House Progress

We are closing up the house in time for winter weather such as it is down here.
We have three windows and three exterior doors left to install.  After that, the place will be a lot less drafty.  The electric and plumbing rough ins are underway.

The Bird House

Salvage: not today

Last Sunday, with the help of a friend, we pumped out the standing rain water and towed the derelict Columbia 26 to our slip.  We were alerted to the boat by a previous owner of the boat.
He told me the the most recent owner of the boat never registered it and after a storm left it abandoned.
In the course of the tow, a DNR water patrol officer came along side and inquired about our intentions.
At that point the salvage was in gear and he was happy to be rid of the boat.
He had a copy of the current (2015) registration with owners name.
The officer did not have correct contact info and had never been able to contact the owner to press him to move the boat.
He gave us the registration papers.  With these I was able to track down the owner, give him a call to find out his intentions.
He said he has and interested buyer.
I encouraged him go for it.
While we were within our rights to claim salvage on an abandoned boat, reason dictated I return the boat and move on.
After inspecting the boat and estimating the needed work, the rescue didn't make sense. Poor ODIN!
I do like the lines of this boat and its interior is surprisingly roomy.  It also has the advantage of being able to fit under the Oriental bridge.  But as my friend suggested, it is a buyers market and boats of this size can be had reasonably.
The whole exercise was not a waste.  I was under the impression the smallest boat I would be interested in for accommodations would be in the 34 foot range.  This 1969 Columbia was way bigger the the 1969 Carl Alberg designed Kittywake I had owned previously.
The fire has been lit.  We will be looking for a boat around 28-31 feet.
Here is a photo of Tiny and I contemplating our future:

Salvage!

The owner of an abandoned boat told Christa we could have it if we could free it from its approaching doom.

The boat dragged anchor in a storm in 2012 and drifted way up a local creek. 

The wind has been blowing from the NE and filling up the sound.

Christa and I checked out the boat today.  It is salvageable.  It is floating.  This high water helps.  It is swinging around on it's keel. 

It looks like it was broken into at one point and stripped of some interior fixtures.  It was left open and has about 6 inches of water in it.

Tomorrow afternoon I am going to pump it out and hopefully tow it to a slip we have near the bridge.  I think our little skiff can do it.

Weather Vane

We installed a weathervane just in time for Mathew's visit.   This is the only nautical thing I have done in months.  The house construction is progressing.  We finished the tower roof and before the scafolding came down,  I wanted to get the vane up.  We whittled it out of scraps of gavalume roofing.  It rides on a bearing supported shaft and will turn a needle on a compass rose on the ceiling of the tower room.  Here are some pics:

Sperm whale

Sinking Feeling

This was a beautiful boat last time I saw it afloat.  Yesterday walking the docks at Whittaker Point Marina, I saw the inevitable conclusion to long neglect of a wooden boat.  It was listed for sale for $2000 as recently as 4 months ago.  Now it will cost that much for the owner to remove it from it's slip.  Sad

Sharks!

There are a lot of sharks off the coast of North Carolina.  There always have been apparently.  You can find fossilized sharks teeth in the local gravel!
To learn more about this, we visited the Aurora Fossil Museum.  Follow this link to see some amazing fossils.
The museum is filled with items unearthed at Potash Corporation. It is a phosphate quarry near the town of Aurora.  As they mine for phosphate, they turn up these amazing fossils.

the museum has displays of fossils from the many creatures who have called the area home for the last many millions of years.
In digging through one of their gravel piles during the recent Aurora Days festival we found these sharks teeth.  It took just a couple of hours to unearth these.

Camaro as tow vehicle

Photo by August Kreutz from his perch in INLAND WATERWAY PROVISION COMPANY!

Felix the cat boat

This past weekend, Christa got us an invitation for a sail on a beautiful hand made 37 foot cat boat. FELIX.
The owners and builders, Art and Terri have one of the most comfortable and classiest boats I have seen.  It is full of modern systems and high tec equipment.
Here is a link to an article about this boat: http://towndock.net/shippingnews/felix

Felix is 37 LOA with a 14 foot beam!  Lots of form stability.
She has a great combination of carbon and Mahogany.

Hydro: Video

We cut down the transom 3 inches and this totally eliminated the cavitation.  Now the boat can hit the top end of this motor.  It is just a 9.9 hp Johnson, but it moves.  The hull should be able to handle up to about a 35hp.  that would be exciting.  We are keeping our eyes peeled for any motors in the area that we could land.  For now this is super fun.
Here is a video of me leaving our creek...

Hydro: Launch Day!

We found a great throttle cable at Marine Consignment in town.  This afternoon we hooked it up to a hand lever.  We may move to a foot pedal, but for now it works well.
Once this was completed, the boat was ready to launch.
Oriental has a nice State Wild Life Resources boat ramp in town.  We had the boat launched in minutes and it performed great!
The handling is tight and the ride is dry.  We did have some cavitation, so we will be lowering the motor and adjusting its angle.  But that is another day.
Here are some photos...

Hydro: Top Sides Paint

Today we flopped the boat over.  The weather was perfect for painting. Low humidity and sunny with a mild breeze.  We were able to get two coats of Interlux Perfection White on the top sides.  We mixed in a little Interlux #216 spray thinner.

It looks great.  Tomorrow we will be able to reinstall the steering gear, mount the engine and strap down the tank.  The only remaining issue will be the throttle linkage.  We will address this next week.

