Pearson Triton #680

Pause button

noreply@blogger.com (Britton) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:06:00 +0000

I might have to hit the pause button for a bit; or at least slow it down a bit (yeah I know, how much slower can I go?...)

I did some shopping for the cherry lumber I need for some interior work. Immediately after I found a couple of bills waiting for me in the PO Box. I am still recovering financially from the launch push last spring and while I could make the stretch I really can't find the justification for it. I think it is better to get caught up with the old bills before starting some new ones.

The good news is that my annual boat costs are down this year. So far I have only spent $7k on the boat (which includes the $1500 for storage and $1200 for the rented mooring). That is down from over $10k spent last year when the decks and hull were painted and teak toerail installed. Last year was also when I spent 8 months unemployed so as you can see my balance sheet has taken a bit of a beating in the past year or so. Things are a lot better but still not quite where I would like them to be. Financial prudence and the upcoming holidays has made me think I should postpone the next big materials purchase for another month or so.

That is okay because 1.) I could use a break. I work five days a week at my job and 2 days a week on the boat. That doesn't leave much time for the other parts of my life (like house erands, fixing the car, etc) which are backing up at the moment. I also haven't spent a weekend with the girlfriend in nearly six months so I am probably about due.

I need to bring things back into balance a bit and rest up for the next push. In the meantime I will continue with some smaller projects already in the pipeline.

This weekend I managed to spend a few hours fussing with the boat and fitting the cabin sole. The angle between the cabin undersole and the hull sides vary from completely vertical to something like a 60 degree angle. While I could cut the bamboo plywood sole small enough to fit and then fill the gap at the edges with thickened epoxy I have decided to break out my Stanley #4 block plane and shape the underside to fit snug against the hull. Does it matter much? Not really. I gain about an extra two inches of width in the bamboo at the fore and aft ends though which I think looks much better than painted epoxy. And I have the time...

The cherry lumber is for the vertical bulkheads which I want to cover with cherry tongue and groove paneling. It is easier to put in the tongue and groove before the settee paneling because the settee paneling will cover the ends of the tongue and groove and save me the effort of having to fit the edges in tightly (which will most likely be covered with some sort of trim board anyway).

I am toying with my electrical system design but I am sure the component costs will run well over a thousand dollars so I don't want to get too ambitious there. Next year's goals are to finish any required deck hardware and get the basic interior paneling in place and have a workable interior. That and tie up a bunch of loose ends that I never got around to after last season's launch. The electrical system can wait. I will be working all of next year and won't have time for cruising anyway. Besides, I have already proven I can cruise with no electrical system. Deck hardware I need. FM radio is optional. Looking at the bare plywood paneling is wearing me down which is why the interior basics are next on the list.

So, a long ramble explaining why there is nothing to read this week. Next week is a holiday weekend but I might get some time in on the boat. I will post anything that gets done.

Happy Turkey Day!

Deluge

noreply@blogger.com (Britton) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:28:00 +0000

2 inches of rain Saturday. I didn't get any boat work done.

I did get a call Friday night from one of my boat neighbors because the front of my tarp was coming loose. He and another friend secured the front with random bits of string and advised me to fix it ASAP. That sure made me feel good all Friday night and Saturday morning as I listened to the winds howl...

In the past, I have rolled up a piece of strapping in the front edge of the tarp and clamped it all with spring clamps. This has always worked well and makes it really quick to open up. It is not going to work this year though. The problem is that the front of the structure is much wider than in years past and there is a lot more frontage for the Northeast winds to push against.

In a torrential downpour I secured the front of the tarp by wrapping the ends around the front pole and securing them to the bows. I alternated among the first three bows so as not to load up any one too much.

Last year I pulled the ends of the ground frame in towards the bow and you can see that last year's cover was a lot narrower and more pointed. You can also kind of see the clamping system I had.

So, I guess that means I won't be going in and out of the structure from the front as much. Luckily the back opens up nicely.

Today, after the heavy rains quit, I was able to draw some antifreeze into the raw water system using my nifty 'T' valve and spare hose. It took less than a minute. I put the end of the hose in the bottle. I threw the valve. I cranked the engine. The engine ran for about five seconds. The bottle was empty. I had antifreeze coming out the exhaust at the counter. Simple. I don't think I am going to worry about an oil change or adding Marvel Mystery Oil this year. The engine only ran for an hour and it still has a lot of MMO from last year's winterizing.

You can see in the picture all of the shavings from the bamboo plywood sole that is going in. I didn't have a chance to finish that up today. Its becoming a high priority item now though.

I also cleaned up and brought home all the extra lumber. I probably have enough to make a little workbench under the bow...

TarpsOnline.com aka Tarps Direct

noreply@blogger.com (Britton) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:59:00 +0000

I have used Tarps Online aka Tarps Direct several times in the past six years and have always been quite pleased with their heavy duty silver tarps. I am pretty rough on the tarps and I get 2-3 years service out of each one. I know others that have been using their tarpsonline.com products for over 5 years and still going strong. So, needing a new tarp, I fully expected the new tarp to continue to impress me with its quality and longevity.

I ordered another 'heavy duty' silver tarp. Only time will tell but its not looking good.

This is a typical grommet. I mean typical in that they all look this bad. I didn't have to shop around for a provocative photo.

and another view

Sometimes the tarp makers had problems getting the grommets on the tarp.

The tarp is advertised as 'heavy duty' with grommets spaced 18 inches apart. Does this look like 18 inch spacing?

Can't read the numbers? How about now?

The spacing is highly irregular so tying two ends together is impossible since the grommets at each end don't line up at all.

I didn't have to wait long for my first tear. It came out of the package with a few holes already in the material.

Where the seams are glued together I can see lots of daylight. The seams look weak overall too.

Definitely no local craftsmanship here. I hope they made a good profit using overseas sweat shops, paying their slave wage earners a dollar a day. I hope they made a good profit because it is the very LAST profit they will ever see from me.

TarpsOnline.com / Tarps Direct is dead to me. You have been warned.

If I didn't have a schedule to keep I would have sent this piece of junk back. With winter weather fast approaching I don't have time to sort this out. I will happily spend twice as much for a REAL quality tarp the next time.

Okay, I feel slightly better now ;-)

Wrapping it up

noreply@blogger.com (Britton) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:15:00 +0000

The structure was up last weekend and this weekend was all about closing in the ends.

There was some concern from the yard staff about clearance from the road and conflicts with the snow plowing operations so I moved back the front frame about two feet. That leaves slightly less room up front but still plenty to work with and it makes the front more pointy which is probably a good thing since the boat faces in the direction of the highest winds (Northeast).

I ran a section of last year's strapping straight down from the front of the ridgepole and added a few pieces to hold it in position and give the tarp something to press against (and reduce some of the flailing).

Unlike last year I left the stern pretty flat. There are boats behind me to block the winds so I think I will be okay. The extra room under the boat is nice. I added some crossmembers at the stern to support the tarp too. They are only anchored by single screws at the ends which keeps the whole structure flexible. I don't want to create hardpoints anywhere.

Then I re-used a small tarp from a boat cover a few years ago and covered the stern end.

And then, with some help from a fellow boatyard neighbor, I pulled my brand new 40' x 30' heavy duty silver tarp and anchored it to the bottom framework. I will have more to say about that tarp in another posting.

