Thursday, May 31, 2018

1978 AMF Sunfish SUGAR 2 Rescue

31 May 18:

Our Sunfish restoration buddy Frazer is moving his family to Georgia and had an extra Sunfish, so we dropped by to grab it. We still wanted to paint a boat in US Navy Training Squadron 27 (VT-27) colors and this 1978 AMF hull looked like a good candidate. Skipper's Dad's call sign is Sugar 2, because he worked on S-2s back when 27 had them, so the boat's call sign will be SUGAR 2 also. And I was an Instructor Pilot in VT-27 when we flew the T-34C. The orange and white scheme will look great on the water.



Frazer and Skipper got the boat loaded, I helped.


The cat was no help.


$12 dollar at the car wash got us a head start on grime removal and hull assessment.








Log of SUGAR 2.

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Boat On A Dolly On A Trailer

22 May 18:

Took some pictures for a dolly article for Small Boats Monthly, one concept was using the dolly to carry our boat on the trailer. The boat rides nice in the sling and it was not too difficult to roll the tongue of the trailer up the keel rollers. The axle rests firmly on the bunks. This rig might be an option for those who have multiple small boats, easier than changing bunks around. It is also easier than maneuvering a boat off of the dolly and up onto the bunks, and reversing for the offload.

Here are some photos for pondering.







We had fun trying it out!

The dolly is custom made for our Penobscot 14 by Dynamic Dollies and Racks. We have several for our other boats and they are holding up great in our salt water environment. The tires have tubes and the dollies are light weight! We are e-dealers for Dynamic, if you would like to order a dolly send us a message. We can offer free shipping in the Continental US!

Faire winds
Kent and Audrey

Carpenter Bees

22 May 18:

Now we don't know what it is about chocks but Carpenter Bees love them. Here is a nice hole that one drilled through CYANE's chock. Hopefully they pay most attention to the chock and not the wood boats nearby. Also good to note is that if you pick up a chock and it is buzzing, gently lay it down and walk away, far far away.


We had some cypress on a bending jig, took a piece off for BARBASHELA and spotted a bee hole in it. We thought it might still fit so we cut the scarf and luckily there was enough plank left to use. The bee was found deceased, it had bored in from the side, went to the short end of the plank, then turned around and started the other way.


So we bought some traps, the wood block has a hole at the top that the bees spot and crawl into, towards the light in the bottle. Once they get in there they tend to stay in there. We keep a few traps around where our wooden boats are stored.



Bee Smart out there!

Monday, May 21, 2018

Trailer Chocks

21 May 18:

We like to make chocks for our trailers, paint them the boat color if we can. Usually there is a scrap 2x4 or 2x6 laying around, pressure treated preferable. 2x4s work great for tires up to 12 inches, bugger tires like the 2x6s. Cut 4 blocks, 12 inches each. If we want to get fancy we bevel the edge that fits under the tire. Next we bore a 1 inch or larger hole on the bottom to make room for a stop knot, a little over halfway through. If you bevel the edge of the blocks, bore the holes on opposite ends so the bevels will be inboard. Then drill a smaller hole through the middle if that just a bit larger diameter than the scrap line that we plan to use. Now is a good time to find a heel of paint and put a coating on the chocks, we use a bright or contrasting color so we don't trip over them, luckily we don't have any concrete or grass colored boats. 2-3 feet of line is enough, run through the holes and put a figure 8 knot on the ends.



Fair Winds and Happy Chocking!

Alcort Catfish SMEDLEY 21 May 18 Sea Trials

21 May 18:

We stepped the mast on SMEDLEY, adjusted the side stays, rigged the sail, downhaul, mainsheet and rudder.




Launched SMEDLEY and Skipper for Sea Trials and they both did great. SMEDLEY moved smartly in light winds, the sail set great and SMEDLEY tacked and gybed with ease. The deck was comfortable and there was lots of room to move around, the twin rudders were super cool. Our thanks to everyone, especially Capn Scott, for helping find her and get her back on the water.














Now we prep for her debut at Juana's Good Time Regatta in September.

Log of SMEDLEY.

Sunday, May 20, 2018

Alcort Catfish SMEDLEY 20 May 18 Centerboard Uphaul and Mast Stays

20 May 18:

Rigged the centerboard uphaul with 3/16th inch StaSet.






We had some new side stays made and based on the tang pin size the rigger suggested bumping them up from 3/16th inch diameter to 1/4. We'll get it set up and see how we like it, it just looks different now with thicker stays, but we imagine after a few days we won't notice. Certainly won't hurt to have the extra strength.






Log of SMEDLEY.

1971 Daysailer CYANE Messabout

20 May 18:

Took CYANE out for a day sail, ran the Suzuki 2 1/2 for a bit after we got a new carb.


Had a little traffic in the bay.









We like that we can run the Daysailer right up onto the beach.


Log of CYANE.