Round the County

This weekend I competed in the Round the County race on Kiwi Express a Farr 1020.  Not a bad weekend, Sunday was amazing it was a beam reach on port tack for about 30 something miles.  The wind varied but was typically around 12 knots.  The last half mile was crazy with bursts of gusts coming from all directions.  The plan is to sail Blizzard on this race next year.  The San Juan islands are an amazing place and I have never sailed them in November.  The current was pretty strong heading East past the north point on
Patos Island. Then past Clark Island where my childhood memories stem.  It looks the same with the rocks to the south and the little protective cove on the east side.  I'm looking forward to next summer when I can take Jilann and Emily to this paradise.
I've ordered some rigging and the shrouds will soon be replaced.  Blizzard is tucked in safely in the driveway of our new house and I'm rebuilding my shop.  The last couple of years have been great.

New Things

I have not updated the blog in a while.  A new chapter begins.  We have bought a new used house.  This is what I have been up to and the deal is done.  Blizzard will have her own little spot in the driveway in front of the garage.  We are in the center of the what I call the Seattle triangle.  We have Edmonds to the North,  sail Sand Point to the Southeast, and Shilshole to the Southwest.  Pictures will come shortly.  I need to clear out the garage and the work will continue on Blizzard.  I have bought the materials to machine sage the outer shrouds.  I'm looking forward to the weekend fixing a few plumbing leaks and getting Blizzard situated.

All the best!
Andrew

Sea Trials

We chose Edmonds as our launching point for Labor Day weekend.  We launched on Sunday with a bunch of help from our friends Reini and Gay.  After spending a rainy night in the launch parking lot we were ready to go.  We woke up early as the night in the boat was a bit, well, hard.  We haven't bought interior cushions yet so it was just sleeping bags on mahogany. Emily slept on a pile of comforters and was quite happy.  We went to Fisheries Supplies for some last minute materials and then went back down to Edmonds to begin rigging.  Gay Morris arrived unexpectedly and was a fantastic help in rigging the mast.  Then it was time to splash Blizzard.  It went off without a hitch a soon we were dropping the rudder and keel and lifting the mast.  Reini and Chris were an unbelievable help and we took them on our first sail.  During all of this time Emily was an unbelievable angel.  Playing all day prior to sailing in the v-birth coloring and making creative projects and only popping out occasionally to show us our her work.  As soon as we were underway she was crawling around the deck happily.  We dropped Reini and Chris back in Edmonds and then sailed Kingston.  Blizzard sailed strong and we could see how great she will be with some tweaking.  We docked and Kingston and had dinner in town.  It was great to enjoy and bit of dock camaraderie reminding us of one of the awesome things about sailing.   The next morning we got fresh cooked mini doughnuts and sailed back to Edmonds.  We texted Sally to bring Megan and Casey to come to Edmonds for a sail upon our arrival back in port.  Megan and Casey were great sailors and helped pulling lines.  We sailed over for ice cream in Kingston and a motor-sail back to Edmonds.  Sally was a great help in taking down the mast.  We motored over to be pulled out only to find the lift had closed, so we ended up leaving Blizzard tied up in guest moorage for the night.  We arrived home exhausted and sore but very satisfied with our first sailing adventure.

Bow Pulpit

Thanks Gary Merrell for the awesome welding.  316 stainless and TIG welding.  We are going to add a few gussets for good measure.

July Progress

Blizzard is coming along great now, I'm about a month out from splashing her.  The floor has been gelcoated, the interior painted, the seats built and installed, electrical ran (in the process of re-running I changed my mind as to where the battery is located), Transducers installed, Main Traveller installed, Jib Traveller installed, Outboard motor mount installed, Navigation Lights installed, Compass installed, etc....

I think for the next few posts I'll just include pictures.  I'm off to work now...

More panels, I'm building some carbon fiber panels to be used as the backsplash to the electrical panel (the backside is glass)

I'll build the Galley counter as carbon with a balsa core as well as the galley table.

