Parade of lights and temps in the 80's

So we had a long weekend in Panama City this week. Although we planned on just relaxing and enjoying, we soon found ourselves piddling with stuff on the boat. Don't know why that always happens but it does. Dirk found himself literally up to his eyeballs in the chain locker. While re-bedding the bow pulpit he had found a few other items needing attention. There was only so long I could hold him by his ankles on his belly so he just climbed on in to work. Something to be said about being vertically challenged.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous with temps in the 80's during the day and dipping to the low 60's at night. Hardly seems like December with these temps but I'm not complaining. The cannonball jellyfish were out in force this weekend. Beautiful creatures, I read that they can be eaten. Why you would want to is another story. Guess that's why another name for them is cabbage head jellyfish. So if you find yourselves lacking a nice fish to toss on the grill, heck get the net and fish one of these bad boys out. The ones we were seeing were about about 6 to eight inches across. They are very fast swimmers as far as jellyfish go and they would just plow full force ahead till they would slam into the docks or the boat, bounce off and head the next direction.

Below is just a picture that Dirk took of a pelican.
Saturday evening we had the parade of lights come past our marina. We had never been to one so it was nice to see it. Not as big as I thought it would be, but some of the locals said its getting bigger each year.
A big paddle wheel boatHow many lights can we fit? Pretty sailboat
My favorite decorated boat as it depicts my favorite Christmas movie. A Christmas Story. After the parade we trolled the docks as many of the boats came back to our marina and hung out for the evening. Met some of our neighbors and spent the evening getting to know them. We both love the boating community and cant wait until we can jump into it with both feet for good. Sunday we were gonna sail, but along with the high temps also came calm winds/no winds. So it too turned into piddle day and Monday we headed home back to reality.

Time to take a break

Well we took this old flooring out of the boat for the last time this weekend. What a satisfying feeling as I loaded it up in the cart and took it to the dumpster. It served it's purpose and now its time to treat Tybee Time to her new floor. Seems like so long ago we started this project and it's finally come to an end. A labor of love and we absolutely love it. The hard work has definitely paid off.

Another project that Dirk has been working on was the engine control panel. As you can see it has seen better days. Instead of trying to purchase a new one Dirk decided to try and rebuild this one. He has gotten pretty good with fiberglass and epoxy, so he wanted to give this a shot.
First order of business was to reinforce the plastic panel. He put several layers of fiberglass and epoxy on the backside to cover un-needed holes and make the panel stronger. It was very thin and brittle. After he sanded and smoothed all the surfaces I put a nice white coat of paint on.
He then attached the panel to a frame. Believe it or not the frame was made of two plastic (marine lumber type) cutting boards. He routed the inside to accommodate a plexiglass panel that slides to the side for access, and keeps water out. Hard to see it, but its there.
The final product installed and ready to have Max (engine so named ) started up. And it did start right up. We had not had the engine running for about four weeks now and what a great sound that was. I have to give Dirk kudos on this project as I think he did an excellent job and he saved a lot of money that can be spent elsewhere. (On the boat of course)
This weekend at the marina there was a lot of hustle and bustle from boats decorating for the annual parade of lights to be held next weekend. So the marina is looking all festive with boats ablaze with lights and other festive touches. Our marina tries to get everyone in the mood offering a prize for just decorating your boat regardless of being in the parade or not. So we will take the camera down next weekend and see if we can capture some nice pics to post. This weekend will be a weekend to sit back and relax and enjoy the fruits of our labor.

