| Falcon's Log 31 |
| April 9, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida Up at 6:30 this morning and feeling great. The ultra heavy pollen has been giving me headaches lately, but with a little BC Powder I've been able to work through them. Today is the day to get busy on the floor and the pedestal chair, and get some headway made on the holding tank. It's raining right now, but it's not heavy and not expected to last long. They are predicting clearing by noon and a sunny afternoon, though a bit cooler. A bit cool will still be in the 'awesome' range, so no complaints here. |
| The cabin sole is ready to complete - in a way - and the bunk is once again piled nearly to the portholes. I will get this work done today and get a bunch of stuff that I intend to keep stowed beneath the bunk and the floorboards, and I'll make some headway on that miserable-to-work-on holding tank. I might even make some progress in the head itself. It'd be about time. I just received the new motherboard, meaning that I should format the new hard drive and keep my eye out for the 64 bit OS. All this stuff may finally be coming together. |
| I headed over to Home Depot to get some 1 1/4 inch stainless screws to secure the Lexan disc to the cabin sole but was unsuccessful in that. I did, however, get 100 feet of 3/8 poly line that I doubled twice and fed through a woven nylon jacket that Donny Capron gave me before he left. This poly line floats well but is a poor performer as far as strength and resistance to sunlight. It only has about 220 lbs of working load, so the 4 strands give about 880 - plenty to tow the dinghy. The nylon jacket will protect it from sunlight and add strength. We'll see how it does. At least I can be fairly certain it shouldn't get into my prop. I was also looking for a toilet seat for the head. What a pain. I had to call Eddie - who had his phone on mute or something - then Ken - who had to go all the way to my boat to measure the throne for me. As luck would have it, the very cheapest seat there was the only one that both fit and was all plastic. $8.86 very nice. |
| It took until 6 PM to finally get the seat all in and bolted down. It feels excellent and so far, Ken, Sandy, and Eddie have come aboard and tried it out. Both the installation and the placement are awesome. I couldn't be happier. I am also sore all over and very tired. I also think I have two very, very small leaks from two of the 4 water tanks. It's okay. I can attend to them sometime down the road. The under-sole storage is presently stuffed full, as is the area beneath my bunk. Oh, I almost forgot - you can see the nice access hatch I got for $5 at the St Pete flea market, installed behind the Lexan disc that stiffens the pedestal. It provides access to the fasteners holding the chair, as well as providing a bit more storage. The head and the holding tank are coming up next and as soon as that is working, the cook top and the electrics will be last. Actually, all I really need to do for the cook top is secure the stove and fix the pan cupboard. From there, I'll start running the engine every day and checking out each light, pump and system as I connect them up. Everything, over and over. I don't care what breaks or how it breaks - I designed and built them and I can repair and improve them. Besides, I'll be on my way and some things might change in my head concerning what I really need and what I don't. I'm a New York minute from tossing that heavy weight, complex, expensive water maker. The problem is, clean water is getting harder and harder to get and when you can find it, more and more expensive. Falcon is designed to be self sufficient. Almost. |
| April 10, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida Twenty days to go. I'm going to set up and launch the Cap'n Navigator and charts that I have to get a better look at the course to the Glades Boatyard. Just yesterday I began thinking about the Rivertown yard at the mouth of the Manatee River again, but I'm pretty sure that the last time I was there they had procedures in place that meant they had to do the bottom work and I had to buy my paint from them. Can't do it. Too much money. I've been churning things up in the boat and have found a few things I'd noticed missing - never thought they were lost, just playing hard to find - and gave a couple of more small items to Ken and Sandy. I went with Espin to West Marine and got the sweet screws I need to secure the edges of the Lexan disc - a job for another time - and I've eaten lunch. I've dug out all the materials I need to get the holding tank in full swing and all that is left is to spread a ground cloth over the new cabin sole so my rabid thrashing with thickened epoxy does as little permanent damage as possible. I will also need to secure the shelf in the head. Shelf in the head is done and the water heater is temporarily sitting on it. I've also just completed raising the height of the holding tank 5 3/4 inches. I have to add a double row of strapping all around the inner lip to support the lid, then start making batches of thickened epoxy to fair the interior shape into something I can fiberglass. |
