Updates from the last month or so

It has been brought to my attention that there are some people who are actively encouraging me to blog more. I like this. It means that there are more than one of us who likes to hear me talk. I thought I was the only one! Finding that there are others is like discovering a gold bearing oil field in your back yard. (As I have no back yard, that analogy still doesn't quite work for me but you get the gist...) Anyhow. Onwards!

There has actually been a ton of stuff going on aboard the SV Clarion over the past few months. I will try to sum up as well as I can remember all of the projects.

Furnace is being repaired.

It is always being repaired so this is not news. The fact that it broke down when it was not actually needed is. Actually, the people at the yard came and took away the furnace the day before my last post. They said it would take a week. It has been nearly two months. I have heard nothing. I will pay nothing till I find out what they did. (if anything) The fact that I have to call the yard to get anything done on the time scale that they promised is also not news. Sadly that seems to be the way of things with my yard. Perhaps I will try to find another yard...

The canvas came off and is all being replaced!

This is not being done by me but it is going to make the boat look and feel like new and I can't wait for it to be done. The guy who is handling it is Mike Straub from Freestyle Canvas. He is very inexpensive and the quality is great the only downsides are his odd hours and the fact that we are now around 3 weeks overdue for a job that was expected to be over in less than a week. As the old adage goes: you can have it cheap, good, and fast. Pick two. Cheap and good I like. Fast is a "nice to have."

The brightwork is nearly all stripped and revarnished!

I cannot tell you how much of a difference that makes on a boat with such a tiny amount of wood showing. It looks fantastic. This I did do myself. It took a pretty good amount of time even though there was not too much of it, mostly due to the weather. I had to wait to get through the rainy parts of April and early May. Looks like a million bucks now though. Captains Spar FTW!

New deck hardware for the halyards!

I spent the late part of last evening at the marine store (WARNING! WARNING!!!) looking for and eventually buying a new deck organizer and two new blocks for the base of the mast to run the halyards. It was quite an installation, but now that it's done, I feel that the running rigging is in good enough shape to go for a good while longer. I was running into end-of-life issues with the older blocks. We had one explode on us while we were attempting to lower the mainsail a few weeks ago and I have since looked over the replaced blocks and found that they are nearly all near failure. Whew!

Now, there's girls on the boat!

Yes after all of my boat bachelorhood, my honey has returned. This time she brought along our little girl to boot! I am thrilled to have a little bit more girly-ness on the boat these days. It just seems a bit more like home than it did with nothing but smelly guys on board. Riley and Carrie have been loving the boat as well and adding to the overall shipshape quality of the belowdecks. It looks fantastic down there! Riley is a deck swabbie from the old school. She is never as happy as when she is scrubbing the decks of the boat. I don't even have to suggest it. She ASKS to do it! What more can a skipper want?

I still have a few things to get done above before we start to get some rain this year. There are a few dings that need filling so we don't get de-lamination of the glass, but these are things that may be very easy especially with the help of our next door (boat) neighbor, Richard. He is a guy who seems to know how to do everything having to do in any way with boats. I am always thankful for his assistance in my various projects.

That brings me to this... Richard may be shipping out to Alaska to work on a charter fishing boat for the summer! Alas! I am in many ways hoping he does not go as he has definitely become a very big part of the family but on the other hand I wish him well up there if he does go, as he will be able to pay off the small debts he has to the marina and still come out way ahead. He would be missed if he goes. Both Carrie and I are conflicted about his leaving, but wish him well whatever.

So that's it. Update made. Hope you all are having a great late spring. Enjoy the weather and just remember that you can always contact me if you want to come sailing. Comment here and we can set something up!