Bristol Channel Cutter Elizabeth

My friend has a small boat (27′) with some anchor chain that’s way too big for his boat and he’s got LOTS of it…200′. His displacement is slightly more than half mine, but his chain is twice the size and 4x the weight. He’s passed the point of safety and a “reserve of neglect” here… he’s a Failboat candidate. Through no fault of his own mind you, his boat came heavily laden with this fat pile of chain. It’s another case of “more ain’t better”. But not to worry my friends, he’s taking the necessary steps to rectify the problem. Anyone need 200′ of BBB 3/8″ ?? …good price!!

The thought of this much extra weight forward (600lbs extra actually) makes me think of ye olde FAILBOAT. It’s been around a while, but still makes me giggle. It’s part of some internet nonsense… called Failblog. And of course there’s the Urban Dictionary Definition of said boat, in case you are confused.

Came across this pretty excellent site the other day. His pictures are outstanding, and I like his approach to alot of the projects he illustrates. Definetly worth checking out. Here’s one of his pics, that really hammers home the technique I was using last summer when sealing some of my deck core. A picture is worth a thousand words or more… Check out more of his DIY’s

Nothing in this life is for sure, except that we all get old and die. Sound morbid? Nah, death is just another part of life. I’ve been taking care of Dad for over a year now… some days more than others, but this past winter I’ve been taking care of him full time… between my various varnish projects of course. But the time has come for him to make the move to assisted living, and sell the house. The mammoth job of cleaning out the house is upon us (me). My brother is…well, not very involved in helping out so far. Hopefully that will change. So I’ll be away from Elizabeth for a few weeks helping Dad make the transition/clean out the house.

Before leaving Elizabeth (under her winter cover again) I was able to get a coat of CPES on the bulwarks. I debated back and forth on this issue, just like I went back and forth on paint. The solvents in CPES are said to reduce the sealing and bonding properties of the epoxy. Gugeon Bros claim heated straight epoxy is the way to go for maximum penetration and moisture resistance, see article here.  My purely non-scientific intuition thinks their arguments make sense. But I had already bought the CPES, it was 42º outside, and so reasoned there was no harm in using it as a first epoxy coat. My intention is to lay another coat of straight epoxy over the CPES, but I might skip it and go straight to Awlgrip 545 Epoxy Primer. I’m undecided. Seems most of this research on epoxy sealing is done on plywood with varnish as the intended top coat. I’d like to see some research about epoxy sealers on teak with LPU paint as the intended top coat. Perhaps the recomendations would be different. The Awlgrip 545 Epoxy Primer is pretty tenacious stuff… is it as good a moisture barrier as West System? I don’t know yet.

I moved ALOT of stuff to the boat before we cleaned out the apartment we had been staying in. I intend to liveaboard Elizabeth when I return in a few weeks. I will no longer have the luxery of storing stuff at Dad’s house. I’m purging. One project I wrapped up before leaving was the spreaders. I laid 3 coats of Awlgrip Federal Yellow on these spreaders with a foam brush, mostly. It went on OK, except for a few drips/sags made during first coat - for which I used a chip brush - very bad idea. But it doesn’t matter no one will see the spreaders close up. Thin coats are much easier to achieve with a foam brush.

More exciting boat work!

A good friend, Ed Zacko, has recently reminded me: the boat prep is in many ways more romantic than the big trip itself… enjoy every moment of it, realize you ARE on the journey right now. And remember “cruising is nothing more than working on your boat in exotic places”.

I do feel like I am on the voyage already, and I am loving every moment of it (in case you couldn’t tell)!

But, the bulwarks drag on and on. I think I need to hire someone to help me finish this up. I am leaving in the middle of April to take Dad to NH in order to get him ready for his move into an assisted living home there. I will be gone for a few weeks… a few prime boat work weeks. I have to be launched by June 1, because there are other boats behind mine that need to launch before their owners arrive “On Island” for the summer season. The rush is on, and I feel some pressure.

One thing you don’t want to do, is forget to attach your grab handle to your main sliding hatch before you varnish it. My initial intent was to lay a few coats, on each part, then attach the handle, and continue varnishing the complete unit… oh well… I forgot! So now, I’ll spot varnish the bungs, and try to find time to lay one complete coat over the assembly for good measure. This will give me a chance to block sand the hatch one more time and try to give her that super smooth look.

My mast is one project I will tackle once the boat is launched, and the pressure is off, but I do have the spreaders here at the house, and have sprayed them with 2 coats of Zinc Chromate Primer. I just laid down some Sterling 94-U1000 primer today, and will top coat with some Awlgrip Federal Yellow (A quart came with Elizabeth) but will use Sterling catalyst - I’m pretty sure they will be compatible.

The bulwarks themselves are alot of work. I cut off the foot of the cover frames in order to gain access to the bulwarks. One more thing to remove  for this job is the Jackline padeye on the deck/covering board forward. I’m not sure if I will remove the chainplates to get paint in behind them… I’d like to, but I’m getting nervous about time. Anyone want to come over and help?