We have been wanting a hard top on Questeria for a while. I look at videos of people making them and I think it will be too difficult for our situation. We were finally about to give up and replace our canvas soft top bimini when we found a used hard top for sale on Facebook. At first, we thought it wouldn’t fit right but once we got it home, it was like it was custom made.
A Little History
When we got Questeria in 2005, it had a canvas bimini top and dodger. They were worn out, but the frame was good. It was made of stainless steel pipes that attached to brackets that were through-bolted to the cockpit—it was over-engineered.
We lived with it until 2009. Instead of just a dodger, we wanted a full enclosure so we could stay dry in the cockpit. We also wanted to use the more expensive Strataglass so we could see through it.
We called a canvas guy in New Bern, NC. At first he wanted to replace the stainless steel frame with a standard aluminum frame. We wanted to use our existing frame, so he finally agreed to it.
We were pretty happy with it at first, but it wasn’t as waterproof as we wanted. Another issue with it was that we could not remove it without cutting the zippers for the dodger and side curtains.
We modified it so that it could be removed without cutting the zippers. We patched it where it had started to show wear and added a valance to make it more waterproof. We also added screens, using Textilene vinyl mesh, so we could get air and shade. See Questeria Journal 6. for details.
In 2015 we hired someone to make a new dodger out of Makrolon. Makrolon is a polycarbonate sheet that is as clear as glass. Then we were able to keep the dodger down while we were underway.
The header image at the beginning of this BLOG shows it this way when we were anchored in the Bahamas.
In 2018 hurricane Irma strikes the Florida Keys. The bimini, which was already in bad shape, is now completely ruined. At this point we are seriously considering a hard top, but in the meantime, we take it down and patch it. See my previous post After Irma for details.
Present Day
It’s 2022 and we haven’t done anything with the bimini since post-Irma repairs. We get someone to give us a price on another canvas bimini, and she is coming over to take some final measurements, when George calls.
George is Fran’s uncle and the previous owner of Questeria. He knew we wanted a hard top because we have been admiring his on Steel Lady. He was looking on Facebook and saw one that he thought would work for us. He came over to our boat and helped us measure the existing frame.
Once we saw that it would fit, he contacted the guy and we started talking.
The Purchase
This guy, who’s name is also Ron, bought it for his sailboat, but couldn’t get anyone to make a frame for it, so he decided to sell it on Facebook. He had it stored on a small boat trailer, like you would use for a dinghy. We asked him if we could borrow the trailer to get it home and he said “Sure, but the trailer’s for sale too”. George had been looking for a trailer like that, so he agreed to buy it for $200, and we got the hard top for $300.
We drove down to meet him and checkout the hard top. It was about a 50 minute drive. The hardtop is made of fiberglass. There are a few stains and stress cracks, but for the price, it’s in pretty good shape. It has a window in the middle, so you can look at the sails (or maybe it’s a moon roof). It has a rubber rub rail around the outside. At first glance it appeared to be black, but it was white at one time, and had mildewed. It also has an aluminum handrail that is in the right spot for getting on Questeria. There are eight holes in the top, presumably where it was originally mounted.
We paid him for the hard top and George paid him for the trailer. Ron signed over the title to George. We added a ratchet strap to hold down the hard top and hooked the trailer to George’s SUV—we were on our way back to Marathon.
Bringing it to the Boat
Once we got to the marina, George backed up the trailer as close to the dock as possible. We unstrapped it and picked it up to see how heavy it was. Ron told us he thought it weighed about 200 pounds—I think it weighs more.
There were not a lot of people around the marina due to an event in town. One guy saw us, and helped us carry it to the boat. Then a couple more people saw us and helped get it down the finger pier and up onto the boat. We put it on the existing frame—canvas bimini and all.
Hard Top on Existing Bimini—Canvas and All
Installing the Hard Top
The next day, we are pretty much on our own.
New Hard Top Over Existing Canvas
The first step is to remove the old canvas bimini. Fran and I untie it from the frame and remove it. Now, without the old canvas, we can see how it looks sitting on the frame.
Hard Top After Old Canvas Removed
Our stainless steel frame is made up of four tubes that are thru-bolted to the sides of the cockpit. There are bent stainless pipes going into the front and rear tube on each side. There are a crosspieces on the front and rear, each slightly bowed upwards. There are also crosspieces in the middle connecting the front, rear, and each side. These are also bowed upwards. There is also curved pipe across the front, for extra bracing.
The next step is to remove the crosspieces, so the hardtop can sit better on the frame. To do that, we must lift the hardtop. We make a harness by stringing line through the eight mounting holes, and tie the harness to our spinnaker halyard. We also tie lines to the dinghy davits to keep it from going forward.
Our Make-Shift Lifting Harness
With our makeshift harness, halyard, and the help of two neighbors, we are able to lift the hardtop enough to remove all the crosspieces. We lower the hardtop down on the two side rails, strap it down, and call it a day.
Hardtop on Two Side Rails
At this point, we decide that we should put crosspieces in the front and rear. The ones we just removed are bowed, so we have two choices; straighten them or buy new ones. Fran drives around to see if anyone can straighten them. The only person she can find tells her that he would charge about the same amount as it would cost to buy new ones.
The next day, Brenda, David and George come to help. When David sees the crosspieces, he says he can straighten them by hand in the workshop. They turn out great!
We have to cut a few inches from the front crosspiece to make it fit better. We lift the hardtop with our halyard and replace the front and rear crosspieces. We lower it and pop-rivet everything together.
Rear CrosspieceFront Crosspiece
After we get the frame together, the next step is to bolt the hardtop to the frame with u-bolts. This will happen tomorrow.
Bolted Down with U-Bolt
Fran and I are on our own today, but we are almost done. I get some u-bolts and fairing compound from West Marine, while Fran cleans the rust stains from underneath the hardtop. I use six u-bolts, one in the front, one in the back, and two on each side. I fill in the holes with fairing compound. We also caulk around the window where it leaks.
Bruce comes by to look at it. We hire him to paint it the same color as the top side of boat, which had been painted a few years earlier. (See New Paint.) He suggests we remove the rub rail, so we do that, and clean it up. It looks great. You can see it at the top of this post.
We are leaving the next day, and Bruce will paint it while we are gone. When we get back, we will work on the dodger and side curtains. I’ll post about these later.
I started writing this post in early 2020, during the pandemic. I originally intended to make it a quick post about quarantining, but instead of publishing it, I just kept adding to it. Then I forgot about it until now, so it’s a gigantic post covering over fourteen months of living in a pandemic.
