I Could Just Scream!!!!

SHIP'S LOG:

It is somehow appropriate that Captain Binghamton of the TV SHow "MCHALE'S NAVY" comes to mind , especially since his signature line is "I could just Scream," as he gets frustrated in his plans just when he thinks he has everything under control. That is certainly me this week.

Actually the projects on the boat are going very well. The LPG Locker is set and needs only paint. The Hydrovane Wind Steering System was dry fitted and awaits only a couple of pads to be cut and fitted for it to be assembled and ready to go. All the thru-hulls have been polished and, while still awaiting the two missing thru-hulls, they are on their way and can be popped in when they get here. The Watermaker needs only installation and the wiring needs finishing. Aside from that, only the numerous and never-ending projects on the boat list remain to be done, items that can be done "underway."

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

So it is understandable that I would feel a little like Capt. Binghamton when on Wednesday the timing belt went in the engine in my car and took out at least three valves. Evening if that is all the damage done, it will be $1,500 and odds are that it will be more than that. That's $1,500 that I really can't spare at this time but which I will have to spend. However, one had to do what one has to do and eventually I became at peace with that. Then again, there was Thursday and i evidently ripped the scar tissue on the hammy. Suddenly that horse bit me again and for two day's now I have really be unable to go up and down a ladder. I could just scream!--this time in pain. Thank goodness the weather has been crappy but it is still another frustration upon another frustration.

Zen And The Art Of Bottom Painting!!!

SHIP'S LOG:

I nearly had a heart attack today. I pulled into the West Mystic Shipyard , made a left turn to where ABISHAG has been sitting for weeks and she was gone! Talk about panic! Who the hell steals 12 ton boat sitting on the hard? And how would they do it? It seemed like an eternity before my brain kicked into gear and I realized that the boat had simply been moved. In that I am not wintering in Mystic (please God), I was on the hard in a spot where another boat in normally stored. This was fine until that boat came out of the water which it evidently did this morning and so I go moved to a new spot. It was a small first step closer to the water...literally!

Today was the third shot at glassing in the LPG Locker and I didn't waste it. West Marine Epoxy Resin & Hardener. Expensive but boy does it work! The locker has a new layer of glass inside and out encapsulating the Formula 27 Filler. I will check it out tomorrow and quite possibly lay down another layer. In all likelihood it does not need it, it is pretty much bulletproof now, but as Oscar Wilde observed, "Nothing succeeds like excess!"

Touched base with my good friend Skip Beebe and Wednesday we will install the Windvane steering system. When that goes into place, at least the outside of the boat will really look like it is ready for the ocean. I am eager to try it out.

Bottom painting is a real art. True most of it seems to be just slapping on bottom paint but to do it right requires a real ZEN like approach....well at least doing the waterline does. ABISHAG has a red, white & blue waterline of marine enamel and the current bottom paint is a hard type, red in color. Today I had to cut-out, that is with a brush go around all the thru-hulls (don't paint your thru-hulls) and get into all the place you can't reach with a roller, like the area between the edge of the rudder and the deadrise. But the part that needs the real Zen approach is the intersection of the bottom paint and the waterline. And that poses a question, how do you paint a straight line on a curved hull? What makes it a little more challenging is that this is the first boat I can't quite paint standing on the ground.

The first few times I paint bottoms, like everyone else I used masking tape and razor blades to be sure the paint line was perfectly straight. It made the job rather tedious and it never quite turned out perfect. But working for a couple of winters in the Farrar Sail Loft in New London, I learned the art of making a curve with a straight line. All the panels of a sail have straight edges and all of the edges of a sail (luff, leach & foot) are also straight and yet all sails have a curve in them. Bed sheets, towels, curtains are all straight and sails are curved. Once you know the art, it is easy and it transfers, as Kevin and John taught me, to painting the straight line of bottom paint on the curved side of a boat. The best part is that if you do it right, you use only one continuous piece of tape all the way around the boat this makes it a great deal easier, not only in painting, but in taking the tape off the boat. You grab one end and walk around the boat and off it comes. I would explain how it is done but as some Zen master said, nothing can be taught, it can only be learned. The easiest way to understand it is to answer the question, How does one get to Carnegie Hall? And tomorrow that bottom will be fully painted.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

