ZOSHA'S WAKE: Fixin screwups....

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Fixin screwups....

When it comes to our boats we all have our own ways of doing things. Its always been my philosophy to keep my mouth shut about what or how you do things to your boat. Whatever you do is fine with me. Some of you know my position on Forum Holes.

BUT.......!!!! Sometimes I see something that somebody did to their boat that is so screwed up, so lame, so Numb-Nutsy, so stupid, so Rube Golderbergish that I can't keep my mouth shut! Unfortunately this aforementioned captain once owned my boat ZOSHA.......and today I have spent about 5 hours fixin' it. What? What? You must be wondering.......well, let me explain.

Some of you might remember one of my blogs a while ago when I bragged on the high quality of finishing that Westsail did on their boats and among other things managed to go on about the magnificent bronze ports. Yep, ZOSHAS got 8 round opening bronze ports with screens. Four of them are 8" diameter and 4 are 6". After all these 34 years they are still beautiful. So its beyond me why one of the past owners of this boat did to them what they did and treated them with so little respect. OMG! what did they do you ask? It seems that maybe one or more might have developed a small leak. This often happens when you tighten them down too tight and deform the gasket.....remember finger tight!! For whatever reason one of the past owners pulled the gaskets out of all the ports and caulked them all closed tight!!!! Get a load of this.........

This old brittle caulk chipped away and pieces flew all over my boat....whata mess it made....

Ya need the right tools....

The gasket groove all cleaned out ....unbelievable but this gasket material is what was used in the original ports and is still available...if you know where to look.....$1.40 ft.....