Spring Shopping

Well, the snow is melting in Albany and the air is getting warm. Now is the time when I start getting antsy. I was home for my birthday and cut plexiglass covers for some of the holes in the deck. I got the covers on where the old engine vents were. I have to install the remaining covers for the old fuel fill and the engine gauges. Sunday I bought 100' of Nylon line from Home Depot and spliced up four 25' docklines for nearly $30 less than buying them pre-made.
West Marine has been having a spring tune up sale, and lucky for me there is a store withing a few miles of SUNY Albany. So today I went in to check it out. I picked up a VHF radio on sale And clearanced for a very good price. I also bought some fenders, flares, and a signaling whistle. Cassandra will now be Coastguard compliant. I also picked up a compass, something Cassandra was conspicuously previously lacking.
And as a final act I've ordered new lower side stays from D&R Marine that I should be able to install when I'm back in Baldwinsville for Easter break.
Progress is being made, and more will come. There is a lot of buying yet to be done, and plenty of fixing and fabricating too. More soon.

Mid Winter Update

Just wanted to post something to let everyone know that progress is still being made even if it is slow. A combination of cold weather, and being in Albany for school have greatly delayed any significant progress. Over Christmas break I Re-bedded Cassandra's chain plates, fixed the leaking anchor locker drain, reinforced the v-berth bulkhead, removed and priced lower shrouds, and added another coat of epoxy to her new hatch boards. I'll be installing a deadbolt on the main hatch when I have time. And when the weather begins to warm up I'll begin re-coring the side decks. Big on the list of things to do is installing the lifelines and stanchions which should start when the tarp comes off for the Summer. Today I pulled out my fish finder and tested it. Everything seems to be in working order, and I will be installing that before this summer too. Very little electrical work can be done until I can afford a battery, but once I have that I'll be able to check the Log and all the lights. So for now I'm mostly waiting on money an weather, but I still think I can have Cassandra on the water and ready for cruising this Summer.

Real Progress

A significant step has been made. I have removed the old sail-drive and exhaust, as I said in my last post. However, since then I sold the old sail-drive and glassed in the hole for the exhaust. And now, I have made the big step of glassing in the hole for the saildrive. It took hours to cut out the old sail-drive plug, further hours to grind away the glass fairing compound from the inside of the hull, and probably as long as either of those to grind in the 12:1 bevel on the inside of the hull. But the result is what looks to be a strong, sturdy repair.

I began rebedding the winches only to find a sopping wet ply core underneath. So, I have cut out a section of backing and core to start drying it out. I will replace the ply when everything is dry enough.
I also had the chance to sit aboard during a rain storm to trace some leaks. I re-bedded a portlight that was leaking badly. I still need to re-bed the chainplates, a number of hinges, and some other fittings. The lifeline stanchions still need to be re-installed, but I need to get access behind them to install backing plates and bolts. I also need to install new through-deck fittings for the anchor light and spreader lights. The long and short of it is I've made big progress, and I have quite a bit more progress to make.
Picture have been added. Check out www.flickr.com/photos/seastepping !

A Little Progress

Well, a little progress has been made as of late. The saildrive leg has been removed and the old exhaust system is no more. I ground the hole in the transom that the exhaust went through for glassing but had to wait on my epoxy from Duckworks.com. Now I have the epoxy, but I don't have enough glass. So, I need to make a trip down to the marina to get glass cloth, and rubbing compound. I also began scraping the hull, a messy job to be sure. It took four hours to scrape from the transom forward 4 feet. I'll be looking into bottom paint stripper when I'm at the marina as well. Although, part of me just wants to keep going with hand scraping and forgo the extra cost of stripper so that I can say, "Yeah, I'm blue, but it didn't cost me a thing"
Anyways, that's coming along.
I also put a coat of epoxy on one side of my hatchboards. I will probably be coating the other half tonight before bed and then doing touch-ups and varnishing later. I will eventually install a deadbolt latch to the top board and hatch for security.
Well, I think that's about it for now. Pictures and further progress will be coming soon!

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.)