Freeze Warning

Today was really nice, but there's a freeze warning tonight. Although I got a lot done today, I didn't get to the portholes yet, so I hope it won't get too cold in the cabin tonight.

The forecast for the next few days is for colder weather, but it was sunny this morning with a high this afternoon in the upper 50's, so I took advantage of it and decided to try to finish the toerails. I pulled up the cover on the starboard side and transom. epoxied the 3' section of split toerail on the starboard side near the transom, and finished caulking most of the outboard edge of the starboard toerail up to about 5' from the transom.

I still need to fix one more small section on the starboard toerail just forward of the 3' section I fixed this morning, but that's all that's left on the side of the boat. The other side is completely done, however, I still need to fix a 6" section on the transom right at the port side corner. I would have fixed all three this morning, but didn't have enough clamps, so I did the big section first. I should be able to do the other two at the same time.

By the time I finished all of that, it was already after 1530, and I didn't think I'd be able to make much headway on the handrails or portholes, so I decided to do a few other warm weather tasks. First, I rerouted the manual bilge pump hose, then I reinstalled the engine exhaust hose. The exhaust hose had originally run through the port side cockpit locker along the hull. I didn't like that, so I rotated the elbow on the transom thru-hull straight up, used that to make the anti-siphon loop, and ran it forward directly toward the muffler. I had to cut 3' off to make it fit, but now it's nice and neat and doesn't take up a lot of space in the locker.

I also started cleaning out the forecastle. I moved the genoa and mainsail onto the foredeck, and all the other sails into the bottom of the port cockpit locker. Next, I'll move all the halyards and other lines onto the foredeck and clear out the chain locker. I need to pull out all the chain and anchor rode and get it ready to use, including adding ribbons to mark periodic lengths. This is needed to make sure you let out enough rode when anchoring, normally at least 5:1, e.g., 50' of rode for 10' of depth. Without the some sort of marking on the chain, or rode, it's impossible to know how much you've let out.

Zoe watch:

It's Halloween, but we're already back on board listening to the ballgame. Zoe's a White Sox fan, so she dressed up as Shoeless Joe Jackson -- all black, white socks on her fore paws, black socks on her rear paws, and no shoes. I'm her bat boy.

Zoe on Deck

While I was trying to dry fit the handrails, I tore off the plastic covering one of the porthole openings so I could reach inside and made so much noise it upset Zoe. She came up on deck to find me and see what was going on. She calmed down immediately, and I decided to let her hang out on deck if she wanted. I'd kept her off the deck of over a month while I was painting, but since all I have left to do is mount the hardware, it's not that big of a deal now. She likes to stick her head out the cover at the peak of the bow and sleep and the foredeck, so she stayed up there most of the afternoon.

Although I didn't finish the handrails, I was able to get them all dry fitted and in place. I masked the deck for one of them, but ran out of time with the others. When I pulled the inside ones down from where I'd stored them, I noticed they were really discolored, so I spent a couple hours cleaning them up. I also had to clean the old gunk off the feet and out of the holes of the the outside ones which took a little time as well.

Then, when I started dry fitting them, I noticed that not all bolts where the same length. Some that should have been the same where a little longer or a little shorter, so I had to monkey around with them and try different combinations until I got them all to fit properly. Although boats may look symmetrical, they aren't. That's especially true with an older boat like mine. There were only 105 built, with all the woodwork custom made for each particular boat. It's like putting together a puzzle.

Anyway, I may try to do some more masking tonight after we get back from our walk, but it's supposed to get pretty cold tonight, so who knows. We may just hole up inside and listen to the ballgame.

I taped up more plastic over the holes and will try again tomorrow. At this rate, I may be here another week or two.

Cold Weather

I should be warmer today, but it stayed cold and overcast all day yesterday. I was able to get most of the inboard edge of the starboard toerail caulked (that's really all I can do until I fix the areas along and near the transom). It's bright and sunny today, so I'll pull up the cover on transom and starboard side, fix the split and caulk as much as I can. I still have half the outboard edge left to do too.

I brought the small portholes and handrails on board yesterday, so I'll start remounting them today too. I'm not sure how far I'll get, but it would be great if I could get them all in. Right now, I'm letting the sun warm up the cover and the deck.

Canvas watch:

I've decided to go with the charcoal gray canvas. There's another boat in the yard with gray canvas and it looks pretty good. She's got a lighter gray, but I like the look of charcoal.

Caulk watch:

Grant came on board the day before yesterday and took a look at the deck and my first attempt at caulking. I'd caulked the inboard edge of the port toe rail, but wasn't very happy with it. It looks okay, but I did it freehand and got the bead a little too wide in a few places and got some up on the teak.

I can clean that later, but Grant said it looked just as good as what comes from the factory -- both the deck and the caulk -- which really made me feel pretty good about all the work I've done this summer. Then he suggested I mask the edge as I go, then pull it off and get nice edges. I'd considered doing that before, but was afraid it would take too long. Anyway, I took his advice and was very happy with the results, even though it does take over twice as long. But what's a few more days.

Of course, I'll mask around all the hardware before I remount it, otherwise it would really be a mess. It takes a little longer up front -- you have to dry fit it, mask it, then take it back off before you caulk -- but it saves a lot of time in the long run and looks great.

Zoe watch:

It looks like she'll be confined to the cabin for the next few days. It's just too cold to leave her outside all day. However, I may put her out in the sun this afternoon. She likes sunning herself.

No Splash This Week

It finally dried out enough yesterday afternoon to start caulking, and even though I rigged up a light and caulked well after dark, I wasn't even able to finish the toerail, much less the handrails and portholes. It turned cold again today, so I'm not sure how much I can get done over the next few days, but I definitely won't be going into the water this week.

I've got the heater going, all the lights on, and the kerosene lantern lite in an effort to warm her up, but the high today is only 56. I think I can still caulk at that temp, but would prefer it was a little warmer. I finished the port toerail, but only got half the outboard edge of the starboard one done. I should be able to do the inboard edge this morning, but since I have to raise the cover to finish the outboard edge, I might let that go for a while. However, that side faces South, so if the sun comes out, I'll go ahead and do it.

