11 June ’18 – A leisurely morning in Port Ludlow as Port Townsend Canal current is flooding most of the day and therefore against me. Was chilly overnight. Momma Kitty woke at our usually time, between 5 and 530am, ate some kibble and then came back under the covers for more snoozing. We then slept … More Party Time in Port Townsend
Besides the joy of going down memory lane and reading old entries, information noted about how the boat sailed, anchorages, weather patterns, etc. are great resources for future voyages. Keeping track of items needing attention when back home is also helpful … this was especially helpful after the first sea trails conducted on AIR BORN in the San Juan and Gulf Islands. … More Keeping a ship’s log
Trailer sailors are great boats … one of many reasons it is easy to inspect the rigging each time the boat is put on/off the water as we rise/lower the mast. … More Rigging Inspections
As Spring has come I am touching up AIR BORN’s rudder & tiller varnish. Sage 17 and Montomery 15 owners, as the rudder design is the same, will find this post helpful in doing rudder and tiller maintenance on their boats. … More Spring commissioning – rudder and tiller
‘E15’ refers to the percentage of ethanol in the gas. Most of us are using E10 in our cars & trucks. A few weeks ago I discussed outboard motor care and touched on the topic of ethanol in gasoline … More E15 Gas
Your sailboat’s deck hardware should have been installed using a bedding compound. (I sadly write ‘should’ as I have worked on boats where there is no evidence that bedding compound was used!) Commonly used are Sikaflex’s 291 and 3M’s 4000 and 4200 (remember, 5200 is for under the waterline applications that will very very very likely never be removed). SPECIAL NOTE: do not use silicone to bed deck hardware! 99.99% of the time silcone has NO PLACE for use in the marine environment! … More Do you know the condition of your boat’s deck hardware bedding?
Boat work is never really completed – one must get to a point that the important things are done (ie, safety related) and many of the others are ‘mostly complete’. I’ve reached this stage. The bottom painting is complete, electrical system is upgraded, rudder gudgeon rebedded, hull and topsides buffed & waxed, trailer reconditioned, standing … More Done enough
I’ve begun the ‘enjoyable’ task of applying new antifouling paint to Sweet Pea’s bottom. I went over the old paint with a scraper to remove any loose bits (the port side was worse thanthan starboard – port faced the sun where she was stored); then sanded with 80-grit to assure the new paint has a good bond. … More bottom paint and other tasks
Still waiting for many boat parts to arrive so I’ve been doing tasks as I can. I tried to find replacement parts for the old boat potti; but no pieces are available – not a surprise as it is likely the potti is a ’83 like the boat. In order to save a few bucks, … More A place to sit
I’m not in a part of the country that is known for sailing, or really boating. Denver does have a sailing/boating community but the local stores don’t see enough business to stock necessary items – even the local West Marine is REALLY bad about stocking. I seem to have purchased the last 3M Restorer & … More Maintenance, Cleaning and thinking
M17 #375 - SWEET PEA 