Free at Last…

On May 24th, 2009 Published By B.J.

Sipping a drink in the cockpit at anchor last night while watching the sun go down, reading to the kids in a small pool of light in the saloon, waking up at anchor. After months of hard work and aggravation I finally get reminded of why I put myself through this.

Admittedly, we’re not all that far from home. Dutch Harbor in Jamestown to be exact – less than two hours away. But it makes all the difference.

The original plan was to get the boat inhabitable on the mooring Friday night, then get up Saturday and bend on the sails leaving for someplace close after a leisurely morning. Getting the main sail on was the ordeal du jour, it just would not go on. We ended up getting some help from our rigger, hoisting up the mast to apply some Sailkote to the luff track. Too much friction is the cause of so many evils on a boat. We finally got under way around 3:30 in the afternoon. Leisurely breakfast, bolted lunch while trying to solve the puzzle of the main sail.

Today we plan to figure out what’s HERE at Dutch Harbor, it’s always been simply an overnight stopping point on the way to somewhere else and we’ve never actually gotten of the boat here. Allegedly there is a dinghy dock and a cookout area somewhere and it’s not too far of a walk into Jamestown.

And of course, we finally get the answer to the question we’ve been waiting for since January – can the new dinghy engine get all four of us up on a plane!

Posted in Dutch Harbor, Sailkote | 1 Comment

Going Sailing….

On May 22nd, 2009 Published By B.J.

The deck might still look like hell, but we’re going sailing this weekend!

Well, in some places it looks quite nice but we don’t exactly have a good gestalt effect of WOW! yet since more than half of it is still un-sanded. But we’re getting there. If you put your face up close to the sanded areas so you can’t see the rest of it you might get a WOW! If you ignore the missing bungs…

Since moving the boat to the mooring Chris has been focused on sanding and teak, leaving me some freedom to re-commission the boat and make a few system repairs without too much guilt.

So the plan is to gather all the tools up and throw them under the V-Berth and head out for the weekend.

As much as Block Island appeals and has been our first cruise of the year more than once, apparently the channel has still not been dredged. In order to avoid a repeat of last year’s ignominious visit to the sandbar and subsequent haul off by Tow Boat/US we figure we’ll hold off until the Army Corps of engineers does their dredging. It starts next week so more visits to Block will be in order…later.

We’re thinking to keep it a modest trip since it will be the first of the season and head towards the Stonington/Mystic area.

Posted in aground, Block Island | Comments Off on Going Sailing….

Revelation

On May 17th, 2009 Published By B.J.

The cover comes off today.

Not because the deck is done, but because I am being evicted from the docks and I need to move the boat out to the mooring. The club discovered the boat is too big for them to comfortably tow so I have to get it out there myself.

So we’re not talking a “butterfly emerges from the chrysalis” revelation of the beauty of the finished deck here, unless the butterfly is covered with patches of some foreign substance and finished and functional in the critical parts only.

We’ve got almost all of the deck hardware reinstalled, so unless I screwed that up we shouldn’t have any leaks. But there is a lot of sanding to do still.

On the plus side it will be cooler working without the cover, we’ll be able to move from one end of the boat to the other without scuttling like a crab, and we’ll be able to stand up anywhere.

On the down side the boats 110 power can not run a belt sander and a shop vac together – never mind two at once, we’re dead in the water every time it rains and I’m going to be a gawking spectacle for a while as all those people that have seen me shuffling around all spring damaged and disheveled will finally get a look at what I’ve been doing. And probably failed to be impressed by the way, since it still looks like hell.

Problems to solve:

  • Power; move the boat in and out every day or find some 220 to 110 transformers that will let me drive all the tools off the 6.0 kW generator. I’d rather not spend a fortune at Radio Shack on disposable transformers or set fire to the boat, if possible.

  • Tools; everything goes down below at night…Mr. Mahogany, meet Mr. Dirty Belt Sander.

  • Working on the water issues; there is no bigger waste of time than riding the launch back and forth to the mooring because you forgot a tool or need to use the head. So I need to commission a few systems and think a little more clearly.

    • My actual hope is to actually get in the boat and go somewhere next weekend, even if it is something as stupid as an overnight to Dutch Harbor on Jamestown. More the principle of it really. But I’ll have water, an engine, a genset, and a head this week – how much more work to get the refrigeration going and some sails bent on? I’ve got to put the main on anyway because the sound of the naked furler clanging around in the mast every time a boat goes by is driving me insane.

    While the idea of sitting in Block Island’s salt pond working a belt sander on the deck while the family goes to the beach isn’t too appealing it sure beats staying home.

    Posted in Teak | Comments Off on Revelation

    So I Have to Talk About the VOR One More Time

    On May 15th, 2009 Published By B.J.

    Really, I do – because it worked out so much better that I’d ever dreamed of when I first thought about taking Evenstar up to watch the racing in Boston. Although it was sad to scuttle our plans when I realized the boat was no where near ready, sometimes things happen for a reason.

