Tarp off for good?

So, the deck is just about ready for the fiberglass. I have to still level a spot here and there with epoxy/filler/sanding before doing anything else. It looks good and I’m kicking myself for taking so long to do it.


This is the first time that the tarp has been off the boat. I had made a replacement for the frame that the previous owner had made for it. This created a nice “room” to work in whenever the weather wasn't so dry. Even in the summers, I've had the tarp on the boat if there was over a 30% chance of rain. Now, with the decks watertight, I took of the tarp and as long as the companionway, port lights and forward hatch are closed tight or covered then everything should be dry…


A couple of shots of the boat without the tarp and the frame that has since been burned in the bonfire……


We’ll see. (I'm still expecting a few leaks)

Still prepping the deck...

Spring is on its way and the weather is starting to turn. The NH seacoast had a long dry spell of increasing warm weather and I started in on the decks again.


For a while, I've been trying to decide how to handle the deck. Originally, the boat came with a plywood underlayment with a teak deck. The previous owners might have ben planning to re-do the teak decking but I couldn't justify spending that much money on this when a fiberglass deck would be less of a hassle and less likely to leak. The plywood decking thats there now is appox 3/8" or so. Which leaves about a 1/8" of a difference between the deck and the hieght of the hull sides. I had read in a few sources that the thing to do would have been to make up the diference with another layer of ply before fairing it and putting on the cloth. I started down this road last fall i think and had all the pieces cut and coated with epoxy. But then of course I read a few opinons the other way saying that a deck that think was unnessisray and overkill. It seemed that plenty of larger boats have a deck of 3/8ths with fiberglass that have been more that strong enough for decades so I decided to go that way. Even though I had prepped all the pieces to go, I still thought it better to have the thinner deck and save weight of all that wood and epoxy. The next thought was how to handle the differenece in hieght between the hull side and the deck. I considered shaving the sides down with a grinder but decided to use microballons in the west system to fair out a nice smooth camber from the cabin sides to the rails (not too flat that it wont drain out the scuppers), rather than the steeper grade it would have been.
So in the interest in doing things right the first time, I have been spending a lot of time fairing out that area from cabin sides to the rails so that its smooth and even from side to side. I had enough light to get most of the epoxy down I wanted to but ran out of warm weather, dry weather and sun light to think about laying any cloth.

Me, sanding some epoxy and running out of day light.....
(note the no longer needed blue dress sock being used as a dust bag)

Decks started

We had a couple of 50 degree days here in NH, so I finally got around to the decks. I scratched and patched the ply that was down and then skim coated everything with West/microballon powder. I'll do this a couple times then sand it fair. The next couple of 50 degree days and I'll be able to lay the fiberglass down.
No pictures yet.

wiring

So for the last day or two, I've been trying to figure out the best way to attack the wiring. I decided on making a small drawing to use as guide for buying the wire and also as a guide for the installation. It lays out what I expect to be in the boat for lights etc. It shows the different items, cabin lights, bilge etc, what each thing draws based on watts/volts and then shows which wire to use based on the circuit or run and color guide.

I went and bought the wiring and started installing it this afternoon.

interior lighting...

So this week, Ive been reconnecting with the boat and whats left to do with the remaining projects. There's not too much left but as with most things, I'm sure as I get into something, I'll realize that there is a lot more to do than I thought. I've got it set up now so that the boat is well lit and heated with a small electrical unit. I can turn this on for just 5 minutes before going out there and its comfortable to work in.
One thing I was trying to accomplish today was to get the old light fixtures (with new lights etc) wired. The boat came with two great interior main cabin lights, I'm not sure of the make but I'm hoping to keep them because of the great piece of glass each one has. The light up forward is more recent maybe 70's and although the lens is glass too, it looks like a lot of lights out there today.
The next step is to finish the shelves, counter tops, sink and companion way door. When these are done, I'll have to also get to the mast before my friend comes home and needs his barn again....

2010 New Years resolution

Well, while I've done a couple of small things on the boat since the summer, it hasn't been much to speak of and sadly, none of it has been with Maya. I've been thinking of this boat's history over the last twenty years or so and how it's been the focus of on again and off again restoration projects and unfortunately then left alone until the next owner. So this new years resolution is basically just to recommit to this project. Like any resolution, I think I'll have to just do a little each day again to feel that its making some progress. At the rate its going, I'll have a mooring ready with no boat to show ready.
To new beginnings!

