Week Two (Mon 11.8 - Sun 11.14)

I thought I had been motivated in the past, college exams, little projects here and there, writing a thesis, planning a wedding….then I started working on Vitte.  The sight of her in dry dock without her rigging is enough to make you a little teary. 

I’m reminded of a quote from Jurassic Park, “T. Rex doesn't want to be fed, he wants to hunt.”

With this powerful drive to splash her, we work on her every day all day. 

 

This week’s projects:

·    Mike from the marina stopped by to inspect some areas in need of welding and found they are all cosmetic and not structural.  He also took a look at the diesel engine and got us in touch with an excellent mechanic, Jim (Jim #2, our neighbor is also Jim), who is experienced with old diesel engines.

o  SHE LIVES!!!!!!!!

·    Inflated tender to see if she’s leaking anywhere….and she is.  Another project for another day

·    Prepped radar mast step: sanded and epoxied

·    Met with sail maker, Captain Jimmy (Jim #3), who found the Profurl system we have is not the appropriate size for our boat.  A small setback, but now we can use all the cool Jibs that came with the boat  ^_^

·    Stripped the mast’s rigging and cleaned the ropes back to “like new”

·    Removed foam from inside the engine compartment to see what’s going on back there and if we can put a small water heater there.

It's pretty cramped in here...

Chipping away

Who's a happy worker?  I'm a happy worker  ^_^

·    We finished prepping the interior to paint (taping, scraping, sanding, and cleaning) and put two coats of primer and two coats of a semi gloss topcoat (which oddly smelled like bananas and milk to me).  After drying overnight, we removed the tape (but some paint came with).

mmmmm, bananas and (soy)milk

·   Ransom began cutting top off metal water tank…a job that never seems to end

This is the job that never ends.  Yes it goes on and on my friend!

Ransom started it not knowing all the pain and he'll continue

grinding it forever just because this is the job that never ends....

·    Started sanding and oiling the teak railing.  We decided not to varnish since that is a never ending battle with the sun and the natural look is more our speed

                          

                                    Ooh, lookin' good there teak!