More (serious) boat work

OK. I haven't written anything on this blog for a while for many reasons that I won't go into now. Suffice it to say, I've been doing other things and haven't had the time or inclination to write. Today is a different story.

I have a sailboat. I used it quite a bit when I first got, but didn't do much maintenance which is why I have had the plethora of issues to deal with the past couple of years - I needed and got a new trailer, the boat nearly sank at the dock, jib roller-furling halyard broke while raising the sail, etc.

The latest adventures center around the bow. I have known for a while that water has gotten into the cabin in a couple of different places, but never knew the true extent of the issue until lately. I knew a couple of years ago (see my first post), that I needed to remove and re-seat the bow pulpit as the bolt heads had rusted and it looked like water might be getting in around them. The last couple of weeks have confirmed that, and I am a bit frightened of the amount of work it might (will) take to fix the issues. My main concern is regarding the fore-stay plate that the roller furling for the jib attaches to on the bow. This needs to be very strong as it is the only thing that keeps the mast from falling backwards into the cockpit. As you will see from the pictures, the plate does not have a strong foundation to hold it since water has been leaking in around various bolts in the bow and rotting out the wood core of the deck. If I were to put the mast up right now, I don't think the plate would hold for very long, if at all.

This brings me to my question today. What do I do next? My thoughts are to:

1. Find a barn or large garage to keep the boat in and dry for the next few months to a year. Otherwise, build or rent a shelter to put around the boat at the marina.
2. Continue to remove the bow pulpit from the boat, as well as all other hardware attached to the deck near the bow
3. Start grinding out the gel coat, starting at the very front part of the deck and work my may back until I find good wood core that hasn't rotted.
4. Cut out and replace wooden core with more wood or other material and rebuild the deck and gelcoat.
5. Re-attach hardware to deck, making sure to caulk the bolt holes and edges of the hardware very well
6. Raise the mast, rig the boat ... launch and sail!

Pretty easy, right ?!?

Please let me know if you have words of wisdom, experience with doing this sort of thing, or know a guy a that can "take care of it ... fughedaboudit".

The pictures of the area in question are posted here.

I can and will take more pictures as I continue working on this effort and have more fun to share.