EBB's PHOTO GALLERY THREAD

[CapnK]

Hey Ebb -
Yes, still living aboard, still have "Katie Marie" and though she's lain fallow for a few years while I've been living aboard larger boats, she's still and always my favorite, and I've been aboard her at least weekly in this meanwhile thinking dreaming plotting, trying to figure out how best to make her the "One and Only".
To that end I'll be starting to put wood and resin back into her this month, the beginning of her resurrection. I'll post something up over in my thread about that soon.
Looking forward to hearing more about Lil Gull!

[ebb]

GOODBUY TROGEAR

Have to mention that. Because that labor thing is costing a bundle.

If indeed I do go cruising, some chain will be necessary. Haven't got
a winch and don't have room for one, and it's too heavy to add to
all that junk up front just to have a light air sail, and the chain. !@#$%&!.



COMPUTER JUST ERASED THE WHOLE DAMN POST !@#$%^^&&*(((^$!@@#%^&*)(*^$##%!!

[frank durant]

Nice you have your sails!
Simple advice:
Don’t overthink it...
“Gitterdun” and get cruising!
And...


And....



PICTURES !!!

Please😁

[ebb]

Hey Frank, yer on point.

and it actually just erased a singhle line
to hell with it - see you soon


up top on an address bar in front of the pearson address
it says site is Not Secure

[ebb]

Just had this post ERASED mid sentamce

and removed from the site

it's not me and not the computyer

adios amigos

[Bill]

Hmm. No one else seems to have these problems . . . . Are you still on the plantation's network?

[ebb]

I'm hunt and peck. Think this computer just gets tired of waiting
.
(It just erased a second line here) I touched nothing, except the last letter.

It may be the mouse.

It's a death algorithm. Robots are taking over. Humans are illogical

It's time to make a move. But climate change will get them too

When we both are gone there will be no problems

Cockroaches will rule, Monarchs and bees will come back

But all the yachts will still be in the marinas - waiting

[ebb]

A LITTLE BIT OF CATCH-UP
The HARDEAILS have been installed on litlgull (who's varnish I've abandoned
and the boat looks horrible. Just went back a year in my inbox and found
a couple great photos by Mike Klass of Tom Heering's rendition of one side of
the rails.
The pushpit really is two three-legged curved corners with the center open.
The stanchions here have bases that bolt thru the deck.
All sheer stanchions now have welded 4 bolt vertical bases and moved off
the deck to the toe-rail bulwark. Chris at Spaulding insisted on full bronze
matching square plates for the exposed outside. Less bling when they green
over with benign neglect .
It would be most appropriate if the comfortable looking shop at White Water
Marine where Mike took a couple of first photos of Tom's masterpiece were
right here in these pages.


Getting rid of the wishbone bowsprit has caused a cascade of problems how
to support the anchor roller far enough forward and the Facnor tube bowsprit
likewise extended forward of the stem fitting. My intuition is out of
commission. The Facnor has to come from France (via Tunisia). Only UPS
can squire foreign purchases thru the morass of foreign boundaries. Haven't
even seen it yet

The old Pulpit forward legs are taking up too much real-estate. Have a mockup
of the a.roller and it needs wiggle room to point chain and line down the aisle,
because the idiot skipper put a Bomar hatch in the front deck (into the
forepeak.) Keep smacking into unfortunate good ideas I had.. Have no-one
to humor me, I mean to fling ideas around with. I'm now in the old man box.
No back patting, when folks reach out it's under my arms they reach for,
looks like FredFeeble needs help keeping upright.. Probably does.

Tom Heering's rails are incredibly gorgeous, right up where craft becomes art..

[ebb]

5 MINUTE EPOXY - 1 OZ DOUBLE SYRINGE

We've used this forever. Glue mock-ups into 3D models. Recently in the hardware
went to the blister-pac wall to get a couple of those syringes of usually clear 2-part
you squeeze out small amounts and quickly mix together. The Devcon's are gone.
I bought the last one.
We have to cut the nozzle ends off with the pocket knife. Never sure where to cut,
and the cut is never precise, And since the nozzles are placed close together on
the tube, the double stop plug is small and hard to handle. Easily get them mixed,
weld the cap on. One side was always clear and runny, the other is thicker, has
a bit of color and harder to squeeze a matching equal worm.
Always try to mix with a flexible 1" putty-knife. If the weather is hot you have 2
of the 5 minutes.
The more liquid mixes get more runny when they heat up chemically. You have 2
seconds to save your mixing knife from near permanent encapsulation. The runny
stuff really is useless for model building. But use it anyway because you don't use
pressure to get a bond. It comes so conveniently packaged. Like icecreme on a stick.

