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A
favorite visitor and supervisor of refit projects in Annapolis was our 2
1/2 year-old granddaughter, Morgan. She loved the boat and quickly
mastered the onboard head as part of her potty training. Andi's
fiance, Alex, a midshipman at the Naval Academy, was also an enthusiastic
visitor to Gyatso. |
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We removed the
bow pulpit and anchor rollers so that both could be repaired. The
cranze ring was also removed which gave Lisa the opportunity to lay on
nine coats of varnish. David removed the windlass and worked with
cousin Will to overhaul it. |
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Chainplates:
At first, everything looked okay with the old chainplates as they emerged
from the deck even though improper maintenance of the chainplate covers
over the years had allowed water to seep below the deck surface. |
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Chainplates:
After the chainplates failed a more thorough inspection when we returned
from Michigan in September, we removed all seven to find that all had
signs of serious crevice corrosion and would need to be rebuilt. |
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Chainplates:
The aft chainplate was one of the easiest to remove, but it also showed
signs of corrosion. |
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Chainplates:
The most difficult aspect of the chainplate project was removing the
daughter plates to which they attach. When we removed the
chainplates, one of 35 bolts sheered off and two others were spinning in
place. We consulted the Tayana Owner's Group (TOG) website and
learned that the daughter plates were buried behind layers of plywood and
fiberglassed in. There was no way to inspect or service them without
just digging them out. |
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Chainplates:
Each chainplate was in a different condition, but the plywood in several
of the knees was completely water-logged and had structurally
failed. The photo at left shows the pulpy, decomposed nature of the
plywood filler found in two of the worst
ones. The project was extremely messy, and we had to vacate the boat
for about 10 days while work was underway. Once again, our cousins
Muffin and Will came to the rescue, and we stayed at their house during
the worst of the mess. |
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Chainplates:
Each daughter plate took at least a half a day to dig out of the
fiberglass over plywood knees on the inside of the hull. Once
removed, they looked exactly like the ones found on the TOG website.
Rather than replacing them using the same flawed design, we decided to
build on the lessons from other Tayana owners. Thomas Rich at Mount Ranier
Boatworks was brought on to oversee the reinstallation of new chainplates
which included a daughter plate on the exterior of the hull. |
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Chainplates:
Josh at Port Annapolis Marina removed the old chainplates with help from
David and then replaced the knees with new filler and fiberglass in
preparation for re-attachment of the new ones. The entire project
was complicated by the fact that the chainplates were located inside of
our beautiful cabinetry. Great care was taken to minimize removal or
damage to the cabinets. |
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Chainplates:
The new chain plates were exactly the same as the old chainplates except
they were slightly thicker so that we could use stock stainless
steel. Kado Marine fabricated the new chainplates as well as the
daughter plates to be mounted on the exterior of the hull. We kept
the 3/8" bolts but went with much longer carriage bolts to reach the
outside of the hull. |
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Chainplates:
Thomas drills a guide hole through the hull as the old chainplates are
removed. This hole will be used along with a jig to drill the holes
for the new chainplates. |
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Chainplates:
Thomas shows how the jig will be used once the old chainplates are
removed. |
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Chainplates:
Rather than burying the daughter plates in plywood and fiberglass on the
inside of the hull, we opted for a new design which required drilling 35
holes through the hull, mounting daughter plates on the exterior of the
hull, and attaching the new chainplates to the knees on the interior of
the hull. |
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Chainplates:
Two of the daughter plates on the starboard side after installation. |
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Chainplates:
The chainplates on the port side required working from the raft. |
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Rigging:
Thomas had to crawl into the chain locker, not an easy feat, while
removing and replacing the bobstay fitting at the water line. Lisa
assisted by sitting in the cockpit and recruiting people to join her in
order to keep the bow (and the two holes for the bolts) out of the water
during the procedure. |
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Rigging:
Riggers prepare the mast for
re-stepping after it had been in the cradle for over two months. All
of the standing rigging was replaced as well as having a new wind
instrument installed and several halyards replaced. |
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Rigging:
The crane at Port Annapolis Marina lifts the mast toward Gyatso. |
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Rigging:
Riggers re-step the mast. |
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Rigging:
A strong squall threatened as the mast was being re-stepped, but luckily
the stays were attached before it hit with gusts over 35 knots. It
was so windy that afternoon that we did not move the boat back to its slip
until the following morning. A bald eagle soared overhead as the
mast was being re-stepped which we took as a good omen. |
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Rigging:
The old lifelines were removed and replaced with new, uncoated ones. |
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Main cabin
settee (before): This photo was taken when the cabin was a
construction zone to remove and replace the chainplates which were buried
behind cupboards and shelves. |
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Main cabin
dinette (before): The royal blue velvet held up amazingly well
for 20 years. The cushions were hand-stitched and still held their
shape. |
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Main cabin settee
(after): David selected the willow green color for the new
cushions. We picked a very durable "faux" ultra suede for
fabric to make the project more affordable. |
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Main cabin
dinette (after): The dinette also doubles as our "floating
office" (note the two black file boxes of documents under the table)
as we are still managing LakeNet through a transition in leadership. |
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The old
alternator was found to have several cracks. Luckily, we caught it
before it had failed completely. We replaced it with a new, higher
output alternator. |
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John from Merke
Marine Electronics did an outstanding job installing two solar panels on Gyatso. |
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The new solar
panels are working like a charm in the Caribbean and are barely noticeable
in their location on top of the bimini. |
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A monitor
self-steering windvane was the last piece of equipment we added before
departing Annapolis. We finished the installation in Hampton with
the help of Paul, a volunteer crew member on another boat in the
rally. He has one on his boat which is very similar to Gyatso. |
