Vee berth lockers are painted!

Spent most of my boat time today priming and painting the lockers below the vee berth.

The space on the port side (left) will house the holding tank (waste water storage) and the area on the starboard (right) is storage for seldom used items.

Above is the lockers after 1 coat of primer and 2 top coats.  The metal tank visible in this image is our fresh water storage.

Between coats of paint I worked to harvest the track for the mainsail outhaul from the old boom.  After 45 years the machine screws were seized.  I tried penetrating oil, heat, and an impact driver all to no avail.  I was successfull in removing the track, but had to resort to creative measures...

Working full time on boat projects

Today was my first day of full time work on boat projects.  From now until C'est la Vie returns to the water, I have cleared my schedule.  I plan to devote the majority of my time to completing the myriad of projects and repairs that have accumulated since our haul out in June.

Since Paul from Omar Sails was in the yard, I spent the morning on the rigging. We discussed various options for the modifications... placement of the new 3" Harken narrow body halyard sheaves; replacement of the upper and lower stays; addition of a inner stay tang; repairs to the spreaders, etc.  We made a plan for the division of labor.

Below is the official before image of C'est la Vie's mast head.

I spend a chunk of the morning removing all the hardware from the mast head.  This area will undergo significant changes before we restep the mast.  Here is a link to the album dedicated to all our rigging repairs & modifications ... Rigging Repairs & Modifications - Summer 2011.

The afternoon was devoted to completing the brackets to support the new, larger holding tank.

I cut notches in the sides of the opening to allow the new tank to squeeze into the space.  Fitting the aft brace (pictured on left above) was the next task to fall.  Finally I used thickend epoxy followed up by some cloth mat to secure the bracing to the hull.  By tomorrow afternoon, I hope to apply two coats of primer to both the vee berth lockers.  Here is a link to the album dedicated to our efforts to refinish C'est la Vie's head... Refinishing the Head - summer 2011

Halfway back and making progress on the windlass repairs

Immediately after cleaning up from Irene, I traveled to Asheville to drop off the NCOBS mini bus and attend a 3 day Wilderness First Responder Re-certification class at Landmark Learning based in Sylva, NC.  My WFR certification will be current for another two years.

Anne drove up to Asheville on Labor Day to shuttle me back to the OBX.  We are spending a couple nights at my parents house on our return trip. I brought the windlass along so that I could recruit Bud in assisting me with tearing down the workings of the windlass.

We were able to deconstruct the windlass.  The gears and shafts had mild pitting and corrosion so Bud cleaned these up with the wire wheel on the bench grinder and we used a degreaser to clean up the other components.

 The windlass is missing a spring that likely broke sometime in the past and was tossed out among gobs of old, foul grease.  Thank to the forums on SailNet I found a source for Seatiger 555 windlass parts in the UK - SL-Spares.  I also ordered new seals and a stripping pin.

My plan is to use zinc chromate as a primer on the cast aluminum windlass body.  Other than some taping to protect bushings, the body is ready from primer.  The spray zinc chromate I purchased at West Marine requires humidity less than 65% when applying.  With tropical depression Lee passing through the area, I doubt the humidity dropped below 90% today.  Tomorrow will hopefully provide the conditions necessary to apply the primer.

Hurricane Irene's visit

Hurricane Irene made landfill at Cape Lookout, NC.  The Cape is approximately 8 miles from our house in Straits and 15 miles from Bock Marine.  Both locations passed through the eye of the storm.  Fortunately we were all spared from any significant damage.

Despite continuing tropical storm force winds Anne and I were able to drive over and check on C'est la Vie  afternoon on Saturday. The image included was captured during the waning hours of Irene's effects in our area. 
Cell service has remained up the entire time, but we are going into day three w/out electricity.  We stockpiled plenty of food, water, and ice prior to the landfall.  The Honda generator off the boat has kept the phones charged in addition to providing wonderful amenities - running fans, the coffee maker, the projector for movies, etc. 

Since the storm we have focused on clean up efforts.  Hopefully we can complete the clean up today and return to refinishing the vee berth lockers.  

Here comes Irene

I spent the morning on Thursday, August 25, prepping C'est la Vie for Irene's visit.  Since she is already on the hard at Bock Marine, most of my effort went into sealing hatches, double checking jack stands, securing loose stays & shrouds to the mast, and generally removing clutter from around the boat.  Now it is all up to her to successfully ride out the storm.

The yard at Bock was filling fast on Thursday.  The majority of the haul-outs were commercial and research vessels.

