Laughing Samey!

We have some of Jen's friends in from France.  Annie and her two boys, Marius and Barnaby.  We went out  for the Elliot Bay Downtown Series on Thursday.  They basically landed at Sea-Tac and Jen picked them up and took them to the boat.  Jet lag and all.
The wind finally filled in on the last leg and I yet again forgot to close the galley drain and we had a minor flood.  What a great sail though.
Saturday was another beautiful day and we took the boat out for dinner.  Used the new stove and oven and made pizza.  The Dickinson definitely has a hot spot at the back of the oven.  By the third pizza I got it figured out.
Marius (11 year old) took the helm and did a masterful job.  Some kids just oversteer and have no attention span.  Not Marius.  He took the wheel and made smooth minor adjustments as necessary and simple was a wonderful driver.  I was impressed.

Marius driving.  Not the best picture.  More coming later

Here is the new dodger and bimini.  I'll post more pictures later.  The bimini has solar panel mounts.  We also sprung for a connector panel between the dodger and bimini.

Annie and Jenny

New dodger

Still haven't got good photos of the dodger. This is the view looking forward while driving. I'll post more photos tomorrow. 

Appa on the left and our first sailboat on the right.  Manatee an O'day 25.

My uncle died and left my brother and myself the house we grew up in.  The Manatee was our family's first sailboat.  1979 O'Day 25.  Great boat to learn on.  I took the half hull back to my place in Seattle.  Sits next to Appa's half hull.
Iverson's put the dodger on Monday.  You would think that I'd have some photos of that.  Nooo.  I had to work.  Then we took the boat under the bridges and through the locks to get her back to her home at Shileshole.  Totally got screwed by the Argosy Cruise Tour boat.   They get priority in the locks.  Almost did make back to Sammy's daycare to pick her up in time.  Grrr.  Hate the Argosy.

Saba!

This is Saba.  My buddy's dog.  Great dog.  I used to watch her when Scott went out of town.  Loves to chase tennis balls.  13 years old now.  Where in the hell does time go?

Floaty toy on the bow.  Found that sucker floating in Lake Union about 8 years ago.  Kids love being dragged by the boat in that thing.

Appa in her new home for a couple days.  SYC marina.  We plan on moving the boat here from Shileshole I think.  Much cheaper but the access to the Sound is complicated.  4 bridges and the locks.  2 hours usually to do the trip.  I've done it in an hour but that was uncommon.  We love to take the boat out and swim on Lake Washington.  But the swim season is pretty short.  The Sound offers immediate access to anchorages and islands.  Better sailing most times also.  It is colder on the Sound though.  Decisions.
I have yet to get to the boat and check on the seams that Jurgurtha did.  No worries.  Great guy.  Still in talks with Baggett and Sons Marine about taking off the teak decks.  120 hours quoted.  I'll bet it takes more.  A lot more.  We'll see.  I trying to figure out what I want to do with the decks once the teak is off.  I love the look and feel of teak.  Just too much time and $$ right now.  We probably could go to Mexico and the decks would be fine.  That is a lot of money being spent on decks that could be spent elsewhere.
I need to upgrade other things also.  This engine is a good runner but the electrics that it ties into are killing me.  So many stupid little problems.  Buzzer that won't shut off, lights that work when they shouldn't, STOP button working when it wants to, tachometer that works when it wants, etc.  Typical boat stuff.

Summer in Seattle.  See the jackets!

Put the swimstep in.  Pretty cool.  Course it was bent.  Jeez.

New start battery charger

Old battery charger.  No more CLICK!!!  CLICK!!! everytime the start battery  checks it's current.

New stove.  I love this thing.  Best ever.  

Iverson's fitting the dodger.

Heading over to SYC Port Madison outstation for Father's Day!

Our boat next to my buddy Scott's 63 foot S&S.  Took the kids to school in the dinghy on the right.

 Been awhile since I updated the blog.  We are leaving for Canada and the beautiful Desolation Sound area for 17 days on August 16th.  Got lots to do before that trip.

1. I have a short in the new running lights.  Damn it!
2. STOP button on my engine panel works when it wants to.
3. No steaming light.
4. Windlass is having an issue but I think I know what that is.
5. I kinda want to get a new Rocna and new chain.
6. Booster fan in the heater duct so the kids can be warm.
7. Change oil
8. Check coolant.  
9. Top off batteries with water.
10. Find that damn water leak in the fresh water system.

On and on it goes. 

Suppose to rain this Thursday.  All day.  No big deal.  After all this is Seattle.  Iversons are suppose to come out and measure our dodger.  They won't pattern in the rain.  I'd like to get it on Appa before Father's day but that is not going to happen I guess.  Oh well.
Evidently I 've been wrong about our planned departure time to Mexico.  It is 2013 not 2014.  Why I didn't get that, I'll never know.  Was talking with Jen and said something along the lines of "Well we have 2 years to get the boat ready."  This was met with silence.  "What?"  "We are leaving next summer!"  "Huh?"
Hopefully all that crap from Japan is gone by then.  They recently found a whole huge dock drifted onto the Oregon coast.  It is huge!    Imagine running into that at night.  <shudder>
Anyway, took off the hatch that covers the sliding companion way slide.  Water squishing out of it when stepped on.  Just like the anchor locker hatch, all screws hold teak down are gone and nothing to stop water from getting in!  Grrr.  WTF?  Why would you do that?

That is water coming out.

Beautiful wet core!

I spilled about twice this.  LOADED with water.  Really crazy.

So right now I am rebuild yet another part of this boat.  Just what I want to do.  The teak on this thing is worn out also.  Better than the anchor hatch though.  I'll make it better.  Thankfully I bought all that extra stuff for build the anchor hatch.  Saving money right there.
Jen is flying out with our daughter to Florida to see some relatives.  I'll get a couple hours each day to knock things off the list.  That list has grown HUGE and now I have half the time to do it in.

Well, we did the race.  7th out of 9 in our class and in our division 14th out of 31 boats.  Got killed in the light air start.  The wind eventually built to 35 knots or so and then died down to 10-15 knots out of the west for the rest of the night.  Had a great spinnaker run home and were at the Inspection Dock at 0900.   The whole trip went off without too much trouble.  The engine ran great except for that blasted alarm and fuel tank gauge problem.  Have to figure that stuff out.
Now....PICTURES!

Great delivery.  Left at 0630 and arrived in Vicoria at 1500 or so.  Never saw under 8 knots SOG!

Bison burger!

Sticky Wicket having the cocktails!

Table out and covers of the cushions are on

Rich B.

Steak dinner on Friday night

Mid Strait and the wind is building. 

Eventually the wind built to around 35 knots

Drying stuff out

Maxey.  

More Maxey.  Delivery home

Spectra wreath

Learning line handling and knot tying from one of the best, David W.

Almost home