The coachroof rails need to be about an inch deep – 25mm – and the thickest length of teak that I could get is a tad over 20mm. So I was going to make shims from the two six-inch lengths I have left over. This will give me sufficient depth to countersink and cap the bolts.

My latest plan is to use the existing old rails. 

Originally, I was going to cut the shims from the old rails. I was going to do this by cutting them laterally and cutting out 5mm deep sections from the underside, where the rail mounted to the coachroof mounting points.

My current idea is to use the whole length of each rail, and sandwich the new piece between the old tops and bottoms. I must admit, I am not convinced that the tops will work, but I think the bottoms will do the job…. An open sandwich!

The new teak is very pale, but I expect that it will all fade to similar shades. I am missing the sternmost two or three inches of the port side rail, which includes the mounting hole and tapered end, so I will have to make a shim for that section.

I had to cut the old rails ino shorter lengths yesterday to get them into the car – so there will be some small gaps where I sawed the wood. I can fill and hide the gaps on the underside, I hope, but the topsides will look awful, I think.

We shall see..

Some pics of work in progress:

After stripping and applying many coats of new varnish, the floorboards are back, except for the foremost one, by the v berth and heads, which required some tlc because it was split.

Looking aft:

Looking for’ard:

I have lost the halyard several times – so now I wire it in place. It usually happens when I am reefing the main in a sudden blow, but it has happened when I have (for some reason) loosened it, and the wind snatches it from my hand, or it wraps itself around the head of the mast.

Shortly after leaving Camarinas, in a blow, as I was reefing, I heard a “ping!” As the shackle pin went flying one way and the shackle another. I took this photo of the halyard. 

I used my Aloft Alone kit to climb the mast mid Atlantic, somewhere off Portugal, but could not untangle it. I used the topping lift, as the halyard shifted position for several days, looking like a python, languidly lazing in the standing rigging.

Then, as I approached Porto Santos, it just fell loose!

I raced to the mast and grabbed it, still wrapped around the mast but in my reach at last, and tied it to a shroud before shackling it securely at the foot of the mast.
Below is Frank in Porto Santos, to the north east of Medeira. I stayed 12 hours to dry out and secure the halyard shackle pin with some seizing wire and headed on to the Caribbean. 

I heartily recommend Porto Santos – the marina is reminiscent of Portland, being an ex NATO base – not used much, sheltered and friendly. The beaches are wonderful and the shops nearby are superb. Apparently, finding a berth Madeira is hard but Porto Santos is great.

The hull anode, to which the engine is earthed, is a large, 8″ pear-shaped lump on the port side and towards the stern, near the centreline.

It is mounted on two through-hull bolts. When it was replaced in September of 2014, Craig was unable to free the forward nut holding the anode in place. So it was cut off, and disappeared into the gap between inner and outer hulls. A new bolt was fitted.

Water was entering the gap between hulls through the bolt hole, and upon inspection at Hooking Bull I saw that the new bolt was very badly corroded. With advice from the Sadler Owners’ forum (tremendously useful!) I set about replacing the bolt but also curing the problem of water ingress.

So I drilled a 2″ hole in the inner hull centred around each anode bolt, but not through the outer hull. Natch!

I discovered the old nut and bolt, and also drained out some water. There was a previous and poorly-executed attempt at filling the hole, as evidenced by some filler that I also removed. Remember, the gap is “filled” with a water resistant foam but there are gaps, and here was a gap.

I took these pics of the job:

The hole. Somewhere, I have pics of the finished job, and will add them.

I drilled new holes and cut new threads into the filled “bung” with a tap and die set, sealing the deal with 3M below waterlne adhesive Sealant (the stuff that can be removed, not the permanent stuff!)

The anode before new bolts were fitted. I reused the anode, making a new rubber gasket to go between the hull and the anode.

Some pics of the keel refit at Hooking Bull, Rockport TX. This took three months or so, because we had to get a slot in the calendar, wait weeks for the “glue”, and schedule the rigger to unstep and restep the mast, tune the rigging, etc.

The mast is dropped..

Before the keel is dropped..

We had to wait whilst Hooking Bull found the time and then ordered the two-part keel adhesive sealant.

Lifting the hull, with the keel bolts loosened. The mast is off, to prevent the unballasted hull toppling over if the keel becomes detached.

Loosening the keel slowly to lower it from the hull..

The keel is hanging on..

Separation. There was water in the hull, which was drained out over several hours. No osmosis, thank heavens.

Interesting hole in the cast iron keel.

Applying the Pettit FlexPoxy, a 2-part epoxy adhesive sealant designed for keel joints, from Pettit Marine Paint. It has a carteidge to ensure that components A and B combine in a 2:1 ratio.

Inside the boat.

Dropping Frank back onto the keel, to compress the joint, and tightening the bolts..

Finishing off.

The finished job

I headed down to Corpus today, to remove the rails from the coachroof.

As I suspected, the hairline crack in the port rail was a clean break. It is old, so probably predates my purchase of frank.

Now I will try to get new ones made, with the fallback of repairing and revarnishing.

The survey is finished, and next week I will go to start the paperchase with US Customs, to get Frank imported and then reflagged.

I spent last night and all day today stripping 31 years of varnish from the floorboards. 

Almost done.

The grotty boards at the bottom (below) are my deck at home, not Frank’s deck!

I have to finish stripping the varnish: the discolored areas you can see are varnish stripper – where there is no varnish residue, it has evaporated, so I just have a few areas left to scrape.

The inlay is actually very thin, and in some areas it has been worn away. However, a good coat or three of varnish will distract from those flaws. 

The board at the back of the saloon, nearest the heads, has a crack on the underside, which I will patch up amd reinforce.

Tomorrow I will head to Corpus and remove the handrails, bring them home and start refinishing them. I also need to order the new Stack Pack sail cover, to replace the damaged one, from the guy in Port Aransas, if I can find his number.

Since buying her in 2013 I have been trying to find the hull number of Frank – when Sadler was building the boats they did not have a formal way of marking the hulls with the build number.

Thanks to the Sadler Discussion Forum and The Sadler Owner’s Association I now know that Frank was the 67th Sadler 34. 

“My records show [the first buyer] bought the Sadler 34SE in 1985 with the Hull

number 34/067, sail number K8652Y…

Interestingly enough she was built alongside a 34 build no. 066 which was

for the Yachting World editor, Andrew Bray. ” (Nigel Thomas, of the owners’ association).

So now I know. Built 31 years ago, hull number 67.