Now I seek my own volunteer crew or even better... my permanent sailing companion

Over the weeks I’d gotten to know a few of the sailors near to my boat.  I’d even begun to join the happy hour gathering a couple boats away.  One couple that launched a few days ago is from Kodiak Island, Alaska.  They have built quite the off grid homestead up there.  It all began about 20 years ago I guess.  A huge garden with hoop green house and a ton of fruit trees.  Apple trees of course but also plums, apricots, cherries and more.  A small hydropower system on a creek is is their primary source of electricity.  Anyway they bought a catamaran on eBay here at the boatyard and worked on it 3 winters before the current plan of...continuing the work but also getting it in the water for a bit of sailing.  Another guy next to me used to be harbor patrol on Catalina Island at Two Harbors for many years.  Two other sailors at the boatyard had also done that work in the past.  One lived on her 30’ sailboat when working there.   Another neighbor just 10’ away is in the slings ready for a

Well, I have now been here one month...arriving December 9.  After I determined the ‘leaking’ water tank isn’t actually leaking?  Or so it appeared and I’ve yet to take the floor access panels up to have a look roughly 3 weeks after discovering it’s not really leaking, at least not enough to be a concern.  Soon I will have a look.  Next I removed the boat name vinyl lettering and prepped and painted the areas on either side of the bow and discovered I’d made a mistake not to bring enough yacht enamel to do the whole hull toe rail to bottom paint. Then I heard about a woman in Tucson who has various boaters needing boat stuff send it to her and she brings it down.  I’ve ordered a gallon of primer/undercoat and two gallons of yacht enamel and a few other things.  2 packages have been deliver a third might not get there before her next trip down.  That’s ok as I might also order a quart or so of a colored yacht enamel I recently discovered.  Epifanes makes a yacht enamel in quite an

On December 25... I noticed a posting in the bathroom.  There was to be a pot luck Christmas gathering in the boatyard.  I decided to go.  I made a salad which was popular and completely consumed.  I also brought a bottle of wine...one of several that had come with the boat purchase.  Those who know me know I’m not much of an alcohol drinker.  Wasn’t sure if the wine might have gone bad but it tasted quite good...I drank enough to know it.  Anyway there were about 20 people there.  It was mostly couples, one family with baby, a far amount of single men...no single women.  It was fun to get to know some other people with sailboats.  I think about half of the total number of people currently here working on their boat were there.? After one nice day...yesterday...it’s again raining today

The weather had been incredible my first 14 days here in Guaymas.  Highs in the mid 70’s and lows in the mid 50’s even upper 40’s.  So 2 weeks of no rain and lovely temps.  Yesterday, Christmas Eve, it rained a bit pre-dawn and I closed the side ports and hatch.  Then it rained quite hard all morning with varying intensity and while it brightened in the afternoon, light showers continued.  Now on Christmas Day it is still raining off and on... postponing the drying out I had hoped for.  The entire boatyard is unpaved ...just kind of a dusty dirt.  So it’s mud 2” deep all over, a bit less in the areas cars drive and compact the earth.  I ventured out once yesterday to empty my pee bottle and use the toilet.  I also surveyed my work area.. the tarps I put up we’re mainly for shade but certainly helpful in keeping my supplies dry.  Some things got wet mostly hand tools but I’d put another tarp over my boxes of boat project supplies.  I had worn just my flip flops and it was a task to cle

Boat names are tricky.  I had looked at several boats I’d not have changed the name of and some that I definitely would.  FREEDOM RIDER IV was a name that needed changing.  Anyway I decided on OFFLANDER.  I can live with that even though REEFER GLADNESS received the most votes when I posted about my boat name considerations. I’ve begun to remove the old boat name letters and prepare the hull for the new boat name letters.  Coast Guard regulations require the boats name and home port be in characters at least 4” high. Obviously the old home port ‘San Fransisco CA’ was not.  It measured only about 2.5” high. The rub rail and decorative blue strip made it difficult to add 4” home port under boat name. I’ve decided to just put the boat’s name on each side of the bow but will add the boats name and home port ‘Duluth MN’ on the stern and it will wrap around the pointed stern of my double elder. I researched ‘how to remove vinyl lettering from boats’ and found 3 m

Now that I’ve discovered my tank apparently does not leak to any bothersome degree, I can get more into projects.  Actually I’ve begun a few projects as I was incrementally filling and checking for leaks of the water tank. I’ve finished restoration, cleaning and applying teak oil to the two teak cockpit floor panels.  I also cleaned the cockpit floor under them and tested the 4 cockpit floor drains.  Both to see which thru-hulls they drain to and to check for any leaking into the boat possibly contributing to the suspicion of the tank leaking.  All seems good, no interior leaks were found.  Eventually I’ll clean, restore and oil the teak cockpit seats.  This must be done in place and only one side at a time so the companionway is accessible.  Perhaps I’ll do the cockpit seats in conjunction with revarnishing the floor of the aft cabin and head.  I’ll set up my tent and sleep there a few nights. I also screwed in place the vessel’s coast guard documentation number

I’ve not used this blog since my posting about the purchase process of the Fantasia 35,  back in March.  It was the discovery of the supposedly leaking water tank that caused me to stop..  I’d done plenty of research on what can be done to patch a leaking freshwater tank on a sailboat.  In the instance of my particular model with the large stainless steel tank under the floor, spanning the width of the boat or at least extending under the cabinetry and the multiple baffles to control shifting water in the tank..none of the methods I discovered would work.  Anyway, now the boat is on the hard so absolutely no confusion of seawater entering via the stuffing box etc.  Toward the end of my first full day here, I put the water sanitizing system in place and began to fill the tank incrementally.  It would make the most sense the leak would be on the bottom if it’s related to corrosion which is generally the case.  I filled it to about 3” deep and marked the level on

It’s so odd I ended up in the purchase process on a sailboat in La Paz, Mexico.  As usual since 2012 I was to spend the coldest part of winter somewhere warmer.  With my focus on potentially buying a sailboat this winter, I decided not to seek a volunteer crewing gig or take friends Dave and Amy up on their offer to join them aboard their sailboat Discovery.  This fall I had backed out of my ‘offer to purchase’ on an Islander Freeport 36’ in Rio Dulce late September into October.  Then I came so close to a mutually agreed price on a well equipped Tayana 37 on Antigua in the eastern Caribbean.  The seller ended up having second thoughts after congratulations from the broker of my latest offer’s acceptance.  Then I shifted my focus to another Tayana 37 sitting in Venezuala.  The plan was to head to Costa Rica, which I did in early December and eventually head down into Panama and fly to Venezuala to meet the owner at his boat.  That boat’s owner, who is Austrian, had a health issue forc

I’m going to write in my blog again, long long after taking a break as I just wasn’t feeling like doing the blog..  I will date them as they happened.. not as I write them. I arrived to Finca Bella Vista on January 3, 2019, having taken the bus from Uvita.  I had reserved a couple nights for a property tour as well as signed up for 3 weeks as a volunteer.  I wanted to spend more time there to get a feel for the place since I’m considering buying an existing treehouse or a lot and building my own.  The idea was to buy a rental property for more income while I’m living most of the year on a sailboat as well as provide an alternative place to live..  Eventually full time when I decide not to sail anymore. Finca Bella Vista is a realestate development that began in 2006 when the co-founders heard about a 62 or 92 acre (not sure which) that was up for sale to be clear cut.  It was primary rain forest in Cost Rica’s southern zone.  They decided to contact some friends and were able to b