My Story
I'm a self-taught sailor; starting at the ripe age of 15. It all started with getting myself stuck in the middle of the lake; forcing myself to figure the whole "wind," thing in order to get back to shore. Immediately I fell in love with sailing. It was certainly in my blood before I knew! In-fact, I made myself available for crewing on anyone's boat. The first time crewing on a Santana 20; Instant love for these boats. I came to the point in my life, where getting one was going to be a reality.
Earlier in the Spring of 2010, I picked up a Laser (small one-person sailboat), every time I went to the lake, I past a local boat shop; seeing this particular Santana 20. Because there are only about 1000 + of these designs ever made, it was unusual to find one locally. During a 6 month time-period, I admired her, and wanted her. Finally, I decided to stop by; inquiring about this boat. The guy mentioned the "boat needs work!" Thinking too myself; "Sounds like she was meant to be with me!
Bahala Na was a named picked, because it seemed to be a fit for this boat, and for my personality."Bahala na" is described in "Basic Tagalog" as a Filipino philosophy, translated approximately as "Happen what may!" (Whatever will be, will be?)" However, can that not be anymore perfect!?
Bahala Na, has a sound hull; which is the most important aspect of purchasing a boat. She's in need of a little TLC, from her 5+ year extended stay in the trailer. But with all my ideas and dreams with her modifications, she will be beautiful once done... Let the Journey begin!
First thing first, clean this girl up! My son helped with the power-washing; which really changed the appearance, from years of neglect Tried cleaning up the trailer, but this is a lost cause!
So, August 2010 - The big day to get this girl in the water. I had anxiously waited, to get her settled at the lake, but endless item's kept popping up; causing delay.
At this point it appears, not all the rigging is up-to-par. I'm going to try and sail for a month or so, eventually pulling her out for the winter! Because this boat sat for so long, there has been serious neglect; I plan on restoring this boat during the winter.
Refit of Bahala Na's Shoes
BEFORE:
AFTER:
I was so excited to get the trailer restored. Apparently, the trailer was retrofitted to pick-up Bahala Na, but certainly not the safest. So the brakes were repacked, new tires and wheels. Yeah, the tires were two different sizes, and cracked from the elements. All the rust was sanded off, and repainted.
One last pending upgrade to the trailer, will be the additition of the bow-support; as-well as a keel-guide. Im thinking this should help immensely, while pulling the boat out of the water, with expectations to flow nice and centered! I will post additional pictures once completed.
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After pulling Bahala Na out of the water the middle of August, I proceeded to pull off all the wood, so I could start refinishing.
BEFORE:
9/2010 - This is what the wood looked like when I pulled it off the boat. Very cracked and a piece of the wood was actually broken off.
9/25/2010 - Two coats of varnish, and looking a Million times better. I'm going to add a total of 12 coats of varnish.
So, here's the project I'm currently working on; while waiting to repaint, and add new hardware. I simply have to wait until Spring, in order to accomplish other projects! =(
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BEFORE:Here is my huge peeling paint mess. I was hoping to get the the inside painted over a weekend, boy was I sooooo wrong! After giving a fellow Santana 20 owner an extremely bad time, for his paint peeling inside, I have learned over the course of doing this...NEVER WILL I GIVE HIM A BAD TIME ABOUT THE INSIDE OF HIS BOAT!!!
This is after about 40 hours of sanding, Still much more sanding to do, but hey I think I actually now see some light. Kudos's to my friend Thomas, who feels sorry for me; helping with the sanding too!
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This is probably the biggest concern I have with the boat. When I launched it this past Summer, I noted water in the stringer area. It appeared to be approximately a few cups, nothing more; eventually ceasing on the leak. At this point, my dad and I are going to take the 5 nuts off of the bolts; inspecting things, re-seal if necessary, & finally adding new hardware.
10/17/2010 - I have been soaking the bolts with "AeroKroil", in hopes of getting this old stuff off. This product "quickly loosens rusted nuts and bolts - frees frozen shafts, pulleys, etc. Penetrates to 1 millionth inch spaces, dissolves rust, lubricates, cleans and prevents rust. Displaces moisture." You can get it at: "http://www.kanolabs.com/." Great stuff!
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RAIN, RAIN, RAIN, & more rain! Unable to work on my boat at this time! =(
The weather is supposed to be nice tommorow, so I think I will try to get in a couple more hours... I really hate taking time from my baby, but I have to take advantage of nice days, in order to complete this project. =(
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11/14/2010 - Finally completed varnishing the wood... 12 coats later! I'm simply amazed at what this wood looked like when It was pulled off the boat, and what some TLC can do!
Today being my Birthday, I was surprised with this!!!! The best part is my dad made it! He is very gifted with the ability to do such beautiful wood work... YEAH!!!! I am so excited!