Another project done...Yippie

The windows are finally done. They were to be completed last week, but as everyone knows when it comes to dealing with boats they sometimes have their own agendas. All I know is that I know too much about lexan at this point. I did so much research on what is compatible, whats not. I figure after spending so much money on this stuff that I didn't want to ruin a piece by some stupid mistake on my part. So armed with knowledge we had headed down weekend before last to install the windows. Its hard to explain, but as you look at the boat you see the cutout for the window. As you look into the cutout you see the two layers of fiberglass. Inside the cutout the interior window frame mounts to the backside layer. This gives you a nice finished look from the inside. Not so from the outside, as you see the backside of the frame in the window opening from the exterior. That wasn't confusing at all was it? Previously the window was very dark and hid all the extra stuff going on behind the plexi. When we installed our lexan you could see the interior frame and the gap between it and the fiberglass. "Geeeeze, that's ugly." So we came up with the idea of boat striping tape to hide the gap and frame. We had also put a bead of caulk on the window before we installed it. So now we had a beautiful window with a framed out window opening and a bead of caulk under it. From the dock it didn't look bad. To us it looked like poo. Frustration was building as I just let the project sit the weekend as I racked my brain for solutions. Meanwhile Dirk had a list of other duties he wanted to get done. He removed the bow pulpit to fix and fill all the attachments. Looks like a previous owner had snagged on something or someone snagged his pulpit. The places it attached to the deck were semi loose. So Dirk removed the pulpit entirely and preceded to clean out and fill the holes. Apparently there was core rot and a lot of vacant space between the fiberglass. Not good if you want a sturdy pulpit. He is getting quite good working with epoxy. So after filling the voids it sat for a day and he re drilled and re bedded the pulpit. That babies not going anywhere now. So anyway, back to the windows. We decided that we would paint the backside of the windows to hide all the yucky stuff and give the window a more finished appearence.


This is the final product after we first attempted. Note white border of striping tape and windows see thru
Here is the window taped up for spraying. I also have the front of the window covered with plastic wrap to keep us from scratching them."
Here the window has been sprayed with a flat black paint.
Here Dirk is posing with the new window after the tape and plastic wrap removed.
New window installed
Here is the final product. New, clear, un-scratched, un-leaky windows. We are both happy with the results and have gotten some nice compliments from other people on the docks. Now, if I can just get enough time to finish my floors. Yes they are still in the process. Just a couple more coats and I am finished. Hopefully they get installed this weekend.

Windows

Two weeks have passed since we were last at the boat. I think that's the longest we have gone since we bought her. No surprises awaited us, which is that way I like it. Saturday morning we awoke to beautiful cool clear weather and had our morning coffee in the cockpit wrapped in blankets planning our work day that lay ahead of us. The salon windows won out over a few other items that need our attention soon. A couple weeks ago we ordered our sheets of Lexan. We got the sheets that were 1/4 inch thick and gray. Right now we have a very dark smoke gray. I liked that, but we could not find it that dark for a reasonable price. I mainly wanted the dark for sun protection, and not so much for privacy as we have shades on the inside. After seeing what we got I think its gonna be just fine. Also noticed as we were pulling off the old windows ,because of their almost black color they were very hot from the sun. Perhaps the lighter shade of gray wont absorb so much heat. Taking the windows off turned out to be a major project. But as I'm learning, everything on the boat is a major project. I'm just trying to keep the big picture in my head to keep me motivated and less frustrated. We began by cutting away the globs of silicone piled around the edges. Then with a series of three different sized flat head screwdrivers we started wedging them in trying to get the window off in one piece. First, the actual window cutout is a lot smaller then the plexi that was on it. Second, who ever put these windows on elected not to use any screws or fasteners. Instead they must have used a tube of black rubbery caulk adhesive per window. So it ended up being the larger pieces were about the size of a dollar bill. I knew they would probably crumble in the process of removing them. No biggie though as we were not going to need them for a template. We decided after looking at a few other O'days on line that we liked what they had done with their windows. Instead of making what looks like one long continues window, they actually cut it slightly larger than the opening itself. This we decided is what we would do with ours.
Note the poor condition of the window. Small cracks all over. Is that what they mean by crazing

Here the window is halfway off. Note the actual size of the window opening.
Here I am working on cleaning off all the caulking and goo. Also thinking to myself "what the heck have I gotten into"
Here is a shot of all the plexi off and the goo mostly gone. All taped up and ready for some plastic cover. Praying that it doesn't rain too much before we get back next week.

Columbus Day weekend

Columbus Day weekend we had four days on the boat. After driving down and un-packing and settling in we called it a night. Saturday was calling for 15 to 20 knot winds with gusts of 30 to 35, seas, 4 to 5 feet with a chance of thunderstorms. We have wanted to get out and sail in some waves as we had yet to do it. Its always been so smooth. Our plan was to anchor up at Shell Island for a couple days and just relax. As we are headed out the pass we started noticing several dead fish. At first I couldn't figure it out. As we made it into the gulf I noticed the water wasn't the pretty shades of blue and green I'm use to seeing. Instead it looked like we were on the Mississippi. Things finally clicked, "red tide". Apparently a pretty good case of it judging by the amount of dead fish. So plans to anchor by the island were pretty much shot as you really don't want to be anchored among dead rotting fish in the heat. It also cuts out any water plans you had. We did however have some nice sailing as I get use to the heeling side of sailing. It was actually fun crashing into the small waves. By no means were they 4 to 5 footers as called for but it was still fun.

