Float Test

I couldnt take it anymore.  How would my ship, my Goat Island Skiff, my beauty, my instrument of adventure to wonderful and distant and nebulous ends sit on her lines?  Would she list, be bow heavy, stern heavy?  There were some things in the construction of her that didnt match the plans, some bevels, some shapes, some angles, and I was worried that in the water she would sit funny, maybe bow down a bit, instead of the beautiful plumb bow sitting upright!

My pond at my parents-in-law iced out rapidly last week, which motivated me to tape the chines and slap some epoxy on the sides of the hull.  Yesterday, it rained hard.  Today, we woke up at 7, and there was no rain, but wind, and 32*F/O*C.  Snow flurries on the horizon to the west.  My lovely wife ready to rock.  It was time.

Wind was blowing about a Force 5 on the Beaufort scale, around 20kts or so.  With ice-out just a few days ago, the water temperature wasnt much higher than the air temperature.

It was now, or another nail-biting day.  It was time.  A kiss on the breasthook, a quick murmur to her... "Please sit straight on your lines..." and with a heave, and a ho, she was in the water.

Not a maiden voyage, not a christening, nothing but a quick test.  She will get all the formalities and Poseidon will get all his tributes when she is worthy.  Just a float test... but exciting all the same.

...and DAMN if she doesnt look straight!

The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow

Since Im on the road all the time, I tend to do a lot of reading to pass them time.  This is good, but its also not-so-good as I get to daydreaming about my unfinished Goat Island Skiff.  However, sometimes a book comes along that not only motivates, but helps embellish daydreams and pass the time.

I just finished reading this whimsical adventure book, and I highly recommend it to my fellow small-boat aficionados.  The author takes his 11 Mirror Dinghy from Northern Wales in England, down to the Channel via rivers and canals, then crosses the Channel into France.    Once in France he sails and rows his way across the continents surprisingly extensive canal and river system until he gets to the Danube and takes it to the Black Sea.  Filled with fantastic literary references (hes an English Lit. teacher), sailing, rowing, high adventure, and out-loud laughing points, I enjoyed this book immensely.

This book gets me all the more excited for my Super-Secret Summer Adventure that I am planning in my Goat Island Skiff.  Tally-ho!

Sanding delays running rigging

Another 48 hours at home have come and gone, and my Goat Island Skiff languishes in the garage by itself.

Upon arrival at home I had big plans to drag the boat outside and give her a wash for amine blush and start the sanding process on the outside of the hull in preparation for finishing.  Heres my plan for the future:

-Wash the amine blush (if any) off the boat.  Amine blush is something that can occur during the curing of epoxy.  I use Marinepoxy from Duckworks, which does not usually blush.  Its not "non-blushing" epoxy, but its kind of "blush-resistant" if you will.  However, I have epoxied in about a million different temperature and humidity conditions, and seeing that paint wont stick to blush I might as well wash.  Its easy.  A pail of water, a scotch-brite pad, and scrub a dub-dub.
-Sand the boat down smooth
-Apply Quick Fair for fairing some ridges and bumps.  Quick Fair is an epoxy compound that will fill abnormalities and the extraneous Fair will sand away relatively easily.
-Sand again
-Primer, two coats or so.  Im planning on using Interluxs Pre-Kote which is a high-build primer to take care of smaller irregularities in the surface of the boat. 
-Sanding
-Paint.  More on paint later.

This is an ambitious list that will only be solved by time and hard work.  So when it rained and snowed both days I was home, I was pissed.  However, I cant change the weather!  So I spent some time tinkering with some other small items that needed to be done, primarily epoxy sealing the runners, some loose ply ends, the rudder cassette/box, and so on.  Not much, but stuff that needed to be done.

In bigger news, I received most of my running rigging from Duckworks!  This was a very exciting package, because it reminds me that Im coming to the end of my voyage here and its getting time to outfit the hull!  Yeah!

From top left, counter-clockwise:  Shock-cord for my rudder and daggerboard, three cleats for general purposes, the last cleat is for the halyard.  The fairlead for the halyard at the top of the mast, a clam cleat and another fairlead for the downhaul.  Next up, traveler blocks, two blocks for the boom, a small block for the spar and halyard, 1/4" low-stretch polyester rope for the traveler, mainsheet block yoke, sail tie-downs, and downhaul.  A nylon 3/8" mainsheet.  My super-low stretch dyneema line for the halyard is still on back-order and on its way.  Im still looking for a mainsheet main block.

Im super happy with the quality of the rigging.  Its all made in the USA, its made well, it will last forever, and it was cost effective.  Race-Lite and Sea Dog Line bring us freedom from the tyranny of West Marine and Harken.

Hello to those new readers sent here from Duckworks Extraordinary May Webwatch!  Welcome to my amateur madness!