November 25, 2015

Thanksgiving holiday means a short boat week.  Short week, short blog!  Windy still, too.  I managed to get a few more coats of Epifanes RapidCoat on the teak trim in the v-berth and made a long overdue trip to the fuel dock to top off the fuel and empty the holding tank.  Now that the cold weather seems to have finally arrived, it's important to keep the fuel tanks full to minimize condensation in the tanks.  I also added enough biocide to treat the additional fuel.  Spent the weekend in LA with Carol and we revisited the LA County Arboretum.

November 19, 2015

Pleasant calm sunny days alternated with near gale-force winds this week.  Since nearly all my projects were inside, it didn’t matter much.  I’m most proud of the smallest item:  finding the perfect solution to hiding an ugly chainplate backing plate and the perfect place to hang my new Greek fisherman’s cap.  Killed two birds with one stone and it was fast, free and easy!  You can see me modeling the cap in my new profile picture.

November 12, 2015

Again the weather inhibited outside work, but this time is was strong winds more than rain (although there was some threat of showers).  Nonetheless, I finished up a few smaller projects, most notably finally getting the “new” 30 kg Rocna anchor connected properly and removing the radar dome and display to send in to Furuno for repair.  While it only took about an hour, hanging from the mast in a harness for that long while performing delicate work ain’t easy.  Thanks to friend Joseph for belaying me.  (Last weekend Carol and I had a great time in LA at Park’s Korean BBQ with Joseph and his wife Marci.)

November 5, 2015

A bit of a mixed week.  Some rainy and windy days slowed progress.  One of the new anchor shackles didn’t fit through the anchor even though according to the specs it should have.  Turned out that they did not include the lettering that stood proud of the shackle diameter in the size specs.  Cost me $19 to ship them back for an exchange and I’m still waiting for an alloy shackle that will meet WLL requirements and fit.  Finally, the Primo I used on the rub rails turned out to not work as hoped.  The sunny side weathered badly and not only did four coats not cover, it got runny.  The Cetol faired much better even considering it was exposed 3 months less.  So, eventually the Primo will need to be stripped off to get replaced by Cetol.  At least I got a break with a minor car issue, fixing my windshield washers myself for $6 rather than the $125+ the dealer wanted.  Even scored a couple of free maps from AAA despite my not being a member!  Half full or half empty?