What I've done

I had the chance to chat with some really cool people at work yesterday.  There was a group of four who were biking from California to Maine.  It was so fun to speak with others who have similar dreams to go out and face the odds and travel long distances on their own. One of the girls even had her own blog which was really well done.  It really inspired me to keep on working towards my goals.  I'd love to do a biking trip, but the boat trip is at the forefront of my mind right now.  I've had my doubts over the months, but when I think about how far I've come I can't help but keep going.
I guess this is as good a time as any to sum up what I've done in the process here.  So following will be a list of chores I've done and rough costs put into this venture.

• Find and purchase my Bristol 24                          $1,800 plus tax.
• Transport it to Sheboygan
• Paint transom                                                      $20
• Remove rotten floor in the cabin               
• Purchase random saws, drills, and other tools      $150
• Clean out ice box
• Clean out marine head (toilet)
• Replace floor with makeshift bunk boards
• "Install" carpeting                                                $10
• Sand all of the woodwork to bare wood             $16
• Varnish all the wood with 3 coats (sanding between coats) $25
• Paint cockpit
• Re-Seat stanchion bases                                    $15
• Buy anchor and chain                                         $55
• Paint bottom with anti-fouling paint                     $150
• Buy sails                                                            $1,200
• Pay for slip at the marina                                    $1,200
• Install propeller shaft seal
• Launch boat                                                      $262
• Raise mast with improper rigging
• Buy new turnbuckle                                          $80
• Get new shrouds made                                      $475
• Raise mast again with new shrouds
• Buy stay adjusters cause shrouds are too long   $107
• Jury rig the mast                                               $15
• Put name on the stern                                       $77
• Buy dinghy, oars, and dolly                               $310
• VHF radio                                                       $90
• GPS                                                                $95
• New compass                                                 $215
• Portable running lights                                      $20
• Repaint waterline
• New dorade vents                                           $90
• Stove and propane                                          $30
• Fenders                                                           $90
• New halyards, sheets, and blocks                     $260

So all in all I've spent around $7,000 on my little home that I plan to travel in.  I guess it really is true what they say: "A boat is a hole in the water you pour money into."

Sanding away....

We had gorgeous weather on Sunday, so my family and I went for a nice hike up in the woods.  By Thursday the weather had dropped from 71 degrees to 35!  Of course my day off would fall on a Thursday.  Anyway I went down to the boat to sand down the woodwork so that soon I can start varnishing it.  It was a tough job and I'm still not quite done, but she is looking a lot nicer now.  I have to sand off all the sun bleached gray of about 5 years of neglect.  I've gotten a lot of it back down to the bare wood, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to get everything perfectly even.  Maybe it'll give it a nice weathered look.  We'll see.

You can see the wood on the starboard side is a fair bit lighter than that on the port side. I still need to put down a coat or two of paint in the bottom of the cockpit, but she's looking a lot better than when I bought her.
I clambered back into the engine compartment (which was little cramped by the way) so I could remove the muffler and see about sealing the propeller shaft so it won't fill up with water and sink as soon as I put her in the water.  There were a few wasp nests that I had to clear out.  I got startled and hit my head when my phone decided to vibrate as soon as I touched one of the hives.  Stupid text messages.

Yes, I crammed myself under those stairs. 
After a few hours of sanding I was getting legitimately tired and so I curled up on the starboard aft quarter birth for a nap.  I almost drifted off when I got another phone call.  No rest for me I guess.
I found a small section of deck that's leaking; I always knew it was, but now I know where it is, so that's good.  And for being a 40 year-old boat, I'd say she's holding up very well.
I still need to measure the rig and see for certain what kind of sails I should buy, and how I'm going to match the mast and boom to this boat.

Almost sanded.
Also, today marks the official first day of the sailing season here in Sheboygan.  As soon as I get my paycheck today I'm going to go down to the harbor and pay off the rest of my slip for the summer.

A good day's work.

Today was my day off of work at the dealership, so I slept in a little bit.  I had a few delays in the morning (being called in to sell a car when they didn't end up buying it, voting, eating etc.)   After I was finally all squared away and ready to work I stopped by Home Depot to see what kind of painting supplies they had. I could see all sorts of tools I'd like to have, and that I would put to good use but I had to limit the amount of money I spent today.  They didn't have the right kind of paint, so I went to a local boat repair shop to get  some.  The stuff I was looking for was $41.00 per quart!  I can't wait till I have to buy the anti-fouling paint for the hull.  I was able to find some green paint that I thought would match the hull pretty well for $31.00/quart.  I bought that and headed over to the boat.  After a quick sample on the transom I decided that it didn't match properly, and that I wanted to have a white transom after all to contrast the dark green hull.  After returning the paint to the marine shop I headed to the north side of town to Menards to see what they had there.  I found the people in the paint department very helpful.  Obviously they didn't carry marine grade stuff either, but I was able to find a hardcore primer that bonds well to fiberglass, and some hard wearing paint to put over that.  I know it might now be the kosher way to do it, but for right now I just want to get the old patched up stern looking good again.
A quick pit stop at Subway, and a few minutes later and i was back on my boat.  I sanded, taped, primed, waited, sanded, primed, waited some more, and then got one coat of paint on the transom today.  Tomorrow morning I want to go clean up the lines a bit, and put on two more coats of paint.  Instead of being bored sitting around I decided to go to work ripping out the cabin sole.  I did as much as I could with the hand saw that I bought, and a piece of bar stock steel as a makeshift crow-bar.  Now the starboard half of the floor in the cabin is out; which is good cause it was squishy plywood not strong enough to support me.  The fiberglass underneath is solid.  I need a circular saw to get the port side floor out so I can level the fiberglass, and build a new sole.  One nice thing about this project is that I can make the floor a couple of inches lower so I have better headroom inside.
On board someone had left some WestMarine Teak Oil.  I went to work oiling up some of the woodwork.  I was planning on varnishing all the wood, but in Blue Water the author says he oiled all of his wood cause it's less maintenance, and repels water just as good.  The pieces I did are a bit darker than I would like, but it's ways easier to just dump some oil on wood and wait for it to soak in, than it is to varnish, sand, varnish, sand, varnish, and then know that I'll have to do it all again next season.
All in all I'd say it was a pretty good day.  Things are coming together on the restoration part of the boat, soon it will be the outfitting of it all.
Thanks for reading, feel free to explore the rest of my blog, and leave comments.