Soft Shackles

“Marlin Spike Seamanship” like electrical systems, has never clicked with me. I can do all of the important knots for sailing, Sheet Bend, Rolling Hitch, Bowline, etc. and have completed a few rough looking  three strand eye splices, but the double braid stuff and the decorative wrap never seem to work out.

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Anti-Fouling and Deck Paint

As luck would have it Petit Anti-Fouling was on sale at West Marine  a few weeks back, reduced from $179 per gallon to $120! Still very pricey but I was very happy with West Marine Brand water-based that I used last time so I grabbed a gallon.

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I moved the waterline up by a couple of inches as well to try to take care of the barnacles on the water line.

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Hatch Leaks

Eventually, if the weather cooperates I will actually have some sailing content up on the site, but for now here are maintenance posts.

Since we owned Santosha, there have been these nagging little hatch leaks that have been on my to-do list and this spring with the ridiculous weather we have endured it was time to get them fixed. I was down below a few weeks back during a steady rain and they were leaking pretty badly not just from the normal spot.

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Deck Leaks…

Sorry for the long delay in posting, Its been a combination of the weather in Virginia (which has sucked) plus my iPhone Camera has been out of commission and I rarely ever remember to bring Jeans good camera with me.

I found out a couple of things from the rainy spring. Firstly my hatches leak more than ever and secondly the hull/deck joint which is supposed to be glassed on the inside of the Seawind II was not glassed completely.

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Boat Cleaning Weekend!

Spring is here and I hauled the power washer down to Urbanna, She was dirty anyway but the fire left a film of dirt/soot over everything.

It never fails to amaze me how power washing jet gets way deeper than just scrubbing. I should have taken some before pics but I was too focused on getting a ton of work done in a small window. So here are a few “after Pics”

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But Wait, Theres More!

I realize the I said that “for the most part its finished” but I still had the head door and the veneer to apply over the plywood. I figured that I could get it done in a day so of I went to Urbanna. Jean was supposed to meet me on Thursday for a sail and I wanted everything to look finished when she arrived.

First Job was to get the door installed. The trim that I removed all needed “customizing” when re installed due to slight differences between the rotted wood that was removed and the new marine ply that was installed so I knew going in that the door was unlikely to slip right in.

The one thing that i was hoping for was that I could surface mount the hinges as I had no desire to be chiseling the new Oak post, so much for hope.

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Construction and Clean Up!

I went down to Urbanna the other day to wrap up the construction part of the project. There are still a few bits and pieces to finish but we should be good to go sailing.

I had to leave in a hurry last time I was there as my friend who was helping had to be back in town for a family commitment so the place was a bit of a disaster area. the mini 2.5 gallon Shop Vac that I bought has been in valuable for clean up and whilst I cannot keep it on the boat due to storage issues its easy to pack into the car for transport.IMG_3576

An inspection of the shower pan showed a few voids in the ‘glass that need to be filled plus two of the corners needed building up. Also I needed to smoth out the edges for cosmetic reasons.

Back to the epoxy then a good clean!

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