Ah, a new windlass is installed. Got to take a picture before it gets all scratched up and dirty. The deck is rather mossy, though, isn't it?

Stern Arch with GV10 Dinghy from www.bateau2.com (I design these as a sideline)

The new fiberglass ladder/carbon windsurfing mast arch. Going to be used for solar panels and hanging the dinghy under (like davits). Uh, we're going to paint the ladder :)


Tubing joint detail up close. The joint is made with thin strips of carbon uni wrapping around both tubes like a lashing or a bandage. Then peel ply and overlapping layers of electrical tape inside out



I bought a few charts.... about 1000. That's not all of them. The total stack is about 4' high and about 500 lbs at least. It filled the car trunk, the entire back seat and front passenger seat. Took hours to move it was so heavy.

Interior has got a 2nd coat of paint. It's good to leave this until most interior epoxy jobs have been done - as it hides the epoxy hand prints I leave in random locations.

The table has been given a few coats of varnish and is starting to look good.

Random Progress pictures


Lifelines and Stanchions

Lifeline detail


Reefing Lines on cabin top


A cleaned up galley

Some random shots of progress on the boat:

a CLEAN Foredeck. Note the obligatory watercolours in the plastic bin and of course the crab trap.



New composite handrails. Much lighter than stainless steel, and lots cooler in hot tropical sun.


:

Head Door - for privacy, and containment of smells when EVAN uses the head



New 12' wide traveller track. It's bolted to a fiberglass channel, and the channel is glued and glassed to the aft beam.

Help Identify this mast fitting

This fitting is for the fixed intermediate backstay tang on our mast. It's for a swaged wire end (of some sort - maybe a T, maybe a stem ball?). It's not rod rigging. It sort of looks like Navtec's K200 external stemball tang?

Anyway I want to change the mast fitting to something like a Navtec rope eye below for proper Spectra running backstays. Something with more articulation than this fitting, so I can take the runners aft. Right now this will bind if it's more than a few degrees past mast centerline.

Travis 1996-2008

Mexico, Christmas 1996-

In April we added a furry orange creature called Travis to our crew. We got him from a local corner store with way too many cats, dogs, and pet chickens. He managed his first trip to the nearby cruising islands pretty good but I think he was feeling seasick the second day. He is growing big and strong after recovering from malnutrition and other ailments, reaching a startling 15 lbs at 9 months. In response to his varied escapades we dubbed him "Adventure Cat!". As in "Adventure Cat! swims shark infested waters while chasing killer moths!", "Adventure Cat! ripped my flesh!", "Adventure Cat! boldly attacks huge intruders!", "Adventure Cat! defies gravity and climbs aloft on Ceilydh!", "Adventure Cat! traverses hot burning flames while exploring the stove!", "Adventure Cat! laughs (ha ha) at storms while frolicking in the wind and rain and dodging lightning bolts!". Some cats would live peacefully, but Adventure Cat! accepts the challenge and blows through his nine lives with indifference. He is a sailor after all.

Sleep well Adventure Cat.