Yearly Archives: 2012

Sunday May 13, 2012

 

I’ll try and keep this post a bit short by covering three days at once because I’m sure you’re as sick of hearing about my sanding as I am of actually doing it.  I had taken another Friday off of work to get boat work done and was very worried that it was going to be just like last time where I wasted a vacation day to do nothing at all.  Winds were showing that they may grow to 15 mph, but this day they were coming out of the south and I was protected by land so they weren’t hitting as hard as they normally do.  Using concrete blocks and anchor chain as normal I got the set-up all squared away and went to work trying to bridge the gap between the bow and stern.  The first few sections I did were a little rough on me because I was still using the same sanding pad I had finished with last week trying to get as much use out of it as I could but it was taking forever to get the paint off and my arms were already becoming sore from holding it up for these longer periods.  After an hour of work I put a new one on and it made a world of difference, the paint started comming off like butter (if that term works here).  From that point I was able to start racing through the work or at least it was feeling like I was.

After I took my lunch break for the day I figured 2-3 more rows would have the full side finished and then all I would have left is the work underneath and on the keel.  But part of me was getting really annoyed with the winds blowing on my back and blowing me directly into the boat again.  Then my mind started grinding gears and I realized if I was out here two more days in a row, I didn’t want to save all the hardest parts for days I was already tired and weak.  Getting down really low I started working underneath the hull.  Unlike the stern area where I could lunge forward to work, this area had the cradle in the way so I had to sit on it while keeping the 10 lb sander above my head.  Doing better than last time I worked for a straight hour going as far down as I could before the sander would bump into the keel.  When I had done the whole area from left to right I took a short break and then set myself up again to do the higher parts starting at the waterline and working my way down.  I finished two more rows before my phone showed quitting time and I began the hour long process of cleaning up by vacuuming the dust from the boat, cradle and tarp, and then bagging everything up to stick in the cockpit.

Saturday morning I gave up my ritual of watching the previous week’s Amazing Race episode while sipping fresh hot coffee to go out to the boat for a half day of work.  Since I was unsupervised this time I made a few stops on my way out, one to buy Matt’s birthday gift and then a stop at Tim Horton’s since I had never been to one before and wanted to see what all the fuss was about.  I probably looked like a complete idiot to the girls behind the counter when I didn’t realize there were three different areas I had to pick up my donut, coffee, and sandwich.  The fact that one of my earrings had fallen out the previous day and I had forgotten to remove the other one probably didn’t help my case at all.  Pulling in to the marina still bright and early just after 9:00 I was greeted by an adorable pit bull that was tied up to the cradle of a boat a few down from me.  After getting the ok from her owner I spent a few minutes playing with her before I needed to get to work putting up the tarps while the winds were still low.

I had everything set up in less than an hour which I was impressed by since it was only me and I didn’t have Matt dragging the wet/dry vac down from the cockpit for me.  I ended up skipping the anchor chain this day and just using a few cement blocks, partly because the remote for the windlanss popped out of the locker killing the power and even though I could tell where it needed to be plugged back in I didn’t trust myself to get it in without breaking the fragile looking prongs.  Since I knew I only had 4 hours of work before I needed to start cleaning up to go home I used the same logic as the previous day by working on and area I knew would be hard.  Not even bothering with the large Porter Cable I pulled out the little Makita and sat on the metal bars of the cradle while beginnng to sand paint off the keel.  I remember the last time I worked with the Makita it felt like I was moving incredibly slow but I thought that was due to a lack of strength on my end and now I’d have some muscle to back it up.  Nope, something about that sander just takes five times longer to remove paint.  Working in sections 4″ wide and 24″ long it took me close to an hour to do one.  My dreams of finishing the remainder of my sanding this weekend were starting to get squashed.  I tried to work as diligently as possible but I did require more breaks than I had recently been using because this area of sanding had me constantly crouched over and I needed to get out and stretch.

