Class gets busy...

Been awhile since I posted (hope I'm not going to start every post this way).  The final weeks of my summer semester research class were INTENSE.  I did manage to get a few things done and get out on the boat one or two times.

I had Sarah drop me and Sydney II off at Union Reservoir at about noon while she took the car to work.  Sarah would come to pick me up at about 6:30 that evening when she got off.  This was my first time taking the Neptune out solo, which I wanted to make sure I could do before I got Sarah out with me.  Winds were VERY light, and I figured I'd wait on the shore in the shade until they picked up.  I waited until about 3, but no dice.  Too bad Sydney doesn't have any backstays to scratch :-)  Tired of waiting, I ended up going out in the zephyrs.  I tacked across the lake a few times before the wind started to pick up at about 4:30 and I ended up cruising a full circumnavigation of the lake.  Meanwhile, I had been watching a thunderstorm grow in the east.  Figuring that it would continue to head east and away from me, I didn't give it much thought until I started to hear thunder. Again, this didn't concern me until I noticed that the number of seconds between the lighting and the thunder were getting fewer, not greater.  The wind was also picking up at this time and I decided to head in to the dock.  I heaved to (an action that the Neptune does well) and took in the jib. After a frackus at the dock involving a nice looking runabout that couldn't make up his mind whether or not to put in, I finally got tied up to the leeward side of the dock.  The mast was lowered just before the wind hit with a force and I helped a couple of motor boats get settled and tied up, as well.  It was about 5:30 when the hail hit and I crawled into the cabin.  The rudimentary hatch that I had made was in the car with Sarah, but as long as I stayed to the windward side of the cabin, the wind was blowing the rain and hail straight over the hatch.  When Sarah showed up, I got soaking wet in the process of loading everything onto the trailer, but it was a good day, all in all.

Another time, I got Sarah out on the boat with me in some zephyrs that built to about force 3 (?).  She gets really uncomfortable when the boat starts to heel, so I handed her the tiller and had her keep us pointed as close to the wind as we could get.  Her instructions were to pull the tiller towards her if Sydney started to luff, and push the tiller away from her if she started to get scared.   Meanwhile, I worked the sheets.  When Sarah had had enough and the wind was starting to build, I doused the jib and we headed in.  Off course, someone else was trying to make up their mind if they wanted to put their boat in or not (the dock and ramp are not the place to decide this, ok?).  We had a doosy of a time waiting and getting the boat back to the dock as we were under main alone and the wind had decided to die just then.  I left the boat tied up at the dock and drove Sarah home while waiting to hear from a friend whether or not he wanted to go out when he was off work for the day.  In the meantime, I ran to Lowes and got some outdoor carpet, which I ran home with and replaced the bunks on trailer since the boat was off.

The carpet had come off of both old bunks and one was aging to the point that it was cracking laterally around a knot.Also, some of the bolts were missing their nuts and the bunks had been tied down! The new bunks were made from a ripped pressure treated 2x8 left over from replacing the swing keel winch brace (still needs some work, but that's a different story).  I had routed each edge with a round-over bit to help the carpet take the curve better.  Worked well and I stapled the carpet down.  Adam wasn't able to make it that evening, so I drove back to Union and Sydney slid onto the trailer nice and easy.

I brought her back home yesterday to see what I could do to her.  Got a rough potty knocked up quickly. Haven't been able to find a bucket that fits in the potty cutout, so I just made a seat that holds a heavy-duty trash bag and some sawdust to keep the mess and odors down.  My neighbor's friend works at a scrapyard and is going to try to make some backing plates out of stainless steel for the shroud's chainplates.  Right now they're only bolted through the cabin top and liner and are starting to pull through the liner.  We also discussed the possibility of making stainless bezels for the portlights since the plastic ones are cracking and breaking.  And he thinks he can lengthen the tongue of the trailer for me.  As it is, I can barely get the boat deep enough to push it on or off the trailer at the Union ramp without putting the tailpipe of the Tracker underwater.  A couple extra feet on the trailer should help that and the coupling needs rebuilt anyhow since its a bit mangled.