Bristol-Blue Lake Michigan Sailing Adventures

Sometimes refinishing is not the way to go. Our Mirage 24's teak handrails have been in pretty rough shape and I decided it was time to do something before I get a splinter in my hand. While they seem sturdy enough they are starting to crack and show their age I removed one and started to sand it but by the time I get it looking good, It will be pretty thin in some areas. It is time for them to go. One of the things about owning a boat is sometimes you can't just find the part you need right off the shelf.  I went down to Wolf's Marina and they had several of these grab handles in stock but none of them fit my boat so It's time to fabricate something.   For $15.00 I found this teak block in Wolf's scrap area. A crazy bargain for this bock. I was able to get my brother to rip it down on his table saw into pieces for me.     Next, I set up my belt sander and band saw and got to work. The pieces started taking shape pretty quickly.  To get the hand grip...

Today, I started sewing up a new Genoa for Kraken .  This summer, I patched and taped the old Genoa several times.  It is ripping down the luff seam, the foot seam and it is pretty thin in several other spots so it is well past time for the old sail to be retired.  I believe the Genoa may have come with the boat in 1978.  Happy birthday to me and the boat; at 38 years, we are the same age.   This is my second sailrite sail. A few years ago, I built a working jib. Here's a link to that project.  The previous owner built a main and a storm.  So this will fill out the sail inventory with all sailrite sails.   Over the last few weeks I've been working on getting a sewing machine fixed and tuned up.  It has been interesting as I have pulled apart and checked the timing on my machine. I even made a few modifications to beef it up a bit and allow for some extra clearance at the base plate.  Friday the kit from sailrite arrived! This wa...