    What I did was talk to my friends over at Sailing Anarchy and ended up being sent, along with my “Media Assistant” (who also happened to be my son) as a member of the Sailing Anarchy press team. But not just a reporters on a photo boat – Will and I got to take a ride on Telefonica Blue, one of the Volvo 70 race boats in the practice race on the Friday of that weekend. Then we spent Saturday watching the races from the deck of Meteor, a 170 foot privately owned schooner which was the Puma Ocean Racing VIP fan boat. A spectacular weekend, though Puma didn’t fare so well our new best friends on Telefonica Blue swept the races.

    Here is the article as it was published on the front page of Sailing Anarchy earlier this week with the full story.

    This may have been one of the coolest racing related weekends ever.


    Telefonica Blue skipper Bouwe Bekking shows my media assistant a thing or two about driving a Volvo 70 as bowman Pepe Ribes looks on.

    Some Video from Friday…new camera, so it’s a bit shaky and I haven’t figured out how to edit yet:

    Mark Rounding
    Spinnaker Take Down
    Practice Start


    Telefonica Blue finishes the first race of the day – in first place.


    Telefonica Blue winning the start of race number two, and eventually the whole second race as well.

    Posted in VOR | Comments Off on So I Have to Talk About the VOR One More Time

    Ooops…81, 82, 83

    On May 14th, 2009 Published By B.J.

    So I was so excited about finishing the caulk run on the decks that I totally forgot about two small spots. The small square for the life raft platform right in front of the dodger (about 2.5′ x 2.5′) and the floor panels in the cockpit under the driver’s seat.

    The life raft platform we did yesterday – not quite two tubes. I estimate the floor will be two more. So I had to order three more cartridges of caulk in order to ensure I had one or two left over to fix all the voids I find when sanding. If that arrives today we will caulk the floor at the end of the day and be done with it.

    I knew it was too good to be true.

    Posted in Teak | Comments Off on Ooops…81, 82, 83

    Around the Boat in Eighty Tubes

    On May 12th, 2009 Published By B.J.


    The caulk application is now complete! This is a major milestone in the project, as we’re now able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

    There is still a ton of sanding to be done and re-installation of hardware, but with the exception of fixing all the skips, voids and screwups we are essentially done with the Foul Black Sticky Stuff.

    We went through almost seven cases of Teak Decking Systems SIS 440 to get to this point. As I was finishing today I said to Chris (the newest member of Team Teak! Everyone say “hi” to Chris!) “I bet I will finish this tube with something like three inches to go and have to open a new tube to finish.” I ought to go into the prophecy business…out of seven cases of caulk we have two full tubes left, and one open two with about two ounces of caulk taken out of it.

    Those of you standing by with calculators will note that that means I really used up 81 and about 1/100th tubes of caulk, not eighty. But I am not counting the tube of caulk I dropped over board in that total (even though it’s gone and I can’t use it), and a slightly lighter finger on the trigger for about 5 seconds earlier in the day could have saved me opening that last tube.

    Sanding continues.

    Posted in foul black sticky stuff, Teak | Comments Off on Around the Boat in Eighty Tubes

    Rain, Rain, GO AWAY!

    On May 2nd, 2009 Published By B.J.

    On one hand, I get a day…nay, a weekend off, to make some social obligations I was stressing over. Stressing because it would be hard to enjoy myself knowing it was sunny and warm and I should be running out caulk.

    On the other hand we are completely dead in the water on the teak progress with a stretch of rain.

    We’ve reached a point where we are ready to make the last run of caulk down the starboard side of the lower deck. About two person-days of work to get all the caulk complete. The grooves are sanded and cleaned with an air blower and a vacuum, every conceivable scrap of dust or crud that could prevent the caulk from bonding is out. The final step is an acetone cleaning, then in goes the caulk.

    Unfortunately, you can’t caulk a wet deck. The instructions on the caulk basically read “Don’t even think about applying caulk to teak with a moisture content over 12%”. I guess that rules out standing water and puddles then.

    The cover is a winter cover, it holds out snow. But not rain very well since the mast is up and the cover is pierced in many places by large bits of metal.

    The other problem is the other tasks and their nature – they make, for the lack of a better word, crud. Sanding makes sawdust, so does chiseling caulk – that makes sawdust, and little scraps of excess caulk film that get everywhere and stick to everything like cling wrap. What we’ve seen so far is that crud made at the bow will find it’s way into a squeaky clean caulk-ready seam 53 feet away at the stern. As a result, I am loath to do anything that would make the remaining grooves get more sawdust and scraps of junk in them, since they must remain clean to be ready for caulking. As soon as they dry out.

    And of course, you can’t sand a wet deck to well either, though I could find dry spots to work on if I wasn’t worried about loading the air with sawdust that would settle on every surface and into every open seam. I’ve tried this, it’s not worth spending the hours on your knees with a blower and vacuum again.