I will left the tarp settle for a week and then tighten things up. I need to work on sorting out how I will get in and out too. Minor details.

And that is that. The boat is covered. This is boatcover version IV so we will see how this one works out. There is plenty of room inside. Full headroom at the foredeck and headroom and a half over the cockpit. The sides are tight but that is a restriction from the boatyard rules so I didn't have a choice there. A straight sided structure is the only way to improve that.

I have lots of dry storage room under the boat as well. Maybe I will even build in a workbench...

Now its time to get back to real boatwork. Winterize, finish that cabin sole installation, and then everything else.

The truth.

noreply@blogger.com (Britton) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:22:00 +0000

Okay, I stole this from another blog that I read, sadly, there is a lot of truth to it.

Framing up

noreply@blogger.com (Britton) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:49:00 +0000

I almost titled this posting 'Erection Day' but that somehow seemed innappropriate.

I erected the boat cover this weekend. The ends need to be finished off and the tarp pulled over but that can wait for a less windy weekend.

Saturday I connected all the frames together. Then the wind piped up so I decided to put my energies somewhere other than struggle with 16 foot bows in the howling winds.

Sunday was not much better but the urgency to get this job done meant that the wind wasn't quite as bad as the day before.

Not too much to say. I tied a strap on the bow and from the deck pulled it upright. Then I slipped it over the ground frame which in most cases was stiff enough to walk away from for a minute. I had scrap sections of strapping that I used to temporarily hold the bows into position. I just went down the line erecting the bows.

The ridgepole is in three sections. I dropped the middle one in first and secured it to the bows and then attached the two ends. I had some metal fittings from an earlier experiment so I decided to use them to anchor the ridgepole to the bows.

There is plenty of headroom in the middle on deck. I can't walk around but that isn't going to happen without vertical walls which are too pricey to consider right now. Its definitely an improvement over previous years.

I have some room at the ends of the boat. I didn't taper the ends of the cover much this time so I would have more storage room at the ends. Not much in the middle but again, I had to limit myself to 12 feet of width and this is about as good as it gets at a boayard.

With the bows up I had to re-adjust the whole structure a bit to center it over the boat. It really doesn't weigh much and it was easy to horse around into position. I added a couple of extra lengths of strapping diagonally along the inside to stiffen up the structure. I have a few more lengths which I might use next week but I am holding off for now to see how the ends are going to tie off. The ends need to be somewhat pointy to take the winds. Not so much from the stern but the bow points directly northeast which is rather open so a pointy end on the bow will really help.

Amidships the bows are a bit tight. There was more springback than I had anticipated. I will either have to stretch them apart a bit (next week) and/or add some chafe protection at the rubrails. The bows rest only lightly on the rubrails but I expect the structure to move around all winter and chafe will definitely occur if I don't do anything about it.

That was it for this week. I am looking forward to finishing up the cover next weekend and perhaps taking a short break from boatwork. Then again, I am anxious to finish the cabin sole installation and get to work on the interior so we will see...

Not quite there...

noreply@blogger.com (Britton) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 19:04:00 +0000

Saturday rained buckets so no boat work for me. (I want a shop!) I find it slightly ironic that I need to protect the boat from the weather but I can't because of the weather...

Sunday found my morning taken up with helping a friend load (one of) his antique tractor(s). I want a tractor.

Then I found that I needed more galvanized hardware to bolt the structure together (so that it can be taken apart someday without destruction). Hopefully, I will have better luck with the galvanized hardware this time. Last year, after six months of being outside, I found the galvanized hardware corroded to the point where it would not screw apart and had to be destroyed to take the cover down and transported home. Crossing my fingers but I don't have much faith. New hardware = $50. I also picked up 3 2x4's to form a new ridge pole. Last year I made a ridge pole from strapping with spacer blocks in between just like the bows. That didn't work too well. The ridge was too flexy and there wasn't enough meat to anchor to the bows effectively. This year I will have 2x4's which should be stout enough to hoist my engine out should I find the desire.

Anyway, a late start to real work.

First off I laid out the ground frame that I used last year. It all bolted together just like it was before. I had to make some adjustments because the boat is blocked lower this year. Or rather, it hasn't settled like it had over the two year haulout.

The frame gives the bows something to attach to on the bottom and the crossmembers keep the whole shebang from flying away. The cover wants to fly like an airplane wing when the wind starts blowing and the crossbars mean either the boat has to fly or the crossmembers have to break before the structure flies away (It can happen, I have seen pictures). It took some time to get the frame square and positioned correctly. I am working near my maximum permitted dimensions at the boatyard and I am trying not to go over the line and ruin my welcome. Boat projects are always distrusted in boatyards. Too many of them get abandoned leaving the yard crew to dispose of the mess.

Last week I had laid out and cut two bow ends to fit together.

The top spacer 2x3 was left long so that there would be enough to remove later.

Then I glued and screwed a gusset onto one frame and drilled holes for bolts on the other frame. I need to be able to take the bow halves apart so I can truck them home over the cab of my pickup.

With a pair of bows ready to go I did a test fit.

This one fits well. It looks like the bows are a little too straight so I don't think the bows will naturally straddle the boat at its widest point. I am going to have to tweek the bows a bit in the middle. Oh well.

Then I realized that I had to spend some time with the ridgepole before I could nail down the bow spacing. The 12 foot 2x4's are linked with a short piece bolted on the side. I knew I was going to roughly space the bows 3 feet apart but I needed to fudge it a bit to clear the double wide ridgepole at the joints.

Sadly, I wasn't able to erect the structure. I could have put up maybe half the bows but decided it would be more stable and productive to wait until I could do them all in one day. Each bow becomes half of a matched set and I didn't want to have half of them built and then forget which goes where. Better to do it all at once. It always takes longer than I expect to clean up and get all my tools and materials put away back home anyway.

Next week should be no problem. Unless the weather continues to challenge me...

More winter cover building

noreply@blogger.com (Britton) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:33:00 +0000

I finished up building the bows yesterday and spent some time figuring out how I am going to tie them to each other and to the ridge pole. I had hoped I could find some hardware to save me time and make disassembly in the spring easier but in the end, plywood gussets were the way to go.

Today, (Sunday) is rainy and cold so I made the gussets with scrap plywood. Some of the pieces were from my old settee bottoms. I like recycling stuff.

Ho hum. Not very interesting. Next week I am all set to erect the structure and if I have money in my bank account I will order a new tarp for the new structure.

Way too much work for a simple winter cover but another project of mine is finding a piece of land to call home. Should I be succesful this structure will probably find other uses there as well. I can only hope.

Barn raising next weekend!

Making a bow

noreply@blogger.com (Britton) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:03:00 +0000

Making several actually.

I started the weekend with some material shopping.

I am right about $200 in materials so far which is about right for me. I seem to spend $200-300 every season on structure upgrades and new tarps every other year.

Then I had to spend some time laying out the profile for the shelter I have in mind. The bows I made last year were bent into position as I went along and by sorting through them I found one that would make a good form for the new bows. This design is based on what I have seen of Stimson sheds but the profile is different because I don't have the width to height ratio of a real Stimson shed available to me. My bows are relatively straight near the bottom and have more curve towards the top.

Using an old bow as a form I took one 16 foot piece of strapping and glued and screwed short blocks made from the 2x3's.

Once the single strap was clamped into position I glued and screwed the second piece into place which locks the curve into the bow.

