2013 - 2014 - BLUE MAX refit

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS.  

So this blog will be just that - lots of pictures. In addition, the content will not be in chronological order, 
but by 'before & after' form.
But first, a short  summary from your sponsor...

When we planned the 6-week trip to Europe back in May, 2012, we thought it would be a perfect time to have the super structure painted by Tom Holland at Holland Marine in Green Cove Springs. However, those of you who know Wayne will understand what finally happened & why. 
I could almost hear the gears turning in his brain as he was  thinking about what else could be done while BLUE MAX was in the boat yard. That's when the research started - Replace the old decks with new teak, or put down non-skid paint? How about we remove the teak from the dinghy deck & make it non-skid instead? "If we put down non-skid on the dinghy deck I can have them make pads for the dinghy stanchions, the grill & the propane tank". What about the hand rails & eyebrows? Paint them or remove them? Should we have the old port lights cleaned & painted, or replace with stainless ones? And, oh, if we replace the port lights, we can remove the 2 in the aft cabin that we never use & move the starboard port light aft a bit so it's not partially behind the door to the head? If you know Wayne at all, you know he's pragmatic & a perfectionist.

Me? I had only one wish - to enlarge the dunnage box. One side can still house the 3 propane tanks then I can store all my fishing tackle in the other side.
If you go to the blog archives & find '2013-June - Preparation for the refit', you'll see some of the work that we did before we left on our trip.
If you go to the archives, '2013 - August 14, 2013 to April 2, 2014 - return from Europe till we left the boat yard' to read most of what happened in those long 8 months (other than what the yard was doing-that is)

While we were home in the Keys, Tom Holland called to say he couldn't bring himself to let the boat out of the paint shed without also painting the hull because the new paint on the super structure was so magnificent. After some discussion, we agreed. 

July, 2013 - going into the shed (Laurel sent this pic to us while we were in Europe)

Still taped up for painting - before the cove stripe was painted white

DECKING ON THE DINGHY DECK

Wayne stripped the old teak from the dinghy & main decks in June

The next 2 pictures were taken in November when we arrived at the yard. We got a sneak peek while she was still in the paint shed. Tom also refinished the teak deck on the fly bridge.

 Non-skid on the dinghy deck; pads for the dinghy stanchions; grill; propane tank, & the super structure painted Whisper Gray

Dinghy deck - 2014

OUT OF THE SHED

She finally came out of the paint shed on 12/11 after 5 long months...& splashed on 12/12/13.

Kyle, supervising as BLUE MAX is coming out of the shed - a tight squeeze.

Out  of the shed ...and....

...and into the water

Reconnecting the hard top- it was amazing to watch. but
the hard part  was for Wayne to re-connect all the wires

 DECKING ON THE MAIN DECK

The next 2 pictures were taken in 2010 when we replaced the stanchions.  I found only a few pics showing the old teak decks. Many of the boards were coming away from the deck & becoming dangerous.

Note, all the screws in the deck

Wayne also removed the old teak weather deck in June

Beautiful new decks & hatch with new latches

Picture taken in November while still in the paint shed - note no screws in the deck

ANCHOR PULPIT

 Changing the bow pulpit from teak to stainless steel was an amazing feat. Wayne had to be sure all dimensions in his schematics were 'right on' as it was being fabricated elsewhere - emails flew back & forth. Here's the old & new. The 'new' is much lighter in weight too.

Old   --    June, 2013

New   --   February, 2014

June, 2013

Finished - March, 2014

REMOVAL OF PORT LIGHTS - AFT CABIN
 We never opened the two port holes in the aft cabin, but covered them up with curtains. here's how it looked.

The way it was. The 2 port holes are hidden behind the curtains

June, 2013

Below, you see one of the new, stainless port lights on the left & the two port lights on either side of the picture are now gone. Of course, by doing this, it left bare wood where they were...SO, they had to install new teak walls as you see in this picture. 

Our cabin with a new look

DUNNAGE BOX

The old box housing 3 propane tanks - and you can see one of the aft port lights before removal - June, 2013
 

 Both Port holes and the dunnage box removed 

New fiberglass box under construction (upside down)

 Hip, hip, hooray! My wish came true. Murphy built a new, bigger & better box.  To me, this is a very important part of the boat. It's where I will sit while fishing & where I will store my tackle.  It will be used to clean the BIG ones I catch.

Finished --propane tanks in the right side - most of my fishing tackle, buckets & cast net in the left side. Ain't she purdy??
 
BOMAR HATCHES ON AFT EXTENSION

In 2005 when 1st painted 

 The looked great for several years but, because they weren't properly primed, the paint chipped & they looked awful.

Wayne painstakingly scraped them to their natural finish 

HANDRAIL & EYEBROW

 After much discussion, it was decided to paint the hand rails & remove the 'eyebrow' on the forward trunk cabin which will make my life easier. These areas were difficult for me to keep painted & looking good.

Hand rail & eyebrow before paint & in this picture you can see the hull (blue color), close up, before it was painted

PORT LIGHTS - aka PORT HOLES

 We changed out all the port lights.  It was less expensive to do that than to scrape, clean & paint the old ones.

Old port light in the aft cabin - port side

Replacement- WOW & no exposed screws

PARAVANE STABILIZERS

A year or so ago, Wayne reconfigured the paravane fore guys so they are permanently in place, secured on the forward cap rail and in-line with the pivot point of the boom. The paravanes - (aka Flopper Stoppers), were a safety concern. For years, when we lowered the booms I had to push against each boom so Wayne could reposition the fore guy - this 'guy' (not Wayne)  keeps the boom in place so it won't swing aft - this procedure had to be repeated in reverse when the booms were returned to the stored position.  This was becoming more dangerous as we get older.

New, permanent fore guy attachment point -- frees us from having to push against the boom as the guy was repositioned -- it prevents the boom from swinging aft when being deployed. 

Another problem was difficulty extracting the boom from the 'nest'. They are long & heavy. The 'nests' are attached to the spreaders which are attached to the mast. Wayne designed 2 new 'nests' of marine-grade aluminum & the yard painted them white, same as the mast. He then sawed off the shorter nests & attached the longer ones.

Wayne sawing off the old 'nest'.
Now the booms are straight up making it easier & safer to deploy.

Boom on left, original placement - Boom on right is the new position

 There's also an aft guy that keeps the boom from swinging forward & most importantly, up. Note: If you saw the movie Perfect Storm, you saw what can happen if the booms are not properly restrained - the boom came up & the 'fish' - aka 'bird' - slammed into the wheel house.

Unable to see the aft guy but it's attached from the outer end of the boom to an aft cleat. The fore guy placement in this picture is in the old location & was moved to a permanent location

ELECTRIC PLUGS

Old electric plugs & removal of old receptacle for TV & phone

What a difference! the little black wire is a photocell that turns on the anchor light at dusk

PADS ON THE DINGHY DECK

The purpose of integrating these specially designed pads onto the deck?  So no screws go into the deck itself. In addition to the pad for the grill, there are also pads under the dinghy stanchions. The extra anchor has pads to keep it in place on the deck.

New pad for the grill 

 Grill securely mounted

Foreground-dingy stanchions; Anchor pads

At the dock & ready to go

FINALLY - FREE AT LAST - Note Scupper & Jack on watch

Quite an adventure, but we were sure glad to leave the docks on April 2nd. 
Special thanks to our friends, Tom Holland, Laurel Long & 'the guys' at Holland marine, for their great work, compassion & caring.