I can't believe how panicked I was when I didn't see ABISHAG where I was accustomed to seeing her. But it was a good thing that she got moved. I was getting far to comfortable where I was and it was a good reminder that I still have a journey to complete. With the weather getting chilled I have pretty much completed the alternate course south. Even though it would only be a 24 hour dash from Montauk to Cape May, it seems easier in warm weather than in cold. Actually it seems a little scary in the cold as opposed to the warm. Not that I expect any problems for ABISHAG will be as ready as I can make her. Rather it is just that I think ( I don't really know yet) that weather will be less settled. I am not concerned once I get to the Chesapeake, it is the trip from here to Cape May. That is why I want to get the boat in the water as soon as I can, so that I can shake her and me down. I have more confidence in the boat right now than I do in myself, but I also know that I can do this. God is sure making this an interesting learning situation. In any event, even if I have to day sail and motor the whole way, I have no intention of spending the winter here. I really hate the cold.

Remembering What I Forgot!!!

SHIP'S LOG:

Doing all this work on ABISHAG is wonderful for remembering all sorts of things I used to know well but have forgotten over the years. It took a long time over the years when to know and really believe that that nut/bot/screw is actually tight enough. Of course, it took many a fastener going TWANG and needing to be replaced after my giving it "just one more turn" for the lesson to finally sink in. After all, if use shows it is not tight enough, you can always tighten it some more later.

You tend to fasten a lot of things on a boat, so the lesson gets a lot of re-enforcement. The same can not be said for fiberglass work. Glassing over the LPG Locker extension proved that all too well. I really thought I had that one bagged. In one of the storage containers I have for boat stuff, I had two quarts of polyester resin and hardener. Three different types of fiberglass and all the mixing tubs, sticks, rollers, brushes and gloves needed to build a boat let alone simply glass over the LPG Locker extension. These items were left over from re-decking the O'Day 27 I used to own two boats ago and since it had been a good ten years since that time, I decided to proceed very carefully and do just the exterior of the locker inside the boat.

I mocked up the glass pieces; sanded the area; put down a plastic tarp; laid out the tub, mixing sticks, the resin and hardener; even checked the temperature. I gloved up and mixed the first batch of resin, wetted out the glass and laid it in place. There is nothing like fiber glassing. To paraphrase Robert Duval in "APOCALYPSE NOW," "I love the smell of styrene in the morning. It smells like victory." I waited 15 minutes and found that the resin was still wet. It didn't seem to be kicking at all so I gave it another 25 minutes. But nope, it was still wet. I figured that perhaps the temperature was a little to low for the mixing ratio and I decided to wait overnight.

The next day the cabin was still filled with that "victory" smell but alas, the resin was still wet. My hope against hope, that it would kick and cure overnight was all for naught. I had to rip out the still wet fiberglass and toss it in the trash, clean off the old resin and prepare the sight again. Then it was cut more fiberglass, mock it up, mix the resin -doubling the hardener to resin ratio, wet out the glass, lay it in place and wait 20 minutes. Still wet and so another 20 minutes and it was still wet. Now I found this puzzling and so I called Jerry Schmitt who was my instructor at the Chapman School.

Me: Jerry I can't get my fiberglass resin to kick.

Jerry: Mix the right ratio?

Me: Yes.

Jerry: Did you try doubling it?

Me: Yes, still nothing.

Jerry: The temperature wasn't too cold was it?

Me: Nope. Check it with a thermometer.

Jerry: (Long thoughtful pause) What type of resin...polyester, vinylester or epoxy?

Me: Poly.

Jerry: How old is it?

Me: Ten years, give or take.

Jerry: Polyester resin is good for 6-7months, a year tops. Toss it and the hardener too. It's gone bad.

Me: But I never opened it.

Jerry: It goes bad in the can!