Like most people in this world, we practiced social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was easier for us because we’re retired and don’t have to worry about going to work to get a paycheck.
There were many changes for us over the last fourteen months. Some were good and some were bad, but most were good.
We were on Questeria, in Marathon, FL, when the pandemic started. We stopped going out. We ordered everything online and had it delivered to us at the marina. We passed the time catching up on boat projects, walking and taking dinghy rides.
Florida to North Carolina
Keeping six feet from people was challenging in that environment. We are close to our neighbors in boats and townhomes. There are people in the marina who we have to walk past when we leave the boat. We also have to interact with someone to pump out our holding tank twice a week.
We tried to get some exercise by walking. There is a nice path across the street. Most people we passed kept their distance, but not everyone. So we stopped walking. One of the reasons people were not taking it serious in Marathon was that the cases of Covid-19 were much lower than in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, to the north.
We decided to leave the Keys and drive the RV to Ernul, NC. We prepared the boat; We filled the water tank so the watermaker can flush every five days. We added extra lines. We setup the dehumidifier to drain into the sink. We packed all of our stuff in the car, including clothes, food, paper towels, toilet paper and our portable water softener.
We drove the car to Southern Comfort RV, in Florida City, where the RV was stored. When we passed the checkpoint on the other side of the road, at the 18 mile stretch, they were stopping visitors from entering the Keys.
We got to the RV, and transferred all the stuff from the car to the RV. We attached the car to the towbar and headed out on the turnpike.
We stopped for gas in Fort Pierce. The gas station was empty. We drove on until 8:00PM and stopped in a rest area for the night. We stopped again for gas in St. George, SC and drove to Ernul, NC and parked the RV in its usual location.
On the way up there, we noticed much less traffic than normal—it was mostly semis. We also noticed that gas prices were way down. There were signs in SC saying all visitors must quarantine themselves by law. In NC the signs said stay home. We did—we just took our home with us.
Waiting
One of our reasons for coming to NC, was to help Katie and Adam when their new baby comes in May. We can babysit Jameson, while mom and dad are in the hospital with the newborn. We decided that we would isolate ourselves for two weeks before visiting anybody.
We can watch local TV in Ernul. We start watching news instead of taking dinghy rides—we prefer dinghy rides. We have a few RV projects, but most of the time I spend working on the website and reading.
Road Trip
After two weeks of isolation, we were ready to visit Adam, Katie and Jameson in Wilmington, NC. We had not come in close contact with anyone. Katie and Adam were considered high-risk for Covid-19 because she was pregnant. So they have both been working from home and taking precautions.
On Sunday morning we drove our car to Wilmington. It’s was a two hour trip. On Monday, we watched Jameson while Katie went to a doctor appointment and Adam worked from home. On Tuesday, we ordered pickup from Agostino’s pizza. We got two large pizzas; Eggplant Parmesan (our favorite) and Buffalo Chicken. We also got an order of Garlic Knots. After lunch, we left some pizza for Katie, Adam and Jameson, and drove back to the RV. We had enough pizza for supper, and shared some with James.
Road Trip 2
After another week in the RV, we went back to Wilmington to babysit for Katie’s doctor appointment. She does better, when she is getting more rest, so we decided to stay and help until the baby is born.
More Waiting
We continued helping Katie and she does well and takes advantage of being able to rest.
On Mother’s day we walked on the beach. All public beach parking was closed, but we parked in a Coast Guard lot, because she is active Coast Guard. Restaurants were closed, so for Mother’s Day we bought some fresh flounder, and fried it, along with shrimp, for dinner.
Mothers’ Day at the Beach
A few days later, our 10 year-old granddaughter, Ava, joined us. She was on vacation in Virginia and her mom drove her to Raleigh, so Adam could bring her back to Wilmington. Her school in Rhode Island was on remote learning, so she could attend classes from North Carolina.
New Baby
On May 16 we have a new grandson. His name is Grady Knox. They come home two days later.
Grady and Grandma
Back to the RV
Katie’s mom flies in from Florida for the weekend. The house is already pretty crowded, so we decided to drive back to the RV—about two hours away.
A few days later, we decided to drive the RV to Wilmington. It’s more expensive than our free spot in Ernul, but it’s closer to our grandkids.
There are two places in Wilmington where we keep the RV; the KOA and the Elks Lodge. The KOA is nicer and has full hook-up sites, but it is expensive and less convenient. We are members of the Elks and can get a water and electric site for $25 a night. They also have a dump station. Amenities in both places are limited due to the pandemic.
We stay at a premium site at the KOA so we have room to cook out for visitors. Our granddaughter, Ava stays with us a few nights. Unfortunately, the pool and other facilities are closed due to Covid.
Later on, we move to a cheaper site, and then to the Elks Lodge.
On the way, we stop at one of our favorite campgrounds, Ortona South. This Army Corps. of Engineers campground is taking all precautions possible to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Camping World finally has the front-end cap. Our insurance company, SafeCo, refused to pay for a new piece, even though Camping World said it could not be repaired and must be replaced. They even sent pictures to the insurance company showing that the damage was too great to repair. The insurance company didn’t care, so we had to pay out of pocket to get the RV fixed. SafeCo also refused to go after the woman that rolled into us, so we ended up paying the deductible as well.
No more SafeCo for us.
We leave the RV at Camping World and drive our car to Questeria in Marathon.
Marathon, FL
The boat has been closed up for twelve weeks. The water tank is empty and there is no water hose. The A/C filter plugged up weeks ago and was shut off by one of our friends in the marina. At least we had a dehumidifier running.
We get things back to normal, and do some boat projects.
Four and a half weeks later we close up the boat and drive to Fort Myers to get the RV. This time we pickled the watermaker so we didn’t have to worry about running out of water. We also left a dehumidifier running.
The RV looks great. We have mixed feelings about Camping World. They didn’t fix things they said they would, and things weren’t ready when they said they would be. But, the body shop did a great job. They never got the right awning, so we ordered one from somewhere else and will fix it ourselves
Next we take the RV to Springfield Campground, in Townville, SC. This is an Army Corps. of Engineers campground on Lake Hartwell. We spend four nights, leave the RV and drive the car to the lake house that we rented for Lake Week.
Lake Week
Every year we have a one week family vacation. It includes our six children (three from each of us), their six spouses and our eight grandchildren, ranging from 15 years to 3 months. That’s 22 people, including us. This trip used to be “Beach Week”, but last year we started going to a lake house instead.
This year we are in Martin, Georgia, on Lake Hartwell.
We thought about canceling Lake Week because of Covid, but we decided we would go even if it was just the two of us. As it turned out, we had 14 out of 22 people show up.
