The Work Begins

Well, it has been two weeks now since I brought Cassandra home. The topsides were scrubbed down to remove the black mildew that covered the hull. Pinesol and water worked pretty well, and also did an amazing job of revitalizing the teak. I think everything might still need to be washed down with some chlorine to get the last of the grunge off. I removed the old seacock and thru-hul assembly with minor difficulty. The plywood backing plate was mush and so it needs to be replaced.
Very little of the deck hardware had a proper backing plate and so every fastener has leaked and may have started core-rot. I have oiled the teak to preserve it for a little while and will be installing a new seacock as soon as I have the money to buy it. I'm also waiting on the money for epoxy to begin re-bedding deck hardware and encapsulate the plywood backing plates I need to make.
If a boat-dollar is about $500 US, I think it will take 1 or 2 boat dollars to get Cassandra on the water, and that's without removing the old saildrive. It will cost even more to get everything to the condition where I would like it to be, but much of that can wait until I have the money. Progress will be slow until I get some more spending power.In that vein, I am selling my RC airplane on Craigslist to help generate some funds. I would post new pictures, but very little has changed since the boat was cleaned.
One last thought before I forget, I used Scotch's delicate surfaces masking tape to cover the various holes in Cassandra that leaked when it rained. So far it has held up quite well and has a 60 day clean removal guarantee; even when exposed to UV.
Anyways, next summer will be very different and quite fun and I'm taking one step closer to it every day I can work on Cassandra.

The Big Day

Rejoice everyone for today has been a day of much progress! Today was the day that

Cassandra (technically still either Ken-Do or Coral Vette until I hold a denaming ceremony) came home.
The day began at 05:30. After a quick breakfast and picking up my cohort for the epicness that was today we were off, Dad leading the way in his Bonneville, Bonnie, and my friend Brian and I followed with the pickup, Clyde, towing my newly modified trailer.
The ride down was pleasant and uneventful. I plugged Clyde's radio back in so we could have tuneage for the trip. We arrived the house where Cassandra was being stored 15 minutes before the move was supposed to happen, but the truck was already there and working to maneuver itself into position. There is very little as impressive as watching two men effortlessly pluck a 4000lb boat from the field where it has been sitting for almost a year. The only thing more impressive was that they were able to do so with less than 2 feet of clearance on one side and not hit anything. You really have to have been there to get the full effect of it.
So, once the boat was out of the field and on it's way we took Bonnie and Clyde up to the Village Shores Marina in Hammondsport. Now, say what you want about Hammondsport, but I cannot over-emphasize how friendly and generous the people at Village shores were.
The two gentlemen who run the place were quite friendly, and patient as we adjusted the trailer for the boat. Although it took a few attempts to get everything where it needed to be, we soon had Cassandra situated. However, the hitch on the truck was too low to the ground once the boat was on the trailer. So, the marina owner called around until he found a suitable hitch extension, which he loaned to us to get the trailer home. He also was kind enough to loan a strap to hold the boat onto the trailer, since the one I brought was not long enough to reach.
I have to go back down to the marina later this week to dismantle the cradle for transport and to return the hitch and strap to the marina.
Leaving the marina was probably the most interesting part of the whole trip. You see, the marina is located at the bottom of a rather steep driveway that is only a couple feet wider than my trailer is. To get out I had to back the trailer part way down the launching ramp so I had enough room to turn around. Then I had to mucle my way back up the driveway onto the main road. I was a little nervous at times, but Clyde managed it in low gear. For the drive back I stayed under 50 mph the whole way and downshifted while I was stopping. Clyde handled it like a champ.
Once the boat was backed into the driveway Brian and I began pumping out the bilge to remove the rainwater from the big thunderstorms that had rolled through a few days prior. We managed to beat another wave of rain that chased us all the way back to B'ville. Then it was time to start scrubbing the muck of ages off Cassandra's once white hull and deck. That work will most likely continue for a day or two and involve much bleach and water. Then the real work will begin.

New pictures will be on Flickr in the next day or so. I forgot to bring my camera along for the road trip, but Dad took some photos with his phone, and snapped a couple shots of us cleaning the deck, so look for those soon.

Huzzah, It's a boat!!!