| Yes, yes, I know - incredibly unimpressive photo of the shelf in the head, but that's all I've got. The other picture, as well as the one of the holding tank, were much worse. The areas are too confined and I simply can't find a way to get a shot of what's going on. |
| I have been going from one task to another all day long, occasionally slashing mad-dog at something that has waited too long and bothered me much too much - like the trimming of the lower edges of the cabin sides. The best way would be to grind them. But the mess! Screw the damned mess. I did it. |
| And there's the mess. So what? I'll clean it up. I still have more to do, but when it's done I'll be able to finish cutting up the vinyl and staple it into position. Even do the material on the cabin sides, and paint the remaining exposed fiberglass! Anyone would think this was a finished boat and I'm just doing some upgrades. Yeah, okay, maybe not. I got a lot done so far today and am watching some of the Masters now. I'll do more later on. |
| April 11, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida Nineteen days to go. Something I forgot to mention yesterday is that I got Towboat US insurance yesterday. Towing insurance. Oh, yeah. I also finally attached the 4 pieces of super sandpaper to the companionway ladder. Sandy thought they would be rough on bare feet, but she understood it wouldn't be so bad once they were packed with the dead skin off the bottom of my feet. I might have to use a few staples or brads to help hold them down. |
| Sandy was going to use the sewing machine today to make storage bags for their folding bicycles, but the weather is already sprinkling with threats to do it all day. Not for nothin', my precious Sailrite will not be out in the rain if I can help it. We'll probably postpone that work until tomorrow. Meanwhile, today I will get back into pushing forward on the holding tank and head. Ken came over for a while and then Eddie. Me and Eddie went at it again politically. He is a dedicated Republican and repeats the republican party line at all times, embellishing with lies of his own made up and tossed in along the way. He also subscribes to the Rush Limbaugh 'scream over them' manner of discussion, but today, just for laughs, I out-shouted him and he felt hurt and pointed it out, though he has never noticed when he has done it. It made Ken uneasy, but Eddie and I are just messing around and neither of us cares about the political issues. I got the holding tank vent thru-hull installed and dug out a small grinder to knock back the screw points of the fasteners I installed yesterday. I also blasted off the rest of the imperfections on the cabin side over the computer desk so that area is ready to finish up. We are getting waked like crazy this weekend. No big deal - it's the price you pay for the location. I need to make a list for items at Home Depot. I am rapidly nearing the 'hook up the water and holding systems break point' and there are |
| still a lot of little odds and ends that I need. I went to Lowe's instead of Home Depot because it is hard to get from Home Depot to Lowe's once you start by going to Home Depot, but easy to get from Lowe's to Home Depot. I ended up getting everything I needed for this trip at Lowe's. I can hook up the hot water, the shower, the holding tank vent, deck pump out and drain-to-macerator connections. I'll need to get the macerator to overboard fittings pretty soon. It will need to go from 1 inch hose barb to 1 1/2 inch pipe thread, preferably in bronze. Electrically, I'll use one of the 50 amp power relays operated through a panel mounted key switch to activate the offshore pump out. I really only expect to use the deck pump out, but I like to have the option. Phil Michelson won his 3rd green jacket at the Masters. |
| I took a little time out to help Espin mount the Isinglass track on the front of the hardtop today, and Barbara got back from visiting her grandkids in the panhandle. There looks to be a lot of screws in the track, but that's only because there is. Actually, there are 35 screws in it. They are only 1/2 inch long and even with 5200 to help out, I felt the close spacing was essential. And I'm right, so there. Once the 5200 cures, the blue tape comes off, then we only have one tiny, itty bitty job left - the track on the rear of the Ipe cross beam. That might be done tomorrow. |
| April 12, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida Eighteen days to go. It's 7:30 AM and pretty soon I'll be heading over to see George and check in at Rivertown. I don't expect any change in policy at Rivertown, but I suppose it's worth checking in. Besides, I really like the yard at the Glades Boatyard much better. Eddie came over early and we got started early. As soon as we finished starting the morning gab I took off to find George and head over to Rivertown. It turns out that Rivertown might be the right place to do the job after all. They say I can do anything I want as far as my own work with my own materials and it's no longer a 'wait for an opening' thing - I can go right in on the 1st of May. |
