One more piece of the puzzle DONE

The side sun shades are complete!!  All of these small projects will soon add up to a fully functional cruising vessel.  Tamera did the sewing and Scott did the grommets and installation.  We made them from mesh so we will see how that works out.

Making the boat a Cruiser

Hi, Scott here, I haven't posted lately so you must thank Tamera (AKA first mate) for the recent updates, however after much encouragement from number one first mate I find myself parked in front of a computer again.

The past few months have been heavily dedicated to converting SV Kooky Dance to a cruiser.  The latest work included installing mast steps, a whisker pole track and the storm tri-sail track.  After talking to the contractor it was decided that the work would be better done if the mast was unstepped.

The crane was lined up for a Tuesday at 10AM and its a 2 hr transit from Kooky Dance's current berth to the shipyard.  Do to weather the crew could not come to the boat Monday so Tamera and I had to prep the mast rigging ourselves.

While unhooking the radar, nav lights and wind instrument I came across the VHF antenna.  Most of the transit to the shipyard is along the Houston ship channel.  The thought of transiting the Houston ship channel without a VHF was not on my top ten list of things I would do even if I had been drinking. 

The boat had all her sails off and on the return trip would not even have a mast.  If I lost power and had no VHF then no one could hear my shrill calls for help as appeared to be playing chicken with a Very Large Crude Carrier (or VLCC as we call it in the biz).  Now I know I said shrill calls for help and that is the way they would sound to the untrained ear but sailors everywhere would recognize the high pitched pleading as what it really is; " nautical confidence".

Moving on; we did get the mast off in short order and let me just say the weather was perfect.  98 degrees at 98% humidity and not a hint of a breeze.  Like I said, "perfect".

 

We also accomplished a couple of other things and I my first mate taught me a new word.  Bungibility - similar to stretchiness but applied to bungi cord. 

 

The hatch covers are held in place by a ring of bungee-cord.  Well in 4.5 years the bungee had lost its bungibility or it had bad bungibility.  After securing the bungee I had to find those little rings called hog rings.  Turns out they are hard to come by unless you want 10,000 of them.  I am not exaggerating.  Our usual source for this kind of stuff was Sailrite however they were out of stock.  McMaster Carr, Grainger even our local Turner's hardware did not have them except in the actual hog nose size.  I know you are thinking "Not even at Turner's Hardware!".  I know they have everything.  Even things that maybe should not be in a hardware store and for that matter any store.  While looking for the hog ring pliers I think I saw something called testicle shears.  I left the store quickly.

 



 Anyway before I go any farther with stories of bungibility we had another problem, if we removed the mast form the boat I would lose the VHF for the return trip to the marina.  Remember the shrilled cries.  So we decided to go ahead and get the handheld VHF that is on our list of things to buy.  So we jumped in the car and headed to the "Evil Empire" or what some call West Marine.  While we were there I had to pick up some fasteners and low and behold first mate spots something on a rack with some pliers (please don't be a stainless steel pair of testicle shears, I am running out of places to buy stainless fasteners).  Its the tiny (not suitable for actual noses) hog rings.  We needed about 20 so we bought 30. 

So back at the boat we repair the hatch covers.  The bungee passes thru a tiny tube sewn into and around the perimeter of the hatch cover.  I thought the best way was to attach it to the old bungee and pull it thru.  A knot would be too bulky so I decided to tape them together.  I ask first mate (Tamera) to get me some tape.  From below she asks what kind of tape.  Without thinking I said; " it doesn't matter".  She offered; "duct tape?" and I said: "perfect".  Somewhere (and I think I know who) first mate had acquired some "hello kitty" duct tape.  It would of not been so bad except first mate wanted pictures of salty captain man using "hello kitty" duct tape.

 

Surprisingly the "hello kitty" tape worked and the hatch covers were repaired.  Afterword's first mate declared they not had good bungibility.

 

First mate also made some awesome lee cloths for the pilot births.  Tamera did the cutting and sewing and I put in the gromets and fasteners.

First mate doing sea trials on lee cloths.

There are some other thins that are coming together like the dinghy deck mount and Monitor wind vane steering but I think that will be for the next blog update in Mid August.

 

 



 

Cruising Contacts

This past weekend we had the pleasure of spending some time with experienced cruisers Bud Campbell and Jill Bebee from Sailing Vessel Earendil.  The day was filling with stories of weather, electronics, gear, people and destinations. 

Earendil has sailed the Gulf coast and extensively in the Bahamas and we loved hearing all about the adventures that had during their time cruising. 

Spending time with fellow cruisers sure puts fuel to our fire and makes us really really want to get going on our own adventures.

On another note we had dinner with Tim and Cindy Miller to help celebrate my 50th birthday.  The evening just made me realize how much I am going to miss these two good friends.  They promised they would visit us in some of our cruising destinations....I am going to hold them to that.