In addition to the toerail, I think I can start remounting the portholes and other hardware today. I really wanted to get the portholes in before it got cold, but figured the toerail was more important. It's too bad I got such a late start, but the humidity didn't drop below 70% until sometime after noon. I have the handrails and small portholes on deck warming up, so I'll start mounting them as soon as I'm done with the toerail. Even though the portholes do open, I'll remount the handrails first, since the larger rough opening allows better access -- I have to use a screw driver on top and a socket on the bottom to fasten them.

I also need to cut a drain channel in the bottom of the mast step before I remount it, and epoxy some damage on the top. Hopefully, I'll get to that today too. The next big job will be reinstalling the manual bilge pump in the cockpit and reattaching the exhaust hose on the engine. Once the exhaust hose is back on, I can run the engine. I need to do that soon to check her out, but as a by product, it should warm up the inside of the boat quite nicely, so I might go ahead and do that first.

Zoe watch:

She's under the boat right now. It's only 54, but I put her bed down there to keep her warmer. There's no wind and it's nice and dry this morning -- there wasn't even any dew -- so I think she'll be okay. I'll check on her later and bring her on board if she gets too cold.

Another Before Photo

Okay, it's not a boat photo, but it is one of me 25 years ago -- before I went to sea. Ben Frazier, my roommate and colleague at 2nd Tanks, took this one evening after I'd gotten back from rugby practice. He sent it to me this morning. I guess he thought the shiner was pretty funny. I've got another one of me with 14 stitches above the other eye, but I think it's in the box of stuff I sent to Karen to keep for me.

I'll try to include an after photo of me when I post the boat photos, so you can compare me and the boat.

Broken Foot

I'm pretty sure I broke a bone on the top of my right foot a couple of weeks ago. It's been two weeks, and it's still sore and swollen. Also, the sole and instep are both blue. There's really not much I can do about it, but standing on a ladder all day scraping caulk sure isn't helping.

It looks like I've got another 15 feet left -- basically the transom and the last 4-5 feet on the starboard side -- which should go pretty quickly, but after the spectacular results from the patch I did last night, I've decided to fix the other two spots in the cockpit today while the weather is still nice. I pulled the clamps off this morning and was pleased to find the patch not only held, but looked really good. However, it wasn't perfect, so I spent about an hour with a block plane and reshaped the splice. Other than the dark epoxy joint, you'd be hard pressed to guess it wasn't like that to begin with.

There's a little split at the port side of the transom, and another set of long splits on the starboard side much like the other set I fixed a couple months ago. I should be able to fix them both at the same time, but I'll finish scrapping the rest of the caulking first. After all of that, I'm not sure if I'll have time to caulk anything today -- I'm already beat.

I'm still hoping to get her into the water this week, but time's running out quickly. In any case, she's starting to look really good. I'll take photos as soon as I can take off the cover (even before I clean and cetol the toerails). I haven't touched the forward hatch yet, so I'll try to get a close up so everyone can see the what the deck looked like before and after -- it's dramatic.

Toerail repair

I came pretty close to getting the toerails ready to caulk, but when I got to the bad splice on the port side, which is about midships, just forward of the jib traveler, I decided to go ahead and try to fix it again first. I'd tried to glue it last month, but it didn't hold. I might have removed the clamps too soon, but at the time, we were getting a lot of rain, and I didn't have much of a choice.

This time, I used epoxy and small teak dowels, and will leave the clamps on as long as it takes, which should be less than 24 hours. I have the extra epoxy in a cup, so I can test it to see when it cures. I hope it holds this time. My toerails are essentially teak 2x4's shaped as an upside down U, with the longer leg on the outboard edge and the shorter leg on inboard edge. Since you can't get teak long enough to do the entire 33' boat, it's made up of sections that are about 8' long and joined together. The joints are made on an angle, which is top to bottom, so the thin, bottom, outside edge of the U is what tends to give way -- there's really not much holding it together.

There's obviously got to be a better way of doing this, but without taking them completely off, I can't do much more than try to glue and clamp. And I can't caulk the edge if the split edge is kicked out half an inch. If it had been in the cockpit area, I wouldn't have worried about it, but it's in the center of the main cabin, about 6' forward of the companionway. I can't afford a major water leak in that area, even for a short cruise, so I need to fix it now. Better to burn another day here than several days later drying out all my gear.

Cover watch:

We might get rain tonight, so I secured the cover all around -- I'd had it pulled up all day to work on the toerails. It's held out pretty well, but I did have to fix the door zipper a couple days ago. The rafter feet are sitting on the deck now, but when I had them on the toerail, it made the frame larger and stretched the cover, which caused some of the seams to give way. The seams on the door zipper started pulling out a few weeks ago. I tried to ignore them, but once the rip grew to over 2', and started letting the rain in, I had to sew it up. I guess it's good practice.

Injury watch:

My right foot and ankle are still swollen and sore today. I spent most of the day on a ladder, so I'm sure that has a lot to do with it. Hopefully, the swelling will go down this week. At this point, it feels like I twisted my ankle, but I didn't.

I didn't have these problems when I was 20, but neither did I have a boat -- nor Zoe of course.

Caulking starts today

The toerails have taken a little longer than I'd planned, but I decided it was worth a couple of extra days to do it right. I'm not going to be able to completely finish them, but I should be able to get them caulked today which will get the deck dry, at least from the companionway forward. I'll revisit them once I've got the cover off. I want to wash them down with soap and bleach to try to even up the color and get rid of the dark spots. Then I'll dry them really well with acetone and start brushing on the cetol.

I should be able to start remounting all the hardware later today or tomorrow. I think it will take a few days, but may have some issues with the portholes. There are plenty of other things I need to do as well, but I need to get the deck finished first and get the cover off. The other things include reinstalling the head, hooking up the bilge pumps, reconnecting the exhaust hose for the engine, and checking it out. I haven't run it in over a year, almost 2, but I don't anticipate any issues.

If there is a problem with it, I may need to have someone work on it. But this could also be a good opportunity to learn diesel engine repair. That's pretty much how I've learned everything else -- by doing it -- including the glass and paint work on the boat. However, I hope that can wait until I get to a warmer location.