| Regatta Point Marina has had a face lift and the new facilities look great. I walked through taking almost 2 dozen shots, but these are probably the best. |
| I found George at the bait shack with a few other guys talking the same way we do at Seafood Shack. It turns out that Bill, the guy who owned the big navy boat that sat at Regatta Point for so long, died yesterday from Pulmonary Thrombosis - or something that sounds a lot like that. After checking in at Rivertown, George and I ate at the Riverside Restaurant and I returned to Cortez. I got Sandy set up and sewing on the Sailrite and then tried to get something done here - dismal failure - and almost took a nap. After another long round of dock socializing and getting invited to a special going away party for Richard and Ina tomorrow evening, I came inside and am doing this now. It is 6:52 PM and I already feel as though I've had a big day. Oh, I also arranged with Espin to trade off the time on his hard top for help with my sails. I will do a savage slash and burn session that will leave me with just what I need for a suit of sails and very little extra. With luck, I will be able to stitch most of it together before I leave. |
| April 13, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida Woke up with a killer headache this morning, but I sort of knew it was coming because the news is full of 'high pollen' reports and I've had a couple of those 'sneeze fits' in the past day or so. I just took some aspirin and the pain will either diminish or disappear soon and I'll be on my way. Sandy has stuff to finish up this morning on the Sailrite and I might end up trying to do some sewing of my own before the day is out. I have 3 key pieces for the hard top Bimini that would be nice to get out of the way, as well as some sail work. We'll see how the day goes. I also need to get to Home Depot to buy more sanding discs for the bottom work and some spare scraper blades. I REALLY don't want to have to do too much scrambling for supplies once Falcon is out on the hard. The meter runs each day whether or not I accomplish good work on the boat, so running for materials or tools gets expensive. I got next to nothing done on the boat yesterday, though I did remain pretty active all day. Still, I feel like I made headway in a number of areas and it was a productive day. I've been doing pretty good so far today and in a little while will begin the fairing for the inside of the holding tank. I will also cut the top for the tank and get that process moving along as well. I need to finish up the canvas track for Espin some time today and may have him just pull the crossbeam for me so he can charter while I install the track. Or not. He just went out on a charter and I'm caught up in the holding tank right now. |
| The holding tank is coming along. I'll start fairing the inside and fiberglassing it soon, then add the plumbing fittings and hoses. There is still a lot to do, but it's coming along. It's hard to work up in the tiny areas of the bow. Still, it's coming along. I did the final bit of work on Espin's Bimini track and we agreed to trade out for his help with my measuring and cutting the sails I have so I can suit up Falcon with her white wings - eventually. Most important right now is to get rid of most of the extra sails and sailcloth that I just don't need and will probably never need. I am making good headway toward leaving at the end of the month and really want to get to that point where I am starting and running the engine every day to shake down and sort out the associated systems. I thing as soon as I get the head, water, and holding tank systems sorted out, that will be happening. |
| Richard and Ina threw a little drinking and snacking party last night as their way of saying 'goodbye'. They will be leaving the marina, but will only be heading across the bridge to the anchorage until their new flying bridge enclosure is completed. After that, they will be heading up to Tarpon Springs and other points north. They actually live in Punta Gorda and don't really cruise too far from home. |
| These pictures were taken inside Richard and Ina's boat, which is a huge motor yacht. I also took some sunset shots from the pulpit of the boat, which placed me standing as high as the flying bridge on Nemo in the foreground of the second shot. |