Jerry was very good as he didn't mention that somewhere in voluminous amount of material we covered at Chapman's, he had mentioned that point at least once. Modern chemistry and the sailor's habit of pack-ratting collided. Thee carefully saved resin, two cans no less,plus the tubes of hardener went into the trash and now I must make another purchase and do the whole glassing project all over again. "I hate the smell of styrene in the morning..in the afternoon..in the evening...anytime"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the "good"side of things, Tony and I worked out the arrangements for the installation of the watermaker. Actually, the set up is rather simple but it is plumbing and electricity and I still need help with it. The most difficult part will be fabricating a platform for the pump to sit on. The rest is really connecting the dots..."T"-ing to a water source, "T"-ing to the sink drain to get rid of the brine and into the water tank for the "good product" as the fresh water is called. Fresh water tends to be one of the those "necessary luxuries" for cruising. While you can get it "free" at most marina stops it is often heavily chlorinated in the States and you usually "pay" for it as part of the price for fuel. Outside of the States it is often more expensive than fuel and I get the impression from all the articles and books that the taste between the two isn't all that much of a spread. So being able to make one's own means at the very least self-indulgent showers!

I was able to get several more of those pesky projects done and it only cost me a chipped tooth. Doing projects on a boat, not only do you have to decide what to do and how to do it but also whether you do it from the outside in or from up above or from below. Sometimes, you have no choice but other times you do and problems come from laziness, not want to haul all the accouterments for the project from where you are to some other position. So it was that I lay in the aft cabin fighting with a couple of bolts corroded into the hatch above my head. Of course, to try and break the corrosion I was using penetrating oil. Oil is slippery and gravity works and I learned one should never try to catch a wrench with you mouth when it slips of the nut above your head. Actually, I am luck for it does not seem that the tooth is severely damage. It will probably only need to be "fared" a bit to look esthetically pleasing. What are the odds of that?

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

Time is getting short. Not for the departure to take place but til the departure takes place. I was checking things out yesterday and really the watermaker, the wind vane steering, bottom painting and the last of the wiring are all that holds back putting the boat into the water. It sends a shiver of excitement through me to think that it is that close. There is still a ton of stuff that I "need" but nothing that I really need. And in any event, until the Bank of America demands their card back, I can always buy stuff on the way. And it is cheaper down South! Getting started, pulling away from the dock, all fueled and necessary provisions, how great is that?

Sometimes It Can Be A Real Grind!!!!

SHIP'S LOG:

The job should have been simple: Check the fit of the extension of the LPG locker by putting the new cylinders inside, note any high spots, remove the cylinders and grind down the high spots, check the fit again and if correct, glass in the extension. A five minute job. OK, maybe a half-hour job, or perhaps, if I really screwed things up putting in the Formula 27, an hour, but that would be it. TOPS! Right?

Would you believe 4 hours? The reason? Evidently, despite being very,very careful in aligning the bottom with the top of the locker, locking it in place with supports, it ended up being just slightly out of square and it was grind, grind, grind. Check the fit. Grind, grind, grind some more. Check the Fit and grind some more. What made it more fun was that the bottom of the lockers was exactly square, it also wasn't exactly level either. It was twisted so that when I put the cylinders into the locker, the aft cylinder leaned just a bit outboard and the forward cylinder leaned just a bit inward. So more fit, grind, grind, grind.

Finally, after 4 plus hours, the cylinders fit nice and snugly inside the locker and the hatch closes. Perhaps the one good thing about the snug fit is that the tie down system will be required only to keep the cylinders from going vertical. There is no way that they will move horizontally. One always has to find good in bad.

The next part of the process will be the glassing process. It should be a pretty straight forward (HA!) project. A couple layers of fiberglass tape glassed on the exterior and a couple of layers on the interior. Of course, of course there is already a challenge. How do I glass in the part of the locker that faces the inside of the hull. Problems: 1.) There might be four (4) inches of space between the locker and the hull; 2.) One cannot see behind the locker so how does one know where to place the fiberglass; 3.) The locker in which the LPC Locker sits also contains the fill hose for the water tank and the fill hose for the fuel tank. They flank the LPG locker so how does one maneuver a resin soaked piece of fiberglass around them to the back of the LPG Locker? And those are only the problems...er...challenges of which I am currently aware. I fully expect that as soon as I start on this glassing process others will make themselves known. what really concerns me is the glassing the interior of the locker seems so straight forward and easy. What is in store for me there?

