The Refit of a 1976 Whitby 42 Ketch – Akupara
Well it has been a rough couple of weeks. I had to fly to Sudbury Ontario on short notice 2 weekends ago and then promptly came back and got sick. Not sure if I caught it in the hospital in Sudbury, on the plane, or from the kids but it has certainly taken the wind out of my sails. 2 weekends missed now. Hopefully I will be better for this coming weekend.
🙁
Well, I managed to hang all of the finished cupboard doors, the head doors and a couple I wasn’t even sure where they came from. I did however have to scavenge a few hinges from areas that we have not installed yet, like the chain locker doors. Several months ago the admiral and I were at home depot and thought we had found a replacement hinge for all of the old hinges. They looked almost exact, but once I installed one, it became obvious that they were just different enough to not work. I also learned that there are 2 types of hinges on the Whitby 42. They look identical but one is slightly larger than the other. I am guessing that the larger ones were for the doors but who knows, maybe Whitby couldn’t find the right hinges either!
So added to our list of things to find are a truckload of replacement hinges. If anyone knows where I can find the original hinges new, please, please let me know.
I think the admiral is rather happy as the only wood sanding left now is approximately 5 small pieces in the cockpit and a bunch of little fiddly pieces like trim and what not in the basement. We do need to go back and re-sand a few pieces that I may have gotten wet by accident but I really think with a little focus, we are less than 1 day away from putting this phase of the project to bed. Once the interior liner and sole has been sanded and painted, we will go back and re-sand (polish) all of the interior wood to fix any small imperfections or issues we have created but this will be a fairly quick project as it is more of a polish than a sanding. We will probably follow each other, one with 220 grit and one with 400 grit. Then we will add the final 2 layers of clear Cetol gloss. That should make the interior glisten even more than it does now.
You can see we still have a fair bit of staining to do in the main salon, but we needed to let the dust settle before we did that.
The frame for the main salon cabinet in the picture above still needs to come out one last time as I have yet to shape the backing pieces for the interior of the cabinets and I need to build out the shelves.
I can’t explain the feeling we have of actually being able to see the cockpit even if it is covered in several inches of sawdust and dirt!
The nice thing is that we have completed a Major part of this project and we know that we have an insulated, clean, fresh, dry interior with no lurking surprises behind panels. The bad part is that now we are entering a phase where things will start to cost big money as opposed to sandpaper and sweat.
Deck Painting, Electrical, Plumbing, Rigging, Engine, Heating, Refridgeration, Propane…
I had a very productive day yesterday on Akupara. I was there for approximately 6 hours and accomplished a lot of little tasks that had been piling up. The admiral over the last couple of months had competed sanding a lot of cupboard doors and drawers but I had not been installing them as I did not have any screws. Now I know that sounds a little funny. I mean there are a hundred stores within 10 miles that all sell screws I am sure but, the problem with all of those stores is that they are newer up to date modern stores. Like Home Depot or Lowes. What these stories lack in my opinion is a couple of really important things, like customer service and in a lot of cases, quality items. So I have been holding off on buying screws as my favourite store, which is about a block away from Akupara, is Wolff’s Marine, but Wolff’s Marine is not open on Saturdays during the winter months. Good for them but bad for me. Wolff’s Marine is an old time kinda store. The kinda store where there is a greasy stained old coffee pot that is always on and the coffee is free. The guy behind the counter knows almost every item in the inventory and precisely where it is in the store. The entire store has a distinct feeling and smell to it that reminds me of going to the hardware store with my dad when I was a kid. Wolff’s Marine has 2 floors of goodies and the aisles are narrow and the shelves go almost to the ceiling. It is a paradise. I am sure that somewhere inside that goldmine is every single part I will need to complete Akupara’s refit times 2. When Wolff’s makes an order for new items, they don’t buy just 1 or 2 to have in stock, they must order in the 100’s. Case in point, I will need 2 new heads, West Marine downtown Vancouver might have one on the shelf, and 1 in the storage room. Wolff’s has 10 piled right to the ceiling. So to make a long story short, ok shorter, Wolff’s Marine is now open on Saturday mornings for the summer again. Hooray! I bought a can of Bilgekote, a can of Cetol, 5 boxes of number 8 Robinson screws and 2 boxes of finishing washers. I bought 1/2, 3/4, 1, 1 1/4, 1 1/2 inch stainless screws and lined them all up inside a drawer like prized possessions.
It is amazing how happy I was, okay still am! I wanted to hug the guy and tell him how much I have missed him since October. I refrained of course, but I did tell him I would see him every Saturday until October. 🙂
So after buying all of the screws, I hung what seemed like 100 cupboard doors. I also permanently fixed another issue yesterday and that was a leaking chainplate. I had temporarily “fixed” it a while back, but it was still leaking but I had to wait for a day of no rain in order to fix it properly. Now I only have another 9 to go. The gigantic pile of wooden pieces in the cockpit is almost gone now, hopefully today we will see the last of it and I can complete the rough sanding of the decks in preparation for painting the next time we are down.
