Tired of waiting on Mother Nature...

I've given up on waiting for the ideal morning to move forward on applying the topcoats to the Arctic Hawk and moved the project indoors.

 The conditions are ideal, but the process is not without it's complications.  First due to the length of the kayak it must enter the house through the window seen behind me in the image above.  Also, all human inhabitants must flee the house for 4+ hours after painting is completed.  This makes for some interesting scheduling.

It is gratifying to be making forward progress and be able to predict a completion date for later this week.
Below is an image of the hull after the application of the 1st coat of Brightsides.

more time with the birds

Today we banded pelicans on New Dump Island off of Atlantic, NC in Core Sound.

The concept is the same - pick up the juvenile birds before they mature into flight and place a metal band on their right leg.  Since pelicans are much larger and less agile than the terns we do not use an impoundment, but rather use groups of people to hem in groups of birds.  Once a group is surrounded we wade into the crowd and pick on the birds by the beak.

We banded approximately 250 pelicans.  Anne and our friend Becky joined the team of volunteers today.

If you would like to see additional images from either day of banding here is a link to my picasa web album - Banding Birds in the OBX 2011.

today's time for boat projects went to the birds

I spent the day today banding Royal and Sandwich Terns at the north end of Core Sound on Wainwright Island. We have participated in this project in the past and are always eager for the opportunity.

Aluminum bands are attached to the juvenile birds before they are able to fly.  The process involves setting up an impoundment pen and herding in the young birds into the pen.

Next, groups of less and 200 birds are then herded into a smaller  pen where the species are separated.  Once identified the appropriate band is attached to the birds right leg.

Today 12 volunteers banded 3000 Royal Terns and 400 Sandwich Terns.  Each band has a unique number.  If you ever find a dead or injured bird with a band on it's leg, then please record the number and report it via www.reportband.gov. 

More images from the day are available via my picasa web album - banding birds in the OBX 2011. Tomorrow we will be banding pelicans!

juggling boat projects

How many boat projects is too many?

At dawn I, applied the final coat of primer to the starboard side of the kayak hull.  Then Bud and I headed out the the boat yard to remove the windlass.  On the way back from the boat yard we stopped in the machine shop to check on the bobstay repairs. The repair is moving along and should be complete by the end of the week.

Once back and the house, Bud and I began to disassemble the windlass.  The removing the aluminum cover plate on the bottom of the windlass exposed a foul mass of fatigued grease that ranged in color from eft red to toffee tan to aged banana brown.  Salt water corrosion  had breached the plate in a couple spots so Bud volunteered to take the 1/8" aluminum cover home to Mooresville and fabricate a new one.

Lunch time internet research yielded exploded diagrams of the windlass assembly and an supplier in England that sells spare parts for the windlass.  Hopefully no replacement parts will be required.  A couple of the bolts refused to part ways with the windlass body.  Rather that force any fasteners I am attempting to encourage the bolts with afternoon applications of vinegar and an overnight soak in penetrating oil... remember replacement parts must be shipped from England don't want to force anything.

Reaching an impasse with the windlass, I turned my attention back the the head plumbing.  I did not have the time to remove all the valves and fittings from the hoses or the holding tank on Saturday.  So I brought the old hoses, fittings, and tank home to deal with them at a later date. 24 hours of curing in the backyard and the need to deal with cleaning the salvageable parts of our toilet plumbing would no longer be ignored.

A couple hours of removing hoses and scrubbing crevasses yielded the assortment of plumbing hardware pictured above.  The majority of the fittings removed from the plumbing are serviceable.  All the old hose is retired.

As  mid-afternoon thunderstorms begin to rumble, I return my attention to the kayak hull.  Baked in the coastal sun throughout the day, the morning's coat of primer now beckoned.  A session with some 220 grit sandpaper and the hull is ready for tomorrow's application of primer.  

So tomorrow's projects will start at dawn with the application of the final coat of primer on the port side of the kayak hull.

add another project to the list

Part of painting the decks is stripping off deck fittings that will prove difficult to work around.  One such deck fitting is the Sea Tiger 555 windlass.  The windlass is a mechanical winch that assists us in hauling and generally managing the anchor rodes.  Here is an image of the windlass rigged with two rodes as we prepared for Hurricane Earl last summer.

We are very pleased with the windlass and she works well, but judging by the peeling paint some maintenance is due.  The Lovetts were in town to celebrate Anne's birthday so I recruited Bud to assist with  removing the windlass from C'est la Vie's bow.

 Extricating the windlass progressed smoothly.  The only surprise was the existence the second hole in the deck, likely the original  hawse hole for the anchor rode.  We will properly glass in a patch prior to progressing with painting the decks.  Since the hole is covered by the windlass, I'm not too worried about the cosmetics, but structurally I'm not fond of having two large holes in the the foredeck that are less the an inch apart.

