A “famous” day in cruising boat history

[Fah Kiew Tu]

Every boat is a compromise WRT time/money. Nature of the game.

Kiwigrip sticks pretty well IME so the question would be how good the old non-skid was stuck to the substrate.

It's reasonably resistant to chipping but not totally - I need to touch up a couple spots where I've damaged the coating. And there are areas with rust particle staining that annoy me. I'll likely hit it with 60 grit to smooth the surface a bit then roll on another coat - assuming I've not thought of any more welding/cutting jobs needing doing. Adding the hard dodger caused some mess even with assiduous masking and use of a vacuum cleaner. Just cosmetic but it annoys me. I think I'm going to raise my foresail gallows ~300mm so that's a cut/weld job I should do before any repainting.

WRT insulation values, I doubt your old non-skid adds anything much anyway. I insulated my boat's deck with 60mm polystyrene from below and painted the decks light grey. They don't get hot and don't radiate heat into the interior. I suspect my summer temperatures are higher than yours...

I've another big round of improvements and mods planned for September when I'll be on the hard for a month so you're not alone. However I like playing and am under no pressure to go anywhere.

NZ is open again...

FKT

 

[Jud - s/v Sputnik]

Every boat is a compromise WRT time/money. Nature of the game.

Kiwigrip sticks pretty well IME so the question would be how good the old non-skid was stuck to the substrate.

It's reasonably resistant to chipping but not totally - I need to touch up a couple spots where I've damaged the coating. And there are areas with rust particle staining that annoy me. I'll likely hit it with 60 grit to smooth the surface a bit then roll on another coat - assuming I've not thought of any more welding/cutting jobs needing doing. Adding the hard dodger caused some mess even with assiduous masking and use of a vacuum cleaner. Just cosmetic but it annoys me. I think I'm going to raise my foresail gallows ~300mm so that's a cut/weld job I should do before any repainting.

WRT insulation values, I doubt your old non-skid adds anything much anyway. I insulated my boat's deck with 60mm polystyrene from below and painted the decks light grey. They don't get hot and don't radiate heat into the interior. I suspect my summer temperatures are higher than yours...

I've another big round of improvements and mods planned for September when I'll be on the hard for a month so you're not alone. However I like playing and am under no pressure to go anywhere.

NZ is open again...

FKT

I meant insulation against heat on your feet. The white painted areas in between my non-skid gets quite hot, almost too hot to walk on with bare feet, whereas the non-skid portions are quite a bit cooler.

In retrospect,if I’d remembered KiwiGrip existed, if I’d researched this further,I could’ve experimented with some KiwiGrip on a small portion of my non-skid to see if it would stick. Too fucking late now. Fingers crossed.

Yeah, I like playing with the boat too - the dilemma is that too many solid weekends of boat work and every night after work just grinds you down. Not enough time. Time, chafe and women. The three things that lie in wait to conspire against a sailor.

 

[Fah Kiew Tu]

Yeah, I like playing with the boat too - the dilemma is that too many solid weekends of boat work and every night after work just grinds you down. Not enough time. Time, chafe and women. The three things that lie in wait to conspire against a sailor.

Fortunately for you, you're not up to the grandchildren point - or pets. Let's not mention women and their bloody pets.

I agree, every so often you have to say fuckit to the project list and just go sailing for a few days. The projects will still be there, the sun will still come up tomorrow.

Anyway, famous last words but the next round of upgrades should be the last WRT significant boat stuff for me. Doesn't mean I'm going anywhere, I'm not, just I expect to spend less time thinking about boat upgrades. This boat that is.

Which leaves more time to ponder on pulling my IH TD9 Drott tracked loader apart...

FKT

 

[TheDragon]

I took off on my first ocean sailing on my Pacific crossing from Panama to the Marquesas solo for several reasons. First and foremost, the only person I would really want along would be my wife, but she reads too many books and since the only sailing books that sell involve some sort of drama, she was not interested in ocean sailing (which works out well as she keeps the home fires burning plus visits me in interesting places, like Fakarava atoll two weeks ago, and otherwise sticks to dinghy sailing with friends). I considered asking a good friend, and also just finding someone along the way, there are plenty of folk looking for rides in Panama. BUT, I like being alone and regularly travel alone, plus that way I get to make a mess and ignore it for days, plus I have only one passage bunk, on the starboard side as that is the preferred side for that crossing, but with a sturdy lee-cloth so it works on starboard tack as well, so the entire V-berth, double port berth, and quarter berth are storage/junk places. But perhaps most importantly, I am only responsible for myself, so don't have to keep watch, can wander around the boat in nearly all conditions sans harness, eat what I want, and basically do whatever I want whenever I want. Selfish, sure.

