Fianlly Sailing again!!!

6-17-2015

While at times I wondered if I would ever get the boat back on the water this season it finally happened and we got to get her wet for the first tie this past Saturday. While we had hoped on getting to the lake early, my work (hate that word), prevented that from happening. So instead of stepping and rigging the boat in the cooler morning temps it was straight up noon by the time we pulled into the Paynetown boat ramp.
 We made it look like we knew what we were doing and it only took us about 35 mins to step the mast and rig the boat. Last season when we took the boat home we dropped the mast using a line connectedd to the forestay cable then ran through the nose tied down ring back to the cockpit jib pulley with Cindy holding the lien helping to control the rate of descent of the mast. So we did that again to raise the mast and it was so much easier than both of us up on top of the boat trying to raise it. Once I got it lifted off the mast crutch Cindy started pulling and I just walked it up. Took longer to tighten the stays and shrouds than it did anything else.
 This was our first launch from this ramp and I can already tell you I do not like it as well as the Moores Creek ramp we used last year. Not only is it busier but it lines up with the prevailing winds making the wind more of a factor. Then throw in the fact that the water is not as deep there and you have to be careful with a deep draft boat.
 We launched with out any issues and Cindy took the trailer up to park then I was going to pick her up at the dock by the ramp. While I was out motoring around in circles waiting on my lil lady's return I discovered I made a bit of goof when I re installed the jib cleats. Always before I would throw a fender over the side in front of the aft starboard life line stanchion then cleat it off in the jib cleat. Well it is a spring loaded jam cleat and three times I put the fender line in it and three times it fell right out. I about lost the fender the last time so I had to stop and figure out what was going on. After a few tries it dawned on me. I had the cleats backwards. The would keep lines tight in the cockpit but not over board. Oops. So I picked Cindy up and told her I would have to switch those around. As we motored away from the dock it hit me, I forgot my tool bag in the 4 Runner. Turned around and dropped Cindy off at the dock to go get it for me. Well, in the mean time I had already dropped the rudder blade thinking we were going sailing. I forgot to raise it and when I dropped Cindy off at the dock I hit a rock with the rudder as I pulled away. Darn shallow water! Luckily the rudder blade kicked up like it should have so no damage done. I raised the blade for the next pick up.
 Cindy returned, tool bag in hand, and I picked her up. I turned the helm over to the Captain and I got busy changing the cleats around. The advantage of long arms is that I could reach around inside the cabin and hold the fasteners myself and was able to change them both around in about 5 mins. Problem solved. Time to raise the sails!
 With Cindy at the helm I hopped up on the top deck and raised the main then the jib. We had good wind and in no time we were sailing! Here is my proud lil Captain at the helm of her shiny lil boat

 

 It felt good to finally be back under sail and scooting across the lake again. She sailed great, just like she had before but now I think there was more of  sense of pride within us as we had taking the ugly duckling and turned her into a very pretty little sailboat we could be proud of. We knew her well last year, we new her even better this year as we had literally taken every piece of her apart and put her back together. It was a long project full of frustration at times but we made it and now were getting to enjoy all that hard work.

 Cindy is the reason I am sailing or even writing this blog. Without her and her contagious enthusiasm for having fun I can't imagine how boring my life would be today. She was totally understanding when it came to all the long nights I spent out in the garage working on our girl and more importantly she was very accepting of changes to the plan as we ran into problem after problem. In the end we wound up meeting our goals of having a pretty blue sailboat that we both like and enjoy. Like so much of what we do it is not so much about the destination as it is the fun we have along the way. I can't say all of the painting process was fun but yet I enjoyed it. I like to think I learned some new lessons that I hopefully do not forget. I think Cindy learned a lot as well, like don't paint another boat!!! It is sad but a lot of boats like ours will just get thrown away at some point because not everyone wants to spend 250 hours rebuilding them or has the ability to do so. It is cost prohibitive to have the work done as there are other used boats they could buy that would cost less than the cost to repair. At close to 40 grand for a new boat likes ours with similar features there was no way that was in our budget. I had the ability, and now I have a wonderful lady in my life who will back me up and support me projects such as this and that means the world.

