S2 Journal 2010

January 2, 2010

Brought the rudder in and started sanding it today, and filling some of the dings. The paint should arrive on Monday. I took the rubber seals out of the Porta-Potti tank caps and confirmed that they are worn on one side and not on the other.

January 6, 2010

I got the Interlux VC-17m paint that I ordered for use on the rudder. I read the label and decided its better off not done in my workshop in the basement. Better to wait for outside painting weather. So I'm back looking for inside work to do during the snowy and cold days of January.

January 18, 2010

I was out to the boat tonight to check on the battery. I bought a battery float charger this weekend at Harbor Freight - $3.99. I checked the voltage on the battery - it is 12.45v so I decided the charger wasn't needed, at least not today. Maybe next month. Also, the fact that its holding a charge is a good sign. I can count on having some battery left after the boat sits for several weeks at the marina.

The really disturbing discovery, was that when I put my knee on the place in the sole of the cockpit that has the gel coat cracks, it gave out a crack. So I know that that spot is soft. I'm going to have to cut that out and repair the fiberglass and the core. The even more important thing is to figure out where the water came from. Where's the leak?

I also cut out a slug of StarBoard and mounted it on the turning head for Dad's lathe so that I can turn it down to make a plug for the hole in the cabin wall where the speed meter used to be. I'm going to just put a patch over it for the time being, but it will be a nice looking patch.

January 29, 2010

On Monday, I went up to my dad's house and we turned the StarBoard on the lathe, and completed the cap for the hole in the bulkhead where the knotmeter had been. Also made a laminate covered piece of plywood to use as the backing plate inside the cabin. I think these turned out pretty good. We'll see once the weather gets warm enough to use some caulk and get them installed.

This all went pretty smoothly other than all the oil that splattered onto my white shirt that I was wearing. Never thought about that. So that's another little project I have, trying to get the stains out.

February 14, 2010

I went to the library and got a couple of books about sailing. Its too cold to work on the boat, so I'll read and try to learn something about sailing. I'm really getting anxious to get on the water. I have some work to do before I'm ready to put her on the water. Once the weather gets decent, it will be a race to finish up the work so I can get her in the water.

February 27, 2010

There's not much to do as far as working on the boat in this weather so I've been reading some sailing books.
- Sailing Big On A Small Sailboat, by Jerry Cardwell
- Essential Sailing - A Beginner's Guide, by Roger Marshall
- Handbook of Trailer Sailing, by Rober F. Burgess
I've learned a little something from each of these, but I'm still looking for something with more details about actually handling the boat under sail. I hope to get The Annapolis Book of Seamanship, by John Rousmaniere from the library next. That seems to be a comprehensive volume on sailing.

Every time I go out to plow snow, I check out the extension I built on the garage to cover the front of the boat that sticks out of the garage door. I just slapped it together on a Sunday afternoon before we left for Hawaii last fall, so I wouldn't haven't been surprised if the snow on top of it collapsed it or some wind would have blown it down. But its holding up just fine so far.

Heres the "boat house" from the outside. Its actually had more snow than this on top of it. I cleaned it off once before. I cleaned it off today after taking this picture.
	Here's the "boat house" from the inside looking out. Nice and dry!

March 7, 2010

Its 40F today. Woohoo!. I didn't get to do any work on the boat though. We had company and I the truck needed to be washed and the garage needed to be swept out. I need to get a list together of everything I have to do before she goes in the water and start working the list.

I've been reading Singlehanded Sailing by Richard Henderson. Its about doing long singlehanded trips like across the Atlantic or Pacific or circumnavigating the world. Could I do something like that? Sometimes I think I would enjoy the time alone.

March 14, 2010

I checked the porta-potti tank cap for leaks. It leaks, so I need to get a new cap. I also need to get new gaskets for both caps. I also added some more oil to the compass to get it filled to the proper level. I still need to get red light for compass. I also notice the last time I was in the boat, my tennis shoes with black soles are making a terrible mess on the deck. I need to get some deck shoes for when I'm on the boat.