There has not been a lot happening with Akupara as of late for a couple of reasons. As my last post mentioned, the Admiral and I were in Cuba and we had left on a Thursday so we lost a weekend. We returned the following Friday and I spent the weekend completing homework from the Java course that I am taking for work so we never made it down to Akupara either. And this weekend, I have the mid term assignment due Sunday at midnight, so I doubt if I will have time to work on her either.
It is frustrating on the one hand to have Akupara sitting there waiting to be worked on and to not have the time to do anything but I guess it can be a fact of life. Work has been super busy and with school, family, dogs and everything else, there simply are not enough hours in the week. Between work and school alone I have been averaging 14 hour days and it is bloody tiring. 5 more weeks to go and I will be complete this class, and I will have a break until September once it is complete.
I did manage to contact one of BC’s most well respected riggers, Steve White from Steve White Rigging and obtain a ballpark quote to replace all of the standing rigging on Akupara. It came in at a little over $5000. Not too bad. Expensive of course but not that bad, and this includes all new turnbuckles! All of Akupara’s rigging is rust stained and questionable so when we purchased her, we knew we would be replacing all of it! Steve will be dropping by Akupara to have a close look at her masts and at some point I will connect with him to give him all of the old rigging for measurements.
If there is one thing I do not need to experience, it is having a rigging failure and losing a mast due to not fixing it when we have the chance.
Well, I guess I better get back to the homework…I almost miss the sound of the sander. Wait, did I actually say that?
No matter where in the world you go, beaches are always amazing! To me at least. Some are worn and ragged while some are as soft as a babies bum, but they are all amazing in their own way!
We had the opportunity to take a little trip 2 weeks ago, and had the pleasure of experiencing a totally different kind of uniqueness. We managed to get ourselves to Cuba for 8 days and boy did we enjoy it!
Cuba is like stepping back in time, from the architecture of the late 1700’s right up to the 1950’s, everywhere you look you are surprised by what you see!
Of course, no trip to a foreign country can be complete without visiting at least one marina, I snuck in 3 ;-)!
And of course everyone likes to talk about the old cars and how well they have been kept…
But I think what most people forget to talk about is how necessity is the mother of invention. The Cubans have had to make due with what they had for many many years and it has brought them to a whole new level of resourcefulness. Take our hired car in the picture above. It is a 1955 Chev Bel Air and it appears almost mint! The interior is immaculate, although it is missing one door handle, and the paint more than passes the 2 foot test. (As in from 2 feet away it appears flawless.) What is fascinating about this car, which is prevalent through all of Cuba, is the lengths Cubans will go to in order to preserve it. For instance, the original engine died completely a long time ago, and rather than scrap the car like we would, they pulled the engine and transmission out and somehow got a Mercedes Diesel and 5 speed manual transmission installed. It is a column shift by the way!
And when you look at the working boats, you can see that they have been repaired more times than you can count! Probably more repair material than the original boat now.
We could stand to learn an awful lot from the Cubans. Think about that the next time you are about to throw out that thing that does not work. Does it really not work, or are you just too lazy to make it work? I know I will.
I tell ya, visiting Cuba made our project of breathing new life into Akupara a walk in the park! I can go to a store and buy what I need to fix her, and yet people still think we are nuts for undertaking such a massive project!
We have nothing on the Cubans at all! They are the true masters of keeping old things running and looking like new, I can only hope Akupara looks as good when we are done!
BTW, if you get the opportunity, Cuba is an amazing place. We plan on going back and just spending a week in Havana alone!
The realization has started to set in that we may need another year on the hard to complete Akupara’s refit. There is a battle raging in my head as to whether we launch without being 100% finished, or if we wait until we are 100% finished. The issue is several fold. On the one side, if we gave the old Lehman a tune up and completed enough jobs to at least look complete, we could spend the summer on Akupara while she is afloat, working on the jobs that still need completion. On the other hand, it would basically amount to 3 lost months of work as when we are at the dock, there at times can be a bit more socializing than working going on. On the other hand, if we wait to launch, we can complete more of the jobs we have scheduled, like replacing the Lehman etc.
Of course life has a way of getting in the way as usual. Braces, college tuition, school trips. All these things add up to subtract from the refit budget. Another year would help ease that financial pain.
I am about half way complete sanding the decks. I still have the aft cabin area, and the cockpit to do. Not to mention all of the stanchions still need to come up. But, the majority of the decks have had a good rough sand with 80 grit. The shrinkwrap cover is a blessing and a curse at the same time. It allows us to be dry and get a lot completed but it makes it very difficult to work on deck as you can only stand up in the centre line and have to crouch somewhat on the sidedecks.
We will continue slogging it out for a while yet, but there may be a change of course coming up. It would be nice to feel Akupara move a little bit in the water.
I flew to Northern Ontario on the Thursday night redeye with a 2 hour stopover in Toronto. When I arrived in Sudbury Friday morning I picked up my car rental and headed off for Killarney.
It has been almost 10 years exactly since I have felt a Northern Ontario winter and if I have anything to do with it, it will be another 10 years before I see another one!
