New Boat New Blog

Hi it has been a while and taken longer than expected but we have found our new boat you can follow us and are new Cape Dory Typoon  at      http://bristol-blue.blogspot.com/ 

Sold

Sold..
Today was the day the Sale was finalized now where in the market for another boat. 

For Sale

1976 Chaser 29 Sloop

Doug Peterson Design

Loa 29’6

Beam 10’ 2”

Draft 5’7”

This has been a great boat us.  She sails and handles like nothing else I have ever sailed on.  My family is prepared to move on to another boat at this time so we have decided to put Shenanigans on the market while we look. 

Shenanigans has a large compliment of sails as the previous owner was a racer: 2 mains, 2 spinnakers with sock for easy launch and retrieval,  stay sail,  a storm sail, The #1 & #2 Genoas are Mylar, also equipped with 4 other Dacron Genoas of various weight.  

It is currently equipped with a racing foil but I have all the parts and pieces to convert to a Hood roller furling for an additional $1000.

Powered by an inboard Atomic 4 PVC mod installed.

1 year on anti-skid re-surface.   

 A lot of updates have been done over the past 3 years to make her a bit more cushy for cruising. Interior needs a few trim pieces here and there but nothing major and a bit of cleaning to spiff her up.  She has 2 alcohol burning stoves.  Ice box and sleeps 4.  V berth up front and 2 quarter berths towards the back.

Electronics include: Depth sounder, VHS Radio, Garmin GPS. 

 Also comes with its own steel cradle. 

Asking $9500 as she sits or $10,500 with new in box fuller system you install. 

Boat is currently in Douglas, MI covered for the winter but we can get aboard if you want to take a look.

2011 Strip Down

Well the weather here is starting to turn cool.  This afternoon I got down ans stripped Shenanigans down for the winter.  It's going to be a long cold winter I suspect.

Clipping along on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon.

Here we are clipping along on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon. 

Up Messuring

Thinking of changing out the race foil for a roller furling.  So Up we go to get some measurements, photos and bring down the broken windex.

 Top down

 Hey whats up Dad?

Harbor view

The Shenanigan's we've been up to this month

It's been a busy month and we have got quite a few little things done.

The ducks have found Myles.  Here is a regular seen at the stern of our Chaser 29

 

 Lots of Good Sailing.

Dingy refinished and in search of a motor. Although maybe I'll just let the munchkin row my in circles. 

UPF shade Umbrella installed wow has it been hot the last few days.

Flag pole installed.

Hanging out.

 

Swimming lots of swimming.

Silence in the night.

After the flags are flown

After the last hot dogs are eaten

After the final rockets a blazin

After little one's are sleepin

There is a Silence in the night like no other.  Mast at night V-Berth 2011 July 4 

Happy 4th of July

A windless start

Last Sunday Adam and I took off for a day on the lake it started out pretty calm.  A little to calm so we decided hey why not go for a dip.  The lake was a welcoming cool relief from the hot deck and black flies.  The water off shore is amazingly blue nothing like the river and inland lakes.  You can clearly see the keel and a good bit further down into the lake.  We where in about 60 ft of water at the time.  Moving along at about 1.2 kts.  To fast to swim and keep up but easy enough to hold onto the ladder.  I picked up a stern ladder at Wolfs to install I just haven't got to it yet.  

 

As the day continued on the wind did finally began to fill it.  We had a great time flew the #1, Stay sail, and even pulled the spinnaker out.   We flew the spinnaker as if it where an asymmetric.  I'm not sure if that is legit with this sail or not. I tried to get a hold of the manufacture about this particular AP spinnaker but never heard back from them.  (Michael if you are still reading feel free to chime in on this one. =-).   Any ways in the light wind it really worked well and with just the two of on board it was way easier to handle with out having to pull the spinnaker pull and deal with topping lifts, down halls. 

main,stay & #1

Hey....  Trim!   Trim!  

I like strings.

Deck Carnage sails every where.

In the Church of the Double Spreader.

Ain't that Cool

Hey it does have sails. First time sailing for the year.

Last Friday we made it out on the lake.  The boat has been away from the dock a few times to cruise up and down the river but Friday was our first day sails up.  We've been running around the state all of June for family events and visiting friends we haven't seen in a while so it was finally good to get some sea air.  The winds and waves cooperated also.  We had a nice low wind day with practically flat water.  We could have water skied out on the lake if we still had our ski boat.  All in all it was a great sail only glitch I found was the windex has broke in half sometime over the winter.  Guess I'll be making a trip to the top of the mast pretty soon.  Over all it was a really good day.  When we started to bring down the sails Myles said "ut-oh why it fall down."  Apparently he wasn't finished sailing yet this day. 

In other news Myles and I have been working on bringing our dingy back to life.  Well I've been working he's been playing in my car or napping.  The dink or as all who have seen it floating know to call it. "The bathtub" hasn't been used in years now and has been pretty severely neglected. Last time I painted it dark blue to go with my old Catalina.  However the paint I used did not stick.  I power washed most of it off.  While Myles played in my car the other day.  Today I started repairing the sharp edges where the fiberglass has cracked.   West System to the rescue.   Hopefully I'll get it finished this summer sometime and find a motor to put on it.  If nothing else it will be fun to muck around in on some of the smaller lakes around here.  =-)

Knock Knock Hello Spring 2011. Can I get my wrench back? =-)

Well we're off to a good start Shenanigans is in the water cleaned up and ready to go.


