Looks like spring is finally here, so it's time to wake "3 Monkeys" from its long winter nap. I pulled the tarps off and slid open the hatch. The air below was rather stale but it was good to finally be aboard. This year upgrades will consist of a new anchor chain deck pipe, water tank filter & solar vent for the cabin. I'll need a few new tools for the installation and will post the project details in the tech section when the time comes.

Can you believe this!??! Last weekend it was a balmy +17C and I was uncovering the boat. This weekend.... SNOW!!! There has to be a good 2 to 3 feet around the trailer and at least a foot on deck. Seems it will be quite some time before I can start any new projects. Spirits are down :(

It's the May Long Weekend and it has finally warmed up enough to work with epoxies and resins. My first task was to drill a number of holes in the boat. I used resin to protect the exposed core and then installed new speakers in the cockpit and a new anchor chain deck pipe in the bow. The previous deck pipe was plastic and was eventually shredded to pieces when the chain caught on it the wrong way. I still need to wire in the speakers but will save that for another day.

The final project is a nasty one... bottom coat! The old bottom coat is quite old and is now chipping in a number of spots. The rudder is also in rough shape and because it's the smallest, I started with that. Unfortunately the local marine supplier had 2 choices in color, blue and original. "3 Monkeys" is black so of course blue wasn't an option. I inquired about original and was told it goes on as a copper color and then turns dark gray shortly after. I was also told this would be the best color to match the black. Well, I sanded down the rudder and applied the "original" color bottom coat. Let me tell you, this does not match any type of black or even come close.

I've gotta say, the worst job ever is removing bottom coat. To put the new stuff on all the old stuff must be removed and I've lost count of how many sanding discs I've gone through. As the bottom coat was slowly removed, it revealed the original coloring... green. Anyway, we're sticking with black so I decided to paint on all new striping and have the new copper bottom coat come up to the bottom of the boot stripe. Arrggg… more sanding !!!!!!

With the sanding complete and tape masting off where the striping would be, I carefully brushed on the black paint. Next came the copper bottom coat. Many hours later the "3 Monkeys" looked like new. It was hard work but the end result was fantastic!