Most everything is off the deck. Holes that will not be used again have been beveled and filled. Teak is stripped. Parts of the bottom are coated with epoxy mixed with West System barrier coat additive 422 on the way to six coats everywhere. Once the barrier coat is in place I will prime the bottom and leave it at that stage.

The teak will be prepared and sealed with Semco pretty soon. Then the near endless task of sanding, filling, priming, etc., etc. getting ready to shoot the Alexseal white topcoat will take whatever time it takes. Other considerations are numerous and will likely get out of hand. These include fabricating new chainplates, replacing the forward hatch with something other than the original teak/stainless/lexan headbanger/guillotine (perhaps simply add spring/gas lifters?), adding a large hatch for the saloon, and rebuilding the deck fitting for the fireplace flue.

For a while I considered moving the chainplates out perhaps four inches to get the required support structures closer to the hull, but that makes little sense. Moving them out trashes a tight sheeting angle. Other issues are working inside the cabinet in the head and making the aft supports presentable as they will be visible in the saloon. The current chainplates work but they also strike me as simply ridiculous being tangs let into a stainless angle under the deck with a single stainless strap extending a couple of feet down onto the hull where it disappears into a ball of roving. Between the deck and the angle is a stout slab of solid fiberglass. Of course, the whole business is inches from a hull/deck joint that is bulletproof. I still cannot shake the idea of big seas doing bad things to this setup. It seems this was the original design. Although no movement was noted by my surveyor and I have never noticed slack shrouds on the lee side, I simply do not like or trust this setup. And as usual, the stainless chainplates leak. On deck the ends are in slight depressions rather than sticking out of raised pads thus assuring a supply of water for leaking purposes long after the rest of the deck is dry. All wrong.

I spent considerable time coming up with potential designs for new chainplates. They are based on those of the new U.S. Navy 44 STC sailboats by Pedrick and those of the Farrier 44SC. The stainless thimble and 1/2" or 5/8" pin arrangement on deck is pretty standard. I would use 9 oz. S2 glass rather than carbon as weight is not a problem. There would be ten or twelve layers for each. A few layers of uni carbon would also possibly come into play. The old saw that one "can pick up the boat by the chainplates" would easily apply to such a design. The fallback position is heavy aluminum bronze straps that drop to the hull at the angles required to hit the ends of the spreaders and the shroud tangs. The straps would be solidly attached with bronze bolts to ribs that are extremely well bonded to the hull at the turn of the bilge. Online Metals would be the source for the bronze.

The fireplace flue exits through a massive bronze deck iron. Amazingly, a new one can be had (for only $175!). One is supposed to put water in the little moat to keep the pipe cool. Right. I am thinking that thing may be history - as soon as I can figure out how to detach it without doing some sort of regrettable and expensive damage. A more modern device may be required.