It happened (pt.2)

Lucy Maru on the railway, waiting to get hauled

From inside the railway building, I could see Richard, the owner and as far as I could tell, sole marina employee, up to his neck in slowly moving brown water. He was struggling with a small piece of wood that he was wedging into the underwater cradle, attempting to balance Lucy Maru on the center of her keel. This involved a lot of cursing, a lot of pulling on ropes, a lot of hunting for previously mentioned small pieces of wood, and more cursing. This process went on for quite a while as Richard made sure that we were well centered, and therefore well supported. In the intervals that he was out of the water, we caught bits of stories about previous haul outs, including one where the boat was not balanced and the keel buckled under the weight of the hull once the boat was pulled out. This was a horrible possibility that I never considered, and my glow of satisfaction at having made it this far, was slowly being replaced by a helpless kind of stupor.

You can barely see Richard's head sticking out of the water as he works

To soothe our nerves, we left Richard to his work, and took a walk around the marina. This was a beautiful day, and the pine forests around our inlet shooshed pleasantly overhead. We walked the docks mindful of the loose or missing dock planks, listening to the water, the trees, and the sound of wooden boats, rotting in their slips. The steady tinkling of water from various bilges added flavor to this marina's symphony, whose only fitting title would be something like Wooden Boat Blues. There was no mistaking that these floating structures were indeed living things, and this would be the last resting place for many of them.

This was one of many dying boats

When we got back to the railway shed, Richard was still cursing, but Lucy Maru was out of the water, and we got our first glimpse of the bottom. It was pretty well covered with barnacles, but to our extreme delight, most planks, caulk, and fasteners looked very good. I began to relax just a bit, as it looked like this haulout might not be a total catastrophie.

First sighting of the bottom

While Travis, Joe, and myself where inspecting the bottom, Richard was hooking up hoses to the pressure washer, and suddenly with a great hiss, water and barnacles began to fly in every direction. I managed to avoid getting hit by these slimy, furry creatures as they hurled past me, but this was short lived, as soon, a scraper was put into my hand and the unpleasant job of scraping the hull began.

Joe going above and beyond the call of friendship

Travis scraping the keel

I have never been in such close conact with barnacles before and I wanted to inspect them a bit closer. Their green fuzzy outside, made me think of moss, although their smell was anything but earthy. I decided to go for the biggest barnacle, and picking it off, I immediately got a rotten fish squirt to the face. YUCK! Seerriously gross! I looked at the green slime in my hand and realized it was crawling with little, light brown bugs. Now this, was a great test of my self control. I wanted to scream, I wanted to puke, I wanted to cry, I wanted to run! Instead, I looked at the furry hull, realizing for the first time, that the benign-looking "moss" was hiding something much more sinister beneath its fuzzy surface. I

saw Travis and Joe, already covered with green sludge, scraping the thick layer of bugs, shells and slime. So... I picked up the scraper, shut off my mind, and began to scrape the hull, praying that no bugs fall into my mouth. Looks like haul out has officially begun.

Barnacles on the stern, shafts and rudders

It happened (pt.1)

Us very scared before take off

We were as nervous as two ticks on a frying pan. I would have chewed my nails down to the quick, if it wasn't for the toxic chemicals that have stained them black. The pressure of the preparations was getting to me, as I watched while "the men" turned knobs, tapped guages, and ran around with screw drivers and pliers. Wasn't it a little too late for pliers? The silently waiting motors told me nothing.

Diesel smoke fills the air, ahhhhh

Then, with a roar and a belch of smoke the beasts came to life. The pliers worked! Suddenly, magically, the mighty Lucy Maru was fully awake, shuddering from her own power, every plank and line swollen with the anticipation of a voyage. Her voice, a low deep rumble, was steady and reassuring. She told me, in that moment, that she will take care of us, just like we took care of her. She understood, she really understood.

Leaving the dock

As promised, we slid thru the water at an easy 6 knots, idle speed. Heading in between channel markers and crab pots, I thought of the differences between motor boating and sailing. 6 knots was fast sailing, while aboard this motor vessel we were hardly breaking a sweat. Am I gonna be able to give this up? Can I truly follow the unreliable, invisible force known as wind, to move me across the world? Can I give up the control and luxury that comes with a motor yacht, for something as unpredictable as a sail boat? While all that remains a mystery, I offered a silent THANK YOU to the universe for allowing me to even ponder those possibilities.

Drawbridge ahead

It was time to get nervous again, as we were nearing our unknown destination. Joe was at the helm, asking questions like, "what's the number of that marker?" and "where the hell is this place?" Soon we approached a dock with three men waving, ready to grab our dock lines. This was the place, now only to squeeze into the slip without damaging the good side of the boat.

