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.

glazing putty applied

This is what has to be done over the fiberglass repairs to smooth out the imperfections. The whole process is rather timely because the hull gets so hot that I can not apply the putty properly. It also has to be sanded down after all the spots had been covered.

Figuring out scale and position of the transom artwork

ONE SQUARE = 1 FOOT. The letters may be around 9" tall each.



Any suggestions?

Another project area...

Under the metal rub rail we discover....

Major filling & sanding project.

These are shots of the port side and starboard side. Caused by the vibration due to plywood(!!!!!!) engine mounts, some of which were collapsing under the tremendous weight of those puppies (2,800 lb. each). Port side is the worst because port side engine started to dig in and was sitting on the frame. Req. clearance is 1/2 inch between frame and oil pan by HUCKINS. I don't remember reading this on the survey before we purchased her.

Bathroom Wall

guest bathroom wall, new covering and new edge rail,made on site from stock

Beautiful Clean Paint Under the Guest Room Floorboards

two coats of bilge paint (by interlux) but not before the inner skin was pressure washed , rinsed several times (oil dirt and various kinds of junk had to be removed, previous project's debris partially cloging up the bulk heads... etc. ) bronze screw heads are also grinded down.

Rear Deck Wall Before and After

I had no idea how to deal with this... I must find something solid to build out from.... rot and water damage... I am glad we opened this up....

The Famous Coupling and stuck bolt

Huckins logo

Revised Artwork

Portside driveshaft coupling

11 bolts out – one refuses to come out. Spent the whole day trying to remove this, so I can see why there is a gap and unnecessary play between the coupling halves. Finally had to walk away from it; tomorrow is another day to try something else.

Hands are exhausted and painful. Back didn't appreciate the prolonged torture of the cramped space. Still hate the fact that the kitchen cabinetry was built right over the drivetrain. Bad planning. No planning...

Have to find replacement bolts...

Fabricating wall coverings

Made the coverings for the pantry and guest bedroom from oak plywood. More caulking and priming everywhere.

Spent an hour's worth of back-and-forth talking to Buddy Purcell, owner of Huckins Yachts about the couplings and asked about the manifold bilge system. He said only one was built (for the Navy); a very elaborate system that allows for the engine vacuum to assist in emptying the bilges.

Talked to Bob at Underwater Maintenance to get divers to replace the bolts which hold the zinc plates so this can finally be hooked up correctly to prevent all the corrosion.

Removing the portside driveshaft bearing

Paul helped me remove the defective bearing which was busted. This was caused by the excessive vibration due to the fact that the engine mounts were shot (somebody had the smart idea of using pieces of plywood instead of rubber...).

After a couple hours with a circular saw and lots of sparks, we managed to cut through the steel bearing so now I can replace this with the new split bearing I got.

Can't believe someone built a whole kitchen cabinet right above the drivetrain, with no thought about access for maintenance and repairs. Not very smart.

Also saw that the shaft was not grounded. Thus the corrosion on the shaft. Part of the big problem of nothing being attached to the zinc plates which are supposed to keep this from happening.

Primed the hull which we've been prepping for weeks.

Artwork for the name is approved!

Had a meeting with Darlene after dinner. Looked over the artwork samples Paul printed out and we were able to decide on one. Just need to change the small stone with a fire opal; big one will still be the turquoise.

happy times

picture says it all...

pictures for Peter Kelly in NY

after everything is painted in the guest room will the same theme look all right?

aquarius gets to meet mother

once we took my dinghy for the ride to Catalina and it was fun I must say... but the boat needs reinforcement at some spots. The morning crossings are really cool and I like to do it unless there is fog which happened one time and yes we have radar but I ended up turning back and waited out while it lifted... it was a good decision.

favorite spot on the island

This is what keeps me going... will we ever? Darlene says that the summer is over... I DON'T THINK SO!!!! I actually like the off season just as much as I like the summer. The pressure is on in any case.

sweet emerald

off season (who cares about the summer?)

New Years Eve at Pirates Cove

my crew hard at work

wonder woman

Bond girl??? This was taken in the off season, we are the only boat in Emerald Bay... cold but crisp. Click on the photo to make it bigger. This is also true for all the pictures on this site (those of you who did not know)

off season still

Look at that visibility... this started out as they had the small craft warning flag flying and by the radar and the forecast I could tell which way the storm was moving and knew that we'd be alright on the island. On land they had a real gloomy day and some rain. We watched as the storm moved inland and followed by incredible vis.

OC-210

model: oceanic 52
have to be careful what you add to the topside... I don't want to alter those lines in any way... sporty is how it should stay.