Injury watch:

I finally healed up from the various bumps and bruises I got a week or so ago. The sole and instep of my right foot turned purple a few days ago and ached a bit, but that seems to have gone away now. The bump on my shin has gone down as well, even though I re-injured it a few days ago. The day after I painted the cockpit, I was trying not to touch it, when I slipped and bumped it pretty hard on one of the winch stands. Normally, I wouldn't have given it a second thought, but under the circumstances, I saw stars. It took about 30 minutes for the pain to go away, which really cuts down on your productivity.

Other then that, I'm probably in the best shape of my life, or at least really close to it. Right now, I weigh about 174 with less the 18% body fat (according the my scale). All the sanding, scraping, painting, and crawling over the deck has really paid off. I only wish I could run.

The only times I might have been in better shape were when I was in the Corps. I don't remember how much I weighed back then, but I'm sure it was close -- my clothes are still the same size. If I could run, I'd have a better idea. I never got a perfect 300 in the PFT, but came close several times -- actually, I don't think I ever scored below 290 while on active duty. My problem was always the run. The best I ever did was 18:36 on the 3 mile run (Quantico 1981), but even then I wasn't training for it. I'd always been a swimmer -- a much better skill considering my intentions.

Fresh water watch:

I refilled all my tanks last night and added some bleach. I'd hoped to add just enough to keep the system safe, but must have put in a little too much. It's got a strong bleach smell now, so I'll drain and refill them again today and see how that goes. I don't have to use it for drinking water yet, but it would be nice to put away the 5 gallon jugs. I might have to flush it several times to get rid of the smell.

Zoe watch:

They are mowing the weeds in the yard again, so she's hanging out in the cabin today. It looks like it should be a really nice day and might get up into the 70's, so I hope I can put back outside soon.

Zoe at the Bar

Here's a photo someone took of Zoe last night at the bar. We were watching the Texas-NY game. I had put a couple of chairs together so she could lie down next to the bar, but anytime anyone sat next to her, she would climb into their laps. Here, she's with Robin.

Schedule Slip (plus before photos)

The recent cold weather has caused the schedule to slip a bit -- everything is taking much longer to harden and dry. I think I'll still get her in the water next week, but it will probably be toward the end of the week, not the beginning. I'm going to cetol the toerails today, but I won't do anything else to the deck other than roll some non-skid when I get a chance. However, that may have to wait until she's in the water.

Before I bought the boat, I had her surveyed by Gene Barnes, a marine surveyor from Gloucester, Massachusetts. Gene did a great job and I've followed most of the suggestions he put in the survey. He also dropped by the boat once while I had her up in Marion and gave me some advice on the deck on bottom work I did right after I bought her, which really helped.

The survey included a few photos of the boat as she looked before I got her, so I called Gene a couple of days ago and asked if he could email me copies of them -- I only had a hard copy. It took him a few minutes, but he found them while I was on the phone and sent them to me right away.

Here are the before photos.

Berkman's on 1st

With Texiera out for the season, Berkman's starting at 1st. Although I'm still rooting for Texas, it would nice see Berkman play a few more games and do well.

It's too cold for the cetol, so I can't really put on another coat today. Looks like I'll just have to go with a single coat -- the coat I put on yesterday was still tacky the last time I checked. I'll give them another day and try to start mounting the handrails and portholes tomorrow. I did fair the holes for the winch and deck organizer I filled the other day, so they should be ready to prime tomorrow. I can wait to re-mount that stuff till later, so it won't hold me up.

It's already getting cold, so I've decided not to put down another primer coat in the cockpit. However, I will roll a coat of finish coat on just the places I need to mount stuff, but this will probably be the only one since I'm running out of time. That'll mean I can start remounting hardware and the coamings, in the cockpit this weekend. Hopefully, I'll have everything else mounted by then.

I also did some work on the mast today. I removed the turnbuckles and put them in a kerosene bath to loosen up the grease and gunk on them. That way, they'll be clean when we step the mast next week.

Teak

I finally got around to the teak. I spent most of yesterday cleaning and sanding the coamings, the handrails and companionway boards were already in pretty good shape, then I put a coat of cetol on everything. It all looks pretty good, but the coamings will need a little more work at some point. I'll also need to cetol the teak plugs in the handrails once I've mounted them. I'm going to put another coat on as soon as it warms up.

That means that I could start remounting the handrails tomorrow. I need to mount them, and the deck organizer first while I can still reach through the holes for the portholes to get to the other side. Once they're on, I can start remounting the portholes.

I still need to start working on the toerails, so hopefully, I can make some progress on them today as well. I spoke to Tommy about going in next week, and he told me that I can go in whenever I want -- I guess that means I could even wait an extra week if necessary. It'll be close, but I'm still hoping to get the deck dry and take the cover off by Sunday.

Need Canvas Color Suggestions

I need help deciding what color canvas to buy. Right now, I have white sails, snow white decks, a lot of dark teak (big toe rails, hand rails, and cockpit coamings), dark blue topsides, and (some) royal blue canvas that needs to be replaced -- the dodger and main sail cover are completely shot. I'm planning to repaint the topsides dark red at some point, but will need to start replacing canvas as quickly as possible.

I also want to add more canvas, e.g., bimini, cockpit weathercloths, boom awning, winch covers, etc., and plan to make most of it myself, so I wanted to go ahead and buy some canvas by the yard. I should have plenty of time on my trip south, so I'd like to get it before I leave and try to make a few simple things on the way down. Now I just need to figure out what color to buy.

The current canvas is royal blue, but that's really boring, and almost every boat has the same stuff. So, I'm thinking of getting an off white. A little darker than the deck, but not too dark. However, color is not my forte -- in fact, like most men, I'm a little color blind. Anyway, if anyone reads this and has any ideas, that would be great. Needless to say, I have zero fashion sense.

Oh, and Zoe is black with a white muzzle, chest, and front paws -- in case that matters.

Update:

Here's a link to the Sunbrella Color Samples at Defender (I'm sorta leaning toward a grey): Sunbrella.

Primed Cockpit

Yesterday turned out to be a great day, so I priming the entire cockpit. I'd also planned to put the first coat of cetol on the handrails and companionway boards, but ran out of time. However, I did finish getting them ready, so I'll try again today if the weather holds.