Halfway through my day I took a break to eat my donut and after grabbing it from the car had to duck back under the protection of the tarp since winds were picking up and it was getting chilly.  My neighbor with the blue bottom boat and smurf-like wife I had talked to before saw me sitting and came over to talk about boat projects and overall plans.  We compared boat notes and after he told me that he’d been sailing in the area for 20 yeas I sheepishly admitted that I was in need of lessons before we left on the trip and asked if he knew about the races that were held next door at the yacht club.  He was surprised that after four years of sailing I didn’t have a full grasp on how to handle everything and agreed with Matt that I should know exactly what I’m doing by now.  Getting called out by Matt is one thing, but an almost stranger?  Ouch.  In my defense… I haven’t had anyone to train me or show me how to handle all the lines properly.  Matt was able to pick it up by reading alone and figured I should be able to do the same since it worked for him although I’m a total kinesthetic learner. Once I do the process and repeat it, it becomes ingrained.  Oh well, I’ll find a boat of nice people that I’m sure would love to teach me exactly what I need to know.  And lastly in my defense again, I may not know how to handle all the lines but I’m a kick ass helmsman.

Getting back to work with just an hour left before clean up I continued on the keel not making much more progress.  The wind was starting to blow pretty hard at his point and the tarps were having a hard time staying shut.  I started closing down shop about 20 minutes earlier than I had planned and was happy to do it since my back was killing me by this time.  It was also going to allow me time to quick take a shower and hop in bed for Saturday afternoon nap before I needed to start gettting ready for family things.

Arriving back out on Sunday morning we tried to get an early start since it was Mother’s Day and we had dinner planned at Matt’s grandma’s at 5:30 which meant another half day of work.  Getting into my routine I put my tarps up again for the third day in a row now.  My enthusiasm for the project was dying a little and what both Matt and I thought would be my big push of a weekend to get the rest of the paint of clearly was not going to happen.  I was just going to focus on the keel again and work on getting the paint off that area since it was turning into one of the hardest areas to sand on the boat even though it took up the least amount of space.  All the odd angles made for diligent  and time consuming work.  I should have pulled out the Porter Cable for the larger areas but it was so big and the area was so small.  I thought I’d be working with it for five minutes before I got into a small angled area and would need to put it down and work with the smaller sander anyway.  If I was smart that’s what I should have done because the area that would have only taken me five minutes with the Porter Cable was now taking me forty-five minutes with the Makita.  Live and learn I guess.

Knowing that I didn’t have to spend a full agonizing day there I did try and skip a few breaks and even worked past the time I told myself I’d start cleaning up at to get as much work in as possible and make sure the next weekend was my last one ever at sanding.  What I was left with at the end of the day was a keel that was sanded, but paint was still left on the fin and the curved area that connected the keel to the hull.  It of course wasn’t as much as I had wanted to finish that day but I think I still did a good job in the time I had.  I have to admit though that I’m so happy there was an excuse to leave early because three days in a row of that backbreaking labor was really starting to wear on my positive energy.  It was almost having me say things like ‘This trip isn’t worth all the work’.  So good thing I got out of there in time before Matt heard me and decided to use our money for a riverfront condo instead.  (Have I mentioned that he keeps talking investments and a condo would put us further ahead in life than a few years of traveling?  I need to get that boy back on the water and remind him what he could be missing)

 Sunday May 6, 2012

Heading out to the boat today I had no idea if I’d be getting any sanding done since winds were right at that point where I might be able to get the tarps up or they might all come tearing off on me.  I’m beginning to loathe the wind and how it dictates my work.  Can’t wait until it’s dictating my movements of travel, but I think the lack of a professional job and experiencing different places will help to combat that irritation.  I was about to beg Matt to stay home and I’d maybe finish work on the dodger once and for all but he said that if I couldn’t sand he would need my help on the rudder.  We stopped at West Marine on the way to pick up some supplies for the day (where I noticed they had some Sperry Topsiders I was eyeing for Matt’s birthday that were in stock) but they did not have the filler we needed to do work on the rudder.  If winds weren’t agreeable I’d be stuck there all day with nothing to do.  When we pulled into the yard and got out of the car there were small waves rolling through the docks near our boat and I worried I was out of luck but the winds themselves didn’t feel too strong.  Both of us had checked different weather sites that morning and while the one I looked at showed winds going from 9 up to 16 mph in the afternoon the one Matt checked showed them only going up to 11 which since it was more acceptable to him of course had to be the correct one.  After years of studying forecast on multiple sites I can tell you the one starting with accu is usually not the most accurate.

