Why progress is slow (herniated disc)

Herniated disc

Thought I would do a quick post and explain once for all why progress on the restoration is moving so slowly.

One year ago I slipped and fell down a flight of stairs. This resulted in a herniated disc between L4 and L5 (see the red box in the picture). In december (2012) I got an operation to remove the nucleus pulposus (the stuff protruding from the disc). The last year I've been seeing a physical therapist two times a week. Unfortunately I still have pains, loss of feeling and slight loss of function. Apparently it's highly unlikely it is going to get better. That would have happened by now according to the doctors.

Luckily some of my friends and my parents have been kind enough to help with the boat. I wouldn't have been able to get this far on my own with my back/leg the way it is today. It's very demoralizing not being able to use my body like I was before the accident.

In short: progress may be slow but it's not due to loss of interest. The boat will be seaworthy again; if not next year then the year after. Slow and steady wins the race :)

Alignmet of holes in bulkheads and hull

Clearly the holes aren't aligned. Panic ensued. 

I wanted to put the bulkheads back in order to do a proper test-fit. Should be an easy job, right? Not quite.

The bulkheads did still fit put all the holes were misaligned by 1 or 2 cm. I spent the better part of an hour searching the web, posting on The Ballad Exchange (post) and finally calling a friend in the local yacht club. Luckily the later quickly calmed me down. Apparently it is not uncommon for glasfiber boats to sag a bit when removing bulkheads. The cure; a car jack and a steady hand (nerves).

A tribute to sticky stuff (removing glue residue)

The problem 

There is some sticky glue residue all over the inside of hull. I need to remove it to be sure that the new vinyl backed foam insulation will adhere to the hull. Even tho the glue is over 40 years old it is still very sticky. I used an angle grinder with a metal wire brush attachment to remove a lot of the old foam and glue. A good friend in the local marina recommended that I try using "brun sæbe" to remove the rest of the glue and foam.

"Brun sæbe" aka "the stuff"

"The Stuff"!

I have been unable to find suitable translation for "the stuff". In Danish it's called "Brun sæbe". Directly translated it's simply "brown soap". I found a forum post that refers to it as "German soft soap", "soft potassium soap"or "crystal soap". Neither of those seems to be correct.

If i had to describe it i would say it has the consistency of jello and has a slight brown color. Apparently it is basic (pH > 7) and is rich in calcium hydroxide. Please leave a comment if you know the english word for "the stuff".

Sanding trim and old bulkheads

Sanding - lots of sanding!

... not!

This weekend I sanded the remaining bulkheads and all of the solid mahogany trim pieces. Very tedious work. The bulkheads are now ready for paint and the trim is ready for varnishing.

I'm going to refurbish the old bulkheads and trim to keep the cost down. If only marine plywood wasn't so ridiculously expensive here in Denmark I would love to redo the bulkheads. Simply put 340 USD per sheet is too steep for me - read my previous post. On all of the bulkheads, except one, there were spots where the outer veneer was worn thru. This is not an issue as I'm going to paint the bulkheads. But it meant sanding - lots of sanding. Luckily I purchased a BOSCH excenter grinder to help make the task more manageable.

Loose bulkhead

I had noticed that the aft bulkhead in the starboard side was "glassed in" as opposed to being bolted the the hull like all the other bulkheads. Normally all bulkheads in the Ballad are bolted to in place. The are only two places Albin would normally glass in plywood (both around the water tank). Something must have gone wrong while outfitting hull #332. This might not be anything to be alarmed by but the bulkhead was loose and I was able to remove it without using force. The fiberglass on the bulkhead didn't adhere to the hull. Good thing that didn't happen while at sea in bad weather!

As I'm going to "refurbish" the old bulkheads to avoid spending money on marine grade plywood I needed to remove the fiberglass from the bulkhead. If only marine grade plywood wasn't so outrageously expensive in Denmark *sigh*.

Bulkhead gone!

Last of the plywood

I had a little time yesterday and managed to remove the last of the interior.  The large bulkhead is too big to get it out of the boat. I will need to sand and paint it inside the boat.

Only the large bulkhead remains inside the boat

Aft look

Almost done removing plywood (interior)

Progress is slow. 

Due to my back/leg problems progress have been very slow. In fact credit for most of the progress since my last post goes my parents. They dropped by this weekend to lend a hand.

Most of the plywood have been removed from the interior. Only two bulkheads remain. I'm considering refurbishing the old bulkheads (instead of spending 1700 USD on marine plywood). If the last two bulkheads are in as good of a condition as the ones I have already removed I'm going to experiment with painting them using Interlux Toplac (also known as International Toplac).