Our friend Joe driving L.M

Joe, morning tequila shot and all, was steady at the helm, expertly guiding our boat into the narrow slip facing the railway. The men on the dock grabbed our lines, and within minutes we were securely nestled into our spot. Lucy Maru rolled off the last of the water that splashed onto her deck, and floated, gleaming in the sunlight. Her first trip in over four years, and our first trip ever, went smoothly. More them smoothly, smeauthly... and I swear she was smiling as we stepped off deck. Perhaps she knew what lay ahead...

I'm not afraid of a haul out

What has seemed impossible is about to happen. I am of course speaking of our up coming haul out. For the non-boaters, a haul out is when you lift your boat out of the water and paint the bottom, before splashing back in. Ideally this should be done at least every other year, to prevent marine growth and to make sure the submerged bottom is in good shape. The last time our bottom was painted was in 2005, and really we have no idea what we are going to find there.

We are preparing for the worst, meaning we have wood on hand in case planks need to be replaced, our stock of speciality fasteners that hold the planks to the ribs has been replenished, and we will drill about a thousand bungs today to replace the ones that are no longer holding. We have the special (this means expensive) anti-fouling bottom paint, scrapers, tons of sandpaper and caulk. We have turned on the motors and generator, T changed the oil (13 gallons total) and our mechanic friend gave the two Detroit's Diesels two thumbs up. We studied the charts and plotted our course, made registration number boards, and today I will graffiti our boat name on the transom. The goal is to be finshed with the haul out in four days at the most, as we don't want Lucy M to dry out too much and cause us more problems. Her saving grace is that she has been in the water most of her 41 years, and her swollen planks make for tight seams, which is what you want on a woody.

All these preparations were done in addition to the work already started. T and I have both been in GO mode, working like machines to get the port side paint job finished. All told I spent roughly three weeks sanding from the raft, and it took us three days to get the final primer coat and two coats of paint on. Now she is floating with only one ugly side, as we indeed made our July 4th deadline and finished the port side paint job! I wish I could revel more in that accomplishement, but the whirl wind continues, and our celebration and mini-vacation has to wait until after the haul out. The good thing is I'm no longer terrified or mystified as to how this hauling out will happen, and only pray that we will be back in the water asap. Sorry for the lack of pics, just too busy right now to mess with them.

Survival of the Fittest

Instead of going to the gym, I put on my sports bra and dusty shorts, and head over the railing of our boat and onto the floating raft. Everything I need, bondo, sandpaper, sander, paint thinnner, rags,primer, is already scattered about the raft, as I was too tired to put anything back the day before. I put in my headphones, and start my "workout". I find that it helps me to think of this work in terms of execrise, rather then what it really is; sanding, filling, sanding, primering, sanding, sanding, sanding...

Standing at the stern, I don't look to see how far I still have to go, but rather focus on the spot in front of me; the rest is just too overwhelming to consider right now. I feel small next to the beastly hull, small and somehow awed that this is now my third time touching every curve, crease, and hollow down Lucy Maru's port side.

The raft sways beneath me, and I move with its rhythym. I adjust my sanding according to the motion of the raft, it goes left I sand left, etc., as resisting it is futile and frustrating. Our neighborhood ducks have grown accustomed to me, and now sit on the raft even when I am sanding. This is cute at first, but since they left a bunch of their poo behind them, I now shooo them off. Its not cool to step in duck poop, its slippery.



If

What is THAT?

OMG, I just read about a sailing couple that ran into a whale in the Carribbean? Yes they RAN into a WHALE and it tore their hull in half. They got away on their dingy, and were picked up by the coast guard, after watching their boat/home sink. uuugh. They are planning on buying another sailboat, saying that life at sea is so peaceful. Huh?

Just a few more... sore muscles

Port side bow getting new planks

We are nearing completion with the work on the port (left) side of Lucy Maru. This weekend, I helped Travis put in the planks at the bow. The curve up in the front was pretty wicked, but no one got slapped with a springy board, phew! We used a lot of clamps to hold everything place, and now she's good as new. Well almost.

Lucy Maru port side undergoing a refit

That's a picture I took from the water that shows the entire port side. The areas that are not white are the new planks, you can't really see how many there were from this pic, but take my word for it, there was a LOT of them. I'm soooooo glad that part is behind us. Now, a bit more prepping before we primer, and then, finally, PAINT!

In the meantime we found a great deal on a little sailboat to practice our ( ok my) sailing skills. Its a sailfish, kinda like the sunfish but smaller. I go out during my lunch break, and it has already answered all kinds of questions I had about sailing. You see, unlike Travis, I can't call myself a natural sailor.