During the same week went back to the same blister-pac display only to find the
last Devcon was really the last. Suddenly, now replaced with LocTite ounce syringes,
none 5 minute. One 'extended time', which I got, and later read the package only
to find it was a 1 hour set, 3 to get hard. Plenty of time for the glue to run out..
Could not get the cap on the nozzles.

And, I will never buy the Grizzly 5-minute again -- because the cap is tiny and not
sided as most are to plug the right hole without a magnifying glass. I couldn't
get the plug in nor over the holes -- wiped off the mess with 91% isopropyl alcohol
and stuck bluetape over the end. Works just fine, but it has to stick to the plastic
film label wrap. HOWEVER, IT'S ALL OVER NOW, BABY..

PC SUPER EPOXY
Into this picture steps PC-Super Epoxy. PC has been around for 100 years. Not
known for 5-minute glues, altho they have a bunch of glues you might look into.*
The 1/2oz-1/2oz double tube I'm about to describe has no wrap around plastic
label that slides off when you pull back the plunger. You have to do this little
rule after you squeeze, everytime, Sucking the liquid back with the plunger
keeps things neat. P.C.S.E has no film label wrapped on the tube.
* one of which is a cold weather 5-minute epoxy!

Most surprising: the two nozzles are ALREADY OPEN. - you are instructed to
grasp the tab at the end and twist 1/4 turn. pull the stopper out of the recess,
voila, beautiful precise clean holes.
More: the glue is a paste. Both sides are the same consistency, worms extrude
equally. one is whitish, one is bluish, mix until one translucent mass, you
are clued when you've mixed enough. Since it has body it's easy to control the mix.
Use the mixing knife to mound it on a joint edge, lay/prop pieces together, no drip,
no sag.
Pull back slightly on the plunger. (Have a Q-tip handy to pluck out any dribble.)
Put the stopper back in the tube and twist lock-it. Nobody else has this. It's
beautiful. But you see, since it is a soft paste, it's not going to dribble out at all.

And not lastly, the set time is extended 15 minutes. Quite the right extension for
a relaxed episode, depending on the temp.
It's MadeInAmerica, flag and all. There are excellent non-political reasons why
these days that's a good thing. At the hardware, most of the tools come from
China. You want the jobs here at a living wage.

Bit more: the clear plastic blister covering the syringe on the card is very thin
making it easy to slice the tool out of the package. Often a dangerous fight with
a utility knife.
Altogether a 5-minute epoxy that's really unique, thoughtful, intelligent, in that
it's the way 5-minute epoxy always should have been presented. Finally!
As it says across the top of the package: FIX YOUR THINGS PC


Ebb is in no way connected with this company. I'm trying to celebrate an old
product that finally has put a bunch of consumer friendly ideas to work to make
it almost entirely new. You may find the product wanting. I thought the package
showed a lot of real innovation, all the useful little things, all coming together
in a fine upgrade of an old product.. what a relief!!

[Bill]

Litlgull splash. New rails are substantial but will be used to hang solar panels to power bats for electric OB, water maker.. no fossil gospel..

[ebb]

Spaulding Boatwerks has asked me to move Litlgull elsewhere.
Moving the boat next door to the Arquez marina is not possible.
It is full of derelict houseboats and others. It looks unchanged
from 25 years ago when I left with the Ariel. Can't believe It's
been that long! And will I still be able to skipper the dream??

Either back to SanRafael or elsewhere, It's just as sticky to leave
where we're not wanted, as it has been to make all the illadvised
changes that robbed me of decades sailing the oceans.

I think Chris must have made a tacit promise to Hasse that the
sails would be rigged to the boat. I will try to get him to do thar
before I leave.
There is a tangle of halyards at the mast that have routes secret
to me.. I installed a couple cheekblocks at the masthead for a
runged ladder idea, that now will be halyarded.
Also the watermaker has not been proofed. Stuff I've been
reminded I still must pay for.
This while being scurried away like garbage. They do bottom
jobs and minor repairs as main income. And, now that Covid's
in decline the tourists are back. Troops of kids. And there is a
fleet of Pelicans being assembled inside the shop of laser-cut
parts and fiberglass. Spaulding has more important things to do.

