Winter is Coming

Haul out was quite the adventure, but after three failed attempts and a backwards slide down the ramp with the boat in the sling, we got out! I have too many jack stands but it makes me feel better since we are between an island packet 30 and a friend's prized Bristol 29.9.  Our list of projects is tremendous but the main things will be to re-bed all the deck hardware including the mainsheet traveler, replace the gaskets in all the portlights, build a stack pack, scrape and re-paint the bottom, and if Cinderella (me) gets her way, I'll have time to strip all the blue paint off of the topsides and the boot stripe and re-paint in a nice greenish gray color. 

Teak, Teak Everywhere

They say that if you have a lot of exterior teak the best strategy is just to get used to gray.  That's all well and good for the teak decking, but I really want something more exciting for the cockpit table, and all the interior bright work.  Here's the table in place:


And here it is disassembled: 

I'll post the after pictures after we have the third coat of Cetol on.




Shade is also a priority, since Hobo came without dodger or bimini.  We found a nearby steel distributor called East Coast Steel and were able to get 20 foot lengths of mostly polished (up to 180 grit only) tubing for 54.99 each, so the total for the whole build including stainless tubing, hardware, zippers, and the sunbrella for the top was less than 400.00.  I can't say it came out perfectly but it makes shade!

First step was to bend the tubing. Then we put it in place and tied it into position. 

Then I sewed up a top and a boot. Everything, somehow, was six inches off. I think the top of the Bimini frame is six inches wider than the bottom. Miraculously it all fits. I had to had additional width to the boot. It isn't what you'd call beautiful. 

Finally, I'm hoping to take out the center "captain's chair" this winter. It has pretty sharp edges and is surprisingly annoying when you are trying to get on board using the boarding ladder.  I would like to replace it with two small curved seats on the stern rail on either side.  I don't think any alteration to the stern rail will be required, we just have to decide on a material.  The obvious choice would be . . . teak.  But it's awfully expensive these days.  Might have to throw some mahogany into the mix.

Balancing Act

Prior to the completion of the survey, our intention had been to motor the boat back to a nearby yacht basin and have it hauled out, have the mast removed, and let her sit for the rest of the season while we sailed our Grampian. We thought she needed too much work to sail, but the surveyor completely disagreed. Upon his recommendation we took her home and we have been sailing her for over a month now with no regrets. Have there been some major mistakes? Absolutely. But there have been some triumphs too. We are getting the hang of handling a bigger rig, which has a proportionately bigger load on it and thus requires a tremendous amount of force to control. We entered and completed the Sippy Cup, an overnight regatta from

Just north of Turkey Point to Annapolis. We set the batteries on fire and then put the fire out. We set the kerosene stove on fire and put that fire out. We replaced the batteries and we are going to get rid of the stove. Meanwhile, at every turn the prior owners have kind of exceeded our expectations. They spent a tremendous amount of money and time maintaining and repairing the boat, and some of their additions are really quite ingenious. 

For one, the hull has an airex core. When they bought the boat in the 90s they had the entire bottom stripped, blisters removed, and much of the fiberglass replaced. They also had little ports put in on the interior of the hull so you can easily and regularly check your airex foam for water infiltration. ! Brilliant! 

They also had the rig altered according to plans they had drawn up by the designer, Stan Huntingford. I have the blueprints with the hand drawn alterations. The new rig includes seriously heavy duty outboard chainplates. 

They added the most interesting cockpit cushions. When I first saw them I was dismayed and thought I would immediately replace them. They are heavy foam covered in sling fabric. Sling fabric I tell you. But it's the only fabric known to man not to stink after being submerged in bay water. All of the cockpit cushions double as large floating loungers. And they DON'T STINK. Brilliant! 

We are finding some issues that are going to have to be addressed this winter, for instance the wiring is pretty deteriorated so electronics are all quite unreliable. Whenever something works it's pretty exciting. 

But all in all, this has been a smashing success so far.

First Blog Entry: August 12, 2015: Love at First Sight

This story starts the way a lot of stories start.  I was happy in my relationship, but for some reason my eyes started wandering off to the side.  I was looking at bigger boats on the internet.  My Grampian 26 was starting to feel a little cramped inside and we had nearly reached the limit of reasonable improvements to be made.  It started with a Contest 30 on Craigslist almost two years ago.  She looked phenomenal in the pictures, but in person she was a wreck.  It's funny how deceiving pictures can be.  Next came a Bristol 32, also on Craigslist, for a steal.  But the atomic four was steaming like mad and it was pretty clear that the seller had been fleeced when he bought the boat.  All the good stuff had already been taken.  Then there was a Carter 33 upon which the seller had done such an egregious job with re-coring the cabin house that he deliberately kept us on the dock chatting until the sun went down so it would be harder to see his handiwork.  This boat was otherwise rock solid and frankly, she was tempting.  With a five foot six draft though, it was going to be a tight fit in our home port so we moved on, promising each other we wouldn't look at any other boats and we would just enjoy ourselves on the boat we already had.

In the name of doing so, we set about having a lovely sailing season.  Then, in late June, we anchored out in Worton Creek.  To our amusement we got to watch a Westsail 32 make a forty point turn to try to get into its slip.  After the owners had gone we decided to dingy over to their marina and just cruise around looking at the big boats.  We spotted something with a tall mast and a full set of mast steps, so we wandered down that fairway and had a nice chat with the owner of some fairly unique and gleaming vessel.  Then on a whim, we went down the next fairway, and there she was.  She was molded to look like lapstrake, had 8 inch bulwarks, a huge anchor roller, and a lovely flourish at bow and stern.  Bronze port lights and hull mounted chainplates completed the picture.  There was a for sale sign zip tied to the bow rail.  Convinced she was out of our league, we went back to our Grampian to cook dinner.  Having an internet connection there was probably our downfall, since I was able to look up the marina's boat listings and found her.  She was a bit outside of our price range, but not nearly as much as expected.  The interior photos evinced a Hans Christian or the like.  The ad didn't provide much information outside of her actual specs so we called the broker to arrange a showing.  The broker warned us that the interior was rough.  Of all the boats he had listed, this one was garnering the most interest until the showing, when prospective buyers were actually getting angry with him over the condition of the boat.  He said "I wouldn't wear my regatta clothes on her." We set up a showing, and we turned up but the broker didn't. The boat was open so we made ourselves at home, snooping about on what was probably the hottest day of the year.  While we were there we convinced ourselves she was too big, too beautiful, and too much for us.  Sure, the diesel was as old as me, and the cabin liner was rotting into mulch, but the important stuff was sound.  When we were leaving we found a string of acrobat ants walking along one of the interior hand rails, bold as brass.  They like rotten, wet wood so it made perfect sense that they were hanging out.

We headed back to the Grampian 26, which suddenly seemed even smaller than before.  We spent the next few days staring obsessively at the photos in the ad:

In which none of the problems were visible.  No wonder people were getting mad.  These pictures had to be several years old.  As it turned out, the boat had been on the market for years and the pictures probably were quite old.  Nevertheless, we decided to make an offer.  It was accepted.  Because of the price, we decided to have a survey conducted.  We brought a friend with us for moral support, and waited while the survey waled away with his little plastic hammer and went over everything with a moisture meter.  In the end he said "If you're thinking about buying a boat, you might want to think about this one," and "She might not be the right boat for everyone, but I think you are the right people for this boat."