Sunday, March 9, 2008

Keeping Busy




By Arline,



I just came back from a trip to Mississippi with our daughter Amy who is in the Air force and will be stationed at Columbus Air Force base for a year or so till she finishes her pilot training. We gave her and Jeremy a majority of our house items so we would not have to sell off things that meant a lot to us. They were very happy over this and we now have a very empty house until it sells….The base is very nice with lots of activities to do on it and plenty of stores and most of the people are their age so they should have a great time while there. They have a three-bedroom house so more than enough room for family to visit for long vacations -Ha Ha Ha.

PHOTO OF AMY & JILL




We have been very active with projects on Kasidah. I have just completed putting varnish on all the hatches, wheel, companionway door and steering box or helmsmen’s chair. This was all the items that Jon could truly get off the boat so everything else will have to wait till warm weather. There are very few trouble spots because Rick and Pam took such good care of her. One thing we did have to rebuild was the steering box because the sides had started to come apart (I did not want to be the one to sit on it and have it give way) and metal supports inside needed to be sanded and repainted. All came out beautiful…Now we have the boom in the living room getting ready to order material to make a sailpack. The thing we are not sure of is that we would really like the color oyster so we could match the Dodger and bimini but have heard that the lighter colors do not protect from UV rays as well as the darker colors so we have to give this some consideration. We hope to have this done by next weekend, well as much as possible besides the part that will fasten to the mast, which will have to wait till we get the mast back on the boat.




By Jon


Well It’s been more than a month since my last post. A LOT has happened in that month. Oh don’t worry the main story line stays the same, a small amount of interest on the house (I never thought the house would sell thru the winter. This house will need to sell in the spring, the yard and things Arline has out there will sell it.). Amy’s moving crew, compliments of the Air Force, came and took about 75% of our house furnishings and carted them off to Mississippi where Amy will be for some time for her pilot training. Then a few days later she left for Mississippi. That was a really hard day for dad. But I am so proud of her and the things I know she will do in the Air Force. Arline went with her for a week to help get her settled in. Her husband Jeremy is still here finishing school. We hung out for the weekend and tried not to think about our girl being away form us.


Arline and I had a great time helping the new owners of “Fair Point Marina”, (our new home) at the Syracuse Boat Show in February. It was a fair sized show with 3 buildings filled with boats, docks and information. His booth was beautiful, simple, and a lot of people walked in just to look at the huge aerial photo of the marine (8 foot wide) and clear as could be. It’s such a small world, we met and talked with so many people and were having such fun that Arline had to pull me away at the end of the 2nd day. AND we got nice matching shirts. Thanks Tim and Cheryl.












Back to the boat, I’ve started working on the rudder. It’s a little wet inside but in very good shape. Where the steering quadrant and other support bracket bolt to the rudder were open holes that water could get into. I bored out some of the foam and am in the process of filling them with epoxy to seal them off from future water intrusion. I’ll then re-dill them using the brackets as a template. New paint and I’m done. Oh my friend Rob, where the rudder is being worked on, took the bronze bracket and gave it a polish job.. That thing looks too beautiful to just put back on the boat. Take a look at the photo of it. Well now I have another project I have to polish the other one to match. I hadn’t planned on taking off the boat, but now if I don’t I’ll never get it to match. Thanks Rob. Rob has been a big help to a lot of people with his reenergized love for sailboats.

I’ve removed the two old electric panels, cut my door for the new fuse location and other electric devices. I must say that everything the previous owner did is making it easy to make this change. Wires are most likely long enough, and labeled, ( I love Labels) Thanks Rick and Pam. I’ve re-designed my electric panels after really thinking about it. I had some double over current protect that was just taking up room and boat bucks. After Cutting the new access door I’m turning that piece into a door. Of course I’m not an accomplished carpenter and had a hard time with some angles and corners. Luckily I work with and know some of the best carpenters out there. Lets just say you now know where the new door is. Thanks Mark. Next comes the new mounting surface for the fuses, that’s in the basement and looks great. Next trip to the boat should be this week. I’ll try to start building the new area for the panels, battery switch and other stuff. Maybe some new wires to replace the old romex that has got to come out. A definite location for the charger/inverter, old speed impellor needs to be glassed over. And maybe the old depth transducer needs to be reworked. "Float the boat" is the one goal I need to focus on once the weather breaks. And about that time business will explode, the house will sell we’ll need to move and then it will get crazy.

One of our favorite magazines “Latitudes and Attitudes” has a new host for their TV show, (It’s free on the internet). Anyway her and her husband are getting ready to go cruising. They have been working on their boat for 6 years! I’ve got a little bit more than 6 months. So if you have free time and what to help call me. I reeeeally need a carpenter and a buyer for the house.

Thanks for reading.

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