Sorry I haven't updated this in a while, here is what has gone on...
Foss Foam finished my keel, it should be delivered any day now. I don't think that we will have any time to have the boat hauled out till after the end of September, but that's ok, the days are still pretty hot here in FL.
The insurance co. came through with my check for the loss of the motor, so I went out and got another. Same kind - a Tohatsu 6hp SailDrive Pro. This time I put a lock on it.
We also moved the boat from the mooring in Crystal Beach to a slip at Harbor Island Marina. This has helped a lot working on it. More further down.
The starboard portlight... On of the reasons there hasn't been any updates, is because its been raining. Well actually it only rained twice, once for 10 days, and once for 14 days. Because of all the rain, the wood wasn't getting dried out, so I knew that I wouldn't be able to put the portlight back in, especially since just putting plastic over the open portlight wasn't cutting it, so I came up with a brilliant idea. I picked up some smoked Plexiglas. I used the portlight as a template, and cut out a window. I figured that I would just use some 5200 to seal it as a temporary solution till the rainy season is over. It came out really good. Couple mistakes here and there, but over all nice and water tight. Then I found while reading how "permanent" 5200 is. So my temporary window, might become permanent. Oh well, at least it looks good. I think it looks better than the original. If I do the port side window, there are a couple things that I might change, but that's for another day. So now the balsa core around the window is drying out nicely. I am still getting water in, but I think that it is coming from the forward port hole or around the chain plate. I will be replacing the port holes anyway, and when the boat is pulled out I will be dropping the mast for inspection anyway, so this will give me a chance to re-seal the chain plates.
I spent a couple hours yesterday running new electrical from the motor to the battery, and hung up a fire extinguisher just inside the companion way on the port side.
So we moved to a slip. Boy you should have see us bring it in. Let me see if I can explain this. First the slips are for small boats 22' to 25' max. They aren't pull in straight, they are angled, so the stern of your boat sits out about 8' or so with your bow pointing toward the dock. Here is the hard part though, at this point of the marina it couldn't be much more than 35' wide, and the angle is pointing in the opposite direction you approach from. So when your coming in, you would have to turn almost 360 dg around to get in your slip. No problem except there isn't enough room. So you have to back up down this part of marina to your slip, then motor forward into it. (and I witnessed several people yesterday do this so i know its possible). I just couldn't do it. It doesn't help that Ozona Blue, a very popular bar is sitting on the other side of the channel, and had tons of people watching. I was all over the place, 1) turning the boat around to back in, then 2) trying to backup. A real comedy of errors. No damage, other than my pride. I will definitely want to practice this... maybe under the cover of night to avoid the embarrassment. :)
