A-376 Afloat

[Hull376]

Almost back in the drink. I wonder what happens if a stray radio signal is received by the remote controlled haul out beast? I wouldn't want to be around to see it. I didn't want to ask the guy operating it (yellow wireless control around his neck) what happens if his batteries go dead.

[Hull376]

Good Friday on Galveston Bay. A passing sailboat snapped a couple of pics then sent them to me. On the way in to Kemah, the Nissan 4 stroke 6hp banger died. So rather than panic, I pulled out the jib and sailed to my dock. Remember these are sailboats! And Chalupa (Ariel docked at Seabrook) came past me just at the right time--- to watch me continue to sail my way in. The Nissan just needed the carb cleaned. The fuel had evaporated out of it over the past two months and ---- well, you know the rest.

[Hull376]

ebb, I assume you still never get tired of looking at more pictures.

[frank durant]

GREAT shots !! Pretty boat ;-)

[Hull376]

Grabbed two Andersen 12 ST Full Stainless Winches from Defender at discount. Installed them today. They look great on an Ariel! Also put on handrail covers I made using Don Casey's directions in one of last year's Sail magazine articles. Wasn't hard to do.

PS, we're still waiting for some cold weather in Houston. The banana trees are still growing in my backyard. They are the first to go if the temp goes below 32 degrees!

[Bill]

we're still waiting for some cold weather in Houston. The banana trees are still growing in my backyard. They are the first to go if the temp goes below 32 degrees!

SF Bay Area too, has been enjoying 70 degree weather the past few weeks. A bit warmer than usual for this time of the year. Makes for really delightful winter racing, but not much wind.

[Hull376]

The yard marred my 8 year old topside job when 376 was hauled for a bottom job. Ouch!!! I painted it with Interthane Plus back in 2003 and found I had a quart of the paint unopened in the garage. You can't "touch up" two part poly paint very well, so I had to figure out how to get on a top coat without costing me a pile to have the yard fix what they inflicted. We don't have any more do it yourself yards that I'm aware of. Interthane Plus was replaced by "Perfection" two part poly several years ago. Its like awlgrip but can be rolled on and then tipped with a good brush. This may sound foolish, but here's what I did:

1. Removed all the old vinyl letters, boat name, etc. This was the hardest part of this job. I had to use a hair dryer on the boat name to get that sucker off.
2. Tied the main halyard to another spare halyard and and ran the line two docks down and tied it off to a strong cleat.
3. Loosened the dock lines and then winched in the halyard. It didn't take much force to do it.
4. 376 heeled over on her side and the top of the waterline was now 10 inches out of the water. A little closer at the bow and stern. Adjust the dock lines to keep the boat off the dock.

I didn't need to sand or repair the topside. Just wiped down with de-waxer. The old topcoat was in fairly good shape, but had lost much of its gloss about a year ago (seven years on a deep color topside is still pretty good in my opinion.) I rolled on the "repair" coat in 4 foot segments then quickly tipped off with the brush before starting the next segment. When you've done this before, as I have, you know the secret is speed. No hesitations. Go, go, go. I had to adjust the dock lines to do the bow and stern segments. It took only 15-20 minutes to roll and tip the paint. After 5 hours of watching paint dry, I eased off the halyard and the starboard topside was done. Three days later I repeated this on the port side after flipping the boat around in the dock.

Would I recommend you try this? Not really, unless you are as crazy as me. But seriously, I did think this through and proceeded because I have used two part poly before, knew I'm a careful painter, and I took precautions so I wouldn't end up with anything getting dumped into the water by accident. I didn't need to sand (I didn't want anything going into the water.) I also "rehearsed" the process to make sure I could reach everything and that the boat was immobilized on a floating dock. The results are below.