No Excuse

[TomW1]

Seaslug, best wishes for your mom and may she be well. Tom

[OrangeQuest]

Gotta love a pressure washer...

And to think you just started with the TLC!

[cape man]

I am assuming this is due to long term exposure freezing and thawing repeatedly... The deck is solid but the gunwales and transom top needs sanding and new glass.

[Jeff]

Cape Man, I think you are correct. The weather has been really tough on her!! Jeff

[Fuzz]

So sorry to hear about your loss SeaSlug!! I hope your Mom does well!!!

Cant watch to watch that boat come back alive!! Jeff

That is a lot of tough blows in a short time. I hope things go well for your mom and you. You are due a break.

[Fuzz]

Is that glass peeling off the wood like it has no bond?

[cape man]

It's weird. In some places it is solid and others it is just peeling off in huge chunks. I'm thinking moisture got in around the edges where there were dings and/or failing paint, and after multiple freezes and thaws it crept in a little farther each year and just pushed the glass off each time it froze. Given where Tom lives and how the boat was parked, I imagine it it was full of snow a few times each year. Anyone who has been in that region in the summer also knows that it is very hot, and VERY humid, so she endured a lot of weather...

The paint Larry used in the interior was failing early on (within a few years after launch). I remember him being upset with it, and wanting to repaint it but his health failed before he could get to it. The big reason he sold it. He could no longer maintain it, and didn't even really want to use it. The Kiwi Grip also went to Hell, but again it was subjected to multiple years of exposure and overgrowth of algae, moss, and lichens. Good news is he used Sterling on the outside and that all looks great except for a big scratch on the port side above the style line. Tom thinks a delivery driver hit it...

I'm not worried at all with anything I am finding as; 1) I watched him build this boat pretty much daily, as I was copying everything he did on my OD 18, so I know how solid it was built; 2) so far it's just some supplies and I have some of them in hand already. Won't cost a lot of $ to fix; 3) my son and his two friends are going to learn to enjoy sanding and fairing, not me ; 4) I was expecting the condition it would be in after sitting for so long; and 5) in the back of my head I can hear Larry saying, "Aint nothing but a Thang!".

There was a small critter nest in one of the hatches and some droppings inside the motor cowling, but all the hoses and wires look good. Both of the batteries took a charge. Whether they will hold it is something different, but after sitting for this many years I was surprised my charger didn't give me the red light "Bad Battery" signal. I am going to drain and refill the fuel tank before even attempting to crank the motor, which "looks" good. Hope it isn't full, as I believe he put a 40 gallon tank under that front deck!!! The radio and gps/sonar look fine - no moisture under the screens. T-top, hardware, hatches, pumps, etc. all look great! Was amazing the before and after on the canvas with the pressure washer! He definitely got some good canvas on that!

The plan is to pull the hardware off the gunwales and a few things off the console and let the guys start sanding! Minimal fairing, some glass work on the gunwales and transom, and new primer where needed (the deck looks good). Quantum 99 top coat (I think I have enough left from when I repainted Clara), and then Kiwi Grip on the decks (again I think I have enough from Clara's redo). All I think we need is primer and maybe a second sander to get two of them working at a time.

Hope to relaunch her sometime next month at the latest and take two OD18s to the Cape this January.

Richard you may want to warn Red Alert that Clara may have a new girlfriend...

[OneWayTraffic]

This thread has convinced me to invest in a high quality boat cover. Pay now or pay later.
For places where the glass will not lift but you want to remove it a heat gun and scraper work about ten times faster and 50 times cleaner than a grinder. I got more experience removing glass than most.

[TomW1]

Those dang little critter nests seem to show up everywhere around here Craig, I have to keep mouse bait in the engine compartment of our cars, or they will get in and chew the cars electrical wires. Those batteries were already 8 years old when I bought No Excuse from Larry so I would not expect much from them, but they sure did not let him or I down. The fuel tank is as I remember only about 1//4-1/3 full and yes, it is a 40-gal tank. You might want to drain and put new oil in the oil tank on the side of the motor, I do not know how well motor oil lasts, but I will leave that up to you.

Be careful on the main deck as the same paint was used as on the gunnels so there may be places where it may be starting to release from the fiberglass.

Tom

[fallguy1000]

That plywood peeled up awful easy. Hope the bottom side isn't shot.

The plywood will drysuck any glass, so I'd probably neat coat it two times before laying any glass on it. It can be wet on wet for all, but I'd use only clear epoxy for the first two coats.

A lot of men pass on with projects like that in the backyard. Good that TomW was wise enough to realize his limits; even if it took awhile.