Category Archives: Repairs

Back in the Boatyard

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We are back on the hard in Norsand Boatyard.  What, you are probably asking, “why?”  Well, we had a lot of little things we needed to do – each individually would not warrant a haul out, but together they did.

Boatyard Projects on the List

  • Reburnish the Coppercoat (due to our barnacle incident)
  • Fix small gelcoat damage (another boat ran into our starboard bow)
  • Water Tanks: Scrape, clean, and repaint interior 
  • Repair Teak on both Sugar Scoops 
  • Wax the hulls and stern

Haul out

Hauling your home out of its natural environment and onto a trailer is always nerve racking.  However, Kevin and Shayne at Norsand Boatyard are experts and they truly take every precaution to ensure our home is safe. 

Coppercoat

We applied fresh Coppercoat in late December 2023 and had a massive issue 6 weeks later after being in a barnacle infested river.  Coppercoat UK and the local NZ Coppercoat distributor agreed to reburnish the bottom of our boat. This particular task requires us to be out of the water so the boatyard can sand the entire bottom with 320 grit sand paper.  

I will say that we rock!  Why do you ask?  Well, we spent days in the freezing cold water scraping and cleaning our bottom and it looks so much better than other boats with barnacles on their Coppercoat.  I took a photo of a monohull that had similar barnacle problems to us (lower right photo).  As you can see they were not as successful at removing the “feet” of the barnacles (little white spots) as we were.  And another boat with Coppercoat who stayed in the barnacle infested water for over 6 months had a reef with baby eels falling off of it when she hauled out (lower left photo).

Sugar Shack bottom at haul out (top) and another boat after haul out (bottom), both with Coppercoat.  Yep, we did good.  

Coppercoat Repair

Once we were out of the water, we noticed an area that has 4 spots that are down to the barrier coat – that is not good.  So we have to address this issue.

Conor fills the spots with filler and Coppercoat.  It needs a sanding, then it is ready to be burnished with the rest of the bottom.

Burnsing the Coppercoat

Right before we splash, the yard comes back to burnish the Coppercoat with 320 grit sandpaper.  Not sure what I expected, but honestly, I was surprised that the bottom turned back to copper color after the boys (Ian and Shamus) burnished it.  It was soooo smooth.

It even had a shiny penny look when the sun hit it.

Hit by another Boat

Another boat hits us while we were docked at Town Basin Marina.  It was rather an unfortunate occurrence but the damage was minimal.  This other boat was trying to squeeze in front of us and claimed he had bow thrusters.  He had bow thrusters, but they did not work.  The tide was pretty strong and carried his boat side ways causing the stern of his boat, with his dinghy and dinghy outboard to scratch the inside starboard bow.

Aaron from Norsand Boat yard came out to give us an estimate and the other boat owner, begrudgingly paid us the $1500NZ that it cost to repair our boat.

While we were at it we had the boatyard finish a job they forgot to complete last time.  They missed cleaning up the repair around the port cleat (the cleat goes where the 3 holes are) the repair was the cracks around the cleat.

Water Tanks

Our two water tanks hold about 400L of water each and are built into the boat.  When the boat was built, the manufacturer used some sort of weird potable paint that has not held up well.  For several years it has been peeling away and clogging up our filters.  Matt has drained the tanks, scraped the excess paint off, and vacuumed up the mess several times.  But, it was beyond time for us to completely clean out the tanks and repaint them with special non-toxic potable paint.

The white or light specs are actually pieces of chipped paint.  Now don’t completely freak out because we do have several filters for each water tank (which holds 400L).  So the water goes through each filter before coming to the taps.

This is such a huge project that I decided to write a separate blog about it so I can include more of the details (in case any of our other fellow cruisers need to do this too).  See upcoming blog post “Disgusting Water Tank.”

Repairing the Teak on our Sugar Scoops

The teak on both the port and starboard sugar scoops has had a long, challenging life span in direct sun light, constantly covered in salt water and enduring heavy usage.  We try to be diligent with its care but it is completely exposed to salt water, sun and constant use.  We’ve replaced the teak about 8-9 years ago, but it time to do a temporary repair until we can replace them again (it is a long and expensive process so we want to squeeze as much life out of these sugar scoops as we can).

As you can see, the black caulking has come up and is completely missing in some places. It is time to repair it all.

I watched several YouTube videos and pulled Matt in to help.  This is turning out to be a much larger job than we anticipated. So, the details of the teak repair will be coming out in an upcoming blog called “Caulking the Sugar Scoops Teak” stay tuned.

Waxing the Boat

Ian, aka “Stretch” comes in to wax our boat and make her as shiny as possible (considering her gelcoat is thin and old).  He always does such a great job.

While we were working on the sugar scoops we had to get on and off the boat with a very tall (15 steps) ladder which was such a pain in the arse!  Luckily it was only for 2 of the 6 weeks we were here.

