February 21, 2010

It was a storm-filled week. The ferry next to the harbor where Circadian is berthed measured gusts of 50 knots. My only casualty was the dog ramp, which apparently blew off the dock where it was lying. Pretty impressive considering it was heavy and presented little windage. When the storms finally cleared, just in time for the weekend, they left beautiful cloud-filled skies.

I spent a good part of the day Saturday doing repairs and clean-up at home after a waterheater hose burst and flooded my basement shop. By Sunday I was able to get out to Circadian to check on the status of cabin and cockpit locker leaks and to try to install a couple of new hatch doors to cover some uncovered locker openings in the cockpit.

The leak verdict was mixed. Everything I had done in the last few weeks worked and stopped the known leaks. However, there was still water on the galley counter that apparently had come through a cabinet under the deck, and there was still a little water on top of the port side fuel tank. I’m pretty sure the leak over the counter is originating from another of the boarded-over, poorly caulked-over original port openings. (Now I know the next new port I have to install, if and when it stops raining for a significant period of time!) All I was able to do about it this weekend was to cover the leaking port with plastic and duct tape. The only place I could see where there could be a leak over the fuel tank was around the filler cap, so I put a bit of Life Caulk around it. (No time to pull it and rebed it properly, but at least I’ll find out if the peripheral sealing helps.)

I wanted to close off the two big locker openings that were just naked holes on either side of the cockpit because if the cockpit should ever fill, unlikely though it is with Circadian’s well-sheltered center cockpit, the result could be catastrophic down-flooding.

Months ago I picked up a couple of new hatch covers approximately the right size from Minney’s Yacht Surplus in Newport Beach (via Ebay) for about half the usual retail price. I was only able to get one installed (temporarily, without sealant) this weekend because the existing cutout on the starboard side was too wide and I’ll need to fabricate and 'glass in a fiberglass panel to fill the gap before I can get the second one installed. Once both are ready for installation, I'll install them permanently with the specified silicone sealant. (Cheapskate that I am, I don't want to open the tube of sealant until I can bed them both.)

I was able to do as much as I could on Circadian and clean up in time to enjoy a beautiful sunset drive home.

Today, Monday, is President’s Day, so I had the day off and was able to drive in to Alameda to pick up my repaired and restitched genoa at Rooster sails. Once I made it back from the long drive, I spent the remainder of the day doing laundry and nursing the aches and bruises from the cockpit hatch cover work.