12/15/2010 - Weather has not permitted me to do anything on my boat. I have been trying to find a location where I can actually do something, but this is proving to be tricky =(
1/3/2011 - Today, I went to a local fabric shop; bringing in my old worn-out foam pieces for the bow. I'm having new ones cut-out, and selected fabric to cover them. I will only be doing the bow pieces, so I have a place to put my little one down to sleep while sailing. I was hoping to stay in the dark-blue tones, but unable to find inexpensive fabric in my choices. I happen to find a fabric in a neutral tone, and should not look dated even after many years. Unfortunately there's enough to do one side with this fabric. So I will do the other side with Vinyl. Once I get this done, I will post pictures.
1/4/2011 - Tonight I will be heading over to my dads house, so I can work on getting the four winches cleaned up, and in working order! I was going to buy new ones, but advised, you can take them apart to clean and adjust. This is perfect, as I looked at the price to buy new ones... outside my budget!
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1/22/2011 – Alright, I finally came to terms on the painting process. I’m taking her to a local, other than myself. I simply can’t get all items completed before the season starts; especially without a place to work on her; or the weather to cooperate! I don’t think I can make a deal with Mother Nature!
I was told it should take approximately six weeks before I get Bahala Na back. I plan on assisting, so at least I can say I helped. I wanted this to be “my” project, learning while I worked. I came to the conclusion I could make this theory work, if I had no intentions on sailing Bahala Na this year… yeah right! =)
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1/28/2011 – Yeah…one side has been dry-sanded with some repair. I plan on going out tomorrow discussing color schemes, and assisting in the sanding process. Oh, the color scheme (unless something changes) will be unique to say the least =).
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1/29/2011 - Finished wet-sanding the boat today. I decided to bring 'my' crew with me! I figured while I was learning, I would have my kids learn as-well. Not sure if they were on the same thought page as me! Again this being a learning process, I didn't realize wet-sanding doesn't change the appearance of the boat (hence no photos), only takes off the previous crap... e.g., oxidization, & wax build-up. by the time we finalized the wet-sanding, Miss Bahala Na, was as smooth as a baby's butt!
After completing the wet-sanding process, I sat down with Mike; giving him a sample of the color choices for my boat. Wow, he has almost the exact color choice! He will mix-up the color, and get back with me later this week, to do a sample spray on the boat.
On a side note, I might have located ‘my’ spinnaker choice; courtesy of my good sailing bud! I will keep you posted on this if it works out! I don't want to get too excited, until I have this in my happy hands =)
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2/2011 - I have been working on sanding all the black bottom paint; truly not as bad as the sanding process inside the boat! Unfortunately, I have been trying to get out to sand the bottom more, but things keep cropping up; leaving me with little to no time to work on her. If only our precious daylight didn’t retire so early, I could certainly run out after work and sand! Daylight Saving can’t get here quick enough!
Here are some pictures of the boat in the current condition, not really much to see. Just imagine the bottom with black paint. Well, it wasn’t entirely black, but there was a good portion with it on.
You can see where all the black has been sanded on this section =)
I have been told for the past several weeks, that Bahala Na would get moved into the shop, so the stripes could get sprayed on, but this hasn't happened as of yet, so I'm not sure what this coming weekend will hold *keeping my fingers crossed*.
In the meantime; I received my new acrylic hatches today. I previously had the fiberglass ones; which were fine and dandy, but with my little tot tagging along to be my “sailing princess” she was getting fiberglass all over her. Not sure if anyone knows how uncomfortable fiberglass slivers are, but I know… all the sanding inside! I had traded my fiberglass hatch covers for some acrylics, but soon realized they were awfully faded and scratched. Little did I know they wouldn’t have pre-drilled holes in them? This is a project, I’m hoping to to pass off to my dad ;-). Drilling into acrylic makes me super nervous; knowing the consequence of making a mistake!
2/23/2011 - I have now completed the design for the boat name, and the vinyl should get printed this coming weekend. I have limited experience installing vinyl, and with this being two overlapping pieces, might prove to be a tad tricky! Of course my vinyl installer had to up and move to another State; my brother! =)
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2/2011 - Finally got my cushions completed. I used the old bow cushions to fabricate new cushions. Unfortunately, I was planning on doing a navy blue theme inside and out. Buying fabric before I decided to go with what I really want... probably not a smart choice! Hence they no longer match the outside of the boat. Oh well with the price of fabric, and someone to make the covers, it's certainly something I will have to live with. Fortunately, they are inside, so it's not going to be a huge "wow, they don't match" type look.
