1st trip to boat

Drove to San Diego on saturday morning to take posession of the sailboat. Met with previous owner and heard story about how boat was hit and the lawsuits that followed. Got the title, signed up for the slip at a whopping $420.00 per month.

Bailed out the bilge. No Battery, so the bilge pump will not run. Bought new battery, but did not hook it up yet, not enough time this trip.

Alanah cleaned and scrubbed the entire inside of the boat with bleach and mildew killer. It looks fantastic inside now that all the mildew is off the ceiling and walls and the grease and slime is off the floor. In a day's time, there was about a quart of water that leaked into the bilge, so we should be fine until next weekend.

Began the repairs to the side of the boat where the fiberglass was damaged. Not going to be too difficult. Need to resolve the electricity situation.

Scraped two thirds of the hull. The prop needs to be replaced, but overall, it isn't too bad.

The name of the boat was or is "Devastator". That needs to be changed post haste. We talked about new names for the boat and came up with "Aussie One Too".

Brought the jib sail back home with us to stretch it out and see what repairs are needed. Apparently, it was ripped in the accident. Previous owner claimed that the main sail also has a small tear in it. We'll have to hoist the sail next weekend and take a look at it.

The mast also has a ding in the bottom of it about the size of a golfball, and a split about two inches long. This probably needs to be reinforced somehow and a bracket is needed to reattach the port spreader to the mast.

There is no cooking provisions, but the galley does have a sink and counterspace above some cabinets. The "ice box" has no lid, but we put ice in it on saturday morning and it didn't melt all day. Interesting. There is a toilet or "head", but I don't think that there is any kind of holding tank, but one could be installed under the starboard settee.

Next weekend, I'll tackle the engine.

Need to look for an anchor.

Well, I've gone and done it now. I bid on a 29 foot Ericson sailboat on Ebay . . . and I won.

I'm in trouble now!

Scottsdale Code Enforcement

Well, we got a notice from the city that we could not keep the trimaran there unless it was licensed, registered and fully operational. Well, the trailer is licensed with permanent plates (if I can just find where I put the license plate.)and the trimaran has no engine, so it is a non-motorized watercraft. And according to the Arizona Game and Fish Department that registers watercraft in Arizona, any watercraft that is non-motorized is not required to be registered. But then there is the "fully operational" thing. So, I have rented a space at the Tempe RV storage lot on Hardy and Warner for $55.00 per month. I'll keep it there for four months and then just bring it back. Hopefully, by then I'll have the amas worked out and the mast step resolved. Maybe even the rudder. Then it will be operational.
So, . . . this weekend, I need to replace one tire on the trailer and install the support rails so that I can drag the thing down to the storage lot.
Maybe this is a good thing as it will spur me to get back to work on the boat.

Pessimism

"The pessimist complains about the wind;
the optimist expects it to change;
the realist adjusts the sails." - William Arthur Ward

The set of the sails

One ship drives east, and another west
With the self-same winds that blow;
It is the set of the sails
And not the gales,
That decides the way to go.
Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate,
As they voyage along through life;
It is the will of the soul
That decides its goal,
And not the calm or the strife.

Purpose

I read this on another blog and thought it best described the reason for wanting to build a trimaran.

A final musical note.

When I was a mere twenty, some friends and I took off work (I was a roofer in those days) for a few weeks to sail down the coast of Baja Mexico on a 60-foot trimaran. We decided to keep moving all of the time sailing far off the coast and not putting in for the night. With the twin diesels running at a few knots we would take shifts at the helm while everyone else slept below, our only company being cassettes of the obligatory Jimmy Buffet and Bob Marley which was all that people listened to on sailboats in those days. With no cabin and the speakers spaced out over the main hull, the sound would just float out over the water ending who knows where.

I drew the dreaded 2AM to 4AM shift when things were really quiet and it was on a very calm and clear night with a million stars in the sky that I popped in a Joan Baez in-concert tape and I heard Joan singing Amazing Grace acapella and I could hear it running out over the water far from land and I thought, at that moment, under that sky, away from everything, that that was the most amazing, chilling, extraordinary moment of my then young life.

I can't put a name to what I felt that night, but I know I'll probably never feel it again.

Gel Coat

About a month ago, I ordered a gallon of gel coat from US Composites along with the wax additive. Due to other priorities, I didn't get to apply it until just last week end. The wax additive had dried up in the little glass jar it was sent in or the liquid all leaked out, so I applied it without the wax. We'll see what happens from here. The one gallon covered about a fourth of the trimaran main hull. I have ordered another gallon. I am applying it with a brush and then I will sand it down with my 7" sander/grinder/polisher with a 60grit sanding disc.


Well, it has been a couple of weeks since I first applied the gel coat. Last night, after work, I sanded the gel coat I had applied. This morning, I started on applying the second gallon, covering the upper cabin. It's really beginning to look more like a boat.