:: Trying to keep track of it all... ::

:: 8.07.2005 ::

Update on stuff and stuff...

Its now "summer" here in the Pacific Northwest; which means its gorgeous pretty much every day for about 10 weeks straight.
Sunny, blue skies, about 82 degrees with low humidity and low fifties at night.
Every... stinkin'... day...
Its unbelievable.

So with all the good weather, we've been super busy.
Working on the house and the boat. Doing a bit of boating (on other peoples boats).
Went on a motorcycle ride up Mt. Baker. Explored the coast a bit.
And this is the busy season at the boatyard so on occasion I've been working six day weeks and ten hour days.
Whoo, I'm exhausted!

The boat is coming along nicely. I'm doing all the external work while its nice so after ripping out all the internal systems (wiring, plumbing, etc.) I've been concentrating on the hull. Fairing and prepping for bottom paint. Dusty dirty job. Next we'll probably give the topsides a quick sand and wax just to keep things looking good until next summer.
One of the shipwrights at work has been nice enough to build us some new cockpit hatch covers, and is going to help us pattern out a new cabin sole, and replace the cockpit coamings (I know some of you may have no idea what these items are, but there are some pictures coming up so hang in there). Once the new hatches etc. are in place the interior will be watertight, and I can spend the cold dark winter in there running new wiring and plumbing and installing an engine. That's when the big bucks start flying out the window.
I've been posting a few photos and kind of keeping up a progress report on The LeComte Owners website. Its an online forum and info site for the kind of sailboat we have. I go into way more detail on some stuff over there, and other people have given me recommendations and whatnot. Just if you're interested. Heres a direct link to the forum. I post as fusto.

So that's that with that. Here are some pictures to keep you entertained.


Here's the old cockpit hatch. It literally disintegrated in my hands. That's what 40 years in a marine environment with no maintenance will get you.


And heres the new one. Its half inch marine grade mahogany plywood with a teak inlay around the perimeter. Its not as fancy as the original all teak hatches but it'll be a lot more solid and weather resistant.


Here's where the hatches go. And the coamings are those long pieces of wood that go fore and aft that the winches are attached to. They were originally made of plywood which has since delaminated.


This is the hull. The shiny spots are epoxy patches that I had just applied. The hull had a blistering problem that the original owners fixed by sanding the bottom off and applying straight epoxy. That's not the best way to fix a blistering problem, but now its too late. So I'm sanding it a bit and filling in any low spots. Then I'll apply a special epoxy bottom sealer, then the bottom paint. Should work out fine.


Here's a close up of the blistering. This was caused by bad gelcoat (the shiny layer of fiberglass on the outside of the hull). In the 60's and 70's fiberglass boats were still a relatively new invention so manufacturers really didn't know what they were doing. This was good and bad in that boats made them were so heavily laid up that the hulls were nigh indestructible, but because they didn't really know what they were doing with the different resins and whatnot some boats ended up with blistering problems. Its essentially water permeation through a porous (bad on boats) gelcoat layer. Water builds up in the glass and creates little blisters. Once fixed its no longer an issue. And its relatively easy to fix.


This is a shot from up on Mt. Baker. Last weekend Tabitha and I and Pat and Willow from work went on a motorcycle ride up the mountain. As you can see spectacular views abound.


that's Tabitha, Pat and Willow. Pat and Willow are fellow boat mechanics and motorcyclists.


Mt. Baker. Our local active volcano.


Pat found a nice little ice cave to cool off in.


The ladies and the bikes.


This has been my means of conveyance to and from work lately. Its our work skiff. At the end of the day I jump in, zip across the bay and I'm home in about 15 minutes. Beats the hell out of driving.

:: Zachary 9:13:00 AM [+] ::
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