| April 14, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida Sixteen days left. Today I'll be doing the epoxy and fiberglass thing on the holding tank. It's a little bit daunting, but mostly because it's a job that has been haunting me forever. Other than that, it's just a 25 gallon tank full of soupy crap that could break and flow all through the whole boat at the worst possible time. So, yeah, there's some stress involved. Besides, it's one of the worst areas in the boat to be working. The weather has warmed up nicely and I'm finally wearing shorts again, but the wind is up, gusting around 20 knots, so I'll have to take down the sun shade before it gets damaged. I just ran out to Home Depot and got $75 worth of odds and ends. Planks to finish the sole forward, discs for the haulout, razor knife blades, epoxy/paint pots, gorilla tape, foam rollers for the haulout, X-acto blades and a new GP Skill saw blade. I forgot to stop at the Post Office and have to go back now, before I get covered from head to foot with epoxy. Volkar thinks I should stop showing pictures of the interior. He's right, I know. People get jealous and it's just not right to flaunt, you know, all the stuff I have and all the space. Sorry. I'll try to hold it down. Off to the Post Office. I got Don and Barbs package from the Post Office and have been going back and forth into the bow area working on the holding tank. Epoxy, grind, epoxy, round off corners, back out to breath, back in. Yeah, I was right, this DOES suck. Pretty soon I'm going to start laying in fiberglass. I can't see any way to do it but to just do it and make it work. I got some good headway made on the holding tank and even sort of figured how to start the fiberglass lay-up. It's a tricky shape in a difficult location and I'm working with a lot of 1708 Biaxial Fabmat - which can be a pain if it's been folded and stored for a long time, which it has. Either way, pressing forward. This is really the last big hump I have to get over before heading south. |
| April 15, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida Tax day, but more importantly, 15 days to go. I've GOT to get this infernal holding tank fiberglassed today. It's just not a strategically simple operation. I have a finite amount of heavy fiberglass and cutting the shapes and holding them in place is difficult at best and mind-boggling with a head full of dust and fumes. I did JUST have an idea, however, that might work well. More on that later. I just went out to breakfast with Ken and Sandy and Eddie and Sandi and Richard and Angie. It was across the Intracoastal Waterway to a breakfast place where they ring bells and blow whistles if they discover this is someones first time there. One of our party - who will remain nameless - Sandy - blurted out that this was her first trip. Yay. They rang the bell. Sandy and Ken are leaving on Sunday or I wouldn't have gone this morning. Breakfast was good, but I'm about over all that for a while. I am gearing up for the fiberglassing siege I will need to complete today. All tools and materials at the ready, plus cleaning supplies - nothing is worse that trying to deal with sticky hands. With any luck at all, this entire fiberglass job will be done today. If it is, I might be inspired to throw in some of the tabbing that is desperately waiting to be completed as well. Better get busy. I forgot to add the hardener to the first pot of filling/fairing compound I mixed up and applied, so I had to scrape and dig it all out, add the hardener and re-apply it. Sweet. It has suddenly clouded over outside and cooled off. I don't know if that's good or bad. Since I'm cutting the fiberglass cloth out on the dock, my first feeling is that rain would be bad. I have to keep moving. I hear thunder. It is about a quarter past noon and the first full layer of heavy fiberglass is on all surfaces inside the holding tank. I'll let that cure and do a bit of light smoothing and then apply more where needed. Most of it actually has two layers and the bottom near the drain has three or four - everything overlaps there. It's still a hard job, but it's coming along and it's not nearly as hard as chopping all that lead out of the aft keel. I'll get this done today for sure. Okay, the holding tank is done for the day. Tomorrow I will line it with a thick coat of barrier coat epoxy, the begin installing the fittings. I was considering a heavy lining of coal tar epoxy to finish it off, but I'm having a little trouble locating a gallon of the stuff. I just tried again and had little luck. Lots of various products out there, but nothing I'm willing to spend the high prices for just now. There ARE some great products available to line a tank like this, epoxies, and some with Kevlar fibers incorporated, so the right stuff is there, I'm just not financially prepared to spring for it at this time. I went to Walmart and got coffee and the cheapest car stereo I could find. I remember lying in bed after dark and listening to local stations on my last trip and enjoying it very much. The unit was $55 and seems pretty cool. Made here in Florida. I'm not too fussy about such things. My ears have done great work for me all these years and they are now displaying some of the after affects of gunfire, jet engines, racing motorcycles and cars, dragsters and of course, full on rock n' roll. Now, I can hear fine, just not so fine I need to carefully amplify the delicate manipulations of a string quartet. I'd rather hear Lynyrd Skynyrd, Alison Krauss, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Connie Stevens, Pink Floyd, Frank Sinatra, Beatles, and lots of other stuff like that. The local weather and news and occasional talk radio to see what's important to the locals. I'll come up with a place to mount it that doesn't suck. I'll need to get at it easily from the cockpit in case I get hailed on the VHF while in a tight channel. That's happened before. Best to keep easy listening turned real low or off in those places. |
