Work begins...

Have the day off, so I went to work on the Neptune 16

Removed the 2" lag bolt the guy had been using for a drain plug and drilled the hull out for a new one.

Removed the gudgeons.  One was only held in loosely with no way of tightening the nuts on the inside of the transom.  The other came off in my hand and was held in by a bolt with no nut and a self-tapping metal screw.



Removed the 1/2" scupper in preparation for a larger one to drain the cockpit faster.




 Removed all the expanded floatation foam from under the aft end of the cockpit by crawling under the seats and hacking away at it with a small pry-bar.  Nastiest job of the day, hands down!  But, now I can access the interior of the transom to replace the rudder gudgeons, etc.




 
 

Fabricated a temporary mast crutch to transport the rig since the former one was held in place by the gudgeons.

Fabricated a temporary hatch to shed most of the rainwater and protect the interior and contents.

Placed a duckworks order including new gudgeons (was going to replace them with stronger ones anyway), some clevis pins, sail slugs, and a pulley for the mains'l outhaul.

Initial inventory...

Spent the better part of today going over the Neptune 16.  Made a list two pages long of stuff I need to do to it.  Some need done before it goes in the water.  Some can wait a year or two or so.

Getting her home...

Of course it would have been too easy to just pick up the Neptune 16 on Wednesday and bring it home.  The trailer lights refused to work on my Tracker.  The worked just fine on the guys pickup, but all I could get were running lights.  I ended up taking it to a hitch and wiring place in Loveland, where I bought the boat.  After spending about 2 hours on it, they were at a loss to figure out why I didn't have trailer lights.  The trailer's wiring worked great.  The wiring I had installed in the tracker worked great.  They just didn't work great together.  I left it there so they could work on it again the next day, when I had to go to work.  I went back up again today and they spent another hour on it to no avail.  They gave up and didn't charge me anything for it. 

I had bought an LED trailer lighting kit at Mal-Wart and it worked just fine with my tracker.  So I pulled the rig down the street, parked under a shade tree, and proceeded to switch out the malfunctioning trailer lights with my new ones.  Worked just fine and I drove it all home without any problems.

A new project...

Today I broke down and bought a boat.  Not the materials for a boat.  An actual boat.  A Capitol Yachts Neptune 16 sailboat.

I had been eyeballing the boat on craigslist for about 6 weeks and the price just kept dropping.  I downloaded the 2004 issue of Small Craft Advisor with a review of the Neptune 16.  Progress on the Michalak toon2 that I had been building was painfully slow and I was already pouring over plans for my next boat, which would be bigger and more seaworthy.  Here was a boat that would be ready to go this summer.  The Neptune is 3 times heavier than the toon2 and, with a swing keel, would be much more stable and seaworthy for the adventures I want to take my boat on.  It also has the features that I was unsuccessfully trying to build into my toon2 and was planning on incorporating into my next boat, including:
-a cabin capable of sleeping 2 adults
-a cockpit capable of sleeping 2-3 children
-easily single-handed but
-capable of carrying 4 adults or the above mentioned family crew
-a private spot to use a bucket
-decent performance

The tradeoffs that I'm aware of for all of this:
-poor performance in light air (modifiable with the right sails, possible improvement of the swing keel shape)
-skimpy rigging (easily upgraded)

Sarah went with me while I looked at it last Sunday.  It was in a lot rougher shape than the guy advertised it as being.  The mast was broken but splinted.  The mains'l was soft, patched, and still had holes in it. The guy claimed that he had patched a leak, but the roughshod job suggested otherwise.  However, the fiberglass hull was solid, all the pieces seemed to be there (minus the hatch, but that's easily fabricated), and the trailer seemed functional.

I called Paul, a guy a met on the Michalak yahoo group who is sort of becoming my small boat mentor.  I filled him in and asked for his opinion. He thought that with the skills I have gained, I could fix what ails it and that it would be a steal at the price. Talking with Sarah, we agreed that I could get it if I tried to get the canoe back in the water this summer and  I called they guy up after a couple other people had looked at it and arranged to buy it.

Now I own a Neptune 16 sailboat!

Boat Building Leaves No Time For Blogging!

Josh, it has been awhile since you posted anything. I guess that means you are busy on your boat. I will be glad to go canoeing with you once it is finished. Go honey! Love, your wife

Close to the end....a few more strips of cedar to cut and paste. Nothing like kindergarten!

The boat has now been sanded and is ready for fiberglass and epoxy. My sister Steph came to helped sand the boat and give encouragement. Notice the floor from before and after sanding? That means the wood is smooth as butter!

Better be for a boat...not a funeral! Draping the fiberglass and wetting it with epoxy..

After the epoxy and fiberglass came the taping for the bottom to have graphite added to it. You can see the black line where the Josh and his friend Adam sharpied so the waterline would look more natural and the graphite would be hidden. Adam helped Josh work on the boat and then carry the boat in the house (gasp!) for its weigh-in. It came in at about 30 lbs! Thanks for your help, Adam. Bye, pretty wood! Hello, not-so-beautiful black protection.

The outside is done...epoxied, fiberglassed and sanded...ready for varnish after we finishing sanding the inside.

If you thought the outside was alot of work...the inside can be worse. Good thing we have God to clean out the inside...oh wait, talking about a boat. Josh cleaning out the dust with a vacuum. Notice the face wear? Now, it's onto epoxy and fiberglassing the inside.

The outside has been sanded and varnished several times. The inside now has been sanded, vacuumed, fiberglassed and epoxied, and the seats are being put in. Josh is testing out one for good measure. Almost ready to launch!

Unofficial launch...maybe tomorrow? Yay!