My Whitby 42 Blog

Browsing Archive: February, 2012

Hot Water Tank

Posted by Bryan on Sunday, February 19, 2012, In : Fresh water plumbing 
My 9 year old son helped me rebuild the Seaward 11 Gallon hot water tank.  It had sat in some dirty water at some time and the insulation was shot.  So we took it all apart, cleaned it up, rinsed is out and pressure tested it to see that the hot water ex-changer from the engine was sound and the tank didn't leak.  All was good there.  We bought a new pressure valve, Heating element (Should have taken a picture of it, looked like a coral reef with all the calcium deposits on it) and fittings f...
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Engine Work Parts have Arrived

Posted by Bryan on Thursday, February 16, 2012, In : Engine 
Dan my engine guy ordered a bunch of replacement and upgrade parts for the engine that have arrived.  Direct from American Diesel.  They have various parts that they have changed, modified and improved over time.  
Included are new barrings, rings, all the coolers and exchangers.  The old ones will be back up.  The Bright red parts are old engine parts that have been sand blasted, scraped, etc...and then repainted.  The entire engine will get the same treatment.  More pictures on this page:
 ....
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Working on Electronics

Posted by Bryan on Monday, February 13, 2012, In : Electronics 
My daughter is helping me with the electronics and the wiring.  We took the old electrical panel, which will be thrown out, and attached it to a plastic box.  Ripped out a bunch of the circuit breakers, attached an old volt meter and amp meter, both of which I already have new ones, attached a lead to some mini jumper cable like clamps for the batteries and another line from a circuit breaker to some alligator clips.  Now we can hook up various electronics and test them out.  I have boxes of ...

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Tank Tender Works!

Posted by Bryan on Monday, February 13, 2012, In : plumbing 
Still not allowed to use my arm much because of the broken collar bone, I am doing small projects to keep busy.
I took a look at the Hart Tank Tender, 10 tanks, and other than being a little dirty, it all works.  Tested it in some buckets of water.  Works great.  Didn't realize how expensive they are till I started looking up new tubing.  Much was lost when the boat was deconstructed and I don't know what went into what tanks.  So now I am looking for 1/8" nylon tubing.  It works with simple a...
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Deck Repairs done, ready to paint!

Posted by Bryan on Thursday, February 9, 2012, In : Deck repairs 
This was actually in mid August.  Every hole was filled, as I am assuming I am putting in new things.  Every hole was drilled out with at least 1/2 inch, and if water damage I went further. Then all filled.  With holes I know I will need to redrill later, I put a small dimple so I could find them again after painting (thanks Paul for that super simple genius idea).  I painted with 2 coats of a 2 part epoxy paint.  A friend of mine is an avid sailor, Canadian Olympic sailor, and has been in th...
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Great idea I stole

Posted by Bryan on Thursday, February 9, 2012, In : Deck repairs 
I stole this idea from a few pictures and places on the web.  I built up small tubes that will house the chain plates to keep water out.  I made them by taking thin cardboard (cereal box), wrapping around the the chain plate.  Then a layer of wax paper, then wax.  On top of that I added 3 layers of fiberglass and used epoxy.  Then cut it to length on a chop saw.  Drilled out the holes bigger (A router would have worked much better....live and learn).  Epoxied them in and was done.  I did inst...
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Help with Fiber Glass

Posted by Bryan on Thursday, February 9, 2012, In : Deck repairs 
My 11 year old daughter wanted to help, so I gave her the pedestal to work on.  She sanded it all down, filled all the holes and cracks, sanded, smoothed out, and painted 2 coats of paint.  Did a great job. 
(back in August)
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Pex Plumbing??

Posted by Bryan on Monday, February 6, 2012, In : Fresh water plumbing 
I have been looking into using Pex pipe for the potable water system.  I will have pressure hot and cold water as well as foot pumps at all the sinks as back up.  I have used Pex pipe in my house and fell in love with the ease of installation.  Biggest questions I have is Copper rings or Stainless steel cinch rings.  The copper compression rings are strong, but the tool to compress them is not small space user friendly.  I fear getting stuck in strange places with out being able to make the c...
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Cockpit combings

Posted by Bryan on Monday, February 6, 2012, In : Deck repairs 
The wood was not worth saving.  And very expensive to replace.  And then the maintenance.  So I filled all the holes and added 2 layers of fiberglass then smoothed it.  I can now reattach the cleats and winches anywhere. 
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Mizzen mast support

Posted by Bryan on Monday, February 6, 2012, In : Deck repairs 
 Build up mizzen mast support before final sanding
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Mizzen mast area

Posted by Bryan on Monday, February 6, 2012, In : Deck repairs 
There used to be a hatch that was over the bunk, but it was not installed correctly.  Previous owner did most of this repair but left the actual mast step on.  I took it off and redid directly under the mast.  I dug out all the rotten wood, filled all the hole, then put in balsa core.  On top of that, I made a step pad by layering up fiberglass, approx 30 layers to create the raised platform. On top of this goes the mast support.  
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Fiberglass deck work

Posted by Bryan on Monday, February 6, 2012, In : Deck repairs 
There was water damage around the durade box and exhaust pipe from the heater.  I removed the heater and the wet deck was chased as far as needed, and then a lot more than needed.  Previous owner did the first 70%, and I finished the rest.
Also damage around the Mizzen mast was fixed.  The previous owner did the fore deck where water got in round the windless.  A new windless was already installed.
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Purchasing a boat

Posted by Bryan on Sunday, February 5, 2012, In : Boat Buying 
April 2, 2011.  Purchases hull #120.  A Whitby 42.  Quick history of the boat:
First owner had the boat for most of its life.  It has been to Europe and back twice.  Originally called Slow Poke.
Then it was used as a floating house boat for 6-10 years.  Little maintenance and well used.  I bought if from somebody who was going to fix it up and sail it around the world.  After one year of working on the boat, he had to sell it and I picked it up.  The boat is mostly gutted, engine is out, not a ...
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Bryan Haas


Please feel free to contact me! I grew up on the waters of the Chesapeake sailing and fishing. I was paid to work, sail, race, and sometimes live on a 51' Hinkley (they didn't really need to pay me but they offered!). I am a high school science teacher who likes to learn by doing. Used to teach at "The Sound School" in New Haven Ct. Check it out, the most amazing on- the- water school there is. I have rebuilt smaller boats from scratch, but nothing on this scale. This is an adventure. All help is greatly appreciated.

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