The album of Ariel #422

[Mike Goodwin]

Twas a fun front that blasted thru this weekend, Huh!
Sorry I couldn't buy you a mug of Arrogant Bastard IPA, I drank yours and mine so it didn't go to waste .

[commanderpete]

Welcome home Kurt.

That boat is cherry.

Now forget those plans to change the ports.


Signed,

The Voice of Reason

[CapnK]

The story is up on my site. A bit rough around the edges yet, and I have more pictures to include, but if you like reading, it's plenty long...

Katie Marie comes Home

PS - LOL at Mike and C'pete! Mike - I had White Russians instead. Pete - no plans on these ports yet, altho' I may swap them for some nice white plastic ones.


Um, not.

[CapnK]

Woke up this morning at 6:30AM for my first full day as a liveaboard onboard an Ariel. That's kind of late for me to sleep onboard, but dawn broke behind the clouds, and it stayed a bit darker than usual. Last night, I got the starboard settee bunk to myself, while the CrewDogs took the V-berth (although Buffett came down sometime in the night for a while - I remember a wet nose in the face early in the AM). They like the new boat, although they need helping up and down the companionway.

It was kind of chilly last night, so I had both hatchboards in while I slept, leaving the sliding hatch cracked back 8 or 10 inches for a light breeze. This morning, I stuffed a drink coozee in between the boards, and it opened up a slit about 4" wide right at eye level. Standing at the companionway, coffee cup in hand, peering out and down the length of Winyah Bay, I felt right at home, and I smiled at my new boat.

Thank you, Mr. Alberg. Your ideas live on, as part of my Dream.

After coffee, I started on The Work. I made up a list of things that needed doing more or less right away, staring into space, down towards the cabin sole, inbetween jotting my tasks down. That's when I realized what I'd do first. I broke out a sheet of 100 grit, got down on hands and knees, and gave the sole a good abrasive cleaning, followed by a couple thick coats of teak oil. While I had the oil out, I went ahead and wiped down all the other teak and mahogany in the main cabin, and now she's just a little bit prettier belowdecks, and I've accomplished my first task in her restoration.

I've some things I'll be asking about soon, I need to take some pics to show you all what it is I'm going to be asking about. Katie's in great shape for a somewhat aged lady, but there is a lot I can do to make her even better. I'm looking forward to it, to seeing her sparkle and shine again, and to feel her come alive under the pull of full sails. Ain't it great?

[c_amos]

Ain't it great?

Yup.

Sure is.

[commanderpete]

Did you teach those pups to sail yet?

Gotta earn their keep

[CapnK]

Nothing fancy to show y'all picture-wise, really, just another angle on Katie in her slip. I've been busy, though.

I pulled her handrails, coamings, winch bases, etc (all the cockpit wood except the tiller), and am in the process of refinishing it all in a proper manner, as befits a beatifully aging Lady. Her companionway and handrails were finished with some type of urethane, I think, while all the wood around the cockpit was done with Cetol, so I wanted to bring it all together for commonality of look, and ease of upkeep. Katie has both mahogany and teak, so I'm finishing them clear, no stain, and letting the color of the wood determine her look.

I've heard from several folks that the various urethanes, if they start failing, fail completely, and, after the fun involved in stripping all of the various PO's types of coatings, I'll not risk that. Too bad though, as Katie already had urethane on the companionway area. Knowing that, and being an eager beaver, I'd jumped the gun on the refinishing project, and only heard of the potential failure after I'd bought some urethane and applied it to the little lazarette hatch. I came really close to trying a product called "Bristol Finish" (actually bought the stuff, but after leaving the store, realized...well, read on), but my local MegaSuperMarineStore only had the interior type of that product (ah - no UV protection! I took it back, having learned that it pays to read the tiny letters...), so I chose the more traditional route and will redo all of the brightwork with varnish, as it can be maintained on-the-fly whenever needed.

I'm leaving the companionway alone for right now (it's in fine shape), but everything else was taken down to bare wood (lots of fun taking off who knows how many years of various types of sealant goo in the "hidden" areas). That was an adventure in and of itself - after trying various options, my favorite stripper for finishings is what is commonly known as "80 Grit". This material, when attached to an electrical vibrating device designed to apply it in an most efficient manner, makes light work of thin layers of varnishes, even when there are several of them, some of which nearly predate me, I think.

I've moved beyond that stage of the project, and am applying several layers of epoxy to the bare wood as a strengthening and sealing undercoat. A third coat of epoxy is curing on the wood as I type (and some of it is curing on my clothing and person), and I hope that tomorrow I'll be able to sand all of that nice and flat and smooth, in preparation for 6 or so coats of varnish this coming week. Between laying on the varnish, I'll be attempting to repair and refinish the gelcoat immediately adjacent to where the wood goes, in order to have that part of the deck refinish done while the wood is off the boat. That is the status of my major project of the moment.

My other "biggie" that I've done was to construct a simple icebox of pink foam sheet and duct tape. I wanted to make a quick and somewhat temporary icebox and place it onboard in order to have an idea if my thinking/planning about it is good, and it has worked out well. Well, almost, or mostly - at any rate, it was close.

I figured out I wanted to try it in place set to port on the settee, just aft of the little cabinets on that side. I measured everything in the area twice so that I knew it would fit, got my materials, and went about constructing the box at my storage unit. 2 layers of 1" thick sheet foam, with a radiant heat barrier sandwiched between the layers, held together for now with the duct tape. For a quick job, it came out nice, and it wasn't until I was less than 1/2 mile from the marina that I realized the one thing I hadn't measured was the companionway width. In the words of Homer (Simpson), "Doh!!!".

I got lucky. It wouldn't fit in the companionway, and I cursed at myself for my oversight as raindrops from an approaching storm began to fall. It was between 1/2" and 3/4" wider than the companionway opening. Then I realized that the trim in which the dropboards fit made the vertical part of the companionway just a bit smaller than the part under the sliding hatch, so I swung the boom over, and was so pleasantly surprised to see that it fit with less than 1/8" clearance on each side. Yeeha!! I love it when a plan comes together.

I've also spread some paint around the interior, cleaning up her appearance a bit and making it more obvious when CrewDog fur begins to build up and she needs a cleaning (that's every 2-3 days). The dogs both love the boat, and I've gotten in better shape since now I have to lift them bodily down into and up out of the cabin. They get the V-berth, and I sleep in the starboard settee. In another month or so, I hope to get some stanchions and lifelines on her, mostly in order to hang netting on so that Buffett feels comfortable going forward, and will get out of my way in the cockpit.

I've gotten the newsletters scanned, they are on the computer at the storage unit. C'pete - I'll be mailing your copies back soon, and Bill, I'll get them onto this computer and will transfer them to my website so you can download them before long. I'll get some pics of the brightwork and icebox to put in here for y'all to critique and/or laugh at also.

I'd be sailing more, but I'm still waiting on my Title/Bill of Sale to come in, which is a bit of a bummer. There is a Coast Guard station right next to the marina, so I'm hesitant to get out on the water without the paperwork which proves I'm the legal owner. I did sail her a few weekends ago, and quite handily outran a Scanmar 31 which lives on my dock, and I am very impressed with her sailing abilties. She tacks like a dream, points really well, has good handling overall (except under power coming into a slip with 3-4 kts of current - yikes!) and I'm really looking forward to heading offshore with her and feeling some swell under her keel.

When the brightwork is finished, I'll be pulling chainplate bolts to see if she is capable of just that.