I took the hatches off, stacked them on the ground next to the boat, then painted the whole cockpit, including the sole. I saved the small section of side deck next to the ladder for last, and painted it as I climbed down. Then I painted the hatches and put another coat on the the leading edge of the bow. I had already staged the handrails, etc., next to the boat, but it took too long to strip the last one -- I used a heat gun to remove the old varnish -- so I didn't have time to paint.

I might give the cockpit one more coat of primer, but will have to look at the forecast later today before I decide. I'll need to roll the final coats in the same manner, but can't paint the hatches off the boat if there's any chance of rain. I can, and probably will, put a coat on just the sections where I need to remount hardware, but would prefer to do the whole thing and get if over with.

I can roll a finish coat the day after a primer coat, and could do the same with subsequent finish coats, but I need to be more careful with them since they take much longer to cure. I also need to give the last coat a few days before I can remount anything. I guess that means I need to be done no later than mid to late week, but since it's the cockpit, I could even do some of it after she get into the water.

Zoe watch:

We dropped by the bar after our walk to watch Roy Oswald (former Astro) pitch for Philly, but couldn't see the game since they didn't get the right channel -- it was on cable. I wanted to let the paint fumes dissipate before we went back to the boat, so we hung out for a while. It was sorta busy with people watching some football game, so I had to put her on my lap to keep her from getting stepped on. She likes that better anyway because then everyone sees her and comes over to say hi, otherwise, no one even knows she's there.

After we got back, I followed the game on my laptop -- I don't get cable either (haven't owned a tv in over 20 years). Roy pitched great and even got a hit and scored a run. It was a good game. It would be cool to see him pitch to Lance Berkman in the World Series, but I still hope Texas makes it.

Update:

I just looked at the 10 day forecast, and it looks like I'll have sunshine through Sunday. I thought we were going to have a few rainy days this week, but if this holds, I might just finish.

Cooler Weather

It doesn't look like it's going to warm up much before it's time to leave, so I'm going to have to try to get the last few coats down under marginal conditions. It's warm enough during the day, but dips down below 50 at night. That's not terrible, but it does slow down and extend the drying times.

I sanded the cockpit yesterday, so I'll roll another coat as soon as it warms up. Depending on how it looks, that might be the last coat. It's not as smooth as I'd like, but at this point it's good enough. By using 2-part for both the primer and finish paint, I can sand and fix anything later without removing the finish.

I need to wait several days to let the finish coat get hard enough before I even walk on it, so it'll be next weekend before I can even think of remounting the hardware in the cockpit. I don't think that'll be a problem -- I doubt I'd be ready to start mounting it any sooner anyway -- but it does push me right up to the self imposed deadline of Monday the 25th.

I hope I'm ready by the 25th, but probably won't actually go in until sometime later in the week. Apart from the work I still need to do, I'd like to start getting provisions while I'm right next door to the super market. However, I need to get the cabin cleaned out first, so everything depends on getting the hardware remounted and the deck dry so I can remove the cover and start stowing all my gear.

Baseball

The weather wasn't nearly as bad as I'd expected, so I ended up sanding and rolling the final coat on the forward section of the deck. It looks pretty good, but I didn't have enough steam to re-prime the cockpit. So it looks like I can start re-mounting hardware on the forward section as early as next Monday. This includes the handrails and all the portholes.

Anyway, Zoe and I are going to walk down and watch Texas beat the Yankees. Hopefully, the high winds will blow away some of the paint smell before we get back.

All White

The rain held off till around 1600 yesterday, which enabled me to get the cockpit (mostly) primed and dry to the touch. The last part was really important, because otherwise, it would have been difficult to get Zoe back on board once the rain did start.

It looks pretty good, but I don't have time to get it as smooth as the forward section -- that'll have to wait till I get to Houston. But now the whole deck, except for the cockpit sole, is finally white, which is a really big deal. I've been working on her, off and on, for just over 3 years, so it's nice to see it finally coming together.

We're expecting rain all day today and heavy wind tomorrow, but should have nice weather for the following 3 days. I'm pretty sure I can get at least one finish coat on the cockpit area during that time. However, I'm not sure when I can start remounting hardware, or how long that will take.

Zoe watch:

She's back on schedule and hanging out in the cabin today. I've decided to keep her off the deck until the painting is completely done, i.e., one more coat forward, plus about 3 days to harden. She doesn't seem to mind too much, but I'm sure she'll be happy to have free reign of the deck again, though I'll still tether her in the cockpit whenever we're underway.

Another coat

The coachroof looks really good this morning -- not tipping was definitely the way to go. I've got just less than 2 weeks before they put me in the water, so I need to get the deck finished as quickly as possible. However, you can still see shadows coming through the finish, so she needs another coat. She'll actually get several more coats when I start applying the non-skid, but I'm temped to roll another one this morning before the weather turns sour. That would mean that the edges, where I won't be applying any non-skid, will be essentially done. The only problem is that it will add another day to the schedule.

There's a window of a couple days where you can apply another coat without sanding, so I'd prefer to get it on now and build up the finish. I had to sand a good portion of the first coat off to remove the brush strokes, especially on the curves, so it really only has a single coat right now. I also want to get the cockpit primed before it rains, so I need to make a decision soon and get busy.

If I do roll another coat, I'll have to do some prep work first, like knocking off any bumps or garbage that got into the finish, but I don't think there's that much. I might even be able to get a second coat on the starboard side deck without any sanding. It's been about 3 days, and at these cool temperatures, that's the maximum re-coat time (I'm sure they fudged it a little too, so I should be well within the limits). I just need to do a better job of keeping the roller clean and changing it more often to obviate a lot of sanding and polishing later on.

Zoe watch:

It got pretty cold last night, into the high 40's again, but she didn't seem to mind it. I closed off the forecastle to reduce the amount of space I needed to keep warm and used both the little electric heater and my anchor lamp to warm up the boat before we went to bed. It was nice and toasty in the cabin when I turned them off. I'm really happy with the anchor lamp. It burns kerosene and really puts out a lot of heat. It probably provides almost as much heat as the electric heater. I'm even thinking of getting a few more "yacht" lamps to help minimize power consumption.

Anyway, Zoe stayed warm and didn't need to get into my bag. She's sunning herself out in front of the boat right now.