Lake Week
Everybody had a great time. We rented a pontoon boat for the week and went swimming and fishing. Of course there was eating drinking involved as well.
After Lake Week, we went back to the RV, in Springfield campground, for three nights. Then, it’s time to move on.
Fort Mill, SC
Our next stop was the KOA in Fort Mill, SC. This is close to our grandchildren, Jackson and Oliver. We have just seen them at Lake Week, but this gives us a chance to spend some one-on-one time with both of them.
Gambrills, MD
Katie and Adam move to Gambrills, MD. They bought a house sight-unseen. They had to pay above the asking price to get this home.
Before Moving Day
We drive the car up there to help them move in. We get there the day before the movers. There is no furniture. We sit on camping chairs. The adults sleep on blow-up beds and the babies sleep in pack-n-plays.
More RVing
Next, we go back to Ernul, NC. We gave up on Camping World installing a new awning. They kept ordering the wrong part, so we ordered one online and had it delivered to Ernul. The first one was damaged, but the second one was okay. We watched a YouTube video and installed it ourselves, with help from James.
It turns out great. It looks better than when we first bought the RV five years ago.
Next, we go to Holden Beach RV Campground in Holden Beach, NC. This is a very nice campground. It isn’t right on the beach, but it’s only a short drive away.
Erika and Johnny joins us for a night and we go to the beach.
Grandpa and Johnny at Holden Beach
We wanted to go to the beach, but we also wanted to look at houses in the area.
Then, we go to Paynes Creek campground in Hartwell Georgia. This time we want to look at some lakefront property. We don’t see anything that we like, so we just hang out at the lake.
Then, we go back to the Fort Mill KOA to visit Jackson and Oliver again.
Next, we go back to Wilmington, NC and stay at the Elks Lodge for three nights.
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Then we drive the RV 22 miles to Winner’s RV Park, in Carolina Beach. It’s our anniversary, and we thought in would be nice to be close to the beach. This RV park is about a ten minute walk to the beach. This is perfect for us.
On our anniversary we drive to Good Hops Brewery, about a three minute drive in the car, and have some craft beer. This is the first time we have gone to a brewery or bar in a long time. Masks are required unless seated at a table. We get a table outside.
After that we order flounder stuffed with crabmeat to go from Cape Fear Seafood Company and bring it back to the RV.
We find a house in Wilmington, NC that we like. We make an offer and it’s accepted. We take the RV back to Ernul, and park it for a while.
Back to Marathon (for a bit)
We leave the RV and drive down to Marathon to check on the boat. We pack food so that we don’t have to stop except for gas and restrooms. We leave early, so we can get through Miami before the traffic is too bad.
We don’t plan to spend much time here. We are just here to check the boat and get some stuff for the house. We get a free dining room table and chairs from our friends. So we install a trailer hitch and rent a small covered U-Haul trailer.
Tropical Storm Eta is expected to pass through the area. We ask friends to keep an eye on Questeria and leave in a hurry, a couple of days before we planned, so we don’t want to drive a car, towing a trailer through a tropical storm.There is one important thing that we forgot which will come back to bite us later.
We make it to Ernul with the U-Haul trailer. The storm passes through the Keys, turns and becomes a hurricane, but thankfully, doesn’t do much damage to Marathon.
CLODs
After 15 years of living on a boat and RV, we move into a house. I read somewhere that “once a cruiser, always a cruiser”, so now we are officially Cruisers Living On Dirt, or CLODs. We have not given up the boat or the RV. We just added another option, which happens to be closer to all the grandchildren.
Our Home on Dirt
Speaking of grandchildren, we find out that my son and his wife are expecting twin girls in May.
Our main reason for wanting a house was to have a place where family could visit. But the pandemic is not letting this happen as much as we want.
They are asking people not to gather in large groups for Thanksgiving. We drive the car to Maryland and stay with Katie, Adam, Ava, Jameson and Grady.
The weather in Wilmington is nice on Christmas Eve. Erika, Steve and Johnny come over and we sit on our screened-in porch wearing masks. Erika is extra cautious because she is working with elderly Covid patients. We exchange gifts and they leave. We spend Christmas day by ourselves.
A couple of days later we drive towards North Myrtle Beach and meet Audrey and Ryan at a park. Again, we wear masks and exchange gifts. They are not working directly with Covid-19 patients, but Audrey works at a bar, serving people who may have Covid-19.
We have our final Christmas celebration on New Year’s Day. Adam, Katie and the kids drive down and stay with us. Alicia and the boys drive up and stay with Shannon. We have all been careful to not get exposed to Covid-19 and everything turns out great.
Vaccines
Our next goal is to get vaccinated. We are both over 65, so we are in the second category, after healthcare and frontline workers. We want to make sure we are fully vaccinated before the twins are born.
Appointments are filled quickly, but we both get appointments on January 27. We get our second dose on February 17.
Marathon (Again)
We want to check on Questeria, in Marathon before the twins are born. We leave Wilmington on the morning of March 17. We have packed food and drink for breakfast and lunch. We don’t have to stop, except for gas and restrooms. We plan to stop on the way for dinner.
We are over halfway there and we get a message from Greg that the twins were born. Tiffany had preeclampsia and was admitted to the hospital. She had to have a C section at 33 weeks. Arie Grace was 3 lbs. 12 oz. and Zoe Arabella was 3 lbs. 13 oz. They were both put in the NICU, but were doing well. Tiffany was also doing well.
We look for a place to stop for dinner where we can eat outside. It is spring break and St. Patrick’s day and every place is crowded. We end up driving all the way to Marathon and waiting for an outdoor table at Sparky’s Landing. We have corned beef and cabbage, and Irish beer.
After that, we go to the boat. The topside is filthy so we have to cover it before we can bring stuff from the car.
Once we go below, we find the one important thing that we forgot the last time we left. We left food in the freezer, and the circuit breaker tripped. There wasn’t anything really important in there, but now it smells really, really bad.
Fortunately, the weather is good and we can open up the boat and air it out. We get most of the odor out by rinsing with bleach water. The bleach water soaks through and ends up in the bilge, where we vacuum it up. We also use baking soda and Non Scents Refrigerator deodorizer.
We stay for a couple of weeks. We visit with some friends, who are not vaccinated, but have been careful. We also do a little work on the boat.
We drive back to Wilmington on April 1.
New York, New York
Greg and Tiffany bring Zoe home on March 31. Arie comes home on April 2. They have purchased a house in Connecticut, but won’t close until May 7. They are in a one bedroom apartment in New York City. We decide to take the RV up there so we can see them. We make reservations at Liberty Harbor RV park for five nights starting April 16. We also make reservations at the KOA near Adam and Katie, so we can stop and visit on our way back.