Thursday afternoon was devoted to assisting Dennis Chadwick, owner of the house that NCOBS rents for the summer, with removing trees that may threaten  the house during the storm.

It was not until this morning, Friday, that Anne and I began to pack up for a possible evacuation.  Stalling our final decision to stay or go, we began by packing the remaining NCOBS equipment in the mini bus.  By noon we had completed loading the bus. All the while co-workers, friends, and family called to inquire about our plans for the storm.  During our lunch break we checked the forecasts and were pleased to learn that Irene was picking up forward speed.  This is good news for two reasons.... First, forward speed typically retards a hurricanes ability to strengthen.  The current forecast is for Irene to make landfall as a Category 2 storm.  Second increased forward momentum means we will spend less time exposed to all the hazards associated with the storm - winds, rains, surge, etc.   Based on the noon reports and support from our neighbors here in Straits, NC.  We are now planning to remain in the house during the storm.

We have moved the vehicles into the front yard away from the large pines and sycamores that ring the property.  We have 25 gallons of potable water, 20 gallons of non-potable water (flushing & bathing), 12 beers, 10 pounds of ice, 7+ days of food, 5 gallons of gasoline, 3 canisters of fuel for the MSR stove, 2 pounds of coffee, and 1 Honda generator.  I am bit worried about the beer supply.

We are expecting to loose power and communications between midnight and dawn tomorrow.  We will post our status here, on facebook, and on Google+ once our phone and/or internet returns.

Now it is time to pop some corn and snuggle up with Anne for a movie.

Prepping for Irene or sanding louvers

I ponder the question often... which is my favorite pastime prepping for Hurricane Irene or sanding louvers?

Really what is not to love.  All the media hype and instant access to computer models updated hourly

create a stress the is difficult to define yet very present in myself and everyone locally.  I find focusing on tasks that do not relate to storm preparations nearly impossible, but I'm uncertain how far to take the preparations.  No sense creating additional work if Irene actually stays at sea, but don't want to be caught with my pants down if she knocks on our door.

In preparation, Trish Haitz and I removed C'est la Vie's hard bimini, checked all pads under the jack stands, checked the chains on the jack stands, loaded up the boom, and connected to shore power to charge up the house bank so the bilge pump has plenty of juice.  I plan to head back out to C'est la Vie at least once more before this weekend to finish up the storm prep.

But not to be outdone by my love living in the sights of a hurricane is sanding louvers...

Did someone invent these things simply to challenge those of us who are beginning to feel successful with brightwork?  I have progressed along from lazurette hatches to companion way trim to counter fiddles with small radius curves, but now I encounter louvers.  How does one successfully sand a louver?  Once I get around to applying the Bristol Finish how do I get into the narrow slits without creating runs on the opposite side? 

It has been 15 minutes, better go check Weather Underground Tropical Weather site.

Picking up steam - chainplates refinished

The final course of the Outward Bound OBX season ends this weekend.  By this time next week I will be able to devote my energies towards boat repairs full time. With today's progress on the chainplates it feels like many of the repair projects are moving along and beginning to pick up some steam.  Below is a pictorial progression of refinishing the chainplates...

Above is the worst of the damage discovered.  We made repairs to the deck fittings and stopped the leaks a couple years ago, but we never removed and refinished the forward chainplates.  Despite the rust in the initial image.  The chainplates have plenty of metal remaining.  Rather than replacing the plates we had them sandblasted to remove all the rust.

The above image is post sand blasting with primer.

And here they are as of 19:00 this evening after 3 coats of paint.

Taking up a notch in repairs - take two

Thanks to the people out there that took the time to email me about our plan for repairing the damage to C'est la Vie's mast in my August 10th post.  After digesting the additional perspectives I went to speak with Randy at Handcock & Grandsons.  Randy felt confident that welding a sleeve on the exterior of the mast at the wear point and along the base is a viable solution.  He requested a template of the mast so that he can fabricate the sleeve in his shop. The sleeve will be cut into two halves.  The halves will be welded onto the mast. I went out this afternoon and created a cardboard template.

The base of the mast is cut on an angle so the job was a bit more complicated that simply placing the cardboard on the mast and drawing an outline.  I outlined the sides and radius at the bow; then cut this section of the template away.  This allowed me to bring the template into a plane perpendicular with the mast section.  I then outlined the stern radius.  The damage - or what I've heard a few folks refer to as "aluminum rot" - along the base is evident in the image above.  This area will also receive an  external sleeve.

I plan to clean up and refinish the existing mast step.  Below are two images of the portion of the mast step that fits inside the mast.