In October 2019, I broke my arm playing a late night game of roller hockey. My inability to do much physical activity for a month got me thinking more seriously about buying a sailboat. I purchased Grace November 2019. She was previously owned by a couple with a slip directly across from my father’s sailboat. I had admired Grace for some time, and when she was posted for sale, I jumped at the opportunity.
I soon learned that Grace had extensive deferred maintenance, which meant lots to do before she would be a safe and reliable boat for coastal cruising. The first step was to sand off the existing bottom paint and repair the blisters below the waterline. This work was carried out in the Santa Cruz Harbor Boatyard by Ray Villalba / BSD of Santa Cruz.
The two thru-hulls for draining the cockpit were replaced with Forespar Marelon mushroom head thru-hulls and inline ball valves, and a new Airmar DST800 Smart thru-hull sensor was also installed. All three thru-hulls were bedded with 3M 5200 sealant. Ray applied 3 coats of high binding primer, 1 coat of 2000 primer, and 2 coats of Pettit Hydrocoat Eco ablative paint in blue. The zinc on the rudder shaft was replaced, and the hull was waxed.