The Trailer

After many months of unforeseen delays and setbacks my trailer is finally finished. The current plan is to meet the truck from Village Shores Marina at the boat. They'll put the boat on their trailer and take it to the marina where they can forklift it onto my trailer. If everything works out I should be able to just drop the trailer on and drive off. More likely it will take a few trials to make everything fit properly.
I'm not sure if I've mentioned it but I've got Jackson up and running about as well as I can. He'll need some fine tuning once Cassandra is in the water. Here's hoping.


(Jackson is my donated outboard for those of you who haven't been following the story.)

A day at the Beach

Well, avid readers, my trailer is still at the shop. The parts were fabricated, but not yet back from the galvanizers in Utica yet. So the move get's postponed again. I do not yet have an idea of when I will actually get this boat home. I'm back to wondering if I should just motor it up the canal and pull it out on a trailer when I get it home. But that is not the point of today's post. Oh no, today's post is much more exciting and interesting.
This past Friday (the 19th) my siblings and I, and one friend, all took a day trip up to Lake Ontario. We started off they day with an 0900 departure. The weather was cool, but scheduled to warm up, and a light to moderate drizzle of rain was falling intermittently. Our first stop of the day was a trip to Oswego Harbor to view the Nina and the Pinta replica ships that were docked there for the latter part of the week.
The Nina and Pinta are accurate reproductions of two of the ships Columbus took on his voyage to the New World. The ships themselves were OK. Not much to see. I'm still upset we weren't allowed below; that's where all the cool stuff is anyways. Still they were just wooden planked ships, two decks (three if your count the raised quarterdeck)pretty open and surprisingly small. I find it very hard to believe that someone thought it smart to go to sea in such vessels. Then again, I am contemplating sailing Cassandra to God only knows where and she's a third the size of these ships. Needless to say, my sister and her friend were less than thrilled about the whole thing.
Our second stop, where we planned to spend the rest of the day, was Southwick Beach State Park. Located on the sandy Eastern shore of Lake Ontario Southwick Beach is usually a busy place for families and individuals to enjoy the lake. Such was not the case when we arrived. The wind was blowing somewhere around 6 knots and the water looked a little ominous. The beach was still wet from the rain storms we'd had that morning and the wasn't another vehicle or person to be seen. It was a little spooky walking down a deserted beach. It felt like, well, like we were doing something wrong just being there. I managed to get over that feeling though, and by the end of the day there were about four other cars in the parking lot.
Now, it has been a dream of my to get my PD Racer Adra out onto some real water. I was sort of expecting to do Oneida lake first, but the chance presented itself so I threw Adra into the truck and took her along for the day. Pulling a 110 pound boat across a sandy beach by myself was tiring, to say the least. I managed to sail around for 15 minutes or so before my GPS died, but I didn't feel like trying to fight back out across the sand bar and surf that characterizes the east coast of Lake Ontario, so I kept going. The wind was from the Northwest so I tacked my way up the shoreline to a spot where we rented a summer cottage when I was younger. I would have gone longer, but some darker clouds were skirting the shore in the east and I decided it was better to play things safe and head in until they either did something, or cleared up. I got back just in time to help cook lunch, hot dogs. After lunch the weather had cleared significantly and after popping some new AA's into my GPS I headed back out. I logged over 5 miles in three hours that day and I don't think I could have been happier, unless maybe I could have just kept going instead of turning around and heading back to the beach at the end of the day.
Adra took the larger waves pretty well. The only sign of any fatigue was at the mast step where some excessive wear was becoming a problem. I'll add a mast wedge at the partner to see what that does for it.
All in all, it was a good day. I was getting a bit tired by the end and had a hard time keeping my eyes open, partly because of the sun and partly because I had gotten up at 0800 that morning. Dragging the boat back up the beach was even worse since the sand had dried out since that morning. The "up" part of the equation didn't help much either. I slept well that night and am still a little sore from dragging the boat through the sand. Now if I can just get Cassandra home I can work on that "and just keep going" part. :D

Another big idea?!

