Tires, Trunk, and Jib

Most of yesterday was spent working on my Tanzer 14.  Since I bought the boat to sail it, rather than to work on it, my main goal is to get it on the water.  ...as soon as I can.

However, the vessel and its trailer required some attention before doing that.  The trailer's tires were badly cracked at their sidewalls to the point of exposing the inner reinforcement.  I think I was lucky to make it home on them without a blowout.

I ordered new tires online, and decided to freshen the rim paint while waiting for them to arrive.  Fortunately, I already had rust restoring primer and gloss black paint on hand, as well as two fresh valve stems.

The rims were ready by the time the tires arrived yesterday.  20 minutes later they were mounted and ready for the trailer.

The trailer was otherwise road ready.  The last owner had recently replaced its wheel bearings and wiring.  Both were in excellent condition.  Once I attach the license plate, I'll be ready to travel.

The tire delivery provided a welcome break from the work at hand.  The centerboard had been stuck in its trunk when I bought the boat.  I was working on correcting a related issue discovered after my purchase.

I didn't happen to notice the centerboard's condition when surveying the boat during our transaction.  At the time, I thought the trailer might have been impeding its movement.  Once home, I noticed the trailer was not in the way.  However, I was not particularly bothered about it.  The aluminum centerboard and its fiberglass trunk had no wood components which could easily deteriorate.  I figured it was simply some debris between these components.   ...and I was right.

...about that.

To dislodge the centerboard, I decided to remove the centerboard trunk's teak cap.  It needed refinishing anyway, and this would provide me access to both sides.  The slotted front half was cracked afore the slot (since I'm talking about a boat), so I planned on gluing it after removal.

Once the wood cap had been removed, the centerboard was easily dislodged.  I removed it for further inspection and possibly maintenance.

Unfortunately, the solid, aft half was harboring carpenter ants and some larva.  They had made a cozy nest between the cap and centerboard once their wood frass had sealed the centerboard to its trunk.  They were quite upset.

They had also bored a cavity along the underside of the teak.  I could have baked the board to kill any remaining eggs, but didn't want to keep the damaged cap.  I had already committed myself to refinishing the teak, but this time could now be scheduled toward milling a replacement cap.

I had been holding onto some ipê (Handroanthus) leftovers from a deck project years ago, and thought it might work nicely.  The only concern I could find related to its marine use was its density.  The size of the centerboard cap was not going to add significant mass as far as I was concerned.  Ipê it would be.

Milling the wood took a good part of the day, taking a break to get my trailer off its blocks and onto its tires. As light was beginning to fade, I began to clean up my driveway.  Wood working makes quite a mess, and ipê tends to make it worse.  I was happy to finish the new cap in a single day.  It looked great!

With my new tires, I was able to tip the trailer again.  The boat had accumulated rain water while the rims were being painted.  I now have a tarp for it, but wanted to wash out the flotation tanks before finishing my outdoor projects for the day.  Styrofoam beads continued to wash out, reminding me to eventually look into this.

With some light left in the sky, I decided to remove some caulking from the centerboard trunk.  The aft cap section had been sealed with caulk, and I wanted to remove it before attaching the new cap.  While working on this, I noticed the cap's mounting flange was not in the best condition.  I would be drilling new holes to mount the cap, and wanted to have a positive substrate.  This led to some surform planing and rasp work to prepare the flange for filling and leveling.

After taking a dinner break, I began sewing a new panel onto the jib sail.  What a day!