With the full cover on that protects Apropos from the winter wet season, I make progress on my long list of projects.

Boat cover sand bags

There are 19 canvas sandbags used to add weight along the bottom of the boat cover and over the 15 years since the cover was made, a few were accidentally dropped overboard. So during a rainy Seattle weekend, we set about making 5 new ones. We already had all the canvas and webbing, so this project just involved designing the pattern, sewing, and buying a 50 lb bag of sand and plastic clips. Now there are 19 sand bags again plus 1 spare.

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Butterfly Hatch Bronze Polishing

I removed, polished, and applied 5 coats of Everbrite ProtectaClear to the cast bronze butterfly hatch fittings and the 6 bronze rings for the courtesy lights. This adds to my list of interior bronze and brass parts that should never need polishing again, as the ProtectaClear provides a barrier to oxidation. Parts that I finished a year ago are still looking bright and shiny. The key is to do a good job in the polishing step and I use a Dremel tool and a good polishing compound for that.

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Teak Block Cleaning & Oiling

There are 8 teak blocks on Apropos–5 are used for the Main sheet and 3 for the Mizzen sheet. The 5 main sheet blocks have always remained unfinished and left to go naturally grey. I disassembled the blocks by removing the 4 small screws holding on the round stainless steel covers, then unscrewed the round covers and removed the pin and bronze sheave and ss becket. With only the teak parts remaining, I cleaned and brightened them with the same teak system I use for the decks. After lightly sanding them, I applied 5 coats of teak oil.

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Teak Block Finishing with Awlwood Clear

The 3 blocks used for the Mizzen sheet have always been varnished. It had been 6 years since they were last varnished, so I removed them from the boat, disassembled them, used stripping gel and a heat gun to remove the old varnish, lightly sanded them and applied Awlwood primer then 6 coats of Awlwood MA (modified acrylic) Clear. This is the same product that I have used on the exterior of all of Apropos’ brightwork over the past 4 years. It’s more durable than varnish and doesn’t break down from UV as fast as varnish.

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Forward Hatch Acrylic Replacement

The forward hatch acrylic was probably replaced during the refit just before I bought Apropos. Over the years, the acrylic has appeared to have crazed not on the surface, but inside. After buffing failed to make any difference, I decided to replace it. I first removed the hatch by prying off the 3 hinge pins peened-on caps. Next I removed the TDS caulking and pried the acrylic out of the bronze frame. My options for replacement were laminate glass (too heavy and breakable), poly carbonite, and acrylic. I went to Tap Plastics to compare poly carb vs acrylic, and decided to go with 1/2″ acrylic after the salesperson gave me a demo of how to remove scratches in acrylic. Also, it was available in 3 shades of tint and they had it in stock and could cut it while I waited.

Before installing the new acrylic, I cleaned up and polished the heavy duty bronze frame. I used 3M Silicone to fasten the acrylic to the 1/2″ lip along the bottom of the frame. I added about 25 lbs of weight and allowed it to dry 24 hours, then used Teak Decking Systems (TDS) black caulking along the outer edges. After curing for 48 hours, I removed the masking tape, then masked over the caulking and acrylic so I could apply 5 coats of Protecta-Clear to the bronze frame.

With our summer cruise behind us, there were a few projects I wanted to get done while the weather was still nice.

• Windlass Gypsy cleaning–While anchoring, we noticed the windlass making some squeaking noises from time to time. This prompted us to watch some YouTube videos to see how to clean and grease the moving parts, which was long overdue. I removed the clutch cones, then cleaned them with Scotchbrite pads and applied a thin film of lithium grease to the moving parts.

• Anchor Chain Marking–knowing how much chain is out is important while anchoring. In the past, we used a combination of color-coded paint and zip ties to mark the chain every 25 feet. The zip ties last years, but eventually some break off and need to be replaced. After laying out most of the 300′ of chain on the dock, I replaced the colored zip ties and also used molded silicon chain markers in a particular color-pattern. I decided not to repaint the chain as most of the paint was still good (except the the markings below 100 foot). The colored zip tie markings are as follows: 1R=25′, 2R=50′, 3R=75′, 1Y=100′, 1Y1R=125′, 1Y2R=150′, 1Y3R=175′, 1B=200′, 1B1R=225′, 1B2R=250′, 1B3R=275′.

