One Girls Ocean Challenge

December 10, 2011
Yesterday Nick and I got the filler all faired in nicely and then I was at Bristol Marine painting on the Interprotect until the whistle blew at 1630.  I just barely got the sixth coat on, but I didn’t get a second more to take a picture.  On Monday we’ll sand up the Interprotect and put the bottom paint on.  It’s been a fantasticly successful week, and we’re ahead of schedule!  Next week we should be rolling OGOC back over about mid week and then starting on the new non skid on deck.  Happy Saturday everyone!
Diane

December 8, 2011
Another fun filled day of sanding, fairing, sanding, fairing and a little more filling.  Nick got the keel all mucked in and he and I sanded up the fairing on the hull.  We’re using a combination of air tools to sand with and then long boarding to make it perfect.  It’s painful on the shoulders but the finished product is well worth it.  We added a little more  filler tonight and the final sanding on the hull is scheduled for tomorrow.  Then some Interprotect and we’ll see how she looks.  Here’s a shot of the keel.

Dec 7, 2011
Today started out with sanding masks, and air tools.  What could be more exciting!  We got the two main areas of concern on the hull sanded out and then filled in with an epoxy Qcell and Cabosil filler.

Next we moved over to the keel.  There is a crack along the starboard side that runs right along the keel bulb joint.  It’s been a concern as it often weeps water in the summer, so it’s getting wet.  A few good whacks with a chisel and hammer and the great mystery was revealed.  There is a large void in the fairing work at the leading edge of the crack.

The fiberglass and fairing compound was built up nicely over the void, but there was definitely a pocket there to hold water and continue to work that crack.  We cleaned out the crack and the void and tomorrow morning’s job is to emery paper in some epoxy into the steel and then build in some structurally strong cow pie.
Then we’ll glass it over and fair it in.
Diane

Dec 7, 2011
Success!  I’m still working on editing the video and pics, but here’s the finished product!  One inverted Mini.  This is the ONLY time that it’s good to be in this position.  🙂  Thanks to the whole team who made this possible.  Bristol Marine, Port Credit Harbour Marina and of course the OGOC crew.  You guys are awesome!  Now we move on to the tough stuff.  Time to sand and fair the bottom.  The jobs list for the next week sais….”sand, fill, fair, paint…repeat, sand, fill, fair, paint…..repeat until you get a shiny smooth surface”.

It’s been a very successful day.  We’ve pulled the keel bolts, and all the bolts holding in the partners stabilizing the position of the keel.  Here’s a pic of the keel plate.  The two bolts in the middle are what holds the keel in, and in the second slide you can see the gaps around the keel underneath the plate.  There are shims that go in place here that hold everything.  We’ve had a few lengthy discussions with Bristol about how to do the rollover, and we’re good to go first thing in the morning 🙂

December 5, 2011
Today’s mission…..marketing meeting, prep for the roll over, remove the keelbolts and give her a flip!
Diane

December 2, 2011
What an awesome team we have!  In a short one and a half work days Nick, Sheila, Andrew and I have managed to strip all of the gear off of the deck.  Now we’re ready to roll…..literally!  The plan is on Monday afternoon or early Tuesday morning, with the help of Bristol Marine we’ll pull the keel off and then roll her over to fair the bottom.  We need to make her bottom “go fast” smooth for France.
We’ve also assessed a small deflection in the hull to determine if the deflection is a result of a bulkhead or floor shifting or just the usual changes of a hull after dropping off of waves and spending thousands of miles in the ocean.   We exposed the floor grid and the bulkhead by cutting in to the quarter berth and diggging out the flotation foam, and had a good hard look.   The good news is that everything is in tact.  This is great news! Now we can just fair the jull once she’s rolled over!  Phew 🙂  I would have taken a picture of the deflection, but the camera batteries ran out!  I’ll try for Monday.  In the meantime, here’s the stripped deck and a candid shot of the blonde chick banging away at pulling the pulpit, taken by our own photographer….Nick 🙂

December 1, 2011
We’re all moved in at Bristol Marine.  The work list we’re tackling is fairly short, but in reality it’s incredibly extensive.  We’re going to pull all of the hardware off the deck to do new non skid so I don’t slide all over the place in the ocean.  The keel needs to come off so we can seperate the bulb and find out why it’s cracking at the joint, and then we’re going to roll her over to rectify the oil canning in the stern and totally fair in the bottom.  Today’s jobs consisted of getting her in the shop, pulling hardware and cutting a nice size hole in the port quarter berth to inspect the internal bulkhead and the floor where it ties in to the bulkhead.  It was a big job digging out all of the flotation foam to get a good inspection, but once we got in there and got a good look at the glasswork, it was clear that the problem isn’t from the inside.  Tomorrow we’ll consult with Mr. Bailey (Bristol’s Service Manager) to see what his thoughts are on the oil canning and the best repair.  Then pull the rest of the gear off the deck and plan for rolling her over on Monday.  I’ll try to take some pictures tomorrow 🙂
Diane