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Back in 1984 I was doing some work on a boat that my wife and I ultimately chartered for our honeymoon. We left Beverly. MA and sailed up the coast of Maine and enjoyed three weeks of blissful cruising. The vessel was a Robert Perry deigned Valiant Esprit 37. I had been interested in these successful Perry designs since the mid seventies and in particular the 40' version. The Valiant 40 has a reputation for sea kindly swiftness and they have proven their merit by winning multiple ocean races and safely transporting cruising sailors throughout the worlds oceans. Suffice to say, by the end of the honeymoon, I was drinking the Valiant Kool Aid.
Fast forward to 2008:
Good news, I finally found a Valiant 40 I could afford, she is a 1977. The bad news is that she was very very needy. Amulet was built during the infamous "fire retardant resin era" of the Valiant history (blue water boat.org). In addition to having the unsightly but non structure blistering, resulting from the resin. The decks had been let go badly and water had intruded the Balsa deck core in so many places that the entire top layer deck had to be completely removed. Nothing was spared, the side and fore deck, cabin top, cockpit sole and cockpit seating areas as well as ALL the Balsa core beneath it.
The water seepage from the deck had ruined the head liner below and damaged two structural bulkheads connected to the chain plates. The chain plates themselves were questionable and given their age, there was no reason to keep them; so they are being replaced. The DC electrical systems as well as electronics were aged so while the boat was pulled apart, every inch of old plain copper wire has been removed and replaced with new tinned wire, installed to ABYC standards. The horizontal wooden strips of the interior (the ceilings) were also badly stained, about 100 sq ft of replacement ash strips have been cut, sanded and polyurethane is being applied. The interior was so spartan at this point that the teak of the interior was cleaned with that nasty two part teak cleaner, a scrub brush, and a good hosing down.
Currently: The decks have been re-cored with Core Cell set in thickened epoxy covered by 2 layers of 1708 biaxel fiberglass cloth. A final layer of 18oz boat cloth was laid on top and then vacuum bagged down to facilitate bonding. In the process, the head sail tracks were recessed into the core of the side decks; along with the mid-deck drains. The cockpit had a large raised
propane locker hatch behind helms seat, limiting where one might sit. This has been removed and a plug was taken from another cockpit locker and now a new locker exits making a flush seat for the helmsman. New propane lockers are planned in the canoe stern "corners". The decks are awaiting warmer weather to be primed with Dura
October 2014: Big progress, the vessel was equipped with nine plastic ports on the house sides. They got cut out with a saws-all and tossed. Now the opportunity presented itself to add more ports for added light in the cabin...so now thirteen new stainless steel ports have just been delivered from New Found Metals. Consequently, some old openings were glasses over so a new configuration of the ports would space well in the cabin.
Additionally, four new deck hatches are being shipped at this writing. These were custom made to fit the existing openings of the old wood hatches. I discovered that the manufacturer Mann Ship in China would take my cardboard templates and produce a drawing that I could then confirm and make them to that specification. These are also made of stainless steel. Interesting enough, they didn't cost as much as hatch off the shelf made of aluminum.
November 2014: I was always considering spraying down Awl Grip for the bright sections of the deck but frankly, I'm not a painter and didn't feel I would be satisfied with the outcome. I ended up back to the tried and true gel coat. It can be tricky applying gel coat but using a 50/50 mix of DuraTec high gloss additive and gel coat the finish comes out surprisingly smooth. The best part is if I had some mistakes, they could be sanded out and disappear. Paint is not as forgiving.
Stay tuned for more updates and visit the photo gallery to see some picture of the progress. |
