The album of Ariel #422

[CapnK]

I also mounted one of my Caframo fans - yippee! The skeeters and no-see-ums were starting to get viscious. Am working on a screened companionway insert.



I've found a great place for one of my cockpit seats - as a cabin seat. This is a great spot to sit and read or eat (or all three). All of this area will eventually be built in with approximately this arrangement, I like it so well.



I knocked together some curtains out of spinnaker cloth -



here they are "furled" -

[CapnK]

...and here are the CrewDogs, Molly and Buffett, reclining in their V-berth while they watch me work. Eventually, all those duffels down the strbd side will be replaced with a storage unit most likely constructed of Azek...

[CapnK]

Oh! And a question...

Based on her Hull # of 422, can anyone give me an idea of what year Katie would have been commissioned? IIRC, there were 440 Ariels made, so she's near the end of the run, but I'm not sure of her exact age. I've been thinking she was a 1966 model, like #370, but am convinced she's of a younger vintage...

Thanks!

[commanderpete]

Don't know, but she seems to be getting younger everyday.

Say Kurt, how do you "embed" multiple photos in one post?

[CapnK]

Hiya C'pete -

I usually upload the pics to my own website, and then use the photo link button at the top of the text input box to specify which pics will be shown. The resultant code looks like:

{IMG}http://liquid-epiphany.com/image_to_show.jpg{/IMG}

but, in this example, the { } characters should be [ ] instead (If I use [ ] then that text wouldn't show).

IIRC, I have some photo gallery software in place on my site, if you or anyone wants to use that functionality to put photos into posts, or store some pics on the web, let me know, I have plenty of room, and can create user accounts to allow uploading.

A lot of web hosting providers now have one or more free photo gallery apps that can be added to a website. On the Com-Pac Owners website I used an app called "4Images", but there are easier ones out there that look a bit cleaner.

Boat stuff update: Made a nice set of hatch screens (both companionway and front opening hatch) using the Azek material and with no-see-um netting. Will get pics up soon.

[c_amos]

I'm using 3M's Marine Fiberglass Restorer and Cleaner and doing a section of the overhead every day.

Man, that stuff is working well. I had thought I was gonna have to break down and paint. If I can get the same results you are, I will put it off in favor of a good cleaning.

Are you using a powered buffer or elbow grease?

[CapnK]

Actually I'm using a combo of shoulder- and elbow- grease. I thought of using a power tool, but didn't want to be cleaning the compound off of the ceilings, windows, cushions, etc etc ...

I used the stuff on the outside of my old Com-Pac, it worked pretty well there, too. However, the oxidation was much worse, so it didn't quite come back up to as good of a shine as you see in the cabin liner pics. I also used elbow grease on that, so maybe a power buffer would have been the better way to apply it for that job.

[CapnK]

Took some time over the 4th weekend to do many little things to improve Katie's lot in life. One of the most eagerly awaited was installation of a hawsepipe for the anchor rode - the big bundle of rope and chain hanging off of the bow pulpit does nothing to enhance her sweet lines, so I've been wanting to make a path for it to go below easily. Here's what I did:

First, this is a side view of the cutout for the hawsepipe hole. We Ariel owners have a generous 3/4" thick foredeck, and Katie Marie has (thankfully!) nice dry balsa up in there.



Here's the hole in the deck. I thought I'd be more nervous than I was when I put the spinning, sharp drill bit into the virginal (tho' old, for sure) deck glass to start the cutout. Perhaps because I knew it was for the better, I didn't have too many nerves about it.



Here you can see that I gouged out some balsa around the circumference of the cutout, extending back under the holes where the mounting screws would go. I only drilled those holes through the upper skin; I figured that way I could see when the gouging was sufficient, without worrying about epoxy drips down into the boat at those points. I backed the main cutout with some paper taped to the underside of the foredeck.



