Pepe Gotera y Otilio, chapuzas a domicilio

Pepe Gotera y Otilio

About a month ago, and almost 4 months after ordering them (we all know, good stuff takes time) the new rudders made it to my doorstep. All the excitement of new rudders and the possibility of going sailing again before days get too short didn’t last too long, though, as the work of installing the rudders opened a new and surprising set of chapuzas…

We choose to take Koh Samia out of the water to make easier the rudder installation and, at the same time take a look at some little cracks on the keel-hull joint. Nothing to worry, just cracks on the fiber, I was told, only going aground at high speed could actually damage the keel.

And they were right, but once the boat was out of the water, some rust-colored drops started to drip from those cracks… for days!

So we had to open it out to see what was going on… and, as Evodio found out, the keel box had lots of empty volumes where the salt water had found its way through the little cracks and started to rust everything… including the keel!

Keel box

So we had to open the whole area, clean the rust of everything, let it dry, fill it up… and while doing it, we also found some fiberglass had been glassed over… the gelcoat! Well, I’m not a boat builder, but it definitely seems like a chapuza to me. A big chapuza.

The good thing about all this is that now, after a fantastic job fixing it, I do trust my keel. I mean, being out there and thinking that we’re taking water through little cracks on keel joint, even if you know it is safe, it keeps flashing as a little warning light in my brain. Now I’ve seen the problem, I’ve seen the fix, and I trust it 100%. Gracias Evodio!!

And we’re finally getting to work on the original reason for taking her out of the water… the rudders! We’ll be fairing them, giving them the right waterlines, painting and installing them… with some new twist. It’s going to be fun!

She should be in the water soon, then it’ll be time to check new things and shake her down again, get used to the new rudders, and get some miles on the new set up… hopefully everything holds and feels safe for the season ahead.

My current plans after a few weekends shaking her down around here, are to sail south. Mexico and the Tropic of Cancer are just too close to San Diego to not dream about them. And, in winter, I can not find any better place to sail to. Los Cabos or La Paz, are the obvious destinations… about 750nm away in a downhill course. Let’s see if I manage to make it this time.

Fun, fun, fun…