New post about final preparations at the new website  http://rodetrip.net .  Head over and check it out.  All new posts will be to that address.  See you there!

Check out the new website!  The RodeTrip blog has moved to

blog.rodetrip.net 

Recent posts include....the Marathon, Boat Preparations, our Offshore First Aid class and more!  

One of the big projects that we left on the boat started today.  The boomkin is a piece of rigging on a sailboat that sticks off the stern and helps hold the mast upright.   The boomkin on RodeTrip looks like it has been there for a long time and since we want our mast to stay upright we ordered a new stainless steel boomkin to replace the old wooden one.

It arrived early this week.  The first step in replacing the boomkin is to remove the old one.  First I tied it up to the boom gallows, so that it doesn't fall to the ground.  Next the bolts were removed from inside the rope locker.  Then aggresive use of the hammer helped to get the carriage bolts to pop through just a little bit so they could be pried out of the old teak boards.  After prying the bolts out the boomkin lifted off easily.  The old sealant was scraped off with a chisel and then sanded until clean gelcoat was exposed.

I'm on my way back to the boat now so that when friends arrive tonight I will be ready for the installation of the new boomkin.

The boat is covered!

Rode Trip is now all bundled up for the winter!  I think she looks good, but I could be biased

Bottom Work

After reading up on the procedure in Bud Taplin's Westsail manual, I've decided that the "hole" in the bottom of RodeTrip is actually just a void where the polyester putty has hardened, cracked and fallen out leaving a hole in the gel coat.  This picture is of the longest hole.  It was not very deep, almost 1/2" at the deepest point, and thankfully did not extend far from the opening visible.  So a quick trip to Home Depot makes me the proud new owner of one $5 halogen worklight, which can easily double as a spotlight for any upcoming home theater presentations.  Made it all the way to boat plugged in the fancy new light and then realized I had no where to plug in the grinder!  I called it a night and returned the next day with a splitter for the end of the extension cord.  Now I have light and can run the power tools!


















 The first step I took was to grind out all the loose material including mussels that the pressure washer didn't remove.  After scraping and grinding the hole was ready for the epoxy putty.  I chose to use everfix epoxy, and it turned out to be very easy to work with.  After applying the epoxy and determining that there wasn't a fatal flaw in the plan.  I moved on to grinding out the other problem areas on the keel.  It was at this point my new halogen lamp decided that it wasn't interested in working any longer and with a loud pop the glass front turned into a spiderweb.  Another trip to Home Depot and I left with a replacement for the work light with faulty glass.  Hopefully this one will last a little longer.  

Here I am!  Stephanie caught a photo of me putting the finishing touches on the keel grinding project.  The bottom is now prepped, and I just have to wait for a warm spell ( 60F for 24 hours) to finish with the epoxy.  The way the weather has been this week, that could be a while!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has now come and gone, and we have realized once again everything that we have to be thankful for.  The whole Grandjean clan descended on Amesbury for Thanksgiving this year and we had a blast.  Good food, great weather and wonderful company.  RodeTrip was included in the celebrations since Grandma made the trip up from Pennsylvania and she had't seen the boat yet.  She was excited to see the boat and we are always proud to show RodeTrip off to anyone who is interested and most people who aren't!

Organization and Refinishing

Stephanie has been hard at work and removed almost everything that isn't firmly attached to the boat.  It now resides mostly in our garage, and a little in the basement.  Now we have no excuse to not start documenting what we actually have.   If you are actually curious as to what came with the boat the full list is here.  This is still a work in progress as I haven't made it through too much of the pile yet.   Most of the drawers from the boat as well as many cabinet doors have been removed, so they can be stripped and refinished.

Here is one pile that is currently in our garage 

Our current sail inventory consists of......

All the sails appear to be in good to very good condition.  So far we have only used a couple of them, and we've been happy with their performance.  

Stephanie was busy starting on the woodwork while I was documenting and measuring sails.  Here she is removing the old varnish from some of the cabinet doors.