Sam Holmes Sailing · video

What this video covers

Sam Holmes drills a new through-hull fitting for two air conditioners and an anchor washdown pump while hauled out in a boatyard in Thailand.7:20 He accidentally drills into a lightning ground — the one structural element he could not hit — then fills the misplaced hole with epoxy, shifts position, and drills a second, correct hole.9:01 The core balsa around the new hole is dug out and filled with epoxy before the fitting is installed.10:32 The through-hull hardware, roughly $500 worth of Marlon (Maralon by Force Bar) nylon fittings chosen over bronze, includes a speed scoop for the AC intake.8:04 Separately, a cracked custom hatch is rebuilt: rusted dogs are cleaned with Cerakote, acrylic is routed and reglazed with primer and Sikaflex, and tinted glass is fitted.Watch Soft spots on companionway steps — balsa core crushed to cardboard — are cut out, filled with filler, and grip tape is planned.13:51 A replacement eWinter gearbox arrives without customs problems.14:51 Persistent heavy rain overwhelms multiple cabin windows, saturating both mattresses and starting mould growth within two days.15:25 Drilling a through-hull near a lightning ground requires confirming the ground's exact position on the interior before cutting.

More from Sam Holmes Sailing

Hundreds of miles of rough sailing only to be turned away from our dream destinationOct 2026Making big miles offshore sailing through IndonesiaSept 2026Orca sighting! we repair one daggerboard only to break another oneSept 2026Sailing to Maratua, a rarely visited Indonesian island Sept 2026

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