Rotten to the CORE! Replace rotten sailboat decking, BEFORE the Lofrans Windlass rips right out!

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How to Repair a Rotten Sailboat Deck, BEFORE THE WINDLASS RIPS OUT!!! Patrick Childress Sailing #48

This is a dirty job, and someone has to do it…DIY. Patrick Childress sets to work to take out the Lofrans Tigers Windlass that has pulled our anchor up for more than 12 years, and sometimes other objects too. The deck pounder the Windlass was showing signs of weakness, so rather than waiting for a problem, Patrick tackles it himself.

After the Windlass is out, he rips up the deck to find rotten coring, and a wet core. He digs out the coring, prepares the surface for fiberglass and epoxy, and take you step by step through the repair of making the deck solid fiberglass, sanding, fairing, and then on to priming and painting the deck. now the fiberglass deck is stronger than ever, and will take us to many more anchorages!

Thank you AMT Composites for all of your technical advice and for having just the right materials for all of our jobs on this big haulout in South Africa!

 

 

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Something is Missing from our Keel!

 

 

Monkey on a Redport Halo WiFi Long Distance Antenna!

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What happens when a monkey swings from a Redport Halo long distance WiFi antenna on a sailboat in a boatyard in Africa?

We found out today. We are in a boatyard in Zululand Yacht Club…in Richards Bay, South Africa, as many of you know, and a monkey went “ape-shit” on our Redport Halo WiFi Antenna that we use for WiFi, from Global Marine Networks (GMN) The antenna hung there, horizontal…with coal dust heavy on the otherwise white antenna.

Its been a few years now since we put this antenna up..and while we don’t use it all the time, because we often have cellular data..it has proven it’s worth. We arrive to a country and don’t even have to get off the boat to get a new SIM card..and wala…we can get a WiFi signal and catch some internet, often complimentary! Sometimes we even get it Sailing up the coast before we ever arrive! Communication at sea at its best! More about it here

All cleaned up after 2 years and 5000 miles

We crawled up the stern arch, disconnected the antenna and brought it down to the deck. (it’s only a simple network cable, easily replaced anywhere, so if it had no problem!) So we cleaned it up, we applied new tape, and reassembled, tightening the little set screws, and put it back up. ITS WORKING!


So now we all know that a Redport Halo Long Distance WiFi Antenna can get beat up my a monkey in Africa and survive, and triumph!

And look at how stainless the stainless steel looks after 2 years. This thing is built to last!

Borneo Malaysia 3 Years ago…Proboscis Monkey!

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You are a Monkey!

Something is Missing from our Keel!

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Something is Missing from our keel…

Patrick Childress, after 12 years on Brick House, on his second circumnavigation explains what he does when he finds out we are missing the proper amount of structural foam in our keel…it is hollow! When sitting on the hard, this problem can cause a keel to oil can, or even crack,  when its blocked in the unsound section of the keel. Patrick then shows the process for the correction of what to do when your keel is hollow or damaged. He demonstrates sailboat keel repair with epoxy fiberglass, and how to fill the voids. Keel repair can be done by a sailor, it just takes some sailboat diy knowledge.

We have been sailing around the world for 12 years on our sailboat Brick House. We are hauled out of the water , and it’s time to fix and upgrade a few things on this 41 year old boat!

We received a lot of valuable technical support from AMT Composites here in South Africa, and we thank them for their patience and time. Very knowledgeable and like-able people to work with.

We will be using a number of products they recommended, imported from all over the world, namely Gurit Fiberglass Resin which is very comparable to West Systems. They seem to have all the supplies we need for this fiberglass keel repair, as well as for our blister repair, epoxy barrier coat, and right down to the paintbrushes! They supply the materials for many of the major boatbuilders in South Africa, and are highly respected among the professionals here.  Every cruiser who hails out here, should definitely consider doing business with this company to make sure they get the higher quality resin and other materials in South Africa! If Sarah doesn’t know the answer, ask for John…he is an absolute wealth of knowledge and will help you figure out the right materials for your fiberglass boat project or repair.

Contact here:

Sarah Cochrane|Amt Composites (KZN) | Tel: +27 (0) 31 705 2034| Email: sarah   

https://www.amtcomposites.co.za

 

What Worked, What Didn’t, After 11 years…on Bluewater Cruising Sailboat Brick House