Clean! She's really clean!

by Chuck July 7, 2007

I didn't get Odyssey completely clean on Wednesday, so I went out this afternoon to finish up.

First I bailed and vacuumed about 10 gallons of water out of the bilges, then I spend an hour or so washing the rest of the hull.

Dana came over for a while and helped out, so we got to spend some time together.

Unfortunately, I think that might be it for the boat work I'm gonna get done this year.

Tags:

Sailing

What? A clean boat?

by Chuck July 3, 2007

It has been a majorly weird year this year. Since last August we've been working on getting our new house built. That's a whole other kettle of fish that someday I might write about but not now while it's still raw.

In any case, it's highly unlikely that I'm going to get to go sailing this year. Between the new house, being behind on the farm work because of the new house, needing to get the landscaping in around the new house, and not having any money because I need to pay off the new house -- I don't have a lot of time left for the finer things in life.

However, there are some things that I refuse to do, and one of them is to leave my boat sitting out there under two years of grunge. (The most important, of course, is to never get in a land war with China.)

I managed to carve out some time today to get out and wash on Odyssey. It's not much, but at least the front half of the boat looks better.

Tags:

Sailing

Actually sailing

by Chuck June 15, 2006

Sometime in June, 20061

Headed out for a day sail with Dana and the kids.

Seemed like it was easy to get started, but it still took an hour to get off the dock.

Once we were out in the river we had a small problem with the keel winch: it refused to roll down. I ended up crawling under the cockpit to spin it down by hand. The winch is pretty rusted up; it needs some TLC.

Once we were out on the Sound we had a great time chasing the wind. Dana tried reading the wind fly but couldn't seem to get the hang of it. After a while she gave me the tiller; I actually got to sail my boat this time.

The wind was fairly strong all day, although a couple of times it did manage to blow out at the least opportune moment, usually just as a big powerboat went across our bow. Why -- with all that ocean out there -- they have to cross right of our bow I'll never know.

Dana, Katie, and Joey ended up sleeping below for most of the day while I single-handed.

By 6-ish everyone was cold and tired, so we headed in. We tied up in the dock at 12th street for an hour or so to eat dinner. It was quite cozy in the cabin -- we enjoyed the protection from the wind.

1Not sure of the date on this. It's in a log file called "Odyssey-606" which means it was written in June of 2006, but the actual date on the entry is March 1, 2006, which is clearly wrong. It was probably after the 11th, considering the last entry was made on that date, but I'm not sure when.

Tags:

Sailing

Anybody out there?

by Chuck June 11, 2006

I'm not sure anybody reads this site. Heck, I don't pay that much attention to it anymore. Occasionally I'll spend some time looking over my old entries, but for the most part it just goes by the wayside.

I spent a couple of days this week getting Odyssey ready for sailing. Who knows if I'm even going to get her in the water this year. Sailing seems like a low priority for the family, and I'm not strong enough to go without them.

Last year I built a crutch to use when stepping the mast, I used it when Rich and I went sailing in September. This year I tried stepping the mast by myself, and it went up smoothly, the second time. The first time was a bit of a fiasco, but Katie was able to help me get the mast back down before I dropped it.

I also set up the poptop, and made a boom tent out of a tarp. The hatch is getting old and warped, I'd like to make a fancy replacement with a plexiglass window. Maybe sometime this summer.

I'll haul the seat cushions, sails and halyards over on Monday night, and then Odyssey will be ready for a sailing season.

I wonder if I will?

Tags:

Sailing

Clogged, again

by Chuck March 1, 2006

Darned if the leaves didn't clog up the drain in Odyssey's cockpit again. Only about 2 inches of water this time. Gave the drain a poke with a stick to clear it out.

Tags:

Sailing

Book reports

by Chuck February 23, 2006

Went to the library with KT tonight, picked up some boating-related books.

Updated 2009: Way back in 2006 I wrote that I would put capsule reviews up on the Web site. Never actually did that, but what a good idea. I might have to do that, if I remember...

Tags:

Sailing

Pulpit roller

by Chuck February 20, 2006

Today I figured out how to build the bow support/roller for the pulpit.

I changed from using a large piece of 3/4-inch plywood to using two smaller strips. That solved the problem I've been having trying to attach cleats in the right place.

When I went to Coast to Coast to get the bolts I needed I discovered a small cache of boat stuff -- not much but it did include the trailer roller and axel I needed. And since it wasn't West Marine it was half what I thought I'd have to pay.

I only made one -- typical -- mistake: I measured the length of the bolts I needed at 2 1/4-inches, so I bought 2 1/2-inch bolts. Which are, of course, too short.

Oh well, more for the junk box. Not sure what I'll do with three 2 1/2-inch 5/8 bolts. Something will come up, I'm sure.

Tags:

Sailing

Bolts. Again.

by Chuck January 25, 2006

Stopped at the Coast to Coast to pick up three 3-inch bolts for the pulpit roller thing.

Took it off the boat and to the barn. Tried to take pictures for the Web site but the darn little camera won't keep pictures all the way into to house. I left it disassembled so I can paint it some time in the next week or so.

Tags:

Sailing

Gang agley

by Chuck January 22, 2006

Today was the day when I was supposed to step the mast and put up the boom tent.

If only.

It was a beautiful day. Calm. Clear. Warm. The kind of winter day made for getting work done outside. Except I was anywhere but outside. One of those mid-winter colds grabbed me and put me in bed for the day.

Rather than get to work on Odyssey I got to lay huddled under my blankets and suck down Advil. I was even too tired to watch the whole football game.

Next weekend.

I hope.

Tags:

Sailing

We got the boom (tent)!

by Chuck January 15, 2006

I need to set up a boom tent on Odyssey to do some of the work I have planned.

I don't want to use my regular topping lift and jib halyard because I want to protect them from sun and rain damage, so today while out running errands I stopped by Coast to Coast and bought 100 feet of 1/4-inch three-strand rope. I'll use it in one length to provide both the topping lift and the halyard for the bow cover.

Tags:

Sailing

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