S/V Westphalia at Island Moorings
(about 1996)


I suppose the first thing you will need to know is how I acquired the name "Barnacle Bill"
It's not a long story, but it's interesting
Go here!!!
Barnacle Bill
    In 1987 I moved to a little fishing village called Port Aransas located in southern Texas on the Gulf of Mexico. One of the first things I did after arriving here was to check out the boats in the city marina. There was this ONE boat that caught my eye and entered my heart. I didn't know anything about sailboats at the time, but this boat never left my thoughts. She was a beauty.
    When I first laid eyes on "Coyote", a 41' Formosa Ketch, over ten years past, I was taken in by what  I was looking at. Her bright work glistened in the evening sun and she sat tall in her berth. The years passed and Coyote began to die. She lost her shine as the ultra violet rays ate away at her topsides. But the memories stayed with me of what beauty laid beneath her now deteriorating teak decks and vallied bright work.
    While making a dock walk, one moon lit night (Nov. 1994), there sat Coyote with a much welcomed 'FOR SALE' sign hanging on her davits. I promptly made arrangements and moved aboard on Dec 15, 1994. Everything was broke or in need of major attention. She was in bad shape, but Barnacle had a dream.
"COYOTE"(1995)
    For those of you not familiar with a Formosa, they were built in Taipei. They are
literally covered with tons of teak inside and out. You gotta love teak to love a Formosa. The hull and decks are built of "strong like bull" fiberglass with a 9,000 pound chunk of lead hanging off the bottom. Definitely a blue water cruiser. They are prone to liking lots of wind (anything over 15 knots) if you want to go anywhere. With over 6' 3" of head room, even the tall guys would love it. The little woman would especially love the seperate shower from the head.

    I don't have an up to date record of all the work I've put into Coyote, but will give just a little recap of the last 5 years. As you seen above, Coyote was in pretty bad shape when I bought her. To date, she is still in pretty bad shape, but there has been lots of work done.

The old saying goes, "if you got teak, you got a leak". Boy has that one proved to be 100% correct. One of the first things to go was the teak decks, with the exception of the HUGE cockpit. All those little leaking screw holes had to be filled. Then there was the problem of the rotted core from the leaking teak. Drilled and filled. Still have to reglass the decks and put down a good non-skid.

Replaced one of the house sides that had rotted from all those years of no attention. Turned out to be a rather easy job. Have to do the other side and the front yet when I get the nerve to open her up again.

Removed the mizzen mast and cut it up into little pieces to fit in the dumpster. Too far gone to repair. Am thinking of using aluminum masts, but wouldn't that take away from the character??? The main mast needs some attention if I am to save it.

All the brightwork has been sanded down and refinished, and refinished, and refinished. Does it ever end? You just wouldn't believe the beauty of teak in all it's splendor.

Installed a heat pump I built at work. All the mildew just up and went away. My clothes smell like real clothes instead of boat clothes.

When I tried to crank the 50 HP Perkins, the thing wouldn't roll over. Found 3 stuck pistons after tearing down the engine (just the top). Still looking for a good time to get back to a Perkins day. With computer on board, it's hard to do all the necessary little things like rebuilding an engine.

That's close to what is going on with Coyote. I left a lot out like rebuilding the head and shower. Put fiberglass panels over all the replaced plywood. Never have to paint again and it's absolutely beautiful. Did I mention about the dry rotted soles. No problem there either. Just pull up the teak and holly, clean off the old glue, and attempt to reinstall it all back in the right order over new ply soles.
All this may sound like a lot of work, but.....IT IS!!!


A short recap of the projects started and  yet to be finished

1. De engine man....fix de engine.
2. Pull main mast for inspection and repairs
3. Rebuild main mast step....a bunch of junk timbers and a few gallons of epoxy
4. Locate or build a mizzen mast.....along with new mast step
5. Fix the leaks over the master stateroom bunk....scarf and glass new ply roof
6. Same thing over starboard side galley
7. Install that new heat pump I just finished building
8. Glass over and repaint decks
9. Remove teak decks in cockpit and do the drill and fill thing if needed
10. Reinstall teak in cockpit....no friggin screws
11. New paint job sure would look nice, but no hurry
12. Replace ALL plywood soles and reinstall teak and holly
13. Wiring....guess I could fix that too
14. Replace other house side and front....glass the whole thing and paint it
15. Revarnish insides, but it's really not ready
16. Put in a bigger fuel tank....like 100 gal
17. Rebuild galley countertop........NOTE: DO NOT USE OAK AS A COUNTERTOP

This may sound like a lot of work, but.....IT IS!!!



Progress Reports
Oct. 1999
Nov. 1999



 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Page constructed by
Barnacle Bill Productions®
1999