I built two bows and then checked them to make sure the boat would fit under them.

and then I made fourteen more. The first few were exciting but the routine got pretty dull pretty quickly. I had hoped to get more built this weekend but a lack of enthusiasm and a lack of glue ended my work before the last few bows were made.

At the moment I have enough bows to space them about 4 feet apart. I think next weekend I will make a few more so that I can space them at something like 3 feet. Then I have to figure out how I am going to tie them together. I need to find a way to lock them together solidly but make them easy to break apart and truck home every spring.

Today, as I was thinking about this structure idea and how it has developed over the past few years I realized that it all started when I had no deck hardware to attach to. The self-supporting idea sprang up after I removed the stanchions and had nothing to attach a frame to.

This was my first cover and it worked quite well.

Later, I needed to keep the tarp off the hull so I added three bows per side to hold the tarp out with two stands on deck to support the ridge pole.

What I could have done this year is spend an hour mounting the stanchion bases (which I already drilled and filled for the mounting screws) and then attached a frame to the stanchion tubes again like most normal boat owners.

Oh well, at least this way I will have a nice roomy structure to play under all winter. I think I am satisfying my need to build stuff. My boat cover is my substitute 'shop' until I can find one of those. I dream of finding a bit of land where I can build more 'stuff'

Getting Sole.

noreply@blogger.com (Britton) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 18:29:00 +0000

Raining cats and dogs Saturday so no outside work for me. I find it a bit ironic that I can't protect my boat from rain because it is raining. Maybe it is just me. When it started to lighten up a bit I was able to run power out to the garage and work on the cabin sole a bit.

I had transferred the hatch locations from the under-sole to the plyboo (bamboo plywood) sole before I installed the 3/4 inch fir plywood undersole. That was over a year ago but the markings were still there so I started the cuts by drilling holes.

The holes are a good place to start the cut and they provide the finger holes needed to pick up and grab the hatch panels. I am sure a fancy latch system would work too but this is how the original sole was set up and it worked just fine so I didn't see the need to complicate it. Plus I have drainage to the bilge should I have a water instrusion issue.

Then I taped off around the cut to protect the plyboo from the saber saw and started cutting. I should add that I considered cutting without the tape but that didn't work as you can see in a following photo that the first (aft most) hatch has some saw marks around it. It sands up quite easily but I think it best not to mark up the material if at all possible.

There are three panels in the sole. The aft one is just an access to the water tank access panel. It seems a shame to have a big hatch for something I will rarely need but going hatchless wouldn't work either and designing a seamless removable panel wasn't worth the effort. The middle and forward panels access storage areas in the bilge.

The blade I used seemed to have trouble with the curves I laid out. The curves came from a top of a spray paint can. It just looked about right. The blades had issues with the corner and I would have been better off with a thinner blade. I had to force/burn/struggle to get the blade around the curve. Next time I guess.

Today, the rain stopped (though the threat of rain didn't) so I decided to take the panel out to the boat for a test fit. In the year and a half since I cut the panel I had forgotten how much I had left to trim up later and what marks were to demarcate the beveling against the curving hull. I spent some time with my block plane and got the panel close. There is more fitting to do but I ran out of time today.

I am very excited about my first impressions. I can already imagine the cherry veneered plywood on the vertical surfaces in the cabin. I am really REALLY sick of bare plywood interiors.

Here is the same thing with the hatches removed.

The hatches in the plyboo were built larger than the holes in the sub-panel so that there would be sufficient support for them. In the original construction, the hatches were supported by one inch strips of mahogony screwed into position. These were falling out and a bit hazardous when I got the boat. I think the new system of a narrower hole in the sub-sole will be vastly stronger and longer lasting. I was a bit too generous with the size of the supporting structure though. I could probably open up the holes a bit.

On the other hand, it is plenty strong the way it is now which is a good thing. I started building the sub-sole before I decided on the 3/4 inch plyboo material. If I had known I would have gone with something thinner for the subsole and perhaps used small strips to support the hatches. As it is, I will now have a combined total cabin sole thickness of 1.5 inches. This is going to be a very stout sole. Luckily I thought to lower the sub-sole below the height of the original sole. I still have an inch of clearance between my head and the cabin top. If you are any taller than me you are out of luck. But its my boat and I built it just for my dimensions and it works for me. And that's that.

And that sums up the weekend on the boat. I still hope to build a cover for the boat as soon as the weather cooperates. If not, well then I will work on interior projects which is what I would rather be doing anyway. ;-)

All's well that ends well.

noreply@blogger.com (Britton) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:25:00 +0000

Jenny is back on safe dry land again. The day was not without its adventures though.

I was out a bit early to strip what little rigging was installed (boom, etc.). The wind was blowing pretty good 10 gusting 20 right out of the north which would prove interesting later. Because of the wind I was not able to check out my genoa lead locations. I will have to rely on pictures for that.

I had some time so I thought I would take a little river cruise before haul-out. It was a nice sunny day motoring up river. A nice looking classic plastic (maybe a Bill Tripp design?) gave me a big thumbs up when I went by. I opened the engine up to give it some work for the first time in several years. The boat quickly came up to speed and shortly after the engine started to smoke as a result of the dust burning off. The exhaust was a bit smoky too but I think that is to be expected the first time the engine got up to operating temperature in several years.

So I was following a route that I had taken on launch day with slightly more tide- that is, I had slightly more water under the keel than before- which didn't seem to matter when I blundered into a rock garden.

Thankfully, I had come off the throttle as was doing an easy 4.5 knots when I clocked a boulder which brought poor Jenny to an immediate stop and lifted her up a few inches- a truly sickening feeling in case you haven't been there before. After idling the engine and putting it in neutral I had a look around and was shocked to see rocky knobs all the way around me. Luckily the tide was on its way in so I knew I just had to wait a bit.

A few minutes later, the boat was free. Then, the 20 knots gusts of wind put me immediately on the adjacent rock with another sickening crunch.

A few minutes later, the boat was free. Then, the 20 knots gusts of wind put me immediately on the adjacent rock with another sickening crunch.

A few minutes later, the boat was free. Then, the 20 knots gusts of wind put me immediately on the adjacent rock with another sickening crunch.

A few minutes later, the boat was free. Then, the 20 knots gusts of wind put me immediately on the adjacent rock with another sickening crunch.

A few minutes later, the boat was free. Then, the 20 knots gusts of wind put me immediately on the adjacent rock with another sickening crunch ...

The wind pushed me all the way through the rock garden. Eventually, the rocks got tired of their games and spit me out. I noticed during this episode that my reverse gear linkage was a bit off and that I wasn't getting any reverse. I made a note to adjust that soon before I forgot at the next launching (that partially explains my 'aggresive' approach to the mooring dock last spring- no reverse braking)

So running a bit late and with the launch operator on my cell phone (3 times in ten minutes) I arrived back at the haul-out ramp near the end of my scheduled haul-out window. Note: I was not late, just at the end of my window.

So, I am approaching the dock alongside the ramp. The current is moving at about 2 knots left to right (upriver) which is making me come in with a significant crab angle. I needed to keep some power in to maintain steerage and the trick was going to be cutting the power far enough away to slow down and close enough not to get blown off course. I cut the power and put it in neutral about 50 feet off the dock.

