Friday, September 28, 2012


Well I finally got the new mattress in the boat.  Friends of ours went out and bought latex foam and then a topper of memory foam and had a place in Seattle put it all together and cut it to size for their boat.  Total cost in the $1500 range.  I decided to try something different.  Went to Amazon.com and found a 10" mattress with latex and memory foam for $400.  I figured I'd at least try this cheap option.  Got the mattress with free shipping and it arrived within two days.  Measured once and cut the mattress with a electric turkey carver.  I cut it wrong.  Jen sleeps along the right side of the bed and that is where I made the cutting error.  Grrrr.  It was too late to do anything about it and we went on vacation with that evil mattress.  10 inches was also too tall.  I could barely fit on the left side of the bunk.  Hit my head all the time.  So back to square one.
Jen did not want the old mattress to go into landfill so I attempted to get it out of the boat in one piece.  I attempted.  The mattress is currently in a Seattle landfill.  Except for the memory foam topper.  I saved that.  This mattress was so crappily put together, the memory foam just pulled right off.  We'll use that part for the kids bunk.  The other 8" of foam just ripped when I tried to get it out of the boat.
I then searched Amazon again and found Sleep innovations 8" mattress.  70 reviews and most of them positive.  It delivered in two days and we unpacked it and let it sit in our living room while it expanded.  We used it as a "snuggle bed".  At least that is what the baby of the family called.  For 2 weeks we used the bed.  Max slept on it couple times and I took naps on it.  Great mattress.  I finally measured the bunk again  but this time I measured 80 times.  Not going to screw this up again.  It looks good.  I left it a little high on the right side till Jen gives it her seal of approval.  We are taking Appa out in a couple weeks to Tacoma and see the zoo.  We'll see how it performs then.

I also reefed out the entire port side deck.  It is all done.  Now awaiting cleaning and caulking.  I am going to have my bestest bud Jugurtha do the caulking.  I spent about 9 hours total getting that old caulk out of the deck.  Then I ran the file down the channels.  I think it is going to look fantastic.  Another 20 hours of reefing and the boat will be done.   This had better be the last time I have to do this for at least 6 years.  I am hoping for 15 years.  We'll see.



Sunday, September 23, 2012

Just a couple photos I took this Thursday and Saturday.  This is my work week so not much boat stuff (or even family stuff) right now.  12 hour shifts have a way of sucking....all the time out of a weekend.



This girl loves her some Elmo



New Ninjago Legos



Snuggling with big brother Max

Jen having book club on the boat.


Friday, September 21, 2012

Teak decks

I love our boat.  I really do.  Strong.  Fast.  Safe.  She is a great boat.
She does have teak decks though.  For a lot of people this is a major problem and they wouldn't even consider buying a boat with teak decks.  I cannot blame them.  They can be very problematic.  I don't think that ours are.  Yet.  Our boat was made in France and when Herni Wauquiez's crew put down our decks they used a mastic to keep the teak down on the deck and then used screws to keep the teak in place while the mastic cured.  As we lose the teak covers that cap the screws (bungs) I take the screw out and then fill the hole with epoxy and then glue the bung back in place.  The teak is not going anywhere.  So as the teak decks aged, the wood gets worn down and then the seams start to become proud of the deck and they tear out.  I am going to fix this.
Starting with THIS!
Companionway

I then got brave and decided since the companionway wasn't hard, I was going to do the whole boat.  Starting with the port aft part.  Man oh man did I screw up by not putting masking tape down.  The thought was while the tape would be cleaner, the deck would need to be sanded anyhow.  Why waste time taping with I could sand off the teak ridges AND the caulk.  Wrong.  That caulk is super hard to sand off.  PITA.



I bought a big sander and knocked that stuff off.  But not before I used my handy dandy Fein tool to scrape the excess off.  Worked like a charm.
The part beyond that block have yet to be done.

Looks good I think.  


Can you tell were I haven't done yet?

Anxious to get this done.

Morning.  Leaving for Roche from Ovens Island

Sam woke up and went to our bunk while I was motoring us toward Roche.  She then played for awhile.  This is how I found her.  Out cold sleeping.  
Scott and I left Ovens at 0500 in the morning.  Another beautiful day and a long motor to Roche Harbor.  No problems and not much to report.  Got to Roche and checked in with US customs.  Got boarded and they searched the fridge for fruit and green onions.  Confiscated all our good stuff.
After clearing customs, we went to the Henry Island outstation and eventually rafted off Lightning and then had another SYC boat raft off of us.



We decided to stay two nights at Henry.  Played on the floaty toy.  Nothing like Desolation Sound.  Cold water and nippy air temps.



Did the grilling out thing.  Jamie from Sophie caught a HUGE salmon and grilled it.  It was great.  Smores at the campfire after that.

Our raft up on Henry Island

Going to the swimming pool at Roche!!






Love this photo

Note how the hair never really gets wet.  We are working on it.


Part squirrel and seal!!

Looking west over the marina.  Henry Island is beyond all that



Henry Island outstation docks
On the 2nd, Roche Harbor has the lowering of the colors for the final time for the season.  Then all the dock hands, managers, etc. jump off the dock into the water.  We rafted up with a bunch of other dinghies and took it all in.  Taps was played and the anthems for Canada and the US were also played.  Pretty cool.  I still am trying to find the pictures.
We left for home on the 3rd.  Another day with no wind and tons of sunshine.  The wind did fill in from the north but we were anxious to get home and the wind was not strong enough to keep us at 6 knots or above. We motored.
Sophie passed us at Port Townsend

These big dude was heading out to sea.  Killer wake.

Samey helping with the lunch







Powers at 9 knots!
Got home at 700pm.  Not bad for an almost 70 mile day.  Great trip!