• Adding Cockpit USB Port–We usually run an iPad with Navionics in the cockpit and use it for route planning and as a backup to the Garmin chartplotter. Having a USB charge port in the cockpit will allow us to keep the iPad as well as iPhones charged without needing to take them below decks. I mounted a USB dual-port with digital voltage display inside a waterproof box. The box is held in place with 3M dual lock fasteners (similar to Velcro but much better). I also added a waterproof switch on the top of the box for turning on/off an LED light strip that’s mounted under the dodger.

• Grab Rail Refinishing–The final round of teak refinishing for the summer! I stripped and recoated 2 of the 4 grab rails in the spring-time. These are difficult to strip down to bare wood because of the curves and angles. I finally got the last two refinished during a week of dry weather in September. For stripping off the old varnish, I used a combination of Orange chemical stripper to loosen the varnish, then a heat gun and scraper to remove it. I followed up with 80 grit sandpaper, then 220 grit, applied Awlwood Primer, lightly sanded with 400 grit, then 8 coats of Awlwood clear with a light sanding after every 2 coats. I did this wearing an N-95 mask as Seattle was choked with smoke that blew in from the Oregon and California wild fires.

• Dinghy Air Floor–After several attempts to patch the high pressure hypalon Air Floor during a two-week cruise, it still leaked at places that were difficult to apply a patch (around a doughnut-shaped hole for access to the air keel valve). The dinghy is a little over 10 years old but still in great condition. I decided to attempt patching one more time before buying a new Air Floor for $500, since the overall plan is to replace the dinghy in a few years. After removing the failed patches, I cleaned the surfaces well before applying new patches. It was much easier doing this indoors vs on the boat. The 2-part glue, mixed in a 25:1 ratio, seemed to adhere much better this time. I used 75 lbs of weights placed atop a sandbag over the patches for 24 hours, then let the Air Floor sit another 4 days to fully cure. I also gave it a good cleaning before taking it back to the boat. I put it back in the dinghy and inflated it to 3 psi, then sprayed soapy water around the patches and didn’t see any evidence of leaks. I won’t be too surprised if new leaks develop, but for now i think it’s holding air. I probably won’t be pumping it up to 10 psi any more…

A drifter sail made from lightweight nylon came with Apropos. It’s a simple panel-cut sail that’s flown aft of the headstay and is pulled up in a sock. I just recently started using it more and am able to get it out while sailing single handed. It tacks easily if there’s some wind, otherwise it needs some help getting around the stays’l stay. With increased wind, it takes a lot of effort to dowse. And because it needs to be taken down after each sail, stuffed into a bag and stowed below decks, I was looking for something that was easier and didn’t have to be taken down after each sail or when switching to the Genoa if the wind suddenly picked up. I also wanted something more modern that had a better sail shape.

I began reading about Code Zero sails and learned that they originated from the racing scene to get around rules governing spinnakers. Eventually, furling Code Zeros were adopted by cruising boats, and are now becoming quite popular.

A cruising Code Zero looks like a genoa on steroids. Think of a 180% genoa and you start to get the picture. It’s intended for lower wind speeds (typically below 20 knots) and does best at wind angles between 75 and 125 deg. A Code Zero is flown out in front of the jib stay and is set up for roller furling, which is important for cruising boats and short handed crew. You just have to hoist the stay with the sail furled around it by using its halyard and then unfurl the sail from the cockpit. When tacking or gybing, just furl it in using the continuous line furler, change direction, then unfurl. When done sailing, or when the wind picks up and you want to switch to the Genoa, just furl it up and leave it in place since the sail has a UV protection strip.

I decided to use Mack Sails for the complete Code Zero system–sail, furling hardware, and boat modifications. I was very please with co-owner Travis and his customer service, quality workmanship, and delivery time when I had them make my Stack Packs. For the Code Zero, I sent Travis 6 measurements and chose the color pattern. The sail fit perfectly.