I also let Chris order a Facnor bowsprit for me, still in the works,
no idea when it will arrive presumably from France. No feedback
from the chief. Should have done it myself, but thought it was
good form to have Spaulding handle it.

Wherever we end up, it'll be developing a new s.s. plate 'extension'
that will stick out forward of the original bowfitting to support both
the anchor roller AND the center of the Facnor pole sprit..

Decided on a new Pulpit, the old out of round, crushed in front
and crooked, not yet ordered. Have to make an exact pattern
because I would like to do the impossible, that is to move the
aft leg bases to the bulworks and the front legs to the molded
toerail -- sans the bulwork for warp chocks-- in effort to claim
more wiggle-room to position the sprit and anchor gear.
Uninterrupted access on the hard will make it easier and sooner
done.. .. .. if I stay fit!

There will be more on the SunPower Flex panels that will hang
to the hard rails.

Never imagined how difficult it is to fit reality, per se, into a dream.

[ebb]

Here's a mental picture for you.

UP NAPA RIVER WITHOUT A PADDLE
a visit to the Napa Valley Marina

Recently, masks coming off, Covid mutations fighting back against non-vaccinators,
changing times, miles of something new: miles long stop and crawl traffic, no
accidents, just sheer volume on the north bound road into Sonoma. It was Steve
who suggested looking closer to home.. On a Saturday took the Element east into
Napa County and south onto a long straight and then winding rural road out back.

Sighted masts and cruised a stretch lined with large yachts perched on their keels.
Turned into the marina, straight-off found an open-door men's room and a marine
flea market in progress. Went into the store and found it shared a door with the
marina office. "Come back Monday." said the skinny guy behind the counter.

Ambled into the huge yard with huge dead elephants waiting for god. One or two
pickups parked in the casual groupings, no ladders against hulls. Altho it was a
Saturday there were no radios blasting and not a single sander, dead quiet.


After a doctors appt, arrived back at the marina office just before noon, to find
what appeared to be the yardmaster sipping soup at his desk. Came back at 12:30
and this happened:

Showed him, a large balding power figure, an image of Litlgull on my phone. He
brought out a green colored sheet of paper covered with 3 columns of price lists.
My boat would be charged daily lay days of $40 for 15 days, then $300 per month.
But if I was working on the boat, the rate jumps to $500, but longer than 3
months the rate jumps again to $750 (for a mono-hull to 44').
My brain Overflowed. Wanted a place to work, not punishment.

One item on a list of services for moving boats stands: $30.
Another was a "corkage fee" for paint not bought at the marina store: $10 a ft.
A fine of $260 for Litlgull using an open qt of Epifanes -- or a gallon of bottom.

As I turned to go, he said, "September x is when we can fit you in.." That was two
months away. I flashed, three marine ways are virtually empty, looked unused,
there's one 30' yacht parked on the floats, two live yachts on the hard gravel at the
head of the ways, no human activity. I got the message and left. The marina
looks historic and pleasantly incredibly neat, like a movie set.. waiting for the actors
to show up.
I drove past the elephants.. never to return.

Reasoned: the traffic problem wld soon return to something like normal.
This sleepy yard of money games is NO PLACE FOR THE LIKES OF EBB.

[ebb]

MARK HARRINGTON'S SLING-SHOT EFFECT

WITNESS INCREDIBLE BOATMANSHIP

A RECORD SETTING YACHT PUT


Hardly a powerful enuf phrase to describe what I, for lack of a full vocabulary
experienced at MattButler's SanRafael Yacht Harbor, when THURSDAY CLUB member's
of the Alberg Fleet SanFrancisco: Steve Cossman, Ian Elliott, skipper of the Triton
SANCTUARY,
and Mark Harrington volunteered to tow Litlgull, engine-less, sail-less, skipper-less
Ebbster back to where he sprung (and towed away from) in recent memory.