Unloading all my supplies from the cockpit I tried to gauge which direction the wind was coming from so I didn’t have any openings in the tarp on that side and could hopefully use the full coverage on that side from letting wind blow in on other sides.  Conditions were so well when I started that I didn’t even ask Matt for help or put down the anchor chain. Of course once the third and last tarp was taped up wind started kicking in so I used both anchor chain and a few concrete blocks to hold everything down. We had given up on shore power so I ran an extension cord to the far docks for some electricity.  I had everything set up but just needed to grab a few more things from the cockpit.  Standing on the port side where I would be working that day I could definitely hear gravel moving by Nemesis’ boat and freaked out thinking he was there.  I don’t even know why I worry, we’re doing everything we’re supposed to and he shouldn’t have a problem with us, but if I can avoid him all together I would prefer to.  I didn’t want to spend my day having him tell me what he thinks we’re doing wrong.  Not wanting to use the main opening I had given myself by the bow for fear I could run into him there I made my way to starboard by the ladder where two tarps were overlapping.  Having used sheet stays on the top and middle to keep it closed to the wind I got on my hands and knees to crawl out the bottom and make my way up the ladder without being seen.  Up in the cockpit grabbing the last few things necessary, a sander is usually good to have, I stood out on deck searching for his black pickup but did not see it.  Going back down the ladder and around the front this time I found it was a man from a neighboring boat hooking himself up to shore power.  Guess it was back on after all.

Hoping to use this day to bridge the gap between the front and back I started putting on all my gear only to find out Matt had shoved my mask and goggles in the bag with the hose while cleaning up last week and they were absolutely covered in dust.  Making a quick trip to the restrooms to clean everything off as best as possible I finally suited up and got to work.  My arms were sore from the beginning but I had the same problem when I began last week and thought I just needed a little time to get my body used to the movements again.  I was also starting with an old sanding pad trying to get as many miles out of it as possible and that was slowing down my work as well.  Maybe I was going at the same pace as before, but without caffeine and other things to keep me going it felt like I was moving in slow motion today.

When I finished my first top to bottom section I went through the routine of vacuuming the dust that had accumulated on the hull and made sure to change the sanding pad stat.  If I needed to buy a new box to finish the job, so be it.  Just when I was getting ready to start the process again Matt came under the tarp from the rain that had just begun to do a little sawing for a platform he needed to place the watermaker on.  I had heard some thunder booming off in the distance for awhile and asked if I would be ok working through the storm and wouldn’t be electrocuted by the cords I had running outside.  He said not to worry which either meant it was a non issue or he was getting ready to take this journey as a single man with all my life insurance money.  Before he went back up to do work in the cabin he asked if I could sand down the fiberglass he had put over the throughull last week.  It wasn’t a problem to do it for him, but once I had finished all the rough edges really took their toll on the sanding pad and I was almost back to square one when I went back to working on other parts of the hull.

Working two more 6-8″ top to bottom sections I sat down to take a little rest.  Looking down the side I didn’t have too much more to sand before bridging the gap.  What I did have though was the whole underneath section leading to the keel and then the keel itself. It would be the hardest part where I wouldn’t be able to hold the sander right in front of me and use my body for leverage, but instead holding the sander above my head and only using the muscles in my arms to not only hold it there but to keep just the right amount of pressure on it too.  If I finished the easy part today and left only the hard part for next week I would die.  I’d be incredibly miserable and get nothing done.  So I made the decision to start working the underneath today and split up the job a little bit.  Sitting myself on the cradle I positioned the sander against the hull above my head and turned on the power.  15 seconds of work and then lower my arms for a rest.  Back up for another 15 seconds and then down again.  Sometimes I’d get a burst of energy where I could hold it up for 20-25 seconds.    By the time I had worked about three feet horizontally and only gone down about four inches vertically I was panting like I had just run a 5k.  My arms were burning and I needed a rest.  Since I still had a bean burrito in the car that I hadn’t eaten on the ride over I pulled it out and went back under the safety of the tarp to enjoy it.

While I was eating the winds had begun to pick up at bit more just like I had forecast them to (ok, or the website I chose) and I started to wonder if the tarps would hold.  Just as I was thinking this the opening on the windward side blew open and all my clothespins exploded off.  I quick ran out to put it back together and sat down again.  While I was finishing Matt had come down to see how much longer I wanted to stay and when I mentioned the winds were really picking up he gave me the ok to start cleaning up for the day.  I hadn’t even finished my burrito yet when the wind broke the tarp open again and even more forceful this time started plucking the tape off the hull with it.  At least it was helping me to do my job of taking it down.  Maybe it could help me a little more by blowing all of the dust away instead of me having to vacuum it.  (kidding!!)