As I was sitting in the parking lot waiting for the car to warm up, my mind was trying to understand why anyone would consciously choose to live there. At some point over the course of the weekend it donned on me. All of the people in all of the freezing cold, snow covered places, honestly do not believe that the warm tropical islands they see on television are real! It is the only answer. It must be. I mean come on, if you have never been to a place like the Dominican Republic, or Jamaica, or Cuba, or Mexico, or Belize or 1000 other places, and you were sitting in your living room burning the furniture in order to stay warm, you would look at these places on the television and truly believe that they were a fantasy. There is no way as you turn your head to try to see through the ice covered window, and back to the warm tropical paradise on the TV screen that you could completely understand that it was real. Or as your hand is slowly freezing solid to the nozzle at the gas pump and you haven’t felt your toes in years, that you could mentally make the switch to a cold beer in your hand and warm sand squishing between your toes.
Well we have been to a few of these places and to everyone that exists in the frozen wasteland of the north, I am here to tell you that you are 100% correct in your belief! These places do not exist! It is all created inside a monstrous film studio for your viewing pleasure. As soon as you step outside the truth is there, it is exactly like your outside. In fact, the entire planet we call Earth should have been called Snow or Ice. The stories you hear about the ice age ending are lies, it has never ended. Just read through this blog and you will see the truth, I mean why would I spend time insulating Akupara if those places truly exist? And as the Admiral and I continue to work towards completing Akupara, and when we finally one day set sail for some of these places, it will only be because we have been selected to be in the film studio.
So in closing, to all of you who live on the planet “Ice”, lock your doors, do not travel, and save yourself the disappointment of learning the real truth. We will take care of that for you. And if we must continue to trudge through the deserted ice and snow covered beaches in hopes of someday finding a place like that while you are safely staying warm in your homes, it is a cross we are willing to bear.
Because if there really were places like that, and the general population actually learnt about them, they would be ruined and over run with people trying to thaw out.
So, as the beer guy on TV says, Stay safe my friend (and warm)! We will search for you and you have my word that the moment we find a place like that, we will be sure to share it with you..
And that is the long winded explanation as to why there was no work completed on Akupara this weekend!
We arrived at Akupara late yesterday and it was cold and raining of course. Andrea set about working on the last of the sanding and I was at a bit of a loss as to what I should do. We had stopped and picked up sandpaper including some 80 grit for the belt sander, and I thought what the hell, need to find out sooner or later if this is going to work. So, I started a test spot on the main cabin top and that quickly developed into rough sanding the entire top. It took me approximately 3 hours to complete the horizontal surface. Not bad. I will have to go back and get into some of the tighter places with a palm sander but for the most part it is sanded enough to apply an epoxy primer. I still have lots of work around all of the stanchions etc so the side decks will be a while yet. I calculate that one good day with the belt sander and I will be able to complete all of the large surfaces. It will probably be another complete day at least with a palm sander to knock down the harder to reach areas.
I spoke to a rep from Interlux paint at the boat show and he advised me to use a two part epoxy product and paint that is perfectly legal in Canada but for whatever reason is not sold here. Looks like I will have to head south to get some.
The plan is to use 80 grit in order to provide good adhesion for an epoxy primer. Then knock that down with a finer grit, and quite possibly a third time as well. Then it would be ready for paint.
Because this is such a giant pain in the ass job it is easy to want to take shortcut but any pro painter will tell you, the trick is in the preparation. Guess the sound of sanders is still in our future for a while yet.
We had a very fruitful information gathering day at the Vancouver Boat Show yesterday. Unfortunately the boat show itself changes very little from year to year and to be honest, in my opinion, is not really worth the money paid to get in the doors anymore. I guess once you have gone to a whole bunch of these, they start to all just become the same. The same vendors, the same dealers, the same products with “Boat Show Sale” plastered all over them.
For new boaters or for someone who is shopping for a new boat, it is probably a fantastic show, but as we do not fall into either of these categories, it could have been a lot better.
Andrea and Paige came with me and we did the rounds of all the booths stopping to talk at several that were of interest. Before going down there were 3 things that I wanted to get some answers for. Engines, watermaker repair, and interior cushions. On top of that we did get some current prices for items that we know we will want down the road, but as for spending money, I think grand total we spent less than $200 including admission. The only reason we spent so much, is that I found a great set of LED Spreader lights that I knew we needed, and of course I had to restock on Rescue Tape.
Rescue tape has become my standby for more uses than I can possibly explain here. For those of you who have never used it, I would suggest buying several rolls and throwing them into your toolbox on your boat! I always buy Rescue tape and I always have several rolls hanging around! This time I bought 3 small rolls and 1 large one for $50. I don’t like plugs for products but this is one that has saved our bacon on a couple of occasions, including when the water pump bearings disintegrated and I had to MacGyver a fix with an old deck wash down pump to get us home. Another time when a cooling hose rubbed through on the alternator and we did not have a spare hose. It was not pretty, it would not have went 1000 miles, but as long as we kept the RPM low we were able to limp 30 miles back to the marina on an absolutely windless day. Check out their website Rescue Tape and seriously get yourself some. You will find a million uses for it. And maybe they will send me a few free rolls for this plug! 😉
The spreader lights we purchased were not a planned item but in this case I managed to get them for about $50 each.
