Celebration

So Ellen’s last day at work happened last week. My last day for in-person court was this morning, and although I still have a bunch of loose ends to tie up through Zoom court until mid-December, we are feeling pretty retired.

We also accepted an offer on the sale of our house this week. Eleven days on the market, and so far things look like they are going very well.

Anyway, we are celebrating all this excellent news by launching Cupcake tomorrow so we can sail, sail, sail all summer long. Doesn’t she look lovely with that old Tacoma? Two of my favorite (inanimate) girls ready for fun.

Shine

Got out to the boat this afternoon after the rain stopped and the sun (and fog!) came out. I’ve been meaning to put some polyurethane down on the cabin floors. Figured it made sense to do it before we moved aboard, before Friday the cat covers everything with fur. I am quite pleased with the results.

The results are quite excellent. I use a product from Minwax called Spar Urethane. It’s water based so cleanup is a piece of cake. It goes on easily, doesn’t stink, is very forgiving in the application process, is rugged once it is dry, and looks marvelous.

In other news, love abounds in Freeport among the horseshoe crab couples coupling throughout the shallows.

Tool storage

The other big change I made to the engine room this week was the addition of an excellent stacking toolbox. The old Husky box was less than ideal. The drawers were too small, it was heavy, it was rust-prone, and it was not big enough. The Milwaukee boxes fit great, won’t rust, and hold more than twice as much stuff. The setup still needs a lot of organization, but all my major tools are safely stored in the red tower and I am pleased with the setup.

A fin time was had by all

Today I finished my shore-based activities and was able to get out to Cyclops for a few hours this afternoon.

The primary goal was to install a fin on the outboard. It’s supposed to help the dinghy get up on plane quicker, and it is supposed to add stability. The installation was straightforward but was complicated by two factors. The first is that it wasn’t easy to drill straight into the cavitation plate because the prop and motor were in the way. I managed fine but the holes are a little sloppier than I would prefer.

The first step was trimming the fin so it fit the outboard.

The second issue was far more troubling. I don’t like quick release chucks for drills. They wobble more than traditional three jaw chucks, and the drills are weak at the hexagonal bases. My concerns were realized today when the bit snapped at the base and the stub got stuck (is still stuck) in the drill. What a hassle. Fortunately I have a regular drill aboard as well and used it to finish the installation.

With the new fin, the dinghy definitely planes quicker with just me aboard, and it is much more stable and less darty when steering at high speed. However it doesn't really seem to get on plane any faster with two people. (Ellen came out for a test once it was all installed.)

I also cleaned and oiled some of the teak. And I affixed the dinghy’s registration numbers and stickers. They look sharp but will probably fall off by the end of the summer – they didn’t seem too eager to stay attached, but we will see. For now everything is looking pretty ship shape.

Cleaned and oiled the teak around the dashboard. I think it looks mighty fine.

The boat is still not sitting level, she’s down on the port side. That issue will be easily resolved – once the boat is fully loaded I’ll just remove lead from the lead box until I’m satisfied with the trim. But she is also down at the stern. A week ago I took 50’ of chain off the second spare anchor setup. It was too heavy to manage 125’ of chain and it was too much weight so far aft. This afternoon I moved all the boat’s spare fluids from the aft lazarette to the starboard side of the engine. That moved the weight out of the stern and closer to the centerline. We’ve got about seven gallons of oil for the engine and generator, six gallons of coolant, and another couple of gallons of transmission oil. Ready for business.

Splash

The day prior to launch I loaded Giggle Monster into the truck in the hopes I could park next to Cyclops before launch and just pick the dinghy up with the crane. Worked just like I hoped. Now the dinghy is strapped and covered on deck. Ready for business.

It was a long, cold, lonely, winter. but the warm weather is here and Cyclops is in the water at last. As she was being lowered into the water by the TravelLift I realized we don’t know when she will be out of the water next. Every other year we knew the haul out date would come some time in the fall. Not this year because we’re hoping for an endless summer.