Interior Pieces

I'm cranking through the interior pieces at the moment the old panels are making good templates.  I'm using marine plywood that is made of Mahogany skins and encapsulating in a light veil.  The process works pretty well.  Cheap foam roller.  Roll out resin and lay the cloth in place with no wrinkles.  I'll finish it off with a uv protectant polyurethane.  My wife and Emily have been very helpful.  I hope the interior turns out well.  The floor is now gelcoated gray and the remaining bulkheads will get painted.  It is coming together slow and steady.

Interior Recon

First you have to de-construct the old before building up the new.  I often find myself tearing apart things to figure out the thought that went into building things.  I was able to nest several of the interior pieces and found this was done to minimize waste when this boat was in production.

I have laid out the access panels where it makes sense but I may do something different.  I think I will standardize on a size though so all of the covers are interchangeable.  I think I will keep them rectangular though and to a minimum.

We had a speedy little cleaning fairy arrive today and she ran the shop vac picking up any small debris.  She found her favorite job and even asked if she could do it again.  As long as no tools are missing, or worse sailboat hardware she's hired!

Re-Born

Upon getting home from Canal Boat Yard it seemed fitting and symbolic to re-name Blizzard.  This weekend was full of a lot of change.  Saturday we headed up to Oak Harbor to pick up our old boat Mel from Jilann's brother and hand the boat off to my friend Read as a gift to his father for fishing. This is a transition in our life from one of lake boating to sailing on the Sound.  Not many will understand this but we will miss our powerboat, we know it is going to a good home.

                                    

Emily is very helpful instructing Mom where she needs to place the sticker.

 Sunday was a good day. We headed to South Sound to visit some old friends and celebrate the life of a great community volunteer Jan Visser.  The below Optimist we placed flowers in this in her honor.  Mike you are great son and you put on a great party your mother would be proud of.

I miss you friends from my past and look forward to getting back into the sailing community with my family.

With change and loss also comes the re-birth of old friendships and Blizzard is re-born

Canal Boat Yard

I put together a photo album of last week at Canal Boat Yard in Ballard Washington.  The week as a whole was successful and I enjoyed the whole week.  I think I under estimated the work that went into scrapping off the old bottom paint.  Thanks to my Dad and Mom for helping me out as well as my wife for watching Emily the whole week.  And finally thank you to my friend Rd LaBay for helping me remove the majority of the old paint.

The weather this past week was perfect.  I'm thankful it would have been much harder in the rain.

Lifting her off the trailer the keel did not initially extend all of the way.

We had to tent the boat fully before removing the old bottom paint.  This created a nice greenhouse.

We removed the keel from the trunk using a boom truck.  I then replicated and replaced the UHMW guides.

Paint removed down to the barrier coat.  This was after day 1 in the yard.

Day2, all bottom paint was removed and found a few blisters in the barrier coat.  These I opened up and skim coated with epoxy.  After full cure I washed with soapy water and ammonia wash to remove the Amone blush and degloss the surface.  Then a light scuff and fairing.

First two layers of Baltoplate applied with a short Candystripe roller.  I allowed about 8hrs between coat to allow the solvents to full off in order to avoid solvent entrapment.

I'm very happy here.  I re-installed the keel and now it fully and easily extended to the bottom of the slot. This was the one big thing that would prevent sailing so after this install the summer is a go.

Pads moved, surface prepped and two more thin layers of Baltoplate.

Farewell Canal Boat Yards, thank you for your help. Until next time.

This past week was a success and we are now home without damage.  On to the interior and rigging.

Outboard Put Together

The water pump was shot as well as the upper bearing housing, and pump housing.  I ordered some new parts online, about 100 dollars but now I know what I have.  The water pump is new and will last for years to come.  I started the outboard today and it runs perfect.  It is fully ready for this season.

