Captain’s log
Dateline: 03.11.2022

Pelican striker

My original pelican striker is dead, was completely busted when the boat hit a fallen tree in the canal over a month ago.

GMT Composites are working on a new one, carbon fiber. They're located in Rhode Island. A really cool company and very pleasurable bunch to deal with. Original estimate was three months, but thankfully it's now down to only about a month.

They referred me to Zern Rigging, where Rick Zern referred me to a guy named Keith, he lives in Cape Canaveral. Keith has turned out to be a wildly cool dude. He's been working with composite boats his whole life, races multihulls and monohulls, knows a ton of stuff about boats. I've learned a lot from him just over texts and phone.

The original A-frame was made out of aluminum. For some reason the boat had a spotlight installed on top of it, with wires running through the crossbeam, then the right leg of the part, then out through a pretty big hole, and finally to the spotlight. Four screws were drilled into the top of the A-frame, with moisture being able to accumulate inside the frame over time. It had over twenty years to do so, and hence when I took the frame off, fresh water poured out of it. This means the replacement part will make the boat much lighter, not just because it's carbon fiber.

Hopefully, if everything gets done before Thanksgiving, I'll have a new pelican striker installed and ready to get out of here by December. This is not a cheap repair, will cost me around $10,000, but it's one of the most crucial structural parts of the vessel, can't cut corners here. If I try to go now, a big wave or lots of wind could tear the main forestay out of my crossbeam and make the rig fall aft. That'd likely cost me over $50,000 to fix, so I rather not risk. Keith suggested using nylon lines to tie the tip of the mast down to hulls or far sides of the forward cross beam, but I hope I won't have to do that.

For the time being I've put 50g silica bags under thick transparent ziplock bags and taped to the crossbeam to make sure no moisture gets in. And if it does get in, I'll see those bags turn from orange to green, then change the moisture absorbant and re-tape it.

Captain’s log
Dateline: 15.11.2022

Paint

My custom-made pelican striker by GMT will be here next week. It’ll come faired but not primed or painted. Saves me $500 and like a week of wait time, but now I’ll have to prime and paint it myself. Will try with a brush first, switch to sprayer if it turns out to be way too boring.

I had to decide between:

• Awlgrip
• Alexseal
• Interlux
• Sherwin-Williams aerospace

I’ve read that Awlgrip is inferior to their Awlcraft 2000, and since Alexseal 501 has started gaining popularity among boaters, they’ve released something called Awlgrip HDT, which is supposedly stronger and better suited for patching. I kinda wanted to go with Alexseal to begin with, so gave them a call.

Alexseal

Super cool kids, returned my call and taught everything there one needs to know about paint.

First off, they’ve told me to ask GMT what kind of material they will be using to fair the part. Then, recommended to make sure to tell GMT to use soap and water (or water and Scotch-Brite) before fairing, to remove any amines left from epoxy’s curing — otherwise something called “fish eyes” could pop up on the painted surface later.

Told me to print out and keep these three documents as a reference while I work on my project:

• TDS_Alexseal_Super_Build_302_2022_engl_01.pdf
• TDS_Alexseal_Finish_Primer_442_2022_engl.pdf
• TDS_Alexseal_Premium_Topcoat_501_2022_engl.pdf

What to buy

All in all, here’s what I’ll need to prime the part:

• Super Build 302
  • P3002 (base)
  • C3052 (converter)
  • R3040 (reducer)
• Finish Primer 442
  • P4420 (base)
  • C4427 (converter)
  • R5015 (reducer)

And to paint:

• T9134 (“Snow White” top coat, but not 100% sure about the color yet)
• C5012 (converter)
• R5015 (reducer, optional because should already have some left from my priming adventures)
• A5018 (roll additive, makes air bubbles disappear, won’t require tipping when added)

Pure White

The Alexseal guy has also mentioned something called “Pure White”. It’s the white that they use to make other whites, the whitest white — basically just paint base with titanium dioxide, no added shades of any other color. It’d have to be a custom order, likely at least two gallons, but I have to paint the whole boat inside and out anyway.

Conclusion

This won’t be easy, but I’ll learn a lot and become a much better boater as a result.

References

• Alexseal-Application-Guide_Eng.pdf