Cockpit and Hull Refit

The Frozen Tundra, Feb. '09

When I first met Stewball, ex-Sitzmark in Feb. '09, she was buried under 12" of snow and ice, I felt like Shackleton in Antarctica struggling to maintain balance on deck.  The brokerage who took her on trade the previous Fall was a pinhead to leave her exposed over the winter. 

Nonetheless, there wasn't much to be damaged or overlooked. She had a simple cockpit and hardware. Her teak helm seat was gone leaving only  cold aluminum to taunt one's hemorrhoids. Her teak locker covers/seats and bridgedeck were decrepit. The teak coming caps and companionway showed their age and her original teak eyebrows were plucked into oblivion.  

Panels of aluminum or Starboard were patched, screwed and painted over what were evidently old instrument clusters. Bare essential B&G instruments were screwed into some of those. Lipstick on a pig.  Her Edson pedestal and compass housing was tired and her 30" wheel was diminutive. At least seeing the newish Beta engine panel was encouraging!

Pulpit and Stanchions Amputated
for Bridge Clearance

However, her aluminum deck and toe rails were in superb condition with recent Treadmaster. I love a flush-deck boat and this layout provides an excellent base of operations and dinghy storage. Overall, her Awlgrip was in nice condition with only slight fading on the coach house. Her fixed Lexan ports were crazed, her stanchions all looked rather agricultural but hey, the life lines were fine!

No sir, this was no 'stewball'.  Under all this ice, she was a 40 year old hot-blooded cougar begging for cosmetic surgery and hardware augmentation!  My downturned critical eye was quickly being met by a cheeky upturned smirk.

I would be her sugar daddy!

Reduced to 13'4" and Ready to Travel

Fortunately, by the time we consummated the purchase in April '09, the weather was warm enough to remove all hardware needed to attain the 13'4" bridge clearance requirement for trucking to South Berwick, Maine. This involved removing the pulpit, bow roller, first three sets of stanchions, coach house winches, doghouse and companionway slider.  It was close!

Future Pirates and Treasure Hunters
William (5.5) and Aidan (3.5) Shea

My two oldest boys couldn't wait to meet Sitzmark. This was their first time aboard and it was 'Sawzall Day', the day Bob Eger of Warren Pond Boatworks arrived to amputate her over- height appendages. You'll see great photo's of these young pirates selecting their bunks in the 'Interior Renovation' chapter!

Here you can see the teak bridgedeck and IOR era traveler and tired companionway. Behind the helm is the control lever for the keel trim tab.

Awaiting the Sawzall

Her Claret Red Awlgrip was in decent shape. Unfortunately, the day before the previous owner traded her, he hit a piling entering his slip causing a 2' scrape midship along the gold cove stripe. Together with a few lesser scrapes and bruises, she warrants a new paint job.  Awlgrip can not be easily patched.

Her bottom is in nice shape having received an epoxy job in 2006.

Old Instrument Holes

Once inside the shed at WPB, her coach house and cockpit were gutted. All patches, hatches and teak were removed. Permanent aluminum panels were fabricated and here await welding.

The only aluminum corrosion we encountered was under the bridgedeck and steering pedestal where the metal was covered with teak. These areas were ground down smooth and epoxied. New teak will be installed throughout the cockpit and coach house.

Fresh Bulkheead

Here, the panels are installed awaiting the usual epoxy faring before painting.  The old boom crutch base and doghouse dodger mounts have been removed. A new full-size dodger frame is completed which provides excellent protection to a crew of young pirates huddled underneath in bad weather and sun protection on bright days. We're not sure yet if the boom crutch will be replaced as it requires a hole to be cut into the dodger.

Circa 2004

This is a great 'before' photo supplied by her previous owner (PO), Kevin Carse, Jr. of the bulkhead he inherited and subsequently patched.  These are either her original B&G instruments or were installed in 1973 as part of the IOR modifications.

An interesting note about Kevin is that his father owned one of her two sisterships, Legend (ex-Zest) at the time he found her in NJ, purchased and named her Stewball.  This was a piece of good luck for Sitzmark as Kevin was a knowledgable and devoted custodian.