| April 16, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida Fourteen days left. There seems to be so much left to do, but that may be much more perception than reality. The truth is, yes, there is still a great deal to do to complete the boat, but a very finite number of systems needed to make Falcon ready to go to Marathon. |
| I took a picture of Minnie Pearl with her new hat yesterday. The blue tape is because Espin and Barbara are painting the deck right now. I don't want to post more pictures because Espin wants a special set of photos that he can send around by email to a bunch of people and I don't want to spoil that. I just thought 1 shot with the Bimini Isinglass and sunshade installed wouldn't be an infringement. Once the boat is painted, we'll get together and make a full set that he can circulate. But right here, for now, I thought you'd like to see the finished product I worked on for so long. Today I'll be working a bunch of things and Drew is coming by to blast the heavy growth off the bottom of the boat. I want him to also verify the exact location of the flat section on the aft keel bottom so I can mark it on the toe rail for sling placement. The slings on Falcon have to be tied together because the front sling will slide off if not. |
| My left shoulder has been hurting pretty good for better than a week now. I know I rinked it somehow doing something, but I have just a small thing in the back of my mind whispering 'torn rotator cuff'. Maybe it's because both Donny and Angie recently had surgery to repair exactly that. I'm more of a 'wait and see' kinda guy, figuring that it will either heal itself or stop hurting when the nerve endings die. I have no time for injuries just now and won't have until I get to Marathon. This is going to make doing my bottom pretty 'right arm intensive'. |
| I now have two heavy coats of aluminum powder filled epoxy inside the entire holding tank and under the lid. This will have to cure before I can go further on the holding tank. That means I have two other projects to get into. One is bracing and tabbing the shelf in the head and the other is sewing the three cloth fill pieces for the hardtop. I'll have coffee and gather materials for both. |
| It is now noon and the shelf in the head is done as well as the tabbing on the main brace beneath the computer table. The epoxy in the holding tank is still curing. I think I'll be sewing next. First I have to round the edges of the four long aluminum strips I cut from the edges of the big aluminum angles I bought to mount the solar panels, then modified to mount the Sunbrella to the hardtop. |
| Drew finished scraping the bottom of Falcon. What a job! I could hear him coming up and panting. For an hour and a half he worked like a dog, but he says he did a good job and I paid him well. Things are coming together. I helped out RJ for a minute by digging out a 30 amp shore power plug and taking it apart to determine which wire went where on his unmarked plug. He wanted me to do some sewing for him but I had to say 'no'. I am seriously trying to get out of here and now that everything is in motion, I don't dare stop. My shoulder is killing me. The only time it doesn't hurt is when I'm sitting here typing. I went and got a sandwich for lunch and now feel like lying down for a quick siesta. The sewing machine is on the dock and all things are ready for the hardtop work, so I'll get to that in a little while. I got the aluminum strips about 3/4 done but visitors put an end to it. I didn't struggle too much but just rolled with it. Tomorrow I'll get the top trimmed to the holding tank and start getting the fittings installed, plus I'll get the canvas for the hardtop going and get the cockpit emptied out so I can start running the engine every day. I'll also get the watermaker installed onto the new shelf in the head. That will need to be secured well as it will be a disaster to have it fly off the shelf. It weighs about 160 pounds and would fall 39 inches - probably straight onto the new head. |
| April 17, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida Thirteen days left. I had JUST typed this when Eddie came over for coffee. That was two hours ago. It is now 10 AM and I have installed the clamps (took some 'digging out') on the Dorade scoops, dosed the sinus headache with aspirin and installed the two thru-hulls into the holding tank. I am about ready to go outside and trim the excess fiberglass off the holding tank lid, then mark it and fit the vent and deck pump-out access fittings. |