We get the RV ready. We get the oil changed and the propane tank filled. We start the refrigerator and freezer and pack up our stuff.
We are ready to leave the next day, when we hear from Erika. She says that Johnny’s preschool teacher was exposed to Covid and that Johnny has to quarantine. We are vaccinated, but we are concerned about holding premature babies that soon. We change the Liberty Harbor reservation until after Maryland.
On April 20 we drive the RV from Ernul to the KOA in Doswell, VA. We leave the next morning and get to the KOA near Katie and Adams around noon. Perfect timing for meeting Jameson after preschool.
We have a good time visiting. Ava is on spring break and we go to the aquarium one day and walk around Washington, DC another day.
On Saturday, April 24 we drive the RV, with car in tow, to Jersey City, NJ. It is quite stressful. The streets are crowded with traffic, but it’s even worse with the makeshift outdoor dining areas on both sides of the street.
Arie, Zoe, Grandma and Grandpa
We get to the RV park around noon and it’s pretty vacant. There are only about three other RVs there. The last time we were here was July 2017, and it was packed. At that time we did not tow a car, but that was fine, because we used public transportation.
We don’t want to use the subway this time because of Covid. We drive our car into Manhattan, where they live. It is $16 toll through the Lincoln or Holland tunnels. On the weekend we find parking on the street. Fortunately our Honda CRV just barely fits in the spaces we find. On the weekdays there is no free parking to be found. We pay $23 to park for ten hours, or less.
Driving in NYC is pretty stressful at first. But by the fifth day we know our way around pretty well.
We spend most of our time holding and feeding babies.
Adjusting to Pandemic
Everyone has had to make adjustments for Covid-19. Our anxiety decreased as the pandemic went on and more information was known about the virus.
Grocery Shopping
Many grocery stores were already set up to provide delivery and curbside pickup before the pandemic started. We never used these services because we prefer to pick out our own stuff. When the pandemic started we were terrified of going into a store so we started taking advantage of these things.
At first, in Marathon, we ordered our groceries online from Publix, and had them delivered to the marina. We would wipe down tables in the common area with sanitizing wipes. Take everything out of the bags, wipe them down and put them in our own bags.
In Ernul, we were 13 miles from the closest grocery store. Even farther from one with online ordering. We were too far for delivery, so we ordered our groceries online and picked them up curbside. Our choices were Harris Teeter and Walmart. We chose Harris Teeter the first time.
At first, Harris Teeter’s online system had a lot of problems.
With the increased demand in online orders, time slots could be several days later. This means the apps should be flexible—let you, add delete and make changes to your order. The Harris Teeter app did not allow for that at first.
Most of the time the stores don’t have everything on your list. The Harris Teeter app did not allow for substitutions. Sometimes the shopper would call you to ask about substitutions, but other times they would just leave things out.
Our next online order was from Walmart. It’s no surprise that Walmart is better equipped to do online shopping. We didn’t have to wait as long for our time-slot, and we were able to make changes until the morning of the time slot. They notify you through the app if they are out of an item and have to substitute it.
Walmart sends an email and text message when the order is ready. You respond through the app and tell them you are leaving. The app uses the GPS on your phone to notify them where you are and estimate an ETA.
In Florida, we even bought our liquor online and had it delivered. North Carolina law does not allow for that, so we had to go inside the store.
Eventually, we became comfortable shopping in the stores again and gave up on online ordering.
Shortages
Like most people, we experienced shortages. We don’t watch the news, so it came as a surprise to us. We first noticed it when we looked for sanitizing wipes. The shelves were empty, but we found a package hidden in another part of the store.
We use special quick dissolve toilet paper on the boat and RV. We had already ordered some in bulk, so we were okay. We had paper towels stored on the boat from our Bahama trip, so we were okay there too.
We had a small supply of hand sanitizer, rubber gloves and sanitizing wipes on the RV. We were careful not to waste them. We even had some N95 masks that we had purchased for sanding and painting.
Ordering Take Out Food
At first, many restaurants shut down completely. Some of them opened up with some kind of take-out service. Some allowed for ordering online, others required you to order by phone. Some, but not all, provided curbside pick-up options. At first, we were very nervous about going inside to pick up our food. We eventually adjusted.
Getting a Haircut
I generally wait too long between haircuts. I was thinking it was about time to get a haircut in March, when they asked everyone to stay home to flatten the curve. By August, my hair was really long and I was ready to cut it all off. But instead, I ordered a hair cutting kit on Amazon, and had Fran cut it. She did it once more, then hair cutting places started opening again.
Covid-19 haircut
Now, I don’t have a good excuse to let my hair grow too long.
Getting Back to Normal
The other day the president and most governors lifted face mask requirements for fully vaccinated people. We have been fully vaccinated since mid-February, and most adults we know are now fully vaccinated.
I feel odd walking into a crowded store without a face mask—just the opposite of how I felt a year and a half ago.
The pandemic has been stressful for everyone, and I’m glad we are starting to get back to normal. We feel like we missed a year out of our grandchildren’s lives. We missed holidays and birthdays and even the ones we didn’t miss, were not a hundred percent of what they would been.
It has not all been bad. We have three new grandchildren and almost all of our friends and family have survived, and are healthy.
I started writing this posta while ago, but I was waiting to publish it until I took some pictures.Well, that didn’t happen. I’ll explain why later.
Our Mack Pack sail cover got messed up in Hurricane Irma. It was in bad shape before, but Irma left it unrepairable. We got a new sail cover in 2006, but then we saw the advantages of the Mack Pack and lazy jack system, and purchased one in 2009. We had a lot things to fix after Irma, so we used our previous sail cover.
Two years later, and we are ready to get another Mack Pack sail cover. We see that Sailrite sells a Sail Pack kit and decide we can make one ourselves. After we purchase the kit, we look at the instructions and instructional video, and discover that we have to modify our lazy jacks. They instruct us to cut them shorter, remove them from the boom and attach them to PVC pipes in the sail pack—we don’t want to modify our lazy jacks.
We call Mack Sails and get a price for a new Mack Pack. It’s a little more than what we spent for the kit, so we decide we can copy the old Mack Pack and make our own with what we have Sailrite. We’ll have leftover material that we can use for other things.
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One difference between the Sailrite design and the Mack Pack is that the Mack Pack uses grommets. We have a Pres-N-Snap grommet tool, but on closer inspection we discover that we need bigger grommets. We buy stainless steel grommets, a grommet die and a hole cutter. We have, or reuse other needed hardware.
