Winter is here!!

With the boat put away for winter and the annual Arizona Christmas trip in the rear view mirror, the focus turns to winter sports. We had an early snow in Wisconsin this year and also got hit with a huge snowstorm while we were away in sunny Arizona. Needless to say, the ski conditions are epic. I decided to hit Lapham peak, a local world class Nordic ski facility just up the road in Delafield. I arrived early and saw this--

Normally this amount of traffic wouldn't be bad except this was early and to my dismay, the parking lot ended up being full before 9 AM! The crowd ended up not being a problem and the conditions were more than worth it.The next photo is taken from the NW corner of the lower loop.

This last shot is on the groomed trail just rounding the final turn back to the parking lot. After 5 miles of skating, I was wrecked. Plenty of room for improvement but plenty of time to improve as well. look for some Go Pro video in my next posts.

Mackinac island trip

Summer is gone and Autumn is here! After putting the boat away for the season, my wife and I did a last minute, banzai trip from Milwaukee up to Mackinac (pronounced mackinaw) island, Michigan. We left town Friday about 2 PM and arrived in Mackinaw City MI at 8 PM (9PM local).  After a short nights rest, we awoke to a beautiful sunrise and jumped on the ferry to the island. Since no cars are allowed on the island, we rented bikes and rode the entire circumference of the island as well as a nice climb to the airport an back. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous and we had an amazing day. Only photos can really do this place justice-enjoy!

Pewaukee WI water skiing

The lake you see frozen over from my winter posts seems to morph into a forested paradise every June-- Water skiing conditions are epic so why not take advantage?

http://youtu.be/pOL4rccnCPQ

Lake Michigan solo sail

August 17 2013

 It was just too nice not to be out on Lake Michigan today-80 degrees, sunny and a light (10 knot) southerly breeze which means no big waves either. Since my wife is out of town and I didn't get any takers on a sail, I decided to head out single handed. I left the Milwaukee harbor at 1230 right behind the high speed ferry to Michigan and went right into an upwind tack-- the sails were set so perfectly the tiller even stayed centered up! Not long after I left the harbor, a bat, who must have spent the night in my mast, appeared and began flying wildly around the boat. He settled in on the mainsail and finally crawled back into the mast somehow. The photos of him are shown below. After a few hours of long tacks, and out of sight of land, I decided to put up the spinnaker and had a great ride back. Flying a spinnaker single handed is quite a chore but it's well worth the effort-

The Chute has been flown!

My friend Brendon came up from Chicago today and we were able to fly the old school spinnaker I got with Cest Si Bon!! It was a lot of fun figuring it out and it really flew nicely--Check out the photos we took!!

MYC to Torreson Marine solo sail

Since I missed out on the queens cup this year, I have decided to hold my own queens cup! Check out the google earth rendition of a sail I am planning for August in Cest Si Bon!!

MYC to Torresen

Solo Sailing Milwaukee Jeanneau 27

I must say I have been a little lax in posting about the amazing sailing we have had in Milwaukee this year. In honor of the Chicago-Mac race that started last Friday (and is still going on), I went out and did a little solo sailing. Though I am in a busy harbor and crowded mooring area, I decided not to use my engine on this trip sailing on and off the mooring-- it worked out great!! Enjoy the videos

The first video was shot with my iphone and is short but I was able to text it to my wife who was unable to join me as she usually does- as you can see it started out with very light winds!!

Iphone leaving milwaukee

The next video is upwind offshore Milwaukee

upwind 1

More video and sailing boat tour

Boat tour

                                                               Lying a hull and swimming?

                                                                  Lying a hull-swimming!

Truly an amazing day of sailing on beautiful lake Michigan-- I hope you enjoy the videos as much as I did making them. Have a great week!!

Wisconsin Zombie Mud Run 2013

Darla, Zach and I had the opportunity to participate in the 2013 Wisconsin Zombie mud run. We ran it with a really fun group of friends that totalled about 15 people. We definitely will do this race (and ones like it again). Check out the video link below

http://youtu.be/eKn2-vthhFQ

Single handed sail

Saturday afternoon in Milwaukee was too nice to pass up.

Pram Lake Test

Buenas Tardes!!

 It was such a beautiful spring day I thought it would be a great time to test the Pram. I mean hey, I just flew an airplane through this crap for the last few hours, so why not do some boating on top of it? The Pram performed well and above all did not leak. Enjoy the video while I spend the next few hours defrosting-

                                                 

