was kayaking the other day

primer applied... nobody knows what is going on... they are guessing and I am still thinking... nothing is final but this is what keeps on coming back to me.

2nd coat of white in engine room

walls got a second coat of white in engine room but not the bottom because I am still waiting for more paint for the engines.... Fedex keeps on delivering it to the wrong address. Glazing putty at some areas over the toerail plus more sanding and more finessing. Days go by really quick. Started to prep the deck area for the non - skid paint to be applied...

started to deal with art work for the transom

Yesterday spent the day with sanding down spots so we can start painting the hull and still working on the toe rail because all the putty applied earlier peeled off. I told Ephrain that he has to keep it very clean before application of the last filler but NO!!! there must have been just enough dust for the putty not to stick... so all the spots have to be dealt with again. Laid out the art work for the transom but we think that the scarab might be too small otherwise it looks great. I left my camera at home so I could only take pictures with my phone. I have to figure out how to get it off and post it in here... Started to examine the deck and started to fix the soft spots. Also the engine room got a 2nd coat of white paint and the bilge in the galley got the same treatment (2nd coat).Paint for the engines got delivered to the wrong address and got sent back. FEDEX keeps on delivering packages to the wrong address.

she came by

Well here they are. Have not seen the baby ducks yet... it is possible that they are dead already. I heard from the neighbors that bass and sealions and seagulls all prey on these little guys. Natural selection at work in Marina Del Rey. Sad but that is how it works and I wouldn't even try to interfere with it. I am still hoping that one day they'll show up with the whole family. Note the male is letting the mother eat first... we could definetely learn from animals one or two things. Did you know that they (ducks) pick a mate for life... more on this later.

too small

I think this will be too small... poor Sara she first had to get on board than she almost fell over... any way she will be doing the artwork... you should see her cards... she is my neighbor

drying in the aft deck

in and out all day long... up and down the stairs... have you ever tried painting and have things dry on a boat... thank God for SEAMARK... man I do not know how I'd do all this on that wretched floating dock... which by the way was supposed to be fixed after the county showed up last month investigating the house boat which almost went out with the fishes... yes it did almost sink, the dock was dragging it down, after it exploded and the barrels underneath the floor boards took on water. If they fix it, it'll be very nice to be on that dock.

white guest room

pretty clean in here let's see how long it is going to be so...

what have we discovered yesterday???

can you imagine ... I show up in the morning and discovered uncured epoxy underneath the fresh primer... wonder how many spots like that I have... one more day of a delay because this stuff needs to dry all day. By the way don't think for a minute that this was done by me. I need to fix it though. Dig it out as best as I can and reapply the new stuff... I always wondered about these drips I used to see from time to time... shouldn't stop us from going to Catalina but I still hate it.

Working in a new "white kitchen" Frank is coming to help put on the cotton finish tomorrow...

LEARNING SPANISH

and teaching him english

Dreaming of....

meanwhile I have a four page long list of things to do before we head out and have those unbelievable weekends. The list is so long that I am afraid to put it on paper... instead I keep chipping away at the "trunk of this gigantic tree". I remember this story about my grandfather where the village where he lived with my grandmother, wanted to get rid of a enormous size and height of a tree and nobody would sign on to the job. Companies with machinery would not take it.... don't know the reason but the point is that my grandfather took the job and cut the tree down and there was all this buzz while he was cutting it down and after when the tree fell... and for my gradfather it was like very natural but he worked his ass off... I remember that.... although I was only 5 or 6 at the time it was a big deal... and he did it with success hence the phrase "chipping away" because that is what it feels like... all week I felt I was in the tunnel and could not see the light...

excellence at HUCKINS

thank GOD the oldest american boatbuilder, HUCKINS is still around and very helpful. I hope you see the engine mount detail. I wish I had the haul out diagram last time the boat was out of the water. I made the engine mounts by following the exact dimensions on the blueprint and everything seems to fit perfectly.

"engine mounts??????"

I don't remember seeing this on the survey.... do you? Anyway this is what they used (before us) for the pair of 2800 lbs. DETROIT 671s. Matterial: plywood. The port side actually started to dig in as you can see it from the photo to the point that the engine was "sitting in the hole"... required clearance is 1/2 inch. The original paint job (14 days in the yard and some $10,000 later) was wiped out because of the excessive rattle and no vibration isolation from the hull... the mid-bearing was also blown because of this. Pisses me off that this is what you get for experience... and that you have to pay for it as well....(our surveyor has the resume of being the best) to me this is more important than any F***ING signage crap and fire extinguisher compliance!!!! and all the other b*llshit. By the way I had to make the engine mounts myself (following the original blueprints from HUCKINS, because they sent it to me... can you imagine... no wonder they have such great reputation) which was quite a challenge but they are all replaced and should make a huge difference.

my crew ( can I say that?)

so far Paul has put in 2 half days worth of work and Darlene has put in 0 days of work (as of 6.24.07) but we are a team as I was told... it is tough sometimes because I really feel like I am in the tunnel and can not see the light.

the other and only one

Her name is " VOLARE" she is right across from our basin (G) she is the only other HUCKINS in the Marina. Glenn the owner comes by and checks on me from time to time...

rust galore

lot of rust in the engine room... guess what?... the zinc plate isn't hooked up to anything (it has been corrected).... I don't remember reading about this in the $1,000.00 survey... how is it possible to miss this...? hey what the heck he only charges $100 bucks an hour.... and I am just a "peon" what do I know?

tight areas

prepped chain locker... my little "mexican" crawls right in there and cleans and paints... God bless his heart... I am so lucky.

all dressed up

They termite people only broke one window... hope this shit works... the work is guaranteed for two years only!

what's up duck?

one day (about three days ago) he showed up with his wife... I think they are raising a family... I have no idea where the nest is but I hope they'll bring by the little ones one day and I hope that I'll have my camera handy.

highlight of my days

This little guy just loves that there is no railing any more... I feed him dogfood and he loves it... one day I was wearing a yellow t-shirt and he was really very scared of me and did not want to come close so I don't wear yellow anymore.

little f...ers

This is why we needed to tent the boat... I am starting to deal with the top deck where all the damage done by the termites (which hopefully are gone) weakened the structure and caused soft spots.