Boat Jobs You Don't want to do Again

[Greenheart]

Rejecting out of hand might be a mistake if it's right in all other respects. Yes, getting the old one off will be 'orrible - get yourself a good dust mask and have access to a good shower at the end of the day...as a bonus, you'll have access to the undersides of all the potential sources of leaks while the lining's off.

Excellent advice, which I kept in mind while trying to sort the hideous 40 years' neglect on the Achilles 24's deckheads and bulkheads. The 'van-lining' I found was astonishingly effective, too, and somehow stuck like 'fuzzy-felt' to the clean weave of the glassfibre, which saved me a packet on adhesive and respirator...

...but, still...it was grotty work that I never finished and which I really don't want to repeat...especially because I work already, and the boat is meant to be the pinnacle of enjoyment in my free-time.

So many much bigger, once-dazzling boats are temptingly affordable, though all need work which I could do. For the sake of sailing rather than toiling through the years ahead, I'd simply rather pay more, for one that doesn't need any hard unpleasant graft.

 

[Stemar]

I'd simply rather pay more, for one that doesn't need any hard unpleasant graft.

You mean you're going to buy new, then?

 

[Greenheart]

Newer than 1970s, let's say.

I don't actually like most new boats, certainly none that I can afford...so the delicate balance of what I'm willing to pay versus what principles I'm willing to compromise, is made much harder by the challenge to find a Westerly with, e.g. refurbished headlining, than by any desire to buy a boat newer in style than a Westerly.

That's only an example, but an indicative one.

I spent the better part of two summer seasons fixing a few things aboard the Achilles - cracked old rudder headstock, decrepit washboard holders, absent forestay tang, lousy reefing set-up, unfound rainwater leaks, abysmal guardrail stanchion bases, missing engine well plug, plus the hideous headlining and far more...some of which only spoiled the happy picture I had previously envisaged, while others were a god-damned liability...

...but I learned not to buy another boat that will need me to spend half the summer seeking advice and buying lots of expensive materials (and spending weeks of holiday time) to correct. It isn't sailing, or any part of boating, and I reckon it's daft to pretend it's all worth it. I mean, I was daft, and (I hope) I know better now.

 

[westhinder]

Complete antifoul removal … the only time I did it was long enough ago to have the memory fade, so I am planning to do it again

Just a quick follow up: it was less of a nightmare than I remembered, I managed to do the boat in two days. Was it thanks to a better scraper tool, or to the fact it was a relatively thin layer of self-eroding antifoul, rather than the thick buildup of hard antifoul on the previous boat? Anyway, the hull is ready for a coat of primer and new antifoul.

 

[Nos4r2]

Anything that involves cutting carbon fibre without a full body condom.

If you think cutting GRP makes you itch, carbon fibre is 1000 times worse.