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Thursday, September 15, 2011

Boat projects, racing the clock

Right now my sailboat is lying on its side at my beach. It just received a new coat of bottom paint. There’s only so much time left this season to work on the boat. Saturday, temperatures are supposed to drop down to the 20s. Between rain and cool temperatures, my painting opportunities might soon run out. There’s a few spots left to paint, but I can get those when the boat is on the trailer. If I’m lucky, I’ll have another warm spell and won’t have to wait until I haul the boat down to Florida in January.

I finally got hold of the guy who’s building my new custom tiller. Connected with him on Skype video. Next week I’ll haul the rudder assembly over to Maine and we’ll install the new tiller. He’s an out of work engineer friend of mine. This project has taken him forever, thanks to his annoying attention to detail. Months went by until he found exactly the right piece of wood, and so on. For a guy who’s officially out of work, he’s a hard man to get hold of due to his busy schedule. However, it should be worth the wait, as he does excellent work.

Last year when I bought the boat in October, the weather turned nasty and I never got it in the water. It was too cold to even change the Coast Guard numbers. All my projects had to wait until I got to Florida. This year, things are much further along.

Besides sailing on my little lake, I do have hopes for a few more big water trips. It’s been a relatively mild September, but October can fool you. One year some friends and I planned an overnight canoe trip on lake Umbagog. That weekend we received 6 inches of snow. We went the following week. It was sunny and in the high 50s. The trip was excellent.

By November, I seriously doubt the boat will make it off the trailer. December is right out. After a couple months without sailing, we’ll be happy to wet the hull in Florida. Then I’ll appreciate having new bottom paint.

-Sixbears

3 comments:

  1. When I lived in Pennsylvania, I found the best time to take canoe trip was just after the snow melt. That way the water was at a high level and you ride down places you had to walk in the summer.

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  2. I can't even imagine that kind of weather coming so soon!

    Heck, I'd settle for some lo 80s weather right now!

    Hope you get the project finished on time!

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  3. Overnight lows in the upper 70's here. We did have a nice "cool snap" last week where overnight lows dipped into the upper 60's, which was nice. But the daytime high pushed 100 the last couple days, which broke several records. I'll take it if it gives me a "Jimmy Buffett" Christmas. I want to wear shorts until after New Year, which is not an uncommon situation down here. We're overdue for a nice warm winter, and after suffering the drought and heat this summer a mild winter will be more than welcome. No ice in my palm trees this winter!

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