Sat. at 7 I was sanding away on the remaining side, done in about an hour. One of his guys was in for another project, and used their account to buy paint and supplies at a trades discount. We hung the board up by the handle on top and I put a coat of primer on it. About 2/3 of the way through painting it the rope holding it up chafed through and I found my self with a wet board in my arms and no one to help get it safely on sawhorses. I managed to use my superior gorillability to wrestle it to the sawhorses and finish coating it. Had it fallen when I was up 6' on the top of the stepladder, I could have been off to the ER.
Took a break for an hour, returned for a second coat, waited an hour, put a coat of bottom paint on it, 3 more hours and another coat of bottom paint. Whoo, long day, but at least I didn't have to pay shop rate($50-70) for 10 hours and it is complete now.
Just pick it up in the morning throw it in the case, lash on the last tramp and off we go.
Oops, this isn't a Ron Howard, Disney movie,,,silly me. I had a tabernacle fabricated to allow lifting it up from the cockpit when going into shallow water, but waited to install it until the board is in place.
Picked the board up at the crack of dawn Sun. and back to the boat to drop it in. Had to carefully lift, shuffle and hoist it into position. It is probably about a third the weight of the old board, but still 10 feet long and not easy to balance on a boat deck. The boat is almost perfectly balanced now, so my movement from one side to the other rocks it about 10 degrees. Finally dropped it in and guess what it floats at about hull level, popping up about 2 1/2 feet above deck just from buoyancy.
I guess there is no point in having lifting hardware for something which floats on its own within a few inches of the desired lift. This is great, as simpler is always better if it works. Now for the next test, stand on it and try to get it all the way down. It sinks about 2 feet below deck and CLUNK!, contact made. I remove the inspection cover inside the boat to reveal that it is hitting a cheek block on the inside of the case. The floatation of the board makes it rock further back than the other which had no buoyancy, so here is a new challenge. I try shimming the board with High Molecular Density Plastic(HMDE, for short). The after a few more iterations of placing plastic strips on the edge of the board, it is apparent that the block has to go. The block is a flat piece of metal with a sheave mounted flat on it with appropriate bracing and four bolt holes to mount it. Of course two of the holes are below the water line in the kitchen. I think this was probably installed by the builder, before the diesel engine was installed. The Engine is quite heavy(400+ lbs.) and no doubt raised the waterline on the hulls.
Found an open hardware store and bought a hacksaw, they were all out of 3 foot sawzall blades. The inside opening is just large enough to stuff my forearm into with the hacksaw making contact at the very end. I saw into the sheaves of the block until I hit metal and saw some more. After all the plastic is cut the center bearing surface just spins with the saw, not good. A good time to resort to one of my special talents,,,,brute force. I got a board and the handy dandy axe found on most multi hulls, to break the remaining pieces free from the mounting plate. This yields a small enough intrusion to allow the board to descend without those pesty holes filling the boat up with water. The case has some taper toward the bottom, so the pieces of HDWE i used at the top to fill the gap between the board and case now wedge on the sides. Removing the pieces allows the board to go all the way down, but now there is enough slack in the case to allow it to cock a little to one side. The plastic is about 5/8 inch thick and won.t fit along the top edge and still go all the way down, so. perhaps another day has been squandered in the name of fun and entertainment. I really like challenges, pain and suffering, not so much.
Monday dawns blustery and rainy. I take a strip of plastic to the boat builder guy, who splits it lengthwise with a band saw, giving two skinnier pieces of plastic for for the top edge. The plastic is important, as it is very slippery and helps the board move up and down, without just grinding all the paint off of it. Put the two strips on the top edge, slide it down and Voila, it fits nicely. About the time I try to take a look from the inside, it pops up a foot or so. I mount some blocks to the top handle of the board and the deck, run a line through them and to a winch, and I can lower the board on demand. It will pop up or can be easily raised on demand, but I may leave it down until I actually see some shallow water.
view through the inspection openning in the galley
Moving right along I get the tramp material out and it is not the right shape. I need a triangle, but it is rectangular, plenty of area, but not enough length. Management rejects cobbling a piece together, so the stage is set to go for a scenic ferry ride and drive on Tues.
Hop up and take the 8 am ferry to coupeville and drive on up to Bellingham. The netting place is in Everson, a farm town on the other side of Bellingham, nestled in a valley along the Nooksack river. Very scenic drive, coastal, mountains, fertile valleys, everything I like about this place. No problem getting a suitable piece of material, so by 10:30 or so I'm on my way back. I check the ferry schedule and there is a 12:30 which will get me back at around 1. plenty of time to wrap this stuff up, right? Did I mention that this is not a Disney movie? I get behind some coot in a ginormous motor home going 35 in a 55 for about half an hour, making the timing close but still possible. Zip down to the ferry landing and they are still boarding the 12:30 ferry, but the gate is closed and a line is starting to form outside the gate. I get in line and talk to the ticket guy. I had a reservation for this one, but got there late so missed it. He informs me that they run two boats on this trip and that the larger one used for the more crowded runs is broken and had to go to dry dock. Sweet,,, an hour standing around and the boat returns. They let the people with reservations for the 1:30 run go around the line. I made another reservation for the 3 o'clock run when I arrived, but you have to make reservations two hours ahead, so that's the best deal I can get. The fills with the vehicles inside the gate and I am the second in line amongst the rejects on that trip. Time for a little lunch and a walk. Had some pretty good fish and chips at the cafe across the street, and went to explore Fort Casey. Yup it's a fort with gun placements and a sample big gun. Nice view of the ferry taking all the deserving souls to PT. Finally get on the 3 pm and get back to the boat around 4. The rest of the day was dedicated to installing the tramp.
Looked at the bottom of the boat, trying to take a picture of the board underwater, disgusting amount of growth on it.Took a walk over to my diver buys boat, and it's gone, apparently on vacation, arghhh, guess I will have to find another diver in the morning.
Met a guy who was in Mexico for a year of so who will give me some pointers on really good places to go, It's well worth the time to have a plan instead of discovering it all yourself.
Well it's Wed.noon and I have changed the oil looked for a diver and given up ( they are no longer permitted to clean boat bottoms in Puget Sound). I will just give it a buff along the water line, take a shower and sail on out. May be a while before we get to another Internet connection. Que sera sera.
1 comment:
What a job getting the dagger board all done right!once again perserverance pays off. Busy final preps--looking forward to next blog. Happy sailing! Just a note. I tripped annd fell on wooden knob on bottom of bed and think I have cracked ribs--either that or badly bruised. Anyway no fun , Second thoughts about Iowa trip.
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