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

Despite all that yet needs to be done, I am really beginning to feel that I will be underway before the end of the month.Most of the little things are done and the major things are either done or scheduled to be.While there are feelings of eager anticipation at the prospect, there is a part of me that refuses to believe it. It is that part of me that says it can't be done, at least by me, or that, at the very least, there is still too much to be done before I would be ready. In truth, everything won't be done but everything that needs to be done is fast approaching completion. Setting off from here and heading first toward the Chesapeake and then down the ICW means that there will be plenty of places along the way were I can stop if something major needs fixing. Like the trip up from Annapolis, it will be a long shake-down cruise, as much for me as for the boat. There is an interesting struggle going on inside between the part of me that knows I can do this and the part of me that keeps bringing up all sorts of reasons why I can't. It is tough to say which side has the louder vice and the upper hand at the present moment, but actually, I am ignoring both and just plugging ahead with getting the boat ready. When the keel kisses that water, then it will begin to get really interesting.

BUSY,BUSY, BUSY, WORK,WORK,WORK!!!!!!

SHIP'S LOG:

It has been a busy time of late. Lots of little stuff got done and part of one big job. The Big job was the LPG Locker extension. It got cut, it got extended to the proper amount (4 inches) using paint stirrers screwed into both halves to hold them in place, and the space was filled with Formula 27( a Marine version of Bondo). All that remains to be don e is to 1.) Sand the inside and outside of the fill; 2.) Score the fill and the gelcoat: 3.) Fiberglass it in place and voila! c'est fini! I expect any number of things to go wrong just because they can.The whole three step process will take longer than expect for each step will take longer than expected, but, and this is a big but, it will get done!

Found, filled and stain a bunch more screw holes in the wood work. It is getting done and is serviceable but it is nowhere near what you would call "Bristol."There is not a great deal of interior wood work in the boat and most of what there is is in pretty decent shape, finish wise. However, under the leaky ports ( two of them) and fronting the fridge the woods needs sanding, staining and varnishing. This will probably have to await the upcoming trip. It will give me something to put on the ongoing maintenance list. Right now I am concentrating on what is necessary to get the boat back in the water.

Like those leaky ports. Two of them leak, well more weep than leak. The leaks come from the screw holes made by the screws that hold the interior and exterior port trim in place. One of the previous owners, in a fit of maintenance, removed the trim, rebedded the lexan ports, and refasten the trim using screws that were just a tad too long. The screws went through the topsides and made contact with the opposing trim piece. as a result, you couldn't screw them down tight enough to make a water tight seal and naturally, after awhile, with the shrinking of the bedding, water worked its way in and did its damage. It was a long boring process of taking out the screws, removing the lexan, cleaning off the caulking, rebedding the lexan, recaulking the trim and the screw holes and screwing in the proper length screws. It literally took hours but was a simple job and, best of all, it worked and the ports are sealed again.

I also did a total lube job on all the hatches, hinges and dogs. I still haven't quite figured a way to loosen up the genoa cars or the dogs on the aft hatch but I do have some people working on it. But so far they still remain frozen in place.

The arrival of the watermaker has placed its installation on the front burner. It has to as it takes up far too much room sitting on the deck in the salon. I was actually hoping that it would be in by today but the fellow who was to help me do it was unable to make it Saturday but hopefully it will get tackled this week. It is not a terribly complex job, just a couple of simple connections once everything is in position, but it is a case of know what to do when and in what order so that the thing works in the end that makes it a bit nerve racking.

The thru-hull for the exhaust is in place, leaving only the two for the heads to be done...when they get here. Those along with the wind vane steering should just about do it. Then it is bottom paint, a coat of wax, the new name and a way we go. True, I still haven't gotten the outboard for the dingy done, but then I don't have a dingy yet either. There is a kind of symmetry in that. Then too, the wiring isn't quite done yet either and I am foolishly hoping that the refrigeration is perfect though I haven't even looked at it yet. The SAT phone, radios, GPS also have to be installed and then there is a major clean-up that has to be done after all the work in complete, but I love a challenge!

