Wait... Where'd We Put the Mast?

After leaving her in the water a few days to make sure she didn't sink, it was time to affix our spruce masterpiece of a mast and frame the hatch cover.

Launching, err, 'Floating' Party!

We've been working all summer in preparation to launch the boat, and really, for the past 6 years, we've been preparing to put the boat in the water.  That finally happened last Saturday, August 12th.  While somewhat far from being complete, the boat was painted and plugged and, well, seaworthy.

In the morning, my Dad drove the trailer down to the far end of the lake, where the boat launch is.  I drove the powerboat over.  Once we had the boat in the water and hooked up, we switched and Dad drove the powerboat, towing the sailboat with me in it.  Yes, I got the first ride! :)  Later in the day we had some neighbors and friends over to see the launch, and I ad-libbed a christening 'ceremony.'  It was great fun, and so awesome to see the boat finally in the water!  She's sleek and ... hydrodynamic.  It's a nice, low-slung, look in the water, that is somehow reminiscent of a duck (the plans call her the "Eider" but we decided on the name "Wind Runner."

Here are some photos from the day and a video of the christening if I can upload the whole thing... (I'll try to do this for later...)

But really, you've got to watch the video of the christening!

Trailering

This was something of an adventure.  We didn't know ahead of time if the trailer would fit.  We thought it would, because we'd made measurements, but there's a lot that goes into it, and in the end, it proved difficult to know whether something unexpected would foil our attempt.

Initially, the boat was on four stands, on which it has stood, more or less, for the past five years.  Trailering entailed removing one stand and replacing it with a car jack, backing the trailer up as far as we could... then moving that jack, removing a second stand, adjusting the rear stands, replacing the car jack in a different location ... you get the picture.  Trying to keep the keel from scraping against the steel cross-pieces of the boat trailer was the hardest part, but it escaped with only a couple of little crunches.  It was a tough process, and a tiring one, both emotionally and physically, but I have to hand it to my Dad -- he really thought through the process, and in the end, it worked out well.

It was amazing to see the boat on a trailer and outside of the garage for the first time!  It looked smaller (being down lower), but it was also awesome to just sit back and her smooth lines... and then it was on to working that accent stripe on the side... (yup, more taping...)

Exciting Day... Brightwork Revealed!

Today we took an easy day, due to doctors appointments and such.  Since we just put the final (ahem, is it ever the 'final' ?) coat of topside paint on, we decided we could finally remove all the masking tape that had been protecting and hiding the woodwork on the boat.  Most of the woodwork (brightwork) is already varnished, but not quite all of it.  Here are some photos!

We also installed the centerboard in its box (from the bottom up), and then it was time to pull off the tape!  You also get a nice view of the cockpit.  The side pieces are cedar from the property and are called the 'coaming pieces'.  Finally, we installed some hardware; cleats and the bowsprit chains.

Topside Painted!

After days upon days of painting, sanding, re-painting, re-sanding, mixing paint with flattening agent for portions of the boat (to reduce gloss), re-painting, mixing paint with no-skid additive for stepping surfaces... it is finally painted!  In the end, we went with Matterhorn White, which has a bit of gray in it.

It looks sharp with the wood, and with a flattening agent added on the topsides, it's less glossy.  I like it.

Here are some photos from the process.  It's amazing how boat paint is not at all designed to hide defects; it brings them out!  So we sand.  And sand.  We added some no-skid to the flat surfaces to help prevent slipping.  Then it was time for her racing stripe.  It's also amazing how frustratingly good the human eye is at noticing tiny imperfections in the curve of a line.

Topside Paint II: "Off-White"

We managed to find a quart of Interlux's "Off White" from West Marine in Anacortes, where we went yesterday to pick up the paint and stroll among the boats moored there.  We were looking a different paint schemes, as well as some of the rigging equipment on the various boats, to get ideas and confirmation of our (Dad's) ideas.

Today involved putting a coat of the off-white on about half the boat, painting the upper hull, and doing some odds and ends (such as epoxy sealing portions of the hatch covers that we'd routed off, cutting the mast to length and drilling a hole (and then sealing it) in the upper mast for the gaffe rope.  Now we have something of a two-faced boat, with about half done in off-white (starboard) and half done in matterhorn white (port).  Now to pick...

I think this last one (of the cockpit) reminds me a little bit of the Space Shuttle Cargo Bay... you know, at 1/20 the scale...

Topside Paint 1: "Matterhorn White"

Let's see if you can tell the difference between the primer (white-ish) and the topside paint (white-ish).  I am getting a bit tired of sanding all these nooks & crannies in between coats of primer or topside paint.  But it's looking more and more finished!  There is one other topside paint we'd like to try ("Off-White") and I'll see if I can post something that shows the difference.

Sand and Varnish. Repeat.

The mast, boom and gaffe are called 'spars,' and they're part of what constitutes the brightwork in our boat.  Epoxy seals them to water, but epoxy breaks down when exposed to UV light.  So that's why we varnish after we've sealed them.  The spars now have about 4 coats of varnish on them, having been sanded in between coats.  It's tough work for a perfectionist, I say.  We did the same thing for the keel piece.

Bottom Paint

What's kind of cool lately is that we're working on what I might call the 'outer shell of the onion'.  Parts that won't have any more sanding, or any other coating on top of them.  The varnished brightwork is one of those; bottom paint is another.  By the same token, that makes it frightening if you're a perfectionist, because suddenly the excuse of "well, this will get covered up later anyway" is no longer valid!

Although the bottom of the hull is already sealed, bottom paint is important because it prevents algae and other organisms from sticking to the hull and degrading it over time.  The particular bottom paint that my Dad found is water-based and ablative, meaning it gradually sloughs off into the water over time, but doesn't have any nasty solvents in it.

The blue part is the bottom paint and follows the design water line except at the bow and stern, where it follows the curve of the chine (and so, will be somewhat out of the water).

Priming and Varnishing

The end may not be in sight, actually, but it is fathomable -- the official launching (better to call it a "floating") party will be August 12!  That leaves about 5 weeks to get the outside painted.

Painting a boat is, naturally, not a simple matter.  First the hull is sealed with three coats of epoxy (this was done, oh, about five years ago -- ack!).  Then three coats of primer (four years ago).  Then three coats of barrier paint (shown below, gray).  Then we'll be ready for the bottom paint.

Then comes the varnishing of "bright work," which means the wood parts we're going to leave unpainted.  A lot of time went into the brightwork; getting nice wood, some from the property (mostly fir and some cedar), sanding, sealing with epoxy, sanding and then varnish to protect from UV (which would break down the epoxy and let water in).  My Dad made these beautiful hatch frame pieces from fir while I was finishing up the school year and getting moved.