C' est Si Bon progress report

After closing on the Jeanneau Fantasia known as C'est Si Bon in early March, the work began. She had been on the dry for almost two years and sorely needed some attention. I began by de junking her which was a formidable task in itself. It never ceases to amaze me how much junk gets left on and in boats. Empty bottles of cleaner, booze and underwear seem the norm and your mind can run wild as to everything else that somehow never finds a garbage can. I weighed over 100 pounds of garbage that I removed from her and most surely irritated the yard by filling their dumpster with her refuse.
 I then proceeded to remove her stripes which were worn and ugly. The tape stripes came off just fine with the 3M eraser wheel (four of them) attached to an electric drill but the painted stripes required heavy duty stripper and wet sanding which was a pain in the rear. The wood tiller handle was shot and so I removed it and took it home to refinish it. I stripped it all the way down and used Captains Varnish by Petit to complete the task. I did some bleaching to lighten the blackened wood just enough to make it look used and the varnish did the rest. I sorted and inspected her vast sail inventory and the sails all are in very good shape. I also removed the deck tape/paint that was done by the factory originally and gives the appearance of a wraparound window on the Yacht, at least from a distance. I personally think it looks better without the effect. After some trial and error, I settled on the 3M one step Boat finish restorer product and buffed out the entire boat with a variable speed buffing wheel I purchased from Harbor freight. I am very impressed with the results and recommed this product. Here is a link-http://www.discountmarinesupplies.com/86751807.jpg

I then talked my wife into helping me clean the inside of the boat which was gross at best. After 4 hours of scrubbing and gagging however, the cabin looked great. While she was scrubbing away, I taped up the waterline and rudder in preparation for the bottom paint. I did forget to say I talked one of my chicago buddies into coming up and longboarding the entire hull which was pretty straight but had a few spots we worked out of it. By the way, VC 17 is a fast, smooth bottom paint for the great lakes but it's really nasty to work with and you need to wear a real respirator and a full on oompa loompa suit when you work with it. It gets everywhere anyways but the suit will keep you from certain copper poisoning if not worse. That being said, after a good deck cleaning and with a reasonable OAT, we rolled on the fresh VC-17 and it came out great. I still have a number of things to complete on the list but the big stuff is done and C'est Si Bon is ready for the season. You may soon see her for sale as I "sail while I sell" her. Let's see how that works out. In the meantime enjoy the photos of her and the you tube video link. Until next time live long and prosper!! Her before shots are also located in a previous post and on my you tube channel.

 

Buying a Yacht? Follow to see the process episode #2

 As previously blogged from my November 13, 2012 post, the Jeanneau 27 finally closed on March 5 2013. The lesson to be learned here is patience (of which I have none). The previous owner of the Jeanneau had misplaced the title and I refused to close until he had it. All's well that ends well and shortly after closing, the work began on the boat. She is in pretty good shape and has really come to life in the last few days. I am headed there tomorrow to do some more clean up and take video of the end result.
 Remember at closing to review and account for all the items in the contract, once the money has changed hands it is going to be tough to get anything from the other party. My closing was pretty smooth but they aren't always that way. Look for a beautiful Jeanneau to hit the market soon! In the meantime, enjoy this you tube video from Drake Paragon, who left on his "world tour" a few days ago. Spring is coming!!!

http://youtu.be/_JAT---54Lo

Pram Completed!!

Well, after much sanding the Pram is ready for the water- the sanding took about 8 hours and it came out pretty well. Now if the lake in front of my house would only unfreeze it would be great. A video will be available as soon as I can put the Pram in. I used a tan non skid paint for the interior and Olive Drab for the exterior. For now, check out the completed Pram photos below-

Pram build Phase 4

 Well, I did it!! The Pram is together and now awaits sanding (which I already hate) but must wait for spring as the basement is "off limits" for sanding so I have been advised. I did choose to bond in the seat and the thwart per the plans. I also made a modification I think will help the rowing ability of the boat. The first picture shown is simply the seat(s) bonded in, the second is the boat with a 1x2 piece of wood trim clamped to the sides to stiffen the side of the boat especially where the oar locks sit.
 After bonding the boat together, it seemed the sides were still a little flimsy and since my target use for this boat is rowing, I decided to beef up the side bumpers! A 1x2 in Aspen is a pretty stiff piece of wood so I borrowed a steam bending fixture from one of my buddies and it worked like magic. It basically is a simple heating element that boils water then directs the steam into a PVC tube that the wood is inside of. In my case it was a compound bend so I steamed it for 2 hours. With some clamps and bolts, I formed the wood onto the sides of the boat and let the wood dry. Voila! The wood now can be removed from the boat and holds it shape perfectly. The last photo is the fixture laying on my driveway. Enjoy the photos and I am sure the boat sanding will only take two weeks!

Pram Tender Build Phase 3

Another Phase, more lessons learned!! Did I mention I have never done something like this before? If not, it will be apparent when you see the photos. I can honestly say that this is a lot of fun and I am really enjoying myself.
Let's start with what was this phase was--fiber glassing the bottom and sides of the pram. I ordered 6 oz. fiber cloth from www.jgreer.com. I initially bought the 1.5 gallon epoxy resin kit which will actually finish all of the corner taping and ALL of the bottom side fiber glassing! I was completely unsure of how much resin I needed so consequently I have a complete second resin kit that is still unopened! If you buy the 50 inch wide 6 oz cloth, you need 18 feet of it to complete the boat. I used scissors to cut out the fiber cloth in shapes to fit the sides, bow, stern and bottom. I talked one of my pilot buddies into coming over and we did a dry run  laying the cloth on the boat and fitting all the pieces. I mixed resin while he spread it onto the bare wood. We placed the fiber cloth over the entire bottom and wet it in. We then moved to the sides, bow and stern. As a test we used the recommended procedure of laying wax paper on top of the layup to make the resin cure with a smooth finish. It mostly worked but probably needed someone who had done it a few times to realize the entire benefit.  The entire process took 2 hours! Next is lots of sanding--enjoy the photos!

