Winter doldrums

Well, our project sailboat "Firefly" has been put up in storage for the last few months. Mainly due to the neighborhood and zoning commissions complaints about having it in our drive way while we worked on it. :(

So Firefly has been "put up" in deluxe accommodations down the street. Full indoor garage with plenty of room for all the parts and supplies. She looked nice and clean last time we checked in on her, ready to start again in the spring!

Timeout is also "put up"! But she's just under a covered carport style storage yard. still open to the elements but mostly protected. We propped up all the cushions, checked the bilges and took the battery to our house in Missouri for storage and charging over the season.

So it might be a few months before I can post again, but it should be an exciting year of sailing and boating on both boats!

Work continues...and continues...and continues...

Another weekend has come and gone while trying to get finished with the sailboat. We made some headway and some victories were had along the way!

Brightwork:
I was able to get the top sides washed, de-oxidized, polished and waxed in the areas that wood was to be reattached. Really just got the dog house done.

After two days of solid work, we only had time to mount the companionway hatch front/pull handle, slides, handrails. There appears to be a problem with the hatch boards fitting, we will have to modify them to fit :(

Bowsprit:
I was able to fabricate some blocks of wood and wedge them into the bow coated with epoxy resin after sealing up the holes in the bow left from the original bowsprit's fasteners. This would give us the opportunity to screw through the sprit, into the bow of the boat and have the screws contact something more than just fiberglass. Luckily it worked!! It was never a precise fitting piece anyway and it appeared they had simply just filled the voids with sealant. So we did the same. It seems very strong.

The brightwork is done! Finally!

I love the look of nicely cared for and crafted teak on a sailboat. It makes them shippy and romantic and warm...but I hope I never buy another boat with this much or more wood on it! It's been a long few weeks of detailed work to get the pieces here to a finished state. I finally finished last night by getting 3 coats of Honey Teak/Signature Finish clear coat on the exterior side of the companionway boards. They look like a piano finish!

This is cured, not wet! SHINY!!

Brightwork update, plus bowsprit work continues...

2 Coats of Signature Finish Clear. NO these are not wet, this is almost cured!

The Spit & Polish

Out of the many, many projects that will be required to bring Firefly back to some semblance of her former glory, as a new boat I mean, redoing the brightwork (or refinishing the wood on the boat) is the bane of many a boaters existence! That's why I'm a big fan of Tom Fabula's product called Honey Teak!

Relaxing lake time for a change! Also, great changes prove themselves!

Well, it's been fun to buy a new-to-us sailboat but getting the chance to spend time on our "big boat", the 1998 Bayliner 2452 Ciera Express Hardtop, well, that's just relaxing.

We've spent the last year getting her outfitted and prepped for just the occasion we had this weekend. Great cool summer weather, even if it was a little overcast, we had a great time!

The work begins!

Let the work begin!

Maiden Voyage... not counting North Carolina!

Backing her down the ramp, Stacey did a great job. Rachel is coming out to help!

Bringing home baby

Our 1998 Seaward Fox Carbon Fibre Cat Rig!

A trip from Arkansas to North Carolina is not a short one, especially if you are returning in the same weekend! Don't let the 9 hours listed on the GPS fool you...it's always more!

We left at midnight Thursday night and took turns sleeping in the back of our Ford Flex where we had made a palate. Everything was on schedule and we arrived in Knoxville just as planned. Had a nice breakfast then went shopping for needed items at West Marine.

Now is when the trip gets interesting. GPS is a great thing for cities but when you are in the middle of nowhere in the Appalachian mountains it might think someone's driveway is a road and it had no idea a major road was out due to flooding. We went a couple of hours out of the way but finally arrived about 3 pm on Friday. Not counting our 2 hour stop in Knoxville that makes about 12 hours drive time. And we still have 4 hours back to our planned hotel in Dandridge, TN... IN THE RAIN (wait for it) DOWN A MOUNTAIN (wait again...) WITH A SAILBOAT IN TOW! AHHH :D