Back in the water

After some keel work and a coat of bottom paint the Tbird is back in the water. She's actually been back in the water for about a month now, I just haven't taken the time to update the blog. In that past month I've been taking care of odds and ends in preparation for the North Point Race on September 19. And sailing.

I put on the best looking main from the inventory that came with the boat. It looks old and tired, but it appears to be holding its shape well enough to use and abuse for a little while longer. On the other hand the racing genoa, a UK Halsey tape drive sail, looks like it probably won't survive much longer. The first big wind may just carry off what's left of the mylar, leaving me with a load path doily.

Autumn is on it's way, evidenced by some rainy days and cooler tempuratures, and on one of those rainy days I spent some quality time sitting in the cabin observing where water was finding its way into the boat. The next day, thankfully a sunny one, I traveled around the outside of the boat sealing up points of intrusion. I believe I was able to seal them all, all but the mast. Any suggestion on keeping water from working its way down the mast is appreciated.

Out of the water and on the hard

I took the short trip from the slip to CSR Marine to have the boat hauled out so that I could take pictures of the bottom to send to the insurance company. After taking a close look I decided to have CSR perform some minor repairs to the hull and paint the bottom. I'm also having them repair some fiberglass damage at the transom motor opening and devise a closure method for the hatch.

New halyards

It was clear the that main and genoa halyards were well past their prime. John helped me with replacing the main halyard and now I'm working on replacing the halyard for the genoa, which has given me the opportunity to strip the cover and put a transition in the line for the first time.

The Center for Wooden Boats Thunderbird Regatta is this weekend and I'll be crewing on John's boat so I probably won't have the time to feed the new halyard back through the mast until Sunday afternoon. Once I pull it thorough I'll put a locking eye splice in the core end of the halyard and whip the bitter end.

Wall to wall carpeting

I dig that the Tbird came equipped with a stiched rug of a totem pole with a Thunderbird at the top.

Three Days and 88 Nautical Miles Later

Three days and 88 nautical miles later the Thunderbird is moored in her new slip on the north end of Lake Union.

The Ballard Locks

About four hours after motoring out of Port Ludlow we arrived at Shilshole and the Hiram Chittenden Locks at five o'clock. The sound had been flooding all afternoon, but even with a relatively high tide we were able to fit under the BNSF railway bridge.

The second of two set-backs in Port Ludlow

Tuesday morning we returned to Port Ludlow to find that the 8hp Honda outboard that I borrowed from Jarred for the trip down did not want to stay running after we started it up. Rather than risk the engine troubles on the last leg of the trip with a cranky outboard we drove to Port Townsend where I picked up and new 6hp four stroke Mercury from West Marine. (Ouch)

We dropped the new motor in place and loaded the Honda in Dee's SUV, then we set off for Seattle.