C'est la Vie is a 1966 Charlie Morgan 34.

Her home port is Everglades City, FL. Our typical cruising area is Southwest Florida, the Florida Keys, the Southeastern Atlantic Seaboard, and the Bahamas. We are C'est la Vie's third owners and purchased her in 2005. We continue to maintain and update this classic vessel. Please post any questions or comments about C'est la Vie or our travels via the comment links below.


Friday, April 9, 2010

first we polish the steel

Perhaps the most ambitious of our spring boat projects is the creation/addition of a boom gallows to C'est la Vie. We are creating the gallows to both provide a crutch for the boom while at rest and to provide an attachement point for a cockpit bimini. C'est la Vie's boom end sheeting has made it difficult for us to find an bimini design that we feel is sturdy w/out detracting from the aesthetics of the vessel. Our solution... add a gallows and design a custom bimini.

Thanks to a family friend we were able to obtain the requisite stainless steel tubing and plates for the price of polishing our own steel. The tubes were delivered with a dull finish. So one afternoon with a polishing wheel on the grinder later and the steel is ready for the metal shop.
FYI the lower half of the two tubes on the left are unpolished in the image.

I have also purchased a 3" X 10" X 10' piece of Sapelle for the wooden section of the gallows. Step two will be to begin shaping the wooden cross brace.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

The 2009-10 FL Programs season draws to a close

Ahh the sun is setting on another NCOBS FL Programs Season. Anne and I begin to turn our attention to plans for the summer's travels and boat projects. We went to the Port Supply sale today and purchased a new tiller pilot; a tiller extension, and a new rail mounted grill. Let the boat projects begin...