Interior Painting

Today marked the last of the use of the vacuum pump so it is coming off the boat.  I had two small little decay spots I found on the vertical of the transom starboard.  Pretty minor.  The decay and moisture really doesn't show evidence of travelling and the spot repairs have been minor, nothing compared to re-coring the cockpit or patching the foredeck.  I hope I have found it all, knock on wood.  If not I will repair as required in the future.

The goal today is to paint the ceiling.  Over the past couple of weeks I have contacted a technical representative from Altrex and also consulted with the local Pettit paint rep.  In the end I have decided against doing an epoxy primer then applying the 2-part polyurethane.  I'm sure the results would be great but I'll stick with what is familiar, I'm not an expert.  The topsides were already painted with a coating. In most areas I can tell the inter layer adhesion is good.  The tricky part comes to the bare floor, which shows signs of old paint which has worn away.  It is bare fiberglass and I will do this in a couple of weeks out with a textured gel-coat. For now I'll focus on the overhead.  Then I can install the toe rails and the primary winches and deck hardware.  The toe rails need to go on.  The last thing I need to have happen is the deck to hull joint to open up when being lifted at the yard, un-likely but possible.

After the ceiling is painted then the interior top-sides will get either cabin coat or a satin white Easypoxy.  And then the longitudinal bulkheads with an epoxy coating followed by a polyurethane to match the textured bulkhead. For colors the ceiling and topsides will be white.  For the floor and inner surfaces of the longitudinal bulkheads I'm planning on a gray of some sort to add a little contrast.  For the topsides or areas in which I have compatibility questions I will apply a soaked rag with mineral spirits on the already painted surface and leave it for ten minutes and look for any wrinkling.  If wrinkling occurs then sanding will need to follow.  For surface preparation I have used a light sand to remove some loose paint, this has been isolated to a few small areas of the topsides.  Then an ammonia solution wipe down to remove any Amine blush in the epoxy areas as well as a general surface de-grease.

The reason for the move away from the epoxy primer and 2-part poly is because I don't think I need it because the bare glass has been coated with something already and the adhesion is good.  Also to let anyone else know that when working in a confined space your safety is #1 and I've been careful along the way.  The chemicals in the epoxy primer and 2-part are strong despite the use of a respirator and protective clothing.  I'll save the epoxy primer for the bottom as a barrier coat.

Some other tips.  I have a shop vac in the cockpit and learned early on, I bought a couple of extra hoses.  I run one hose from the exhaust of the vac out the outboard motor well to the outside that way the fine dust that makes it through the filter of the vac does not pool in the cockpit but leaves the boat.

After a solid breakfast and multiple cups of coffee a productive day lays ahead.

Time in the Yard Scheduled

Today I went to Fisheries to buy the interior paint as well as return the defective outboard fuel line.  I picked up the supplies and then headed off to Canal Boat yards on the Ballard cut.  I think of my great grandfather that was a wood worker on ships here in Ballard as well as in Alaska.  One hundred years later I'm working on my own boat in the same part of town.

I found the boat yard and walked through the chained off gate.  A J-29 was getting its bottom pressure washed and I could smell the distinct smell of the sound.  I located the office, walked in and scheduled a week to complete the bottom.  I will be in the yard from May 13th through the 17th.  After this I will be very close to splashing Blizzard.

In the office I ran into another old friend Denny Johnson.  I remember Denny from my past,  he was the father of my sister's best friend Shannon.  Denny an icon from Seattle yacht club runs the Portage Bay, the local committee boat.  While in community college I worked three jobs, Fisheries Supply (sailboat hardware specialist), I taught sailing at CYC of Leschi which later became Sail Sand Point, and I set bouys for the races off Elliott bay for the Seattle Yacht club and Denny was my boss. Early dating I used to take my wife out to set bouys on Friday nights.  It is like this is all meant to be...Now for the preparation for the yard time, here comes May quick.