 We sailed back and forth across Lake Monroe for probably a couple of hours giving Cindy time to get used to the boat heeling again. As the afternoon went on with the sun shining down through the clouds it got pretty darn warm so it was time to take our new rubber coated anchor forward and drop her in so we could go for a swim. I let Cindy jump in first so I could gauge the temperature of the water from her reaction. She did not come up gasping for air so I followed her in. Wow! The water is already warmer this year than it got all last season. We splashed around a bit then got back in to relax a bit before sailing off.

 After our little break we took back off across the lake and I turned on the tracking app on my phone to get a speed check. Surely she was faster now with new bottom paint. Not that it really matter because in a small sailboat you are going no where fast. We topped out at 6.7 mph on one closed hauled run. I have no way to compare that to last years performance but that is pretty darn good for a 20 foot sailboat.

 Several times last year I would look down in the water and think I found someone's line floating in the water only to discover it was actually our jib or main halyard that had slipped overboard and was getting drug behind us in the water. Well this year I came up with a solution to loosing them

 I love the Nite Eyz Grip Ties. We use them for all sorts of things from tieing up the main sail when it is down to securing the gas bottle to the rear pulpit when we cook on the grill. They are handier than a shirt pocket. Now no more lost lines over the side.
 It was getting close to dinner time or so my stomach was telling me so. We headed north back into the Moores Creek area to cook our dinner. Along the way we sailed past our slip neighbors who keep their Hunter 23 a few slips down from us. They have one of the few boats I can tell who it is from a mile away because of the portholes they added down below the rub line in the V birth area. They really stand out being that low. We had came over to check out slip about a month back and spoke with them as they were coming into their slip. They were really happy with keeping their boat there and that made us feel better about our decision to get a slip there as well. We said hello and re introduced ourselves as we sailed past. They and their friends in a Catalina 27 both said how nice the Memory Maker looked on the water. We were proud boat owners to hear that.

 After anchoring and getting the grill going I turned around to see Cindy raising the pop top. I started forward to help but before I got there she slipped and it dinged her in the head as it came back down on top of her. I grabbed it and got he weight off her then put it up. I checked on my lil Captain and she said she was fine but that it hurt. I thought it would leave a mark the next day myself as she took a pretty good hit.

 While I cooked dinner Cindy stretched out on a cockpit cushion in the sun. She was asleep in no time. Between the long travel day on Tuesday, being sick, and having to work she had not been sleeping well so I knew she had to be tired. I did a little fishing off the stern while the baked potatoes cooked on the grill. We were anchored about 50-60 feet off the shoreline and there was a log laying in the water along the shore that I thought looked like an ideal place for a fish to be hiding. Problem was that after getting my lure snagged on the stays an shrouds several times last season I did not have enough line left on my real to reach the log with my lure. Add fishing line to the get list. I probably could have reached it with my fly rod but fly fishing on a sail boat just isn't in your best interest.

 After checking radar as I heard thunder off in the distance, it was time to throw the meat on the grill for the first dinner aboard for the 2015 sailing season.

 

 

 We keep pre seasoned pork tenderloins in the freezer ready for the cooler during the sailing season. They usually thaw out while we sail, are easy to cook on the grill, and are very tasty. We just grab a bag of them and we are off. Makes getting ready to go to the boat quick and easy.

 Dinner was done to it was time to wake up Miss Sleepy Head. We enjoyed the view out of our new windows as we sat at the table to eat dinner. Nothing like having dinner onboard the boat. Food just taste better for some reason. While she may be small at only 20 feet it is really pretty comfy for a couple who likes each other. As we ate we discussed adding a small tv/dvd player to the aft cabin wall so we could watch movies and the news when we over night aboard her.

 As we were finishing up dinner it started to sprinkle then drizzle, before it rained a brief shower. We just dropped the top, slide the top hatch back and crawled up in the v birth to take a little break. I knew by looking at radar it would not last long so we just enjoyed bobbing up and down in the water as the waves gently rocked the Memory Maker against her anchor line. Had it lasted another 5 minutes we both would have been asleep and we would have probably woke up there the next morning. We both can't wait till we can overnight on her again.

