Hull Repair

Ever wonder just how many materials, hours, and money goes into repairing a hole in your boat? Well, no need to wonder any longer, because we’re going to write it all out for you!

One of the best things about Josh doing our boat work is that he kept an itemized list of everything it took to fix our hull, as well as the hours he spent doing certain tasks.  Hopefully, we’ll never have to go through something like this again, but maybe it could help another boater out there.

Material	cost
4 gallons Vinylester Resin	$288.44
1 quart MEKP-9 Catalyst	$15.00
1 gallon Fairing Compound	$25.96
18 yards Fiberglass	$174.00
4 quarts Glass Filler	$75.84
8 Grinding Discs (24 grit)	$40.00
2 sleeves Sanding Discs (40 & 80 grit)	$24.00
1 box brushes (1 ½ inches)	$16.99
2 boxes rollers (8”, 4”)	$23.98
1 box latex gloves (heavy duty)	$24.99
8 epoxy sticks	$63.82
½ gallon Interprotect (epoxy barrier coat)	$62.00
1 gallon Proguard applative bottom paint (47% copper)	$118.50
1 gallon of owner supplied bottom paint	$0.00
PVC pipes	$39.80
8 feet Poplar wood	$28.10
Fasteners and 5200	$29.61
2 gallons Bleach and misc	$25.58

• Day 1: tented off area and ground exterior
• Day 2: removed black water tank and ground interior
• Day 3: applied laminate to exterior, refinished exterior with glass, then applied fairing compound. Ground interior and applied glass.
• Day 4: more glass on interior, new reinforcement frame laid down and partially glassed in. Sanded damaged area on keel, sanded and applied bottom paint to bow exterior.
• Day 5: Ground interior, glassed in remainder of reinforcement frame, sanded new glass smooth. Applied more bottom paint to bow and keel.
• Day 6: Installed new blackwater tank frame (poplar), pre-fit connector between black water tank and hull, painted interior.
• Day 7: Installed blackwater tank on new frame, installed connector, hooked sewage back up.

We are obviously over the moon about our boat being back in the water, fixed, and even better than before. It feels strange, finally having it back. It’s exciting and lovely and everything we hoped for, yet still hard to believe. There was a time where we were planning our next year as if we didn’t have it, as if it couldn’t be fixed. But here we are, back in the water and ready to sail!

We have some work to do on it first, of course.  I mean, when is there not something to do on a boat?  We need to change the oil and we really need to clean.  The good thing is, there is hardly anything on the boat, so doing all of the deep cleaning now is perfect timing.  I’m honestly just stoked that all of the things we dreamed of doing on Batland, from sailing to hosting, we can finally start thinking about again.  It’s no longer something scary that we push out of our minds because we don’t know the outcome, or something sad that we know we’ll never do again.  It’s something wonderful that we get to adventure on the sea once again.  

If anything is certain in this life, it’s that nothing is.  We never know when the day will be our last, which sail will be our last sail, so why don’t we live like it?  Personally, I think it’s time we say goodbye to known ways that society teaches you to live:  grow up, go to college, get married, work a 9-5, retire, etc.  Why must we live such planned out lives?  There are people all over the world living out of their boats, their vans, their buses.  They are doing it with their families or their pets, or all alone.  I think that is something to strive for, not to be thought of as outrageous or strange.  Why the heck wouldn’t you want to live doing something you loved and traveling the world?  

Yes, I’m saying a lot of this to myself, because I too grew up with the expectation of graduating, getting a job, settling down, blah blah blah.  Until I met Steve and moved aboard, I had no idea that living on a boat could cost less than what is typically expected of a monthly rent for a house/apartment.  I’ve mentioned this before, but it cost more living in my tiny studio apartment than it did to rent a slip for a month on the boat.  You can even outfit it to be self sustainable (thank you solar panels) so that most of your typical “needs”, like utilities, are taken care of.  

I guess what I’m trying to say is that it all seems out of reach until it isn’t.  It all seems bonkers until you’re living it yourself and realizing just how much happier you are traveling and figuring things out along the way than you ever were when you were trying to live by society’s handbook.  I just want you to know that if you are trying to travel or you already are, I’m proud to know you, and I’m right there with you.  After all, once you start living like this, it’s hard to stop.

This is why we write up our expenses and how we do certain things on the boat.  We want to share that it’s possible, that other people can do this too if that’s something they want.  We’ve gained a lot of knowledge from watching other boaters’ youtube videos on changing oil or how to make a propane locker.  We’ve learned a lot from boaters around our marinas too.  This liveaboard life is a community and people are never shy to help you in any way they can because, the truth is, they may need your help at some point too.  

So we hope this helped, the itemized list & hull repair costs as well as my tangent to live life as you please, regardless of the plan you thought you had for yourself. 

Cheers to you and all your endeavors, and we’ll chat next Tuesday!

Skye & Steve

THIS WEEK (in pictures):