Splash!

Since I was able to take a few mornings off from work, Wednesday the 4th and Thursday the 5th found us at Shenny bright and early to try to finish up some final tasks. Priority number one was to put two coats of bottom paint under the poppets. The weather had made it difficult so it was down to the wire, but by 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday we had crossed it off of the list. Everything else from that point on would be gravy.

We were so busy that everything is pretty much a blur, but I do remember that we were finally able to get Pegu-teeny in the water on Thursday:

**Doesn’t she look spiffy sitting there?**

We were scheduled to launch at 8:00 a.m. on Friday the 6th, and I was hoping for three things: the weather would be decent, the winds would be light, and Pegu Club would be placed in the water with her bow facing out so we wouldn’t have to back out of the slip. We went zero for three.

Continue reading “Splash!” →

Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.*

*Inigo Montoya – The Princess Bride

There are no two ways about it. It’s time for us to have some well-deserved rest and fun on Pegu Club.

Since hauling Pegu Club out of the water on August 15th, we have had 39 weekends to work on her (including 8 long weekends), representing 87 potential days. We’ve driven to Shenny on 60 occasions, visited Defender 18 times, taken 11 trips to West Marine, placed 8 orders with Sailrite, suffered through 1 trip to the DMV, and driven once to Cape Cod to pick up our Fatty Knees.

As far as boat work is concerned, since August 15th we have: Continue reading “Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.*” →

The final weekend before splash!

With one weekend left, the push was on as we drove to Shenny last Saturday. With rainy weather forecast for Sunday, our main goal for Saturday was to paint the fourth coat of Interprotect plus the two coats of bottom paint onto the hull. Everything else would be gravy.

Timing the fourth coat of Interprotect plus the first coat of bottom paint is important. The goal is to apply the bottom paint while the barrier coat is semi-dry. You want to leave a thumb print in the paint without getting paint on your thumb. If you wait too long your choice is to either paint a fifth coat or sand the bottom. At over $100/gallon a fifth coat was not appealing, nor was more sanding, so as we drove down we discussed our strategy. Continue reading “The final weekend before splash!” →

Wow! That was a productive weekend!

When I last left off, it was Sunday night and we had just finished applying the first two coats of Interprotect. That evening I voiced a thought that had been rattling around in my head for the past few days. “Jeff? What do you think about putting the launch date off for a few days?” “I’ve been wanting to do that for the last month, but I knew if I suggested it you would say no.” He knows me so well.

Although I really didn’t want to push back Pegu Club’s splash, I couldn’t avoid the fact that we had only one weekend left and a ton of work left. It wasn’t that I thought we could get it all done. After all, the boat to-do list is never finished. It’s just that it was going to be very difficult to complete the things that we either had to or really wanted to do: painting, cleaning the water tanks, washing the boat, etc. So we decided to delay until May 6th. It would give us one extra weekend plus several possible days for painting.

As for painting, as soon as we arrived at home that night I had looked at the forecast. What had been predicted to be 42 overnight was now a frost advisory with a projected low of 35! Ack! Continue reading “Wow! That was a productive weekend!” →

Finally! Barrier coat times two.

We woke up bright and early last Saturday for our drive down to Shenny. Although we weren’t going to be able to paint that day (the low temperature was forecast to be in the upper 30’s), we were feeling cheerful because it looked like all systems were go for Sunday. It was going to be a bright and sunny weekend, and we still had plenty of things to take care of.

We arrived at the boat (after our weekly stop at Defender) ready to start the weekend with replacing the exhaust hose on the engine. During Pegu Club’s survey, the surveyor had pointed out cracks in the hose . He had also suggested raising the hose higher to help keep following seas from entering the engine via the hose. We had done some research and discovered there were some elaborate ways to prevent this from occurring, but simply raising the hose up higher above the waterline was going to have to suffice for now. Continue reading “Finally! Barrier coat times two.” →

It’s curtains for you!

After struggling mightily with sewing winch covers, it was time to tackle a sewing project that was easier – curtains. No sewing circles into tubes this time. After watching the Sailrite video on YouTube it was obvious that all I needed was to make a few straight cuts, a few straight hems, and I’d be all set. Well, close but not quite. Continue reading “It’s curtains for you!” →

Two important projects complete (no, not the painting).

Another cold weekend. Temperatures were in the mid-forties on Saturday with rain coming in during the afternoon. Although Sunday called for a high in the upper 40’s and sunny, a strong cold wind put the wind chill in the upper 30’s and was most unwelcome. Winter was warmer than spring has been, and once again we were not able to get any painting done. With less than three weeks to go, it’s starting to get down to the wire. However, the forecast for this weekend is starting to look promising, so maybe – just maybe – we can finally start putting the barrier coat on soon. In the meantime there were plenty of other tasks to accomplish, with one job even more important than painting. Continue reading “Two important projects complete (no, not the painting).” →

Interior Cushions? Finished! (For now).

Mother Nature conspired against us this past weekend to ensure that it was not a particularly productive two days. Going into it we knew that Saturday was going to be cold and rainy all day, and Sunday was going to be even colder (upper 30’s) with wind gusts over 50 mph. So we did what we could.

Saturday we drove down to Defender for the annual Warehouse sale. Armed with our list, we debated asking for Defender’s checking account number so we could simply have our next paycheck direct deposited into their account. We settled for giving them our credit card instead. Continue reading “Interior Cushions? Finished! (For now).” →

Step by step, we’re getting there.

With Jeff and I not working on Friday because of the holiday, we hoped to cross a lot of items off of our list over the three-day weekend. A rainy Friday put a slight crimp on our plans, but overall it was still a fairly productive weekend.

We had actually already been down to Shenny on Wednesday to meet with John the diesel guy. Pegu Club is our first experience with a diesel engine and we know virtually nothing about them. Although we bought Nigel Calder’s book, we thought it would be beneficial to have a pro show us the basics, like how to bleed the engine. By the time John left we knew how to do that, plus we changed the impeller, secondary fuel filter, and belt, confirmed where the zinc was, and received many other tips plus an exploded parts manual. It was time and money very well spent. The diesel is finally starting to look less mysterious.

It rained most of the day on Friday but we had tickets to Shenny’s annual fish fry so we were planning to drive down anyway. Arriving a few hours early, we were able to spray down all of the surfaces with our bottle of Pure Ayre (which smelled like peppermint) and we closed up the boat with high hopes that the odorometer would read zero on Saturday. Continue reading “Step by step, we’re getting there.” →

I don’t think you could pay me to make these again…

“I’ll make some winch covers! How hard can they be?”, I thought. Ha. By the time I was finished I had thrown away the first three, still wasn’t entirely satisfied with the remaining five, and had taken to calling them “*$#@%%* winch covers!”

Much to our pleasant surprise, Pegu Club came with five winches that had clearly been upgraded from her original stock winches. They are all oversized and self-tailing, and the two largest are two-speed winches. Two-speed winches have a high and low gear which allows you to crank the lines in a lower gear (by reversing the cranking direction) as it becomes more difficult. Buying them all new would approach $3,000, something we never would have done. Her original winches would have been fine, but the bells and whistles on these are certainly nice to have.

Now bear in mind that as far as I can tell, a winch cover is truly unnecessary. Sure, I didn’t like how rainwater would just stay in the hole for the winch handle but it’s not like it was going to hurt the winch. Heck, Little Bristol was built in 1975 and had her original winches – likely never covered – and they were fine. Nope, I just wanted to make them because I thought it would look spiffy. Continue reading “I don’t think you could pay me to make these again…” →