Preparing for Our First Season!
If you’ve ever lived in a boating community in the northeast, you know the feeling. It comes out of nowhere on the first warm, sunny day of spring when the snow is finally all gone. The itch to get back on the water.
I got the itch while delivering a beautiful new Parker 2120 Sport Cabin to a couple while at my full time job in sales at Spicer Marine. The weather was perfect: it was flat calm, the sun was shining, and the water was like glass. I was showing the new boat owners how to use their trolling motor and they were showing me how to find fish with sonar. As we were idling back into the marina, it hit me. I need to be out on the River in our boat.
Up until a few weeks ago, the weather has not been very cooperative. We had a blizzard swing through in early April and drop a few inches on the ground. That’s life in the North Country, I guess, but it made the itch all the more intense two weeks ago, when I could finally uncover Kilo Delta and start making the repairs and upgrades I had been planning since we bought her last August.
The biggest project has been fixing a soft spot in the deck on the port side of the cockpit. When I picked the boat up in Maryland last August, the soft spot was only maybe a square foot, near the port in the floor that allows access to the port fuel tank. Foolishly, I had the boat tied up on the port side and jumped in and out of it from the port side for all of September and October and, as you can see, the soft spot got a lot bigger.
The soft spot in my deck grew exponentially as a result of boarding on the port side.
At the recommendation of my boss, Dan, an expert in marine structural and cosmetic repairs, I used a technique recommended by West Systems. As shown in the photograph above, I taped around the outside edge of the soft spot and drilled staggered holes on one inch centers with a 1/4” drill bit, making sure to go no deeper than 1/2”. The gelcoat and marine plywood that make up the deck of our Parker is at least 1” thick combined, but if you drill all the way through the deck, the resin won’t stay put and bond with the plywood.
I had my doubts when I started drilling. The wood that came out of those holes with my drill bit looked like wet mulch. Nevertheless, I trusted in Dan’s guidance and mixed West System 105 epoxy resin and 205 hardener and got to work.
Combine the epoxy resin and hardener by going pump for pump from each container and stirring. I used a syringe to inject the mixture into the floor.
It took a while, but sure enough the holes filled up with resin. I probably used three-quarters of a gallon of mixed epoxy resin and hardener by the time all was said and done. The plywood underneath that gelcoat was really thirsty.
Filled with epoxy, sanded, but not yet gelcoated.
When the resin had set, I sanded the gelcoat down until the surface was once again smooth. Dan applied gelcoat for me after a good wipe down with acetone. He said it’s not perfect, but the floor doesn’t sag when I step on that spot anymore so it’s close enough for me!
While this project was ongoing, I completed a laundry list of other repairs and improvements with the help of the service team at Spicer Marine. Highlights include:
tuning up the 2017 Mercruiser 5.7L, 300hp Horizon engine (spark plugs and a distributor cap, it’s really that simple!)
removing a broken through-hull transducer and patching the hull with 9 layers of fiberglass
replacing obsolete sonar transducers with a Garmin GT20-TM
removing Maryland registration numbers and replacing with the vessel name and hailing port per USCG requirements for documented vessels
prepping helm for Garmin ECHOMAP 64cv installation
removing obsolete stereo head unit (who ever thought putting a CD player in a boat was a good idea?)
had the boat surveyed as part of the application for commercial vessel insurance
We are hoping to have a re-christening ceremony when the weather improves. This name has very special meaning to me and my family, which I will share in a future blog post.
All in all, the old girl is in great shape. She should be in the water within the next few days, and I look forward to sharing more updates as we continue to improve on this already beautiful boat and as we start hosting customers, family and friends aboard Kilo Delta this summer!