Dingy Pt 4

 This starts the application of 6 ounce fiberglass cloth to the bottom. It will provide strength and abrasion resistance.  The exterior of the hull has been given a coat of epoxy to seal the wood.  I put masking tape 2 inches below the chines as a guide for the cloth.  The cloth is quite flexible and will conform to the shape of the hull with a little persuasion.

Straight, un-thickened epoxy is applied to saturate the cloth.  I started at the transom (back end) and worked my way forward, eliminating wrinkles as I go. I used a squeegee to smooth out the epoxy and reduce excess.  Too much epoxy will add weight, but not strength.  You can determine total saturation by the transparency of the cloth after it is wetted out.    Areas without enough epoxy will appear white.

 Jana was a huge help in the process, keeping me supplied with mixed epoxy.  I'm using WEST system products.  They use a 5:1 resin to hardener ratio.  A nice feature of this product is the calibrated pumps that go right in the cans of resin and hardener.  One shot of each produces the correct ratio every time.  You only mix what you need, helping to reduce waste.

 After an equal number of pumps, the mixture must be thoroughly mixed for about 2 minutes, but not so aggressively that bubbles are introduced into the mix.  With her cooking skills, Jana was a natural. Depending on temperature, each batch is workable for about 20 minutes.

 The cloth has been completely wetted out and is starting to set up.  Thanks to the flexibility of the cloth, I was able to work it around the corners without wrinkles.

After about an hour or so, the cloth is considered "green", partially set up, but still workable.  I used a razor knife to trim the excess cloth, following the edge of the tape for an even line.

The cloth and tape peel off cleanly, leaving a straight edge to dress out later.

After letting the epoxy set up overnight, a second coat of straight epoxy was applied with the squeegee to fill the weave of the cloth.  Then, thickened epoxy was used to fair the edge of the cloth smoothly with the sides of the hull.  A good sanding prepared to hull for painting.  A hand held orbital sander made the job manageable, but tedious.  Here I am applying the first coat of primer to the hull.

The primer I'm using is quite thick to fill any irregularities before the finish coat goes on.  More sanding in my future.

With the primer coats finished, I flipped the boat over to finish the interior before final painting on the hull.  Grandson Miles dropped by to provide some quality control.  Here he has determined that the height is just right for "his" seat.

STOP...time for a little honesty!

Time for a little honesty!  About 6 weeks till we leave and the emotions in our home are intense.  Excitement absolutely!  It’s hard to believe in a short time our journey on the Lady J will begin.  We have worked so hard to achieve our dream, but with that excitement also comes anxiety, doubt, frustration, and just craziness.  As wonderful as this has all been I would be dishonest to say everything has been sunsets and fair seas.  

What are we doing?  

Why are we leaving everything behind? (specially those adorable grandsons)

What will it be like to not have a land home to come back to?  

Are we going to go through our life savings to accomplish this journey? 

Are our bodies going to hold out? 

Is everything going to be finished in time?  

Will something else breakdown?  

Are our friends and family going to support our decision? 

Yes all these questions and more are constantly going through our minds and the closer we get to casting off the lines the worse it seems to get.  Do all these doubts, questions, fears make us stop? Not so far.  But it does make for some sleepless nights, churning stomaches, headaches, etc.  The one thing that is consistent is when things seem to get the worst Mike and I will sit down and just have a long talk.  Honestly, sometimes those talks consist of tears, fears, frustration and some heated discussions, but in the end we are still on the same side and have the same goal.  

We know that we are blessed in so many ways and to be able to work together to achieve our dream has been life changing. (And we haven’t even left the dock, yet.) But the questions/concerns are still out there and we struggle with them on a daily basis.  In the boating world we have heard that the last couple of weeks before casting off for a journey like this can be the most stressful, for so many different reasons.   

So if you see us, hear from us, or talk to us and we seem a little stressed, know that our excitement outweighs the doubt and stress, it just may not always seem like it at the time.    We are both so thankful that we have the opportunity to make our dreams come true! 

24 hour turn around.

We left Tuesday morning and headed up to Sandusky to do some work on the Lady J.

 It was a beautiful sunny day, but oh that wind it was a blowing.  

Beautiful day for driving up Route 4, except for that crazy wind.

Our first task was to clean up the inside of the boat which surprisingly was not as in bad of shape as it was this time last year.  After the season anything and everything is stowed pretty much inside the boat, but since Mike had already been up here once this year, things where not in too bad of shape.  All we did is some dusting, sweeping and straightening up.  Then of course trying to find room for all the items we brought with us.

This is the view into the state room.  Bunks must be made up before we can sleep.

Supplies needed put away and our new cushions needed to be put in place.

Galley was in need of a little attention.