| Ken came by for the second time and we put the watermaker in place on the new shelf in the head. The shelf is plenty big to accommodate the watermaker and much more. I really wasn't prepared for the move, but Ken was pressed to get it done because of the expected weather tomorrow. Espin was busy down the dock talking to someone, so I couldn't disturb him - he had asked to help because of my hurt shoulder - so Ken and I just bit the bullet and moved the unit into position. I just bored the holes in the lid for the pump-out and the vent. I still have to work out exactly how I'm going to situate the bottom end of the pump-out hose - it has to maintain a fixed position very near the bottom of the tank without interfering with the overboard dump. I also just realised the three corners of the tank are high due to the double cloth buildup and they are holding the lid up. I'll have to grind them back and might have to epoxy the new surfaces again. We'll see. |
| The lid is fitted and the deck pump-out hose is configured and ready to fix permanently. These final fits and adjustments to this tank are wearing me out. Well, mostly the itchy powder from grinding fiberglass that has now coated my body is what is really wearing me out, but, you know, either way. I am very close to sealing down the lid for good and finalising the vent and deck pump-out. After that, I'll move into the head and get started with the head installation and the last plumbing connections. I should also put a temporary cleat in front of the watermaker to hold it in position. The top of the holding tank is on and secured and sealed and the deck pump-out tube is positioned properly. Tomorrow, when I feel better, I'll complete the vent and pump out tubes and get started on the head and macerator. I still need the two fittings from Jamestown Distributors to complete the overboard pump-out, but I can get a lot of other stuff done while waiting for them. Tomorrow it's supposed to rain some so it's hard to schedule anything. I still have a ton to do inside here anyway, like mounting the hot water heater and making the head base and the forward sole. It's all coming along good. |
| April 18, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida Twelve days left. I have some bad news. I did NOT win either the Lotto or the Powerball last night. I know, I know, I'm remarkably composed for someone who just lost $273 million, but, well, stiff upper lip and all that, you know. Must press on regardless. If I'd won I was going to get 20 super-long oars, the rowers to go with them and a guy with a drum to sound out the beat. Oh, well. Maybe next time. It's a bit of a rainy day today, though not much rain has been falling right on us. They are small, light showers that are grazing us or missing, while the skies remain heavily clouded and threatening. I still have plenty of work to do inside and should get to it. I might end up priming and painting the forward area of the boat once I get the holding tank details wrapped up. |
| These are the holding tank vent and deck pump-out connections. The 1 1/2 inch pump-out hose continues to within 2 inches of the bottom of the tank to a small triangular spot about 5 inches on a side. I couldn't put it any deeper for fear that it might partially block the ship overboard pump-out. I still have to put a pair of little clamps on the vent hose. The white powder on the walls is the fiberglass dust from the grinding yesterday and the areas where it's missing is because it is now on my arms and my back. This area now needs to be cleaned and primed and painted white. The hot water heater will be mounted on the bulkhead to the right and has been waiting for this to be done so it could go in. The rain got worse and worse all day, though only in small degrees. Still, I've been closed up inside the boat for most of the day, watching golf and working on little things. It has been a fairly boring day after a productive morning. The weather is supposed to be much the same tomorrow. Ken and Sandy never said 'good bye' to anyone here. For some reason they just took off without a word to anyone. Paul said he caught them coming out of the showers today - they brought Nemo to Cuts Edge yesterday - and hurrying to their car in the parking lot. He said all he got was a quick wave and greeting. I guess they must have been on some hurried schedule. Too bad. I don't think I'll ever see them again. |
