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.