We spoke to a representative from La Fabrica Marine and discussed high level the overall plan for the upholstery, the mattresses, the cockpit cushions, and the dodger and bimini. This is going to be a very expensive endeavour with initial ball park estimates of $8000 plus. That being said, we are not looking at this project as a weekend boat where it would be okay to have 3-4 inch mattress pads, and will be going with real custom mattresses and we also have some fairly specific requirements that I will not give away just yet. As well, La Fabrica does very nice work. They have our name and number and we will set up an appointment post boat show for them to come out and take some measurements and give us a more accurate quote.
And finally the big reason we went to the boat show. To get some information and pricing on the repower. Let me start this by saying any time I have a hard time getting a price online, I smell a rat. Try searching for a price online for 75hp diesel engine from one of the name brands. Good luck and if you find a place that actually lists prices let me know, and I will post it here for everyone to have access to. The second thing that makes me squirm is when they pull out their little list of model numbers and prices exactly like a slimy used car salesman. Their is no mystery to the fact that the 10% off boat show special is a crock. And you only have until February 29th to make a deposit and secure that price. I happen to know that the price for a Yanmar is almost the same this year from last. Hmmm. In any case here are the numbers and the models for each of the engines we looked at.
Beta Marine – Beta 75 – $18871
Beta Marine – Beta 60 – $15535
Nissan – SN110 – $14897
Mitsubishi – SM105 – $19123
Yanmar – 4JH4 (75hp) – $16917
All of these prices include mounts, basic panel, and gear box with slight variations as to what each of those are.
The gentleman who we spoke to from Beta Marine actually ran the numbers for the Whitby 42 and although I do not have them memorized, the 60hp would do the job providing for hull speed at max RPM but there would be nothing in reserve. The 75hp would provide hull speed at around 2800 rpm and still have quite a bit in reserve. That sealed the deal and eliminated the 60hp. I have been in a situation where I needed a bit more power and didn’t have it, and I do not want to be there again.
I have not studied the graphs yet as I said but high level the Yanmar claims to be the most fuel efficient.
The major question I have in my head right now is something that the Beta marine dealer said. He claimed the Beta is a lot more like the Ford Lehman in that it is a big solid engine that will last forever. The Yanmar on the other hand seems to be the favourite. Everyone claims they have a Yanmar as though it is a status symbol. I am concerned that it is marketing hype and perhaps not of the same heavy duty construction as the Beta.
Everyone we spoke to ball parked the install at around $5-$6. So with taxes, we are looking at a $25000 job. I will take my time with this decision as I do not want to have to do it again that’s for sure.
As we dream about getting closer to launching Akupara the inevitable question of where are we going to find moorage is starting to come up of course. All of our boats since we moved to Vancouver have been kept at Point Roberts Marina in Point Roberts, Washington, and we had the good fortune to run into Tanya who works in the office at the boat show. Tanya has always been fantastic to us! She is always happy to see you and always willing to find a way to help you out. We have never had a complaint at the marina that was not taken care of almost immediately, and so far, we have never been concerned about the safety of our boats in the marina. There is quite a community at the marina and we have made lots of great friends there. Tanya assured us that when we get close to launching to let her know and she will do everything she can to get us into a slip. It is nice to know that some places actually value and want your business. I think we will be putting Akupara there until the day when we move aboard, at which point she will need to come back into Canada.
White paper masks may make you feel like you are in the latest episode of Grey’s Anatomy and that you are performing some kind of life saving operation but let me tell you that they are useless when it comes to stopping sawdust from getting into your nose!
I am sick of sawdust. It covers our clothes, it gets in our nose, it is in our cars, in our beds, in our hair, in places I am not going to mention and it is persistent. We will work all day Saturday and still have sawdust appearing out of nowhere on Wednesday.
But the absolute worst part of sawdust are the dry boogers. For days afterwards it feels like someone has lined your nasal cavities with a thin layer of concrete. We have tried white paper masks and respirators, and almost anything else you can think of to no avail. About the only thing left is peeing in a handkerchief and covering your face with it. (Apparently that is a way to make it through tear gas)
Thankfully, oh so thankfully we are almost done with sawdust for the most part. Our gigantic pile of wood to sand has been reduced to 2 piles, one in our basement and one in the cockpit. Considering these piles required 5 truckloads to move each way, I think we have done an amazing amount of work. Okay it only took a year of sanding on Saturdays, but it is still a lot accomplished.
We have this almost down to a science now. We have all of the “To be sanded” items on one side of the cockpit. Andrea and crew, if they are there, sand in the middle of the cockpit. The pieces then get moved to the other side of the cockpit as they are completed, or handed to me inside to install.
There is also the cut and ready to install pile, where each piece is stacked next to its former self. For the most part these only need the edges sanded wherever I have made fresh cuts.