I decided with the price, and the purpose, I would only do the bow. This is really for my little one, as she get's super sleepy while sailing, and with the amount of sailing I like to do, she needs somewhere comfortable to rest her head. =)
2/25/2011 - Today I primmered the boards fabricated for the cabin. Once these are dry, I will then paint and add a clear coat. The inside hopefully will end up looking nice and clean inside.
Here's a close-up of the fabric!
2/25/2011 - Called for an update status on Bahala Na, but with such cold weather, things are going to be set back! Kinda dissapointed to hear, but you can't change the weather, as much as I would like!
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4/1/2011 - Starting to see some actual progress on my boat! Stripes are laid out. I was thinking a little higher on the upper hull, but I was assured this was a good fit???? I sure hope so! At this point it's hard to determine anything. All the taping, and previous stripes, seem to make it tricky on the eye?
4/2/2011 - Black Stripes getting sprayed on... FINALLY!! Apparently, the Raspberry color has been tricky to mix... still waiting...
4/2/2011 -
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4/6/2011 - FINALLY SEEING PROGRESS! I have waited and waited to see the colors come to life. However, I was really hoping she was going to be ready to take home this coming weekend, but as you can see... still lot's of work needing done. I'm a little nervous about the stripping, as I originally wanted the upper stripes higher then they are, and then I was going to put the vinyl name lower (where the stripes are currently). So, we decided to have an approximate 3 foot section in-between the stripes where I can put the vinyl! *Keeping fingers crossed*.
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4/11/2011 - Still no news on the status, and the so-called "six week project," has now become a 12+ week project! I know my patience level isn't necessarily the best, but this is certainly testing my patience; considering sailing season is now in full swing. I figured taking the boat to him in January, would have given more than enough of cushion room." Giving a leisurely time schedule, to continue working on updating the rest of the boat. I will post further updates, once I have them.
4/11/2011 - DRUM ROLL.......................................................
Bottom paint hasn't been sprayed; which will be black. I would love to keep it white, as it has such a clean look , but I will be storing her in the water; hence the need for bottom paint. =) This was super amazing to see!!!! Can we say "PROGRESS!"
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4/20/2011 - I finally got to pick Bahala Na up! Sadly there was some huge problems in the project; which has left me with a boat that is not complete in the painting project. Not sure why my boat got the brunt of everything, as I saw some of the work done, and it was simply beautiful. So this coming fall, I will take her back out there, and have all the work completed =). I'm also going to re-do the name; making it bigger, as the name that was put on ended up being too small. I truly am excited to get her, I just had certain expectations... . So now, I will put her all back together, so I may get her in the WATER!!!!!! CHEERS!!!!!!!!!!!
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October 25th 2011 - I had a blast sailing on Bahala Na this past Summer! I only wished Mother Nature would have been more nurturing with the warm weather! Cold and rainy, for a big window of the summer, and by the time it got warm it swept right into Fall!
With that being said, it's now time to work on my next series of projects. The first is the compression post fix. In the Spring I had bought new shrouds, but unable to get them tuned correctly! They are as tight as possible, and the max tension on the loos gauge is 18! Needless to say during the strong winds I had to be careful sailing her!
Last weekend a fellow Santana 20 friend assisted me with this (I have no idea what I need to do, nor do I have the appropriate tools). The compression post came out, cutting into the portion it sits on.
Once this was cut-out, we blocked off the area where the keel bolts are; (I will be working on re-threading these next) using fiberglass clothe, and resin to create the mold we need.
OK, next week we will start adding epoxy. More to come!!!
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11/30/2011 - WHAT NOT TO DO...
It's funny how the simplest things can turn into a huge learning experience. Which the whole boat project has simply been that... "a huge learning experience!" Might I add an expensive one at times.
It's been a week, since fabricating a self in cased hole, where the compression post used to sit. By doing this it allowed us to fill with epoxy; for strengthening and to raise this area where the compression post needs to sit.
Using West System products, we mixed in the105 epoxy resin, 207 Hardener, & the 405 High Density Filler; building the area to the original specs of the boat.
Funny thing... DON'T, I REPEAT... DON'T EVER TRY MIXING A SMALL AMOUNT OF THIS, POURING IT IN THE HOLE, MIXING ANOTHER BATCH, AND FILLING IT ON TOP OF THE FIRST BATCH! We did this a series of 3 times, and this is what happened. It resembled a small volcano; steam and all!
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11/06/2011 - This week involved a lot more sanding. There were some cracking invovled where we had poured expoxy. So after sanding, we made a mix of epoxy resin, and hardener; letting it fill up where there were some cracks. Once settled; made another mixture of epoxy resin, hardener, adding the high density filler.
I'm hoping by next weekend we can sand & smooth this section out. The color is completely different which bothered me at first, but then I was reminded I'm still planning on repainting the entire inside.