Tri-radial Sail

The sail material is 2.2oz nylon. The dimensions are Luff 49.67′, Foot 34.25′, Leech 46′ for a total area of 871 square feet (for comparison, my Genoa is 560 square feet). It’s tri-radial cut with 30 panels and dacron along the foot and leach to protect the nylon sail when it’s furled.

Furling Gear

The furling gear is a Bamar RLG 20 Evo. Bamar is a German company that casts their furler in bronze. My boat size was right near the cutoff for furler size, so we went with the bigger one (good for larger boats).

Boat Modifications

Since a Code Zero is flown out in front of the headstay, I had to add some hardware at the masthead and bowsprit.

The masthead needed a bolt-on extension added to position the top furling gear away from the jib furling gear. I took measurements and made a drawing of the masthead, and a machine shop fabricated the 1/2″ thick aluminum extension with stiffeners. They painted it white to blend in with the masthead. A flip-flop block is mounted on the bottom. The halyard goes inside the mast, exiting a few feet from the masthead, goes through a block that’s mounted on the port-side stainless steel tang (used for spinnakers), then up through the flip flop block. I attached the extension using 4 5/16″ bolts–the 2 outer ones were thru-bolted and the 2 inner ones required tapping. Then I re-mounted the anemometer on top by tapping threads into the extension. The installation took 3 hours and I really appreciated the 2 mast steps I installed that puts me about waist high to the masthead.

The bowsprit needed a collar similar to the cranse iron, but about 8″ closer to the tip. A machine shop found the right diameter stainless steel pipe and first sent me a 1″ piece to test fit since the bowsprit tip is tapered. It fit perfectly, so they cut a 2″ piece, polished it, and drilled & counter-sunk 2 holes for fastening it to the sprit. I drilled 2 oversized holes and filled them with epoxy, then screwed the 1/4″ x 1-1/4″ screws into the epoxy. An eye was welded to the top and is the attachment point for a cable that will hold the bottom furling gear.

Side story–when I went aloft to test fit the masthead extension, I first removed the anemometer. Being extra careful not to drop the masthead extension (which weighs a couple of pounds and would do major damage to whatever it hit), I accidentally dropped the anemometer and watched it bounce off the side rail and fall into the water. Two days later I rented a tank and went scuba diving, recovering the anemometer in 45 feet of very murky water with a few feet of silt on the bottom!

Apropos’ bowsprit measures 14′ in length, and is 8.5″ by 8.5″ at its largest cross-section. It’s by far the biggest piece of wood on the boat, most likely made of Apitong, a very strong/dense hardwood grown in Southeast Asia.

Like most projects, this one started out small. Something I could do in a day or two, but grew into something much bigger. I was only going to touch-up the bowsprit tip–a 16″-long section forward of the cranse-iron where the bowsprit is rounded. There were a few dings and dents from 16 years of docking at marinas, fuel stations, and ramming noisy power boats (kidding!).

But then I started looking at the rest of the bowsprit and realized the entire thing could use refinishing. After all, it would be a waste to buy material (epoxy, primer, paint) for just repairing such a small area. A section along the bottom where the two anchors rest had some large gouges caused from up-anchoring and also from the chain scraping when the boat swings while anchored in windy conditions. There were small pieces of Starboard (UHMW ultra high molecular weight polyethylene) at the rest points of the stowed anchors, but their size and placement were not enough to protect the wood.

At the far aft end on the bowsprit, there was some wear and tear just from normal use (standing on it, dropping things, etc).

There was one more thing that needed some attention–the large piece of teak that is bolted to the top of the bowsprit had cracked a few years ago. This plank is 7′ long, 8.25″ wide and 1.25″ thick. Replacing it would cost a few hundred dollars just for the teak and a few hundred more to have it milled to proper thickness and cut. So before I sink $500 into a new teak plank, I thought I would try to repair it first. Removing it was no easy task–it’s held in place with 5 foot-long thru-bolts to the bowsprit. Also, removing the plank gave me full access to the top of the bowsprit for painting.