Hydo: Paint finally!

The fairing of the hull is close enough for now.  If we love the hull and want to mold it, we will put in another week of fairing.  The weather is warm and we are ready to try it out.
Yesterday we primed the hull top and bottom with Pre-Kote by Interlux.
Today we sprayed on Perfection White by Interlux on the hull's bottom.
After a day or two to harden, we will flip it back over and spray a couple of coats on the top sides.

Hydro: Scuppers

This weekend we cut holes for the port and starboard scuppers and glassed it up.
Since this area will most likely be constantly wet, we took extra care in sealing up the holes.
After the holes were cut, we saturated the raw ply with epoxy.  The transom is made of (2) 3/4 ply wood epoxied together.
Next we cut thin wall PVC tube to line the holes.  The tube was abraided with sandpaper. The tubes had a slightly loose fit so we wrapped the tube with glass tape, saturated it and twisted it into place.
We left the tubes slightly long.  This allowed us to wrap the ends with carbon fiber tow and press it into the seam with a screw driver.
Today the lamination was hard so we sanded the tubes flush.  It looks like a solid connection. Over the season, we will monitor the integrity of this joint.

This is the sanded flush starboard scupper.

This is the glass tape and CF tow we used to wrap the scupper tubes.

This is the interior view of the port scupper.

Stern view showing the new scuppers.

Hydo: self draining cockpit/false bottom

Back to work on the hydro.
While it is looking like and ugly duckling, it is getting very close to launch day.
Today we took a big step forward by installing the false bottom.  There are 3.5 inch tall framing members set longitudinally supporting the hulls exterior.  By installing an elevated floor, we will be able to have a self-draining cockpit.  This is a huge quality of life improvement in boating.
We will be able to leave the hydro in a slip for periods of time and not worry about it.
To accomplish this, we cut limber holes on both port and starboard sides of each of the cross members.  These were glassed.
Because the boat will sit with stern down when at rest,  all the limber holes drain to the stern sections of each pontoon.  In the photos, you can see the 6 inch diameter deck ports we cut into the walls of the cockpit.  Any water that makes it into the interior of the hull will end up in the accessible area of the pontoons.
From midship forward, the pontoons are totally filled with 2 pound foam.
This open space in the rear of the pontoons will allow some storage but is mainly for inspection and off season drying of the hull.
The newly installed floor will keep any uninvited water out of the hull's interior.   Next we will mark the appropriate spot for scuppers. After these are cut and glassed, we will be ready for paint.

The surface is getting closer to fair.

Cross member with limber hole visible.

The false bottom is 1/2 osb glassed on all sides.  It is screwed to the cross members.  The glass tape is not so much structural but is primarily used to keep the water headed to the scuppers.

The floor is in.  After paint, the deck plates will be installed.

Boating and Camping: Hammocks Beach

The beautiful spring weather got us in the mood to get outside and camp.  We looked up State Parks and found wonderful
Hammocks Beach State Park.
Here is the Google Sat view
It is a fantastic place.
It is a barrier island right next to Bogue inlet.  There are strong tidal currents to be aware of.  There is only primitive camping.  Three of the 14 camp sites are boat in only.
From google maps sat view, it looked like #14 would be accessible with our skiff, so we reserved it.
The island has many sea grass shallows behind it and the water is very thin.  Most folks arrive on the island either on the ferry that stops in the middle of the island or by paddle craft.  There is about 1 mile between the mainland Park center and the island.
The boat-in sites are spectacular.  This is the most scenic campsite I have ever seen.  We had 2 days of peace a quiet, other than the wind in the live oaks.
Totally worth a the trip.

There are lots of great shell to be found.

Gale

It is a great day to be tied up to a dock or inside reading.

There is a gale going on.

(The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as 34–47 knots (63–87 km/h, 17.5–24.2 m/s or 39–54 miles/hour) of sustained surface winds.)

They were above 40 and gusting higher.

Here is a link to the Town Dock wind gauge:

Live-wind-gauge

Visiting boats at the town dock

Marine Consignment

I was unhappy with the block type I had on hand for the turn in the cable near the stern.  It was the type that feeds through a wall.  It would be good for running a line under a deck.  We want the cable exposed inside the cockpit.  So, I stopped at Marine Consignment in town and found two perfect Schaefer blocks.  They will work well.
Marine Consignment is always fun to poke around in.  It is somewhat chaotic but there are aisles of great boat parts and great books.

Marine Consignment
Broad Street,  Oriental, NC.

Hydro: Steering

We are anxious to keep the hydro moving forward. So even though it is too wet and cold for the needed glass work, it was a good day for a run to West Marine to pick up some needed parts.

For the steering we picked up 20 feet of 3/32nds stainless steel wire.  Some assorted swage fittings.
We also got some paint and 2 6inch deck hatches.  These will allow us access to the back of the pontoons.  Good for a little storage, but mainly to keep the interior of the hull ventilated and inspectable.

Here is the thin wire we will use for steering control.

In the bag

We are using a 4x9 inch piece of Starboard for the steering support.  We drilled a snug hole that supports the shaft and acts as a bearing.
The battens we used to form the cockpit fairing will eventually be glassed over.
At some point, we will flip the hull over and do this work then.  We will also address any needed fairing on the underside of the hull and paint the bottom.

Because the shaft and the drum are steel and we are in a salty environment, we sanded the part and coated it in epoxy.