Update: Baby was born happy and healthy on April 11. We've already had him on the boat twice!
Here's the list of things I've gotten accomplished over the winter. I apologize that I have no pictures, but playing with epoxy/fiberglass and operating a camera don't mix well.
Replaced all 4 lower shrouds. The uppers were new, but the lowers were ancient. Made the rigging myself.
Added the LED steaming light and deck light combo that CloudDiver posted awhile back. It's kickass.
Added an LED anchor light from WM, and changed deck plug to 4-pin to support all the lights on the mast.
Upgraded halyards with oversized sheaves (thanks Stingy.)
Added a headsail downhaul
Got a brand new 150% genoa since the boat only had a 100% working jib.
Added upgraded spreader brackets from CD
Added a stereo
Finally the biggest project was when I went to install the stem reinforcement. Got into the little anchor chain locker at the bow of the boat, and removed the screen. Discovered that the stem fitting on this boat was once moved aft to accommodate an anchor roller, and then moved forward again when the anchor roller was removed. Lots of holes that were not sealed properly. In addition, there was a **large** hole cut in the bow for a deck pipe for anchor rode, directly aft of the stem fitting and bow pulpit. So, we find that none of these items have been sealed well, and to make up for the fact that there are so many holes, someone has custom made a piece of 3/4" plywood that fits everything and bolted stem fitting and bow pulpit through it--as a reinforcement, I guess? When I got in there, everything was soaked and dripping wet from Pacific NW fall and early winter rain. Removed the backer board, and found that the bottom layer of fiberglass underneath the deck core was straight-up missing. The deck core itself had about a 12" square section of ruined, rotted wood. Everything gooey, slimy, and dripping with brown water.
Put a tarp over the boat, left the hatch and the companionway open, and let it dry for a week with a fan inside. I had good core with glass underneath it once we got back to the bulkhead that separates anchor locker from V-berth, but everything forward of that was no better than the outer skin layer of fiberglass.
Now, let me preface this with: I've never done any fiberglass work at all before this job. Thanks to the magic of the internet (and this forum!), I developed a plan of action. I ended up chiseling out all the rotted wood, and cut a new piece of plywood to fit in the space where the old one should have been. Mixed up some **really** thick epoxy and attached the new piece of plywood to the underside of the deck. Wedged a bottle jack and got creative with pieces of 4x4 to hold the plywood in place while the epoxy cured. After that, we began the tedious process of glassing underneath the new piece of core. I alternated layers of chopped strand mat and woven mat, and tabbed all the way around onto the inside of the hull. After all that set up, I drilled out and potted all the holes that had been made in the bow with epoxy. Then I redrilled the holes for the pulpit and stem fitting, and reattached these items using more plywood backer plates underneath my recored deck and lower layer of glass. Bedded everything with butyl tape. Finally, underneath all of that, I attached the stem reinforcement to the stem fitting and bow eye.
I owe this forum a great deal of thanks because without all the knowledge contained here I would not have had any clue how to attempt a repair like this. Thanks to MaineSail for excellent tape photography, and instructions. Thanks to countless posters showing how fiberglass really isn't that difficult, and thanks especially to the folks in this thread who got me connected with Don Woodhouse and found me people to race with and a cheap slip in a great location!
I'm looking forward to a fantastic summer on the water.