| April 19, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida It's supposed to be another rainy day today, but hopefully not as bad as yesterday. I am struggling logistically with just how to divide up the space forward for both chain and storage. I have some decisions to make and wood to cut and install, being sure that anything I do doesn't need to be completely re-done in the yard two weeks from now. Eleven days to go. The shoulder is not healing as fast as I'd like, though it doesn't seem to be getting any worse. I wrote to the guy I bought the 64 bit Linux Ubuntu from - still haven't received it and it's been two full weeks. My cost was a total of $3.99, so it's not a big deal, but this is a long, looonng time for delivery to drag out. I'm hoping the bronze parts from Jamestown Distributors are coming in a hurry. I paid $10 shipping for two parts you could put in one front pocket of tight jeans. I'm also going to try some tricky storage options in the head to move more stuff forward and better balance the boat for the trip. It's still only 6:15 AM and I'm anxious to get going. I cleared out the cockpit and searched EVERYWHERE for my boat keys and after almost giving up and changing out the keyswitch for a spare I had, I found the keys, outside, on the dock, in a bucket of hardware. Don't ask. I started the engine and ran it for a total of about an hour today, cycling through three and four of the batteries. The very first effort to start the engine was met with a decidedly disappointing failure. I've been cycling the batteries through the shore power battery charger, the 'Charles' charger and tried to start the engine with the last two batteries that had been charging for two or three days. No soap. Just a 'dead', RRRrrr-rrrrrr, and nothing. Hmm. So I switched on all the batteries and the engine busted right off. After 20 minutes of running, I shut it off and turned all the batteries off but one of the very first two I tried, and the engine busted right off again, no problem. The rest of the running has been to cycle through more of the batteries and give a taste of the 130 amp Ferris Alternator with the Balmar regulator. That seems to charge them up MUCH better than the pastel little AC Charles Unit. Maybe it has a problem. |
| I trimmed up the fiberglass on the holding tank and got a coat of primer over the entire forepeak area. I missed some of the overhead as I was becoming faint-headed from fumes and had to get out of there. It would be nice to get a coat of white over that tomorrow then mount the water heater. Tomorrow will also be the day that Espin and I drag all the sails to the lot across the street and mark them up so I can cut them to shape and sew together a suit of sails for Falcon. That will help get rid of all the extra sails and sail material and make that big pile considerably smaller. I will probably store all these things - sail fragments and sail cover materials - up front in the forepeak. The bow of the boat is still light. Mark Manley of Mark and Kim came by today and brought me an awesome T shirt and - get |
| ready for it - a complete set of custom cushions for the new pedestal chair!! I couldn't believe it! I can't show you now because a gang of roving hand grenade tossers ran by and tossed hand grenades into the boat ( I lost my freakin' keys, remember? ) and the boat is so trashed I can't find the pedestal chair. I'm thinking tomorrow would be a better day for this, all in all. |
| April 20, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida Ten days. Sweet, huh? I'll be running the engine more today, this time from the other tank. I want to be sure both tanks are free of any water that might have condensed in them over time. I'll get that coat of paint on the forepeak as soon as I can and start slapping together some temporary wooden structures up there to control the storage. I'll also add a safety shelf fiddle in the head to keep books and things I put on that shelf from migrating to the floor. I may eventually enclose the top of that shelf with Lexan to protect the watermaker and other supplies I store there. |
| I've been busy this morning - oh, it's already 1:37 PM - anyway, the forepeak is well painted and looks good, I've been measuring for the sails, and I've also been prepping the macerator for install. I got the two parts from Jamestown distributors. Espin is busy with charters right now. I gave a storm jib and a huge spinnaker to RJ. I should go outside right now and finish clearing the deck - I've been doing that as well - and fire up the engine again, then get more sail measuring done. |
| April 21, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida Wrestling with the sails proved to be more trouble than I'd imagined. By the time we were done - it only took about an hour - my left arm was hanging like it was dead and the shoulder hurt so much I had to stop for the day. I didn't even finish yesterdays log. It feels amazingly well this morning, with only a hint of stiffness and no centralized pain. It must be healing. It rained a little last night but is dry this morning. There's a lot of cloud cover but the sun is shining right now. I have a lot to do, but thrashing about it mentally or manually will not help and might slow things down. Right now, I'm really thinking about blasting a coat or two of primer on the rest of the forward area, then hitting it with the white. I REALLY like the way that brightened up the forepeak. I may start with the head so I can work the storage solutions in the bow as well. And I have more stuff to do outside. Nine days left. |
