Mechanics on Duty

READY ABOUT SAILING on Chautauqua Lake boasts over fifty years of combined experience in sailboat and powerboat maintenance, repair and refurbishing.

To get and idea of the high standards we keep in our work, see the photographs and descriptions of the refurbishment of a Beneteau First 235 below.

Please contact us at 716-664-3883 or email us with your boat maintenance & repair inquiries.

  • View from 2nd floor office
  • Power washed the boat
  • Removed all loose gear, including teak
  • Teak and original Beneteau graphics & windows will be replaced.

  • Trailer pulled great on the trip to the shop.
  • Top sides are in great shape and will need only a good buffing.
  • Hull bottom is also in very good condition.
  • Will do some light sanding and keel fairing before a fresh coat of VC 17 is applied

  • Companion way stripped of all the teak.
  • Will make a new set of hatch boards
  • Removed hatch and cover today for cleaning and to re-bed the screws
  • Boy was there a lot of crud under the cover!

  • We use carpet to keep things clean during the work
  • The teak on the edge of the seats became a problem and were bolted on with 1/4 20 bolts.
  • Repaired the hull in these areas to allow for the proper fastening with screws and teak plugs.

  • The bottom is really in good shape. I will want it much smoother and more fair so there is some work to be done here.
  • When the last yard did the bottom, the bottom edge of the keel was not done well or not done at all.
  • We have a 30 ton travel lift that will fit into the building so I can pick the boat up to fix the bottom of the keel.

  • The new teak parts are complete and ready to go back on the boat.
  • The back sides have been finished with Sikkens. The tops will be done on the boat after the plugs are put in and flushed over the screws.
  • Last season we replaced all the teak on a 285 First and there were about 45 parts for that job.

This is a photo of some gel coat issues that were just below the level of the teak on the starboard side of the cockpit. Here a hook knife has been used to pick away the loose gel coat to prepare it for the application of some new gel coat. There were several areas on the deck in need of the same repair. Most were the result of air bubbles under the thin layer of gel coat. All of the areas were repaired at the same time.

The gel coat was mixed up into a paste thickness. Even so it is hard to spread it even and to keep it from running. You can see a small piece of wax paper has been placed over the wet gel coat. Your finger can be used to smooth out the gel coat under the wax paper. The wax paper holds the material in place so that it will not run.

  • When I pulled off the port hand rail a chuck of gel coat came with it. All of this area is under the teak and will not be seen, but still needs to be sealed from water.
  • A mix of west system epoxy is made and brushed on the the area. Some of the epoxy will soak into the exposed glass and some will build on top. This seals the area well.
  • If the chipped out area had been larger that the trim, white gel coat would’ve been needed on top of the cured epoxy.

  • Put three of the teak trims back on the boat.You can see that three of the teak trims have been put back on the boat.
  • The teak plugs are not flush yet. I am using Sikkens for the finish, so I dipped the ends of the plugs in some of the Sikkens to hold them in place.
  • After the finish dries, I will flush the plugs with a palm sander.

  • Applied the first coat of finish to the top of the teak.
  • Finished the sides and back of the trim before it was put on the boat.
  • Easily removed the windows. They were original so the plan is to replace them.