My 1980 Cavalier 28 spent ten weeks on hard stand from late Oct 25 until early Jan 26. As a newbie I did extensive research on this forum in preparation. There is a lot of great info here and hopefully I can help summarise and link to it over a few posts as I detail the project and share my experience.
My first remark is that it was exhausting which is why I didn't start writing this earlier. I actually needed another a couple of weeks on hard stand to finish things off better, but I couldn't afford the time or the fees. I needed a break and to catch up on other things. So I've probably already forgotten a lot of what I was going to share. I'll see what I can remember as I add to this topic from time to time over the coming weeks.
The next thing I would say is that it was a great experience. It was hard and very challenging but fun. Working hard outdoors. My previous experience was limited to antifouling, minor repairs, replacing the odd bit of running rigging. Refurbishing a 28 foot fin keel yacht by myself was a good size project for an inexperienced person. Anything bigger and beamier would have been too much for me to take on single-handed as a first project. If I ever get something bigger I would be confident in tackling it with another helping hand.
I purchased the boat five years ago in a fit of lockdown madness. My previous boat was a Hood 23 which gave me many years of joy on Sydney Harbour. Unfortunately, almost immediately after the purchase, I fell seriously ill and couldn't even get out to the boat unless someone rowed me out. So it rotted in the water for a couple of years which of course led to problems. It's only been over the past two years that, as my health recovered, I got to spend more time on the boat and sailing her.
Objectives:
1) Stop water getting in! The windows were leaking like crazy but I suspect water was getting in elsewhere too. Deck fittings? Toe rails?
2) Remove the exessive build up of antifoul. The last condition report, prepared just before I bought her, noted the high build up of antifoul. I suspect the rough moonscape underneath was aiding growth, especially barnicles as they litterally had little nooks and niches to cling onto. Port Hacking is notorious for its high rate of fouling. The water is shallow and clear. The bottom is sandy and reflects the sunligh. My mooring is exposed to the full tidal flow of the river, so the boat acts like a mini-reef. The barnacle growth is outrageous. I usually dive on it every three months and antifould annually. Altex No.5 Plus seems to be the most popular antifoul around here.
3) Strip below the water back to gel coat and see what state the structure was in. Was I going to find any osmosis?
4) Find and deal with any other issues. The gel coat was getting very worn after 45 years of not being well looked after. The moulded in non-skid, which has been painted over in areas, was blistered and cracked off at some places. The fibreglass was showing through in a few other of places on deck. Everything was so dull and warn, it was actually hard to work out which areas were still gelcoat and whch has been painted. Was it letting moisture into the fibreglass? I might as well strip the whole boat back to gel coat and epoxy barrier prime it and give it a paint and fresh non-skid.
5) Spruce up the boat. Make it look pretty and proud.
6) Refurbish the transom hung tiller. Although there was little chatter, there were a couple of patched areas of repair and it looked like it could do with a strip back and filling in of dings and recoating to ensure water wasn't getting in.
The next post will summarise stripping the antifoul.