 The rain stopped and the sun came back out not too long after it started. Now the sails were wet but the best way to dry them out is to sail so raised them and away we went! As Cindy set course for our the cove where our slip is located I dried off the top deck and got her ready to dock. It was a beautiful evening sail with nice wind a double rainbow in the eastern sky, the second double rainbow we had seen in as many days. How often does that happen?

 

 We got to extend our sailing time a bit longer as we tacked across the lake hoping we could tack back and sail into the cove but the wild lulled on us and it was time to fire up old trusty. We motored into the slips and tied our girl up in her new summer home. After putting the new cockpit cover on I had just made we took a quick pic of her all tucked in for the night

 

 She looks so small in the slip but they only came in one size. She will be fine as she her big sister, a Hunter 26 is sitting across from her keeping watch

 

After checking in at the boat house and finding out we need to get one more sticker for the port side of the hull we headed for home. It had been a long fun day and we were so glad to be back on the water again in our Memory Maker!!!!







New paint for the Memory maker, part 3

6-16-2015
 With our girl back at home in our garage work could begin in earnest to get the new paint on her. The clock was ticking and I only had little over a month to get all the white painted, the hull striped, and put her all back together. Could I get it done and how much sleep do I really need?
 First thing was first. I had to get a urethane epoxy primer sealer on all the repaired areas. While expensive and a mess to apply this is awesome primer that will fill 80 grit sand scratches. Luckily I had some left over from previous projects so I did not have to buy it. Good news as our budget was about at its limit already. Here she is primed.

 I had just enough to cover all the areas I needed to so I really lucked out there because at a 100 bucks a quart I was not buying anymore of that stuff!
 We used a Dupont automotive single stage urethane enamel paint because I wanted this to last longer than the 3-5 years they say the boat paint will last. While it last much longer it also much more hazardous to spray so we had to make sure we had the correct gear. Cindy loved the stylish look I had her decked out in

 I liked to never got her out of it that night LOL!!!
 We finally lucked out and the day we wanted to spray the white on the hull and other parts the weather actually cooperated and we had great conditions. The wind even blew the right direction to keep the over spray off the house and garage. After a busy afternoon of masking and prepping for paint we finally had a white boat!!!

 That was a big step done but there is still more to do and the days are winding down. At this point there are only about 20 days left till we launch. Starting to sweat a little bit.
 After the white dried it was time to finish the bottom paint and start prepping for the stripes. The bottom paint went on well and by the end of the weekend it was done.

 Now is about the time that my luck would run out. Always before I have always tried to keep things as simple as I can to prevent what was about to happen but for some crazy reason I let caution go to the wind and paid dearly for it.
 I used to paint motorcycle tanks and used to use cut stencils to paint on the logos. Well my source for the stencil material passed away so I had a friend of ours  cut stencils for our name out of decal material. Lesson number one, decal material is not stencil material!!! I got everything positioned and started spraying the blue

But the slick stencil material made the paint run off like water! Plus not only that but the adhesive on the back of the material was not paint safe and it reacted with the paint! It was a disaster about to only get worse.
 Thinking it was bad but salvageable I decided to proceed that same night with painting the gray stripe. Huge mistake. While trying to carefully mask over the blue without getting in it the wind blew the paper right into the still tacky blue paint. The result, well, it was how shall I say, game over?

It stuck like super glue and pulled a large area of paint off with the paper. I got that familiar sick feeling in my stomach when things go really really wrong. I am proud though, I was able to control myself to the point that I did not have a full on nuclear meltdown in the driveway. I knew I had screwed up and it was all my fault. Cindy could tell I was about to blow and made herself scarce for a while. All I could do was push her back in the garage and go get a beer. It would have to dry before I could do anything to fix it. Clock is really ticking now...
 I barely slept that night and about 4 am I had to go to the garage. The name looked horrible, there was no saving that mess. If I could get it off the hull I could at least save myself from having to repaint the white. So very carefully I scraped it off with a razor blade and then compounded the rest off. There was no saving the Hunter 20 logo. It was just too far gone as well

 It just looked like you had on fuzzy glassed when you looked at it. The place where the paper pulled the paint off was going to have to be feather edged sanded and repainted as well. So basically I was going to have to repaint all the blue. Ugh. Oh well, no time to cry, I had a lot of wet sanding to do.
 It took a few days to get it ready for attempt number two and I had to change the plans of having a white stripe between the blue and gray stripes due to paint bleed under the masking tape. But by Friday evening I reshot the blue and the gray came the next day.