Did I mention that the wind was directly out of the north and pushing me straight into the ramp? I didn't slow down a bit and instead made a bonzai approach into the dock - probably about 3 knots. The yard crew was extremely polite and forgiving and accomadating and didn't say a word. I really really need to buy those guys a case of beer. It was ugly.

Oh well, all's well that ends well. Safe on dry land at last.

and then I saw this for the first time.

Not the best day in recent memory.

On a good note, as the boat was being hauled-out a woman approached me and asked if Jenny was a Hinckley. 'She is absolutely beautiful!!' and she gushed a bit. I have to be careful or I could get a big head over stuff like that. I still haven't adjusted from having an ugly project boat that causes people to shake their heads and that I need to apologize for all the time.

I had intended to go back to the yard and start unloading the boat but instead decided to take myself out to an early dinner and some mindless distractions.

Saturday morning I went out to the yard and started the fall cleanup. I bit the bullet and had the yard crew pressure wash the hull. They did a great job, cleaned up the river scum well and left the paint intact. 18 hours later I had a bill in my mailbox for $91 - ouch- I would say the yard must be a little cash starved to invoice me so fast and raise the rates in the process. Oh well, they did a good job.

So here she is.

I spent the morning during a thorough cleanup and she looked much better after some attention. I hadn't realized how gray the decks had gone after a summer without a freshwater scrub. They shine again now. The hull too looked better after a real bath.

So, the scuff mark, looks better after cleaning. Some of the scrape marks turned out to be rubber transfering off the fenders and on to the hull. My plan to cover the fenders with terry cloth was an utter failure. The terry cloth wore through and ripped after a few weeks.

There are two spots where the paint wore completely away and I am looking at primer. There is another area where the paint has gone dull from rubbing. The real fix is going to be a re-spray. In the meantime I am going to contact Awl-Grip about repair procedures with the Awlcraft (acrylic) that I used and see if I can make it look better. Note: the photos were taken before I cleaned the hull. Those white 'scrape' marks are actually material from the fenders that rubbed right off. Actual damage is something less than it appears in the photos. The missing paint is real though.

and then there is the result of my frolic through the rock garden. Early in the project I discovered some poorly repaired damage on the leading edge of the keel. Its documented on the real website so I won't go into it again. Basically, during the first repair of the original repair I added a few extra layers of biax cloth as insurance against future groundings. On friday I called in that insurance.

From the looks of it, my first repair wasn't stellar anyway and now I will have a chance to make it better. It was one of the first composite repairs I had ever done. It worked, but now I can do it better. I am already toying with the idea of vacuum bagging this time. Maybe even explore a more exotic fiber in this impact prone region. I like exploring rocky shores so this is probably not the last repair I will ever make sadly.

Today is rainy so I won't be starting the winter shelter. Instead I plan on spending some time sorting out the stuff that came off the boat and getting the bamboo cabin sole ready to install. The sole isn't really the first thing I need to attend to but I can prep it and stay dry at the same time and it will be nice to put something pretty on the boat to cheer me up.

That was my interesting weekend. How was yours?

Sitting out the last one

noreply@blogger.com (Britton) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 11:10:00 +0000

This is the last weekend for the season and I am sitting it out. Rosh Hashana and a mother's birthday won out over a final picnic on the boat. I will make it up with a three day weekend on the boat next week. Haul-out day is Friday so things should get more exciting(if that is ever really the case)here on this blog.

First priorities are: 1.) a winter cover. 2.) installing those long awaited jib sheet tracks and cleats. 3.) a protective cover of varnish on the teak.

Then before it gets cold I hope to install the bamboo cabin sole and install some interior paneling. Once the cold sets in I might work on overhauling the remaining parts of the rigging; paint the mast, get the proper mast hardware installed, hunt for a new boom (and get that painted too) and attend to all the little details that make up a complete rig. Next year, if I find a better mooring and decide to launch, I will definitely have a ready-to-sail boat. No more 'working on the mooring' for me. Once in the water it will be all about the sailing. Not so much fun to read about perhaps but a lot more fun for me. I am selfish like that sometimes.

Until next week then. That's when the real action starts again.

Almost sailing

noreply@blogger.com (Britton) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:04:00 +0000

Today, I took some good advice and brought out my sails to check the sheeting locations. I am glad I did because I had some surprises.

The first, unfortunately, was that I forgot to bring my genoa- probably the most used sail in my inventory. That was dumb. My excuse is that there might have been too much wind to be fussing with the big sail. Its not a good excuse but that is the best I have.

The real surprise was discovering where the working jib and 'storm' jib sheet to.

This is a brand new, never used, 100% working jib I had made up a few years ago by Bill Withum sailmaker in Amesbury, MA. Good guy, great sailmaker, highly recomended.

(note: the dockline/jibsheet is only there to hold the sail out while I took pictures, the sail is obviously sheeted too far aft. I just didn't have anything else to tie the 'sheet' to)

I didn't specify much when I ordered the sail and I think Bill looked at my high cut genoa and just went the same with the working jib. It sheets much further aft than I expected. The boat originally had jib tracks on the sidedecks up against the cabin sides and forward of the deadlights. I had assumed these were for a 100% jib that never came with the boat. There is no way I would sheet this working jib that far forward and it looks like the track for the genoa is going to work for the working jib too.

The 'storm' jib came with the boat although I am not really sure it belonged with the boat. I found a minature spinnaker that might have fit a 12 foot dinghy in my sail inventory so maybe this sail was misplaced too. In any case, Bill felt it would be about the right size and thickness to work as a storm jib. It was hardly used and in great shape so I had him add a bolt rope so that I could run it up the roller furler. I don't know if I will ever use the sail but it is something to keep in the bag-of-tricks. It too looks like it will sheet to the genoa tracks so no additional tracks or blocks are called for at this point.

The only other foresail in my inventory (other than the forgotten 140-145% genoa) is a spinnaker I had cut by Bill into an assymetrical spinnaker. I loaned that sail out to a fellow Triton owner so hopefully I will get some feedback as to the proper sheeting location. Jenny had blocks mounted way back at the stern which I assume was for the spinnaker and where I assume the assymetrical will sheet too. Or rather I did assume until today's little revelations.

In other news I have a firm haul-out date of September 25th. Other than checking out the genoa I hope to start building some of the winter cover before the boat comes out so that I can get her covered quickly and keep her starving thin varnished teak protected. I am also betting on getting more deck hardware installed before it gets too cold and a quick cover installation will allow me to leave the deck open while this gets done.

Raising the foresails, seeing them fill and feeling the boat surge really made me want to go sailing. I didn't realize how much I missed sailing my own boat until today. With my upcoming schedule however I don't see this happening.

Soon Jenny will be safe and sound back where I can keep a better eye on her and start real boatwork again. I can hardly wait!

Switching gears

noreply@blogger.com (Britton) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:21:00 +0000

I think it is safe to say that I am no longer pushing towards sailing this season and I am looking directly at fall haul-out. I paid the storage deposit and I have calculated the cost of my new and improved boat cover plan and I just think I would rather put my resources there. Its been a fun season even without sailing and I have enjoyed not having the constant pressure to get something done.