So the task grew in scope and or course in time, but I’m glad I did it. Here are the steps I took in completing the bowsprit refinishing:

• sanded the entire bowsprit with 80 grit paper followed by 220 grit.
• used thickened epoxy (West Systems 610) to fill in all the scrapes and gouges, sanded and repeated where needed.
• applied 2 coats of Interlux Pre-Kote primer, sanding between coats and after 2nd coat.
• applied 3 coats of thinned Interlux Brightsides polyurethane, lightly sanding with 320 between coats.
• used thickened epoxy (West Systems 610) to repair teak plank. Clamped tightly for 24 hours, sanded, and applied Semco teak sealer.
• made new protection pads from UHMW polyethylene, rounded the edges with 1/4″ router bit, drilled and countersunk holes to attach with ss screws to the bowsprit.
• cleaned, polished, and sealed the bronze star at the end of the bowsprit.
• cleaned up the stainless steel frame that the bowsprit is attached to.

After owning a boat for a long time (16 years in my case), I find myself repeating certain tasks. A lot of this cannot be avoided (bottom paint, hull polishing, oil changes, etc). But there are some things I do because I like the outcome–like keeping the teak brightwork nice, keeping the bronze ports and pedestal shiny–so I’m always looking for ways to increase the time between when something needs to be re-done. For example, I switched from using varnish to using Awlwood Clear on all the brightwork and can now go 2-3 years between refresher coats.

I discovered another product that helps save time by keeping polished metal from oxidation–ProtectaClear by Everbrite. I mostly use this for interior bronze and brass, but am also experimenting with a few exterior items.

Interior Bronze and Brass

Apropos has a lot of interior bronze and brass. Today when you buy a brass fixture, it usually comes with a coating to protect it from oxidation (it also likely to be only brass coated vs solid brass). When Apropos was built in 1982, all of the bronze/brass was very high quality and didn’t have any protection layer to keep it from oxidizing. The sink faucet and hand pump in the head are the originals, made of heavy bronze. Being in a wet area, they tend to oxidize quickly so I would typically hand polish them once or twice a year to make them shiny again. But this takes an hour and only lasts a few weeks before becoming dull and eventually green again. So I recently gave them an extra good polishing using a dremel tool and polishing compound, then applied 4 layers of ProtectaClear. In the galley, the sink faucet is not original, so it has a protective film (lacquer?) that keeps it shiny, but next to it, the hand pump, water tank vents, and water maker port are all bare bronze, so I polished and coated them as well. I also polished and coated 2 oil brass oil lamps that are gimbal-mounted to bulkheads. I’ll use these items as test cases to see how well they look after a year, then decide if I want to do more interior bronze/brass items. Another nice thing about ProtectaClear is that is bonds to itself and only takes minutes to apply with a foam brush. Re-coats can be done after an hour.

Exterior Bronze and Brass

The main exterior items I used the ProtectaClear on are small brass hardware latches and hinges found on all my deck boxes, helm seat, and cabin hatch doors. These are also protected by canvas covers so I think the coating will hold up well. As an experiment, I also polished and coated 3 bronze deck prism rings and the bowsprit star. These are all exposed to the elements (rain, salt water, UV) and the deck prisms are also stepped on. I applied 4 coats and will see how they look after a season.

After refinishing the boom gallows (refresher coats of Awlwood Clear and polished bronze), I decided to make a cover for it. It’s a 3-panel Sunbrella cover with chafe-guard on the inside and some leather sewn into the center where the boom rests. I used 5 twist-locks along the bottom. This should keep the brightwork looking good and increase the time between refresher coats.

I added a heat-transfer vinyl (HTV) graphic to the new sail cover. This is the same font used on the hull, but I replace the brown outline with white since it’s against a dark green background.

The main and mizzen canvas sail covers are 16 years old. The Sunbrella material was in good shape and we did some re-stitching over the years, but I’m always looking for something that improves or simplifies sailing.

