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

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.  ...

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 letter...

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 ves...

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...