Update:

It looks like the coat I rolled yesterday is still too soft to sand. I was trying to lightly sand it and noticed I was leaving footprints in the port side deck, so I can't even walk over it right now to sand or paint. I guess it'll have to wait until at least tomorrow. That also means that, due to the weather, I'll need to wait at least 3-4 days after that to start remounting hardware. I don't think that'll be a problem, but I need to get the cockpit caught up right away if I want to get her dry before it's time to splash.

However, the weather is already starting to deteriorate, so I'm not sure I'll even have time to roll another coat of primer on the cockpit -- about half of which hasn't even been primed at all. Even if I do, I won't be able to take off the hatches and paint around them since it'll most certainly start raining before they cure enough to bring them back on board. I'll just mix up a small amount and concentrate on the areas where hardware needs to be re-mounted.

Coachroof

I just finished rolling the second finish coat on the coach roof, and it looks much better than the first one. As I mentioned in my last post, I didn't tip this one at all. I suppose it's possible to get better results tipping, but not without a second person doing the tipping. I also noticed some garbage in the finish after it settled and think it's coming from the foam roller. I only changed rollers once, but now think I need to change it more often -- the thinner is probably making them slowly disintegrate.

I mixed up about half a quart and thinned it 15%, and tried to roll it on very thin and even. Most of it looks fine, but it's still not completely flat. However, at this point, I just want to get the deck covered so I can remount all the hardware and get her in the water. I had a little left over after I finished the coachroof, and was able to put a second coat on the port side deck as well. I'll give it a couple of days to harden, then start remounting all the hardware.

Now, it's time to finish the cockpit and toerails. Tommy told me I could use some scrap fiberglass panels to make a shim for the mast step, so I'll try to trim the mast this week and make the shim. There are a couple of other holes in the deck that I'm thinking about patching, so I'll see if I can get a couple more small pieces for them too. One is the hole for the heater stack, and the other is the hole from the old compass -- it was replaced by one in the binnacle when the wheel was added. I'll fix those spots once I get to Houston.

Zoe watch:

Now that I'm done painting the forward part of the deck, she'll be able to get up there again and hang out. She likes to stick her head out at the bow and stand watch. I've kept her off it for the last few weeks in order to keep it clean for painting, but thankfully, that's done. I still need to caulk and varnish the toe rails, but dog hair isn't as big a deal for those tasks.

Side Decks Done (Sorta)

The first finish coat didn't go on as smoothly as I'd hoped. Some sections were okay, but most had either little specs of stuff or deep brush strokes. I spent the day sanding the coachroof, which is where most of the hardware goes, and tried to figure out what to do next -- I can't keep sanding each coat, these are supposed to be finish coats, i.e., they shouldn't need anything other than a little polishing.

I called the Interlux help line again, and although they really weren't much help, they did suggest I add more thinner. The can says up to 10%, but they guy said up to 15% -- I added a little less than 5% yesterday. I'll mix a very small batch tomorrow and experiment. I'm hoping that if I mix small amounts, take my time, and apply super thin coats, I'll get better results.

I also asked him about tipping. My worst results were due to brush strokes from tipping, though not nearly as bad as the results I got with the primer. I was wondering if tipping was really only meant for vertical surfaces. i.e., to prevent runs and sagging. My worst brush marks were on horizontal surfaces. He basically punted and said that if I got better results not tipping, don't tip. Not a very informative answer, but I guess they don't want to be held responsible for the results. Anyway, I think I'll try to do little or no tipping, and probably only in places where there might be a chance of runs or sags.

I finished sanding the coachroof a little while ago -- well, more or less, it got dark and I'm not really sure about the last few feet -- so I'll roll another coat tomorrow. However, I've decided that the side decks (the last 2 photos posted this morning) are done for now and that one coat is good enough. Besides the fact that I don't really have time to sand and roll another coat on them before I put her in the water, calling the side decks done allows me to pull the rafter feet off the toerail and back onto the deck and remove the bracing lines that ran from side to side and kept them from slipping over the side. Not only does it give me a good place to stand while painting the coach roof, I no longer have to crawl over or under them which was wearing me out.

That also means I can start working on the toerails. There are still some places that need to be fixed, and then I can caulk under them and start varnishing. I figure I'll start with a single coat, and add more when I get a chance. Right now, I'm only concerned with doing just enough to get her dry and into the water. I'll finisher her up later.

Deck Photos

Here are a few photos of the forward section of the deck that I painted yesterday. I hope to roll the second coat later today if the weather holds. It turned out pretty good, but I'll dull the finish once I'm done to cut down on the glare.


And here's a photo of Zoe on the deck earlier this summer before it was painted.

First Finish Coat

I rolled the first finish coat today. It takes a long time to clean and prepare the deck, so I wasn't able to get it ready yesterday in time to roll before it got dark -- it takes a couple hours of crawling over the deck to vacuum, wash with a sponge and towel, then wipe down with solvent. I'd hoped to roll 2 coats today, but wasn't able to start mixing until around 1100, and didn't finished rolling until after 1400 -- it takes a long to to roll it too -- and you need to wait around 6 hours before you can re-coat. And now I'm exhausted again. If I catch my second wind, I'll try to clean and re-prime the cockpit this afternoon, but am not sure I'll make it.

The finish coat didn't go on as well as I would have liked, but I have to admit, it's looking better and better as it cures. I guess the stuff continues to settle and even out for a long period of time. Some places look perfect, and others not so good, but even those are looking better and better. When I was crawling on all fours on top of the coachroof and under the cover and the support lines trying to finish the last section without touching anything I'd already painted, I was ready to just take off the whole cover for good and risk it.

It's going to rain tonight and tomorrow, but after that, we should have a few good days. I may just take it off and use the cover as a tarp if it does rain. I can't really do much when it rains anyway, so it really won't make much of a difference. I may keep the superstructure in place over the cockpit area for the time being, but at least I can stand up back there. I just can't keep crawling around -- my knees are shot.

The instructions on the paint say that you should avoid direct sunlight while applying it, but maybe I can figure something out. In any event, the cover's got to go. It's driving me nuts.