    Once the final seams are caulked I can engage in whatever wild orgy of sawdust and caulk scrap making suits my mood. Until then though I need to keep the last bit of work area clear so, with one day of air drying I can get that caulk down quickly and move on to reinstalling the deck hardware.

    If it ever stops raining.

    Posted in Teak | Comments Off on Rain, Rain, GO AWAY!

    Beauty Emerges…from the Tar Pits

    On May 1st, 2009 Published By B.J.

    So there is the promised sample of the test spot I sanded. It’s coming out OK, better than I’d expected and closer to what I had hoped. There is a LOT of sanding to do.

    Behold, the results of the Great La Brea Mammoth Stampede of 2009:

    Yikes. Better figure out a way to attach the Shop Vac to that sander…

    Posted in Teak | 2 Comments

    Status Report….

    On Apr 30th, 2009 Published By B.J.

    That I had to remove my Ace “Deluxe Wrist Stabilizer” in order to type this in less than two hours should give you some idea. This is actually the 4th wrist brace to date, I’ve destroyed two working on the teak. I keep one for sweating in while working on the boat, and one for when I still want to have the hand immobilized but I don’t want it damp and smelling weird. Some people might think I might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer to just slap on a brace and keep working, but unfortunately this has to get done. I am trying to find help though.

    But seriously – good progress has been made on the caulking. I estimate about 70% of the caulk has been laid down. The remaining uncaulked area is the lower deck on the starboard side. It took two of us 14 hours of labor (and 22 tubes of caulk) to caulk the port side, so I expect a similar effort on the starboard side. Tomorrow I finish the prep on that – a little more sanding and an acetone wash, then I am ready to caulk.

    Assuming the weather holds – it is supposed to rain on Friday and Saturday. You can’t run caulk on wet wood, it must be less than 12% moisture or the caulk will have problems. So standing puddles from the leaks in the shrinkwrap are a Bad Thing. I do have a tarp to cover part of the deck most likely to leak so that should minimize the water. I hope.

    As it stands, it totally looks like hell now. When I did the proof of concept last year I colorfully described my boat as “looking like something escaped from LaBrea tar pits and took a s&%t in my cockpit”. Now it looks like a whole herd of somethings stampeded all over the boat.

    The beauty emerges though, I’ve cleared and test sanded a few sections of the decking and it cleans up pretty nice. I’ll take some pictures of the nice parts and the mammoth stampede.

    So, to be done….

    • Finish prep on starboard lower deck, blow out with air gun, vacuum and acetone, mask – about 1/2 a day
    • Run the Caulk – 14-16 person hours
    • Spot clean and sand all the areas that deck hard ware goes
    • Re-attach deck hardware to ensure there are no leaks as the cover deteriorates and is removed
    • Remove Cover (Optional at this point, can’t be done before)
    • Chisel / scrape excess caulk off deck (Guess? 20 Hours)
    • Round sand to remove excess caulk
    • Spot sand where machines can’t get to to finish the sanding
    • Replace missing bungs
    • Re-install any other deck hardware (self tapping sort, not through deck)
    • Never, ever, ever allow a caustic teak cleaner or stiff brush near my teak again.

    Time & labor estimates on the chisel scraping and sanding? Tough to tell, though those steps are a lot less labor intensive than the teak prep. I was able to chisel scrap almost half the upper deck on the starboard side in about two hours the other day.

    So there’s a lot of work left, but the end is at least in sight. I’m hoping I can put a full on press and get it done mid May, hopefully. Assuming I can keep all my limbs working…

    Posted in foul black sticky stuff, Teak | Comments Off on Status Report….

    V-NO-R

    On Apr 21st, 2009 Published By B.J.

    Stick a fork in it, it’s done.

    Clearly the boat will not be ready to take to Boston the first weekend in May to see the Volvo Ocean Race in port events; we’ll be doing well to have all my limbs working and the caulking done by then.

    Not to be too much of a downer, but I’m being realistic here. At least by now the raised areas of the deck and dodger are caulked, but they do need the excess teak scraped off then need to be sanded. It’s progress, just not enough progress. Unfortunately it is raining now, which means the cover is likely letting water on to the area I was planning to sand tomorrow. Hopefully we will begin caulking the lower deck by the weekend if the rain departs Wednesday as predicted.

    On the plus side we’ve got some other cool trips in the making, including a return to Provincetown – this time in the company of some friend’s boats which should be fun. We’ve caught up with people but we’ve never cruised en mass with friends from place to place.

    There may be another ten day jaunt to the Cape & Islands in the works for our other vacation but that remains to be seen.

    In the mean time if anyone has two spots on an observer boat for the in port VOR races in May, drop me a comment!

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    Posted in Boston, Provincetown, VOR | Comments Off on V-NO-R