Sunday April 29, 2012

After an incredibly frustrating day on Friday of making my way all the way out to the boat to not be able to do any work because the winds were just too high, I was in for vengeance today.  I checked the wind on Saturday where it showed nothing over 5 mph and then looked again this morning where it had gone up to 9-10 mph, but I’ll be damned if there was going to be anything to stop me today.  After checking the shore power agian to see if it was up and running and finding out it was not I began pulling extension cords out of the car and ran one to the slips on the other side of the marina where they did have working power.  Since it was a decently nice day out and it was  getting closer to Memorial Day weekend which everyone hopes to have their boat in the water by, the marina was getting crowded on this Sunday and all you could see were orange extension cords running through the boat yard.  After getting all my supplies underneath the boat I began to unroll the tarps and grabbed my Gorilla tape to get to work.  Wind had shifted to the Northeast today where our boat has the most exposure and I stupidly started taping on the starboard side where I always do as the wind is normally coming from the northwest and hitting this side which then makes the other tarps easier to get on.  I didn’t even have the first tarp fully taped when Matt realized the trouble I was about to get into and immediately released the anchor chain and started to put it on the bottom of the tarp to keep it in place.  He then helped by holding the tarp up while I taped, but by this point I was now on the Port side where the wind was hitting and automatically pressing it against the boat for me and helping block it from the other side.  Once I had everything taped I went to pull out the new clothes pins I had bought over the weekend, sturdier plastic ones, although whatever angle the wind was coming in at today still wanted to bust them off.  That’s ok, I had a back up plan.  In addition to the clothes pins I had purchased elastic (bed) sheet stays and after clipping them onto the overlapping parts of the tarp that baby was not going anywhere.

Since the tarp was blowing itself directly into the area I had been working on last time (4 weeks ago!!) I had no option but to start somewhere else.  Looking at the bow it was the only area on the Port side where I didn’t think I might get sufficated so I neatly set my blue tarp that keeps dust from falling onto bare ground under that area and brought my tools over.  The vaccum was a little harder to move becauser of the size.  Since it was all the way at the stern and I was trying to find the best way to bring it up, over, or around the cradle and get it to the bow.  I was finally able to get the large thing lugged over to the bow and then spent about another five minutes getting the hose untangled and brought over.  Soon everything was connected and plugged in and I could get to work.  The moment I had brought the sander up to the hull my arms had a slight ache and I freaked out thinking that I physically wouldn’t get anything accomplished this day.  After 60 seconds or so that feeling went away and I was happy to keep sanding along.  I’d do rows in three sections, the first where I’d stand on the ground going left to right sanding off an area about six to eight inches wide.  Then when the sander would start getting to eye level I’d get on the first step of my step ladder and keep working until I was again at eye level with my sander and then I’d move up to the top step and finsih the work going up to the water line.  And since 80% of the time I was holding the sander right in front of my body my arms would not get as tired and I wouldn’t have to take my long breaks to rest my arms.  I did however have to stop at least once, usually when I was on the first step of the ladder to wipe off my goggles since there was so much dust I couldn’t even see what I was doing.  After I had gotten up to the water line I would detach the hose from the sander and run it up and down the hull sucking up all the dust that had settled on it.  It was a nice little break from sanding, but it was surprising to see how much dust was building up today.  There seemed to be a lot more then the last time I worked but I just chalked it up to the extension cords taking away some of my power and therefore causing the vaccum that’s attached to the sander to lose some of it’s sucking action.

After even just one hour of working I was very pleased with my results feeling like I was getting a lot done.  Once I stepped back to take a look (as far back as the tarp would let me) I did notice that the bow can be deceptive to your progress since the closer you get to it the less area there is to sand.  I didn’t let it get me down though and kept working while getting closer and closer to the bow.  Although winds weren’t terrible there would still be a few gusts here and there and since I was working on the same side the wind was blowing there would be times I’d be balancing on the ladder and a strong gust would blow the tarp sharply against my back and shove me right into the hull while I was working.  There were a few times the sander got way too close to my face for comfort but luckily nothing was sanded off my face.  It was a minor inconvienence though the last straw for working in that area came when I was trying to get the very front part of the bow but since I had the tarp taped so tight in that area where it was wrapping around to the other side that it had no give when I’d try and stand on my ladder.  My nose was inches from the surface and there was no way to back up.  Without getting too upset about it I just told myself I’d tape much higher in that area next time to allow myself more room.

