Pittsboro, NC

More little chores - these Teva sandals are about 20 years old.  I put them on the other day after a long stent in the back of the closet (several years) thinking that they'd be a good addition on the boat for beach walking.  

 

But unfortunately, whatever glue was holding them together has completely failed.

 

Down to the hangar for a little repair.  We had a tube of weatherstrip adhesive.

 

Applied the gooey stuff to all surfaces.

 

Squeezed the pieces together and clamped for a day or two.  I'll let you know if the fix works!

 

Pittsboro,NC

 And now a little bucket-truck work....

Cleaning the hangar gutters.  Every few years they grow little sappling pine trees.  That's our clue it's time for a clean-out.

My basic function in this is mover-of-truck.  I standby in the shade and inch the truck forward so Duane doesn't have to make numerous trips out of the cumbersome bucket.

 

And then it was to the back of the hangar for some tall tree-limb trimming. 

And then some loading of brush and the requisite hauling away to the burn pile in the dump truck.  Just normal chores in Pittsboro!

Pittsboro, NC

 Just more "dirt work"....

 

And moving some dirt around with the dump truck.

 

The smoothing mostly done.  We seeded a couple of areas. May wait until next month to do more when peek fall planting season is here.

Pittsboro, NC

 Sorry to bore you with land-lubber chores!  We'll get back to sailing soon.

Last fall we left the graded area with grass seed and straw, hoping for the best.  But as you may recall, the area was muddy and lumpy and unwork-able.  

Fast forward to now - the grass has struggled to grow and the grading was not very even.   This was not too much the fault of the contractor because the dirt was just too muddy to finish it off properly.  

So Duane got out the equipment to remedy the situation.

And a few hours moving dirt around.

Some measuring to make sure the ground will drain properly.

 We'll get this seeded and mulched - hopefully we'll have a nice stand of grass next year!

Pittsboro, NC

 I covered for Richard at the airport the last couple of days....and nothing exciting happening there.....Ed and Cathy visited for the night on their way to visit family in Atlanta so that was a fun treat.  Pizza and a game of Spades.  Nice and relaxing.

September 11th has always been a special day for my family - it was my dad's birthday.  He would have been 82 today, passed away in 1993 at 53 years old from prostate cancer.  Amazes me at how very young that was!!  Miss him and the "adult" relationship that might have grown into.....

(with Richard)
 

Pittsboro, NC

 Time for a little "home" visit.

All packed up and everything turned off at the boat.  Looks lonely out there!

 

At the house, the little "garden" had some produce for me.

And neice Callie posted photos of her recent wedding on Facebook - in case you're not on FB, here's our little portrait with the bride and groom!  (Note the pouring rain in the background!)  A lovely wedding!

Oriental, NC

 

 It's that time of year again - time to get the list whittled down of "to-do" items.  All the engines are due for oil changes....both of the Volvo diesels.

 

 

And the generator....yep, Duane's down in that compartment!

And lastly, the outboard motor.

 
 

Oriental, NC

 I had good intentions....I was going to take some more detailed pictures of the construction of the 2nd bike bag....

 

I managed to take a photo when I was making the zipper placards....

 

But then I got distracted by the actual assembly and didn't take any more photos!  Oh well, you get the idea.  The second time around was much easier since the designing was already done.

 

On a different subject, Ed and Cathy had some leftover "NO STEP" stickers and donated them to us.  Now maybe we won't have anyone step on our hatches!

 

Oriental, NC

 I had planned on diving back into sewing the 2nd bike bag....but in the morning Duane suggested we take the boat out for a "test drive" with the new chartplotter and radar.  We needed to make sure everything was functioning correctly at some point before we leave for the Bahamas again.  

First we had to get the anchor chain back on the boat.  Duane had painted his red 25' indicators last night.

Beautiful day! 

 Looks almost like a traffic jam!  I guess Labor Day weekend has everyone out sailing.