And on the writing part, I swore I would not write a blog, but had signed up with Predictwind for their weather forecasts via Iridium Go! and after sending too many texts to too many people, was persuaded to use their blog feature, and now am almost obligated to post something each day. I try to keep it interesting, but sometimes one day is like another. Still, family and friends appear to enjoy it, and I do like that.

 

[Jud - s/v Sputnik]

Fortunately for you, you're not up to the grandchildren point - or pets. Let's not mention women and their bloody pets.

I agree, every so often you have to say fuckit to the project list and just go sailing for a few days. The projects will still be there, the sun will still come up tomorrow.

Anyway, famous last words but the next round of upgrades should be the last WRT significant boat stuff for me. Doesn't mean I'm going anywhere, I'm not, just I expect to spend less time thinking about boat upgrades. This boat that is.

Which leaves more time to ponder on pulling my IH TD9 Drott tracked loader apart...

FKT

Yeah, I think I may have fucked up my deck restoration project so far, not having remembered KiwiGrip. I just emailed them and they said that the KiwiGrip acrylic polymer will adhere to the 2-part aliphatic urethane and walnut shells I just put on. Just need to sand and rough up the surface. Bit of a fuck up and a drag, but nothing to do now except rectify it. I walked on my boat deck last night and was pretty unhappy with how aggressive the crushed shells were. This could be fixed by putting on more paint (2 coats currently, 3-4 would soften it quite a bit - I have a very small area I did a few years ago with shells and 4-5 paint coats on top), but I’m past the urethane paint technical data sheet’s specified three days maximum recoat time without requiring sanding - so I don’t think extra coats of paint would stick well anyway. So if I sand it down/rough it up a bit, I might as well apply KiwiGrip over it and then end up with a better/less aggressive non-skid finish. Lesson learned - didn’t research and think through this project fully enough.

 

[Dilligaf0220]

I have never understood the adulation for Moitessier.

And you never will. Which is why Moitessier turned right instead of left.

 

[Jud - s/v Sputnik]

I took off on my first ocean sailing on my Pacific crossing from Panama to the Marquesas solo for several reasons. First and foremost, the only person I would really want along would be my wife, but she reads too many books and since the only sailing books that sell involve some sort of drama, she was not interested in ocean sailing (which works out well as she keeps the home fires burning plus visits me in interesting places, like Fakarava atoll two weeks ago, and otherwise sticks to dinghy sailing with friends). I considered asking a good friend, and also just finding someone along the way, there are plenty of folk looking for rides in Panama. BUT, I like being alone and regularly travel alone, plus that way I get to make a mess and ignore it for days, plus I have only one passage bunk, on the starboard side as that is the preferred side for that crossing, but with a sturdy lee-cloth so it works on starboard tack as well, so the entire V-berth, double port berth, and quarter berth are storage/junk places. But perhaps most importantly, I am only responsible for myself, so don't have to keep watch, can wander around the boat in nearly all conditions sans harness, eat what I want, and basically do whatever I want whenever I want. Selfish, sure.

This actually sounds like a really nice way to do it. Gives you time to yourself, whic is very valuable and that few get or realize the value of, and companionship. But - it supposed one is comfortable doing solo ocean crossings. Gotta work on that! . How did get to the point of feeling confident doing it solo? Had you done ocean crossings on crewed boats before?

 

[TheDragon]

Jud, nope, the only ocean sailing I had done was coastal. A five-day bareboat charter in the Whitsundays in Australia in 2006, and then five day sails to the San Blas islands and back in Panama, about 40 miles each way in 2019 and 2021 in my boat. But I have sailed all my life and had a wonderful Namibian mentor in Panama who helped me get my boat prepared. The sailing was the easy part, dealing with solar and batteries and the engine and autopilot and windvane were the hard parts. I felt completely confident when I left Panama on Friday April 1, an auspicious day to start ones first solo ocean crossing, and the longest one too at around 4000 miles. I loved every minute of it, squalls, becalmed, strong trade winds, etc.