February 20th
I scratched an itch I've had for quite a while. I cleaned up around the boat, pulled all the junk I'd stored underneath it, and removed the saw horses etc. I cut off the one biggest offending plum tree limb, and trimmed back some bushes, and removed the gates at the driveway. Then I lifted up the tarp so I could drag the boat out and get a good looksee. Well I couldn't budge it just by pushing, so I had to back the truck in and drag it out. Then things got real interesting.
Confession:Way back when we turned the Jumbo and put it on the trailer it was very light, and so as I recall, I had maneuvered the trailer in close to the fence on the left side of the boat. It was sitting crooked in the driveway. I didn't pay attention to this fact as I started pulling it out the driveway. Did I mention that I have less than three inches clearance on either side of the boat? Well I got it hung up. Right wheel of the trailer went off the driveway and sunk into the rather water logged 1 foot strip of earth between the driveway and the house. I couldn't get the wheel to climb out of the new, wet ditch. To make a long story short, I got the trailer wedged in where I couldn't get it out or back in. Finally had to pull up the driveway fence post on the right side so I could drag the boat all the way out. I scraped the hell out of the house and a little of the boat, and bent the right fender of the trailer. Errrrr.
Oh well got the boat out and was able to walk around it and finally get a better idea of the scale of it and the cuddy and the wheelhouse. It looks good I think. I'm keeping the forward slanting windows and I'm keeping the tugboat roof. Only mine is bigger. I think it balances stuff out. I made a couple of pictures as the rain started yet again. Damn!! I have some newer wood parts that are not epoxy-fied. Crap... Rushed around, grabbed some tarps and flung them over the parts I was worried about. Then set about trying to figure out how to deal with getting the boat back in the driveway and under it's protective covering. Well, I can back up a trailer when I have a little more room, but I must say that I was miserable at trying to back it up with less than three inches on either side. Anyway, got a couple neighbors to help. We got it halfway down the driveway, and then had to push it the rest of the way beyond the damn plum tree. We all got soaking wet since the sky decided to just dump a bunch of water on us. These two neighbors were all dressed up and cologned and off to a party or something. I felt bad. Will donate my first Salmon of the year to these guys. Good folks they are.
Anyway put a fan on the boat to dry stuff out, and went inside and started monkeying with the pictures in Photoshop manipulating them by changing the wheelhouse to rear slanting windows, and changing the roof, and I just couldn't deal with anything but the forward slanting windows and tugboat roof. Can't help myself. Also decided to raise the roof at least to 6'2". The taller folks will appreciate it and us shorter ones will enjoy the huge head room. Turns out I know too many folks 6 feet or taller
Sanded like a crazy person just on the stern and splashwell. I faired the outside of the transom and have it pretty nice. But the inside of the splashwell is another thing. I've tapered the tape edges but some of the tape edges are still going to show. I just can't see spending another day or two sanding on that. Faired the tops of the battery boxes and am ready to glass them. Will also fillet the top edge of the battery boxes and side decks where they meet the transom.
I've changed my mind about the Bosch Sander. It does a pretty good job of sucking up dust, but it just doesn't have the umph I'd like, and it's still more buzzy than I'd like. Hands are worn out tonight. Kinda wish I'd gotten a larger Porter Cable barrel type sander or saved my bucks for one of those super fancy Fein Sanders with a better dust extraction system. The Makita Sander Polisher covers everything in epoxy dust, though it has the horsepower to do the job. I'm sure glad I have clean and fresh remote air. I have a massive amount of sanding left to do on the whole hull and am not looking forward to it. The Bosch is too slow and the Makita is too big and heavy for a lot of this sanding. What's a feller to do?