I was busy Saturday getting my girlfriend's car situation sorted out. Sunday was for regular errands. Today, I rowed the nutshell out to Jenny to check everything out. It was a nice row against a stiff current on the way home and I am now convinced I don't need an outboard skiff. The 5hp Honda I have for the skiff has hardly been used and I am losing the love for it so I think I will sell it and buy some shop tools with the proceeds. I am much more interested in shop tools than outboards at the moment. I might even use the shop tools to get something done on a Shellback dinghy (12' row and sail) project that stalled last fall. That would make a nicer utility dinghy than the small Nutshell. The Nutshell is a great cruising dinghy but where size is not a detriment the Shellback has many advantages. Its basically a Nutshell with a longer and pointed nose anyway. The option to realistically haul in the pickup and sail out of distant waters is intriguing. Of course I have some ideas for bigger boats that do this but there are just too many good boats to build and too little time.

Anyway, I spent some time on the boat enjoying the nice sunny day and doing some cleaning. The birds weren't much of an issue but the lack of decent ventilation was. I am starting to see mold grow inside on the painted surfaces. I didn't have a ventilation system in place when I launched and the boat gets pretty stuffy as a result. Next year ventilation goes up on the priority list.

I also took some rough measurements for ordering interior supplies. I am convinced now that I am going to cover the bulkheads with vertical tongue and groove cherry paneling and I am putting together a materials estimate. So far it looks like 50-60 square feet of coverage; a bit more if I decide to cover the lower settee fronts which I am leaning against doing at the moment. Cherry veneer plywood will be used inside as well. I just want something more visually interesting on the blank bulkheads.

Last year the winter cover was sort of a hybrid. The ridge line was supported by frames on deck and the tarp was held off the boat with six curved frames (bows). It worked okay but the ridge pole and frames tended to move around in windy weather which kept me worrying about chafe marks. This year I want the bows to support the ridge pole which means a lot more bows (like 12 per side) which will make the cover more of a real structure.

Not much to write about this week. The boat looks good except for where the river scum collects. It only takes a few hours for the brown stain to show up so I have stopped trying to scrub it off. I think next year I will have to raise the waterline a bit since the bow is right at the waterline now and I expect to add at least a thousand pounds to the boat over the next few years (50 gallons of water, 4 group 27 batteries, interior wood, food stores, electrical equipment, etc)

Lots of recent postings have been rather boring and I am sure I am losing my audience (if I ever had one). If you still check in, just hang on into the Fall when boatwork can begin again. A lot of the distractions this summer are winding down so I expect to get some interior and sail hardware projects done before winter. With the boat mostly fully insulated winter work is becoming an option too.

Stay tuned.

It's hard to beat a good pair of ash pain sticks

noreply@blogger.com (Britton) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:20:00 +0000

(Oars.) Reliable. Efficient. Cheap. Low maintenance. Not like Honda outboard motors at all.

Simplify, simplify. I could hear Hank's words from across the years as my outboard coughed and died and absolutely refused to re-start. I think its a fuel issue. I will look at it later. For now I am thinking rowing is a pretty nice thing to do on a sunny Sunday morning. Nothing brings you in touch with the maritime environment like a slow row; working the currents, dodging the moored boats, listening to the gulls and the fish jumping out of the water.

Of course, the experience is much better in a boat actually designed to row. Aluminum skiffs do not fit that category and it is a personal peeve of mine when I see a Craigslist listing for an aluminum 'rowboat' for sale that obviously has an outboard mount on the back. The aluminum skiff is the antithesis of a good rowboat. That is what I was thinking as I was rowing an aluminum outboard skiff with too-short oars across a heavy current trying to find the slack spots where I could make some headway.

I am surprised people read this with all my complaining...

Anyway, I made a run out to Jenny to see how she faired the stormy weather and two weeks of neglect. She seemed quite fine actually. About 18 inches of water in the bilge (its a very deep and narrow bilge) but nothing too terrible. It took a minute to pump it out and then clean up whatever the heavy rains couldn't dislodge. The birds have been enjoying the boat in my absence obviously.

I think I am actually looking forward to haulout time so I can stop worrying about the boat and get started on some interior projects. I miss working on the boat and working at the mooring just doesn't do it for me. With the less-than-stellar sailing weather this season and my need to work as much as possible getting in a sail is more work than enjoyment anyway. I am ready to have Jenny home so I can make the insides pretty. I might even forego sailing next year to advance the project. I am pretty sure it will be a few years before my bank account is sufficiently engorged to afford a decent cruise. Maybe it is better to get the job done and sail later. That probably wouldn't work for a lot of people but I actually like the work. Maybe not quite as much as cruising but probably as much as daysailing which is all I have time for these days (and not so much of that either).

Jenny looks good. The wind gusted pretty strong for an hour or two yesterday with the hurricane passage offshore but I could find no evidence that it was a hardship for the boat.

Now I can stop worrying for a day or two...

Hurricanes annoy me.

noreply@blogger.com (Britton) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 14:18:00 +0000

Last weekend a hurricane passing offshore made it easy to postpone boatwork and go on weekend vacation to Maine.

This weekend, a hurricane passing offshore made boatwork impossible once again.

I just got my invoice for next year's winter storage. I guess its time to start thinking about a haul-out date.

Its just been one of those years...

Boomin'

noreply@blogger.com (Britton) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:22:00 +0000

(Boom In... get it?)

Yesterday was another boat picnic day. While I was there I was able to install the fitting for the mainsheet block which allowed me to put the boom on.

The temps were in the 90's so I wasn't too crazy about epoxy projects which means I decided to hold off drilling the mounting holes for the genoa tracks.

Speaking of high temps. Yesterday was a good test of the dark hull in hot conditions. High up on the topsides I have not installed the insulation. I held off until I was sure about how the toerails were going to be mounted and I haven't got back to it yet. Up high, in the direct sun, on the dark hull, the inside surface gets quite hot. Not so much to burn my hand but hotter than is comfortable. I am sure that if the whole hull were uninsulated, a day like yesterday would turn my interior into a roasting oven. Down lower, where the insulation was installed the inner surface is barely warm. With a little better ventilation (still in the planning phase) I don't see a problem with 90 degree days and a dark hull. Phew!

With sweat pouring out of every pore I decided to take my $100 skiff for a river cruise. Its rather discouraging to be reminded that a $100 boat can be quite fun and a $50k boat can be all work...

Small victories

noreply@blogger.com (Britton) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 14:27:00 +0000

I had a nice day yesterday. Beautiful weather, a nice picnic lunch, with some minor boat progress. Today, I was stopped by a clevis pin. Without it, the whole project came to a halt in favor of more productive activities.

I was able to fashion some teak pads for the bow skene chocks. I was a bit handicapped by the lack of tools but the results were acceptable. Not great but acceptable for now. The tendency, working on the mooring, is to cut corners and 'make do' but I am trying to resist that tendency and wait rather than set myself up for extra re-work later. As much as I would like to move forward, taking short term progress that requires long term re-work, really isn't in my best interest. The main goal this summer is enjoyment. Whether that is sailing or picnics I am trying to keep this 'fun'.

At least that is one less line rubbing on my my toerail. Somewhere in storage I have nice looking chafe covers for the lines. The bow line really needs something beter than a strip of towel.

I also drilled through the epoxy plugs I made last month for the mainsheet block.