We hung the new curtains and brushed away all the winter cob webs.  It took us a little while to get all of this accomplished but afterwards she was back to her old self.  Sorry now pictures of the cleaned up version, those will come later.

 We ended the day with a quick bite to eat and enjoyed this beautiful night time sky.  What you can't tell from this picture is that by this time the wind was blowing about 30-40 miles an hour.  Yikes.  We spent the evening inside the boat praying the crazy wind didn't tip us over.  Although if ours went so would the other dozen or so boats that were stored right next to us.

We arose this morning to a little calmer wind but much cooler temperatures.  We went for a walk down to our dock and stopped for a bit to talk with Ed.  Ed I think is always the first to have his boat put in the water.  He lives on his boat from mid April until the end of the season in August. We think he is about in his 70's.  What a nice man.

Our pier is on the right and Ed's boat is the first one on the left of the pier.

After our walk we immediately started to work on putting the struts and propellors back on the Lady J.  Mike worked outside while I worked inside to get these things installed.  Luckily Mike was able to do this work and saved us a load of money.  Oh and did I mention the temperature at this point was about 37 degrees and it started to snow, yeah I said snow.  Ya just wanted to say "what the..."

Mike working with a floor jack to help him support the struts during installation.

I was lucky enough to be able to help him out by putting the lock washers and nuts on from the inside.

Lying on the floor was the easiest way to get to these bolts.

We were able to get this task accomplished pretty quickly.  We then headed over to the Marina's Service Department.  Yesterday one of the guys came over to let us know that the oven/stove combination we had ordered had been delivered.  We were so surprised that this arrived so quickly since we had only placed the order on Sunday.  Last year I used a stove top and a toaster oven to cook with and after our harrowing passage across Lake Erie I am sorry to say the toaster oven didn't make it.  So the Captain decided we needed a real oven/stove combination.  We hauled it over the top of the boat, remember it is in dry dock and the deck of the boat is 8 feet off the ground so it was a little bit of a challenge.  Mike went to install it and found out the appliance was about 1-3/4 inches to tall for our space.  Ugh!!!  But as always Mike figures out a way to make it work.  Picture will be forth coming as soon as the problem is solved.

After tackling the oven, Mike looks as me and says we are done with all our jobs and that there was no reason to stick around on the boat in 30 mile an hour winds and yes snow flakes.  So we packed it up and headed back to Columbus.

And it changes again...

Just when you think you have everything under control and a plan is set that old saying comes to bite you in the....well you know.  That saying " Man plans, God laughs".  Well it struck again.

This time I (first mate) have to take the blame for the oversight.  Mike went to pay the rent last week and give them our move out notice for the end of our lease.  Which I thought was July 10th, well I was wrong, yes I said it, I was wrong.  The apartment staff informed him that the actual date of the end of our lease is June 10th.  Uh oh!   So this changes our plans a great deal.  So now the schedule is as follows:




April 18th - 26th      Week of final fix-up, clean-up, put back together, etc. before launch.
May 7th                    Launch Day
May 8th                    Diesel Guy comes to pull the other fuel injection pump.  Hope it doesn't take to
                                 long to fix.                
May 24th                  Going Away Picnic at Brother Gary's
June 6th                    Move out from apartment up to boat.


After the 6th we aren't quite sure the specifics of our plans, I almost hate to even say anything for fear they will change again.  But no worries we are flexible.  We will either leave on the 7th (weather permitting) and I will accompany Mike across Lake Erie to the Canal or Mike and Jeff, a friend of ours, will do an overnighter and take the boat over then come back and take their boat over.  This way us wives don't have to cross Lake Erie.  We would then meet them in Buffalo, NY.  But as the saying goes

 "Man Plans, God Laughs".  

Dingy Build Pt 3

The seats have been finished, awaiting final epoxy coat and fiberglass taping to the sides.  The cut outs will provide access to the interior of the seats after installing hatches.  There is a center support on the middle seat that makes two separate sections.  The tape on the sides is marking the locations of the support blocks of the inwales ( inside rub rails).

I elected to add some storage space up front.  This is the frame work for the hatch and seat top.

Rough work done, awaiting taping and epoxy coating.

Hatch constructed and dry fitted.  I'll have a brass piano hinge on the front end and a latch at the back.

Gluing up the spacer blocks of the inwales.  It's tedious work, and the glue or epoxy needs to set up overnight for maximum strength.  Also visible behind the seat is the transom supports for the engine mount.  We'll be adding a 3 to 5 hp outboard eventually.

Also adding to the time is the limited number of clamps that I have to work with.

The right side inwales are completed, awaiting final sanding and trimming.  Left side blocks are gluing up.  Besides glue and epoxy, at each spacer I installed a 2 inch #10 stainless steel screw tying everything together.  Kind of a belt and suspender approach, but hell for stout!