WE WANNA GET GOING !!

whaaaaaaaa!!... We wanna get going!! .......... Stop dragging your ass and get us out of here!! ......but unfortunately somebody up there doesn't want us to leave yet.......... First the hurricane.... then the earthquake in Virginia....... Oh well, with the hurricane coming up the coast it's probably better to stay put until next Wednesday...... and that gives us another week to get things ready.

The Countdown Continues

Well, time is sure flying by. With only a week to go before we leave for the Bahamas the list of things on the "to-do list" is very quickly dwindling. Starting Monday we start stocking things up and tying up any loose ends. The Insurances, the boat survey, the construction and the re-wiring so as to comply with everyones regulations. We've also been in contact with US Homeland Security about reporting procedures and paying for their "DAYCAL"

This week we created storage areas under berths, wired all the navigation lights. Received our emergency beacon, and replaced our 35 pound CQR anchor with a 45 pound Bruce anchor that will certainly hold us in a storm, and a whole lot more. The stainless steel plate under the chain should protect the deck from dropping a raising 200 feet of anchor rode. ''The last item we "created" was a small boom for raising the outboard motor from the tender. It can also be used to assist a person back on bard from a man-overboard situation.

Here's a few pics of the things we accomplished.

No More Brute Power

These past couple of weeks, as time nears for our departure, Wind Warrior has received a couple new gifts. I've installed a new Anchorlift Anchor Windlass to replace the old manual windlass and followed that up with a new deck washdown pump for keeping the chain free of mud as it is hauled up. So that's the end of me hauling up a 45 pound anchor by hand. It works great and brings up the anchor at a rate of 3.5 feet per sec. I installed two foot switches on the deck just beside the windlass...... one for up and one for down. The anchor chain wll also free-fall when I release the break. The 45 pound anchor and 200 feet of 3/8" chain will certainly hold the boat safely.
Not just a matter of installing the motor...... I also had to install a battery and box up in the anchor locker near the motor so that I didn't have to spend $600 on battery cables up from the back of the boat. Everything is fiberglassed into the hull so nothing is going to move when the boat heels over.

We've completed obtaining all our charts and the new liferaft arrived last week.

Now to my next project........ the volume knob on the stereo is acting up....Hehehehe

Everything is going very well and finally coming together.

That's a BIG Mast

Well, well, well......... I didn't think this day would come. The boat is now launched and today, with the help of a lot of friends we got the mast stepped and later the boom on.

We started around noon putting the mast together on saw horses and later gathered up a few friends to move the mast on a dolly over to the DYC mast crane so we could hoist her up. At 60 feet and weighing in at about 500 lbs it was quite a chore to get everything together. After about half an hour she was up and standing on her own......... AND NOTHING GOT BROKEN !!

So now she's back at her dock and looking great.

Tomorrow, we tune the rig and get some sails on her.

Bottoms Done

Well, Here she is after 2 1/2 weeks of crawling around on the ground, slogging about in three inches of water while we blasted the old paint off....... followed by a heavy grinding to remove what was left, and finish everything off with a finer sanding to remove everything down to the bare gelcoat. Now she's all set with 3 coats of epoxy barrier coat followed with 3 coats of antifouling. Jan was a great help in all the repainting. Everybody is asking if she's a new boat. WIND WARRIOR looks fantastic ... and we're both proud of her !

Today I removed the winter cover from the cockpit. All that's left now is to replace the rudder, hook up the propellor shaft and get set for launching later this week.

HOOOOOOORRRRRAAAAYYYY !!!!!!

WOW !! What a Difference

WOW !! What a difference a couple weeks of hard work makes. The bottom is now completely stripped and ready for the bottom paint. GREAT BOTTOM !!.... 25 year old hull and not a blister..... a few war wounds in the form of scratches but otherwise unscathed. I took these pics from different angles. For those of you who have NOT had a chance to remember where all this work on the boat began, I've included the first picture of the original bulkhead that was removed and replaced. There's no saying that we don't know every inch of her by now. We're still on schedule for our Wednesday launch for the 2011 season.

THE WORK CONTINUES

That's right........ We're not living out of a suitcase for the next year so it's building shelves, book cases and drawers in the boat to make it more liveable. Now that it's spring comes the big question.... "What the hell do I do with the bottom paint?" So, after changing my mind numerous times I've taken on the task of stripping the hull down to bare gelcoat and applying an epoxy barrier coat to protect the hull from osmosis in the warm tropical waters, the reapplying new antifouling for this coming summer.

After a couple days of pressurewashing to remove about 75% of the old paint I followed it up with a good sanding. Ever see a "real" Papa Smurf ? Man I was blue at the end of each day.

Hopefully the boat will be back in the water before the end of June.

Enjoy the pics.