Summer's here?

Now that summers here, there's no sun. Its been raining for weeks and everyday the 10 day forecast calls for more and more rain. Even if we can work on the boat outside because of the rain, we will try to chip away at everything we can do off the boat and in the garage.

Frisco Flyer in Sausalito, CA

Wow.

1965 Cheoy Lee Frisco Flyer - US$12,000.00
(£6,130)

Year: 1965

Price: US$12,000.00 (£6,130)

Located in: Sausalito, CA


See it here:

http://ae.boats.com/listing/boat_details.jsp?entityid=19387731

Eggemoggin Reach Race....

Just returned from a great weekend up in Maine. I went up to spend a long weekend with some friends and to race in the Reach Race. We raced on Cicada, a friend's Nevins 40 with a long racing pedigree. Maybe a hundred of the best looking sailboats I've ever seen in one place. (Although there were no old Cheoy Lee's to look at) . I could have skipped the Mystic wooden boat show if I knew how good this was going to be. It was hard to just let your eyes settle on just one boat because there was so much to look at.


There was little wind and a lot of fog but we did well, (really well) in the race. The trophies were handed out and we didn't get one on awards night, we may get one yet because there were some mistakes made. We were placed in the wrong class and may not have been given the correct start/finish time.

Aside from the race, (which was the best) we simply had a great time. Delicious food constantly pouring out of the companion way, a cold Heiniken in the sun and hot buttered rum for the lighting/rain squall, music, dancing and some really nice people.


My daughter wasn't with me unfortunately, she was having her own great time at a girls weekend in the Cape with her Mom and some friends. We did have the two boys who will be inheriting Cicada eventually, so there was three generations of the same family on the boat all who have or will eventually own her. Probably not something that happens much these days.

I'm looking for more pictures of the race. There's some more here:
http://ellsworthamerican.smugmug.com/gallery/5643227_oBcZQ

More here on the ERR website:
http://www.erregatta.com/photos.html

Pooka update...

After meeting the owner of Pooka, the small Cheoy Lee in our local harbor (Maya calls it Jackaroe's sister) we noticed that it wasn't sitting on its mooring for several weeks following it's launch.

I found this on line....

June 27, 2008

Coast Guard tows sinking sailboat into harbor

By Michael Farrell
Staff writer

Two people were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard yesterday afternoon after their sailboat was taking on water.

As it was traveling from Rye, N.H., to Boston, the 30-foot sailboat Pooka began to take on water and flood while it was four miles northeast of Gloucester Harbor.

The Coast Guard received a distress call over VHF radio at 12:40 p.m. from the owner, John Mixie, a resident of Hampton, N.H.

A 25-foot response boat and a 47-foot motor lifeboat were dispatched from the Gloucester Coast Guard Station on Harbor Loop to assist the Pooka.

"There were about 50 gallons of water on board," said Petty Officer 2nd class Gary Fleming, a crewman on the response boat. "And there was water in the cabin."

When Fleming was sent aboard the Pooka, the water was rising above the deck plates. Unable to get the Pooka's on-board pump to operate because there was too much water in the bilge, to keep the boat from sinking, Fleming and Mixie had to use a Coast Guard's dewatering pump and buckets.

According to Fleming, after the Pooka was towed into Gloucester Harbor, they were able to get the boat's own pump working.

The Pooka was escorted to the Gloucester harbormaster's dock and safely moored.

We wish them the best and hope the boat and everyone is fine and back home in Rye Harbor soon.

A 1965 Flyer III in California for sale...

Hopefully our '65 will oook this nice someday. (Without the Teak decks). There are only two photos of this boat but its looks well maintained. Interesting place for the running lights to be placed up on boards on the cabin house rather than in the usual spot of on the cabin house walls themselves. I wonder if there is any visual advantage to having them placed up higher.
Link here:
http://www.sailboatlistings.com/view/10020

1961 Flyer in for sale..

Nice looking 1961 Type II Flyer in Michigan for $7,995.00 . Great looking little wooden boat. The owner pulled the inboard motor, filled the aperture in the Rudder and uses a small outboard instead. Nice, clean and simple.
http://www.sailboattraderonline.com/find/listing/1961-CHOEY-LEE-25-Frisco-Flyer-93095103

Duck Boats....