The tow can last 2 1/2 hours, Sausalito to SanRafael, by auto takes 20 minutes.
But on the end of a 50' line, on a calm balmy day, it is life-embracing. Uneventful
except for some errant waves, "Ferryboat," said Steve, also aboard in the cockpit, no
ferryboat anywhere in sight. And a spectacle
in the form of a gigantic dark barge with a tall light colored pilot house like a freaky
church tower.. which seemed to be closing rapidly on us with a huge boxy derrick
that growled and clanked loudly and wildly swung it's enormous bucket one side to
the other, opening and clanging shut its mouth as it gained on us and passed in the
next opening under the RichmondBridge -- like a T-Rex on a loose and lunatic island.

We arrive an hour later, up an endless estuary of expensive real-estate, and park in a
convenient doublewide slip close to the Harbor entrance just ahead. Phone calls to
locate the harbormaster fruitless. Ian takes the guys up into the Harbor to suss out
the situation, No Matt. No promised dinghy with an outboard to tow po' Litlgull in..
and under the crane for lift out.


MAKING THE COMPLEX LOOK SPONTANEOUS AND EASY
Then the extraordinary: Mark in deep discussion with Steve and Ian. They ask me
to hop into Ian's boat while they stay with Litlgull on the floats.
Ian backs out, Steve and Mark proceed by hand to swing Litlgull around bow out.
Ian motors ahead and stops stern on to the bow of Litlgull.
Steve and Mark, already onboard, hand Ian a line that he ties Litlgull about two feet off
his stern. He motors us up to the Harbor entrance, hangs left, suddenly accelerates.

He yanks the tow line loose. Look back to see Litlgull turning into the lane wit6h a
respectable bow wave charging down the row of parked vessels heading for the crane.

We, on Sanctuay, without the boat in tow, keep going into the inner harbor packed with
boats and floats of every ilk -- and into a puddle of empty water -- Ian heads strate for
the flank of some cabincruiserish thing at the end of a float -- just before he T-bones,
pushes the tiller down, swings on a silver dollar into a pure 180, cuts speed, coasts
back out the way we just arrived, but stops where Litlgull just disappeared into.

He waits, engine running, at the end of the dock for the guys. They dash up and hand
me down into a small godforsaken metal launch with a large black oily hole in its deck
where an engine once lived.

Clamber out, suddenly the voyage is over! Hail goodbyes, see you at breakfast, and
turn down the float to find Litlgull, quietly nodding, tied to the horizontal float used to
orient vessels for haul out by BUCKYRUS EIRE looming like a Jurassic skeleton overhead,
painted GoldenGateOrange. Welcome back!

How often has the Thursday gang practiced this Sling Shot Effect?? THE YACHT PUT.

What I witnessed is like what individual jazz players hope to arrive at when they improv
with the tune -- and stream it together to a heartbeat, exciting and beautiful.

Just think, Litlgull spontaneously sling shotted into the futur to silent applause..
Ian's alto sax harmonizing with Sanctuary's beat, a perfect riff.. never recorded for
posterity and keepers of the faith.
Except for Prospero here.

That I witnessed. Hear it? Ella easing it together with a long sweet note.
My luck is unfolding -- what I witnessed: Never forgot! Holy catfish! Thanks guys!!

__________________________________________________ _____________________
KURT (see below) BEYOND THE PALE

Years ago, serendipity became a popular word. It's when something fortunate
happens by chance that's special. Was watching by chance as Ryan Crouser stepped
up, wound up gracefully, twirled his big body around, with a grimace and a yelp,

performed a new distance by pushing a 16 pound iron ball 75 feet for a new world
and new Olympic record. What we know as 'a Gold Metal performance'.

When a world class record is made it's right on the edge of serendipity. A star
with easy prowess often pushes chance over its boundary. a Shot Putter won't ever
make 32 million dollars a year doing his art. It was a privilege seeing something
maybe I'll may never see again.. And it may not have been a touchdown or a
bases loaded homerun, but I saw 3 guys PUT a 3ton yacht for Gold.

Serendipity provided the lovely pun. The Alberg Fleet their expertise.
The amazing thing, they did it first try -- litlgull witnessed Gold.
__________________________________________________ ____________________

[CapnK]

"Yacht Put" - yer killin me Love it!

[Bill]

Letters and LarusMinutas are 8-10" and will be applied to the hull just under the rub rail at the sheer in the region of the cockpit. Ray Balanger Apache Signs is the inspiration for the font, my art is blatant borrowing, Ebb contributed some arrangement. Ray is the genius. Port of Call for documentation will be San Francisco CA in 4" letters across the top of the transom.