As you can see we made the most of this haul out in the boat yard.  We were anxious to get back in the water as we prepare to head to a new country, Vanuatu.

Our blog posts run several weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occurred late April 2024. We enjoy some rough housing during the stock car races in Whangarei.

What Happens When Matt is Alone on the Boat?

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Many of you have asked, “What does Matt do alone on the boat while you are in America?”  He does whatever he wants, when he wants, and how he wants.  Of course, he keeps busy with the never ending list of boat projects, but he also makes time for fun!

During this trip he has managed to go on several long paddle board rides.  He brings his garmen and then uploads the track to create fun animated videos.  I took snap shots of the final route on a few of them – one he even made a heart!  As you can see, he progressively went on longer and longer routes…starting at 4.7 miles, then 6.5 miles, then 7.1 miles.  Of course, this is his “alone” time even when I am on the boat as you won’t be finding me doing a 7 mile paddle!

Boat Projects

There are always boat projects to do and Matt continues to tackle the list!  He cleaned out both port and starboard diesel tanks, replaced the Raco diesel filter and secured the baffles inside the tanks with bolts.

Matt is famous for starting a project, then starting another project before the first project is complete.  Usually, its because he needs a tool or part.  But when this happens, I ask that he clean up his mess at the end of every day.  While I am gone, he starts piles of projects all over the place – which drives me crazy.  But, it doesn’t matter because I am not there!

He may be alone, but he was a very busy boy:

  • He dropped off and picked up our Genoa which was in for a quick repair with North sails,
  • Picked up our new exterior cushions, sunshades, table covers, cockpit cushions, cockpit pockets, and recycle bags.  Then installed them.
  • Filled our jerry cans with both gasoline and diesel
  • Started installing the bathroom accessories in both heads (needs me on a few pieces)
  • Tested the new Bauer Jr dive compressor, only for it to fry our new inverter charger (guess we will be selling the new to us dive compressor)
  • Mounted our new main sheet line bags on the transom
  • Installed a new 6 button C-Zone controller on the starboard helm

New Cockpit light installed.  We have a cockpit light that we leave on at night so that it is easier to find the boat in the sea of boats at anchor.  The light is white or red.  As you can see our original light was a little corroded.   Our new light is a Nevis2 Engine Light that we bought on Amazon.

I posted photos of the canvas work on the blog “Final Touches on Sugar Shack.”  

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events. This blog post occurred in March 2024.  If you missed our last blog, Road Trip to America, then you don’t know why Matt is alone.

Chap my Hide! Dinghy Chaps Unglued

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Our new dinghy, a Highfield 360CL, has had a few issues.  Most recently the velcro holding the dinghy chaps (which are the cover to protect the pontoons) stopped sticking to the dinghy.  

We had our dinghy chaps custom made by Kim at Masterpieces in Canvas about 8 months ago.  She did an amazing job and we have had over a dozen people compliment us on the well made covers!   It was not her fault that the velcro sticky back stopped sticking.

The Problem

Kim used the sticky glue on the back of the velcro to adhere the chaps to the dinghy. The male part of the velcro stuck to the chaps and the female part (soft) of the velcro stuck to the dinghy.  In theory this works and it did for a short while (8 months).  But as the dinghy gets hot and cold in the sun it expands and contracts.  This causes the glue on the velcro to loosen and come off.  So, not a good long term plan.

With our last dinghy, we had the velcro glued onto hypalon strips, then sewn together, then we used special glue to stick the hypalon strips to the hypalon dinghy.  We should have remembered to do that to these chaps, but it slipped our mind as we had so much other stuff going on.  Our new dinghy is made from PVC not hypalon unfortunately. 

Hindsight is 20-20 they say.

The Remedy

We had a lovely conversation with Tim at Northland Inflatables.  He was able to sell us PVC strips and special PVC contact glue.  In addition, he walked us through the best way to remove the glue from the dinghy, the application of the velcro to the PVC, and the glueing process of the PVC strips to the dinghy. He is a wealth of information!

Tim informed us that the PVC strips will be stronger if you cut them diagonally across the fabric (rather than with the grain of the fabric).  Good tip.

We were ready to start this project after purchasing our special 2-part PVC contact glue, special brush, and 18m of 30mm wide PVC strips!

Step 1A: The Prep

It seems like all I do is glue removal projects!   Removal of all of the graphic stickers and its 23 year old glue, scraping all of the glue, 5200 and silicone from the ceiling panels, 6 hatch frames and of their adhesive, and now the dinghy glue.  And the funny thing is that they are all different, using different glues, on different surfaces, and requiring different removal techniques.

We removed the outboard and hauled the 75kilo dinghy up using our spin halyard.  Placing the dinghy on our two bean bags allowed easier access to the glue areas on the outside (see photo below).

