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.


Thursday, April 15, 2010

Something a bit more fun!

While in prep & repair time before an extended trip it is helpful to think back to the fun times on the water. Here is a clip from December '09 that just resurfaced on facebook. This was shot off of Cape Romano during an overnight trip to Marco.


No the choreography nor the shot was planned or rehearsed. Kudos to the crew... Patsy, Trish, and Anne.

Still measuring....



Moving on from the wooden cross piece, now we need to create dimensions and a sketch for the metal work. It is more daunting that the wood because the cost of errors will be in both materials and labor.

It is also not the most glamorous or fun portion of owning a boat or even of this project, but it is impossible to escape the need to be diligent and exact in the phase of the project.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Measure twice...cut once
















With the steel polished, the next step on the boom gallows project is to rough cut the wooden cross member. The staff at Seafarer Marine in Fl Lauderdale recommended Sappele, a member of the Mahogany family. At their suggestion purchased a 10 foot section of 2"X9". As with all construction projects the mantra with this step is measure twice & cut once. Looks like we will have 3' section of wood left over for another project.

With the steel polished and the wood cut to length, my next step will be to take all the pieces to Paradise Welding in Naples to ensure that we are on the same page with the design process and production calendar.