The finished Mack Pack turns out great. It’s not perfect, but except for us, nobody will notice. Even though our original Mack Pack was custom made for us, we made some adjustments, and the new one fits even better.
There are no pictures yet because of Covid-19.Maybe not directly, but Covid-19 was a factor. I was also to blame, because I thought I had more time to take pictures of the sail cover. We started this project before Covid-19. We were staying on Questeria when it started and they asked everyone to stay home to flatten the curve. We thought it was too crowded in the marina to practice social distancing, so we decided to take off in our RV. Before we left, we tied up the sail cover in case of a hurricane. We have been back a couple of times, but we haven’t untied our sail cover yet. I didn’t want to take pictures with the sail cover tied up.
Anyone who reads these blogs has probably read about us fixing deck leaks. For example After Irma and First Post of 2017. We fix them and they come back—it’s an ongoing process. In this post I talk about fixing leaks after coming back from our holiday RV trip.
We removed a lot of our interior before taking Questeria to the boatyard in October. For example, we took all the cushion covers to the laundromat and threw away the foam—anything that could hold odors. (See Cushions and V-Berth Mattress.) We also removed walls and threw away insulation. We used puppy pads to soak up rainwater. Then we put her back in the water and left until February. When we got back, we prioritized our To Do list—the item: Fixing deck leaks made the number one spot.
We have been doing this for a while, and have learned some techniques that work. We use butyl tape to bed hardware, use G/flex to seal cracks and we started using the balsa dowel method to fix leaking stanchions. (See After Irma, Water Damage and Mold.) But, there are some things that we haven’t addressed for a while, like rebedding the chainplates and recaulking the toe rail. We also had a piece of toe rail that was broken.
Broken Toe Rail
In 2008 we replaced part of the toe rail on the starboard side. (See Journal 3, Projects.) There was a broken piece on the port side that we put on the “round tuit” list. There are two chain plates coming out of the broken piece, so we decide it is time to replace it.
Fixed and Broken Toe Rail
I decide to only replace a small part of the toe rail. I cut the toe rail with a circular saw along the edge of a stanchion, so the seam will be less obvious. I have to remove one of the side stays to remove the old piece. I have a piece of 1″ teak board that I ordered in 2008. I resaw it to a smaller thickness using a band saw. Then, I trace the old toe rail and cut the new piece with the band saw. Next, I cut the holes for the chain plates and drill holes for the screws. Then, I fit and shape it with a rasp and sander. I caulk it, screw it down and cover the screws with teak plugs.
It takes a lot of time and labor, but I am happy with the way it turns out.
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Rebedding Chainplates
I haven’t addressed the chainplates since we were in the boat yard in 2006. A couple of them have started to leak. Last time I filled holes with thickened epoxy and rebedded the covers with polysulfide caulk. This time I use G/flex and butyl tape. Most of them looked pretty good after that much time, but I rebedded them all anyway.
Recaulking Toe Rail
Questeria‘s toe rail is a series of teak boards running along the gunwales of the boat. There are gaps under the toe rail at various places on the inside and outside. There is a teak strip under the toe rail on the outside. Water runs under the toe rail on both sides and comes into the boat through the many screw holes.
Before we caulk, we have to remove as much of the old caulk as we can. We also want to remove any remaining Cetol® while we are at it. The challenging thing about this is that we have to hang upside down over the gunwales to do this. There are also stainless steel strips attached to the outside edge of the toe rail. We put these there because there are no other rub-rails. We remove a section, as we work on it.
We finally get all the old caulk and Cetol® removed. We can get to some of the starboard side from the finger pier, and we get to some of the port side with the dinghy—we do the rest hanging upside down, using a mirror. Next, we put masking tape around the gap. We use a mirror to help see what we are doing.
We use white caulk on the inside, and brown caulk on the outside. We find out that the easiest way to get the caulk in the gap, is to use a syringe. Except on the outside of the port side, where I sit in the dinghy and use a caulk gun. After that, we push it in with a finger and refill any gaps. We use a mirror to check our work. One thing we learned is that we must remove the masking tape before the caulk dries.
It was a lot of work, but it looks good when we’re done. When the caulk has cured, we thoroughly wash and rinse the boat and check for leaks inside. All is good! For now, anyway.
We left Questeria for over six months for our Alaska RV trip. When we got back, we thoroughly cleaned inside. We washed the cushion covers and threw away the old foam. We also threw away the mattress topper in the v-berth and the mattress foam in the aft cabin.
Original Cushions
When we bought Questeria, the cushions were old and uncomfortable. One of the first things we did when we brought the boat to NC, in June 2006, was replace the interior cushions. We had Fran’s Aunt Rachel come out and measure. She used to work for Hatteras. We had her make cushions for the main salon, v-berth and aft cabin. She also made us a mattress for the aft cabin, which is where we slept at the time.
Later, we set up the v-berth for sleeping. We cut out a piece of wood to fill in the gap in front and cut a piece of foam, in the shape of a trapezoid, to fill it in. (I actually used the wood as a desk when I was still working remotely for IBM.) We bought a king-size memory-foam mattress topper, and trimmed it to triangular shape to fit. We put the whole thing in a king-size mattress cover, that was tailored to fit.
Cutting Foam
I know of two ways to cut foam yourself. The best way is to buy a foam cutter, starting at about $200. In hindsight, this is what we should have done. We have replaced the foam in our cockpit cushions, RV cushions and more. But we went for the cheaper method of using an electric knife for about $12.
At first, the electric knife works well. The problem is that it gets dull quickly, and then it becomes hard to cut. I haven’t found a way to sharpen the blades, or replace them. So we are on our third or fourth electric knife. I guess we we’re still ahead of the game. The end result is not anywhere as nice as a foam cutter, but you can’t tell once it’s put in the cushion cover.
V-Berth Mattress
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In February, when we moved back to the boat, our first priority was the v-berth mattress. (See Update, Back to the Boat). We still had our original v-berth cushions to sleep on, but it wasn’t very comfortable, and we temporarily used our cockpit cushions in the main salon.
We ordered a mattress topper on Amazon.com. This included memory foam and a topper. We cut the memory foam using our electric knife. We cut and resewed the topper to fit. We had to purchase a trapezoidal piece of foam locally. They charged us $80. We could have done it way cheaper, but we we’re in a hurry. It all went back inside the mattress cover, and we were sleeping comfortably again.
Main Salon Cushions
Our cushion covers from 2016 were still in excellent shape. We found a place to order foam to go inside. We went to the Foam Factory website for custom cushions, and put in our measurements. We got our measurements by measuring the cushion covers and adding half an inch. We ordered the high quality foam with dacron wrap. We ordered two seat cushions and two back cushions.
