More new toys equals more projects

When we were down at the boat weekend before last we had a few new goodies along with a list of projects set out to do. First order of business was for Dirk to climb to the top of the mast to install the new wind instrument. The old one removed would tell us direction but not speed as that portion was not working. So off with the old, on with the new. Afterwards I lowered Dirk down to the level of the radar to begin that project. Tools hoisted up, and after quite some time and a few choice words being overheard across the marina I'm sure, the radar and mount was lowered. I lowered Dirk for a rest of being up the mast about three hours and find out the radar mount is too small for the new radar. Aaaarrrggghh, why cant something be easy? So Dirk gets on the phone and finds a welding shop that can weld a bigger plate to the existing mount and they can do it while we wait. Yeah! So spending much of the next morning running to the welding shop, waiting, road trip back to the marina because we forgot something, return to the shop, we get it done. Of course we had to get our mandatory fix at West Marine on the way back to the boat only to find we aren't going to have enough cable to run it. Aaaarrggghhh again. So Dirk decided the Radar project just wasn't happening that weekend. So he decided he would install the new Tri metric meter we got in last week.
Im sure we will find it comes in handy once we start cruising and living away from the marina and the access to shore power. We played with it a bit this weekend and its pretty neat as it shows you the impact of every item on the battery. So we are becoming conscious of what our power loads and demands are. Time to switch some lights over to LED and get that wind generator we have been talking about. While Dirk busied himself with other projects I finally got started stripping and sanding the topside teak. I need to get busy with this as I really cant see myself doing this in the heat of summer. Of course our four day weekend ended much too quickly, and as usual we hated the idea of coming back home. We ordered a cable extension so that crossing fingers, the new radar can be installed this weekend. We also have the new anchor winch coming in tomorrow along with the new navigation pod to hold all the new instruments. After Dirk spent so much time up the mast and us trying to communicate we decided to finally order those "marriage savers" headsets I keep reading about. Got them in today and we will play with them this weekend when Dirk is dangling in the air.

Looking forward to using them when we start sailing again. Especially when I'm retrieving the anchor and doing the so called "anchor dance" that I have heard it so affectionately called. Will keep you posted on how well they work.

Tybee Time getting new toys

Wow, I look back and see how long its been since I last posted an up-date. Dirk and I all summer said we couldnt wait until fall and winter so that we could get busy doing projects that were best suited doing in cooler weather. I said all summer I wanted to get all the teak topside re-finished. Still yet to be done....It has actually been a fairly wet cool winter for us considering how dry and hot our summer was. So many weekends we spent at home here trying to tend to some things that get neglected being gone every weekend. But it looks like the weather is turning a bit milder. So let the games begin again. Let's see now. We have done a few items on the inside to spruce things up some. We have added a new wine glass holder over the galley. Now I can have my nice plastic glasses up out of the way.
Kind of an oxy moron, nice plastic. But as every boater knows, glass breaks. I have been going through the boat measuring my cabinets for additional shelving. Seems to me some areas have wasted space and once we start crusing we will need all the space we can get. I also have been digging around the boat and located several spots to use for storage. Who knew there was so much space under the bottom drawer in the vee berth. Looks good for wine storage.....Also been finishing up the last bits of floor in the back berth. As for outside projects we will have our hands full for a few weeks. We brought the teak cockpit table and cup holder home. we decided to build a new table with the left over teak flooring. It will be a tad longer and will open up to double its size. Dirk is also wanting to upsize to a larger navigation pod to hold all the instruments. And speaking of instruments, Tybee got herself a new 24 mile radar and wind instrument.

It will all go together with the C-80 we put on when we purchased the boat. So this weekend Dirk has lots of cable to run from the mast to the cockpit. fun, fun.....A few other items that we did was to install a new manuel bildge pump in the cockpit. There was an existing one, but it was not connected as it needed new parts. So instead of trying to replace parts we just installed a new one. Now, lets just hope we never have to use it. We have installed some mid-ship cleats which always can come in handy. Dirk also replaced the footblocks for the genoa. Im sure the ones we took off the boat were probably original and in bad shape. So Dirk made new mounting blocks, I finished them and now they look out of place on the boat. The only wood that is pretty.

So now I guess I need to get a move on and work on the other teak. Planning on working on Tybee this weekend we shall see how far we get. Spring is quickly coming and we want to be able to start enjoying the fruits of our labor as we sit at anchor somewhere, sipping sun downers and watching the sunset.

Hello 2008

Wow, here it is January 3rd already. Where did 2007 go? Mom always told me that the older you get the faster it goes. Thought it was an older person saying. Well I'm older, and she was right. Re-capping since we bought Tybee Time is easy as we haven't had her too very long. We had a great summer on her, sailing the bay and the gulf. Caught a couple fish from her decks, grilled up a few good dinners while entertaining friends that came for a visit. Had some good times anchored up at Shell Island and shared many a sun downer with good friends and family aboard her. To pay her back for the enjoyment she has given us we treated her to new floors and windows. She got new cushion covers in both the front and back berths. Also installed some nice electronics with more on the wish list. Up graded, fixed, cleaned and the list goes on. But then on a boat it always does. We haven't been down to Tybee in several weeks now with Christmas and New Years. Its also been very rainy, cold, damp weather. We are heading down this weekend to check on the old gal. Also going to give her the Christmas gifts she got this year. We got her a new DVD player so that on those cold evenings we can pop in a good movie. Friends of ours, Ron and Sonja from s/v Conch Clipper got her a very nice pirate flag. Its huge and I'm sure we will be easily spotted now.


Another friend got us a nice anchor mirror that we now need to find wall space for.


Many thanks goes out to all of you. I have always loved cooler weather but I'm actually looking forward to warmer days so that we can once again start enjoying Shell Island, diving, snorkeling and hanging with good friends. To friends, family, and blog readers,we do hope your holidays were wonderful, and that this new year brings better things your way.I myself, am looking forward to being able to blog about sailing and all the good stuff that comes along with it.

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.