My plan is to refinish the cast aluminum windlass body.  This process will likely involve sandblasting.  In preparation for sandblasting the inner gears/mechanism will need to be removed.   Here is an image of the port side of the windlass. 

Being a creature of habit I have created a web album to record the progress of this project - Refinishing the Windlass

Stripped and dirty - the start of a new project.

Here is the pile of plumbing, valves, and hardware I stripped out of C'est la Vie's head today.  Weeks after purchasing C'est la Vie in December 2005, we replaced the holding tank and some of the plumbing hoses.  Now we are stripping down the head and doing a complete rebuild.  Below is an image of the naked & dirty head.

 Due to lack of use and issues with back flooding through the drain while heeled under sail we removed the plumbing from the sink years ago.  The plan is to cover the old sink and faucet openings with a new counter.

We like the Lavac Toilet and plan to keep it. The holding tank is forward of the head, under the port side of the vee berth.  As part of the process we removed the tank.  The current tank is only 10 gallons.  I hope to find a larger tank, but due to space restrictions I think our options will be limited.

Next step is to repaint the inside of the lockers and hull.  I'll continue to post updates of progress on this project.  I also added a link to a new photo album dedicated to this project - Refinishing the Head.

fortunate discoveries of undesirable repairs

While polishing C'est la Vie's stainless steel bowsprit I discovered a hairline crack along the lower fork of the rod bobstay.  Perhaps a picture is worth more than a thousand words

The bobstay is the strut that spans between the leading edge of the bowsprit and the hull of the boat.  In the image above I have replaced the bobstay with a hank of yellow rope.  The bowsprit is not designed to bear the loads exerted by the forestay.  The bobstay transfers the majority of the rigs loads into the hull of C'est la vie.  If the bobstay were to fail while sailing there is a good chance of the entire rig failing and falling to the deck.  So we are pleased to have found the crack while on the hard.  We are dismayed at the addition to the project list, and even less pleased about the added expense of repairing the stay.

Here is a closeup of the crack... in the image included I am pointing at the tiny crack.

After collecting a couple assessments of the damage and corresponding repair, I dropped the stay off at a local machine shop.  the plan is to remove the forked end of the stay and replace it with a new section of stainless rod.  The machinist will likely use a section of a stainless drive shaft to make the repair.

Now we wait two weeks until the stay repair is completed.  Until the bobstay is replaced we will need to keep the mast in place so that the forestay can support the weight of the bowsprit.

In the mean time, I have stripped off the mainsail and boom.  We plan to replace the slides on the mainsail/mast with a Strong Track system .  Due to damage along the luff of the main sail we knew we would need to replace the upper two slides.  We have heard great reviews of the Strong Track so with the mast down and other work being done on the sails and rig it seemed like the right time to upgrade.   

We did not realize the internal outhaul on the boom is seized.  I've relocated the boom to the backyard where daily doses of vinegar can be applied to the various boom orifices in hopes of freeing the outhaul.  If over time this does not prove effective the next step will be to attempt to remove the forward end of the boom in hopes of accessing the out haul system.  Personally, I'm skeptical but hopeful the vinegar works.    

Diversions from boat projects

Despite my best intentions of launching directly into boat projects plenty of diversions have kept me away from C'est la Vie.

The first full weekend in June, Anne and I drove to Western North Carolina to attend the North Carolina Outward Bound School's All Staff Training.  The annual event is the one time of year when the school attempts to gather its entire staff at one location.  The three day "training" does include some professional development, but it more resembles a giant pep rally for the start of the busy summer season for NCOBS  We enjoy the time to celebrate our successes, honor our peers, and  catch up with distant friends.

Returning to the OBX on Wednesday night and a full day of office work on Thursday did not allow for any boat time before my parents came down for a visit on Friday.

Saturday June 11, the nearby community of Pine Knoll Shores hosted its fourth Annual Kayak for the Warriors Race.  The fundraising event benefits programs for wounded service men and women and their families.  

This is the first time I have participated in an official kayak race and must have benefited from beginners luck. In the image above I'm out to an early lead.  Over the 5K course I was able to hang on to the lead and finish 1st overall.

My intentions for participating in the race were not entirely philanthropic.  NCOBS is now offering courses specifically desgined for veterans returning from recent conflicts.  Theses "Veterans Courses" are free for any US Military Vets.  NCOBS greatest hurtle with the courses thus far is connecting with participants.  I  made a couple contacts at the event that hopefully will lead to future enrollments.

The next day the Lovett's were eager to hit the water. We launched their dinghy, a Chesapeake Light Craft Passage Maker, at Marshallberg Harbor.  They motored the dinghy and I paddled a kayak across Core Sound to Codds Creek along the South Core Banks.

 The skinny water and low tide made the Codds Creek egress a bit tricky, but the day long journey went smoothly.

So here I am at the ides of June.  The Lovett's have continued on to their boat in Wilmington, NC and Anne is back to work in Beaufort.  Time to refocus on C'est la Vie projects.