And lastly is the plywood scrap pile. Not that any of it is scrap and I am sure all of it will eventually be used but a pile none the less.
I find that old plywood has a rather bad smell to it in some cases and any piece that we can replace without major difficulty is being replaced. I also have a strong belief that we have reduced the overall weight of Akupara substantially as 40 year old plywood just seems heavier.
We managed to make a lot of progress yesterday and it feels good to be back in the swing of things.
The admiral and I were both feeling the same way at the end of the day. Thrilled to be approaching the end of the wood sanding, but scared of the next stage which involves sanding the cabin liner and the decks.
Never mind Grey’s Anatomy for those jobs, we are going full Breaking Bad! IF there is anything worse than sawdust boogers it is fiberglass boogers!!!
Please bare with me as I fix the gallery.
With a little help from my 2×4 friends we have managed to keep the sky up for now! It really did not need a lot of help but these 3 supports will at least keep the center up if nothing else. As you can see in the picture, Akupara’s poor old decks are covered in sawdust. Not long now and it won’t be sawdust it will be gel coat and Fiberglas dust as we transition to sanding the decks.
I have started to cut some of the known pieces to do the re core. We have had marine plywood start to accumulate from all of the other projects and the scraps I have been saving for all of the areas we will need to recore. I anticipate having to purchase a couple more sheets for the interior yet so we should have lots left.
I also managed to get the vberth door sanded and hung, only 2 doors left now and we will have no more big pieces left to sand.
Of course we still have a lot of small pieces and trim etc but we are actually coming down to the end of sanding wood. It will be nice when it is finished. Paige has volunteered to come and help us this Saturday so we should make a little extra progress.
Next weekend is the Vancouver Boat Show so not a lot of work will get done. I will write a post about our findings when it is over.
As an aside you may have noticed that we have not been staining any of the pieces we have sanded lately. This is simply due to the temperature inside of Akupara, it is too low. Hopefully it will be a little warmer this weekend and we can get the wood stained.
Just reviewing the Moorage rates for 2016 at our previous Marina, Point Roberts Marina, and I am somewhat frustrated to say the least. I just paid for another 6 months of storage in the boatyard and it is almost the same price as a complete year in Point Roberts Marina. We knew this was going to be an expensive endeavour but damn, double the price to keep it on land as opposed to in the water! Shelter Island Boatyard needs to rethink their prices!
Another GREAT reason to get Akupara finished and floating on her own bottom, I will save almost $3000 a year just in moorage! Hmmm, $3000, that could buy me a….. 😉
Lots of dollars, but doesn’t make a lot of sense that’s for sure!
Okay maybe not the sky, but something definitely did not look right as we drove up to Akupara yesterday.
I knew this was coming but I just did not know when exactly it was going to happen.
We had a bit of snow last week one morning and obviously it was enough to gather in the low spots on the shrink wrap and as the temperature climbed a bit, it created a depression which continued to collect water when it rained this week. Thankfully the cover collapsed over the main companionway where it rested a little on deck, a little on the drawers that are queued for sanding and on the helm. I had to poke a small hole in the tarp and let it drain into the cockpit. I enlarged the hole to about 1/4 inch in size and after an hour or so, enough water was gone that I could stand up underneath the cover, and push the remainder outwards with my back. There was a layer of about an inch of ice on top of the water that was sent crashing overboard. Today I will have to go back and re-enforce the frame with some vertical 2×4’s and I will attempt to shrink the shrink-wrap a bit with a heat gun to tighten up the loose areas.
I think this is an omen. It is foreshadowing at least. We need to get back to hustling and we need to get the decks completely prepped for paint as I doubt if we would ever see another year out of the shrink wrap and I do not want to pay to have it done again.
Once the crisis was over and we fixed the falling sky issue, we began to work on the layout of the galley and pantry. Remember a while back I had started into the pantry and then I stopped. My reason for stopping was that I did not want to go and make a bunch of dividers and shelves only to find out that none of our containers would fit, so we brought all of the new containers down to Akupara and played organization for a while trying to find the best layout for all of the storage.
We have been thinking about the galley as well. The shelf behind the stove needs to come out yet, but for the same reason as not finishing the pantry, I wanted to be able to build everything to fit. We have always felt that the height of the shelf was a bit odd and after trying to fit containers etc in, it only reinforced our belief.
I think we need to slow down a bit on the galley and come to a final decision as to whether or not we will build in a microwave, dishwasher, coffee maker and where the wine fridge will go. Joke 😉 But in all honesty I think we need to spend a bit more time designing this. One of the major beefs about the layout currently is that anything you put on the shelf behind the stove is almost useless if the stove is on as you need to reach across directly on top of the stove.
Over the holidays I glued (contact cement) arborite to the panel for the area behind where the electrical panel was, which I have planned as the new spot for the watermaker, and to the new drop down electrical panel and electronics area at the nav station. We brought these pieces with us and I installed them temporarily to ensure they fit. One did and of course one did not so I will need to do some trimming, but overall we are pleased with the black look.
As you can see in the picture I still need to glue arborite to the tops of the chart locker, tool storage area.