As we headed back to the marina we were being chased by the chance of thunderstorms. We made it back into our slip right before the rain hit. That evening we had friends over for a shrimp boil. Sunday we decided would be maintenance and Monday I had my sister from Naples visit on the way to Louisiana. After getting Rebecca and Chance, her dog aboard we headed out for a sunset sail. Alas there was no sailing to be done so we did a sunset motor out to a spot and sat on the bow watching the sun set catching up on each others lives. My brother flew in for a business trip and caught up with us later at the marina. We had not seen each other for close to a year so it was nice playing catch up.
My brother Jerry, sister Rebecca, and myself
Dirk with Rebecca
Dirk with Jerry and Rebecca

Up date on floor project

Well I'm guessing you would have to laugh as not to cry. Although I did cry when I saw the mess my husband created below. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about getting the new floor installed but I can tell you I would never want to do this again. Ever hear the term "what were they thinking?" My thoughts exactly. I had my suggestions and ideas on "the best way" and so did Dirk. And since Dirk is the one that was actually doing this part of the floor project he won. But I know I will have my say when it comes to the varnishing. But as you can see from the photo the new floor was taken down and fit into the boat. They were cut a little on the bigger side so that Dirk could take a bit off here and there to get a nice snug fit. What looks to be an explosion of flour is actually very fine sawdust from him sanding the pieces to fit. I was banished to the cockpit for the day so that Dirk could be left in peace to do his work. I think my overly watchful eye was getting old. So I finely admitted defeat and headed to the cockpit for a day of reading and enjoying the bit of cooler weather that we had. I say cooler, it was about 85 which is cooler than its been during the day in a long time. Sunday Dirk spent the day re-bedding some deck hardware and I spent the day.....you guessed it, cleaning. So the floor is now cut and ready to be epoxied on the bottom and sides. Once that is done then I start the never ending coats of varnish. Whooohooo, I am finally seeing an end to this project. Next major project on our list is to replace the salon windows.
As you can see they have more silicone then some women. I'm surprised they aren't leaking more then they do. Only during very heavy rains do we get any water, and then its only a few drops here and there. We are replacing them with a material called Lexan. Its suppose to be a lot more durable. This way we only have to do it once. I will let you know when this project get started. Lets see if we all survive the floor first.

Working on the floor project

Well the floor project is coming along finally. Seems we got the wood and it sat for a couple weeks due to the fact I think we were worried about doing something wrong so we just didn't do anything. The guy we bought the wood from said to be careful as the teak veneer is very thin. So we decided before we made any cuts that we would put 2 coats of the varnish on first to protect it. We also did a small test spot to pick a varnish we liked. Originally the floors have the varnish with the UV inhibitor in it. We noticed that turned the wood very yellow. Also the floors being old, they darkened. We decided to use the clear varnish without the UV protector in it. Its makes for a nicer color. We realize this will not exactly match the other wood work but we think it will look nice. I don't really see the need for a UV protector down below, but then I may be wrong. Time will tell.

Overview of the floor

Close up of old flooring

New sheet of teak flooring

Dirk doing some tracing, note poor condition of backside of floor Dirk cutting flooring Old and new piece side by side

Heres to the good times

Seems since we purchased Tybee Time we have seen and spent more time with friends then in the recent past. This would be a good thing. We love having people aboard, and for the past three weekends we have had friends join us for days filled with sailing,snorkeling,fishing,and swimming. We also have had some nice sailing days. Sometimes the wind is 10 to 15 knots and blowing the perfect direction that once we put the sails up we cruise all the way down to Shell Island without having to tack. I'm still trying to get comfortable with heeling. 15 to 16 degrees is about my comfort level right now. I cant believe how peaceful it is though putting up the sails and shutting down the engine. Our sailing skills are improving every time we head out. Makes me want to make a u-turn, head out the pass and head southeast towards the keys. But alas, the weekends pass all to quickly and we must come back to the dock, clean up and head home back to reality. One day..... Seems we haven't done much work on the boat the last couple weeks, but that's okay. Its been too hot anyway for that, and its not like we are on a tight schedule to get it done. I'm waiting on a break in the heat before I even want to think about re varnishing the top side teak. This last trip down we brought home some of the floor so that we can start that project.