Me, heading out to play in the harbor

Everything about it confused me, starting with being able to tell which way the wind is coming from. I know that sound ridiculous, but for some reason, once I got out in the open water, I totally lost all sense of direction. (You know I once drove 4 hours in the wrong direction, thinking that west was to my right! That sucked!) Add to that a tiller (the thing that controls your direction) and of course the sails, and its all over, I'm lost. So being able to directly handle the sheets (the lines that the sails are attached to) and the tiller, is seriously groundbreaking. I'm now able to pick a course, tack and sail in a circle. And I can tell without a problem which way the wind is blowing!

The dream begins!

The Zen of Boat Repair

This is the bow section waiting for new wood.

This has been a great week. All week I stayed at home working on new illustrations, and making good progress on the boat . We still haven't got hauled, as the rail that we are waiting for has a wheel that needs to be replaced. This has really has worked in our favor, because in addition to having a huge whole in the side of the boat, we are behind schedule on our hull paint job, which we hope to have done before our haulout. I've learned a lesson here, make plans in pencil, because things change.

So, we're doing the best we can in keeping our progress moving along on Lucy Maru. I'm working on fairing and sanding the hull, getting it ready for paint. Its a very tedious process, of layering the filling compound, sanding, feeling for dips, and filling and sanding some more. When I really get into it, its quite pleasurable and meditative work. I have now done almost 2/3 of one side of the boat. By the time I'm done, I will have touched every inch of the hull.

I can see in hind sight, how we deceived ourselves into thinking that Lucy Maru won't interfere with our work on Me Voy. We should have known better, and I know we both did, but the force pushing us aboard this Chris Craft was irresistable. I don't know what the outcome of this will be, but it feels like there's a current that is carrying us along to some unknown destination and all we need to do is not get in our own the way.

Striking a Balance

Sailing by cargo ships in Baltimore's Inner Harbor

All work and no play makes for a very dull day. That's why its important for us to keep a good balance between working on the boats and having fun on boats. I think this Memorial Day weekend was a great example of just that.  We worked removing the rot from the bow section of the hull on Lucy Maru, as well as primered and faired the new deck and widow section on the port side.

Travis inspecting and removing rotten planks

Digging rot out of some planks in the bow

 

Then we went sailing, twice! Once on T's racing boats the E33's which you would have gotten to know in the previous blog, and then on Russels's boat Lady Bug. 

Check out Chopper, he is loving it!

Russel fighting the wheel, Travis woo- whoooing, Baltimore skyline in background

sailing and smiling go hand in hand

Baltimore Inner Harbor 

Sailing is so much fun, I love it! I can't wait to get better at it, as I get all messed up in steering with the tiller. Everything is backwards when steering with a tiller, so if you want to go right you move the tiller to the left, and so on. Then of course there's keeping to a course, and knowing where you are, and knowing where other boats are, that add to my confusion. So I can't say that I'm a natural sailor, but I really want to learn all there is to know about it. And it looks like, living in the marina, we will get plenty of opportunity to do just that.

                                                  

 Us fishing off our back deck during a work break

Sailing the e33

Travis:

I haven't had a chance to write a blog in quite a while, being extremely busy building boats and of course working on our boats. Fortunately Maggie has kept it up to date. I have been working with e yacht builders building the e33, a super fast 33 foot daysailer, which we are nearly finished with. We were able to finally go sailing this Memorial day week-end. We couldn't have had better wind and the boat performed better than anyone expected. I want one!



Maggie at the tiller

Maggie jibes toward the inner harbor

Glen with refreshing beverage. Beating into the wind with me at the tiller

Hard aground

The builders sailing fast

Why It's All Worth It

We got an unpleasant surprise while sanding the hull, more rot. Looks like some planks and ribs up at the bow are in dire need of replacing. That means our haulout  has to be moved back, which of course moves our return to Me Voy even further back. Big bummer there.  

But rather then dwelling on this unfortunate turn of events I decided to remind myself why this madness called working on boats is all worth it. 

First, living on the water we can easily slip into our canoe and kayak

 and take a little paddle whenever we want. We have already been out four times, which is three times more then last year.

Travis and Chopper enjoy a morning paddle

Another bonus to living on the water is all the wildlife around us.  Now that its getting warmer we have seen baby geese and ducks, water snakes, turtles, and all kinds of birds. This provides simple and fulfilling entertainment for both us and Billy and Chopper.  In fact I'm not sure what's more fun, watching the ducks or watching Billy and Chopper watching the ducks.

              Billy and Chopper watch the ducks 

Another plus to this boating life style is the marina. Not only are the "neighbors" really cool, but the simple pleasure of  coming home to the gently splashing water against the dock is awesome.  

         Billy enjoys the sunset on his perch

The last thing I will mention here is the light. Light everywhere! Coming from the warehouse, , where you couldn't tell if it was morning or evening outside, versus living on the boat  where we are surrounded by windows, is spectacular! We can grow plants, and see what we look like in the daylight!

           This is what I look like in the light