I am still not sure what the official name for this spot is, but I am inclined to just start calling it the hallway.
So all in all we had a productive day, on top of all this, the Admiral managed to get a few more pieces sanded and ready to be stained.
Our basement is slowly emptying out to the point that I was able to create a temporary workbench out of some old plywood I had on top of sawhorses and really start organizing some of the remaining straggling pieces.
I also took a closer look at the booms yesterday and discovered that both the main and the mizzen are rigged with 2 reef points set up for 1 line reefing for each point. This is a nice feature that I do not recall seeing before. On our previous ketch’s, neither had a reefable mizzen.
We are approaching another milestone here soon. We are nearing the completion of the interior wood sanding. I say we, but in reality it has been the admiral performing all the sanding and I do the installation and staining. There are 2 more doors in our basement, 3 drawers, and a bunch of trim pieces. On Akupara there are about 5 drawers, 1 door, and a bunch of trim pieces as well, but the majority of all of the wood sanding is almost done. That was a gigantic job! When it is complete, we will need to move on to sanding of the liner in preparation for new paint and of course the multiple sandings of the deck.
It feels good to be back at it again!!
I have to admit that I am getting tired of owning a boat that does not float! Farley Mowat wrote a book entitled The Boat who wouldn’t float. I never actually read it but the summary sounds all to familiar.
“It seemed like a good idea. Tired of everyday life ashore, Farley Mowat would find a sturdy boat in Newfoundland and roam the salt sea over, free as a bird. What he found was the worst boat in the world, and she nearly drove him mad. ”
I do not believe that we have the worst boat in the world, and I do not believe that Akupara is driving me mad, but there are a lot of similarities! Akupara as of right now is not ready to be launched, and the idea of being on a floating, sailing boat is starting to drive me mad.
We are about to round a new corner. A really expensive corner. We are very quickly approaching the high ticket items. Electrical, mechanical, plumbing, rigging, cushions. Up until now it has been new plywood and lots of sandpaper and a few cans of paint and stain. Of course because it is all Marine Grade, it is still expensive but not like what is coming.
I do find myself drifting into the realm of well, that can be completed once we are afloat, which is a dangerous path to follow, but it is very hard not to. If she was in the water, we would at least feel her move a bit, and at least be out of the dirty boatyard.
I am thinking that I am going to re-prioritize our projects so that we can launch if we decide to at any point. So, that means the focus would shift to the hull. New seacocks, a few fiberglass repairs, and new bottom paint. After that would be the deck. Finish the sanding and hole filling and re coring. Once those items are complete, we would have a floating watertight boat. Of course she still would not be able to go anywhere under her own power so the rigging and the engine have to fall in there somewhere.
We can still use Akupara even if the odd drawer face is not sanded and stained. The electrical only needs to be able to start the engine and charge the batteries, after-all I like gimballed oil lamps, they are classy and we have a lot of flashlights. We have an icebox and new refrigeration can wait. Never had it on a boat before why do we need it now? And interior cushions are a luxury, we could always use cheap inflatable mattresses.
And that is how projects start to never be finished. And how a boat will never float. I don’t care if I re-arrange the order of the overall project list, but we need to Stay The Course, and get all of it done before Akupara hits the water. Well at least most of it anyway…
I need to stop looking at all of the beautiful photos of tropical island paradises posted by sailors on Instagram and Twitter.
Where to start. Not much has happened on Akupara over the last little while with the holiday season going on but hopefully we can get back to being focused again. The galley has been on my mind as I really cannot start anything until we have a plan as to how it is going to be completed. What I mean by that is we want to have everything in the galley sealed in Tupperware containers for a couple of reasons. Firstly is just general organization, I hate not being able to find what I am looking for, and secondly, is with the eventual plan, having everything sealed is a good anti cockroach prevention approach. So to that end we made a trip to Walmart and bought a few items to get started.
I think in total we purchased somewhere in the neighbourhood of 30 containers of different sizes and shapes. I am calling them “Tupperware” as I think that is the clearest description but they are a different brand. We purchased a bunch of smaller ones for the pantry which means that I can now complete that area as I know how big to make each individual shelf, and we purchased enough to line each side of the vberth and the aft cabin upper shelves. I am a huge advocate of dry socks and underwear, and by storing all of these items in nice organized containers, with a packet or two of desiccant inside, I can be assured of dry undies no matter what. At least that is the plan. And of course it will keep little critters from nesting in our clothes, hopefully. As for the galley itself, I think we have about 10-15, I do not really remember. The plan is to bring all of them down to Akupara, dry fit, and decide where we want the shelving, how we want it divided, and what makes the best use the available space, before we start building it in permanently.
We also went down to the local marine store and purchased a few needed fittings and hose for the watermaker, I have laminated the face of the new electrical panel area, and we took down all of the Christmas decorations, thank heavens. It is nice to have them up each year, but it is always nicer to put them away again, everything seems so organized without all of the clutter.
And as you have probably noticed, I have updated the theme on the website. The comments section was not previously working, hopefully it is now.