Pram Tender build Phase 2

Well, it's coming together! After ordering $180 worth of resin, hardener and tape (including shipping) from www.jgreer.com, I spent some time reading up on how to fiberglass something. Keep in mind I had never so much as mixed up resin of any sort so I wanted to gather any information that would help me not screw this up too badly. The resin came with specific instructions which I followed. The gist of it is make sure the resin and hardener are mixed in the correct ratio and thoroughly. I will say I used cabosil as the thickening agent and it was messy and nasty--wood flour next time. Per instructions, I made a fillet of epoxy in all of the interior corners then laid fiberglass tape in the corners and used a brush and some un-thickened epoxy to "wet out" the tape. Three inch wide tape was called for in the plans but the supplier only sold 2 or 4 inch tape. I hope the 2 inch will be okay. The process went fairly quickly and it was far more trouble to pull out the stitching afterwards then glass the corners on either the inside or outside of the boat. I will say that all sharp corners should at least be slightly rounded as tape does not like square edges and doesn't always adhere to them. After I cut out the stitching (zip ties), I spent a short time trimming up the outside edges and sanding them with my electric sander. I then filled the outside just like the inside and taped all of the corners as well. Plan on 6 hours to complete the inside and outside corners. At this point, I am waiting for more resin, hardener and 6 oz cloth to show up, so I can complete the bottom of the boat. Below are two photos of the progress.

Pram Tender Build Phase 1

Happy New Year!!

 I hope all of you had a great Christmas and New Years! I spent mine with my family in Arizona and it was great to see everyone again. On the boating front I have also made some progress on the Pram plans I bought from Jeff at www.spirainternational.com.

  I downloaded the plans from the Spira international website and it was an easy and simple process. I spent about an hour studying the plans. Prior to being a Professional Pilot, I spent 20 years running our families Aerospace Manufacturing Facilities, both in the USA and Mexico. I fully understand blueprints and manufacturing although I have never done any work with wood, fiberglass or the like in my life. With this in mind I gave myself at least 50/50 chance of being able to complete the pram.

 The first item on the agenda was material purchase. I drove down to my local Home depot and purchased two sheets of 1/4 birch and then my first hiccup-only 1/2 inch sheets were available in hardwood. I had decided to go hardwood even though Jeff says it isn't absolutely necessary. I went with the 1/2 even though the plans call for 3/8. I spent $60 for all the wood.

The second item on the agenda was layout. I spent about 2 hours drawing out all the parts on the sheets of wood, which was kind of fun. I will say it isn't very clear on Jeff's site how to draw the various radii called out on his blueprints, but I was able to use an old thin piece of wood trim to bend over the various locations called out and used the trim as a guide to draw the radii. It seemed like a satisfactory way to do it. One of the blueprints was missing a dimension so I emailed Jeff and he responded promptly with the answer-nice!

The third item was cutting out the pieces! I had never so much as used an electric jigsaw but it was pretty simple and made very clean cuts. I purchased a Ryobi jigsaw from Home depot for $29 and some 20 pitch Bosch blades for $10. One blade did the job for all of it (and still is very sharp)!! I spent almost 2 hours carefully cutting out all the parts.

 Jeff's instructions were simple- drill holes about every 4 inches 1/2 from the side and loosely tie the boat together. Okay, but do the sides go on top of the bottom or next to it? What about the transom? The key here is tie it LOOSELY!! Don't stress about it, just start drilling the holes and it will become obvious how the pieces fit together. Remember not to make more trimming work for your self than absolutely necessary, that will help too. Once you  have it together and the pieces line up, start tightening the ties. By the way, I used the plastic zip ties you can buy anywhere about $4 for 100. This is where the boat starts taking shape and your wife all of a sudden doesn't think you pissed away 5 hours and another $65! Also this was a fine time to see if the boat was going to fit out the narrow stairwell that joins my basement to the great outdoors! To my relief, it fit easily.

The end of Phase #1!! As you can see from the pictures, the bulkheads both fit in exactly the spot called for on the blueprint--nice!! As per the instructions, I clipped off the zip tie ends and taped over all of the outside edges in hopes of containing the resin I am going to be smearing in all of the interior corners. Give yourself 2 hours for the zip tying and taping, it's not a fast process. I will say the blue prints must be good as I really was impressed at how well everything fit together. The gluing will begin next week-- wish me luck!