Almost time to SAIL!!!

 

 Well they screwed up our forecast again! Instead of 8" of snow like they had said we would get we wound up with freezing rain and a 1/2" of sleet by noon last Sunday. Not to fear, Cindy and I made the best of it. No one had been down our road all morning so we got the sled out and set out to redo our great sledding video we tried to make last December. Sadly the ice was not solid enough to support the weight of both of us on the sled so it was solo runs instead. Turn up your speakers as Cindy's comments on this run down the hill are hilarious! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kyaanIMJDI My first run did not go so well as with my heavier weight the sled did not want to slide. So I slid my weight back on the seat and away I went but then I could not turn without any weight on the front of the runners! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W822F3VXN0 I wound up in the ditch bouncing along on my right hip! Discovered later that night I had ripped my new jeans on the ice during the slide to a stop.  I got one last shot at Cindy's record run https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGcypZrjo24 At the start if you look just to the left of my left boot you can see where I did the face plant when I let go of Cindy's shoulder on her second run. I guess I pushed a bit too far and then I could not get stopped before falling face first on the ice! Good times!!!
 That was last week and now 7 days later we are 60 degrees warmer and no snow on the ground for 150 miles. Sadly, it is almost time to say good by to winter and all the fun things we like to do in the snow. Temperatures are starting to climb and snow chances are quickly fading. I put our skis away for the summer and we have now turned out sights towards warm weather activities such as fishing, kayaking, and of course sailing!

 It was 14 degrees last Monday and we were up in our boat measuring and planning for our cushions that we are going to make for her. Did not take long before I was frozen but we were able to come up with a plan for the cushions and other interior improvements we want to make. While I was in the boat I grabbed the tiller handle to take inside as it needs to be refinished. At first glance it just needed sanded and re cleared but once I got the brackets off of it I discovered a small soft spot in the very center lamination from where the bolt passed through a bare wood hole. Once I started digging at the soft spot it quickly grew.

 

By the time I had got all the soft wood out I had made a pretty good sized slot in the handle. Luckily I hit good solid wood before I broke through the tail of the handle so I will be able to fill the damaged area with epoxy and be able to save the handle. The sad part is that had someone just oversized the original bolt hole and epoxied it shut and then drilled the right size hole in the epoxy it would have never rotted. At least I caught it soon enough that I can save the handle. I am hoping the epoxy will be dried all the way tonight and I can finish the repair and get it refinished.
 Our new stereo for the boat has arrived and I think we settled on a location to mount the head unit. Being a small cabin it does not leave much room for electronics. But I think we have a good location found. We also decided to do away with the sink and replace it with a storage area for a cooler instead. We have found a couple of coolers we think will fit in that location so I just need to make cardboard models that size and verify. Of course we want the biggest one we can fit in the hole LOL. I have sent out a bid request for the foam we need for the cushions. Cindy is very busy at school right now so I do not see a huge rush as she does not have time to make the covers anyway.
 I might move the boat to a more level parking spot tonight before we get more rain. Once there I can jack up the trailer and repair the wheel bearings as they are shot. We got so lucky making it home without a failure. People rely on bearing buddies way too much. It is always a good idea to pull the hubs once a season and make sure the bearings are well greased. Cheap insurance.
 Other repairs we have on our list are repainting the mast and rudder as both really need it. I also want to make a cockpit cover that snaps onto the boat. I really think that will be a good thing to have for several reasons. One, it will keep the cockpit clean and dry while we are gone. Storing it with the mast up will surely increase the amount of bid droppings the boat gets on it. Two, I think it will be a slight increase to the amount of security the boat has. It will be one more thing a thief will have to deal with. I plan on making it out of the silver tarp we have it covered with now. It is a strong material and cheap. I think there is enough there to make two so I will go ahead and do that so we have a spare to go to when this one fails.
 I think I came up with a easy way to make screens for the opening port holes in the cabin. It is unusual to see a 20' boat with opening portholes but I really like them. They just need screens. We came up with a compromise for a screen for the hatch as well. Due to the way the prop rod for the hatch lid comes down into the cabin we have to work around it with the screen. I think our plan is simple and will work well. There was no real good answer to that issue as you have to be able to get the stop screw on the rod. Now that I think about it I might have another idea. Why is it the simplest of things can cause the most issues?
 Oh, can't forget the lights. The boat has the red and green front nav lights but no white tail light or mast light. We plan on spending nights on the boat so we have to have nav lights. I found LED lights to put on the tail and the mast and will convert the front lights to LED's as well. I would also like to add  LED flood lights to the mast that will shine down on the cockpit and one that will shine down on the bow. They do not need to be very bright, just enough light to see what we are doing. I am still searching for the right lights for that.
 Cindy is really excited to hit the water. She seems to be doing a lot of day dreaming about time on the boat which I think is great. We have talked about what we are going to cook on board and what we think it will be like. She is worried about finding a cove to park in. After going to the sailing association dinner and talking with others in the club they re enforced what I already knew about the lake. It is better to go during the week than the weekend as you have the lake to yourself. It can turn into a bathtub with a blender in it on the weekends but is hardly used during the week. So hopefully we can get over during the week a couple of times each week. We were a bit bummed to discover that the drive to the sailing site is a bit longer than we had hoped. To get there we have to go almost half way around the north side of the lake on twisty county road that is very ruff. We figure that from the time we leave home, drive there, then launch the boat it will take two hours. Had we gotten a buoy at Paynetown it would have been a bit shorter. I can see us getting tired of launching the boat each time, especially if the ramp is crowded when we get there. Once we make sure the boat is water tight, and I install a emergency bilge pump(just in case), I can see us paying the difference for a buoy. That does nothing about the drive time though. Sigh.... We just need to live on a lake!