Vatali got in touch today with a quote for my repairs. The work required to do a proper job is pretty extensive the tubes have to be removed form the boat to build up the hypalon material with new stuff and to ensure a good finished product. In the end we will have a like new boat with a warranty. Our dinghy (a Novurania) is a great boat and even though we are spending more than we planned, hopefully we can get another five years out of it. I have asked Vitali if he can snap a few pics of the project and I will post them as I receive them..
0 Comments
Today was super busy, there was a pancake breakfast and yard sale at the club. The pancakes and sausages were excellent with Nova Scotia maple syrup it doesn't get any better than that. The yard sale was pretty great as well, we had a table set-up and were able to sell a few things and buy a few things. I think we came out ahead at the end of the sale:) We were able to get a new forestay which was pretty sweet since ours is 15 years old and is likely due for replacing. After the sale I gave Jim a hand with his mast and headed back home for a little break. We talked about going for a sail but it was 2:00pm and we had plans fro supper so Joyce opted to stay home and I headed over to check the boat and charge the batteries etc... When I arrived at the boat it just seemed way to nice not too go for a sail so after firing up the generator and and getting the battery charger going I made ready for a sail. After completing my engine checks the motor fired right up and I was able to get underway. I had raised the main at the mooring which I find makes solo sailing a little simpler (I keep the motor on as a safety precaution) and after dropping the mooring and getting squared away I was able to get the genoa out (breeze was 10knts in the mooring field). I knew I would get a bit more breeze as I left the protection of the mooring field but I was pretty surprised to see the wind jump up to 20knts (definitely sailing now:). Normally when Joyce and I are sailing together we have a bit of a routine, I do the engine checks while Joyce takes a full walk through securing everything that might move while underway. I was in charge of the walk thru today since I was solo and secured everything I thought would move:( Its not as easy as Joyce makes it seem) I had quite a few things flying around down below including but not limited too... cushions, baskets of towels, the keurig, the tea kettle and a few spares as well. I also neglected to close the sea cocks for the sink drains and I got some water in the aft head via the sink when the wind picked up to 26knts before I reefed. Everything calmed down after I turned onto starboard tack and tucked a reef into the main, Rose Lee was in her element for sure, trucking along at 8knts up wind, nice. I also got a chance to try out our new dutchman boom brake. I rolled up the jib and jibed several times while adjusting the tension on the brake until I had found the sweet spot, wow what a nice controlled jibe in 18knts of breeze. The motor fired up right away and it was time to head back to the mooring, I noticed my chart plotter was giving me a false position (out by a 1/4 mile) so I powered down the plotter and re-started it with the same results. I shut the instruments off a the panel and after re-powering at the panel and the plotter my correct position came back. That's why I still like paper charts, plotters can fail:( A very good first sail, and I am looking forward tom many more this season.
After a quick stop by the club on Friday evening I walked back over to our apartment.Our Daughter Kate and two of our three grand kids were coming by for a BBQ (my specialty). I was very pleased to learn upon returning that I was invited to a Tea Party being hosted by Alana my oldest grand daughter with special guest Abbey (her younger sister 4) and Bobby (me 54). The Tea party was very enjoyable and we covered a wide range of topics including food, fishing, sailing and when are we going on the boat Bobby:). Alana is signed up for the wet feet program this summer at the DYC.
I remembered seeing an add in kijiji last year for inflatable boat repair who advertized that they did hypalon repairs as well as pvc. I gave them a call today and dropped off the dinghy an hour later. And if you were ever wandering, yes a 10' rib inflatable will fit on the roof of a 2006 honda civic:). I was impressed with Vitali and his shop. The shop was super organized and very warm which it has to be to dry the moisture out of an inflatable before you can do an effective repair. He had one suspended from the ceiling drying out. Vitali seemed very knowledgeable and is going to provide a quote on Saturday but according to him I have a very good boat and it seems like it would be worth the investment to get it properly repaired.