A stack pack combines lazy jacks with a sail cover. It allows the cover to remain in place while sailing. A continuous line with blocks is attached to a zipper along the top of the cover, so all you need to do is unzip the cover while standing anywhere along the boom, hook up the halyard, and raise the sail. When dousing the sail, just release the halyard and the sail drops down into the cover, which is held up by the lazy jacks. No more removing sail covers, stowing, then putting back on when done sailing.

The stack packs were made by Mack Sails and is one of their specialty items they make (they call it the Mack Pack). The design and quality is great. All you need to do is make a few measurements (very accurately), and they build them to fit your boat. Since I built my own lazy jacks years ago, I requested they remove that item from the kit. I added 3 options that I believe to be well worth it:

• round battens that run along the top length of the covers on both sides make for a cleaner installation and more uniform look
• lining the inside of the covers with Dacron sail cloth to prevent the sail from chafing against the canvas
• ss brackets to fasten the aft end of the pack as opposed to tying it off to the topping lift

I also improved my lazy jacks by adding an extra leg to the main (went from 3 legs to 4) and the mizzen (went from 2 legs to 3). As with the original jacks that I made, I used grey amsteel line which is thinner and stronger than yacht braid. I also kept my design of running the jacks down the mast to a Spinlock cam cleat instead of using a horn cleat on the boom.

Installation was not too difficult, but did take some time especially since I had to modify the lazy jacks. The attachments of the cover to the mast was the hardest part and I spent a lot of time getting it to look good. The mizzen cover was more difficult to install because of how high the mizzen boom is, plus it requires working around the bimini. In the end, I was very please with the results.

An unusually dry April in Seattle (driest on record) allowed me to get some brightwork refinishing in. There are only a few items remaining on Apropos that haven’t been stripped down to bare wood and re-finished with Awlwood MA Clear–2 deck boxes, the helm seat, and 4 grab-rails.

I started with the deck boxes. The propane box hadn’t been removed from the deck in over 16 years and was difficult to remove because besides the 4 screws holding it to the deck, there was also what I believe to be 3M 5200 permanent adhesive applied to the 2 teak mounting brackets. I eventually worked it free but had to repair some damage to the plywood bottom of the box using a wood repair product. After removing the lids and hardware from the boxes, I stripped the old varnish with a chemical peeler then scraped, then re-applied more chemical peeler and scraped, then sanded. I decided to try this method instead of the heat gun/scraping method I used on all the other brightwork and it worked well, but I don’t think it saved any time because there was a lot of scraping needed to remove many layers of varnish.

After all the old varnish was removed, I sanded with 120 grit followed by 320 grit, applied the Awlwood Primer, then 8 coats of Awlwood Clear. I cleaned up all the brass and bronze hardware and also sealed them with a clear lacquer before remounting.

There are 4 grab-rails on the coachtop roof. Normally covered with canvas, they came back from the South Pacific trip with sun damage mainly to the bottoms where the canvas doesn’t quite cover. I knew these would require a lot of work to strip the old varnish off because of all the rounded surfaces, so I decided to tackle 2 of them initially. Here are the results:

I replaced the incandescent bulbs inside all the overhead dome lights with LEDs many years ago. I also use LEDs in the courtesy lights along the floor throughout the cabin, brass reading lights, and inside most of the wardrobe closets. Most of these LED lights were bought 10 years ago and none have needed to be replaced so far, making their extra cost well worth it.

I’ve been wanting to increase the lighting in the main cabin and decided on LED strip lighting. Through reading articles and reviews on the many different types and brands of LED strip lighting, I came up with the following list of features:

Color-RGBW stands for red, green, blue, white. This type has a RGB “cluster”, which are 3 closely-spaced LEDs that can produce millions of colors by varying the duty-cycle of each of the red, green, and blue LED individually, plus a separate white LED that can produce a warm white. In the strips that I ended up buying, the colored LEDs can be controlled separately from the white LEDs. Some LED strips are sold as RGB only, so the white is made by combining the red-green-blue and is not a true white (and definitely not a warm white).

Dimmable–most LED strips are dimmable. The ones that I bought have separate dimming for the colored LEDs and the white LEDs.

