Triangle Loop – Week 5 (Fixing The Boat)

May 26th to May 31st

Day 28 – Sunday, May 25th, 2025 – In: Hampton, VA

On Sunday morning, we had breakfast in the hotel, then I rode the bike down to the boat yard to do a couple of projects on the boat, while Brenda did a couple of loads of laundry at the marina next to the hotel. To fix the rudder post, they will need to have clear access. One of the things that has bothered me since we got the boat was the wire trough along the transom of the boat. It runs under the steering gear and is very hard to get to, plus it is where it can get wet. I spent most of the morning relocating the wiring into an enclosed cable duct up and out of the way that I attached to the inside wall of the transom. As with all boat jobs, it turned into more than I expected as some of the wiring that had been installed was wrapped around parts of the steering components, so it had to be cut out and re-spliced. The transom area is very hard to get to, and you have to lie on your back, with your feet sticking out of the hatches, to reach things.

I finished around 2:00 and rode back to the hotel, hot and sore but surprisingly with only one scratch!

We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. I ended up falling asleep, and Brenda woke me up at 8:30. We had leftovers in the small refrigerator in the room, so we heated those for dinner.

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Day 29 – Monday, May 26th, 2025 – In: Hampton, VA

Memorial Day in Hampton, VA, started out rainy. I worked on the blog, and Brenda did some Social Committee work. Around noon, the rain stopped, and it cleared up a bit, so we rode the bikes down to the boat to pick up a few things. The boat yard was closed, so no updates on the boat. Hopefully, we will hear something tomorrow.

Day 30 – Tuesday, May 27th, 2025 – In: Hampton, VA

Another cool rainy day, stuck at the hotel. Still no updates on the boat.

Day 31 – Wednesday, May 28th, 2025 – In: Hampton, VA

Another day with no word from the boat yard. I’ve left messages for the project manager, but I still haven’t received a return phone call. We spent the day just sitting in the lobby with our computers.

Day 32 – Thursday, May 29th, 2025 – In: Hampton, VA

As Popeye the Sailor said, “That’s all I can stands, I can’t stands no more!”

This morning, I gave the yard until 10:00 to call, then I got on the bike and rode down. I figure I’m harder to ignore in person. When I arrived, the Service Manager was not there yet (or so they claimed), so I left a message and said I would wait at the boat.

I started doing a few small jobs, and about half an hour later, I received a call saying that they would have someone at the boat by the end of the day. There are always projects to do, so I changed into my work clothes and puttered around on the boat. I cleaned up some more wiring in the lazarette, reinstalled the bilge pump that I moved to control the flooding, and did a bunch of cleaning. Lunchtime came and went without anyone showing up.

Around 2:30, I decided to walk up to the office again to check on the status. The Travel Lift operator, who hauled the boat out and whom I tipped well, saw me and asked what was going on. I explained that I still hadn’t heard anything and that someone was supposed to be coming to the boat. He said, “Give me 15 minutes.” And took off toward the office on his golf cart. Ten minutes later, a mechanic showed up ready to work! Woo Hoo! I guess I now know who REALLY runs the boat yard! It pays to tip the staff; they really appreciate it.

The mechanic and I spent two hours removing the rudder. It was really stuck; we both agreed that it was a miracle that it turned at all. After some wiggling and working on it with progressively larger hammers, we got it to pop out. The shaft, which was supposed to be coated in marine grease, appeared to be coated in marine adhesive instead.

Next, we needed to remove the tube that the rudder rides in. Because it was loose, we couldn’t turn the large nut that holds it on. We tried applying a bit of heat and holding it with vice grips, but it wouldn’t budge. Upon inspection, we believe that when it was last repaired, marine sealant may have been applied to the threads. By this time, it was 4:30 and quitting time. We decided that the only way to hold it would be to drill two holes in the bottom of the fitting so that we could put bolts in to hold it. I said that I’d take care of the drilling. We coated the nut with penetrating oil to let it sit overnight. The mechanic said that he had to drive to another site on Friday, but he would see if they could send someone else to work on it. I didn’t have much hope of that, but at least we had some progress!

Day 33- Friday, May 30th, 2025 – In: Hampton, VA

I figured that there would be no more progress on the boat until at least Monday, so after breakfast, Brenda and I rode the bikes 3 miles to the local Home Depot so that I could pick up a few tools and some bits to try to get the rudder tube out myself. When we got back into town, Brenda went back to the hotel to do some laundry, and I headed to the boat. To my surprise, the mechanic was at the boat and had gotten the tube out! They sent someone else on the road trip so that he could work on our boat.

