The "sun cover" is mostly done....

One more step closer to the dream....The sun cover (a must have) is done, well the mid section (the hardest section) is set up and ready to provide us with an abundance of shade.  Scott came up the the design and we both worked on the sewing.  The front section will be pretty straight forward and should only take a couple of days to complete.

BTW - we ordered our Wind vane today...another big step forward.

More Cruising Prep

Right now every step seems like a huge leap forward toward our dreams.  This past week we got our Bimini supports, clocks and barometer.  That may not sound like a lot but each represents an item checked off the "to-do" list.  We attended Texas Mariners Cruisers Association's Spring Fling to take in several seminars including, Anchoring techniques, cruising medical and prep for coastal cruising.  We made a lot of plans for additional work on the boat including mast steps, ladders and miscellaneous installations.

The Bimini supports

Work continues on the sun cover but expect that to be done by June 1.  Speaking of June 1 - we are now planning on moving our boat to Bayland Marina - we will save almost 1,200.00 in slip fees and that is enough money to purchase a soft dinghy or a dinghy motor. 

After the book sort.....

I am very proud of Scott - he hung in there like a real trooper......90% of the books are either donated or recycled.

Down Sizing Part 2

We spent the day sorting books, photo's, CD's and tapes.....it was exhausting.  We are making progress toward our dream.

November 1st is our projected departure date.  Exciting and scary all bundled together.

Before the book sort.....

After the book sort.....

Coming soon.......

The Dinghy is Done!!

We put the last coat of paint on Dinghy Dance on Sunday and we are putting her in the water this weekend!  It took us 7 months to build her and she is a thing of beauty.  I will post photo's of the first launch soon.

Continued Work on Dighy Dance

We have made slow progress on the Dinghy due to good weather.  It has been really warm so we have to decide if we go sailing or stay at home and work on the dinghy.  We manage to do both and have made a few modifications that I hope will add functionality.

We have completed the foredeck construction and once again Russell (owner of PTW) has done an excellent job with the instructions in the manual.  As you can see there is an extra hole in the deck.

There is a space forward of the mast step bulkhead that once the deck is installed will be impossible to inspect.without cutting out some of the deck.  This bothered me a little.  I decided to add a small waterproof hatch and create a small anchor locker i the bow for a folding anchor.

When I cut out the opening for the large hatch I did not follow the directions exactly.  I know shame on me, but I used a vibratory saw on the strait sections and a jig saw in the corners.  In this way I was able to save the cutout plug entirely.  I used the cutout wood plug as a doubler for the small hatch.  In between the deck and the doubler is a layer of 4 oz. glass cloth for additional strength.  The edges were beveled because the top of the foredeck get a glass cloth cover.

The next step was the aft seats and again the instructions were thorough.  The seats constituted another area that could not be inspected so we did some thinking. 



We decided to add small hatches there as well and used the piece of oakum cut out of the aft bulk head as doubler material.  We debated whether to put the hatches (2 or 1 port and starboard) on the side or top.  While aesthetics voted for the side the top seemed to have more functionality.  Functionality won out.

 

 

Hatch top with doubler.  I taped the hole to keep from gluing the top to the table.  The holes for mounting the hatch hardware are drilled out oversized and will be filled with epoxy.

 

I had been thinking about strengthening the stern bulkhead around the rudder attachment but because the Stern is curve I had to be careful.  I used a piece of the scrap plywood supplied with the kit ad made a small doubler.  The edges were beveled because this area gets a layer of glass cloth later on in the manual. 

I used the existing tab holes for the seats and Russell's trick of small block of wood to draw the doubler down.  This will mean the fastening hardware supplied with the kit will not be long enough but a quick stop into the hardware store will fix that.  I wrapped the blocks of wood in tape to keep them from getting stuck to the doubler and I cleaned out the tab holes for the seat when the block were removed.

 

The weather is suppose to be bad this weekend so I predict some good progress on the dinghy. 

 

Later y'all



Clear Lake Boat Parade

So on November 27th Scott comes home with an entry form for the Clear Lake Boat Parade and announces he would like to participate in the parade this year on December 8 (less than two weeks away).  Me being the very supportive wife replied "oh crap....."  - Scott invited at least 20 people to help decorate and ride the boat with us.  Me being the very supportive wife agreed to buy KFC for lunch and Subway sandwiches for dinner.  We spent all day Saturday Dec 1st creating a sail made of blue lights.

Saturday December 8th - friends show up to help install the lights:  Bert Wagster, James Williams, Patience Allison, Henry and Diana Dubois donated lights and sweat.

Bert

Diana

Patience

Henry

James

 

The rest of the crew arrived later in the day......

 

 

And we were off......Here we are in the parade

 

 

 

We went to the awards presentation and were happy to see the third and second place winners and thought WOW THOSE REALLY LOOK GOOD - WELL AT LEAST WE HAD FUN.  Figuring we had no chance of winning we cut up and had fun..

The presenter then said "The 1st place winner is boat #97 - Kooky Dance"  - being the very supportive wife I started laughing and looked at Scott said "we won" and he looked shocked like I have never seen him shocked before.    Being the very supportive wife I laughed all the way up to the stage and Scott followed me stating "you gotta be kidding me"

Now they are smiling.....

 

 

WE WON 1st PLACE - Sailboat 40 foot + division - Me being the supportive wife am very proud of the vision and effort of Scott Buckley!!!  Way to go Scott !!!!!!!


A big thank you to our decorating crew and our riding crew.....you all made it a very memorable event and could not have done it without you.