.

He had also pulled the 100 feet of chain and 250 feet of line for the auxiliary anchor out of the upper chain locker. Since we’re in the shed without benefit of the hydraulic winch, that’s a whole lot of pulling.

The 250 feet length of anchor line soaked in a bleach solution for a day, was rinsed and is now looped and drying over the stair rail. It looks like new (it should, since we never use it) and smells pretty good too.

Rain pants, fishing pants, work pants too.

The anchor rode may look good, but the chain locker is a different story. Seawater and miscellaneous organic matter end up being stored with the chain, despite its receiving a fresh water washdown before it reaches the chainpipe. There’s some stinky stuff in that space, until the chain locker is cleaned up. (Thank you Capt. for handling that job solo!) 

The Capt. spent a lot of time in the upper chain locker.

     Above: the bitter end of the auxiliary anchor rode, tied off securely. 

Coming soon: the final coats of AwlSpar Varnish, bottom paint and a modification solution for the chain lockers.