Here is copy of his add in kijiji and he has a good website as well Boat Repair Halifax -We repair inflatable boats of any type and brand, From Achilles to Zodiac, Hypalon and PVC fabrics. Ribs and soft bottom hull. Our facility can hold boats up to 30 feet in length. - We also do shrink wrap. -For any of our services, please call for a quote. (902) 477-8464. Visit our website: boatrepairhalifax.ca Last night Joyce and I decided to have supper on Rose Lee and do a little work on the Radar mount. We decided to take our inflatable dingy "Gypsy" out to "Rose Lee" (which is now on her summer mooring) so we wouldn't have to worry about rushing for the club tender that closes at 9:00. After my dinghy repairs a few weeks ago I was pretty proud to finally have a dry ride. As we started out from the dinghy dock I noticed a small trickle of water below the pontoon on the port side (no big deal). As we passed the break water I opened the throttle up to get up on plane and that's when things went down hill. I looked over to starboard and the entire seam must have opened up because the dinghy was quickly flooding (at least it was no longer leaking). Our dry haven soon became a kids wading pool with a 15hp outboard motor. I quickly made a bee-line back to the dinghy dock, luckily Gypsy would only sink as low as the leaks in the bottom so it stopped after taking on 5-6 inches of water. You know what they say about a boat being a hole in the water that you throw money into, well if your really fortunate like us you have two holes in the water:). Well the rest of our evening went great we took the club tender out and had a nice BBQ and made some good headway on our radar installation so all in all it wasn't to bad a day. Now I have to find someone who can repair this inflatable or buy a new one.
I installed my new mooring bridle today. We keep Rose Lee on a mooring and it is the owners responsibility to provide their own bridle. My bridle consists of two 15' lengths of 3/4/" 3 strand nylon rode. Before I made my eye splices I slid a couple of pool noodles up the rode to provide floatation. On the mooring end I spliced in two galvanized thimbles which are shackled to a large swivel and then I shackled the far end of the swivel to the mooring chain which also is equipped with a swivel at its base. On the boat end of my bridle I slid on some fire hose before splicing up two large soft eye's, the fire hose is to prevent any chafe as it leaves the deck. It a nice set-up. We were also moved to a new mooring this year that is a bit deeper 41' and buried in mud. Last year we dragged our mooring during hurricane Arthur.
After thoroughly sanding down all of Rose Lees exterior wood work I began the varnishing process. It seemed I would always have a bit of dust in the varnish after each drying. I eventually moved everything to another location and started off from scratch. After 15 coats of varnish and about 10 brushes it all looks great. I am proud to say that This project has been completed and I now have re-installed both companion way hatch boards back on the boat:)
My new/used radome arrived and it looks good. I should be able to integrate this radome with my existing c80 plotter since it is compatible. I have a questus self leveling radar mount for the back stay. I needed to make a few modification on the base so that the pole would sit close enough to the back stay. Everything is pretty straight forward so I don't anticipate nay hold-ups. I am thinking about mounting a go-light remotely operated search light above the radome and I will need to figure out a good way to do this.
When we bought Rose Lee she came with a 10' hard bottomed inflatable boat (rib). Even though the rib was 15 years old it was a Novurania (really expensive) which is supposed to be one of the best, however the Florida sun had done some damage to the bottom of the boat since it had been stored upside down. It was pretty hard to find someone to work on the boat since it was constructed of hypalon which is highly resistant to sun but not what ribs are normally made of here in NS (normal glues wont work). Covey Island boat works (the bluenose builders) agreed to take on the project and picked up the boat in December 2013. After about 8 weeks I got Gypsy back and stored her for the remainder of the winter. I launched her last spring 2014 only to find out she still had a few leaks which were manageable but frustrating. I used the boat all last summer, but decided a few weeks ago to patch her up myself. After doing some research on hypalon and the correct glue I found out that 3m 5200 sealant had been used pretty successfully. Problem solved, I resealed all of my loose seams with 5200 and was pretty pleased with the way it looked. I let it cure for about 10 days before testing it and was pleased to finally have a dry boat........to be continued.
Well we cast off the dock lines today and moved 400' to a new slip in order to free up our winter slip for the summer boaters. It felt good to get her moving again everything went great. I patched up the dinghy a bit and will launch it this weekend to use as a platform to wash the top sides. We had our 1st guests of the season this evening, Tom and Giles stopped by for a gam and a coffee, wow its nice to have summer in the forefront again. I got the generator going and its working good now that I sorted out my issues from last summer. And the bow thruster is working good again since I replaced the control panel, awesome!
|
Follow Rose Lee live with the link below
https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/RoseLee
|