Missing the SEA...

One of the things I have come to realize in the last 4 or so years of my life is how much I enjoy the ocean, it took an amazing trip with friends to Greece and the help of a very nice albeit pain in my ass girl to help teach me that. The combination of such things has been in part the impetus for building my own boat. However, you may have noticed that SEA was in all caps. The title of this post is in fact not about the ocean, but about Seattle. A place I visited for the first time last weekend and have to be honest I kind of fell in love with it. There are many reasons for this, but at the top of that list are the fact that some amazing mountains (Mt. Rainier) and the ocean (Puget Sound) are literally within minutes of downtown. I have a few commitments to attend to over the next few months but upon completion of my boat (and my lease) I may very well pack up and get the hell out of Boston. I'm sick of the crappy winters and crappier skiing anyway. Oh, and the other reason in case you were wondering is that the moment I landed in Seattle all of my problems in Boston seemed as far away as they actually were. Of course, the time I had while I was there helped... as did the hot cougar... but that's another story. ;)

Lots of pics to share today too!

So working from top to bottom, this is looking down into the bow compartment of the lower hull. You'll notice the strips of heavier fiberglass fabric backing up the bow stem and seams just in case I decide to ram someone I don't like out on the water. This compartment will soon get painted, filled with flotation foam and sealed off ne'r to be seen again (hopefully). Next you can see the stern and following that the bow of the boat. The discolorations are just epoxy filling the holes and gaps from stitching the boat together. They've since been sanded down nice and smooth. And the last two photos are the entire lower hull after fiberglassing was completed on the interior. This was a major pain in the ass and I'm glad it's done. I have since almost completed sanding the entire interior including feathering all the edges of the fiberglass perfectly smooth. Since they are the interior of the cuddy where I'll be sleeping I wanted this area to look as perfect as possible.

Over the next few days I plan to go purchase the interior floor decking and am still undecided as to what type of wood to use. My first choice is Lacewood because of it's distinct grain, shimmering qualities, and because I built my thesis project out of it. That is this weekend's project along with finishing the sanding, priming, and painting the entire interior of the boat. The progress is palpable!

I'm thirsty.

I'm Joining the LDS (sort of)

So, the lower hull has essentially been built. The filleting is done albeit messily, but I have come up with an ingenious way of sanding down all the fillets and corners to a smooth and perfect finish. A Dremel tool with a couple of flap wheel sanding bits. It produces a LOT of dust, so much so that I think my respirator is now saturated and I need new filters (it's not a good thing when your throat feels dry after sanding). As a matter of fact I think it's actually quite toxic. Whatever, my liver will give out far before the rest of me. The upside is my fillets are nice and smooth and I can begin glassing the interior hull. The enclosed picture shows what the in progress glassing looks like. Essentially, I'm saturating the fiberglass cloth with epoxy to the bottom of the hull and the bulkhead all the while keeping the fabric perfectly smooth along every surface. This is actually not as hard as it sounds. If you start in the center of an edge of the fabric and work your way from there progressively the fabric smooths out pretty easily. I'm about half done so far. Hopefully by midweek next week when I leave for Seattle I'll be done all of the coats of interior epoxy and ready to fit the floorboards upon my return. Here's the picture:

On another note: does anyone know if it's worth trying to be friends with an ex? That's a hell of a topic change I realize but I have been toiling for the last month if it's worth doing. Obviously I still care for her (I wouldn't be bitching otherwise now would I?) but I always feel horrible after talking to her no matter how the conversation went. I suppose I shouldn't complain, I wanted to break up with her first (shortly after we got together in fact) and in the end I did get exactly what I wanted. I just didn't plan to actually end up having long lasting feelings for her. My fault I suppose for being a misogynistic hopeless romantic. It always amuses me when someone says that love is supposed to be easy. Is it ever? Anything worth doing is never easy. So then why fall in love and stay with one person if it's supposed to be easy?

I should've been a Mormon (for the polygamy, not the no drinking) Ok, I should've been a jack mormon...

I Hate Filleting

Filleting is one of the most miserable experiences I have ever had in my life. I might even be willing to put it on par with having to carry on a civil conversation with an ex. You always start out thinking it will be nice and neat, but it always ends up messy. Always. So you might as well just do it drunk, make the mess, and worry about clean up later.

Speaking of clean up, does anyone have a good suggestion for sanding corners? Especially the acute angled corners along the bulkheads? I am not looking forward to this. I haven't taken any pictures of the fillets themselves yet, they're too abominable to show anyone as of yet. They are very functional, just ugly. I plan to finish the filleting and start glassing the bottom of the boat this week. Hopefully I can get a fair amount done because the weather seems like it will be fairly warm all week.

More to follow soon...

In Search of Natural Entropy...

So, with one of the last few naturally occurring entropic days of the year I decided to take advantage and "tack weld" the boat together using the "fast" hardener in my epoxy mix rather than the "slow" hardener I had been using until now. First off, the faster stuff is awesome. Granted it is slightly more manageable due to lower temps but I like knowing that my chemical reactions are occurring at a pace where I can see the immediate results. (Patience has never been a strong suit of mine) The other reason I like it so much is that it is slightly more reliable at the lower ambient temperatures I will sadly be experiencing over the next 6 months. I am hoping this will not have a catastrophic effect upon completion of the boat. Thoughts? I have included a pic below that shows the entire lower hull assembled and ready for filleting. I have already done the tack welding step and will complete the fillets over the weekend. I'll be honest, I am absolutely petrified of removing the wire stitches tomorrow once the tack welds have cured. I keep having the horrific reoccurring waking dream where the entire boat and all it's seams pop apart just as the last wire stitch is removed. I made sure the fillets at the bow were extra wide just to assuage any fears of mine. They have not been assuaged as of yet.