 It turned out much better and although I can see every lil mistake in it Cindy was very happy with it and that is all that matters. We would later add a white reflective vinyl stripe between the blue and gray and talk about something that jumps out at you in the dark!

 Maybe it will keep us from getting ran over on the water some night.
 During this whole process I added a few custom touches to the pop top and companionway slider as well. I added the name to the rear face of the pop top

 And the words no step to the top of the companionway slider because it is the weakest part of the whole boat!

 It was time to start putting her all back together which seemed like it took forever. Every part had to be cleaned and all the old sealer removed. Then new sealer applied, the part re installed, then the extra sealer had to be cleaned off. I worked on that for several late nights till it was time to make her the Memory Maker again

 Work continued on while Cindy was out in Havasu visiting with her sister and friends. I worked every night till at least 11 pm trying to get everything back together as I was down to the wire.
 Our old side windows were original and very crazed. My original plan of removing the old plexi and installing new failed when I broke the frame in half. It was too brittle to come apart. So I just made new side windows out of tinted plex

 Of course my drill press would have to stick it to me by jumping the stop as I countersunk the screw holes. The bit dug into the plex and just shattered a bit chunk right out of it. Argh.... Lady luck is not on my side at this point.
 The port hole windows are really nice in that they open which is rare for a boat this size. But they were either smoked or really hazed because you could not see through them. Knowing how dirty glass can make a car or boat look dirty I was not going to put them back in that way. So after a hour of wet sanding and polishing I think they looked much better

 Huge improvement!
 At night I would work in the shop on the all the teak wood and new companionway boards. I changed the boards into three pieces instead of 2 to make them smaller to store.

Now I just need to make birth plywood match teak. That ought to be real easy, NOT! After seeing where the water came in at last summer I made a change to the companionway slider top rails by removing the wood along the bottom of them between the screws that held the rails to the pop top. This will allow the water that lands on top of the slider and pop top to run off right under the rails instead of getting trapped on top and then running over into the cabin.

 Once I had all I could put on the boat back on with her still in the garage it was time to paint the remaining few pieces. While there were not many it took one very long night to get them all apart and ready for paint. The next day it was a exercise in creativity trying to get all the parts hung up so I could shoot the white.

 I like to think of it as a red neck jungle gym LOL! It looked goofy but worked great. Had to laugh thinking about how our neighbors would re act if we lived in town...
 With just a few days to go I worked on relocating  battery to the very forward hatch area in the v birth to better balance the boat and get some more storage room in the keel locker. It was a tight squeeze but after making a shelf to sit it on the battery slid right into place in it's new home

 with minimal trimming of the opening.

 Once all the parts dried it was time to get serious and get this boat back together. More late nights and early mornings plus a few afternoons off from work and she was all but done. I had a good friend of ours come out and help me re install the front and rear pulpits and step the mast the night before Cindy got back. My plan was to have the spreader bar lights on and shining down on her as we drove up the driveway in the dark as the original plan was to pick Cindy up at about 4 am. But they ran late and the sun was up by the time we got back home so this is what she saw instead.

 

 The Memory Make is almost ready to head to the lake in this pic. It took one more evening to install the life line stanchions and the lifelines, then put the trailer winch stand and spare tire back on.

 I did not make the proposed launch date of June 10th but I could have. Cindy had to work a couple of days so between that and the fact that she came home sick we moved the launch back to that next Saturday, the 13th. That gave me time to make a new cockpit cover for her so she can stay clean and dry in her new slip! Time to take a break and enjoy our almost new boat!!!!

