Snowball Effect (Part II)

When last I posted, I was writing about changing the oil in our 38 year old Perkins 4-108 diesel engine and explaining the inevitable chain reaction of events that are synonymous with nearly every project I tackle on this boat as of late.

One thing leads to another

So goes it with boat projects.  Pick a simple project to work on such as changing the oil & filter, and it mutates into something much more involved.  The snowball effect.  I should know this by now.

The skinny little cabinet full of paper charts

Just forward of the knee space under our chart table is a tall, narrow, and deep locker with several shelves for storing rolled paper nautical charts.  At 8 inches wide by 23 inches tall, and nearly 36 inches deep, this locker is the perfect place to stash copious quantities of rolled up paper… but not […]

Anchor management

When we bought her, Ramble On came equipped with a Simpson Lawrence 555 Sea Tiger manual windlass for cranking in anchor and chain.  Our refit budget includes a line item to change it out for an electric windlass, but after weighing the pros and cons of manual vs. electric, we figured why shell out the $5000+ […]

What a view from up here

Ever since we bought the boat, there’s a few things I’ve been meaning to go up the mast and take a look at.  Lights, rigging, VHF antenna, wind transducer, etc.  All that stuff you can’t inspect or repair from deck level.  We plan on pulling the stick next year when we haul out and it’d […]

Note to self

Not too much excitement going on, just more sanding and fairing.  And a bit more epoxy primer over the last couple days.

A bigger cockpit

Thursday it rained the better part of the morning, so filling and fairing fiberglass was out of the question.  I decided it was finally time to pull the steering pedestal assembly and get it out of the way.  I need to sand and paint inside the cockpit well and it’ll be a lot easier to […]

Put a lid on it (part deux)

Cockpit work has been slowly progressing, but it’s a pain in the arse.  Sand, vacuum, acetone wipe, and fill with thickened epoxy.  Story of my life lately, and I’m getting a little bored with it.

Six10 in the morning

I’ve been working with 2-part epoxy for quite a few years now.  If memory serves, I think my first experience was the cylinder head repair on my 327 Chevy racing motor when I was 17 years old.  My Dad showed me how to use JB Weld to fill a crack between two valve seats, and […]

A little less teak this week

Now that the coaming extensions are installed, it’s time to get some more wood out of the way so I can do some filling and fairing on the glass.