notes to myself

From forward end of centerboard trunk to.....

compass, forward screws:  21 1/8 inches

mainsheet block, forward screws: 29 3/16 inches

mainsheet cam cleat:  46 3/8 inches inches

deck cleats: 2 3/16 inches from cb and 4 13/16 from aft edge of thwart

inboard fairlead (bivy purchase):  1 5/16 inches

outboard fairlead (bivy purchase):  3 3/8 inches

Screw holes for hardware that have a lot of stress

such as the mainsheet block have been drilled out and

hardwood dowells epoxied in place.  Bare wood, exposed

by sanding, wear and tear have been coated with clear

epoxy and filled with thickened epoxy.  

Hoping for warmweather on New Year's Day and/or 

the first weekend of January to get a little more work done.

the weight

Work continues under blue skies and a warm south wind today.  More hardware removal, sanding and chipping going on.  I also pulled out the four 15 lb. dumbbells from beneath the bunk flat.  When building Spartina I found that dumbbells were both the cheapest way to purchase ballast and also the easiest form to fasten in place.  With a cleat and a piece of line they are held securely on either side of the centerboard trunk.  Salt water gets down in there now and then and they were starting to rust.  I pulled them out for a good coating of rustoleum, something I should have done in the first place.

Spartina has 60 lbs of lead in the dumbbells, plus 100 lbs in the steel plate centerboard.  I have both heard and read that this is too much weight.  Possibly it is just for day sailing in comfortable weather, but on a cruise when a broader range of wind and weather is the case, I'm happy to have the additional stability.  

Chance of rain tomorrow in the afternoon, but it is of no concern as I can work in the garage (though I do prefer working outside on sunny days like today).  Temperature is the main concern for tomorrow's epoxy work.  It should be in the mid-50's from mid-morning on.  Perfect!

it worked...

Simple enough.  Pleasure House Point oysters from Uncle

Chuck, horse radish sauce made with equal parts sour cream and

horse radish, and Romanoff caviar.  Served with salmon right off

the smoker, sun-dried tomato and basil pasta salad and asiago

bread.  A nice little meal, followed by an apple crostata 

from Liz.  Not exactly traditional, there were no complaints.

a first attempt

My version of Oysters Romanoff, inspired by an

appetizer at Bill's Prime Seafood and Steaks

on Chincoteague Island.  I'll probably use smaller

portions of horse radish sauce and caviar

when I serve with smoked salmon tonight.

Christmas delight, delayed

The sun, after a monsoon-like Christmas Eve and a blustery dark Christmas morning, has just reappeared.  Looking out the window I see only blue skies and am very glad for them.  We celebrated Christmas after a three-mile walk with the oldest daughter while the youngest, still recovering from college life, slept.  

Later in the morning I worked out in the garage removing the deck plates, some bronze fittings and the winch from Spartina's deck.  The deck plates came out easier once I realized leaving the top screwed into the ring made them stronger and as such easier to pry off the deck once loosened by a chisel.  I am ahead of schedule on this project and hope to get more work - mostly sanding and shaping - done this weekend.  Maybe even a little epoxy work if it is warm enough.

Santa, by which I mean my daughters, has figured out the perfect gifts for me: snack food for sailing.  Under the tree this morning for me were packages of crunchy black edamame, almond keenwah clusters (I had the ginger keenwah with me on the fall trip and they were perfect for afternoon snacks), trail mix with raisins, cranberries, peanuts pineapple, papaya, almonds and cashews, Ginger Xtreme candy and sun-dried organic figs.  I would love to enjoy them now, but all will be tucked away with the cruising gear front the spring trip.  Thanks, girls!

Christmas eve

"Evening came, and we went ashore for our usual plate of fried oysters.  The boys are out with tin pans and horns making the noise of a southern Christmas.  H. and I both a bit homesick and lonesy.  It is my first Xmas away from home in twenty-four years.  I am sure a devil of a way off.  We have each bought things for the other's stocking and will live up to traditions if we sink her.  Beautiful night and just our chance to be away with light northerly.  In two days when we are ready wind will probably haul to southard again.  Don't it beat all?"

Written from the catboat "Mascot" beached for repairs near Southport, NC on December 14, 1912, as told in The Boy, Me and The Cat by Henry H. Plummer

cold and grey, thoughts of a better day

I've been experimenting with the GoPro Studio, GoPro's free editing tool.  My interest is mostly in using Studio to remove the fish-eye appearance of GoPro images, the result of the extremely wide angle lens on the camera.  I've read that those curved edges can be removed.  I can see how to do it for videos, but have yet to make it work for a still image.  While finding my way around the GoPro Studio, I put a series of still images into video form using GoPro Studio.

It is cold, grey and rainy outside.  The video, which is made up of time lapse images shot at two second intervals, was from my December sail in Elizabeth City.  I suspect I'm the only person who will want to see a time lapse of me sailing Spartina.  But for me, it brightens a dreary day.

NOTE:  I've just looked at the video through the blog and it is very, very low quality - best looked at it the small player window.  Expanded to full screen it is unwatchable.  I will leave it up for a while to see if the processors will be improving the video as time goes on, something I have experienced with youtube uploads.  The poor quality when viewed at full screen is caused by the blog machinations, the original video is crystal clear and finely detailed.

the greying of me

The shortest day of the year had sunshine long enough for me to roll Spartina out of the garage and begin the off season maintenance.  The main effort will be repainting the interior and replacing the five large deck plates.

Sanding has never been a favorite task, but working out in the sunshine was nice.  It felt good and reminded me of how much I enjoyed building Spartina.  I used both a palm sander and a new random orbit sander to rough up or remove the old steel grey paint.  I had touched up the cockpit a few times over the years, but it looked like it had been touched up and really needed to be completely repainted.  I pulled off a lot, but not all of the hardware.  Some of the larger stainless steel screw, #14's I think, I don't want to mess with.  With the smaller screws I'll drill out the holes and epoxy in hardwood dowels so that the screw, when replaced, will go into solid wood.  The epoxy work and painting will have to wait for March.

I did take off one deck plate, which was more work than I expected.  You can see the missing plate on the right in the image below.  I did not use high tech sealant, like 3M's 5200, and I am glad for that.  It was difficult enough to remove the plate using just basic bathroom sealant.  Four more plates to go, which I expect will happen Christmas Day after gifts and before dinner. 

Taking the boat apart always makes me nervous.  When will I get it back together again?  No later that April 1, I hope.

smoke gets in your eyes

Now laughing friends deride

Tears I cannot hide

So I smile and say

When a lovely flame dies

Smoke gets in your eyes*

Or maybe I'll just wait three

hours and have some

smoked salmon

*the Platters

organic, farm raised - a boat for free - cuba

Give me six hours of brining and three hours of smoking

 and we'll have a nice little Christmas treat for the neighbors.

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I've been told that the Schooner Virginia, which is shutting

down, has a roughly 16' Grand Banks dory that they are 

willing to give away.  OK condition, needs some work.

No trailer and it is FOB the Great Bridge area of Chesapeake.  

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Recent political news has reminded me of my brief time in

Cuba a few years ago.  You can read about that here and here.

I have always wanted to visit the country.  It is more likely now

that I could go, and would like to do so before 

the dollars begin to change everything.