spindeepster's blog

Not much explanation here.  This went much like last year's Starboard side work.

The Big MAC was hauled in July, and I addressed an issue that I was already aware of...rot taking place BELOW THE WATERLINE!  I was apprehensive about knocking holes in the boat, but what needed to be done needed to be done.  Here's how it went.

These new cleats were a Christmas present from my wife.  There's not too many Large Mouth Bass in the Potomac waters that I fish, but you must admit they're sure different!

Yes I am a pirate, two hundred years too late
The cannons don't thunder, there's nothin' to plunder
I'm an over-forty victim of fate
Arriving too late, arriving too late.

-Jimmy Buffett

No seafaring vessel, no matter how modest, should be without a bell.  It is said that the bell is regarded as an embodiment of the vessel’s soul.

  J.H Roeding reports in his Marine Dictionary, published in Hamburg in 1793, as follows: The bell hangs in a special bracket which sailors call the “gallows”, on merchantmen, it stands forward of the windlass and serves at the same time as a pall bit. To swing the bell it has an iron arm to which a rope is attached.  

Here is the story of this bell...

Shortly after Warren passed away, I found the bell in his workshop.  Unfortunately, it was missing the gallows (the part screwed to the bulkhead).   I looked high and low.  I took the bell into my mother-in-law’s house and described the part to her as best I could because I didn’t know what it looked like my self.  She hadn’t seen it.  I would pick up this bell and snoop around Warren’s workshop from time to time…looking for the gallows.  I even fancied making one my self from mahogany, but my versions split under the weight of the bell.  I had all I could do to keep from going nuts!  This went on for several years.

One day I noticed that when I attached my accessories cable to the boat battery, there was a minor spark.  With everything (lights, radio, etc.) turned off, there was still a spark.  This explained why my battery was always dying, something was draining it.  With that, I went to the boat one Saturday morning with spools of different colored wire, wire strippers, wire nuts, and everything else I would need to completely re-wire the boat.  I installed a fused switch panel, and a separate panel for the bilge pumps.  After completely re-wiring the “Big MAC” from stem to stern, I went into Warren’s workshop.  I opened a small drawer looking for one last wire nut to complete the job, and there lay the gallows…. go figure that one out.  Maybe Warren wanted me to re-wire the "Big MAC" all along.

Today I thought it would be nice to pull the boat away from the pier and take some pictures with the back-drop of the autumn trees.  I took about 20 pictures, but I thought it best to post only one and not overdo it.  Enjoy...

Today I hauled the boat out of the water to address an issue I discovered recently.  Beneath the deck inside the cabin (out of my view) trouble was brewing.

 The plank is not pretty, but it is sound when I bang on it with a hammer and poke it with my pocket knife.  At this point I have decided to dry the wood, coat it with epoxy, and keep a close eye on it.  Replacemet will come later if need be.

“No Sham Survives the Sea”

-Rudyard Kipling

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.
-Henry David Thoreau

Befriend a boatbuilder....someone who knows way more than you do.

Buy the best power tools you can afford...even if they are out of your price range.

Keep building materials handy.  Have on hand what you need to make repairs without having to stop everything to go to the hardware store for a board. 

Buy those inexpensive paint brushes and get good use out of them.  After a few days of use and cleaning, throw them away.

This repair was done in 2007

Ugly man...tacky tee-shirt.

The replacement piece is Mahogany.