Bristol-Blue Lake Michigan Sailing Adventures

Loading up this weekend.  It rained here so I didn't get the last coat of varnish on yet but I was able to get all the Gear and sails down to the boat.  The motor got to ride shot gun in the front seat.  Everything else fit in the back. Yeah my little vw clown car can pack it in.  

Friday my parents were coming into town so hanging around the house I sewed this handy little bumper cover up.  The bumper is one of the good ones you can reinflate with an air compressor but it is getting a but dried out and scuffed the hull last year.  Nothing that didn't buff right out but I thought I'd sew up a cover to prevent it again this season.  This took about 30 minutes including heating up the iron deflating the bumper sewing then reinflating the bumper once it was inserted int the cover.  Not bad. Saturday I got down and put a base coat on the toe rails.  Sunday I came back gave the toe rails their second coat and did the maintance coat for the season on the rest of the teak.  We are really coming along.  One or two more coats of varnish then buff out the deck I'll be ready to launch! Those are tooth picks in there so I can lock up for the night with out having varnished my drop boards together.  

So it snowed here again Wednesday.  Nothing stuck and hopefully it will be the last time for the year.  The orchards in the area are looking like they are getting ready to bloom soon and a hard frost canbe devastating in this area for the farmers.    Regardless, it is still cold here this Saturday morning and the boat yard was pretty quiet until afternoon.  I ran into one guy who came over from Chicago to work on his boat.  Our marina has a lot of boat owners from out of state due to the high cost of keeping a boat in the city.  He said he is hoping tomorrow it will get warm enough for him to do his bottom paint.  If the forecast is right he just might get lucky before he has to head back to the city.   The cold weather isn't going to interfere with any of my plans for the day. I  started by cleaning the teak in preparation for varnishing.  This time I used Meguiare's teak cleaner.  It came with a pour out bottle top but I switched it out with a sprayer top.  This made cleaning

So this Saturday I started some varnish maintance.  It has been three years since I've done anything to the toe rails. I think, at most, I put two coats of varnish on them to begin with. So, it is no surprise they have started to break down.  The drop boards, and combing boards look great.  Plenty of maintance coats on those pieces so I won't mess with them.  Looking around online I read the best way to pull the old varnish up is to use a heat gun.  It worked great the varnish scraped right off with minimal damage to the teak underneath.  I'll go over it with some teak cleaner and try to get some varnish back on them before launch the launch date.   Today, Wednesday it is snowing.  Have to laugh sunburn and frost bite in the same week.  Hope it warms back up before the weekend.

So last weekend I headed down to put a coat of bottom paint on Kraken.  I knew I did not have enough paint to finish the job and figured I'd stop for lunch and pick up a quart on the way back.  After searching West Marine's shelves and finding nothing, I got some help and found out the nearest quart was in Washington.  They would have to order it in for me.  Kraken sat for the week with three quarters of the bottom painted. It looked kinda silly. This weekend,  I am on a winning streak,  just like the Detroit Tigers.  I picked up the paint this morning and even made it into Randy's West Shore Boat Repairs.  Randy's shop is tucked away I the back side of Douglas. It is a friendly place.  It also happens to be one of the only places I know that carries the spark plug I need for my Mercury 2.5hp in stock.  I've also dealt with him a few other times when rebuilding my British Sea Gull.  An over all great place to get weird parts and pieces.  I found out today they also

Here is an old pic. for throw back Thursday.

