I had mistakenly assumed that this Boston Whaler would become a winter project for Al. Silly me! July’s extreme humidity and high temperatures in the 90s meant that it was too hot to spend much time on Kindred Spirit, so Al immersed himself in all things whaler.
Remember the pile of hardware and pieces? This puzzle needed to be put back together.
Adam provided a second pair of hands and muscle to get the top part of the boat down into Al’s workshop in the basement. This part of the whaler was the seating, storage, and console for the steering and instruments.
Al’s sketch of the top part of the whaler.
Damage assessment from the fallen tree. There was a good bit of fiberglass damage.
Turning the piece over, upside down, Al began the work of gouging out damaged sections.
There were many small areas of cracks that had to be drilled out. Now the look like worm holes.
And there were larger areas that required LOT of attention and work to fully repair.
Al filled in one of the instrument holes with a wood piece and then fiberglassed over that.
It is finally ready for a coat of bondo to fill the many holes. It’s a good first step to even out the surface.
Next step is TotalFair Epoxy Marine Fairing Compound by TotalBoat, a two-part mixture – the blue and the yellow combined become green.
The fairing compound is applied and then sanded smooth. This procedure is done many times till the surface was smooth enough for paint.
Once Al was satisfied with the surface, nice and smooth without imperfections, it was painting time. He draped a plastic sheet over the boat to minimize the dust falling onto the wet paint surface.
Repaired, painted, and stainless grab rails re-installed. What a difference! I think I could hear the boat sigh with relief.
All of that took from early July until mid-October, almost 3 months. Much of that time period was also cruising time, visiting time, and working on the other part of the Whaler. 😉
It has really been fun watching him restore this Whaler. They are tough blog posts for me to write because I really don’t understand much of it. SO, lots of questions from me!
Al will certainly do a masterful job. Our son in RI took on a similar project boat but he had to replace all the foam and wood coring. The boat is somewhere around 22 ft. It took a year but he had it finished by last fall so they got some use out of it and are excited about the prospects for the coming summer.
We are planning to get it into the water this year, probably trailer it to some places and hopefully use it at SYC. Perhaps even a little trip to Napatree?
Susie
Wow…it looks great!
watsons
It has really been fun watching him restore this Whaler. They are tough blog posts for me to write because I really don’t understand much of it. SO, lots of questions from me!
Prue Preston
Al will certainly do a masterful job. Our son in RI took on a similar project boat but he had to replace all the foam and wood coring. The boat is somewhere around 22 ft. It took a year but he had it finished by last fall so they got some use out of it and are excited about the prospects for the coming summer.
watsons
We are planning to get it into the water this year, probably trailer it to some places and hopefully use it at SYC. Perhaps even a little trip to Napatree?
Ellen R Seltzer
first of all there is NO ICE CREAM…what kind of a post from you doesn’t have ice cream two times in a row???
I am very impressed…first by the workshop and second by the ability to repair the whaler…wow…what a process. good for him and good for his skills!
still, you could have brought him an ice cream…just sayin’ 🙂
watsons
Sorry about the lack of ice cream. We really haven’t been indulging as much. These chilly temperatures are not inspiring.
Tom & Sue Sokoloski
Al,
The repairs look FANTASTIC! Can’t wait to see the finished product.
watsons
We are planning to have it in the water this summer.