Aft Cabin Cushion
We have an aft cabin seat cushion that is an irregular shape. We measured the largest dimensions and ordered a regular quality rectangular cushion with dacron wrap. We pulled back the dacron wrap, which was stapled together, and cut the cushion using our electric knife. Then we trimmed the dacron wrap with a scissors and put it back with adhesive spray.
Everything turned out great. We still need to get a twin foam mattress and trim it to fit the aft berth.
In 2015 we installed an evaporator plate in our freezer. (Refer to post New 12 Volt Freezer.) In this post I describe how we upgraded it to run on shore power, as well as batteries.
When we bought Questeria, the only way to run the freezer was on shore power. The compressor is very loud, but fortunately it only runs for about an hour, a few times a day. This is because it charges a cold plate. Once the cold plate comes to temperature, it shuts off. This is a nice feature when cruising, because we can run the generator for few hours a day and keep our food frozen. But, it’s loud, especially when it first starts, and it comes on randomly. We might be just starting to fall asleep, or listening to music, and startles us.
We installed an additional 12 volt compressor and evaporator plate for when we are not connected to shore power. This runs more often, but is very quiet. It runs off of our house batteries. We don’t run it when connected to shore power, because it may drain our batteries.
This system worked out great when we were cruising in the Bahamas. Our solar panels would usually keep our house batteries charged and run our 12 volt freezer and refrigerator, as well as everything else. We only had to run our Honda 2000 generator when we didn’t have enough sun.
We were away from the boat for a while. See 2019 RV Trip—Alaska. We left Questeria in our marina, in Marathon, FL. We emptied the freezer and unplugged it.
When we returned to Questeria, we needed to start the freezer so we could transfer frozen food from the RV to the boat. We didn’t have enough battery power to run the 12 volt compressor. We didn’t want to our battery charger, because we had already burned up one battery—they are old, and need to be replaced. So, we would have to use the 110vac compressor/cold plate, but we had a different idea…
The compressor/cold plate has served us well in the fourteen years we have owned Questeria, but it has it’s disadvantages.
It is loud and comes on any time of the day or night.
It doesn’t have a thermostat—it uses a pressure sensor to turn on and off. It’s difficult to adjust so that it is cold enough, but shuts off in a timely manner—it tends to run continuously.
It generates a lot of heat when it’s running.
It’s old. We aren’t sure how much longer it will keep going.
It only brings the temperature down to about 20°F, ideally, you want it at 0°F.
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… Our idea, was to run our 12 volt compressor on a convertor, when on shore power. A converter creates 12 volts DC from 110 volts AC.
We can switch between shore power and battery.
It’s much quieter than the 110vac compressor/cold plate.
It has a thermostat—we can better regulate the temperature.
The convertor can be used as a battery charger in a pinch.
I ordered a convertor from Amazon.com. It’s a 30 amp, which is way overkill, but I wanted something with good DC output voltage, and this was best and smallest one I found. I installed it in stages. I needed to get the freezer running on shore power quickly because our house batteries were failing.
At first, I plugged the input into an extension core and wired the output directly to the compressor. Later, I mounted it, and then, I wired the input to a 110vac circuit breaker on our electrical panel. Finally, I wired in a DPDT switch so I can switch between the converter and batteries. I left the old compressor as a back-up,
So far, we are happy with our modification. We have a full freezer that operates quietly and doesn’t drain our batteries when we are connected to shore power. We installed new batteries and our solar panels keep them charged, without running the battery charger.
Questeria is overdue for a bottom job. The last time was October 2015. The type of paint we use is not effective if it is out of the water, and she was hauled out for Irma in 2017. Now, in 2019, the paint is chipping off.
There are other things we want to do while the boat is out of the water. We need to fix leaks in the cockpit drains—they drain below the water line. Also, one of the seacocks is stuck. We also need to refurbish the dripless shaft seal. We expect to find more things once we are out of the water.
Preparation
We get to Marathon in September, after our Alaska RV trip. Questeria has been closed-up for six months. The air conditioner has been off for months because the filter plugged up. Everything is musty and smells bad.
In anticipation of not staying on the boat, we reserved an RV site at Curry Hammock State Park. This is close to the boat—I can easily ride my bike back and forth.
We can’t get in the boatyard for a couple of weeks, so we use the time to thoroughly clean everything inside the boat. We throw away a lot of things that have absorbed odors.
We also get the boat ready to motor to the boatyard (The sails have been taken down for hurricane season.)
We get to the channel to the boatyard ahead of schedule. They tell us on the radio we can come in, but we will have to wait inside. It’s a while but we finally get pulled out of the water. The bottom is in bad shape.
Bottom Paint
The last time we pulled out for a bottom job was at Outta The Blue boatyard. We paid them to sand off all the old bottom paint, put on a barrier coat, and two coats of bottom paint. We find out they put the barrier coat on over old bottom paint. So now, instead of a light sanding, we need to remove all the old paint.
It looks like it will take longer than we thought. We make arrangements with the boat yard to stay a full week.
We meet P.J. and Michelle, from Big Pond Boatworks. They have a NautiPrep dustless glass blaster that can take off the old paint down to the gel coat. We decide that is what we want to do. We also ask them to do the barrier coat. I had decided to do the bottom paint myself, so I could make sure it was done right, but in hindsight, I should have had them do it all.
Barrier Coat
It turns out great.
Lower Bobstay Attachment
We notice that the lower bobstay attachment (AKA cutwater) is rusted almost all the way through. I call Keys Rigging and Curt comes out and looks at it. He says that after he gets the old one out, we need to get a new part fabricated. It will take two to three weeks. We make arrangement with the boatyard to stay a month.
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The cutwater is embedded in epoxy. Access is in our v-berth. It takes about five hours to dig it out. We prepare for this by isolating the forward cabin in plastic wrap, so we don’t get dust in the whole boat. It turns out to be a stainless steel bar, with a pin, that was embedded in epoxy.
Old Bobstay
We find an alternative to fabricating a new piece. It is a bronze piece that bolts to the hull. We order one from Spartan Marine. Between Keys Rigging and Big Pond Boatworks, we get the new bobstay attachment on and it looks great—boat jewelery.
New Bobstay
Interior Work
While others are working outside, we are working inside. (For as long as we can stand the heat.) We refurbish our dripless shaft seal (stuffing box). We also fix the leaking cockpit drains and the seacock to shut it off. We have to cut a larger access hatch in the floor to do this.