Fisheries Annual Warehouse Sale

While still in highschool (about 20 years ago) and through community college I worked toward the north end of Lake Union. Eric Munday the Shilshole store manager hired me at the Crow's Nest marine hardware retail store in Ballard. The Crow's Nest was part of Fisheries Supply owned by Carl Sutter a local Etchells sailor.  After about three years the Crow's Nest closed down and I relocated to the North Lake store and main warehouse.  This goes back to 1992-1998, I was the sailboat hardware specialist.  From this I went off to college, got married, graduated,  then off to Freeman Marine in Gold Beach Oregon, to Epic Aircraft then PVPowered in Bend Oregon and finally here in Redmond Washington where I work as a senior Mechanical  Engineer at Terex.

At the beginning of this project I contacted an old co-worker and friend Paul Patterson, he hooked me up with an account so I was able to take advantage of a little savings.  It was great seeing visiting old friends and co-workers as well as my distant but familiar place of work.  I must have ran up and down from the warehouse to the main store at least a thousand times.  Now I was back as a boat owner and engineer putting together my dream boat as a customer.

At the Fisheries Supply garage sale I was able to find a few key components. I have always been impressed with the Blue Seas products and found this circuit breaker panel that will be absolutely perfect.  The nice thing about this panel is that it has a battery isolation switch included in the panel.  This is great because it places everything in one location, is modular and fully wired.

Another find is the galley sink, polished with a strainer.  I went for a large sink because this will be great when cruising or racing.  The sink is always a nice stash spot for sunscreen or coffee mugs or maybe cleaning some crabs or stashing extra dirty dishes.  In planning out the interior I have a general idea but I don't have a detailed plan which will depend on the deals we find.

My goal is that the interior will be thoughtful and not look cobbled together.  This summer the interior will be functional but likely not complete.  The primary goal is to get out on the water.

Outboard, Water Pump

This last weekend I bought a fuel tank and hose for the outboard.  After mixing some oil and identifying a minor electrical issue with the kill switch the outboard started easily.  It's amazingly quiet.  I let it idle for a little bit and realized no water was coming out of the port, uh-oh.  So I cracked her open and noticed an impeller with a set and an oil seal to the lower unit which was damaged and coming out.

A bit of white rust, not surprising considering the environment.  The upper bearing housing had a bit much corrosion so I ordered a new water pump kit and bearing housing.  This should show up in a couple days and then back on the test stand to check idle and high and low rpms as well as the charging circuit.

I'm getting all of the key mechanical systems working, putting the final preparations on the interior getting it ready for interior paint.

New front right trailer tire and inspection of the rest of the tires.  The trailer is now mobile.

Until next time....

Trailer Love

Installed new trailer tire.  The old one was flat and Discount Tires wouldn't touch a tire older than ten years.  I don't blame them.  I topped off all of the other tires and the trailer is in good shape getting ready for a trip to the yard.  I still need spare though. I'm presently pulling vacuum on one of the last core repairs.  One more offer this on the transom that I know of.  Not a big deal, I'm getting good at this. Thanks to my friends down under I've received some good tips on paint for the interior.  It is all about compromise.  I think I have a strategy for the paint and I've been working with the Pettit rep.  The plan is for this to commence next weekend.  Well off to check the curing of resin.

Selfie with a little dust on the lens but not in the lungs.

New Addition

Yesterday was an exciting day, the annual Fisheries Supply warehouse sale and swap meet.  This was the first year I have attended the event as a boat owner.  I once worked at Fisheries Supply for almost five years twenty years ago.  It has been a long time coming.  I went down there with a shopping list in hand and brought home an awesome tender for Blizzard.  Thanks to the Dinkins family!

I was not certain of the condition of the Zodiac. Once home we inflated it and it is absolutely perfect. Emily enjoyed trying out the seats.  This piece of equipment will make the summer a lot of fun and safe.  The Zodiac is 12' and the floor is inflatable so it will be comfortable with no pinch points or heavy boards.  Built in 2004 there is a lot of life left in it.  The seams are heavy duty, the transom bond and tie in is perfect, and no leaks.  We just need a pump with a pressure gage. When deflated I can lift the whole boat and it can fit tight under the cockpit.  I filled it with a shop vac and added some more pressure to the floor.