I watched about 90 Celtics games this past season and Maya watched lots of first quarters before she had to go to bed. She even fell asleep on the couch and floor for a couple of the bigger games. So when the C's finally won, we had to go to the Rolling Rally parade in the beginning of June. I was trying to think of a reason to post the pictures of it here on our boat project blog. I'm going to use the excuse that this is boat related because the Celtics rolling rally was on the Boston duck BOATS.

A shot of Lucky, the mascot leading the parade and KG holding the trophy and his bud Sam Cassell.

Big Baby with no shirt (he doesn't seem like the sharpest guy on the team but he did his part to help with the win).


Also Ray Ray, showing the three point signal the refs made all season long (except for the painful end of the season drought.)

Lots of kids there.

We had such a great spot and were with in reaching distance of the guys and the trophy. I don't know who had more fun.



Lets do it next year!

Sail folding 101...

Not much to write here. The kid and I took advantage of a nice sunny day in June to learn to inspect, clean and fold the sails. Basically, it was just an excuse to be outside on a nice day.





Super cute Mommy (Mammi) looking on.

Volvo broken down and "cleaned" up...

Basically, this was/is a learning experience for me. The Volvo, being a single cylinder diesel is a very simple motor for me to work on. I've never done this but the huge simple parts make it very easy to understand and work on.

Like the Johnson outboard, I just scrubbed this thing as clean as I could get it and then broke it down being careful to take lots of pictures as I went along. To my novice eyes, the major components looked to be in serviceable shape and I think I have found the rest of what I may need on line (for the right price). To have someone else do all of this would be easier but expensive and I wouldn't learn anything so it makes sense to me to tool around on this myself.


This thing in its current state could almost be taken apart a little more, dipped and painted the original color before assembly. We'll see how much that costs.

Deck waiting to go down...

The deck pieces have been cut and soaked up as much West System as they can handle. Its all ready to go down as soon as I come up with the funds to buy the cloth, screws and more Epoxy. Hopefully tis will happen before the summer ends. Until then I'm working on things that I have all the parts/equipment/money for.

Racing Cicada...

I went for a sail with Maya's grandfather the other day (who is keeping his boat close to home this season as opposed to further north) and while we were out there we ran into Cicada. We raced around eachother for a little while and I got some nice shots of Steve and Justin...

(they won)

Johnson Light Twin Waterbug....

I started on the Johnson this week. Its a 1925 AB-25 Johnson Light Twin "Waterbug", one of 10,00 made. This one has only been used in the lakes of New Hampshire and they were all initially intended for only fresh water but through a nice stroke of luck this is the salt water version with the bronze lower end. Perfect. I've wanted to learn more about motors and this one is a nice simple two stroke to start on. It only has a few parts (about thirty screws and thirty separate pieces) and after a couples times it only takes about 20 minutes to break it down and put together (with no left over bits). The friend who gave this to me said he was given it when he was about 13 and at the time the motor was already more than twenty years old. When I got it was over 80 years old and a little banged up but looked to have 99% of all its original parts. Buried under layers and layers of grime, (Still looking for a picture of what it looked like before I started cleaning it) there was a perfect little motor with only one small crack on the muffler bracket, a frayed wire and a missing cavataion plate.


This is where I sat for a couple nights this week. Maya has her own camera now and is really getting into this project by taking some of the pictures too. She took this one of me taking the upper end apart.


After soaking everything with a couple cans of oven cleaner and some hard scrubbing, the bits cleaned up a pretty good. They didn't get polished but at least all the grease and grime was gone.


A shot of the pistons on the left and then all assembled on the right. You can also see where the missing plate would go on the lower end. Everything else looked good and all I had to buy was new oil, plugs, some copper tubing to make new fuel lines and I needed new paper gaskets too but couldn't find them so I made some from a paper grocery bag. I did an OK job cleaning it but could easily take it to the next step by having the dents taken out of the fuel tank and muffler, re-chroming the handle, casting a new bronze cavatation plate, buying "new" period ignition cables, polishing the rest and finally buying reproduction AB-25 stickers from that 1925 model.
For now though it looks good enough and as soon as I get the new fuel lines on I'll put it on the dory and take it for a spin with the kid.


While I was doing this, the she had a visitor from next door and they went to work cleaning the dory. We had a recent adventure which ended muddy and the boat still needed a bath. We'll post the pictures from that and other sails, launchings and projects soon.

A helpful starting place for info on this motor:
http://www.yankeeaomci.org/johnsonat85.htm