 

Random boats we passed.   We stopped the boat and just drifted as we had lunch...

 

 

We did make several adjustments and learned a bit about the new chartplotter.  The radar works great!  Will be comforting to have it again on our overnight passages for sure.

 

On the way back to our dock we stopped by River Dunes for a quick holding tank pump out.

I meant to get back to sewing, but ended up spending a mostly lazy late afternoon.

 

Oriental, NC

 Another whole day spent on the bike bag!!  Finished now and I'm pretty pleased with the results.

This project utilized the seam ripper a bit....designing-as-you-sew often does.....

We decided while doing "fittings" with the bike inside the bag that the upper area was too bulky with a straight-sided box.  So I ripped out the end seams and cut the end pieces into triangles vs. the original rectangle.

Both ends and reassembled, of course.

 

The next step was to create a flap that will cover the top of the box and hold it all together.  This will involve going around the lifeline wire, so I had to make some binding and protect that area from wear.

 

This is to show how it all comes together.  One zipper holds the entire length of the bag on the lifeline.  The flap comes over the top and secures it all.

 

All finished!

 

Pleased with the results - easy to walk past.

 

View from dockside.

 

And now to make another one!!!  Hopefully the second time around will be a bit easier!!

Oriental, NC

 I am still working on the bike bags.  I'll post more when I have one of them completed.  

Duane has been working outside - next project will be to re-mark the chain.  It's gotten faded with use - the red markings help him count how much chain he's letting out at anchorages.  

Other than that, just slowly working thru boat  little chores.

Oriental, NC

 Our fold-up bikes are a pain to store.  They're quite bulky even when folded and take up a huge amount of valuable storage space inside the boat.  We've decided to make covers for them and store them on the deck year-round.  Other folks store bulky kayaks on the deck so we figured the bikes would not be too large.  The idea will be to collapse the handle bars and push the seat all the way down and create a bag to attach to the lifeline.

 

First things, order the Sunbrella material and heavy duty #10 plastic zippers from Sailrite.

 

And borrow Cathy's hot knife to cut the sunbrella.  The hot knife is terrific because it cauterizes the edges of the material and prevents fraying. 

 

Lots of measuring, fitting and double checking. I won't bore you with details, but basically I made a large box with a zipper on one end.

 

This is the stopping point for the day with the bike inside.  Next I'll create a zipper pocket that will hold the entire bag on the white lifeline and a "lid" that will complete the box and make it semi-waterproof.  More tomorrow!

Oriental, NC

 The hatch over our berth has had hairline cracks in it since we bought the boat.  It leaked a little temporarily until Duane found a product - Capt Tolly's Creeping Crack Seal.  This worked for several years until a visitor decided to step with his full weight right on the middle of the hatch.  Amazing - this is another boater that did this and should have known better!  Anyway, time to replace the 3/8" plastic lens.  The manufacturer no longer supports these hatches (they want to sell you a $700+ new one, of course).

So we carefully measured the lens and ordered a new one from a company that specializes in marine plastics in Florida.  (Ceasy Plastics if you're interested.)  They did a great job, perfect fit.

Next step was to remove ALL of the old black sealant.  This was accomplished in the hot sun using putty knives, razor blades and surprisingly the pointy end of a wooden clothespin.   The aluminum all nice and clean - the new sealant supposedly would not stick to old sealant.

 

I placed an old sheet over our berth below the hatch to catch all the old black caulk!

 I carefully taped the edges with masking tape to prep for the installation of the new lens.

Then got to work filling the space between the lens and the frame with a special caulk.  (I was surprised to fine this photo on my phone without my awareness - thanks Duane).

 

Caulking finished, now it needs to cure before engaging the latches.

I removed the masking tape so it wouldn't get all "gooey" out in the sun as the hatch needs to stay un-latched for a couple of days to fully cure.

All pretty and crack free with the masking removed!

Thinking I might get a NO STEP sticker!