House of Frost

Wednesday, 4 August 2010

Its time to light the middle.

"My candle burns at both ends, It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends -
It gives a lovely light." ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay

So sooner or later, I figured there would be a collision between real life and sailing on this blog. Most sailors find themselves interpreting one through the other anyhow, and that collision made itself pretty clear back in the winter with my Changes post.

Here is what is going on right about now. We are navigating confused seas. The wind is blowing in from the east while the current is heading west. This is piling up waves that are hard to manage. At the same time, percussion waves are rebounding off the shores and tossing the boat about. I am working the tiller hard while striving to keep wind in the sails and not get pulled back by an 8 knot current in a 4 knot boat. And I'm not giving up and turning around, 'cause the easy way isn't always the best.

In the past there have been a couple choices I made that were right if for no other reason than because I made a choice. Changing Careers, staying in Brantford, Changing relationships, leaving Brantford and having kids are among those choices. Conscious control carries a reward of confidence and surety that going with the flow cannot offer. I made a choice like that back in December, and now I am working through its outfall. The choice was to leave a great employer and to stretch through new challenges. I left to work for the city, and then in short order leveraged that position for another with a third employer, where I am now.

All this change has resulted in a house of cards effect that hasn't stopped since. SWMBO has been recruited to come and work with me at the new job. Buddy is changing childcare to be closer to us while we are at work. We are also expecting a third kid. Chuck is discovering boys and independance. We will be selling the house (I L-O-V-E that house) and moving in the next year. I have a forced timeline to complete a series of renovations and projects that are only half started. Iris will either move this fall or next to Lake Ontario. On top of all that our chickens (yes, we have chickens) are getting to an increased demand stage as they mature enough to start laying.

Are we busy? Yeah. Just a little. Its a no-nonsense time right now. Too much to do and not enough time, or energy, or desire to do it all. I face my list at home, and know that getting stuff done means selling the house (I L-O-V-E that house) and that doesn't sound appealing. Hard to get your spirits up for something like that.

But you know, if I don't man-up and get going on all this, then the waves and currents and winds are going to push me wherever they please, and the decision I made in the first place just won't matter anymore.

So what is it? Tack? Gybe? Hold course? As I said to Jamie not so long ago, it doesn't matter much how that candle is burning out at the ends; its time to light the middle, or as Uncle Vince would say, "git'er done."

Ugh

Dear Baby:

We are now in the second trimester. During the second trimester, Mommy is supposed to be feeling better than she was in the first, not worse. Now, I know that the first trimester was actually pretty easy. Considering the ride your brother took me on in those first few weeks, it was a trip to the park. However, it would be appreciated if that could continue. Mostly so that I can continue chasing said brother around.

Love, Mama

Tuesday, 3 August 2010

A Quick Update...

I haven't been as fastidious about updating the goings on of sailing this season, but let me say things have been going well thus far.

I have been lucky to have good crew in Judy, and with her help in races 1-4 of the LSIS series, I have managed to hold on to first place in the White sail High division this far. So far on the season Iris has taken 1 yellow flag and 3 blue flags. But I am as nervous as a sheep with a lonely farmer.

Here is the thing, Newfie Screach hasn't been in winning form thus far in the season. He missed race one and two altogether because of work, then had his motor mount break on the way to race 3. He managed to make it to race 4 with a cutting board for a motor mount, and now is determined to sweep the season in order to maintain his place as the winningest boat on the lake.

I Am Canadian is also trying to broadside me with whatever he can. Canadian has two yellow flags to my 1, and just like last year, I find myself having to beat him in order to stay alive. How familiar does this sound - it doesn't matter how I place as long as I place ahead of Newfie and Canadian. Man, its like a replay of last season.

Now lets add to the stress. A couple new boats are looking at joining the LSIS series late in the season, and I can't be sure whether they are joining as spinnaker boats, or in my class. There are at least 2 that I worry about. And all this is keeping me up at night. All night. Ok well, it will keep me up all night on Saturday.

This Saturday is the Harris Steele Overnight race. The longest race of the season, and I don't have enough crew as of right now. I meant to ask around on the weekend, but the opportunity never presented itself. Harrumph. I thought I had a kick-butt crew pulled together for the race, but then the secondary skipper I had got called away for work, and my sure bet fourth didn't work out. I may end up going solo.

I hope there is a tonne of wind. Solo in light air would mean a very long race, and I can't be sure how I would fare. Whatever the conditions are, I need to finish ahead of Newfie and Canadian and whoever else thinks they are going to beat me. Dammit, I need more yellow flags.

Playing with my Cousins.....

We're all a bit bigger than last time..... I can even (almost) keep up with them!!

Thursday, 29 July 2010

A Room With a View

Iris, and every other Catalina 25 and Catalina 27 that I know of, came with a deadlight mounted in the foredeck. A deadlight is a sort of skylight which has been used aboard boats since back when Columbus was around. There is a difference between the Santa Maria and Iris though. When the Santa Maria was fitted with her deadlights, a craftsman carefully formed a prism of glass which would scatter light throughout the chamber that the deadlight was in. Not so much the case with Iris.