| The hot water heater is installed and the rest of the forward area is now primed one coat. I'll do a second coat prior to the finish white, then install the water manifold and finish the water system connections. Then install the head and maybe even the head door. The head door came off George and Kim's 28 foot Westsail. It was just a space problem there and promises to be the same here. Right now I have to retreat from the fumes and maybe even eat something. Finished the first coat and did half of the second. Another fume break. Next trip in will complete the priming and I'll be able to blast on a coat of the finish white. It doesn't create a the fume cloud this primer does. Anyway, once the finish white is on I can install the manifold and head and blah, blah, blah. I'm so freakin' high right now. |
| April 22, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida Eight days left. Yesterday, the three bouts of applying Kilz II in a small, tight place put me down for the day. I got so sick after the last session that I spent time lying in the sun out on the dock - too sick to move - then spent the rest of the day in bed and feeling MIGHTY poorly, if you know what I mean. Completely overexposed. I eventually staggered to the Seafood Shack and got a chicken salad plate to go, ate that and passed out. I didn't wake up until 4:30 AM, rested and feeling good, but with no power in the marina, or all of Cortez for that matter. The power came back on at about 4:50 AM and I watched some of the world news for no good reason. Despite the horrifying ordeal of my near-death experience yesterday, I'm committed to continuing the painting today. There will be much less priming and much more finish white, which is practically odorless compared to the toxic Kilz II. Besides, I mean, what are the options? I'm running out of time. Okay, not really, I can do anything I want. The thing is, I want to be out of here on the 1st of May. Okay, maybe the second. The first comes on Saturday and leaving here just to spend an extra day on the hook waiting for Sunday to pass so I can be hauled on Monday may not be the best idea. Still, until I call Rivertown on Monday or Tuesday to confirm, I can't set the exact day. I decided to clear off the sink counter and prime and paint behind it, so I did and just finished the primer. It would have been nice to get away without having to prime at all today - risk being that my body is still saturated with the toxins from yesterday - but I'm determined to push past this and get where I need to be inside here. |
| All the white finish done and dry, the new chain locker started with the transducer cover already installed below, and the clip to restrain the hot water heater is made and installed. Much less toxic exposure today and a lot more done already. It's only 3 PM and I'm about to start on the new shelves aft for the food containers. I should also get moving on the macerator. |
| April 23, 2010 - Seafood Shack Marina - Cortez, Florida Seven days to go. I was hoping to be ready to start the electrical connections now, but I'm not. I'll see how close I can come by the end of the day. I have to complete the forward storage situation - which I should have finished yesterday if I hadn't, instead, made a small pile of scrap wood while trying to complete the food container storage solution. A couple of hours of hard work that was just a bad idea to begin with. Apparently. Hindsight being 20/20. Oh, well, no big deal. Toss out the scrap and get the forward locker done and loaded, get the macerator done and get the water manifold installed. It's not as much as it sounds like, but it's still a lot. To that I have to add, finish the shower sump pump, complete the final water connections, install the head and install the forward sole. I should take my son Matt's advice and make the list again. 1.) Clean up inside and out and dispose of a bunch of stuff. Done 2.) Complete forward storage woodwork and pack the area. 3.) Finish macerator. Done 4.) Install water manifold and connect. Done 5.) Install shower sump pump. Done 7.) Install and connect head. 8.) Install forward sole. Done That seems like a full days work. For three people. I'll have to see what I can do. |
| I'm not completely done cleaning and tossing stuff yet, but I've already brought an entire dock cart to the dumpster, so that counts as done. The hard stuff on the macerator is done - I only have to slap on some hose clamps, which I'll do right now. I also have to go down to Minnie Pearl and get a few shots of Barbara and Espin applying the deck non-skid surface. It looks pretty good so far. |
| I'll have to get a better shot of the surface to show the effect on Minnie Pearl's deck, but to the right are Espin and Barbara working on the project. The water manifold is now installed and only needs to be connected. It looks like this post will be a lot longer than usual so I'm going to continue it on the next page |