Yeah! sails up

Enjoying the sunset

Having sundowners at the dock

Playing around in the dingy

Catching a small jack

Who made it soooooo hot?

Another sundowner evening with friends

Maintenance weekend

This past weekend was maintenance weekend for us. At times I really wish we could save all this kind of stuff till fall and winter, but we really want to do this while we still have that urge to make things nicer. I like to piddle down below finding new ways to use odd spaces. Plus I would still like our boat to have a home like feel to it as we will be living aboard her one day. One thing we have done is to install a shower track in the head so we don't soak down everything when we shower. I was using the marina shower when we first got the boat but have found that I really don't mind taking a shower aboard. Our marina shower is such a long walk from the boat that you are completely soaked with sweat by the time you walk back. Anyway, like I said, we installed a shower track to keep from soaking everything. I then rigged up a little system so that I could have both hands free. I put two Velcro strips along the ceiling. When I want to shower I just attach the shower head to the ceiling.

In the galley I had Dirk make me a cutting board/food prep area for more counter top space. We had bought a piece of the marine lumber on sale one day. I believe that's what its called. It's the white plastic type of material that many people use as cutting boards. Dirk traced the outline of the raised stove edges and routed it so that it slips down on the edges and does not move. Its amazing how much extra room I feel I have in the galley now.Dirk spent the weekend experimenting with rubbing compounds, waxes, and cleaners on the boat. When we purchased the boat she had not had a really good cleaning in a while. The gel coat is fairly oxidized and makes our boat look like its "battleship grey" After alot of sweat Dirk thinks he has found a good combination. The only thing is though that the boat in the water is very hard to clean this way. He gets in the dingy and pulls himself along. We really don't want to have it pulled just for us to clean it as it cost an arm and a leg to do so. Perhaps this project will have to wait until it cools down a bit.
Another thing that Dirk installed was a Raymarine C-80 for the nav pod. This was actually installed very soon after we got the boat but we have been having problems with it. We kept losing our satellites. After trying this, trying that, talking with tech support, West Marine swapped out the antenna. Must have been a faulty antenna as it is working like a charm now. Oh geeze, did I just curse us?
Aside from the above we just had little issues here and there to deal with. We did however find time to have dinner with the couple that sold us the boat. They are still on the search for their new boat and miss being on the water. But it is nice seeing them, catching them up on our projects. Many of which they had planned on doing but had not gotten around to it yet. On the way home Sunday we picked up our new teak & holly flooring. Now it sits in the game room waiting for us to start working on it. This next weekend is play weekend.

A couple up grades

Every time we are at the boat I find a new area that I could get a better use out of. Of course what I find one weekend I like, the next weekend may not actually be something that we really need. Our goal is to move aboard in about two years and travel down the west coast of Florida, then up and around the east coast of the US. Then return trip to the jump off point to the Bahamas. From there, who knows. So this next two years will be a time for us to learn and get comfortable with the boat. Figure out what it is we will need and cant live without. And also time to do some cosmetic and electronic up grades. The first thing that was purchased for the boat was a new flat panel television. I know what some are thinking, a TV? Well as much as my husband and I love sitting on the back of our boat enjoying our evening Gin & Tonics, listening to music and talking, we are hooked on a few shows. Of course we can only watch when we are in the marina, but for the weekends where it is a work on the boat weekend rather then an enjoy the boat weekend, it's great. We mounted it on a swing arm attached to the bulkhead. When we are under sail we just stow it flat against the wall. Another thing we wanted to install was a tank monitor.Water and holding. We have two 50ish gallon water tanks installed in the salon. One under each of the settees and difficult to get to. The holding is located under the front vee berth and also can be a pain to get to. So now with a touch of a button we can see how full the holding is,or how low the water is. The first mate is happy with this addition. I have also acquainted myself with a sewing machine and re-sewn the front and back berth cushions. I also added extra foam for a little more comfort. I have to say, For my first sewing project I didn't do half bad. This weekend we are picking up our new sheets of teak and holly flooring to replace what we believe to be the original floor. So I will keep you posted on how this project is going.