I excerpted the below from a post on Amatheia’s blog by Scott Maxwell
I was perusing the “sailboat” section of the Pdx Craigslist and a listing caught my eye. The ad was for a local boat builder, advertising his services. I thought I would give him a call as I still had a major structural refit of the forepeak that I just didn’t feel qualified for. Enter David Smith, master boat builder when not selling real estate. David does this for the love of boats he says, and it’s clear that he speaks the truth.
He gave me a bid and got started on the forepeak. We settled on a plan for the refit. Plywood would be epoxy coated and glued to the underside of the forepeak, extending aft under the side decks to the wall of the hanging locker on the starboard. side and the bulkhead to port. The bulkhead that formed the chain-locker would be removed, strengthened and reinstalled. A toggle system would be constructed to receive the bitts, the toggle secured to the bulkhead.
David is a part-time boat builder and this project took a while although it didn’t cramp our other work at all. When it was finally completed he installed the bitts and bowsprit with the stainless trim around the bitts on deck. David did a fantastic job and forepeak is strong and the deck gorgeous with the great looking bitt trim and new bowsprit.
In the meantime the warmer weather allowed us to begin the prep process of the deck and house. I struggled with how to proceed. Repaint the whole deck? Leave the non-skid and just paint the old gel coat? I finally decided to paint the whole thing white, then come back and tape out the non-skid and redo that as well.
For more adventures with Amathea please visit http://www.amatheia.net/
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