Experience has shown me that at this stage in my winter projects I have to be careful not to open too many workstreams without making significant progress on any of them. This risk is particularly large when it comes to demolition, which is usually easier and more fun than putting things back together! Yesterday I re bed the mount for our outboard motor crane, which I suspect may be the source of our aft cabin leak, and I also re bed the chainplate I tried (and failed) to re seal last weekend. As it turns out, I don’t have enough working room to re bed it properly with butyl tape, so I have reverted to 3M 4000 caulk. The next time I have the rig out I will re-bed all of them with butyl tape but I don’t have enough access to do it right with the rig in. Today I started tearing out the wood panel behind the port settee so I can begin ripping out the vinyl backing behind it. A driving rain has already begun to fall that is expected to last through tomorrow. Have I succeeded in fixing both the aft cabin and port chainplate leak? Watch this space to find out!

Removing the decorative slatting in the aft cabin last weekend and tearing out the moldy vinyl lining the hull under the cushion allowed me to check today for any leaks remaining in this area of the boat. There was a driving rain this morning and I found a nice little puddle in the berth where the sleeper’s feet would like. Fixing boats is like detective work, and I traced a trail of water to some source above the storage cabinets. Those cabinets are also lined with vinyl, so I started pulling it out and quickly found more mold had gathered under that vinyl over the years. Out it goes!

Early on when owning a recently-purchased brokerage boat, it’s always a little game of “catch up” hunting down the deck leaks one inherits. During our summer season in New England I fixed a few but I have a few more to go, primarily as a result of Hinckley Yacht Services either having chosen poor sealants, having done a poor job of preparing mating surfaces, or both when sealing items.

During the first 35 years of Blue Moon‘s life, various leaks have appeared and been fixed, but not before leaving their mark in the form of mold hiding in various parts of the boat. The result has been a slight moldy smell down below, especially near some of the vinyl used to cover the inside of the boat’s cabinets and the edges of the settees, in the aft bunk, etc. We plan to replace the cushions aboard entirely to rid them of the moldy smell, and the only solution to the vinyl issue will be to hear it out and replace it. Yesterday I got a start by pulling apart the finishing covering the topsides in the aft cabin.

And I couldn’t be more excited! We had a terrific fall season day sailing around Annapolis and taking a couple of short overnight cruises, but just before Thanksgiving it was finally time to haul out and get set up for a fun winter of projects!