The dinghy has 23 pieces of velcro spanning over 18 meters.  Tim had suggested we make the strips 30mm wide even though our velcro was only 25mm. He thought it might make sewing easier.  But in retrospect we should have just got 25mm strips.  Now we have to accomodate for the extra 5mm.  What I decided to do was apply the velcro on the bottom of each strip and had the extra 5mm on the top.  The reason I did this was because several velcro strips aligned with a seam and we did not want the white PVC strips to show.

We created a sheet and labeled/numbered each piece of velcro so we know exactly where it goes when we put it back.

Step 1B: More Prep

We used a pencil to mark where each piece of velcro (the edges, start and end) and then we taped all around the velcro before removal.  Taping will help limit the spread of glue and MEK when you start the adhesive removal process.  

We were really good about marking the edges but we did not tape until afterwards.  So the problem was the MEK took off the pencil markings so we had to guess where some of the pieces went. And some of the MEK extended beyond the velcro area causing a very slight discoloration.  So, tape before removing your velcro.

Step 2: The Removal

I carefully remove each of the 23 strips of velcro, one at a time. I place them on the PVC strips lining them up on the edge and labeling each one so I know where they go when we have to put them back onto the dinghy.

Next I get to removing the tons of glue off the dinghy.

We cannot use anything sharp to remove the glue because we would risk puncturing the pontoon (very bad).  I tried a rubber square, a plastic paddle, and a cool tool Aaron from Norsand Boatyard had given me and none of them worked.

Finally Matt brought out a putty knife that he adapted for me.  He rounded the corners and dulled the blade.  Eventually, I was able to remove the adhesive while using a heat gun to warm up the glue and the modified putty knife.  This would get the large globs off.  Then I went back with MEK (really nasty stuff) and a non-absorbent rag to remove the difficult to see remnants of the glue.  If you use an absorbent rag you end up wasting a lot more MEK. But you have to wear very thick, high quality gloves as the MEK will eat your skin and nails!

After many hours we finally have a dinghy without residue…clean.  It is always amusing to me that I have such a hard time removing adhesives.  Why do you ask?  Well, I am removing it because it no longer sticks, so why is it hard to come off?  Why I ask you?

Note

Tim from Northland Inflatables told us to put the velcro on the dull side of the PVC strips.  The dull side is the side that has UV protection which does not stick as well as the clean shiny side with no UV protection. The trick is trying to determine the shiny side from the dull side while in the sun.  So, we stick the velcro to the dull side, then sew it on.  This leaves the shiny, clean side ready for the contact glue to stick to the dinghy.

Step 3: Sewing

I tried to use our trusty Baby Lock sewing machine to sew the velcro to the PVC strips.  However, the machine struggled with the PVC as it was slippery and wouldn’t move with the machine’s foot.  And it made the stitching on the back look funny.

Matt breaks out our new “to us” Sailrite Sewing machine.  I had not used this machine yet as it totally intimidated me!  But, you got to start somewhere.  The Sailrite has much better feet and it just sucked the strips right through!

I had 38 meters of sewing to do as I sewed all four sides of each of the 23 strips of velcro to the PVC – it will not move now!

Step 4: Glue PVC strips to Dinghy

We did a lot of research on what was the best glue to stick things to PVC and either Bostik 995 or PVC contact glue were stated to be the best.  We found a tiny bottle (50ml) of Bostik 995 at All Marine for over $100.  Well that won’t do as we need over 300ml.  So, we asked Tim what we should use and suggested this special contact PVC glue that he uses on all of his dinghy repairs.  He sold us 300ml for $25.  Sweet as!

We run MEK along the strips and the dinghy to ensure there is nothing that will prohibit a good stick.

Next, we tape off the dinghy where each strip goes.  This will protect the dinghy from getting excess glue on it and it will help us align the strips in the exact place since we won’t have the luxury to move them around once they make contact with each other.

Matt and I work together to adhere the PVC strips.  Tim gave us a “chip” brush that he cut down to almost a stub and then rounded the corners.  He said this will help us to use less contact glue.

First you apply the contact glue to the PVC strip and then to the corresponding area on the dinghy.  You let it set for 10-15 minutes.  Then you go back with a heat gun to warm both up and slowly and carefully apply the PVC strip to the dinghy.  I say “slowly and carefully” because once the PVC strip makes contact with the dinghy it aint movin.  

Then I follow behind with a dowel to press the PVC strip to the dinghy and ensure it is stuck on good.

We ended up having to get an additional canister of the special PVC contact glue to finish our project.  But we did use it for two other smaller projects.  In the end I think we probably used 350-400ml.  We were probably more generous with the glue than necessary.

Completion

As you can see we are doing our best to leave no room for errors and to ensure this is stuck on good.  After a week of work we are finally done and our beautiful chaps are now snug as a bug in a rug!  Let’s hope these last us many years.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occured in early January 2024.  Don’t miss out on our luxurious experience at Wai Ariki Hotsprings and Spa – check out our last blog post.