Sunday Morning

Woodpecker hammering, finches singing, hawk on patrol, second cup of coffee brewing with the hiss of propane, a refreshing breeze, sunbeams slipping through the eastern canopy. Oh, and a squadron of bassrockets shredding the serenity to mark the new day. Off to projects.

Trying again

Grrrr.   So, this is the rest of my magical mystery post.  Not sure why it was ignored...  It's interesting to me that I can putter around in the boatyard all day and share some of my conciousness with any one who cares to know.  How long before I can just grant you access to my conciousness in real time?

Gibson's report:  Luke's boat has been hauled out.  Mark dropped by to say howdy.  Kevin stopped zipping around long enough to do some fishing at high tide in the canal.  Buck is flying the Argonauts' rainbow flag that Del dug up.  The toilet seat has been replaced (this is a big deal).  Somebody bought Spica and started a really bad paint job  on her - looks like they got in a fight with mops that happened to be soaked in Interlux Perfection Oyster white.  And finally, it is said that Frenchie on Dolfijn is married to a Bush speech writer.  egad.

If you can afford it...

Have someone else paint your boat. This was the resounding thought in my head as I was about 3/4 around the boat wet-sanding with 320 grit, a grunchy left shoulder, and not enough sleep in the past two weeks. I decided to bag any attempt at getting the final coat on this weekend. My head's not right for doing a good job. Instead, I gave the boat a good cleaning today after sanding, and will noodle around tomorrow with navigation lights or something equally exciting.

Measures

Like everything on the boat that I haven't touched yet, and some things that I have, the windows are quite crusty and in need of replacement. It's a little difficult for me to call these things "ports." Same genus, different species. Chica-san and I met friends from Michigan in St. Augustine before getting over to the boat to show it off and take window measurements. They travelled with us to check it out before heading on to Orlando for a little family mousery. Ruth pointed out that the boat needs a lot of work. This is true.

Saw Kevin and caught up with him on some items. The Packless Sealing System (PSS) was off the prop shaft, and the old bronze packing nut and gland were back on. I like the idea of this arrangement better as the PSS instructions indicated that it was pretty feeble and fey when accosted by things like a little bit of time, air that isn't 100% oxygen, and liquids that aren't 100% water. With the neoprene boot that could have been torn easily, it looked just too fragile to be installed on any self-respecting rat islander's boat. I liked its high-tech idea at first, but practicality usually wins out one way or another.

• Pix

A few pix of the engine installation, some items need to be moved, fixed, resolved before completion - such as the raw water strainer. Not quite sure what the plan is for the rudder post yet, but curious to watch and see it get sorted out.

On the way out of town, we stopped at Niko's for lunch. Sat one booth over from two couples with one man holding court, spewing half-baked opinions like the steaming, oily rush of air from a rusty old casino boat's engine room. Somewhere between admiring a passing Honda Trail Ridge (sic) pickup truck while claiming that it wasn't any good and explaining that someone had set (sic) Beull Clinton down (the crook) and told him to shut up cuz he h'ain't seen him awn TV lately, Mr. Knowledge claimed that, in his book (which I'm sure is dark and near his heart), Jimmy Carter was un-American. Chica-san let out a sharp laugh and the fun began...

Getting Started

So, this is a Capital Yachts Gulf 29 pilothouse sailboat. I've got some background info on an old HTML website. Further activities and links to pix will show up here. My most recent session involved crossing paths with my buddy Keith from time-back-way-back for a little sanding and painting.

• Pix

We thought we would get to play with kayaks, but didn't. Tom dropped by early on and tried to drag us over to St. Augustine to serve as railmeat in a little drifting contest. I was feeling the gravity, but Keith wisely pointed out, "Paint the boat." dang. Tom reported back that the engine quit as they were escaping the slip. These are rat islanders, so they pressed on under sail power alone. Then the rudder fell off. Yup, I'm hangin' with the right crowd. I'm right at home. Life is good. Keith took off on Saturday to get into some well-deserved paddling and fishing at Isle of Palms, SC.

activities - sanded patch/acne off, final coat of primer, sanded, first topcoat, sanded, second topcoat. starting to look like a boat.

[newport] Twicksey Wabbit!

Test 3

First Auto Info Tosser Test

Thar she blows. 2nd coat of interlux perfection, one to go.