The first days at the beauty salon

Ripping it all off and laying the new deck

No more than two days have gone since Regina Laska was pushed into Kai’s beauty-salon. Ellös Teak Service is in line to undertake the first plastic surgery for Regina Laska. They all promise that her cosmetic appearance will take her to the stars after the complete surgery, which begins with her getting a new deck.

The guy’s had already pulled off most of the deck equipment in order to take off the old teak.

When Carl had taken off the Besenzoni gangway we could hardly lift it. What a weight at the stern! To carry an extra 70 kg at the stern is maybe not the best thing for an elegant sailing boat so we decided to leave it off and sell it or just keep it for Mediterranean days in the future (if ever).

The question remains: What equipment do we wish to keep and what is to be re-fitted, which equipment do we have very little use of in the waters we plan to sail in and which equipment to we wish to replace for cosmetic reasons?

Carl told us it would take two days to polish the brass strip around the hull, so we would be better off to invest in a new one. And while doing so, why not upgrading to a stainless steel one? Money, money, money….

The old Dorade vents would not look nice with the new teak deck, so we will replace those. The same with the drains on deck and lids for filling water and diesel. But it came to a surprise to me that the anchor windlass had a worn bearing and we needed to change the chain wheel as well. It was also leaking oil and needed a new seal. The spare parts and work made it more sensible to buy a new windless. Money, money, money….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The surprising thing was that Carl always remained positive and was smiling encouraging through these difficult steps of the project. He said the most important issue was keeping focused and getting an overview. To, him it was all a question of planning. Carl never missed a chance to tell us how great it will all become once autumn has turned into winter and then spring and Laska into an awakening sleeping beauty!

We went around the boat and tried to get a picture ourselves of what needed to be done and grasp how great of a project this seemed to be. Without the wonderful team and everyone’s enthusiastic support and professionalism I would have received weak legs long ago. An even with the team, I was just picturing how much this all would cost in the end. Had we become crazy?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In order to get access to all the bolts from underneath for removing the deck equipment, the ceiling had already been taken down. It looked like a mess down below. The saloon table had also been taken off in order to get re-varnished.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the deck equipment all removed, the old deck could be taken off, which was easier said than done. Since Hallberg-Rassy glues the teak onto their boats since many years back, it is very solid and hard to get off, which is a good sign, actually. Bit it didn’t help the swearing guys of Ellös Teakservice who slowly made their way from the bow to the stern using the most bold equipment one can think of. No mercy with the old deck!