New Year's Resolve

Thankfully the rain has stopped for a while.  We pulled Lil' Wheels out of the water and dried her off!  She is none the worse for wear!  We are working on her mast, boom, and standing rigging.  Her dinghy-days are numbered and we are looking forward to day-sailing days!

We've been posting for a whole year now.  Things have been winding down in boat-land.  The big repairs are done and now it is just maintenance...sanding, repainting, refinishing, blah blah blah.  And, quite frankly, I wonder if it is enough to sustain a blog.

Life marches on.  Happy New Year!  2011 will be a great year!
What new resolutions lie ahead?

Winter Storm - Lil Wheels is down!

About a week ago, the First Mate said we should take Lil' Wheels out of the water with the storms coming. The Captain should have deferred to the First mate for the this one. 

It

has been raining for 36 hours straight.  We think 9 inches of rain have fallen.  Needless to say, no refinishing, painting, polishing, or cleaning will be done.

Lil Wheels gets a Mast-lift

Lil Wheels got a facelift this week--or shall I say mast-lift!  The masts were completely sanded down, wood fill applied, more sanding down, and then finally a new coat of varnish applied.  Just 5 more coats to go . . . .

Lil' Wheels is NOT a Sabot; She's an EL TORO!

Last time we went to the Yacht Club, a wise old sailor told us that we owned an El Toro, not a Sabot.  We gave her a description of our dinghy and she said that for sure it was not a Sabot.  When we came home we looked up google images of Sabots and Toros and she is right.  Lil' Wheels is an El Toro. 

Today, we got out Lil' Wheels and put her together!  She is going to be a fun little daysailor.  We have a little work to do on the mast and boom.  I put a patch on the sail courtesy of Slo Sails.  My friend and I hope to have her on that water by the time that Captain comes back.  We will have lots more sanding to do.  I have to buy some cleats at the hardware store.  Then we will apply 4-5 coats of marine gloss, sanding in between coats.

Stay tuned.

Fourth of July Regalia and Lil' Wheels Debut Voyage

We finished the work on Lil' Wheels just in time for the Fourth!  The wheel project came out perfect!

The wheel project was born out of an article from Good Old Boat Magazine.  This was really the first time I worked with resin and I discovered the value of using molds.  As the picture in a previous post shows, working with the resin to shape the keel's wheelwell required a lot of filler and was still very bumpy.

I had to do a lot of sanding, shaping, repeated reapplications of resin in order to get an "acceptable" outcome.  In hindsight, I think that making a resin mold would have produced a far superior end result. 

 I do have a couple of things to fix on Lil Wheels already. There is a small leak somewhere in the centerboard slot that will need to sealed. We also ripped out one of the oar locks on a bathroom run to shore during the BBQ. The work is never done. The fireworks barge!  LOVE IT!The starboard side oarlock broke off!

Lil' Wheels Rehab Project

Lil' Wheels is coming into her own! 

A Little Lovin' for Lil'Wheels

We painted the interior with topside white.  It is glaringly white.  We have doubts about this choice, but we'll go with it for a while and see if it doesn't fade with time. (Does white fade?  Actually, I think it does with oxidation.)The Captain found an idea for a wheel on the back of a dinghy in Good Old Boat.  We are attempting to add this feature.  It still requires some work with fiberglass resin to make it seamless with the original keel.  In hindsight, making a resin mold would have been better than shaping it in place.  We'll post our final results soon!