Well it has been a few days more than 1 year now that we have had, and been working on Akupara!
It is a little hard to imagine that it has been this long and that we still have so many unfinished projects. I guess the big question is, are we happy with where we are in regards to the progress we have made on her? The answer to that question is loaded. Of course not. I would much rather be sitting aboard typing this right now somewhere in Mexico or the Caribbean but we are nowhere near that of course. It would be nice if the decks were finished, or the electrical or plumbing but I am glad that we are almost complete the interior. Considering this is basically a weekend project I think we are doing quite well. Our progress for the most part has been steady, with life getting in the way a few times but overall I think we have done quite well.
So just what did we accomplish? We accomplished spending a lot of time as a family working together towards the same goal. The kids (and the admiral in regards to tools anyway) learnt quite a lot in regards to boat work and power tools and a sense of accomplishment, and hard work. We had lots of laughs, and a few arguments. We were cold and wet at times and hot and sweaty at other times. We planned, and talked and drew pictures, and had to ask each other for help. We had paint brush fights and occasionally we told each other a better way of doing things. That was mostly the admiral of course ;-).
We got to know a few boyfriends and had an opportunity to watch the kids get a little older in both their interactions, abilities and skills as well as get a little closer to being adults. I was able to teach them how to use a jigsaw, and an orbital sander, screwdrivers, and wire cutters, and a host of other things. They learnt that if you try to mix thickened epoxy to fill holes and you forget to add the hardener, the end result is a forever sticky mess that you need to go back and clean out and do your work over. They learnt that Rome was not built in a day and they discovered that real work is required to make any progress. They learnt that sometimes in life you need to roll up your sleeves and get a little dirty and that not all paths are paved in gold. In fact, occasionally you might just run into the odd cockroach along the way. They learnt that money does not grow on trees and sometimes you can’t afford to just write a magic cheque or swipe a magic card to get stuff. They learnt that if you say you are going to do something, you need to follow through and get it done and stand by your word. I also hope that they learnt that even though things take way longer than you expect, or that you do not get as much accomplished as you had planned, or that yes you might run into the odd cockroach, you still need to continue. You need to sweep up the cockroach, throw it out, take a few minutes to re-align, and then get back to work. Nobody is going to come swooping in and save you.
So are we happy with what we have accomplished in this last year? You damn right we are. Even though Akupara is a long, long, way away from being in the warm waters of the Caribbean she has already done a fantastic job of her primary responsibility, and that is keeping us all together, united and safe. Thank you Akupara!
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Seasons Greetings and all the best! Thanks for following along over this last year and looking forward to sharing our progress over the next year with you as well!
The Captain.
Undermining one’s self. What the hell does he mean by that?
You know the guy. We all know the guy. He may go by different names, and he may look a little different, but he is always the same guy. He is the guy who is going offshore. He has a very salty looking boat and he tells a lot of stories that he has heard with a far off look in his eye as though he was there. He is constantly busy working and fixing and improving his boat to ready her for going offshore. Yup, he is going to cut the docklines and sail off never to return to live a life on the high seas and in unknown little anchorages where the breeze is gentle and the rum is strong.
When you first meet him you are convinced that he is leaving any day now. After the first year of knowing him, you are convinced that he is leaving next summer, but eventually you realize that he is never leaving. You have had a chance to take a close look at his boat and although he has all of the latest must have items scattered around in boxes and piles, none of it has ever completely been installed. As a matter of fact, most of his boat isn’t ready to sail around the bay let alone go offshore. And yet he is still convincing, and lots of folks still believe him.
I have a belief, and I call it undermining one’s self. We all have dreams and aspirations and goals to achieve, and there are some that succeed in those dreams and goals and there are others who constantly undermine there own course. As soon as they get close to being ready to hit that milestone, all of a sudden there is another must have, or there is one last improvement that needs to be made. They happen to open the latest copy of “Cruising Broke” and see the latest and greatest digital computational electronic toilet paper dispenser that the marketing guru’s have labelled as essential for offshore survival. Now most of us hopefully shrug these off as being silly or not necessary, but some of us fall for these traps and thereby sabotage our own dreams. Now we have one more thingy that we need to save for and one more thingy that needs to be installed and by the time we get around to purchasing it, another latest and greatest and better thingy is already on the market and there goes the cycle again and we still haven’t finished the first one. And then sadly the inevitable happens, and the guy suffers a major health issue and now he can not go. And he is bitter. He is bitter with himself that he created those barriers and he prevented himself from achieving his dreams.
I truly believe that some of us are inclined to follow this pattern as a subconscious reason to not have to make the final cut of the docklines. Perhaps we are too scared of the unknown. Perhaps we are too scared of the loss of income or the loneliness or the danger or a million other reasons and we thereby create and impose our own barriers to achieving our goals.
I have fallen into this trap before and I am always conscious of falling back there again. It is scary. There are a lot of reasons to not continue fighting for our dreams. And yet all of us refuse to consciously admit that we are creating our own walls.