At this point I had been working two and a half hours and felt I deserved a lunch break.  Taking my Mt. Dew and what was left of my chicken onion teriayki sub from that morning I walked to the empty docks next to us and dangled my feet over the edge like a little kid while enjoying my food.  There was another couple a few docks down from me that had the same idea but they were smart enough to bring beer.  Those brown bottles in their hand looked better than anything I could have imagined at that moment and I’m going to have to remember to bring one out for myself next week.  Once lunch was finished along with a quick sprawl on the dock to satisfy my aching back I grabbed my goggles and made my way to the bathrooms for a good cleaning.  It was meant to be for the goggles alone but once I saw my reflection n the mirror I decided I needed a good cleaning too.  Washing my face and arms to get them back to a normal color I wiped everything down including my now shiny goggles.  On the way back to Serendip the guy two boats down from me stopped to talk a little as him and his wife were sanding parts of their bottom to get it ready for a new coat of paint as well.  I have to admit that even though I usually go home feeling pretty dirty after a day of work like this I had to look on the bright side because their boat had a bright blue bottom and after working on it his wife was starting to resemble a smurf.

Making my way back under the tarp I decided that instead of working back from the bow I would work on the areas near the stern I had not been able to finish on previous attempts.  First I started on the Starboard side where I had only worked the one day with my little Makita palm sander.  Now with the big Porter Cable in my hands I could really do some damage to the area.  Literally.  I had forgotten that one of the reasons I stopped working is the angles I was coming up on and I would dig too far into the surface.  Foregoing that area and leaving it to Matt (that’s one spot he actually wanted to do himself) I used the unusual strength and energy I was having this day to try and sand the underneath of the hull, something I was too exhausted to do before.  On the Starboard side I didn’t have much trouble lunging one knee forward to bring myself closer to the ground while holding the sander in front of me.  I did a pretty good job of getting most of it but stopped again when there were areas I’d dig to deep.  When I did all I thought I could on that side I moved to Port and worked that area as well, making sure to avoid the areas I knew my Porter Cable couldn’t go.  While my lunging had worked great on one side I was not having as much luck on the other.  My back foot would keep sliding and sliding leaving me almost doing the splits.  Instead of giving up all together I just gave up on standing and knelt on the rocky ground while trying to sand above my head.  It would work for about 20 seconds at a time and then I would have to rest for a few seconds bringing the sander to chest height before trying again.  This method only lasted about 10 minutes before I realized I was becoming completely exerted and wanted to use my energy where I could see a difference.

Moving all my supplies for the third time this day now I dragged the ladder, tarp, vacuum and all it’s hose back over to the bow area.  Just as I was getting all the cords plugged in again Matt stopped down to do a little work of his own.  A few weeks ago he had fiberglassed a new through-hole for the depth/speed sensor and he needed to sand it down.  Happily handing over all my tools I sat on the cradle sipping a new Mt. Dew I just opened, letting my arms and legs recover from the lunging and raising.  Unfortunately he was done in under five minutes but the good news was my energy was still still pushing on and I didn’t mind getting back to work.  It was becoming late afternoon and Matt had mentioned we’d only be there for about two more hours which meant only one more hour of work for me since it takes an hour to clean up (this mess) at night.  Starting to work aft I was able to complete three more six inch sections before my clock said it was time to call it a night.  Now was the time for vacuuming everything.  Vacuum the hull, vacuum the cradle.  Vacuum the tarp and vacuum the vacuum itself.  When Matt was helping me get everything put away for the night he asked if I was having any problems with suction from the hose that day.  I replied there seemed to be more dust than normal and power didn’t seem as strong as I was used to but I chalked it up to using extension cords and not our  shore power cord.  He came back that he’d found a hole in the hose which would have been causing me to lose suction all day.  Damn hose be actin up causing all kinds of problems.

After what felt like forever we had everything cleaned and put away.  I ran off to the bathrooms to change into clean clothes because I looked like Pig Pen from Charlie Brown when I moved.  Every inch of me was covered in dust and even though I had been wearing a mask and goggles all day my face still looked like it was covered in soot and it was very irritated.  I could not wait to get home and in the shower.  Walking back to the car before leaving I looked at the progress.  I was excited by how much I was able to accomplish and proud because I don’t think I was working at a pace far behind Matt.  It’s amazing what you can do in a day with a lot of determination.  And Mountain Dew.  And Adderall.