New Waterline

The first change that happens after a sailing vessel becomes a cruising vessel, raising the waterline....

Well, Vita is not yet a cruising vessel, but I won't get another chance to move the waterline before I leave, so here goes nothing. I decided to move the waterline up 3" starting at the top of the original boot stripe. I did some quick calculations, and that should give me an additional 1800 lbs carrying capacity before the water gets into the boot stripe. She sat just below her waterline this summer, but the boat was gutted, so we'll call that another 400 lbs. That should be enough. I would rather have bottom paint above the waterline than boot stripe paint below.

 So here she sits. I managed to get her level side to side by knocking out the blocking under the starboard side of the cradle, loosening the bolts that hold the forward cradle sides together, and cranking the port side pads until she was level.

See below my waterline marking tool. Two 3" pieces of wood attached with reversed tape to allow them to slide back and forth. A level and pencil. There is a great Youtube video from Sail magazine, narrated by Walley Moran that shows how its made and used.

 So I taped the top of the existing waterline, in case the old gelcoat waterline got sanded off in the process. Marked and taped the top of the new boot stripe.

 Turns out that gelcoat waterline is pretty thick. I went through it a couple of times though. All I need to do now is retape, since the original stuff got destroyed by the sander, and start with the epoxy.

That's today's job. Plus I am going to make a trip to Pride Marine in Kingston tomorrow, so I need to make sure I am getting everything I need. I am even going to try and pull one of the seacocks. I'd like to find out what kind of shape the thru hulls are in and whether or not I have to replace those as well.

Off to the boat.