Remote controlled–I discovered there are many ways to control the strips–physical switch, remote control, phone app, and even Alexa control. I decided on a remote control.

DC Powered–Most kits I looked at were AC powered. Since I want to connect them to 12V, I made a DC adapter that powers the LED strips through a standard DC outlet. This gives me the option of powering them with AC or DC.

Misc.–Most LED strips are sold in 16′ rolls. Some are encased in a silicone sleeve to make them water resistant, a good idea for boat applications even they will be “indoors”.

Connectability–Not all LED strips have a connector on both ends, so running 2 strips in series is not possible (sell my first attempt below).

Layout on Boat-

I wanted the LED strips not only for adding brighter lights to the main cabin, but also for adding colored and dimmed accent lighting. I also wanted the strips on port and starboard sides to be hidden from view as much as possible. As it turned out, a 16 foot long strip was just about the exact length from galley to forward bulkhead on port side, and nav station to bulkhead on starboard side. The main layout problem was to figure out how to run both LED strips with a single controller and where to place the controller.

First Attempt: I ordered an LED set that contained 2 16′ RGBW strips, a controller with on/off switch and function control (brightness, color, mode). It was Alexa controllable (though that’s not a feature I would use on the boat) and came with a smart phone app for remote control. The controller output had a Y-connector that both strips were meant to plug into. This required me to modify the wiring by adding 12 feet of 4 strand wire to one of the legs to allow one of the strips to cross over from port to starboard along the cabin top. After soldering and heat shrinking both ends of the 12′ long 20 gauge wires, I discovered that the LED’s in the strip that the wire was added did not match the color or intensity of the LEDs in the other strip, probably due to the added resistance. I determined these would not work for the boat, so I removed the 12′ extension to get them back to the original lengths and found another use for them–my daughter’s bedroom!

Second Attempt: I researched and found another LED set that I thought would work better. It also contained 2 16′ long RGBW strips, a controller, and a remote. The main difference is that these strips had connectors on both ends and had a 5-wire bus vs a 4-wire bus. The reviews said that 2 16′ strips could be run in series. They also sold connector wire in 6′ lengths with pin connectors that matched the LED strips. This would allow me to run 1 strand on the starboard side, then add 12′ of extension wire in order to reach the beginning of the second strand on the port side. The 12′ extension did not affect the color or brightness of the second strip. Installing them was easy with the 3M tape attached to the under-side of the strips. I ran them along the back side of the wood trim so they are not visible. The remote works from anywhere in the main cabin. Here’s a link to these LEDs:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JZKF2ZO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s03?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Winter in Seattle is a good time for tackling interior boat projects. I’ve always kept Apropos’ bronze exterior ports polished, but it’s been over 10 years since I polished the interior-side of the port openings. Apropos has a total of 14 openable ports–8 oval ports, 4 small 7″ round ports, 1 large 13″ round port and 1 rectangular port. Some had a nice patina color, but most showed signs of salt water that had come in contact with the bronze, resulting in green or white corrosion markings. So over the course of a few months, I removed each port along with the 2 thumbscrew/latches, and brought the pieces home to work on bringing them back to shiny using a dremel tool, some chemicals, scotch-brite pads, and a polishing compound. The outer frames could be removed but I decided it was easier to just polish them in place. Some of the pins holding the port to the frames were difficult to remove, but letting them soak overnight with an anti-corrosion spray did the trick.

Once the interior side of ports are polished, it’s easy to keep them that way with a quick hand-application of Flitz polishing compound once or twice a year.

Here are a few before and after shots.

Some other brass items I polished were a couple of reading lamps and a clock. The clock is mounted in the v-berth and had stopped working a few years ago due to a broken quartz movement, so I was going to toss it. The new ones I looked at were over $100 and had light-weight molded brass surrounds, not cast like what I had. I also liked the nautical face and the bevel around the outer edge of the glass, so I thought it was worth repairing. I ordered a new 4″ quartz movement for under $10 and adapted it to my clock, then polished it up and it looks (and runs) like new.