In the Dawn's Early Light



Over the winter I finished sewing up the V berth cushions. The gray material isn't a perfect match but most of the time they are going to be under the sheets anyway.

I also found the mast base wrap. I took it off last year intent on remaking it and could not find it. Well I opened the box to my sander and there it was. So I finished remaking it and also made a cover for the forward hatch.

 

 

Today I cleaned the deck down and inspected all the turnbuckles and re-sail taped all the cotter keys.

Even re-calibrated the depth sounder.

Why don't Pirates use safety deposit boxes? They use Davy Jones' Locker.

Knock Knock.

Who's there?

Al sink

Al sink who?

Al sink ya in Davy Jones Locker if you don't let me in.

I lost a wrench to Davy Jones locker so I thought the jokes were necessary.

Oh yeah and the 1st spring test drive... Just up and down the river.  It was a bit too rough on the lake for kiddo today but it's still great to get away from the dock. 

That Copper Bottom's as Pretty as a Penny Spring prep 2011

Shenanigans has held up very well over the winter especially considering I found half the tarp framing spars in December when I pulled the iceboat down.

This spring I boarded to a dusty boat under the clear tarp.  After spending a few hours aboard wiping out the interior with glass cleaner she looks pretty good.

 Next I did a little faring on the keel.  All the usual spots.

 After a little sanding and a bit of VC-17 it's as pretty as a penny.  

 

Now I just need a few more sunny days to get the hull washed and buffed out.  

O yeah and polish up that proper.

 

Winter sailing in Michigan.

Seasons Greetings from Rose Lake

. 

Season Wrap Up and Lessons Learned This Year.

Saugatuck late October.  Last trip in for the season.

Did I sail as much as I wanted to?  Well no but that is probably something that will never happen.  When I had more time I used to make it out on the lake twice a week sometimes more and I still wasn't satisfied.  Regardless the season has come to an end for me this year.  Shenanigans was hulled out Thursday 10/14/2010 this year.  Saturday I went down to check on her and started pulling things off the boat for the winter.  Wow did we have a lot of stuff on the boat this year.  Sleeping bags, blankets, towels, even found my good blue jeans; "I'd been wondering where I had put those." Not to mention the board books toys and toddler snacks of Myles's.  While we might not have sailed the boat as much as I would have like we defiantly used the boat; sleeping over, sunning out on the deck, just stopping by on the way to the pool here at the marina the boat was a good distraction for us.   

So now to the engines drained, oils changed, cylinders fogged.

The cover is on.  Time to revisit the seasons lessons.























Lessons of the season.


Preventing Sea Sickness See the link

Re-bedding


The best tool to have are baby wipes. That's right forget the caulk gun, spreaders, rags, scrapers, razor blades. No article on re-bedding you read tells you what you really need to know. Sure they talk about how to re-bed fittings, shrouds and other deck fittings. They say clean the area be sure the deck is sealed. However not one of the articles on the web or in print tells you about this essential tool.

I did a lot of re-bedding this season and it wasn't till the end of the year I discovered that baby wipes work miracles. Once you have placed your fittings back together and mushed them to the deck the ooze that is re-bedding compound comes squeezing outs from below. This is where the baby wipes come in. I used to have a rag handy for getting the excess goop off until one day the rag I had been using was so full of gunk it was just making a bigger mess. I went down below deck looking for another rag to finish the job and their they where sitting on counter. Baby wipes I was only going to use a few to finish up the side stay re-bedding no bid deal. Wow what a discovery baby wipes take bedding compound of quickly easily and you have a lot of control over how the finished bead lines looks. Not only that but it leaves your stainless steal fittings shimmering and does not effect the paint on the deck. Best of all when you are finished your hands are clean and not all sticky.

Boats are Good for Kids Learning to Walk.

The other weekend we where at the park. Myles was up on the play structure. Granted not alone. BB and I where running around below the structure standing in strategic locations where a 18 month old might fall. This structure has one of the bridges you know the kind that sways up and down as the kids walk/run across it. Myles was having a great time running down the bridge as it swayed up and down under his feet. Then came along a 3 year old scared to go over the bridge as he stood watching it shake. Nervous to put his feet on the unsteady surface. To Myles a moving surface was old news the boat hardly ever sits still even when at the dock it tips up and down. Foot work on a sailboat is essential. Myles has really become aware of this over the summer as he has leaned to walk. It has been great to watch him over the summer go from stumbling over things and tumbling down every time the boat rocks to really being aware of his foot placement. Now he watches where he steps, placing his foot in between deck fittings and other obstacles walking through the inner shrouds. He has not by any means mastered the walking running thing just yet. He is desperately trying to jump but I have no doubt that sailing has helped him become steadier on his feet.

CO2 detectors are essential

I preface this section with no one was ever in danger at any time. It had been a few weeks since I had been down to the boat and started the engine so I thought hey better get it running. So I started it up closed up the hatches and got to work cleaning the deck. What I discovered is that if you run the engine at the dock with all the hatches closed for a little over an hour while you scrub and rinse the deck it will set of the CO2 detector.

Canvas is Thick

My sewing machine will sew threw 5 layers of outdoor canvas not 6. At 6 it will either make a distinctive thump noise and stop, or break the needle. It is not to fond of the gluey back on industrial strength Velcro either.

So that wraps up wet water sailing for 2010.  Next week is the Gull lake ice boat swap meet.  Time to change over hardware and get ready for some hard water Sailing. Time to THINK ICE!