At the Catalina factory, they fitted Iris with a deadlight of milky white Plexiglas, fitted to a cutout in the fibreglass deck. This deadlight has some common complaints from Catalina owners. The lights have a reputation for leaking, cracking, and generally not playing nicely with others. Catalina attached the deadlights with a bead of silicone sealant which was also famous for degrading in sunlight, and then being impossible to remove. Iris had symptoms of previous fixes, but the deadlight still leaked. I called the previous owner (PO) to find out what had been done, and if I needed to know anything before venturing to fix the problem.

ME: hey PO. When we sleep aboard Iris, SWMBO gets dripped on since I won't sleep under the deadlight. You think I should fix that?

PO: Maybe. Does she like being wet when she sleeps?

Me: No. Got any tips?

PO: Well, the first time I fixed it, I used 3M 4200 and the original deck plate.

Me: First time? You mean you had to do it again?

PO: Yeah. The fix didn't last long so I had to ramp things up a little.

Me: Oh. So what did you do?

PO: I got some silicone and gave that a try.

Me: How did that work?

PO: It worked for a while, but then it started leaking again. So I had to try something else.

Me: You did this 3 times!?!

PO: Yeah, I was getting a little frustrated after the first 2 attempts, so the 3rd time I gave it the 5200 treatment.

Me: You mean 3M 5200? The stuff that bonds so well you have to chisel it off the boat?

PO: Yeah, that's the stuff. Should never leak again the way I figure it. How does SWMBO like sleeping under there again??

So I was looking at a pretty daunting task to remove the old deadlight, install a new one, and doing it with materials that would allow me to revisit the problem next time the deadlight starts leaking (which it sounds like it may be next Tuesday). Speaking with the Catalina guys, they identified the deadlight as the biggest design flaw in the whole boat. Since the light is only 8" X 4" I am happy knowing there aren't any bigger issues.

In order to get the parts I had a couple options.

1) I could buy one online from Catalina direct for about $30 and then pay shipping and duties to get it home.
2) I could get a piece made from windshield glass for about $150 (I think the glass place thought I had sucker written on my forehead)
3) I could go to home hardware and get a chunk of Plexiglas and hope my skills as a craftsman were up to the task. (Lately they haven't been)
4) I could go to a local plastics place and get a part custom made.

I went with option 4. since this part is so small, I figured it was a good test for future endeavours (like having lexan hatch boards made up). Catalina yachts (Florida) was nice enough to send their shop drawing for the part to a friend, and I printed it and took it to the plastics place with a few customizations marked on the drawing.

The guy looked at the

drawing, and scratched his beard. Then he looked at me like he didn't want to do the job. "You are looking at $45 in machine time, and about $10 in plastic." I said go for it, and waited for the phone call saying the part was done. it took about 2 weeks, and the call came. I am super happy with the new part.

In the photo you can see the PO's old clear Plexiglas deadlight, and my interpretation of the design. I had the plastics place put a little bevel on the edges all the way around, and got the light made from 5/16" plexi rather than the original 1/4" thickness. This was a compromise between the aftermarket parts now available which are thicker to resist flexing, and the original parts from Catalina which the deck is recessed to fit. Some folks who have bought the aftermarket parts have had issues with parts being too thick to recess properly into the deck on installation.

My first step in the repair was removal of the old deck plate. I was super worried about the 5200 that the light had been installed with. I have never worked with 5200 before but it is supposed to be the worst stuff in the world to try and remove from the boat. Carefully, under the watchful eye of another sailor, I started carving the sealant away from around the light. Then I slipped the knife in between the Plexiglas and fibreglass in the hull, and the whole deadlight popped right out. The photo at left was staged after the light was removed, and you can see the old 5200 on the deck of the boat. most of it just peeled away from the gelcoat like there was no good bond at all between the materials.

I spent some time cleaning the mating surfaces, then it was time for the install. The new light was marginally oversize, so using a grinder with a coarse flapwheel in it, I gently ground around the edges of the new light until it fit the hole properly.

Earlier in the week, I had stopped in at "The Rigging Shoppe" our lo

cal(ish) chandlery during my lunch break and described the task at hand. There it was suggested that I try using "Boatlife" to bond the light to the hull. Boatlife is a hybrid caulk that isn't quite caulking and isn't quite silicon. It looks and behaves like silicon, but has the UV inhibitors of some of the other marine caulks in it. I goobered up the mating surfaces, set the deadlight in, and settled in to wait for the caulk to dry.
Rather than sitting around doing nothing, I went racing aboard Tecumseh, and by the time I got back, everything had set up pretty nicely. I left the bucket of water weighing down the plate overnight, and returned the next morning. Things looked good.