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

I was thinking the other day that I actually might make the end of the month for departure. It would be great but if I don't, I'll go when I am ready. when I realize that I am trying to squeeze a summer of work into such a short time, I am a little less hard on myself. When ABISHAG and I are ready, we will go. It may not be the way I had hoped and envisioned, but then it is not a question of going or not but simply how the journey is to happen.

There Ought To Be A Law!!!!!

SHIP'S LOG:

There really ought to be a law! And the law should read something like, "If you put something in, add a piece of equipment, put something together, or whatever, it has to come out as easily as it goes in!" You know the reason. You have a piece of equipment held in by 5 bolts, for are reachable and come out easily, but the fifth is all but inaccessible. It is blocked by something else that has to be removed first. Epoxy resin dripped on it and it is encased. The head of the bolt is rounded off and you can get purchase enough to move it, or the threads are stripped and the nut won't budge. Anyone who has ever worked on their own house, boat or car know exactly what I am talking about.

Today was "LPG Extension Day," or at least the start of the project. This entailed cutting the locker in half horizontally so that it could be dropped four inches (extended) to accept the new vertical tanks. When you think about it, how difficult could it be? When you really think about it, you know just how difficult it can be!

First of all, I had to remove the drain from the bottom of the tank otherwise it would hold it in place. It has to be repositioned along with the tank. ( Propane is heavier than air and tends to sink to the lowest point. The drain in the bottom of the locker drain the highly explosive gas overboard.) In that it was installed during the building process, it was made of the best material, copper piping fiber glassed into the bottom of the tank. I had to drill out the drain from deck level, cutting a circle around the flange of the pipe where it entered the tank.(I had originally tried to do it from underneath, but there just was room.) Not that bad of a project except for the fact that the I had to lay down on the deck and maneuver the drill accurately with both hands in a space slightly wider and deeper than a toilet tank.

Once the drain had been cut out, the locker itself had to be cut in half. This entailed drilling some pilot holes in the tank side so that I could get the saw in place. Once in place, the saw cut the fiberglass easily, at least what to could reach. The locker is located in a locker and there is little room to maneuver and I was able to cut about 40% with the saw. For the rest, it was back on deck cutting with a fiber blade on the dremmel tool. Not too, too bad except that I had to stop every few minutes to replace the blade which the fiberglass just ate up. Got 95% of the cut made when it stopped dead. It seems that during the laying up process, when the deck is built separate from the hull and then joined together, a 2x4 was glassed into the hull to use the LPG locker to help align the deck and the hull at mating. Someone also decided at that time that it would be a good idea to fiberglass the locker to the wood piece probably "for added support." And of course, the locker itself blocks access to this spot. It became a process of cut and probe, cut and probe until i was able to cut all around the spot and the locker broke free.

And the cut fiberglass dust got everywhere. Beginning at 11AM, work and clean-up was concluded at 5PM. But is is done. Now all that is necessary is to support he tank 4 inches below its former height, glass in the drain(new) and glass in the extension space. It should be done by the weekend. It will be the last major glass project that needs to be done. It is also one of four major projects that needed to be done. The wind generator is done. The watermaker gets done of the weekend. The wind vane gets attached next week and the LPG Locker will be done. It is definitely closer to the end and the beginning.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

Even though there is still much work to be done, I am allowing myself to think in terms of it being done and what it means when it is done. Being done means going south. Being done means leaving. Being done means a whole new stage. Being done means a whole lot of work, different work, gets underway. As difficult and frustrating as the work I am doing now is, it is easy because it takes place on land. I have resources( people as well as part) readily available. And if anything goes spectacularly wrong, it is far, far easier to handle. Then again, I am already tiring of the view. The breezes have that cold tinge to them. Learning about me has gone about as far here as it can go without a serious nudge and that nudge is out there. It is exciting and scary both at the same time. I feel that I have everything I need and I still want to by a million or so spare parts, and more equipment and other " really necessary stuff." I both want and don't want the sailing part of the journey to start. It is an interesting balance but it is definitely starting to tip.