That's over 2 inches of solid epoxy in that hole. I would have mounted the fitting except at the last minute I decided to put washers on top of the deck as well as underneath and I only had the two washers on hand. It might look a little better without the washers on top but the washers also cover the hole better and allow for more sealant. I also suspect that when this fitting is pulled sideways, half the fitting is pulling upwards but the other half is pushing downwards. The washer gives more surface area to absorb the downwards force and prevent the fitting from eating into the deck. That might not be a concern. I am not an engineer. The fact that the edges of the hole is covered definitely relieves me of some detailed cosmetic work.

The best part of the day was hanging out with Julie and enjoying a nice picnic.

I had intended to come back today and install the mainsheet fitting. That would allow me to mount the boom which would be real progress in my mind. Alas, I rummaged through my hardware bins but couldn't quite figure out how to attach the block to the boom. It was on there before but it was likely cobbled together in a fashion that I don't wish to repeat. From the 'spare' parts I could get everything but a clevis pin. I could probably make it work but I was afraid I would forget until later when the setup would explode in pieces at a critical moment because I forgot to fix it later.

There is always next week.

The Summer that Wasn't

noreply@blogger.com (Britton) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 19:08:00 +0000

For the second week in a row, rain has prevented me from accomplishing much. Today, I fiddled with some minor mechanical stuff, checked the bilge and ran the engine to top off the battery (which really didn't need it).

I am waiting for the opportunity to mount deck hardware but it just isn't happening. Hopefully, the weather patterns will change soon. At this point I am looking at a first sail around early September.

At least I am enjoying some nice picnics on the boat and I have had a chance to do some non-boat stuff for the first time in many months. I chafe about not getting work done on the boat but at the same time I am enjoying not having to work on the boat all the time.

Like every time I get out to the boat. I find an avian party in progress.

They don't like me crashing their party.

I guess I should be happy they they seem to pick just one corner on the aft deck to tear their dinners apart. Cleaning up is never a problem. The regular deluge for the past month hasn't hurt much either in that regard. I am finding that I have to be careful when I walk on deck in bare feet. Most of the skeletal remains are easy to spot but those little blocky vertibrae are killer when you step on them just right and nearly impossible to see against the bright white deck.

Last week, with the rain about to fall I took the skiff on a ride just to enjoy the scenery and have some fun 'boating'. I came across this Alerion 28 and was interested to see that the builders had the same problems trying to figure out how to run the lines to the stern cleats as I do.

The 'problem' is the toerail. I really love the look but it really gets in the way of running lines off the boat. The Alerion builders chose to just end the toerail short of the stern to make running the stern line easier. I can't say as I like the solution myself but I am really stumped as to how to proceed. Its a small 'flaw' in the design that I had not anticipated. I am not particularly happy with the cleats-on-blocks solution. The leverage works against me and its not particularly attractive. Besides the stern lines, the spring lines tend to work themselves up and down the length of the toerail. A rub strip of half-oval bronze would work but trying to cover every point where the lines cross the toerail leaves a good part of the toerail covered in bronze. A few short sections would be okay but I don't want to have it everywhere. I am still trying to work that out. Custom cast bronze chocks that fit into the toerail is the real solution but I am not really ready to spend that kind of money just yet.

Sorry there is nothing here but then there really isn't anything productive happening on the boat either. I am pretty much over the 'work on the mooring' option and I don't think I am going to launch next year in favor of better working conditions as I 'finish' up the project.

I will be trying again next week. Crossing my fingers.

Quit 'yer bitchin

noreply@blogger.com (Britton) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 17:17:00 +0000

I realized that I have been doing quite a bit of complaining lately. Sorry about that. Nothing is duller than reading someone's complaints. I am all done now. I will present facts and successes only from now on.

I love the simplicity and sound of a well designed rowboat. No motors to service. No noise to shout over. Slow enough to enjoy the scenery and not scare away the wildlife. I really like my nutshell although it is looking like its starting to ask for some TLC.

So it isn't impossible to row out to the boat. Its just a bit more challenging. I timed the tides and weather this morning and had a quick look over and checked the bilge (nothing out of the bilge pump).

Here is a picture of the burn mark from the 'fireworks' two weeks ago. I am sure now that it was from one of the boats at the marina across the river firing their old flares. From that congested mess in the marina slips I bet my side of the river looked quite deserted and safe for flares. It wasn't though.

I noticed that the line that holds the four fenders I have strapped along the dockside sagged a bit. Between the sag and some wave/wind action I have managed to secure a spot in the "is Awlcraft 2000 repairable?" class this fall. Looks like the wood docksides and my freshly painted hull sides introduced themselves. I really have nothing good to say about docks these days.

I bet my neighbor doesn't either.

It looks like one of the chocks he was tied off to broke free and the next available one was a stretch.

I added an extra fender over the scuff mark in case something shifts again or the boat is rocked extra violently. Its not doing anything now but if the fender on the line moves then the vertical fender will drop down and (hopefully) protect what's left of the hull paint. I should add that the paint isn't scratched through. Just scuffed up and dull.

Once I had settled down and checked things out I had time to contemplate the geometry in the rigging.

After half an hour enjoying the morning the tide swung around and the breeze started picking up which was my cue to head back for some skiff repair work.

The motor mount as repaird by my cousin some years ago.

The inside always bothered me especially. It's not adding much support.

When I grabbed the wood it was obvious that I had let it go a bit too long. This took about 15 seconds with no tools.

In two minutes I had it all off.

Nothing but the best for my great grandfather's skiff. 3/4" marine grade okoume plywood costing somewhere around $170 a sheet last time I checked. Yeah, I forgot to drill some of the holes. The shape I chose as much to look good as to be functional. Square slabs would have worked just as well I think. I coated the inside faces and outer edges with epoxy to help seal it. I will probably do the same on the outer faces and then finish it bright with some Epifanes Gloss Wood Finish I have just lying around. Silly, I know, but that's the kind of guy I am.

While I would really like the new inflatable I think I would rather have sailing hardware and a chance to sail this season. I think I will limp along with the aluminum skiff (and pram perhaps) this season. The solution is to change my mooring next time rather than buy a boat just for this mooring situation, which as anyone that has been reading this blog knows, I absolutely detest. Lesson learned. I have always been a small boat and trailer sailer so the whole mooring thing was a new for me. I am much better educated now. Moorings good; Docks bad; transportation to the mooring is an extremely important part of the equation and it needs to be thought out and executed well. No half-assed measures like I took this year.

I will continue to keep my eyes open for a used inflatable but they seem to be quite scarce and pricey at the moment.

I am getting over the hump with the last minute shopping sprees I was on last month as part of the launching process. I hope to put in a new order for deck hardware soon. Maybe I will have something to show in the near future besides the slow degradation of my beautiful boat and repairs to a 50 year old aluminum skiff that really belong in the scrap pile.

Here's hoping.

Honda 5hp

noreply@blogger.com (Britton) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 21:58:00 +0000

I will start by saying that I love my Honda 5hp four stroke outboard motor.

With one growing exception. The starter cord gear keeps breaking. I have owned two Honda 5hp's so far, a long shaft and a short shaft, and both have broken the starter cord gear within the first 20 hours of operation. I have spoken with friends that own small Hondas and been told that they have all experienced the exact same problem.

I was at the store buying a new gear today and was told by the technician that I need to be gentle with the cord. I must pull gently until the gear engages the flywheel and only then pull vigorously. He blamed my bad technique. I will admit that I don't baby the motor. I also stick to my story that Honda has a design flaw to work out. I should not be breaking a motor by using the normal starting system every 10-20 hours no matter how hard I choose to pull the starter cord. My lawnmower takes much more abuse from me it has worked flawlessly for years and years.

