Big, Big Day!

Hunger Games?  Anyone?

Yesterday was a fine, momentous occasion.  Shearwater is now in the water and acting like a boat!  Ah, the smell of the sea, the sound of wind in the ringing, the gentle rock of the boat to the waves.  At least that is how I imagine it from my desk in Madrid.  Doh!  Anyway, no more ladders, no more staring at the keel, the head works, the sink doesn’t drain onto the ground, no more mud circling the boat, etc…  Lot’s of good news as things previously untested worked too!

Work on the boat (courtesy of Chris, John, and Jean) is moving along steadily.  The list is long, but after the launch yesterday we were able to check off a whole host of items.  Since Chris arrived last Tuesday they have:

Stripped and painted the bottom with Coppercoat – It took longer than we’d hoped to get the old VC17 off, but it is done and with luck we won’t have to do it again for 5 years or more.  It didn’t help that it kept raining on and off, clogging the sandpaper and requiring some tarping around the hull to keep the Coppercoat dry while it cured for 48 hours.  We will have to touch up the areas under the boat stands when the boat is hauled in Portsmouth, Rhode Island late next week, but that is minor in comparison.  Also, Chris is pleased with how smooth the Coppercoat went on and it got even better after a thorough sanding with 320 grit.

Waxed the topsides – Wishing we had a buffer for this, oh, and now we do, courtesy of some shopping, so in Rhode Island in June we can hit this task again with better results.  Overall though, for a 15 year old boat the topsides are in excellent condition.  The previous owner must have been a good driver.  Thank you, Mr. Previous Owner.

Applied the name and hailing port to the topsides and stern – Prism graphics in Seattle made the vinyl lettering.  They’ve done the lettering for the last 3 of our boats and each time we’ve been pleased with the service and results.

Installed new thru-hulls and transducers for the new NKE speed & depth – It turns out the NKE transducer fits in the Raymarine ST80 thru-hull (What?  Interchangeable parts?  Impossible!) so Chris only had to drill one new 2” hole in the bottom of the boat.  The Raymarine depth sounder didn’t use a thru-hull, but just “sounded” through the hull.  I suspect that isn’t the most accurate way to measure depth and the new NKE has a standard thru-hull arrangement.

Cut a 6” hole in the diesel tank, removed the old fuel, cleaned out the tank, and installed an inspection port over the hole – This was a big item as the diesel had been in the tank for close to 3 years, only ¼ full, which meant an extremely high likelihood of bad fuel along with water and bacteria in the tank.  Now everything is clean and fresh, well as fresh as diesel fuel can be.  Just need to change the fuel filters and we’ll be good to go.  It was also a good DIY job that would have cost several hundred dollars for a professional to do.

Replaced the head – I mean come on, who wants a 15 year old toilet on their new to them boat?  Besides, the old head was a Jabsco, and personally I think they stink (hah, a pun).  We replaced it with a Raritan PH compact that we’ve had good results with in the past.

Changed the oil, oil filter, and transmission fluid – A necessary evil, but all in all the access to the engine is really good, so we can’t complain too much.

And a bunch of little things to make Shearwater cleaner, brighter, and more functional for us.  This is my favorite:

Why yes, that is a throttle lever, but oh what a sexy shape, and it is removable, in case, you know, you wanted to throttle someone. Actually, it is removable so it doesn't catch on the sheets and it is a vast improvement over the little piece of junk that was there before.

After launch Chris gave the diesel a try and it fired up immediately.  Thank you Yanmar!  Not bad for an engine that has only been run twice in 2.5 years.  After plugging into shore power she also confirmed the hot water heater works.  Now that the batteries are nicely charged, the refrigerator works.  It didn’t in December when I checked.  I suspected low battery voltage was the cause.  And after cleaning and flushing the freshwater tank and lines she confirmed the pressure water works too.  Not a bad round of successes.

Ready to roll. In the travel lift slings.

Hey! Wait for me!

Going down...

Mission accomplished. Did you notice the guy in the background, halfway up the mast?

Hmmm, are you thinking what I’m thinking?  All this work on a sailboat, but not a mention of anything related to actually sailing.  The boat does have sails, right?  Oh, yes indeed there are sails.  We started with 16.  Sold 3.  There are 3 more we’d like to sell (anyone?), leaving us with a nice round 10 sails.  6 of them might actually get used semi regularly, 2 are the storm jib and storm trysail, which we have and want, but hope to never need, 2 are really nice racing sails that we will hold onto for special occasions.  Chris is picking up all of them from the sail loft today.

A few more big projects left and then come Sunday morning, bright and early, Chris, John, Jean, and even Justin this time will take Shearwater out for her first sail and head up Chesapeake Bay to the C&D Canal, overnight in the C&D Canal, and then sail on to Cape May via Delaware Bay on Monday.  I’m already eyeing the forecasts and tidal currents.  Can’t wait!

It floats! Where's my victory beer?

Ah, there it is.