We looked over the damage. What was evident to us was that the repair we paid for in St. Augustine was never really done. Rather than repairing the fiberglass (which we had paid for), they used filler and sealant. It appears that the fitting has been leaking since the repair, and the core material (marine plywood) was saturated and completely degraded. Also, when they put it back together, they got the marine sealant all over the inside of the rudder tube, which is supposed to have grease, not adhesive! There was no grease to be seen, and the added friction of the adhesive was causing the tube to turn, breaking the seal and allowing water to seep in slowly. Not enough to notice, but enough to do damage.

I’ve noticed that the keel bilge (the lowest point in the boat) always has a bit of water in it. I have removed everything that could cause water to enter, but when it rains heavily enough, some water still comes in through the engine vents, so I have attributed it to that. Now I know where the water was coming from!

We discussed a plan for the repair and decided that the best solution is to cut out a 12″ x 18″ section of the hull where the tube passes through, clean it out, and then rebuild it from both the top and bottom. They are having their fiberglass department inspect it this afternoon and will provide a quote for us on Monday.

So, is it bad? Yes. Is it as bad as it could have been? No. Is it fixable? Yes. It’s probably a week’s work, as they want to do the job right and need to let the layers cure before moving on, but it sounds like we are finally in the work queue and progress is being made!

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I would contact the yard in St. Augustine that did the work two years ago, but it has since changed ownership and management. When we had the work done, we ended up waiting for several weeks because they didn’t have a fiberglass tech available. They said that they brought one in from one of their other yards to do the work, but it looks like they just had the bottom paint guy tack it back together.

We are just glad that it failed when and where it did, and not somewhere without a boat yard, or while we were offshore or crossing the Gulf of America (Mexico)!

I haven’t been sleeping well most of this week, waking up in the middle of the night, either angry at the boat yard or thinking of ways to fix the issue. I think I’ll finally get a good night’s sleep tonight….

Day 34- Saturday, May 31st, 2025 – In: Hampton, VA

Nope… At 2:00 am, someone pulled the fire alarm at the hotel again. Seems to be a regular Friday night event. The Front Desk thinks it was one of the pirates!

Arrrrrr Me Mattie!!!!! The Black Beard the Pirate Festival starts today!

While it’s frustrating to be stuck, we always try to find a silver lining. We will be here to attend the festival! The city closes down a couple of city blocks around the waterfront for this two-day festival. There are several hundred booths, reenactors in tent villages, cannon fire both from ships in the harbor and return fire from the docks. Our hotel is right in the center of it all, and our room overlooks the harbor and docks, so we have a great view!

We had some breakfast, then walked around the pirate festival, checking out the pirate village (a public park turned into a tent city). Then, we walked the docks to look at the pirate ships and British schooners in port to get rid of the pirates! At 10:00, they had the official opening, with a cannon salute. These are regular folks who dress up as pirates and hang out shooting off cannons! Quite the spectacle!

We spent most of the day walking around, listening to music, watching reenactments, and browsing through the booths. The festival was very well attended. We heard that there were several hundred re-enactors and over 10,000 attendees.

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At 2:00, they had the final naval capture of Black Beard. It was fun to watch, with Black Beard’s ship, and two British Navy ships sailing back and forth, firing cannons and muskets at each other before the final boarding and beheading of Black Beard.

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They had a large concession area, however, with $15 corn dogs and $12 cups of Lemonade, we decided to go to one of the local places we like, Brown Chicken Brown Cow, for dinner. Afterward, we walked back through the tent city and stopped to listen to some more music before heading back to the hotel to wait for the fireworks. They are setting them off from the bridge right outside our hotel room.

At 9:30, we heard the booms. It was a very impressive display, lasting almost 20 minutes. They even had one that looked like a skull! We had a great view from our 7th-floor room.

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Time for bed! The festival continues tomorrow.

Recap of the week

This week was mostly spent trying to get the boat yard to work on the boat. We have finally removed the rudder and evaluated the damage. Let’s hope they make some progress on the repairs next week. The highlight was the Black Beard Pirate Festival, which was a fun and relaxing day after a week of stress.

Next week we will still be in Hampton on the hard. If I can get some batteries, I may do a battery replacement on the boat while we are waiting.

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Thanks For Visiting! – Tom & Brenda