Painting

So we have paint on the hull. This is not as easy as it sounds. Getting the right height so you don't screw up your back is the rough part. You  need the right consistency. Not too thick, or it won't brush out, not too thin or it will run. If it is windy it will dry too fast. There is an art to this.


Next the boot stripe. This is a little easier.


Now the top side paint. The struggle here is that you cannot paint the whole boat in a day because you cannot reach it and still get out. So it is a little piece here and then a little piece there. We will be a while before we get all the top done well.  Then there is the non-skid.


We are working on getting things done that are holding us up from getting back in the water. Next week we are  looking at re-installing push pit, pulpit and stanchions. I am really pushing for rope for the lifelines. 


The rigger should have the mast head and whatever else he needs for the mast. Joe has done an amazing job stripping the paint and polishing it. We will go bare aluminum because it looks so good. 

Back to Port Townsend

We are headed back to Port Townsend to work on the boat. The goal is to finish putting rubber washers behind the steel washer in the rub rail. This will stop a place that is potential for leaks. Bed the toe rail with wood and epoxy, this will make for strong stanchions. And finally get paint on the topside and the boat strap. I think we can get this done and maybe work on the mast, getting it completely polished and ready for the rigger.


The forecast is rain on Monday, so we will be in the boat then. There is so much to be done and much of it is weather dependent. Wish us luck.

Blue Water Boat

Okay, what makes a blue water boat and why isn't our boat a blue water boat? Good questions. Well lets start with why our boat isn't a blue water boat. 


We thought the hull was thick and sturdy. Her displacement is 13,500 empty and dry and to us the hull looked really thick. Not so much. She also has a really big cockpit. Great for entertaining and cruising around the sound and inland waters, but to big for the open ocean. It holds too much water and doesn't drain quickly enough. Then there is the hull shape and the spade rudder. The hull is wide and a little flat above the keel. This makes her fast but not sea kindly, meaning you would get the shit beat out of you in heavy seas. Then there is the spade rudder. If it fails at sea you have no real way to steer.


So what are we going to do. Man we are in way to deep to cut the loss and then there is the what if's that go on and on. Aren had said the boat would be a fine inland, Puget Sound cruiser. He encouraged us to make her what she really was and enjoy her around Washington and up the coast to Alaska. 


So that is what we are doing. There are many unanswered questions, like what to spend money on and what can go to the side. What is a must and what is a luxury. What the boat needs to be safe and reliable. What will sell the boat as a great family cruiser. 

On the Hard Again

So deciding that this might just be the boat for us, we set up all the arrangements to have the work done and hauled out, yet again, in Port Townsend. For the non North-westerners, it is a lovely little town on the Olympic peninsula famous for their boating and ship wrights. They have fabulous craftsman and a really cool vibe to the town. It is pricey, so we will be camping a lot and staying on the boat some.


There is always a lot of excitement when you move the boat in or out of the water. Where we were staying and where we were hauling out, are a couple of miles apart. Not really a big deal but some thought needed to go in to how to get the car and the dog and the camping stuff and so on. What we did was put the dog, the bike and us on the boat. We towed the dinghy. The dog, the bike, and I got off together and went to the head of the dock. I tied the up and parked the bike. Back to the boat to get the dinghy. (They don't have a dinghy dock at Boat Haven) Owen (best marine guy) and I picked the dinghy up and carried it up the dock, it will eventually end up under the boat as a storage space. I left the haul out to Joe and Owen, tied the dogs leash around my waist, got on the bike and headed for the car, which was back at the other marina.


Joe and Owen got the boat washed down, placed and chalked. And a new adventure with the boat begins. Brion Toss, (famous rigger) set up the unstepping of the mast. This means the mast comes off the boat for work. All very exciting. Owen is in the boat working away on the many things that must be done and Brion is working on marking all the cables and parts of the rigging that will have work done. Lots of activity. We are all working on this boat like ants. 


I go up the stairs in to the cockpit and Owen says,"this is Aren, I think you should listen to what he has to say." Aren proceeds to tell me that this is not a good boat and we should not spend money trying to make her a blue water boat because she never will be. Now this guy is not contracted to do any work on the boat, he is just a craftsman and a sailor who knows more that we do. I call out,"Joe, you need to come up here." Aren repeats for him what he has just said to me. 


You could have kicked us both and it would have been easier. We had spent nearly a thousand dollars getting marine surveys and opinions telling us the boat would be fine only to find out that was not the case.