Here is a picture of my 20 hour Honda 5hp short shaft that I broke last week. The white plastic gear is the one in question. When the starter cord is pulled, the gear rides up the spiral teeth and engages the flywheel which makes the flywheel turn and the engine to start. When the engine starts, the plastic gear is pushed / drops down and out of the way and when I release the cord a spring re-winds the mechanism. Simple.

Except the plastic gear and spiral teeth has such a loose fit that the gear can tip

down...

...and up...

With normal engine vibration the gear hums up and down constantly. Over time the teeth get worn...

... and when the teeth get worn enough, a strong pull will allow the plastic gear to ride up and beyond the teeth on the flywheel, jamming the plastic gear against the flywheel. When that happes the result is very often...

... a broken gear.

The immediate fix is to cut the cord off the starter gear assembly and wrap it around the fitting on the top of the flywheel and start the old fashion way. Wind it on, pull. If it doesn't start on the first pull... wind it on... pull.

Like I said, overall I love the motor; quiet, smooth, low fuel consumption, low(ish) pollution, maybe a bit heavy but I can live with it. I am just getting tired of replacing these gears. Rewinding those darned recoil springs is a P.I.T.A. too.

This morning I got coralled into working for Mom. By the time I got out of that the only decent supplier of stainless hardware in the area had closed (1:00pm) so I wasn't able to get what I needed to fix the skiff motor mount. At present I have no way of getting to Jenny. I might try timing the tide/current and rowing but the Merrimack river is known for its 3+ knots of current and stiff chop which can be a challenge in a 8 foot rowing pram; even a Nutshell pram of excellent character and superior action. Maybe. More than likely I likely I am out of the running until next week. A friend took his kayak across at an opportune time and checked out the boat and pronounced it 'good' so I might have to take it on faith. From a quarter mile away while driving over the highway bridge at 60mph it looked okay to me.

Complicating matters is that the tools and epoxy I would like to use, to make up a new motor mount on the skiff, are currently on Jenny.

Working on boats on moorings really sucks...

I can only keep putting one foot in front of the other and hope I will get there eventually. That has to work. Right?...

[edit]

How about a vote. Should I just whip out the credit card and buy a new 10' inflatable and end my dinghy woes once and for all? Warning: if you say 'Yes' you need to tell me which one and why ;-)

I should add that buying an inflatable will probably impact buying any more sailing hardware this season...

I should listen to my girlfriend more

noreply@blogger.com (Britton) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 19:56:00 +0000

especially when she turns down a pleasant river cruise in the skiff because she 'doesn't feel safe in that boat'.

Half way across the river I started wondering why the angle on the outboard motor didn't look right. On closer inspection, it became obvious that the half baked repair my cousin did to the motor mount 'pad' on the transom, before I took over custodialship of the boat, was failing rapidly. What was left was the thin aluminum transom that was flexing quite badly under the weight and thrust of the motor. And then on the return trip, the little plastic gear that engages the crankshaft when the pull start cord is pulled, decided to shatter half its teeth off. What was left was not enough to turn the motor fast enough to get it running. The fix was to cut the starter cord and wind it manually around the cranshaft. Honda is nice enough to put a fitting up there for just such a situation. The funny thing is that my last Honda 5hp motor, did the exact same thing. Both motors had about 20 hours of total service on them. Much too early to be failing. Nobody that reads this blog cares about outboards so I won't go into more details.

No pictures today. I forgot the camera at home.

Not much to report anyway.

The first thing I noticed when I got to the boat was a burned spot on my new deck paint from the remnants of the fireworks last week. I am not at all happy about that. A 3 inch black scar on the sidedeck. If I thought someone who would care I would file a complaint.

I did some cleaning. I drilled and filled holes for the mid position stanchions. I made a list of things to order/bring next week. I put a coat of varnish on the toerails and a few spots that looked in dire need of coverage. Its going to be tough keeping up on the varnish this summer when I only started with four coats before launching.

And speaking of tough, projecting forward I am seeing a slim and fading possibility of sailing this boat this summer. Sailing is going to require a serious push, dedication, and a functioning credit card. Frankly, I did my best this spring and I am not sure I want to put in that kind of energy all summer too. If working at the boatyard takes twice as long then working on the mooring is easily four times as long. Maintaining the tools I need at home, at work, and on the boat at the same time is a huge chore. With my skiff on the fritz that is going to add another wrinkle to the problem.. My credit card has about had it and I am tired of running with no economic safety margin. The solution to my dinghy issue is to buy a boat. I just don't want to spend the money or take the time for the all day registration process. I ran my finances into the ground getting the boat launched and there just isn't any left to continue working aggresively on the mooring.

Boats on moorings is kind of a new thing for me too. I have always done the trailering route and when I last had Jenny in the water I was only on the mooring for a week before I took off cruising. I can see now that maintaining a boat on a mooring requires an investment in dinghy transportation that I hadn't fully anticipated. A real boat and a real motor. I was hoping my great grandfather's skiff would pull through just one more season but without some work I don't think that is going to happen. Even with the skiff working, with all this rain and my being away all work week, the skiff would probably have sunk at the dinghy dock. Its just not the right boat for my current situation. And I hate investing to better my current situation because I think in the long turn its not really workable. I am hating being on the floating dock and having the spring lines chafe the new teak toerails all day long. I am hating the boat banging against the fenders all day long with the wakes of big power boats going by. (I really need some custom cast bronze chocks that fit into the toerail to pass the lines through- Lessons learned.) I hate the bird poop. I hate the broken dock fittings. I hate the hassle of launching the dinghy and having to cross a steep chop with a strong current. I am hating the slow progress of working on the mooring. I really look forward to having the boat back at the boatyard where I can protect it (like from stupid fireworks burning my decks) and work on it until it is really 'ready'. I am glad I launched the boat. The deadline made a lot of things come together. There is also a lot still to do.

I am thinking of using Jenny strickly as a picnic boat. That is, go out on a sunny weekend and have a picnic on board. That would be nice...

Just a frustrating bad day.

Windy picnics

noreply@blogger.com (Britton) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 23:40:00 +0000

Today was the first time in two weeks that I set foot on the boat. It was windy. I, and my girlfriend, had a picnic. She then read, and I worked on the boat. A perfect day.

First though, I was not pleased to see my decks littered with the remnants of last week's fireworks.

After I cleaned up that debris I started looking at installing the jibsheet cleats. I ordered some 6 inch Herreshoff styles but I am not so sure. They look puny crowded in between the 6 inch high coaming and the 2 inch high toerail. I need to think about that. They look much better on the coaming itself and would probably be easy to use in that location but I think its more stress than I want to subject the coamings to.

Then with visitors on the boat, a functioning head seemed like a high priority item.

I installed a pre-made shelf and inside liner to the storage area behind the head and then attached the hoses with the new clamps that arrived from Hamilton Marine. The hoses run through the back panel so the panel had to be hung up at the same time.

I need to revisit the panel and inside construction. Next year. I always thought the outlet hose for the toilet, which I cut about a year ago, was a bit too short. I had a new section on hand so I cut it to fit. It was too long so I trimmed it. Then I ran it through the panel which put a small bend in it. Now the new hose is too short again . That killed my hopes for a working head this weekend and sent my partner home early for better 'facilities'. I will order another $10-a-foot hose this week.