The warehouse sale was great as well.

Homemade Vacuum Sander

The interior has required some sanding and a few things I have learned to keep myself safe.  I buy only 3m products for both dust masks and carbon respirators.  The boat is tented to keep it both clean and dry.  I have the shop vac in the cockpit and I run an exhaust hose out the outboard motor well.  Over the outboard motor well I have cut a piece of foam board to fit against the back of the boat that way I can't fall through the well also any fine dust blown through the shop vac will exhaust away.

I made the below setup that works great.  This is a 25 dollar random orbital sander from harbor freight.  A short piece of hose (free) tightly secured with zip ties and sealed with some left over sikaflex.  Total cost 25 bucks.  As long as the sander is kept flat to the work piece this setup works well.  When I'm re-adjusting I unplug the shop vac and let the air siphon out of the boat.  I have been using a halogen work light and I can check the particles in the air to ensure the confined space and air remains clean.

Check the models at harbor freight before buying to make sure you will be able to attach a hose securely.  The interior is pretty much ready for paint.  I'm going to keep fine tuning the insides until its warm enough to paint.

Until next time......

Rope Clutches

Tonight is a fun night of cleaning rope clutches.  I've been cleaning up a lot of the sailboat hardware and becoming familiar with this equipment.  The fisheries swap meet is coming up and I've been making a shopping list.  Tomorrow I plan to use my new vacuum sander and finish the prep for painting the interior.  I'm hopeful for a warming trend and need to schedule a week at the ship yard.

The last few weeks have made me thankful for the blessings in my life.

Until next time.

Rudder Layers

I have spent this past week scraping down the layers of paint on the rudder.  It is sort of like going back in time realizing that each layer of bottom paint represented maybe a race season victory with perhaps a couple of summer vacations bouncing around the islands near Ketchikan Alaska.  What I can tell is she has been protected well.

The colors have been many, Black, Blue, Maroon, Blue Barrier coat?, and Silver with sparkles.

The paint is coming off easy and the rudder underneath it all is in great condition.  Hopefully I'm getting an idea of what the bottom is like and I'm hoping for no surprises there.

I need to figure out the haul out plan.  I'm new at this.

Outboard Ready

The outboard cleaned up well.  I removed all of the corrosion and primed with a zinc chromate primer.  Next I painted the primed areas with a match of the outboard paint.  I replaced the spark plugs, the cavitation plate zinc, and the charging fuse which was blown.  I changed the gear oil and lubed all zerk fittings.  I have not started the outboard yet.  I need to buy a fuel tank and some 2 stroke oil and I think I'll be good to go.

The outboard looks new now and the teak mount is close as well.  I hope it runs good.

Power plant, check.

Another post coming soon.

Yamaha Outboard

Since the weather is too cold I'm focusing on work that I can complete in the garage.  I have stripped down the outboard and there is a little corrosion I'm dealing with.  The paint is bubbled up in a few areas and I'm removing the white rust.  I have bought zinc chromate primer and the factory paint to touch it up.  I have not started the outboard yet but it should run great it looks to be in good condition.  The plan is to replace the spark plugs and replace the gear oil, grease all zerks and then paint.  The rest will be left for the spring time.

I'm excited to try this outboard out.  It has a charging output and at eight horses it should push the boat well.
The snow fell this weekend so it was snow angels this morning with Emily.

Emily truly enjoyed the snow this morning.  We ran around the back yard with our two Golden Retrievers Dory and Cutter.  Above a snow angel landed on our deck.

Wednesday this week we enjoyed the parade of the Seahawks through downtown with about 700,000 other fans.  We were able to work our way to the front and get close to all of the players.  Thank you Seahawks for a great season.

