Peregrine Charters: 2021 Haulout, Keel Bolts, Shaft Seal, Rudder Rebuild

This place is literally a mariners heaven. Port Townsend is always a great stop-in whether provisioning, have a nice dinner or enjoy the farmers market. But it is also the best place to find a seasoned craftsmen for literally anything you need to have done on your boat.

Half the Pacific fishing fleet seems to haulout this time of year. Looking at the haulout and storage costs I found the Winter rates were half price from Oct 1, 2021 ‐ Mar 31, 2022. When there's a pile of work to do it seemed like a good time to go on-the-hard for the full month or March.

I was lucky to squeeze in in front of Barry Stephens Marine machine shop. Barry has 30 years in the business and has a fully equiped machine shop to handle the toughest jobs. He's in high demand but if you're lucky enough to get on his schedule, you know you're in good hands!

The run up to PT from Kingston is usually 4 hours with the ebb tide. We passed a large pod of killer whales off Fort Flagler which felt like a good omen and a welcome into Port Townsend Bay. The next day was planned for an early morning haulout.

The primary tasks:

Keel: Replace the 49 year old 1" keel nuts and lock washers and inspect the mild steel studs. I also wanted to remove the rust on the keel plate with a pneumatic needle gun, then treat with Corroseal.
Bilge: Paint with Rustoleum Pro Enamel adding a hardener for the cold weather.
Replumb and Rewire: Re-seat the bilge pump and float switch and reattach the copper ground strap.
Rudder: Re-glass the rudder and rebuild the gudgeon.
Shaft Seal: Replace the old stuffing box with a PSS Shaft Seal. Replace zincs. Straighten shaft.
Propeller: Replace the 20 year old propeller.
Bottom: Scrape, sand, bottom paint, paint bootstripe. Wrap keel join with 3 layers (8", 4" and 2" fiberglass mat) and wet-out with System Three epoxy. Fair hull with epoxy mixed with microballoons.
Steering: Steering cables inspected and clamps replaced. Install new throttle govener.

Rudder: Re-fiberglass soft spots. Check bearings (they were fine). Inspect/renew steering cables.

Gudgeon: Rebuild.

Bottom: Sand, glass and epoxy over keel join, fair with epoxy and microballoons, and apply ablative paint. Touch up bootstripe.

Propeller: My 20 year old propeller had developed crevice corrosion on 2 of the 3 blades. It was unrepairable, so I replaced it with a new prop from Kruger and Sons. They use Chicago Propeller and fine tune them in their shop. Supposedly their proprietary anti-fouling lasts 3 years... we'll see!