Pittsboro to New Bern to Oriental

 Duane finished the rudder, now it's ready for reassembly and several layers of paint.

We headed out to go back to the coast midday, stopping by Roberts for a quick visit.  He had downloaded some movies for me, so I wanted to pick that up.  Fun visiting with him and the kitties.

Cheshire, the extremely friendly cat..

And Alice, the aloof fluff ball.

Made it back to the boat in the late afternoon.

All was well, Ed and Cathy had secured everything when the remnants of Hurricane Zeta blew through.  Nice to have friends right beside us!

Pittsboro, NC

 Finishing up the details on the pipe installation.  

Remember the 45 degree angle pipe I picked up a few weeks ago.  Finally time to connect that.  Again, Duane cut a hole in the 3' pipe, exactly where the connecting pipe needs to feed thru.

 

All positioned and sealed up with structural foam.  This area was then backfilled with loose stone and then covered in dirt, never to be seen again!

 

Similar install on the other end of the pipe.  This is where our original metal 3' pipe terminates.  In order to connect the metal pipe to the black plastic pipe (since they are not exactly made to mate) we ordered this thick asphalt "diaper" that simply wraps around both pipes and has metal pallet strapping that is tightened to keep it in place. Again, this is all buried and hopefully we'll never see it again!

 

After that bit of earth work was completed Duane got back to the rudder project.  A bit of work with a hand-planer smoothed out the rough pour-foam.  Next will be a couple of layers of fiberglass and epoxy, smoothing/sanding and then paint.  

 

And here's the view of the rough-graded terrain.  It will be a week or more before the mud is dried enough for the contractor to return for finish grading and seeding.  We may have to see that via photographs since we hope to be moving south in the boat by then!!

 

Pittsboro, NC

The long awaited pipe was finally on it's way to us.   A load of gravel was delivered and the process to lay the pipe began.

 

The pipe arrived in the morning.

 

 

Unloaded

     

And the assembly starts.  Note the small pipe that Duane has installed to connect to an existing drain from a pipe near the hangar.    

 

He had earlier made a 3' round form and made the connector from a single thick plastic sheet.  He is so ingenious!

 

The pipe was put in from both ends.  New next door neighbor Brian visited and was put to work!  Dick also helped out quite a bit.  So nice of them both!

 

We have 8 total pipes, 20' each.  We used a laser level to make sure we had the elevation correct to connect with the other existing pipe.

 

Coming along!

 

Was a messy business!!

 

The last pipe.

 

All the pipe in place....Mike will return tomorrow and start burying it.  Very tired but happy it assembled so well!

 

Pittsboro, NC

We made it back to Pittsboro and Mike, the contractor was there on the trackhoe prepping for the pipe delivery.   That will be tomorrow.

 

Meanwhile in the hangar, Duane started on the "pour-foam" for the rudder.  It's a two part epoxy that makes a very rigid heavy foam (structural).  It expands about 4X it's liquid volume.

 

Sliding the repaired rod into place.

Rod back where it's supposed to be!!

 

Pouring more foam, a little bit at a time to make sure it fills all the cavities.

 

Fun to watch it turn from liquid to foam.

I know, it looks pretty ugly, but he'll sand/shape it tomorrow and finish it up with fiberglass/epoxy.

On a completely different note, when we got home and picked up our 2 week bundle of mail from Lindy next door, there was a little surprise package from Buddy and Sharon.  

Sharon had made me this adorable and useful shoulder tote.  So "Bahamian" looking!

I wanted you to get a peak inside at the craftmanship - she used the little serger for the edges- and look at the quilted bottom!  I'm sure that was done on her quilting machine.  Such a sweet surprise!

Contractor Mike this morning setting up for the pipe delivery.  Duane adjusting the laser level in the background.

And while they were setting up, I wandered around the house to glimpse the last of the fall color - a few stray mums left over from years ago.

The last of my zinnias.

The barberry bushes - not sure what all the seeds mean....harsh winter??

And the very last of the begonias.  I suspect we'll get a freeze soon and these will all be gone. 

New Bern, NC

Just another day at the boatyard....soggy and wet.  This big guy came slithering across the yard.

 

Tomorrow we'll pack up and head to Pittsboro for a few days - the big drainage pipe is due to be delivered.

New Bern, NC

 Woke to a foggy fall day!

Calm and peaceful.

The long-awaited painting day!!  I have a few different colored freckles!

And Duane got the rudder mostly rebuilt and ready for assembly on Monday when the pour-foam arrives.

Tah-dah!! 

Looks pretty good!

New Bern, NC

 The rudder is really taking shape.  Almost ready for the "pour foam" that will arrive on Monday.  

 

 

And the machine shop was true to their word, getting the shaft back to us with a brand new plate welded in place - all stainless steel this time. 

This puts us a step closer to finishing up....maybe mid-week.

New Bern, NC

 More boring boatyard stuff.....Duane rigged a mold to start rebuilding the rudder.  He used a piece of thin whiteboard (like a erasable marker board, slick on one side) to serve as a backing to lay up layers of fiberglass/epoxy.

Here it is at the end of the day, clamped/screwed in place.  When we get the repaired rudder shaft back from the welder, this will be assembled with expandable foam to re-create the rudder shape.

A surprise for us - another Manta was hauled out today and will be in the yard for a few weeks.  We met the new owners Eric and Anita along with their son Tate (keeping our distance, of course).  Nice folks.

 

Duane treated and filled the areas on the rudder quadrant that we had sandblasted yesterday with epoxy resin.

And I painted the first coat of epoxy barrier coat on the port side hull over the little repair areas.  Another coat of epoxy and this hull is ready for bottom paint.

Lots was accomplished - tired when we got back to the camper!