-Andrew

Super Bowl Sunday

Go Seahawks!  Today is a day of rest and celebration for the Seahawks!  This has been a great season.  It hasn't lent itself to productive progress on Blizzard on game day but it has been a perfect intermission.

Below is the sill step before and the new teak sill step after.  It appears like this trim piece had been in water for some time.  The old one has made a nice template for the new.  The old shows heavy signs of damage and it's fun replacing the old with new.  The bronze cap rail polished up nice.  I would like to keep most of the original where possible.

Right now the weather is a bit too cold to paint or do any glass work so the projects are limited to what I can do in the garage. I'm using a space heater to heat up the boat but the surface temperature is a bit too cold to do anything but prepwork. This week I hope to work on the outboard.

Update

The interior continues.  I have everything torn out that is coming out.  Sometime in the future I may replace the decking of the forward V-berth but it is not in horrible condition.  We'll see if the aft plywood overlay is not difficult I may replace the forward material.  The bulkheads and stringers glassed in will stay.  The weather was great this weekend for January.  Friday I long boarded the fore deck and I have it quite smooth.  There are a couple of brush strokes but I don't want to sand through the gel-coat.

 The fore deck repair is now complete and the overlapping plies are complete on the interior.  Overhead glassing is not my favorite but I'm getting better at it.  The preparation is time consuming and the placement and bagging is critical to success.  Getting a good seal on the butyl tape is challenging in this weather because of the cold surface no matter what the heating of the interior.  The high temperature outside this weekend was 50F probably in the 60s in the sun.  The plan is to cover the foredeck repair with Raptor deck.  A childhood dinghy sailing friend Danny Keseler owns Quantum sails in Seattle and started a company called Raptor decking.  Not only will the Raptor decking be the grippiest deck around it will be the best looking.  The decking will cover any imperfections of the repair.  I could spend a lifetime sanding and buffing it out just to add a covering to it.  The plan is to use the smooth Raptor decking in the cockpit.  This will make the seats comfortable on the knees while distributing point loads.

We went to the boat show this weekend to get pumped up for this coming summer and Jilann and Emily had fun.  We looked at a Beneteau 25 to get some ideas on the interior.  Other than looking rather cheap the layout and size was big.  We walked away thankful for the Ross, there is no comparison.

Emily cruising around a puddle at the Seattle boat show.  We had to do this twice, she had a blast.

I installed the main hatch today after final interior glassing of the fore deck patch.  I'm using teflon drawer guide tape as the runners for the main hatch.  I used some fuel hose cut to 3/8 of an inch long to replace the missing bumpers both in the open and closed positions.  The mechanics of the hatch feel perfect.  It is not too slippery so that the hatch will slide in and out under way, just sticky enough.  All screws sealed with 3M 4000.

I outline below the way to set up the laminate in the garage on a piece of cardboard in order to glass overhead.  This has worked well for me.

Step 1:

Hot glue bagging material to cardboard, install valve, and butyl tape leaving the wax paper in place.

Step 2:

Install breather cloth using hot glue gun.
Step 3:

Add peel ply.

Wrapping paper makes for nice templates.  It's cheap, durable, and has a nice grid pattern on the back to keep things straight.

Step 4:
Wet out fiberglass and lay in reverse order on peel ply.  Carry out to boat.  Peel off wax paper from butyl tape and lift overhead press into position, pleat bag as required then hook up to the compressor.

Routering pockets in outboard motor mount for clamps.  I used a hole saw set to a depth of 3/8" to make the pocket outline then used the router to remove the center material.  This worked well.  All of the teak is varnished thanks to Jilann.  We used six coats of Epifanes varnish and the last two coats we used a badger hair brush and tack cloths as well as a fine mesh strainer to remove any impurities of the varnish.  I think this is the secret there was no way away from the micro bubbles using foam brushes no matter the brush angle or pressure.  The varnish is curing right now but looks awesome.  Pictures to come.

Until next time, thanks for following.