Boat Projects..ALMOST complete

I went up to the lake to test fit the bimini.

And the wind, it was a-blowing.

And the air...it was dry.

The spouse...was out of town.

So with much cussing and electrocution by static electricity, I got it on.  And was surprisingly impressed on how well it fit.

Except the new aft braces rapid caught and pulled out my binding (not really their fault) and things weren't really lined up like they should.

Some adjustments here/there and a new pedestal cover, we almost there.

A week later, the spouse comes for his review.  Except for a few attempts at murder by winch handle, I took his comments well. 

We both came to an agreement (NO, REALLY) on how we could make it look a bit better.

However, and let me remind you all this, this is my first attempt at my own bimini. My own patterning, my own design, etc etc etc.

And I shall sit here in my own smugness.

SewYoga with Special K

As has been noted, I've been working on a few sail loft projects.

What hasn't been fully explained is the new form of yoga/pilates that I have developed in said projects.

The following move is what I best describe as the Bimini Butt Kick.  

1. First, place yourself in front of your machine.
2. Take your left leg and wrap it under your right leg and reach around so that you are touching your butt with your heel.
3. Take right leg and crank it up until your knee is around your ear.
4. Place right foot on foot control
5. Place left hand on fabric to guide.
6. Go for it.

Be careful because the following will happen:

1. You will get sudden horrible cramps in your hip flexor and/or arch of your foot.
2. Your ass will lose all feeling.
3. You suddenly realize your age when you go to unfold yourself and realize.....you can't.
4. (for pet owners)  You go in full Mario Andretti mode when your dog decides to try out her high pitched crazy bark because she just saw a squirrel out the window.  This is followed usually by the foot cramp, and you'll have to remove the foot control from under your foot with your hand.

So, you know you want a visual, here it is:

Twister ala Sailrite

All in all, the funny joke is:  when you have a big project and you work from the floor (not sure that's advised) you wind up doing a lot of squats, pec work and triceps work.  Didn't realize sewing would be my new work out plan.

Okay, I lie, I never had a workout plan.

Sail Loft projects.

After a lot of input (from the actual owners of the boat and contributors from others), sailing with bimini, sailing without bimini, cursing bimini.

We finally put forth a bimini plan.  I once again, had a full revolt and simply said, talk to me when you have the bimini design how you wants it.

And with much re-engineering and design, Compy Comp pulled together a good plan.  Sometimes the: "As long as you are happy, honey, I'm happy" line really does work!

So, now. It's time to do the canvas.  I finally got a 3 hour window in which the wind had truly died on the lake.  It got to be insane how I would touch the patterning material and all of a sudden the wind would appear.

But I digress..

The start of any project, clothing, canvas, upholstery is very intimidating.  I will actually try to do some real time descriptions of the work this time.  There's some good books/videos/advice out there, but every bimini is different.  I got lucky because I have the old canvas to sheet off of and refer to.

Now this pile of crap will somehow become a bimini.

What you see above:

1. patterning material, actually still taped together. marked for zippers, window, hems, backstay slots.

Still needs to be shortened to fit new frame (already marked) and the hems taken up a bit so that they don't block our view like the old one did.

2. sunbrella fabric (marine grade), dacron for reinforcement in places and chafe guard.

3. window material so that we can see our windex from the helm

4. zippers galore.

5. thread, velcro for window cover, assorted crap. I also have webbing for straps but the re-design might not need it.

More later on how this pans out.

Describe this picture

Every once in awhile I will just click a random picture.  Later on, it will ensue hilarity.  Mainly, it's the look on folks faces.

Below is case in point, I know what's going on, but can you figger it out?  Very. Intense. Thinking.

3 men, a binnacle and a screwdriver

Before/After

Before:

After:

Update after all the canvas is done!

It takes a village to raise a child....

But, it takes several childs to raise our sails.

So, here's what happens when there's no wind. You ask if anybody would like to help use get our sails up and you get a crowd.

Since I was on day 3 of heat induced trauma (muggy, muggy, muggy, no wind, no wind, no wind) I declared a total and complete strike against getting sails up.

So, I recruited help.  I would say big mistake, but entertainment-wise...priceless.

If we look up the mast enough and shake these
rope-y things around, it'll all work out.

You think I'm kidding? This is 1/2 hour later.

Headsail up. Lookeee that cool UV strip.
Oh. Yeah.

That's my boat.
BTW--sail cover and bimini will be updated soon.

Update

Holy crap. So much going on.

S/V Serenity is finally at her home on Lake Perry.

And...she loooooooks gooooood.

However, her arrival has been ursurped by a freaking freaking crazy storm at Lake Perry, and the Grand Arrival of Hurricane Irene.

Yeah, I know WAH. You got two sailboats. Wah.

However, we have ALOT invested in these boats, and I would very much prefer not to lose them both in the same week thankyouverymuch.

So, some pics of her arrival. I didn't get splash pics (hope to get from our friend) because I had scheduled a meeting, can't call in dead for a meeting you scheduled. Doesn't look good.

Ooo, ooh, I loooook goooood.

So help me christ, if you ding that paint job.
It's go time.

The good news is, no paint jobs were marred in the delivery or masting of the boat.  The paint job is absolutely fantastic.  Totally stoked.

The Conch Republic/Jayhawk Nation now has a navy

And it's led by Admiral Compy Comp.

It didn't take long, and the boy was itching for a lake boat. Okay, to be honest, I was way before him, I missed my place to escape.  I have my Hobie Sailyak, but it's kinda low on privacy and wine storage.

So we looked. I found a boat like our old Catalina in Missouri. Husband sets out the dragnet to all reaches of the continental United States.

But, I thought we were going to try to keep this halfway affordable?  Never mind.

So, after several months we go full circle and we are back to the one of the first boats I was keeping a watch on.  This time patience paid off and they had dropped their price signficantly.  So in a few weeks (after we have some work and clean up done on it) we will have a lake boat.

And it's 100+ degrees in the Midwest.

And the lake as a blue green algae warning.

And for several days there was no wind.

And the boat has no a/c. (soon to change)

So meet HemiD's little sister. Serenity.  She's a Catalina 30 Tall rig (1991) and I know she'll be fun, we enjoyed our last Catalina--which I got to helm a couple weeks ago.

Seriously, what is UP with my spouse and batteries

The fun thing is, we are doing kinda a 'pimp my ride' with this boat and painting her hull blue and I'm redoing the canvas to tan.