Well I packed up and headed for the marina this afternoon.  I spent the morning running around town gathering cleaners and buffing pads.  When I left it was 19 degrees.  By lunch time the temperature had broke freezing we are at about 34. Figured I'd get a jump on cleaning the hull.  After getting to the marina and untarping the boat, I went to get water.  The marina understandably has not turned it on yet but I was hoping.  So plan B work on the boom tent.   I started by sizing the tent poles and clipping them to size. Then I spread the canvas over the boom just to get a look at things.  The final plan the canvas will be below the boom and it will be a free standing structure. Here is a view from the inside.  After a few minutes it started to get warm inside.  Which confirms my suspicions.  This tent will need some screening for ventilation especially once summer arrives.  I even got a chance to test out the water proofing.  The canvas beads up really nicely. Back to the sewing ma

Someone asked the other day what I sew with.  So, I figured, why not walk you through my set up.  This is what I use: a Singer Stylist.  It is not as strong as my old Singer and it makes a cute little beep beep noise when it hits something too hard. I'd buy something a bit tougher next time or an old machine again but it works for most everything I do. One of the things I particularly like is the clear bobbin window. This helps with really long runs as you can peek under your cloth and plan when you will need to reload. I t also has a ton of cool stitch patterns. For my set up I have this old thread reel I use as a spacer.   Then the sailing thread reel goes on top.   I'm sure the professional seamstresses and sail makers are cringing at this but it works. From here on out I thread the machine as normal. Laying out the material for measuring uses most of the house.  Yeah to open floor plans. I did my cutting with a hot knife after marking it out with chalk.  The dimmond pattern

So,  it has arrived.  The material for building the boom tent. This stuff is looking really neat.  It is a rip stop nylon, bright and blue.  It has a real interesting waxy coated feeling to it. I'm sure it will repel water.  This is going to be an interesting one once I get it going.  For those wondering where I picked up this fine material, look no further than ebay.  

One week of warmish weather makes a big difference in the boat yard. By warmish I mean in the upper 40's. This Saturday there were several people out and about. I saw ladders and heard people mushing around in the snow. Keep in mind, there is still 18+ inches of snow on the ground. Tip: don't step in your foot prints from last week. They are all full of ice cold water.  Electric cords run across the parking lot. Pry not the best idea given the wetness of the ground.  Those people who made it down the the marina last weekend have clear decks to work on. Tower Marine Panorama from the deck of Kraken It is still a bit cold to do much and with the clouds it seemed a bit colder today of course that could have been my wet feet. (See tip above)  I didn't stay to long but managed to get the chaffing guards off the side stays. They were pretty brittle and the cold weather helped make them even more so. With minimal effort, they just chipped right off.  I have replacements han

  We have gone this week from single didget temps to mid 40's.   It feels like t-shirt weather to us.  So with this break in the cold we have started to push back against old man winter.  Breaking up the ice on the drive way. There is cement down there ... Hu who knew.     I also took the time to go down and give Kraken the same treatment.  Shoveling off the deck and clearing out the cockpit scuppers.  I figure anything that gives Mother Nature a hand in melting down this snow I'm up for. Start of the day.   Deck cleared but some work to do in the cockpit.  It's not as bad as it looks.  The tarp kept most he snow out. There was just some overflow from the back deck. See there's the build plaque. Fore deck cleared. Scuppers ice free for draining as the remainder of the snow melts off. Interior is nice and dry. Relaxing under the tent.  I suspect one or two more days in the 40's the rest of the snow will be

The completed half hull project!  Here are the pictures of the completed project. I chose to hang it in the hallway with the line drawings I printed last year. A nice combination, I think.   A big shout out to  Rossi Engraving  for the engraved plate.  There work engraving really helped to finish this project off.  

The Teak trim is one of the things that really sets the Cape Dory Typhoon apart from other boats and I just couldn't leave it off the model.  Last night, I stayed up late and got another coat on the blue bottom paint.  This morning, I glued on some of the details.  This is coming out way better than I thought it would.  I want to get the light blue on the deck.  Then get it mounted up on the oak board (you can see in the background).  I really had to stop myself when building this from putting in the cockpit, tiller, cleats. and winches.   I guess I could always go back and add those things later but this is looking really sharp as is.

Another wintry day here in Michigan = Snow Day = Summer make up days.  We have officially passed the number of snow days allowed here in Michigan so I will be going into summer.  Oh well, may as well work on the half hull right?  Today I worked on making teak trim, got the water line on, as well as a first coat of bottom paint blue.  I also glued on a bow plate.  It has a ways to go still but it is definitely taking shape.