Yet another plastic fitting that doesn't seem to match the hose well. I measured the hose. Its a 3/4 inch hose that is more like 7/8 on the inside. I thought the fitting on the toilet was 3/4 but it was a bear getting the hose on and there was definitely no way to get it on far enough to double clamp the connection.

With the need to depart I only spent a little more time applying oil where the varnish was getting thin. Tomorrow I hope to put another coat of varnish on but just in case I wanted something with UV protection on the wood. Anything. The four coats of varnish is just not holding up at all.

Before I left I drilled the two holes where the mainsheet block attach fitting will mount behind the cockpit. Then I filled the holes with thickened epoxy to be drilled out later for the fitting. The fitting is a bow tow fitting left on my shelf from another project that I think will work fine for connecting the mainsheet block to. I might have to trim it down a bit.

Yup, that poop deck looks a bit ... poopy. Tomorrow, (hopefully) is cleaning day, and varnishing day, and bow skene chock day, and stanchion day, and... well, now I am off a real schedule and its all about having fun on the boat this summer. No schedules really. I want to sail but I am not going to kill myself over it. Life is too short.

I also measured and located the new positions for the middle stanchion tubes. The aft and middle ones were originally very close together and now I am moving them more equidistant. That puts the middle stanchion at the forward edge of the forward deadlight and leaves more room for the jib sheet track. The last time I sailed I always wished I could have moved that jib car just a bit more forward and now it looks like I can. If I get to it :-)

Best Marine Imports

noreply@blogger.com (Britton) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:55:00 +0000

Just for the search engines I will say it again:

Best Marine Imports.

Its my own fault really. A couple of years ago this low profile cowl vent at Mariners Hardware caught my eye.

I ordered two for the aft deck.

I got a call saying they only had one in stock but could get the other one in 3-4 months. I said okay. Two years later and many emails and phone calls later Mariners Hardware went out of business. Serves them right.

So I kept searching for another source for the cowl vents. I kept seeing the same stock photo at many online stores but when I would check into it they would tell me the style was no longer available.

Along comes Best Marine Imports and they tell me they can have it shipped in about a week and could I please pay via PayPal instead of Visa. Sure no problem.

A month later, several emails and a few phone calls and I have nothing. So, I do a quick Google search for Best Marine Imports and I find several business review websites. And most of the reviews tell the exact same story as mine. Nice chat, promise to ship in a week, pay via PayPal, dropped off the face of the earth. Curiously there are some other reviews out there that are raving. A closer look though reveals that they are all placed by the same person/account. Someone is trying to balance all the bad reviews out there.

Its my fault. If I had done the quick Google search for Best Marine Imports first I could have saved myself the hassle of disputing the charges and that whole rigamarole. Instead, I took the chance and it bit me. I really wanted that second cowl vent. Now it looks more and more likely that I will have to order a matching pair of something else. Too bad as good bronze hardware seems to be disappearing from the scene.

Fourth of July weekend, The mooring field is filled to capacity and beyond with Yahoos in ugly plastic powerboats that didn't know the rules of the road before they drank a case of beer let alone after that. I always make a habit of avoiding the boating scene during the big holidays. Otherwise I might get so disgusted with the whole thing that I take up a far cheaper hobby like knitting instead.

I think the girlfriend appreciated spending the first entire weekend in over six months together. I hope so at least. I actually saw members of my own family this weekend too. I had forgotten how nice they were :-)

More supplies from Hamilton Marine came in (great company, occasionally a bit slow in the shipping department but not like Best Marine Imports at all) Next week I hope to have weather dry enough to mount the last of the deck hardware I need to control the sails. Sailing by August, that's my new goal.

Once more for the search engines: Best Marine Imports, horrible, miserable company. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Checking in

noreply@blogger.com (Britton) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:55:00 +0000

I have been anxious all week with the steady rain. I had no idea how dry the boat was and I have been worried about getting a call from the harbormaster or arriving at the boat to find it floating at the gunwales. Thankfully, Jenny was just fine with all the rain. A few strokes with the manual bilge pump was all that I could get.

Getting to the boat is a bit of a chore at the moment. The 'rules' limit dinghies to 10 feet on the dock. For now, I am making use of my great-grandfathers skiff that he bought used in the 1960's. I had turned it over several years ago and sold the trailer because I was tired of paying registration on a trailer I wasn't using (plus I needed the cash for boat supplies). A trailer would be nice right about now.

Not a particularly classy way to travel but at least I save five dollars. When I went to the public launch ramp the attendent told me that I could use the free ramp for 'roof mounted boats'. I think he wanted me as far from the busy ramp launching operation as he could get me. Its a chore but it is getting the job done.

With the forecast calling for 50% rain all day, I decided not to drill any new holes in the deck for deck hardware. Instead, I hauled out a bunch of supplies and fussed over a few things. I started the engine. It fired right up.

The dock is terrible and it doesn't look like the owners intend to do anything about it. Right in front of my boat is a pair of paint scrapers. I had put a fender in front of the first one last week just in case I got sloppy on the approach.

The cleats are not spaced well, some are loose, some are broken, and some are rediculously small.

I am worried about my topsides looking like my new neighbors.

I have strung out fenders on a line down the length of the boat. They will stay there when I go out for the day or weekend. Those terry cloth fender covers are very nice and I am told do wonders to protect the paint. With my wallet hemoraging cash the past few weeks I couldn't buy any but I did try the low budget option which is to use K-mart towels and tie wraps.

My neighbor has decided to tie up on the other side of the dock so I repositioned the boat to the other end and away from the paint scrapers at the end. Really, who would rent such a dock? I pity the next boat that has to squeeze between my boat and those scrapers. I have a suspicion that the other two spots on the dock are going to go unused. Now that everyone can see the docks as they are its going to be a hard sell.

I would like to thank everyone once again that came to my launch and brought gifts.

Two sporta-seats (which are absolutely awesomely comfortable and good looking), Gourmet beer (12% alcohol content - be careful!) and Pyrat XO reserve rum.

Here is one of the two stern cleats I installed in the mad dash before launch day.

I think I am going to revisit the whole design in the future. First of all, my first cut was intended to be the block height, and instead I went on the wrong side of the glued up blank and cut the width. The cleats are now a bit wider than the blocks. I might also try to tie them in with a future taffrail.

The anchor platform remains unchanged from what I built several years ago now. It has worked fine so I wasn't going to revisit it just yet. Its mahogany and the rest of the boat is teak. For the moment, it doesn't bother me too much. I am not crazy about the look of a Bruce anchor on the nose. A 'pigs snout' as someone once called it. Nevertheless, it works quite well.

I really wanted to get wood down on the edges where the skene chocks were going to go but I didn't have shaping tools with me and the rough blanks were a little large to notch into the anchor platform.

Towards the end of the day, the tide changed and the current started to really rip along the float creating a bow wave on the boat.

The fog was settling in thicker when I left but I got one nice look back at the boat as I left.

And finally back once again at the 'free' dock.

I am thinking that I am going to just put the skiff on the dinghy dock and wait for someone to complain. I would do it this weekend except with rain forecasted every day this week, I don't need my skiff to sink with rain water with my hardly used Honda on the stern (again).

Not a terribly productive day. But a nice day to be messing about with boats.