I say when you meet that guy and when you finally realize that he will never allow himself to escape. Stop by and talk to him a little more often. Lend him a hand on his never ending list of repairs. Get to know him a bit and accept that he is still allowed to dream regardless if he will ever allow himself to succeed.
You never know, it could be you some day.
If you have the money, and have decided this is the dream for you, go out today, buy a boat, fit it out and leave. Don’t spend any more time than that. Just do it. If like us you need to take some time in order to accomplish this dream, I will tell you that life has a way of getting in the way, and it is sometimes very difficult to hold on to that dream and maintain the course without falling into the trap of creating your own walls. But when you find yourself being drawn away, fight it and do something, anything, tie a knot, sand a piece of wood, anything to keep you connected to your dream and get a little farther down the road.
I have begun designing the layout of the navigation station. Of course I really can only design the layout of the instruments and the electrical panel as the actual layout of the furniture is already predetermined.
It got me to thinking of course, what do I need, want, wish to have in the nav station area? Do I want to keep it modern and only have electronics or do I want to go a little retro and include my sextant. All of these questions has led to a list of things and a first drawing of possible layout. The list thus far is:
Pencils, pens, Ship’s Log, Handheld VHF, mounted vhf, charting tools, charts, GPS and plotter, clock, barometer, electrical panel, stereo, quick reference cards, binoculars, sextant, hand bearing compass, notepad, laptop, SSB, depth finder, 2m VHF, EPIRB, SPOT, shortwave radio, weatherfax or printer for laptop, Pactor modem, radar, and engine instruments.
I am sure I am forgetting things but at least I have a starting point. The trouble comes in the layout. On some of our previous boats the placement of some of the electronics made it difficult to operate the dials and or buttons, but having everything directly in front of your face within an easy arms reach is not possible either. And when designing the layout I need to be aware of screen brightness so that one device does not outshine another etc.
I like to think of the Nav Station as the Man Cave. It is command central and everything, within reason, on the ship should be controllable and or capable of being monitored from command central. I should be able to glance at it and know the ships status in a few moments. I hate having to call around for reports from different areas in order to complete the log entries. Yelling to the helm, what is the engine temp and oil pressure. Yelling to the main salon bulkhead, what is the barometric pressure, yelling to the foredeck, are the nav lights on, yelling to the helm, what’s our course, and on and on. All of this information should be within arms reach for whoever is completing the log entry. At least that is my opinion.
So, back to drawing pictures and adding to my list.
Ahhh the life of a boater, if you are not working on it, designing something for it, thinking about how to improve something, repairing something, cleaning something, scrubbing, sanding, staining, drilling, filling, painting, scraping, dreaming, wishing, hoping or planning. You might actually get a chance to sail! But look at the time, can’t go sailing today, gotta go back to work to pay for all of this fun. 😉
If your boat is in the water, remember to schedule some time to enjoy it as well as all of the fixing!
I am going to stand on my soapbox for a minute. As opposed to all of the other times I have as well. We live in a disposable society. We buy things and when we get tired of them we throw them away and our landfills are overflowing. I have heard it said that there is not a beach left in the world that does not have traces of human garbage washed ashore. We are all responsible for this. We say that our generation is leading the way in recycling but we are fooling ourselves. Our grandparents were the ones who recycled. My grandmother as an example used to wash out the plastic bags that milk came in and hang them over the sink on a little line to dry. She would then use them to freeze leftovers in. This was before the days of ziplock baggies. Food was preserved in glass jars and stowed away in a cold cellar that did not require any electricity. The farther back in history you go, the more recycling you discover. Things were simply to expensive to throw them out. We have this all wrong. If we want to make a positive impact, stop buying new things. Find creative ways to use the stuff you already have, and when it isn’t as shiny and new as it was when you bought it, find another use for it. If it is a little worn, turn it into something else, and when that wears away, use the leftovers again.
Okay, enough preaching. We have about 16 miles of used rope that came with Akupara. Of course all of it needs to be replaced as it is sun beaten, dirty, frayed and in some cases down right dangerous. And yet we dragged all 16 miles of it home and piled it up in the basement. Why? Because I have another use for it that’s why!
I spent 3 hours today on the kitchen floor, repurposing that old rope, and now we have 2 nice mats for Akupara. Not only do we have mats, but I also contributed to saving the planet a little bit by not going out and buying a fancy dancy Welcome mat from the nearest nautical jewellery store made most likely out of plastic. Ya they may not be perfectly white, and they may take a little while to soften out but, they make great mats! I mean come on, you wipe your shoes on them anyway!
So, my advice. Take 3 hours of your day and use those old sheets that were destined for the back of the rope locker only to be eventually thrown away and make something nice with them. You will be practicing skills that sailors have used for hundreds of years, you will gain a sense of accomplishment, you will end up with something useable, and you will save a little bit of room in the landfill.
Or if you really don’t want to be bothered, but you like the idea, send me your old sheets and I will make them for you, for a small fee of course. That way you will feel better because you spent some money. 😉
After taking these pictures I put both mats in the bathtub and they are soaking in dishsoap and javex to give them a good cleaning.