Food, fixes and notes from the casual coastal sailor.

[Kris Cringle]

Sailboats and trees are distantly related.

A man-made contraption, the first sail was raised on a slender, limbed tree trunk lashed to a hollow log.

The sun grew the tree, the sun made the wind that filled the sail.

Perhaps that is why sailboats resemble trees at sunrise.

 

[accnick]

Sailboats and trees are distantly related.

A man-made contraption, the first sail was raised on a slender, limbed tree trunk lashed to a hollow log.

The sun grew the tree, the sun made the wind that filled the sail.

Perhaps that is why sailboats resemble trees at sunrise.


View attachment 568394

Your spars are just Sitka spruce trees, re-purposed and prettified.

 

[Mid]

@Kris Cringle

 

[chester]

d

Sailboats and trees are distantly related.

A man-made contraption, the first sail was raised on a slender, limbed tree trunk lashed to a hollow log.

The sun grew the tree, the sun made the wind that filled the sail.

Perhaps that is why sailboats resemble trees at sunrise.


View attachment 568394

dude, have you been smoking dope and reading philosophy again?

 

[Kris Cringle]

Winter has finally arrived on our coast. Nice first snow last week followed today by another. People are itching to get out on it, tracks are everywhere in town.

 

[Kris Cringle]

My CNG to LPG conversion is moving at the speed of winter.

I have a converted cooker, re-installed. A new gas line connected and run loosely through the boat. I have most of the last bits for that end; regulator, solenoid shut off, etc.

A last detail is getting rid of the double CNG bottle rack that was installed in the 90's.

Three bulkheads fully glassed into the hull. This was either a work of art or a heinous act of overbuilding, I'm not sure which.

It's a good thing I can lay down, supine, in these lockers.

I still have this end bulkhead remaining, and it's solidly glassed in.

This one will take another visit. I've cut into the glass/wood joint over an inch deep and it hasn't begun to let go.

Previously, my only access to this area was through the hole to the left in the above photo.

There's a lot of new storage space(for light items).

 

[Russell Brown]

That dust looks like fun!

 

[Kris Cringle]

That dust looks like fun!

Not! It comes from 1 1/2-2" of solid epoxy.

For my effort, another 5 feet of lazaretto. I'll need to tie the hoses to the middle bulkhead to get the most out of it.

 

[Russell Brown]

I can honestly say that I've paid those kind of dues more than I should have. When something has to get done, I'm there getting it done, but that's maybe not the best trait.

 

[accnick]

I can honestly say that I've paid those kind of dues more than I should have. When something has to get done, I'm there getting it done, but that's maybe not the best trait.

People who aren't willing to take on nasty jobs probably shouldn't own boats. (Well, that's a bit of an over-generalization, but being hands-on seems to be a big part of the equation for most of us.)

 

[Kris Cringle]

This would have been a better time to do this:

But CNG was readily available in the Northeast then (2016). There are no doubt a few of these CNG conversions going amongst the zillions of Maine boatyards scattered along this coast.

Most of them have involved CNG bottle racks below (the whole beauty of the CNG system).

New cookers - conversions, CNG removal, then there is the LPG locker re-fit in the estimate. This is a costly task for many.

So more and more complicated CNG exchanges are undertaken, at great cost for the fuel. My local boatyard currently performs an annual exodus to the south with tanks. This includes tank tests, dating, etc.

The cost, as of last season was about 120 per CNG bottle, when averaging, tests, rejected tanks, travel time.

A CNG bottle is the rough equivalent of 1 gallon of LPG.

 

[Israel Hands]

Yesterday was one to forget. Bad day at work (like worst in 2 years bad) and then the storms rolled in and when I checked on the boat on the way home I discovered the float switch in the chain locker bilge wasn't working and water was seeping across the forecabin floor that I had carefully sanded to refinish.

Tonight, after a much better day at the office, I stopped for a few minutes to recheck the boat, and realized how much better life was than I'd rated it 24 hours before. Spent a couple of minutes just lounging in the cabin and listening to Bill Withers on the mellow playlist, because today has been a lovely day.

 

[Elegua]

Yesterday was one to forget. Bad day at work (like worst in 2 years bad) and then the storms rolled in and when I checked on the boat on the way home I discovered the float switch in the chain locker bilge wasn't working and water was seeping across the forecabin floor that I had carefully sanded to refinish.

Tonight, after a much better day at the office, I stopped for a few minutes to recheck the boat, and realized how much better life was than I'd rated it 24 hours before. Spent a couple of minutes just lounging in the cabin and listening to Bill Withers on the mellow playlist, because today has been a lovely day.
View attachment 570336

Still, nice varnish.

 

[accnick]

Yesterday was one to forget. Bad day at work (like worst in 2 years bad) and then the storms rolled in and when I checked on the boat on the way home I discovered the float switch in the chain locker bilge wasn't working and water was seeping across the forecabin floor that I had carefully sanded to refinish.

Tonight, after a much better day at the office, I stopped for a few minutes to recheck the boat, and realized how much better life was than I'd rated it 24 hours before. Spent a couple of minutes just lounging in the cabin and listening to Bill Withers on the mellow playlist, because today has been a lovely day.
View attachment 570336

Nice looking boat ya got there, Iz!

 

[Israel Hands]

Thanks @accnick and @Elegua. She's coming along. Ready to put most of the fettling behind and venture further sailing this summer.

 

[Kris Cringle]

John Darling, the hermit of Pond Island (Casco Bay), photographed around 1900.

Impatiently waiting for his Cod to dry?

 

[Kris Cringle]

Building leaves bits of your history around.

Spruce framing and pine shiplap sheathing come delivered in neat stacks of white-blonde lumber.

I don't remember making the endless beveled miters 10 years ago, but I do recall seeing a few of my Vibram sole patterns on the boards as I cut them, and thinking I should clean those footprints off(I didn't).

10 years later, open to the elements, it's all turned an earthy brown, and the footprints are sharper.

 

[kinardly]

Tonight, after a much better day at the office, I stopped for a few minutes to recheck the boat, and realized how much better life was than I'd rated it 24 hours before. Spent a couple of minutes just lounging in the cabin and listening to Bill Withers on the mellow playlist, because today has been a lovely day.

And I thought I was the only one weird enough to do this. Some times I invent a reason to go check on the boat and just spend a while sitting in the cabin listening to the wind in the rig or feeling her heel at the dock when a gust hits. That alone is worth all the money we spend on her. The sailing is the icing on the cake for me.

 

[accnick]

Building leaves bits of your history around.

Spruce framing and pine shiplap sheathing come delivered in neat stacks of white-blonde lumber.

I don't remember making the endless beveled miters 10 years ago, but I do recall seeing a few of my Vibram sole patterns on the boards as I cut them, and thinking I should clean those footprints off(I didn't).

10 years later, open to the elements, it's all turned an earthy brown, and the footprints are sharper.


View attachment 570668

Oops...

 

[Jud - s/v Sputnik]

Building leaves bits of your history around.

Speaking of this - building and leaving your history - I randomly stumbled across this thread here today. The title caught my eye, so I clicked on it. Thread and boat started in 2009...still building in 2023!! OP still posting today. Incredible that kind of endurance and commitment to a boat building project...

20+ Footer - Building in Hawaii

Here are a few photos of my new 20+ footer (it's a few inches longer than 20 feet). Essentially a scaled version of my GP26 design, and without the GP class restructions I'm using carbon for the inner skins on the hull and deck. Built all the flat panel stuff first; frames, topsides panels, deck...

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