I passed a pleasant day at the boatyard getting everything running. Only flooded the galley once (leaky water filter housing). Then the water pump died (it’s something we’ve been expecting since we bought the boat) and I had to choose from the four replacement pumps I have on hand. Then I thought the head was broken, but it turns out it was just turned off. Vacuumed and washed the floors. Pretty thrilling stuff.

She comes home to her mooring on Friday.

With the addition of the lead ballast, her list to starboard has turned into a slight list to port. That’s ok because by the time we load our pots and pans (cast iron) and our plates and silverware and canned goods - all of which stow on the starboard side, we should be trim and level.

When the boatyard crew in their little Whaler was moving Cyclops to her temporary spot on the dock, they mocked her for her impressive mass. And burst into song: “fat bottomed girls you make the rockin’ world go ‘round.”

This is the first video I’ve posted to the blog. Pretty neat.

Small projects

Yesterday the boatyard called to see if we were ready for launch. As appealing as that notion sounds, we are not ready. We are not ready because the hull needs to be waxed first. That happens this Sunday. We are not ready because it’s cold and rainy – spring weather has not arrived. That happens this weekend as well, but we don’t know if it will stick around very long. We are not ready because the stairs to the beach have not been installed yet. No idea when that happens.

In the meantime, I got out to the boat today to take care of a few projects and take a look at the leaking pilot house hatch. Ellen and I rebed that hatch last summer, but it has started leaking. So that’s another task on the to-do list.

I ran the anchor and all the chain out onto the ground so I could get to the bitter end of the chain. Then I spliced 90’ of line to the end of our 200’ of anchor chain. Now the primary ground tackle is finished. The anchor windlass worked flawlessly, I got to enjoy the bright rode markers Ellen and I sewed on last fall. Each pink tab indicates 25’ of chain.

I’m kind of proud of the rope-to-chain splice I made. With luck, I won’t see it very much because I don’t know when I will need to have that much chain and line deployed. Better safe than sorry, I suppose.

Ballast update

The latest step in the ballast project was for me to build a box to hold the lead in its place on the port side of the bilge. Ellen and I templated the available space, I built a box, and then chopped and puzzled the lead to fit. All 326 pounds can snuggle in nicely.

Next I’ve got to take the painted, finished box to the boat, bolt it down, and load the lead. I do not like wrangling lead. That stuff is so very heavy, and I need to take the pieces from the shop to the truck, then muscle them up the ladder to Cyclops one by one, carry it all through the cabin and then down into the bilge where I’ll arrange it all back in the box. Today it feels like everything to do with a boat is at least twice as challenging as the same task ashore.

So the loading of the lead this morning was a sweaty process but went faster and with less trauma to my back than anticipated. This job is (mostly) done! (I’ll screw down the top to the box in a day or so after I smear some Liquid Nails on all the lead to keep it from shifting if the seas get rowdy.)

Pendant project

One of the nicer aspects of my impending retirement is the shift in mindset I get to experience. In the past I've probably been more likely to deal with pedants than pendants. Today was all about making sure the mooring pendant for Cupcake is well cared for.

In past years the mooring guys would set up both Cupcake’s mooring and Cyclops’s mooring whenever they got around to it, usually in April. That meant the mooring lines would sit in the water growing all sorts of nasty marine creatures for several months before being used to actually moor the boats.

So last year, knowing Cupcake wouldn’t be on her mooring until August, I made a contraption to keep her lines clean.

The lid got blown away last fall, so I made a new one today. Funny thing, the mooring guys only rigged the mooring for Cyclops. The one for Cupcake is not ready yet, so my work was in vain. (Cyclops’s lines are much too big to fit in the bucket on my float.)

Ellen and I also unwrapped Cyclops for the last time. No more snow and ice for us, but look at that sky…April in Maine is still plenty blustery!)

I installed the new (and now matching) blinds in the salon.

I did go into all the bilges to have a look. Everything looks pretty good but the engine room gave me a bit of a panic when I realized how much maintenance I need to complete before launch. None of that can really start until the boatyard reinstalls and connects the big batteries.