It’s official: we’re morons.

We drove down to the boat on Saturday with a few items on the to-do list. I had a committee meeting at Shenny so Jeff was going to be mainly on his own, but we wanted to get the batteries put back in and connected. We had successfully recharged the AGM battery that we had accidentally fully drained, so we were pleased about not having to buy a new one. Jeff was also going to remove Pegu Club’s painted-on old name and hailing port from the stern. If all went well, the last small project was to take some more measurements for the weathercloths. The best laid plans… Continue reading “It’s official: we’re morons.” →

An Ode to Our Sailrite LSZ-1

Oh, my Sailrite LSZ-1. How do I love thee?

One of the many boat-related subjects that captured my interest awhile ago was canvas work. I had taken some sewing lessons a few years back and had a lightweight machine, but I knew sewing for boats required something more heavy-duty. There are countless “What’s the best sewing machine?” threads on the sailing forums and the Sewing on Boats Facebook page, and the runaway recommendation is always a Sailrite machine.

Sailrite is an Indiana-based company that has been around since 1969. They sell everything you can think of that might be needed for boat-related (and home decor) sewing, and their customer service is top-notch. With hundreds of how-to YouTube videos covering everything from making cushions to sails, they have a way of breaking down each step so that you find yourself thinking, “I can make that!”. Continue reading “An Ode to Our Sailrite LSZ-1” →

She’s starting to look like a boat again.

We drove down to Pegu Club on Saturday hoping that we would be able to get one, and maybe two coats of barrier coat paint on the hull by the end of the weekend. The forecast was looking promising, although the low temperatures overnight were starting to flirt close to our 41 degree cut off, but we thought we could at least get her prepped and ready, and then make a game-time decision. Continue reading “She’s starting to look like a boat again.” →

Some days are just like that.

We headed down to the boat on Saturday with a list of things to do and items to buy. After stopping at Home Depot, Harbor Freight (when Home Depot didn’t have what we were looking for), Spicer’s (for Thumper’s primary fuel filter), West Marine, the boat (to take some measurements), and right back out again to Defender, we were finally back at Pegu Club and ready to get to work. Aaaand – not so fast. Continue reading “Some days are just like that.” →

A productive (and fun!) weekend

I was saying to Jeff this past weekend that it feels like the calm before the storm. Now that we’ve finished scraping and sanding the bottom, we’re waiting on Mother Nature before we can finish up the big items on our to-do list. Although we still have many smaller things to take care of, our wallets would be happier if we tried to hold out for the Defender Warehouse Sale to make our purchases. However, waiting to complete everything is risky given the sale doesn’t start until March 31st and our desired splash date is April 29th. So we decided our strategy this weekend would be to take care of a lot of miscellaneous tasks, and next weekend we’ll simply start buying supplies for one project at a time. Continue reading “A productive (and fun!) weekend” →

40 Hours Later…

We were in extremely high spirits as we drove home from Shenny this past Saturday – we were finished sanding! All told we spent 24 hours scraping and 16 hours sanding. There’s no doubt about the fact that it was hard work, but when we think about how much money we saved compared to hiring someone it was definitely worth it. The best part is that we shouldn’t ever have to do it again. If for some reason we do (like, twenty years down the road), we’ll pay someone given that we’ll be living in a country where the labor costs will be substantially lower than here in Connecticut.

The worst part about Saturday’s job is that we had to scrape and sand the boat where the poppets were. Continue reading “40 Hours Later…” →

A sign of the coming spring – the Defender catalogue has arrived!

It feels like forever since that day last August when we hauled Pegu Club out of the water to begin her refit. At that time, the end of April was so far away, but the other day I found myself counting the weeks left until splash and I suddenly realized that we had ten weeks to go! Holy smokes! The arrival of this year’s Defender catalogue has only added to the sense of urgency:

Having the Defender catalogue show up in the mailbox is the equivalent to the arrival of the Sears Christmas catalogue when we were kids. So exciting! Jeff calls it the kickoff to Spending Season, and we will certainly be doing our best to support the marine industry this spring when Defender’s Annual Warehouse Sale begins on March 31st. In the meantime, however, we still have plenty to keep us busy. Continue reading “A sign of the coming spring – the Defender catalogue has arrived!” →

It was inevitable – winter has finally arrived.

Unfortunately progress has slowed a bit on the boat. We have been very lucky this winter. Temperatures have been well above normal, and we didn’t have any snow at all until a few weeks ago. However, we knew it wouldn’t last. Now it looks like this outside: Continue reading “It was inevitable – winter has finally arrived.” →

Coast Guard Documentation: Check!

Pegu Club’s original owner had documented her with the U.S. Coast Guard, and we wanted to reinstate it. For us, the primary advantage of registering her is that it can make customs entry and clearance easier in foreign ports. Jeff also likes the fact that a documented vessel doesn’t display its numbers on the outside of the boat. Just an aesthetics thing.

Once a boat is documented, it’s documented forever. However, reinstating the documentation can be easier said than done. I had read in multiple places that the people who work at the Coast Guard National Vessel Documentation Center are very friendly and helpful, so after reading through their website I decided to call to make sure I understood the necessary steps. Continue reading “Coast Guard Documentation: Check!” →

So I like sanding – yes, this makes me weird.

Now that we’ve finished scraping the bottom of the boat, it’s time to turn our attention to sanding. Scraping doesn’t get rid of all of the paint, and before we put the barrier coat on the bottom needs to be paint free – down to the gelcoat.

We only had one sander, so initially Jeff gamely sanded on his own while I worked inside the boat. The inside of the VHF cabinet needed to be cleaned, along with the area where the Origo is inserted, so I broke out our trusty Clorox Clean-up and got to work. I was very pleased with the difference in the VHF cabinet (“before” is on the left”):

Before

After

I also started working on wiring diagrams for our 12 volt electrical system. We still are complete novices when it comes to all things electric, but bit-by-bit we’re learning.

It was clear after a few trips to Shenny that we needed to get another sander if we wanted to be finished any time in the near future, so after the obligatory trip to Home Depot we were back at Shenny last weekend ready to get back at it. This was going to be my first time sanding, so Jeff showed me the ropes and we got to it. Continue reading “So I like sanding – yes, this makes me weird.” →