New paint for the Memory Maker, part 2

6-16-2015
 I know, it took me a while to get time to write part 2. I knew it would be a long project painting our sailboat but how long I may have underestimated just a bit. As of today she is on the water floating in her slip, after about 250 hours of my time. But I am getting ahead of myself. Where did I leave off?
 I believe I was just getting ready to start stripping the bottom of the latex paint covering the copper hull paint. Since we are going to leave her slipped all summer we decided we needed actual marine paint on the bottom to avoid that nasty lake Monroe scum ring disease that boats get there. But in order to put the new Hyrdocoat blue bottom paint on all the old paint had to come off. Now for the fun work, not...

 After coating the paint with a striper I was able to scrape it off, a 1 1/2" at a time with a razor scraper. That only took 4 evenings to do. Nothing like getting all this copper paint stuck to your clothes and skin. Amazing how well the copper transferred to my skin. Even more surprising was how hard it was too scrub off.

Even once it was scraped off it still left the hull colored. That made it easy to tell where I sanded and where I needed to.
 Once all the bottom that I could reach with her on the trailer was all scraped free of paint and sanded it was time to get her off the trailer so I could strip the rest of the paint and pull the keel for sandblasting and new paint.
 Luckily Cindy's sister, who lives across the road, offered us the use of her concrete pad in front of her garage which was large enough and level. It is protected from the wind by large trees so it made a great place to remove her from the trailer.

 

 Here she is up on blocks and supported. I had read several stories of concrete blocks breaking and boats falling on their owners so I too extra precaution and inserted 4x4 wood pieces inside the blocks to carry the load and then mad a set of boat stand pads to help support it while we worked on it.
 Once I had the boat off the trailer it was time to modify my motorcycle jack and convert it into a keel jack.

 A few pieces of scrap steel and 15 mins of welding and I had my very own keel jack! The jack worked sweet but there was one small problem I did not see coming. The keel was taller than I thought it would be so the boat was sitting about 2" too low to get the keel clear of the keel trunk. I had to jack it up a few inches at the bow to get enough clearance to remove the keel.

 

 

 Here is the old rusty keel once I finally got to clear the boat and roll out from under her. It weighs 400 lbs and it is a bit nose heavy. Luckily I guessed the positioning of the jack in the right position so it balanced perfectly.

 The keel is held into the boat with four 3" long countersunk machine screws that come up through the hull of the boat. The two on the port side came right out but the two on the starboard side I had to drive out with a pin punch and hammer. Once I got them out I could see why.

 

 

 The keel must have had a heck of a side load placed on it at some point in the last 35 years to bend these two stainless 5/16" machine screws!

 With the keel out I could finally see up into the keel trunk and find the source of the mystery leak that I fought all last season. It did not take me long to pin point the issue.

 

Someone in the past had set the trailer up wrong and instead of the boat being supported by the bunk boards the boat was sitting on the board under the keel with the bunk boards just there to stabilize the boat. Through the years the boat had vibrated on top of the keel long enough to wear through the gel coat and into the fabric. Once that happened the water just migrated it's way where ever it could. That is why I never could get the leak to stop.

 Repairing the damage with the keel out was straightforward epoxy and glass work.







 

While the repairs dried I sanded the whole bottom of the boat and prepped it for the bottom paint. I could only paint the very bottom as I wanted the white hull paint to wrap around and under the blue bottom paint as it would be much easier to paint the bottom paint over the white enamel than the opposite way around. It was not long and we had color going on the bottom of our boat!

During this time I loaded our rusty keel up and took it north about 20 mins to a friend of mine and we blasted the keel to remove all the old rust and barnacles.

 

 We used a very coarse grit blasting sand that the people who painted the water towers in Rocky's county had given him. It made quick work of the rusty old keel and a few hours later I was home spraying epoxy primer on the keel. 24 hours later and we had a blue keel!

 

 Over all I was very impressed with how the boat was built. Instead of a steel keel pin in a steel bracket  wearing out ad breaking off our boat has it's steel pin encased in a thick ploy tube to prevent metal to metal contact.

