Sanding for Gold

Over the past month we have had many different projects going on from the rebuilding the bowsprit to cleaning the bilge to preparing the engine compartment for our soon to be here new engine (yay!). However I have to say, one of the simplest and possibly most rewarding so far is bearing witness to the beautiful dark golden hue of the freshly sanded and oiled teak emerge from the weathered and far too long neglected grey that had resided on her deck for far too long -- Ok ok, perhaps seeing the old 500+ lb engine emerge from the companion way leaving the boat structure completely unscathed takes first place, but I'm talking aesthetics here for the time being :)

More Rants

This is a mix of rants and questions that literally keep me up at night. If it isn't clear by now we are not old salts and somethings just don't make sense to us. If you happen to know the answers to any of the below let us know!

Just a list this time to make it easy:

Everything I read is all about using high-strength adhesive for a bedding compound. Whats the point of high strength adhesive over a peel layer like paint or plywood?

If a bolt is to long either put the right one in or cut to length, bending it is not a good alternative. Is there a reason you wouldn't cut bolts to length in boats, or was this just done on our boat?

Don't encapsulate mild steel in fiberglass when you know it is going to get wet! That isn't a question just a statement. If you are using a steel that will rust someday at least make it easy to replace, making a fiberglass pocket for it is just letting it sit in water and makes replacement a lot harder.

Don't use untreated lumber in a vital spot that will get wet and is impossible to reach! That is a straight rant but I understand money pinching is normally the cause.

Take care of expensive wood that is left in the sun and water everyday! So, is oil or varnish better? It seems varnish tends to lure in people with the promise of less consistent maintenance but at least in our case if someone had been checking the wood parts consistently they would have found problems as they occurred and not neglected them for years to come.

Little tranquil Silver Maple to calm down.

Repowering

With mixed feeling we plunged into the re-powering of our boat. Nothing I would like better than to leave well enough alone and have an old trusty engine but we are not that lucky. After a few weeks of one unpleasant surprise after another the removal of the Volvo was not something we were looking forward to.

With five days of rain finally stopping we plunged forward with the task: build something to move the 500lb beast out of the boat. After a day of working, moving heavy steel beams around and fighting off hordes of bugs we had a platform we deemed worthy to lift safely.

Book review: Sailing Alone Around the World

What I came away with from reading this was an odd feeling of, wow how much things have changed but at the same time, wow things haven’t changed all that much. Without giving anything away, this book is about a motivated individual who builds a sailboat and sails around the world alone, which was the first recorded solo trip on record. This was a major feat for a little under a hundred years ago to be the first to do such a trip (especially considering he meets people who still believe the world is flat). I really enjoyed his easy way of telling the story without being too technical or boasting too much about himself which he is rightly entitled to do. The entire book hardly ever mentions how great his accomplishments are and just sticks to small antidotes about how the journey progressed some being funny and others quite interesting. 

DIY: How to spruce up your cabin - recycle your lights!

I had removed the light fixtures back in November before we winterized the boat. The aluminum had become less than desirable from not being up kept so we had to figure out a new plan for them. Since the lights were not broken there was no need to replace them, but just because you aren't buying new, doesn't mean they can't look new!

 

What you need:

• 1 can of High Heat metal adhesive spray paint - I used Rust-Oleum High Heat in white. ($8)
• Your light fixtures  
• a ventilation mask
• a clean space out of the wind

Want a piece of us?

Finally the engine is out and now its ready for you to restore! Available on ebay. Get at it:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/280878415200?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
Oh and here is the transmission if you want:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/280878421369?item=280878421369&viewitem=&vxp=mtr

What are we doing?

You have read about our projects but what has our day to day been like?