We continue cleaning. We buy a small electric pressure washer and clean the bilge. It works great.
Pressure Washer
Painting Hull
Since we were going to be here for a month we decide to hire Big Pond Boatworks to paint the hull. We pick out a white color for the hull and a blue color for the top stripe. We decide to eliminate the boot stripe at the bottom.
Working in Proress
The gel coat on Questeria is very thick, but it is oxidized. The blue paint is cracked and in very bad shape. Everything must be sanded. The blue trim must be completely sanded off.
Launching
Back in the Water
We launch on November 12. Questeria looks great. The paint job took longer than estimated, but they charged us what was quoted. The boatyard is great as well—they don’t charge us for the extended time.
We get Questeria back to our marina. We are still living in the RV, hopping between Curry Hammock and Bahia Honda state parks. The interior is still torn up and we aren’t finished cleaning. We leave her again to take the RV to Fort Meyers for repairs and maintenance.
It’s been a while since my last post, and I thought I would share an update of what we’ve been up to in the past five months.
Return to the East
Family
My last post, in mid-September, was about returning from our Alaska RV trip. After that, we left the RV in Denver, CO and flew to Charlotte, NC for our annual “Beach Week”, which was actually on a lake this time. We flew back to Denver and stayed in the Colorado/New Mexico area for a while. We left the RV at Cochiti Lake Campground, near Albuquerque, NM, and flew to Chicago, IL for Labor Day weekend. We got together with family, and buried my mom’s ashes. We flew back, and went to Taos, NM for the Big Barn Dance. After that, we stopped to see our friends, Gary and Ellen, in Chattanooga, TN. Then we drove to Florida.
The Big Barn Dance
Boatyard
Questeria was in need of a lot of work. She was closed up for six months, and needed lots of help. She was also way overdue for a bottom job. What started as a few days in the boatyard ended up taking a month. We stayed on the RV, flipping back and forth between Curry Hammock State Park and Bahia Honda State Park. They were both pretty busy, but this time of year there are cancellations. We lucked-out and found a spot in one park or another the whole time. We got the boat back in the water, and it looked great on the outside, but was torn-up on the inside.
RV repair and Maintenance
We had an appointment at Camper’s World, in Fort Meyers, FL, to get the RV repaired. Besides the repair for the collision damage from our Alaska trip, there were several other things that need to be done. After a week, we got some of things done, but then we had to wait for parts. The remaining items would have to wait until after the holidays.
Thanksgiving
After that, we drove to Jonathon Dickinson State Park, in Hobe Sound, FL, and then to John Prince Park, in Lake Worth, FL. We spend Thanksgiving with some family in Delray Beach, FL.
Holidays
Then, we drove to North Myrtle Beach, SC, to see Ryan and Audrey. Then, Wilmington, NC for Johnny’s 4th birthday, and Jameson’s 1st birthday a week later. We hung out in the North Carolina for the rest of December.
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Waiting
We called Camping World, in Fort Meyers to find out the status of the parts needed to finish the job. The insurance company would not pay for a new piece, and said it had to fixed. Also, the wrong awning was delivered. They would reorder the awning. We made an appointment for three weeks later.
Savannah, GA
While we waiting, we drove to Tega Cay, SC for a few days, to spend time with grandsons Jackson and Oliver. Then to Savannah, GA for some sight seeing. Then we drove to Faver-Dykes State Park in St. Augustine, FL and Sebastian Inlet State Park, in Melbourne Beach, FL. Then, to Ortona South Campground, in Moore Haven, FL.
Second Time
We drove to our appointment at Camping World, in Fort Meyers, FL. We talked to the body repair guy and he said the damaged part needed to be replaced. We asked him to send more pictures to the insurance company to justify it. We left the RV there so they could fix the slide-out and replace the awning.
When we came back that afternoon, they had taken more pictures of the collision damage, and fixed the slide-out, but they didn’t replace the awning because they got the wrong one again.
Back to the Boat
We were ready to go to the boat, but at that point it was torn-up inside and had been closed up for three months—it was unlivable. It was the end of January, and the affordable state parks near Marathon were fully booked. We booked a week at Southern Comfort RV Park, in Florida City. It’s about a 1½ hour drive to the boat.
We spent the week driving back and forth between Marathon and Florida City, but we got the boat in shape. We paid for a month of storage at Southern Comfort RV Park and moved to the boat.
There is still a lot of work to do on the boat, but we are here now, trying not to work too hard.
We spend all our time here working on Questeria. It’s time we take her out of the slip and enjoy her. It’s a nice day for a sail. We might go out for a few hours or a few days.
Newfound Harbor
We back out of the slip at around 1:00 PM. It has been a long time since we have been away from the slip. It is a beautiful day on the water. We head towards Newfound Harbor, at bearing of about 250º T. The wind is light (6-8 knots), out of the NNE. A good direction for sailing to Newfound Harbor.
We put up the sails. This takes a while because our Mack Pack is worn out and we are using our old sail cover. Then the Lazy Jacks get hung up. It is also difficult to stay headed into the wind without a wind instrument. Ours has not worked for over a year now.
We finally get the mainsail up and unfurl the jib. We shut down the engine and sail towards Newfound Harbor at 2-4 knots. We decide to anchor out for at least one night.
At this pace we will make it eventually. We’re not in a hurry, but we would like to get there before dark. We start the engine and motor-sail at 6 knots.
We enter the harbor and anchor near picnic island at 6:30 PM. We check WindFinder to see the weather forecast for the next few days. The winds tomorrow look too light for sailing, but Saturday looks perfect. We’ll stay here and check out our SSB and watermaker, and leave on Saturday.
Checking Things Out
Today’s weather is great for being at anchor. It rains at 1:40 AM, and we have to close up everything. It doesn’t rain for long, and now it’s sunny with a slight breeze.
We haven’t taken Questeria out for almost a year, so we’ll use this opportunity to check out our equipment. We want to check our Single Side Band (SSB) radio, because it doesn’t work well in the slip, surrounded by buildings. We don’t like to run our watermaker at the slip because the filters get clogged.
We send and receive email using the SSB radio. It works great. This verifies both the transmit and receive are working. We also receive some weather faxes.
Radio Fax
We also try the watermaker. Normally you have to pickle a watermaker that is not being used, otherwise the membrane goes bad. But we have an automatic watermaker that flushes with fresh water every five days. The problem is that the boat was stored for several weeks after hurricane Irma with the batteries turned off. We haven’t tried it since then.
We start it. It gives us an error. We restart it and it doesn’t work at first, but then starts making water at about 7.5 gallons per hour.
