No Rest for the Wicked

Rich is off work for the next TWO weeks, so there is no rest for the wicked – it’s project time again.  I briefly mentioned to him a few months ago that it would be nice to get the final paint and non-skid on the cabin top before winter.  That way next summer we can finally finish […]

To Helm with It

The Helm In keeping with getting this beast ready to take out for a spin, we finally put the steering wheel (the boaty term is the helm) back on the boat.  Way back in early 2013 we took a bunch of stuff off the boat, the wheel included, and it’s been in storage ever since. […]

Bully pulpit

Since we installed the new bowsprit last summer, we haven’t had a pulpit platform on the boat. Or a windlass. Or chain. Or even an anchor.

Mid-summer Project Update

So it’s mid July already and we’re making a little headway on the project list.  Our goal this summer was to get the boat put together enough to take it out on the San Joaquin River. Ground Tackle We started with the ground tackle, and have finally managed to get the bowsprit on, the anchor […]

A tip of the cap

How do you make a straight piece of wood bend around corners?  Well, if you’ve been following us for a while, you might recall my previous experiment in steam bending.  I briefly entertained this idea for the cockpit coamings, but almost immediately realized this would not work for what I needed to do outside.

Update on the Teak Sealer

Last summer I finally completed refinishing the teak. Just before winter (October-ish) I put on a maintenance coat of StarBrite Teak Oil and Sealer. After about six months of rain and cold, the sealer is starting to fade which is about how long I thought it would take.

Cockpit Coamings

We haven’t posted in a long time so I just wanted to do a quick update on what we’ve been doing.  Remember that $500 piece of teak we bought at MacBeath’s about 18 months ago?  Well, Rich finally got up the nerve to make the first cuts on that teak for the cockpit coamings a […]

Dinghy-ling

Two years ago we bought a used 11’6″ Achilles Inflatable RIB.  It had a gouge in the fiberglass bottom and a patch on the front pontoon.  Obviously something had been dropped on the dinghy, but it was holding air at the time and for the price we didn’t care that much.  After two years of use […]

How do we gauge our progress?

I wonder what sort of thought process was involved when the American Boat and Yacht Council convened to establish a standardized system of wire color coding.  Light blue for the oil pressure gauge?  Tan for water temperature?  Shouldn’t it be the other way around based on the “color” of the liquid we’re gauging?  Black might […]

Ready to flush?

The wires were wired, the hoses were plumbed, and the salt tank was making saltwater.  The only thing left to do now was to push the button and see if it worked.