Over the last few days, I have been busy getting a number of tasks across the finish line, bringing the refit of this Cape Dory Typhoon to a close. Biscuit's owner is arriving the following weekend to collect his very capable and renowned daysailer. But first, the reaming tasks.

I removed the battery tray, a slab of marine mahogany with a purple heat fiddle forward, that sits on a athwartship floor of black walnut, and installed two pad eyes for strapping to keep the battery from moving side to side, and to keep the battery down on its tray. I positioned the battery onto the now removed tray, marked the fastener locations and predrilled for wood screws. After securing the pad eyes to the tray, I reinstalled the tray and set the battery in position. The owner will need to purchase a strap to complete the installation. At this point I connected the positive and negative wires, with a quick test at the 3-way bilge switch panel, I confirmed the operation of the bilge. The battery is a LiFePo 100 AH with its own charging system; however, for ease of use, a flexible solar panel and MPPT charge controller would be a valuable addition.

I closed up the cabin and turned my attention to the cockpit floor - the last of the nonskid to be applied. I grabbed a bucket of water and a rag to clean the cockpit flooring of debris and various organic matter. After a quick towel-off, I began to define the nonskid field with tape. At the corners and around the cockpit scupper drain plates I applied templates of varying diameters to achieve the pleasing curves required, penciling these in. I trimmed the overage tape with a razor blade to prep the area for paint. The sun was setting at this point and so I saved the first coat for the following day.

Arriving at Biscuit the following day, I quickly gathered tools and material to achieve the first coat of nonskid. I sanded the field and along the tape line with 80-grit paper by hand, and then vacuumed the dust, followed by a cleaning with acetone. In the shop, I prepared the nonskid paint and secured a tray and roller. The paint went on as planned, while I constantly removed perspiration from my face and arms due to the heat of humidity of our Florida summer. It was a brief visit with just the first coat on nonskid planned for this session.

Today, I moved a few items to the completed column: nonskid paint on the cockpit floor, final varnish on the drop boards, spot painting the antifoul bottom, and installation of the winches. The nonskid paint required a bit of a scuff, and this was accomplished with a Scotchbrite pad - removing the dust from the floor and applying the second coat followed. I had applied varnish the previous evening to one side of each drop board, and today I flipped the boards and applied varnish to the edges and opposite sides. There were a few spots on the bottom obscured by the boat stands the were deprived of antifoul paint, so I arranged the stands, sanded the areas, and applied fresh paint to these locations. Finally, I gathered the winches and disassembled them. I applied lubricating grease to the pawls and other mating surfaces, installed the base plates to the winch base plates, and reassembled the winches.

In the next couple days, I will complete two remaining items and then prepare Biscuit for travel.

Total Hrs: 5