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.
06 October 2010
05 October 2010
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.
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.
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.
04 October 2010
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.
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.
03 October 2010
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.
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.
01 October 2010
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.
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.
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.
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