Well, it's a week until our first longish break here at Albany. When I go home I'll be looking at a 24' cruising boat, and asking our neighbor up the hill what his boat is and how he likes it. And if I can make it out there I might bum around the yacht club on Onondaga Lake, or an Oneida Lake Marina. So far the search is slow, and mildly promising. I doubt that I'll have time to look at many boats this fall so winter storage will have to be budgeted in if I do buy a boat this year. So far nothing has really said, "I'm the one." I'm not sure whether this is a blessing or a curse. We'll see though.
Anyways I believe I mentioned in my last post that one of the few ways I could afford to look at boats would be to hitchhike to wherever it is. Well, this and some related reading I've been doing has inspired me to what may be an impossible idea. I would like to write a book. Not just any book, a handbook. I want to write "The Adventurer's Handbook." It will be a repository of all relevant, and much irrelevant information related to travel and survival in the pursuit of adventure. I would like it to be an Earth based version of the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." It would contain useful knots, sailing basics, hitchhiking tips, how to hop a freight train, how to live on nothing, and many other useful skills. Interspersed within the tips would be true stories about my own experiences of the topics being discussed.
I know, another pipe dream, but what can I say? I dream like it's my job, so why shouldn't it be?

Not meant to be

Well, it turns out that the Triton I was looking at wasn't meant to be mine. It sold f0r $1500 yesterday. But it was too far away to be worth it. Shipping to get it home would have been another $1800, more than I wanted to spend on a boat. And I'd still have to store it somewhere. I do have my eye on a couple other smaller vessels closer to home. I've also been asking around some forums to see if anyone there would let me ride along on their boats sometime. I've actually had a few offers, but they're all more than 100 miles away. I guess that's all for now.

It's time (update)

It's hard to believe, but I may in fact already be approaching the first step of my plans. Ok, building Adra was actually the first step as I improved my woodworking skills, understanding of boat construction, and sailing experience. Besides that, every good cruiser needs a tender. The point is, I've found a boat. Maybe.
I have found a 28' Pearson Triton for sale, that may be in my price range. Problem is, it's in Mendon, Massachusetts, and I don't know how to A) get out there and survey it, and B) how to get it home. I can catch a bus to Framingham, but it will cost $72 round trip that I don't know if I can afford, and I would still be in Framingham. Unless I can get a ride, or feel like hitchhiking the last 20 miles to where the boat is it doesn't look good. So I've been spending hours and hours of the last few days getting information on boat buying, shipping, and repair, as well as looking into bus routes there and water routes home.
Oh, and did I mention the boat is "salvaged?" Yeah. Apparently it broke loose from it's mooring and hit another boat. The damage looks minimal, but there's no way to know without looking. I still have to inquire as to yard fees, and liens that may be tacked on to the boat.
But IF the boat is really as cheap as listed and IF it's seaworthy, and IF I can get enough time, it MIGHT be possible to sail/motor the boat home. If not, I'm looking into boat shipping fees. This could get very expensive...

It's time

Well everybody, I think it's time to announce my big plans. I think most of you already know them. When I get out of college I want to cruise the Great Lakes for a year. If I can get the money, I may never stop. Perhaps the ocean will be next, but that's too far for me to dream right now.
So, I've been looking on yachtworld.com for boats might stand up to light cruising, and are in my price range. Surprisingly there are one or two. No guarantee that they're in good shape, but it's a start. Pearson 26's are regularly available for that price, but they usually have some structural issues, and no inboard engine. I think I would like a Catalina 27, but they're usually pretty expensive. Who knows, there might be some gem out there just waiting for me; we'll see.
So far I'm looking at doing the whole thing on $5000. That's $2,500 for the boat and the rest for outfitting and supplies. Right now it's not looking good. If I could get an investor... yeah, like that's going to happen. Maybe an investor would pop up if I were cruising the world like Nick on Bigoceans.com. Anyways, That's my dream, so this year is all about saving money, and next summer is for making more. That fall I suspect I'll buy whatever boat I decide on (I think fall prices are usually better). Vacations will be repair time. And, somewhere in there I'll have to get some sailing time on similar sized boats.
Anyways, that's my dream. We'll see how it goes.

(Note: I am not a licensed captain nor do I pretend to be. Although, I hope to be one someday.)

Comic

I was feeling reflective and mildly creative, so I made this comic.

What it's all about

Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW)

Hello potential readers. I would like to welcome you to my sailing blog. Here I will discuss anything relating to boating and/or cruising.
So, I should tell you all about what exactly it is I plan on doing. It was my intention on graduating college in 2010 to find a boat, Cassandra, and sail it around the Great Lakes that following summer. I made it only two weeks into that trip before giving up, but it taught me about my boat and about myself. I have now sailed Cassandra thousands of miles down the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway to Florida, the Bahamas, and back.
Thank you all for your interest, and I hope you come back to see what I'm up to.