Here is the epoxy and microballoons slurry in place, and mostly hardened. Before I added the microballoons to make the goo that you see here, I used a Q-tip and some of the plain (kicked) resin to saturate the balsa between the deck skins. BTW - epoxy makes the cotton come off of Q-tips pretty fast; I used 2 of them just to wet the edges of this small hole. After the balsa was wet out, I mixed in the microballoons to make a dry, peanut-butterish consistency slurry, let that sit for a few minutes in the pot, and then smeared it in. After I took this pic, but before the resin had cured all the way, I used acetone on a rag to clean up the surfaces around the hole.



And here is the new hawsepipe in place:



To give a better idea of how it sits in relation to other hardware on the foredeck, I offer this pic:



And last, an image to show you the progress I've made on the brightwork. It was all sanded back to bare wood, had 1 thin and 2 normal coats of epoxy applied and sanded prior to receiving the varnish. It's a bit dirty in this pic, but you can see that it came out pretty good nonetheless. Not bad for an old Cetol hand.

[c_amos]

First rate job Kurt,

And to think, I thought the brightwork looked good when you bought her~!

[mbd]

Verrrrry purrrty Kurt! Nicely done!

BTW, I'm sure you know already, but according to the Pearson Info Site, the run for the Ariels was from 1962-1967. I'm not sure how many were made. But the PO of mine had 1966 on the registration, although he was guessing at it. I'm curious about the year of mine as well.

I'm sure our resident experts can set us straight and tell us how many hulls were made and when ours were produced... Bill?

[Bill]

I'm sure our resident experts can set us straight and tell us how many hulls were made and when ours were produced... Bill?

440 Ariels were produced in the above noted time period. The only close evidence on each boat's production date is when it was first registered. If we could just find Mike Ford . . . he was in charge of "old" Pearson designs in the early 1980's and would likely have the answers.

[mbd]

Thanks Bill. Hmm, it would seem that Kurt's and my Ariels are perhaps from the last year, 1967? Assuming that roughly the same number were produced each year, as unlikely as that is...

[Dan Maliszewski]

Capt. Kurt,

My compliments on a bristol boat. I too carried my anchor on a shoe fixed to the pulpit for many years, until I flew my new 155 genoa. During an upwind tack, it caught on the anchor crossbar and ripped a foot long gash in the fabric. The anchor now sleeps in the chain locker till I call it up on deck. Bad Anchor. But I do allow the chain and shackle to hang out in the hawsepipe, just to keep them handy.

Carry on..

[CapnK]

Regarding boat age: #370, 52 hulls before Katie, was supposedly a '66 (that's what the title said). 440 boats divided into 5 years makes 88 boats per year. If (and it's a big IF, I know) Pearson made 88 Ariels per year, started at the beginning of 1962, then year 5 (1966-67) would be hulls numbered from 352-440. Sooo - Question answered! (Har! Not hardly!). Well, at least I could say Katie is a '66 model, not be too far off, and that'd make us the same age. Gee, I wonder what day they took her out of the mold? If it was 7/22 of 66, that would be an auspicious and spooky date!!!

Dan - good point about the hook being a genny shredder up there. I do plan to put an anchoring platform (think stubby bowsprit) on Katie, the pulpit mount is a temporary but neccessary solution to anchor stowage (I like having the hook ready to go at a moments notice - being able to do so has saved my bacon at least once ). Once I get a "proper" place to stow the anchor up front, I'll use that pulpit-mounting gadget for my secondary on the stern. Sorry to hear about your "Bad Anchor lesson" - I hadn't considered that possibility, but will keep it in mind. I'll be under sail in a couple of hours from now - Yippee!

Have a good weekend!

[mbd]

Kurt, you're assuming Pearson stopped production on 01/01/67.

Consider 62=1, 63=2, 64=3, 65=4, 66=5, and 67=6.

440 boats / 6 years = 73 per year, and 440 - 73 = 367.

Soooo, Hull #368 was the first hull of 1967... ??? Yes, very rough, but it would seem to point to our little boats being a 1967 vintage, don't ya think?