Not everything is working. Our rudder stuffing box leaks while underway and our dripless shaft seal is wearing down, and leaks occasionally. Our house batteries are not keeping up like they should. We are down to only two solar panels and the batteries are getting old. We have to run the generator to charge the batteries enough to keep the refrigerator working.
Apparent Wind
We start planning our trip back. We would like to sail if the wind is right. We look at the forecast on WindFinder and receive a GRIB file for tomorrow and Sunday. NOAA National Weather Service calls for winds from the South, at 10-15 knots, becoming Southwest at 5-10 knots on Saturday and Southwest at 5-10 knots on Sunday. Windfinder shows the wind dying out on Sunday, so we decide to leave on Saturday.
We start discussing our course and the apparent wind. We take out our Maptech ChartKit: Florida East Coast and the Keys. The recommended route shows a course of 79º M. We need true. We can use the conversion on the chart compass rose. It has variation of 4° 30′ in 2003, with an annual increase of 8′. 15*8=120, or 2°, so we have a -6.5° adjustment for a true course of 73°. Another way to get a true heading is to use the CrowdMag app on our iPhone. It says we have a declination of -6.1° so we need to go 73º T.
We plug in the numbers and come up with this table.
Hour
TWS
TWD
AWS
AWA
5 EDT
9.7 kts
132°
13.4 kts
38°
8 EDT
12.8 kts
155°
14.6 kts
60°
11 EDT
14.1 kts
171°
14.4 kts
76°
14 EDT
11.1 kts
186°
10.3 kts
84°
17 EDT
5.5 kts
215°
3.6 kts
71°
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On Sunday the wind is forecasted to be Southwest (225°) 5-10 knots. That will give us an Apparent Wind Speed of 3.7 knots and an Apparent Wind Angle of 108°.
We conclude that the wind direction is good either Saturday or Sunday, but the wind speed on Sunday may be too light. We will go on Saturday.
Saturday
We get up and check the weather. Our wind instrument is not working, but it seems stronger than predicted. We check the National Data Buoy Center – Sombrero Key, FL. There is a problem and none of the buoys are reporting. The forecast says the winds are supposed to lay down later. We’ll wait and check the wind later.
It’s 2:00 PM, the buoys are still not reporting and the wind still seems higher than expected. We decide to stay until tomorrow. Tomorrow’s forecast shows winds too light to sail, but it should be fine for motoring.
Sunday
We pull the anchor at 8:30 AM and head out the channel. The wind seems stronger than forecasted. It takes about an hour to get out of the harbor. The winds and seas are higher than expected. The wind is from the south, rather than the southwest, as predicted, and it is higher than the 5-10 knot forecast. Seas are higher than 1 foot and the waves are hitting us on the beam, so we are rocking.
We decide to put up the sails, if only as a stabilizer. It takes a while, because we are rocking so much. We have to secure the loose items and the dinghy. We bring up the main and it helps the rocking immensely. We unfurl the jib, and motor sail at 6 knots, 78º T.
The seas are calming down and the wind is decreasing, and shifting more to the SW, as predicted. At this course, we are afraid we will jibe. We decide to change course to get a better point of sail. We change course to 85º T. We turn off the engine and sail at 4-5 knots.
After about an hour, we do a controlled jibe and change course to 6º T, to head towards our marina. We continue sailing for another 30 minutes. Then we drop our sails and motor into the marina.
HomePort Screenshot
Here is a screenshot of Garmin HomePort showing our route and track. Notice how we deviated from the route to get a better sail in.
Back in the Slip
We get back to the slip in the afternoon. It was a successful trip. We had a good sail. We found some problems, but most things are working.
The fixed portlights were in bad shape when we bought Questeria in 2005. The polycarbonate was crazed, almost opaque, and starting to crack. We replaced them in 2009. Nine years later, they need to be replaced again. They are cloudy, cracked and leak.
We’ve learned a lot since the first time we replaced them and looked for a better method.
First Fixed Portlight Replacement
The 1976 Irwin 37cc has four fixed portlights. In 2009, we ordered bronze polycarbonate online, enough to do the portlights and two hatches. First, we traced the patterns on paper. Then we cut new panes on a bandsaw using the patterns. We used a drum sander on a drill press to clean up the edges.
The original fixed portlights were bronze polycarbonate and were glued into recessed openings on the cabin sides. They weren’t easily removed. We got them out by hammering and prying. they came out in pieces. Some of the gel coat, where they were glued, came out as well.
Opening for Fixed Portlight
We removed one portlight at a time and cleaned up the opening. We used a rasp and file to make the new pane fit as tightly as possible.
Ready to Install
We didn’t know how to glue the new panes in, so we decided to screw them in. We drilled holes every few inches. We caulked the new windows with 3M 4000 and screwed them down.
Installing New Pane
They looked great when we finished, but over the years they clouded up. They also started to crack around the screw holes and would leak when it rained. We tried rebedding them with butyl tape but that didn’t last either. We decided it was time to replace them.
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Second Fixed Portlight Replacement
We needed to find a better way than screws. We found this article online: DIY: Replacing Fixed Portlights. It talks about framed installation and surface mounting. Neither one was exactly our scenario, but it gave an idea – using double-sided tape. Our idea was to cut the panes so we would have an 1/8″ gap between the pane and the opening. Then we would use double-sided tape to fasten it in place and seal the gap with silicone sealant. We used 3M 1/4″ exterior attachment tape (38583) and Dow Corning 795 silicone building sealant – white.
We ordered a 48 inch x 96 inch x .220 inch sheet of bronze Lexan from Home Depot online store. This was more than we needed, but it was the only size big enough, and we could have it shipped for free to the Home Depot store near us. This gave us enough extra to do the hatches and have some left over.
The Lexan comes with protective coating on both sides. We left this on until the pane was installed. We started by cutting it into manageable sized pieces with a circular saw.
We did one portlight at a time. We unscrewed the old pane and removed the butyl tape/caulk. We used the old pane as a pattern and did the final cut on a band saw. We finished with a sander, rasp and file, until there was an even 1/8″ gap around the pane.
One Down, Three to Go
We repaired the opening and filled in the screw holes with West System G/Flex, and then sanded the surfaces.
Portlight Opening
Once the pane was fitted and the opening surface was ready, we trimmed the protective coating from the inside edge of the pane, by holding it in place and cutting around from the inside with an Exacto knife. Then we stuck the double-sided tape around the pane. We pressed the window in place using 1/8″ shims to keep the gap even. We filled the gaps with silicone and removed the protective coating.
Finished Portlights
We are very happy with the results. Hopefully they will last another nine-plus years.
