Replaced Thru-Hulls and Seacocks-Down the rabbit hole

I hauled Aeolus out last week to do bottom paint and replace all my below the waterline thru-hulls as well as install proper seacocks and backing blocks. My bottom paint lasted two seasons and was finally tired. I recoated with West Marine PCA Gold and expect another couple years. Slime appears on it over time, but it has appeared on every paint I have ever used here in the NW, including Trinidad SR. Anyway, bottom paint is straightforward and not the topic of this post.

No, the topic here is the big kahuna of cutting big holes in the boat and filling them in. I'll try to put some order to this process as it was pretty epic.

Gulf 32 Thru-Hulls and original equipment
When we bought Aeolus she still had plastic gate valves screwed directly onto the thru-hulls with only a 2"X2" and 1/4" backing square and the nut that comes with the thru-hull. Dreadful. I replaced the plastic gate valves with Marelon ball valves back in 2007 even though I knew the mating of bronze and Marelon was less than ideal, because it beat the hell out of what had been. Although none of them leaked, I had reason to doubt the condition of the meager backing blocks and the status of the bronze itself, and I was of course anxious to get proper flanges installed and redo the whole works. I put this project off from my last haul out because I had a lot going on and I think I was a bit intimidated by the scope of what would be involved. My concerns about the thru-hulls, and project, turned out to be justified. The photo below shows the sink drain thru hull before being worked on.

Turns out that all thru-hulls on a Gulf 32, and I presume on all Capital Yachts boats like Newports, are glassed in flush head fittings. That's right, glassed in, flush head. I'm sure these were used on Gulf's simply because they were used on the faster Newport boats and they had them laying around the shop. However, this installation method is unusual, and means that they are impossible to replace without major surgery on the boat. Most every other boat in the boat yard, especially cruising boats, will have mushroom head thru hulls. If that had been the case on Aeolus, I would have been able to do the whole job in two easy days, no problem. Instead, I had to tackle a major deconstruction and reconstruction project for four full days of 12 or more hours each.

Spectacular weekend of fun

Over the next few days I will have a number of posts relating to a recent flurry of boat activity, and I will start today with a quick recap of a spectacular weekend of sailing last weekend. We left Bainbridge on Friday and made the long journey up to San Juan Island. It takes a good 5 hours of travel time all told, and though much of that is on ferries, it is still a bit long. Nevertheless, the closer we get to Friday Harbor the happier we become and the night aboard Aeolus was splendid.

In the morning we gathered up one of Elliott's close friends from the island and headed straight over to Spencer Spit on Lopez Island. There was no wind, so we had to motor, but it was still great.

Peregrines, Sea Lions, and the Windrope boys

The boys and I did wander and play for a few days last week, on land and sea, and had all sorts of fun that is funny. We went to Stuart Island first, and hiked out to the lighthouse as we have numerous times before. The skunk cabbage was starting to bloom and it is quite a sight. The rope swing on the way up to the school was in fine shape and Owen had the biggest swing of all since he is smaller and I can lift him higher.

Reid Harbor was deserted but for us, and we saw only one person on the entire island. People stay away by the millions...and wallow in the urban decrepitude! So alone, we watched as the resident Peregrine Falcon swooped and intimidated all the birds around. We witnessed a big bull sea lion hanging out right off Turn Point below us. It was majestic. There is a grassy bluff up above the lighthouse a ways that is certainly one of the prettiest places in the whole NW. It is off the trail a bit, and looks out over everything with the most picturesque duo of a doug fir and madrone right at the point nestled together. It is a pinch me spot.