 

 there was a small amount of wear on the poly tube but not enough to warrant replacement. So I greased it up after I painted the keel and re installed it back into the boat with 4 new machine screws and a new keel winch line, although not in the order I had hoped for. Due to storms being forecasted I wanted to get the boat back on the trailer asap and with the new keel line not being scheduled to be delivered till the middle of the next week I elected get the boat back on the trailer and change the line later. So what would have taken 5 mins wound up taking 2 hours but at least I can change ours on the trailer. a lot of boats you can't and had someone not cut an access window in the port side of our keel trunk we would not have been able to either.

 But before I could put her back on her trailer the trailer itself needed some attention. The carpet on the bunk boards was shot and I wanted to modify the arrangement of the boards to better allow us to load the boat. So I spent most of one whole day replacing, modifying, and carpeting the bunk boards and fighting with all the old rusted nuts and bolts! But it turned out really nice and I think the extended v between the center boards will really help with lining the keel up with the keel slot when we load her.

 

 

 Once the trailer rehab was done I was able to load the boat back on to the trailer by myself  in about 15 mins. After seeing what I needed to change when I took it off I was able to reload it much easier. Here you can see the keel in the slot

 

The bottom that is not painted will get painted after I shoot the white and wrap it down under the water line. Here is our girl all loaded up and ready to head home to complete her transformation.

 

 Although there was still a lot of work left to be done at this point I felt like I might actually make our proposed launch date of June 10th which was just a month away at this point. Little did I know just how much work was left to do...



New paint for the Memory Maker, part 1

5-29-2015

 Yes, we are still alive, just crazy busy trying to get the Memory Maker ready to hit the water. So much has happened since I have last posted it may be hard to catch you up on everything. But here goes.
 Back on March 21 st we started taking our girl all apart in preparation for repairs before we painted her. That was March, this is May, and still not done. I told Cindy from the beginning this was going to be a big project. I think she understands now why I said that.
 Well lets just say taking a boat apart is much easier and quicker than putting one back together. It did not take much more than a afternoon to have her emptied out and stripped down. Then the real work could begin.
 While the Memory Maker sailed great she was starting to look a bit long in the tooth for lack of better terms. She was showing her age and we just knew that hiding under her ugly exterior was a real beauty of a boat just waiting to come out. It was up to us to bring out her hidden beauty and along the way fix those naggin leaks I never was able to completely stop. But I think more important to Cindy was that we had to fix them because we now have a slip and it is 30 mins closer to our house! No more launching and recovering each time we want to sail. We are both pretty excited about that.
 So once we had her stripped down it was time to fix the through the hull drain for the sink that we had removed and remove and repair a second cockpit drain that someone had added. I am thinking someone had too large of a outboard motor that made the boat list to starboard which kept some water from draining out of the original drain. They had a good idea but just really hacked it up in the process.

This is the sink drain after I have ground and feathered the edge of the hole in preparation for glass and epoxy. I was impressed to see that the hull was over a 1/4" thick in this area

This is the extra cockpit drain on the outside of the stern after the first coat of glass and epoxy. It was much easier to fix the hole on the outside than the one on the inside but I finally got it.

The rub rail was hiding all sorts of surprises. When I removed it I discovered a lot of damage to the edge of the hull where she had been beat and banged around through the years.

Someone had ran her nose into something going a bit too fast and smashed it. I had to cut and pull the nose rail back into shape before I could repair it.

Being 32 years old she had lots of stress cracks in the gel coat, especially on the pop top. I was surprised to see the majority of them around the attach points for the locks on the pop top instead of where the struts mounted to it. Someone must have really over tightened the locks at some point which pulled the top down and deformed it to the point it cracked, a lot!

Only real option to repair them is to grind them out and then fill them back with epoxy. This is just one area. There were lots of areas like this all over the top of the cabin. Lots!
 By April 18th I was ready to pull her out and start sanding on the stripe to see if I could get it sanded. Cindy had already pulled off all the striping tape that was on her which just left the brown strip and hull paint. The cabin top was the original gelcoat so all it needed was scuffed where it was not cracked.

It has been so long ago now I can barely remember this day. But I do remember it was nice for April and kinda warm.

 We had to work around weather as much as anything else as it did not always cooperate with when I had time to work on her.

 One of my better selfies, if I do say so myself! On to scraping the latex and copper paint off the bottom of the hull now. Oh boy, can we say fun???