Painting Temps

I just took a look at the instructions on the Perfection can, and it says it can be applied between 41 - 95 decrees -- the primer has a range of 50 -95. Based on that, I'm going to concentrate on finishing the primer as quickly as possible, since I should have another few weeks of weather warm enough for the polyurethane finish coats. I'll still try to roll a coat on the forward section today, but will go ahead and plan on rolling 2 coats before I start remounting hardware since I've got more time.

Cold Night

It got down to the mid 40's last night. I had the little electric heater running, so it didn't get too cold in the cabin, .e.g., Zoe didn't even need to get in my bag to stay warm, but I did have trouble sleeping. My sore leg and foot made it difficult to get comfortable, and around 2 AM, the wind picked up, so I had to get dressed and go down and secure the tie downs for the cover. I don't think there was any danger of it blowing off, but it was making a bit of noise. It died back down as soon as I was back in my bunk, and there's no wind at all right now. However, the forecast calls for 20 mph winds this afternoon, so I'll have to paint with the cover down -- hope there's enough light to see what I'm doing.

Boat watch:

The final primer coat on the forward section of the deck looks pretty good. I didn't finish sanding yesterday, but only have a small area left to do. I'll try to finish it up this morning, re-tape the toerail, and start rolling the first finish coat this afternoon. The high is only 67 today, so I'll need to let the boat warm up first, and probably won't have a very long window to paint, but I think I can get most of it done today. I'm using Interlux Perfection, and bought it in quarts. It looks like a full quart will be more than enough to do the whole forward section, but I'll mix up half to start and see how far I get before I mix the rest. I still haven't figured out a good way to keep a wet edge, but I'll try to work that out as well.

Zoe watch:

She likes the cooler weather. There seems to be a lot of activity in the boatyard after dark, so she's on high alert once the sun goes down. We see rabbits almost every night on our walks now.

Slips and Falls

I rolled the "final" primer coat on the forward section late yesterday. I was also able to roll about half the cockpit before running out of paint. I mixed up a pint and thinned it 25% as per the instructions on the can, and tried to be very careful with the roller. I decided to follow the recommendations of the guy at Interlux, and didn't tip it.

Other than a few bubbles, most of which flattened out, it went on pretty smooth. I still need to sand it, but feel much better about this coat than any of the others. Since I only did the touch-ups, it shouldn't need too much sanding. I hope that's all the priming I'll need to do on that portion of the deck. I'm planning on removing the masking tape along the toerails this morning while I do the sanding. Since I didn't pull the tape while it was wet -- too much trouble, even if I could reach it, which I couldn't-- I'll need to use a knife to cut the edge as I pull it up. Hopefully, I'll be able to get a clean edge.

At that point, I'll need to decide if I want to go ahead and re-tape and roll the first finish coat, or caulk the edge first. I wish there was someone around here I could talk to about it, but either way, I should have the first finish coat on that section rolled by tomorrow night. I still have some more work to do on the cockpit, but I'm not going to worry so much about how it looks, I just need to get it covered. I'll redo whatever needs more attention once I get down south.

Injury watch:

It's hard to believe, but I went the whole summer without any major mishaps. However, I did have three in quick succession in the last 48 hours. First, I slipped on the wet grass while walking Zoe and hyper-extended my right wrist. She wanted to visit another dog at the top of a slope, and I slipped on the way back down. It wasn't a big deal, but I was wearing my khakis and didn't want to get them too dirty -- it's too hard to clean things right now. Anyway, I broke my fall and kept my pants clean, but it's not even sore anymore, so I think I came out ahead.

The second and third injuries occurred yesterday, one right after the another. While I was cleaning up the cockpit and vacuuming around the locker hatches, I was balancing one on it's edge and it slipped and landed on my right foot. The foot's okay now, but I might have broken a bone. The last injury happened a little while later when I was climbing up the stairs in the cabin. I was favoring the foot, slipped on one of the treads, and banged my right shin just below the knee.

Although the last one hurt the worst, it turned out to be nothing more than a bad bruise -- of course it still looks a lot worse than the others too. Now, I just need to get out of here before anything else happens.

Zoe watch:

It's a beautiful day, so she's hanging out under the boat. I'll try to walk her a bit during the day, but had to cut short our walk this morning due to my foot. It loosened up during the walk, so now it's just sore -- no limp. But that's a good reminder to be careful.

Painting

I'm going to roll another coat of primer later today. I'd hoped to do it yesterday or even the day before, but sanding took a little longer than expected. I finished sanding yesterday afternoon, but decided to go ahead and sand the cockpit too so I could prime it all at the same time. We're supposed to have several days of good weather, so I hope to I'll be able to start remounting hardware next week.

I'm really not sure how far I'll get, but I'm running out of time, so I'm going to ask them to put me in the water either the last week of this month or the first week of November. They're already pulling boats, so I'm not sure exactly when they'll get to me, but hopefully it won't be a problem. I'll blog the date as soon as I know. Normally, they'll only commit to the week, so I still won't know the actual day until a day or so before.

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll have time to get much of the non-skid on, but will try to at least put some down around the mast and to and from the cockpit. I'm not going to go too far offshore without non-skid, so the trip will take a bit longer, mainly because I'll only be able to travel during the day, but also because the route is a lot longer. Once I get to warmer water, I'll try to do a bit more painting and try to finish up the non-skid. With any luck, I'll have most of it done by the time I get to the Gulf.

I'll post a preliminary float plan as soon as I get a chance. All my charts are packed away in a locker right now, so I'll have to break them out first, but I'm tentatively planning to sail through New York City down the East River, then down the New Jersey Coast and into the Delaware River. From there, I can get to the Chesapeake via a canal, and sail in relatively protected waters all the way down to Norfolk, Virginia. I should be able to pick up the inter-coastal from there and stay in it most of the way down to Florida, but since I've never done it, I don't know any of the details right now.

Sunshine

We woke up to sunny skies this morning, so hopefully, I can quickly finish sanding and roll another coat of primer while it lasts. The sun came out for a few hours yesterday afternoon, so I was able to finishing filling the holes on the coach roof I'd recently filled. I was worried that it might not kick, so I used the heat gun on it, but you have to be careful not to get it too hot or it'll make it brittle.

Luckily, all the spots seem to have cured properly. I'll wait to sand them till the last minute to make sure they're fully cured before I sand/paint, but don't foresee any problems.

Who's John Galt?