March 17, 2010

Finally some nice weather and an hour to work on the boat. I got the companionway molding caulked in and the cabin bulkhead hole cap (see above) installed and caulked. It turned out I had some screws just the right length. They aren't stainless but they are inside the cabin so the zinc plating is good enough for now. This cap is only temporary until I come up with a long term plan and use the hole in some form, or repair the hole in the bulkhead. The camera batteries are dead - pictures to come.

March 18, 2010

Another beautiful day and I had much of the afternoon available so I got the rudder painted with anti-fouling paint, and got the compass installed. I also ground the bottom gudeon bearing so that it works smoothly on the lower rudder pintle.

Here's a shot of the compass installed and the cap I made to fill the hole where the speed meter was. I think I could use the StarBoard cap as a mounting spot for a GPS.

Here's a shot of the backing plate for the bulkhead hole cap inside the cabin. This worked out as good as I had hoped for.

Here is the gudeon bearing after I ground the inner top of the inner diameter. This lets it run free on the rudder pintle.

At left, the rudder with the bottom paint. I've wondered if putting bottom paint on the rudder is the right way to go, but considering how the rudder was sort of eaten up from being in the water, I think it is.

March 22, 2010

I made several trips to the hardware store and finally got a combination of a 1" Forstner drill bit and a couple of plastic caps to use to plug the hole I'm driling in the cockpit floor. The plan is, to drill a hole and see if its been wet of its still wet, and then monitor it over a couple of months. If water shows up, then I know water is still getting in. I suspect that water got in via the loose fuel tank restraint rail which I've fixed. I have to say that I'm really nervous about drilling a hole in the floor of the cockpit (or anywhere for that matter) but I'm also not comfortable with just letting this situation go.

The cabin top with the starboard side hatch rail removed.

March 23, 2010

I emailed Ed Ramsey and asked his advice about what to do with the cracks in the cockpit floor. He brought over a moisture meter today and we checked the cockpit floor. It showed no moisture. He started checking other areas and found a wet spot beside the starboard side companionway cover slide. I figure that if there's moisture there, it got in from the screw holes in the cover rail. So I took the cover rails off tonight and cleaned things up. The screws were pretty loose, so I think recaulking them is certainly in order.

The rails have a small teakwood block at the end of rail to stop the companionway cover from sliding beyond the rails. They're in rather bad shape so I think I'll make new ones from StarBoard.

I checked the moisture level all around the toe rail and found everything OK, except at the bow pulpit. In the area around the pulpit the moisture was quite high. So I need to take it off and try to get the bow dried out and recaulk. There are cleats there too, so those need to be recaulked.

Its going to be difficult to remove the bow pulpit with the boat in the garage. I've got to do some thinking about how I'm going to manage that.

I finally got the screws and nuts I needed to put the cockpit seat cover lock hasp back on. I took it off last fall when I replaced the seat stiffeners and am finally getting around to getting it back on. I'll need to be able to lock it up while its at the lake.

I rented a slip at Clearfork resevoir today. So I'm ready to go. The season starts April 15th which isn't far away. I think I can be ready by then.

April 2, 2010

Wow, it was super weather today. High 70s, sunny - just perfect, and I didn't have much going on with IBM so I hd time to work on the boat.

I got the engine bracket installed, I got the bow pulpit and front cleats off, and put the port cabing top rail back on. I also ran across some touch up paint and put that on the cracks in the cockpit floor. I don't know if that was the best thing to do, but it was easy and its done. It looks like it will seal up the cracks. We'll see what it looks like tomorrow. Its not pretty, but I'm getting anxious to sail and so I'm focused on getting it fit to be in the water and wather and not worried so much about appearance.

I also took the cover off the front of the garage and cleaned all of the wood and plastic up, so that's done. I can seriously see that she's going to be ready for the plunge very soon.