An Overhaul and A Name

Last we parted ways, I had just moved our unnamed Chrysler 22 sailboat from our slip at Boston Harbor Marina into my grandparents' vacant trailer port in Lacey, WA.

This was October of 2013. My goal was to have her back in the water by spring. That meant all of the work would be done in the cold and wet Washington winter. Not ideal, but I had a great place to do it at Grandma's and Grandpa's house. Often, I would be hard at work on one thing or another, and look up to see Grandpa sitting on his walker, just watching. As he put it, it gave him great joy to see me working on something I was obviously passionate about. To this day, I hold this memory close. He always felt bad that he couldn't help. I'd ease his mind by telling him how much of a help it was having the trailer port to use, and how much I enjoyed his company. It always put a smile on his face.

Once we had the boat off of the trailer and supported properly on stands(actual and homemade), I formulated my plan, with the help of my sailing teacher Brett and another new friend named Lenny. Both of these guys worked in the boatyard while we were on the hard and knew what I needed to do what I wanted. They were also very helpful when it came to tools and techniques. More on that later. Time to get to work.

Vitamin 'R' was a staple throughout the process

Some of the rest of the major supplies.

If you're one who likes to keep track; with these supplies and the cost of the previous haul out, I have easily spent more than we paid for the boat initially. That does not include moorage fees. And, I'm just getting started.

Keel & Rudder

First major undertaking (pun unintentional) was to remove the keel completely from the boat. That's 725 lbs of solid, albeit pocky, cast iron. To remove what remained of the keel pin bracket and the keel pin, we used a multitool with a cutting wheel and tapped it with a long ss bolt and a hammer until it wiggled free. We constructed a cradle to use in conjunction with a 2 ton floor jack. Having just the right amount of pressure (and support) from the jack assembly below was important to remove the keel pin. A two person job, at minimum. Here's what that evolution looked like.

The pin was in nearly perfect condition, had we not had to cut through it

Pin removed and keel dropped :-)

Astonishingly, this was the largest piece I could remove of the old keel pin bracket!