Getting Stuff Done By Doing Nothing!!

SHIP'S LOG:



I was primed and ready to do battle with the stubborn aluminum hardware on the ABISHAG. There were the two Genoa Cars on the Genona Track. There were also the six stainless screws that had to wedded themselves in to the aluminum hatch at the rear of the boat. And there were a dozen or so aluminum hatch dogs that needed to be worked and made functional. And lastly, a non-aluminum item, the main halyard winch at the mast.



First up the Genoa Cars. I soaked them in BP BLaster, the supposed champion of penetrating oils. Spray, let it soak, try moving the car, whacking it gently to loosen it up. The result? No movement. So I did it again and got the same result. So I did it again and again, got the same result. More force produced no improvement even though the stainless steel round cotter pin through the end of the locking pin was distorted by the effort applied. Heat didn't help nor did switching sides and trying to work the car on the other side. So after about two hours I gave up again on the Genoa Cars and moved on to the bolts in the aft hatch.



The aft hatch has six(6) dogs as it is designed to be opened either forward or aft. The problem is that the stainless steel screws used to attach the dogs to the aft hatch have corroded into the aluminum hatch frame. This allows the hatch to close but you can't adjust the hatch closure, you can't "dog it down" tight enough. The staining on the rear bunk would seem to indicate that the hatch leaks "a bit." Spray, lit it soak, try adjusting the screw, whacking it gently to loosen it up. The result? Of the six bolts none moved. So I did it again, and again, and again. NADA! Tried the heat. More soaking, more whacking. NADA! And after an hour I had to walk away before I over did it and damage the hatch.



0 for 2 - I decided to move on to the the winch on the mast. At least that it would be a non-aluminum situation. The problem with the winch was that while it moved by hand, it wouldn't function if you used the handle, the central shaft was "locked up" for some reason. I had tried dismantling the winch to clean and lube it, but could not get the central shaft out. I talked with the Lewmar rep at the Newport boat show and he gave me advice. I downloaded winch maintenance directions from their website. I had the tools and the info and attached the winch again....and once again it won! No matter what I tried, I could get it completely dismantled except for the central shaft and that was key because it was a problem in it that was preventing the winch from cranking when it was worked with the handle. It looks as though I will have to removed the winch from the Mast and take it to a shop to get it up and running again. 0 for 3!



Lubed the dogs on the hatches and they all work fine so I did got 1 for 4. I went 2 f0 5 by filling in all the screw holes in the wood work and staining the repairs, but it still seemed as if not much got done.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

I am not sure who said it, I think it was Thomas Edison, but today was a excellent learning experience. Even though I was unable to get the Genoa cars, the aft hatch dog bolts and the winch to function as I wanted, I learned a lot. With all the lubing, whacking, pulling, turning, heating that went on, I didn't fail. As Edison noted, I simply learned a number of different things that didn't work and that can be very important information. I am also learning what I don't know, which is a lot. Getting help and advice from friends, fellow boats and yard workers in shrinking that knowledge gap but there is still quite a deficit. I expect this will continue to shrink but it will never quite go away completely. But it is great to feel more and More confident about what I can handle by myself.

I am feeling antsy to go sailing, not so much to start the trip as to just go sailing. It has been a long while since I have been out on the water to just sail and I miss it, though this does serve as an inspirational spur to getting work done.

I have also decided that that I will lay out alternative plans for the trip south. Right now, the basic plan is to leave in mid October and take a right turn at Montauk and head for Norfolk, VA and the "beginning" of the Inter-Coastal Waterway. The further the fall goes, the more the weather plays a part in the trip south. Obviously gets colder but it also tends to get more unstable. Sailing it the cold is bad enough but sailing it cold, stormy weather is too much. So I intend to lay out a alternate course south, one that is made up for day trips down the coast to Norfolk. It is exciting to be planning an alternate route, it makes the departure more real.