Okay, I know who John Galt is, but what's up with all the news stories citing him and asking "Who's John Galt?" For those of you who haven't read Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, he's the hero, but in the book the question is asked in the sense of "who knows," or something like that.

I liked Atlas Shrugged, even better than The Fountainhead, but it's really over the top. Her thesis is that government was bad, really bad, and unfettered capitalism is good. It's a great book, and I've heard Angelina Jolie was going to play Dagny Taggart, but the premise is bogus.

But consider the author -- Ayn Rand was Russian. For some reason, they seem to have embraced a lot of "new" political and social ideas (mainly from France), and tended to take them to the extreme. I'm not sure what that means, but hopefully someone will figure it out before things get out of hand.

But let me be clear: I'm happy to pay my taxes because I believe in democracy and representative government. I happily served my country as a United States Marine, and have no regrets. However, it looks like I'm finally in the (super) minority, because fewer than 10% of Americans have served in the military, and former Marines compose an even smaller group.

I support universal conscription with no exceptions (you can use the Peace Corps or some other form of national service for conscientious objectors). Let's see how many bogus wars we get into when the rich and powerful have to send their sons and daughters into harms way.

Confined to my cabin

It's another cold and wet day, so I'm once again confined to my cabin. However, I did cleanup around the boat and rerouted my water and power lines this morning. They've started hauling out boats, so I got a new neighbor yesterday and had to unhook everything to get it out of the way. They put a 40 footer right next to me, so I moved stuff around, mainly the water lines, so I'd have good access and not trip over anything in the dark.

I also filled my water jugs and might go ahead and refill my main tanks this afternoon. But I'll need to rearrange the forecastle again to get access to the valve under the v-berth. I moved the paint and resin up there when it started getting cold so I could keep it a little warmer. It's only been down to the mid to low 50's at night, so there's no chance of anything freezing, but since it's all temperature sensitive, I didn't want to have to start out with it cold once it stops raining and warms back up above 60.

I started cleaning up the hardware I need to remount yesterday, so I'll continue that today and see if I can get the forecastle straightened up enough to get the paint up off the sole so it will stay a little warmer. I might also move it into the main cabin -- I close off the forecast at night to keep the main cabin warmer -- but don't really know where I'd put it. Luckily, I only need to worry about a few cans right now. Unfortunately, the cans of resin and hardener are a little messy, so I have to be carefully. Everything else is either new are really clean, but the resin and hardener cans are really hard to keep clean since I'm using pumps that I keep screwed on all the time (they've been that way for a couple of years now).

However, I recently read that you can use vinegar to neutralize epoxy, e.g., to clean up your hands and tools after you mix and use it. I tried it the other day and it worked great. But since it's acidic, they recommended not getting it on the deck. Maybe it will help clean up the cans. I've used acetone before, but that's hard on me and certainly not something I want in the cabin.

The only problem with the vinegar is that it makes me smell like salad after I use it. I'm long past my salad days, at least for life in general. But since this is my first sailboat and I'm learning as I go, perhaps it's more appropriate than I first imagined. Actually, that wouldn't be a bad name for a boat. But I still like Aurora, so I'll keep it, though I guess I could name the dingy.

Zoe watch:

She's hanging out under the boat. I made a little wind break for her the other day out of the old bimini. She seems to like it. However, she's off her schedule again due to the rain, so we'll take another walk soon. It's been nasty for the last few days, but should clear up by Thursday. I took her for a short walk late last night and scared up a big rabbit in the boat yard. I think she's hoping it'll walk by again while she's hiding behind the bimini.

Working Below

It's too cold to do any deck work today, other than some sanding, so I plan to finish up some work below, e.g., reinstalling the head, reconnecting hoses, adding anti-siphon loops, etc.. I could also do a little rewiring, but might need to wait on that since I'd need to move a bunch of stuff around. We'll see how far I get.

The other big project I can do below is get the hardware cleaned up and ready to remount. For the most part, that involves cleaning the old caulk off. Most of the threads are covered with old caulk and sticky. After I sand what's left, I still need to touch up the primer in the forward section and start priming the cockpit area. I've decide just to to the outer edge, i.e., only the sections where I need to remount hardware, for the time being. I don't have time to do the whole thing.

One consequence will be that there will be no new non-skid in the cockpit area when I leave. I might do something temporary, but if I do, it will have to be sanded back off and redone once I get down to warmer weather. I figure 2 weeks of good weather is all I need to finish. However, with only a couple good days a week in the forecast, that's going to be tough.

Crew watch:

After thinking about it and talking to my insurance carrier, I've decided not to take any crew. At least not until I've finished the refit and have non-skid on the entire deck. There's no way that will happen before I get out of here, so I'll adjust my plan for going to South accordingly and not take any crew. I'm seriously looking into going down the inter-coastal. That'll make it a much, much longer trip, but I may not have a choice. Of course, I can stop along the way and paint as I go, so I may be able to finish her up when I'm in the Chesapeake or further South.

Zoe watch:

I made a little wind break for her under the boat, and she's hanging out down there. She prefers it to being cooped up in the cabin, but since it's only going to get up to about 57 today, I might bring her in anyway later.

Cold Spell

This isn't supposed to be a weather blog, but I find myself compelled to write about the weather once again. The highs for the next few days will only be in the high 50's to low 60's. I really can't paint or do any glass work when it's that cold, but I might be able to do a few other things, e.g., sanding, caulking, etc..

I didn't quite finish sanding the deck last night and didn't have time to do any touch up painting, but I did fill the holes for the extra winch on the starboard side of the coach roof. It was still relatively warm when I filled them, but since it normally takes several hours for it to fully cure, the temperature had already fallen well below 60 before that could happen. In fact, it was still tacky this morning. I used the heat gun to warm it up and at least the skin is dry to the touch now, but I'm not sure about the entire mass. I filled 4 holes for the winch, 2 holes for the clutch, and another 4 holes further forward for the deck organizer -- a flat block mounted on the deck to turn the line from the mast to line it up with the clutch and winch.

It's still below 60 right now, so I'm warming the cabin, and underside of the deck, with an electric heater. Hopefully it will all kick today, but I think it's probably good enough to sand already. If I can get it up to the mid 60's for a few hours, that should be good enough. The high today is only supposed to be around 61.