Gutted Cockpit

Everything in the cockpit (and under) was removed, including the steering system, keel trim tab controls, patches and remaining teak locker covers and coming. 

Note the emergency rudder steering post and peculiar bilge pump drain exit next to it. Supposedly, water pumped from the bilge would exit this hole and drain through the two cockpit scuppers!? This was eliminated and the hole welded closed in conjunction with the Cat-1 upgrade and compliance modifications.

New Winch Pads and Dedicated Mainsheet Winches

Believe it or not, deciding upon the new traveler and mainsheet arrangement took more brain cycles than any other aspect of this refit, perhaps with the exception of electronics.

We always planned to revert to the 'as drawn', pre-IOR helm traveler location and longer boom (E=18' vs. 15'). But determining traveler height and mainsheet routing was a head-scratcher. The boat no longer had a mainsheet winch; the PO used a gross/fine purchase system which is impractical for short/single-handed sailing with a 20% larger 560 sq. ft. mainsail. 

In the end, we decided upon an Admirals Cup system whereby the boom-end mainsheet and 2:1 purchase is routed from the traveler car, directly outboard to dedicated winches.  To accomplish this, new pads were fabricated and welded into place slightly aft of the traveler and between the stanchions. This results in a mainsheet system  that is responsive in light air and easy for a helmsman to manage alone. As of 10/20, we haven't finalized whether the mainsheet will be routed parallel to the traveler, then 90-degrees aft to the winches through coming mounted sheeves or fed directly to winches raised and angled 8-degrees.  Key is potential mainsheet contact with the pedestal on port tack when the traveler is outboard.

Traveler Brace Installed

In this photo, the new traveler brace is installed. A 2" aluminum C-channel serves as the base to a beefy Harken Big Boat Tall Track traveler. This track can normally be self-supporting but not at this 60" span. It will sit atop a teak pad angled 10-degrees for the traveler car/mainsheet to meet the boom bale. If prudent, the brace can be secured via rod to the deck and or new pedestal for added strength.

Our choice of pedestals is the Edson Vision II. Edson provided an unpainted loaner to assist with optimal positioning of the traveler. Tolerance is tight. The pedestal will contain only an integrated  chartplotter/MFD; for aesthetics and safety, no guard rail-mounted instrument pods or attachments will be installed.

Under the Cockpit Originals

Under the cockpit, steering sheeves will be upgraded, cable/chain replaced and the keel trim tab mechanism eliminated. This photo represents the 'before' picture.

Fixed Ports removed

The fixed ports will be replaced with stainless steel opening ports. Newfound Metals of WA supplied units that fit the 7x15" opening almost perfectly. Great care is taken to protect the aluminum from electrolysis, including painting the coach house before they are installed. The 'as drawn' teak eyebrow will be reinstalled, as will the teak handholds on the coach house roof.  The eyebrows are a traditional aesthetic that serve to visually lower the height of the coach house and really smarten up the exterior.

Foredeck Crew Instrument Mount

One of the more interesting innovations on Sitzmark is this mounting location for a foredeck instrument pod incorporated into the dorade box. Here the cap and old instrument are removed.  We can no longer supply electricity to this location so I am unsure what will become of it. Directly below is the new v-berth ....so we can't just cut it off at this point either.

Ideas are welcome!

Original Stanchions and Gates

As I mentioned, her original stanchions and even current bow pulpit are pretty agricultural.  

Replacement tapered stanchions are on site and will be 'sleeved' to mate with the amputated bases that are fused with the aluminum bases. Gate supports will be fabricated by the shop.

A new bow pulpit will be fabricated, modeled on the original specifications but modified to  accommodate a single Lopolight LED navigation light and to provide enough maneuvering room for an anchor in the new bow roller.

Test Driving 44" and 48" Wheels

Yours truly, in a photo by Don Porter while experimenting with various wheel diameters - and sharing a healthy dose of camaraderie!  By contemporary standards, her 30" wheel was tiny but there isn't a lot of room in this cockpit!  This is the 44" option which still provides decent mobility around the helm and helmsman' operation of the mainsheet and traveler system.