Boat watch:

Other than finishing up the sanding, I'm not sure what I'll try to do today. I was thinking of trying to caulk the toerail, but I haven't finished preparing it and it might be too cold for caulk anyway. I guess I'll mostly just sand. Unfortunately, my orbital sander started making strange noises yesterday. I think the bearings are going out. I'm not sure if it's still under warranty, but I'll try to find the paperwork and check sometime today. At least I got the bulk of the sanding out of the way before it started to go.

I also need to trim the mast and build up the step, but don't think that will take long. I'll try to do it this week so I can make the step out of fiberglass while the weather's still warm enough for it to kick properly -- the average highs drop below 60 toward the end of the month, so I only have a few more good weeks I can count on. I might also try a different type of epoxy. I'm using West System, but haven't been all that impressed with it. Apparently, there are better ones out there that are both cheaper and work better -- West System has a blush issue. I switched to the slow hardener when the weather got hot earlier this summer, but will go ahead and switch back to the fast stuff now. It not only cures faster, but you can use it in cooler weather as well.

Crew watch:

Brian just dropped by to talk about maybe going down south with me. He's got a friend who might want to go as well. I still don't know when she'll be ready to go in the water or when I might be ready to leave, but he said he and his friend would be willing to help me finish her up. I could use help on the painting, i.e., tipping, but help remounting the hardware would really speed things up -- the weather is the thing that's holding up the painting.

Zoe watch:

She's on the boat today due to the cold weather. However, it's starting to warm up, so we may take a walk later and if it's warm enough, I'll leave her down there while I sand.

Mail

I just got a big package of mail from my sister Karen. I've been trying to cut down on the amount of mail I've been getting, but was surprised at how much mail I got from my bank (and an old bank from several years ago) as well as promotional stuff from ARRL and AARP. I've contacted everyone and asked them to put me on the "do not mail" list, but it might take a while for it to kick in.

I honestly don't think there's anything I should be getting other than the Bloomberg (my previous employer, i.e., W2), the IRS (tax stuff), the FCC (Ham license stuff), my accountant (more tax stuff), and my retirement accounts (need to get a handle on them). But you never know, so it's good she's willing to forward the stuff. I just need to make sure she doesn't have to deal with a bunch of garbage. I'm especially unhappy with BoA -- I had to jump through hoops to go paperless in the first place, but now I had to call several different departments to ask to be taken off each list. Maybe it's time to switch.

Worst Floods Yet

Whenever it rains, the road in front of the boat yard always floods, but this morning was the worst I've seen. The water mark on the outside of the main office was about 2' high, and that's at least 3-4' higher than the road, so it must have been 5-6' on front of the yard and a couple more at the intersection a hundred yards North. Reminds me a little of back home.

Coming from a low lying coastal area with a high level of clay in the soil, I'm used to flooding, especially during heavy rain storms, but was surprised at how bad it is here. It probably has more to do with poor design and maintenance than anything else. However, they have done a lot of development over the last few years which causes more runoff.

I was told that the drainage project they started a few years ago to fix the problem was divided into 3 sections, and this section, the lowest and closest to the water, would be the last. They decided to do the upper sections first -- so developers could build stuff that ended up exacerbating the problem --but never got around to this part. It's been flooding badly ever since I got here a few months ago, but I'm told it's been this way for years. Every time it rains, several cars get stuck at intersection and need to be towed away. The water goes down fairly quickly -- we're just 1/4 mile from the bay -- but it also goes up very quickly. It's almost like a flash flood, but just for an area the size of a football field.

Luckily, I'm on the high side of the yard, so we stayed dry. The other side is still somewhat underwater and is slowly draining into the street. It stopped raining a little while ago, so the standing water in the street is mostly gone, but that can change quickly. The sidewalks down that way stay flooded long after the street clears, so we still can't walk down there anyway.

Boat watch:

If it clears up this afternoon, I do some work on the deck. I still need to do some sanding, but also want to fill the holes for the extra winch on the starboard side of the coach roof next to the sliding hatch. The previous owner added it, but it's sorta tight and since the deck was never stiffened properly, you can see where once side of it dented the deck due to tension on the line.

I think I can get by with only one winch on the port side. That's what was originally there and the deck has a reinforced pad where it goes. I'll need to add, and reinforce, a place a few inches forward of it for a clutch/line stopper so I can use it for more than one line at a time, but for right now, I'll just use it for the main halyard (I had temporarily added a clutch before, but need to move it and properly reinforce the deck, so it will have to wait unless I finish early and have some extra time on my hands).

Another simplification I plan to make is to remove the bow roller I added a couple of years ago. In order to do that, I'll need to fix the toerail which was already rotted out right at the stem. That's what made it easy to add the bow roller in the first place, i.e., I had to cut out a piece of toerail and the bow roller helped fill that void. But the more I think about it, that's not the way I want to do it. I could remount the bow roller to sit on top of the toerail and fasten directly to the stem, but that would require some deck work that might not really be what I want.

However, I have a windlass for my anchor, so I'll need something to help deploy/retrieve the anchor chain. I just don't want to keep the anchor mounted like that all the time. If you never go to sea, it might be okay, even convenient, but once you start taking waves on the bow, it becomes a hazard. The previous owners also had two sets of anchor chocks mounted on the deck. I removed both of them because I don't want the deck littered with stuff I might trip over in the dark, or might be ripped off by a wave.

I plan to mount all my anchors in the cockpit lockers, but have been thinking of adding a hatch for the chain locker up in the peak of the foredeck so I can keep my main anchor there -- there's always a danger of either carrying a 35 lb. anchor forward, or 30' of chain aft, to deploy an anchor in bad weather, so keeping is close to where it will be used is a really good idea. I'd need to seal the bottom of the chain locker and add drains, but I don't think it's really that big of a deal, and would really simplify a lot of things. But that's something to think about later. Right now, I just need to finish painting her as she's currently setup.

Zoe watch:

She's off schedule due to the rain, but I'm going to walk her again in a few minutes. She's soaking wet under the boat right now, but after the walk, I'll dry her off and either leave down there or take her on board. She'll let me know what she wants to do, but normally, she prefers to stay down there. She like to keep a lookout for bunnies.