On a more personal note, I am thinking of getting a puppy. I'm leaning towards a beagle but I'm still torn over whether or not I will have enough time to properly care for it. The biggest reason I want one is so I can have a companion while sailing and just in general. My friends that live around here don't really give a shit, and frankly a dog will be about a 1000 times more loyal than a girl. I could make a witty comment now about how women and entropy could be equated but I will save that for a night when I'm feeling a little more bitter... Chicks blow...

Now... back to my delicious Chocolate Stout!

My Apologies

Sorry to all my fan(s) who have been waiting patiently for updates on the boat building progress. I'm fairly certain only one person reads this, or at least he is the only one who mentions reading it! Well, rest assured just because I haven't been updating this blog it does not mean I haven't been making progress. I had to wait for my landlord to move some snowplow blades out of the garage about a week ago but in that week the progress has been significant. I gotta be honest I don't really have anything exciting to say about life other than I am wholly disappointed in the attractive lesbian that I know after having met her girlfriend for the first time. I mean, it's cool that they're lesbians and all, but that doesn't mean the girlfriend has to be an anti-social bitch. I mean, she wasn't a butch lesbian or anything so in theory she could still be cool. I guess I'm just pissed off that an attractive blonde girl is going to waste by dating an annoying anti-social chick. I feel as though the blonde is still capable of being saved...

Anyway, onto the boat. So once the snowplow blades were moved out of the garage I put the cradle together and immediately began assembling the bottom of the hull. After more than a few puncture wounds and scratches, along with some spilled DNA, the hull began to take shape. The most interesting part of putting together a boat hull is stitching together the tip of the bow; this is done using your hands to tighten the wires while squeezing the panels together with your inner thighs. Needless to say, I have a large quantity of scratches and bruises on my inner thighs. Not really the place I expected to injure myself in this process. Now that the hull is together there are sharp pieces of heavy gauge wire protruding all over the place on the boat. My ultimate fear is that I will catch one of these wires in the eye while crawling underneath the boat.

That being said I am doing my best to haul ass and get all the bulkheads in as soon as possible so I can low down all the epoxy fillets this week while the weather is warm for one last time. Yup, that's about it for now. Enjoy the pics...

Been Busy....

Ok ok ok, first off my apologies for not posting something more recently. I have been rather busy with work b/c apparently for no apparent reason the beer industry gets quite busy this time of year. I have absolutely no idea why. The other reason for a lack of blog posts recently is that there has not been much progress on the boat worthy of any pictures. This is not to say there hasn't been progress but still. As you can see by the photo above I have taken the time to cut out most of the bulkheads including the most complicated one you see above. I also have the cradle constructed and I am just about ready to begin assembling the hull. Then the real pictorial progress will begin! Sadly, after this weekend I will be even more busy with work. But the upside is my busy weekends will involve Octoberfests in Boston and Vermont. (read: lots of work buts lots of drinking) and some extra pay for working the festivals. Oh darn.

Other than that not much else exciting going on in my life. At least nothing more than having money extorted from me, but that's a story for when I care enough to bitch about it more. I should probably care about that one more but nothing that people do surprises me anymore. I suppose it's a good thing to be cynical sometimes. At least you're never disappointed in people when you're expectations are already at the bottom of the barrel.

I need a drink.

I Think I Might Have Lead Poisoning

So, I have accomplished quite a bit recently. Including casting the lead ingot into the centerboard and ballast into the keel. I sourced my lead by visiting the shadier (i.e. non-corporate) tire dealers in the local area. The funny thing is I didn't have to pay for it at all! Of course I did barter for it, but beer is a powerful bartering tool ;) Oh beer, what can't you do?

So, used my tiny but uber-powerful backpacking stove and a small old pan with a spout to melt down the lead, and a slotted spoon to remove the steel clips from the tire weights once melted. A pretty simple process actually. That backpacker stove melted the lead in a matter of a couple minutes! It also smoked profusely whilst burning off all the dirt and such, and I'm sure it smelled bad (I couldn't smell it seeing as I had a respirator on) But it does make me slightly concerned seeing as that I have several neighbors in close proximity to my house (think in terms of feet) and they all seem to be old people or small children. Whatever, I'll chalk it up to having slight sociopathic tendencies.

The other part of melted lead which caused me concern was that I decided I ought to learn what the potential symptoms of lead poisoning are just in case I notice myself acting strange. I have listed them below for your convenience:

Behavioral symptoms in adults

• Irritability
• Unexplained changes in mood or personality
• Changes in sleep patterns
• Inability to concentrate
• Memory loss

Neurological symptoms (caused by effects of lead on the nervous system)

• Poor coordination
• Weakness in hands and feet
• Headaches
• Seizures
• Paralysis
• Coma

So now I know. The problem is that each and every one of these symptoms can quite readily be found in my normal course of life anyway. (Ok, maybe not the last three... but if I ever experience those symptoms I'm kinda fucked regardless) As for the rest, based on my current social life and my propensity to consume large quantities of alcohol... I may already have lead poisoning. I'll let you know if I experience any of those final three symptoms... if I can. ;) (Or worse, you will see an abrupt end to this blog if any of my neighbors have these symptoms, oops)

Anyway, back to the boat. The centerboard ingot was cast and I have begun glassing it. And finally, you can see almost the entire keel assembled. (It looks like part of a boat at least, right?) It's only missing the aft lead ballast and the keelson. Hopefully I can get that finished by the time I head to NYC for Labor Daybor... After the weekend it's on to the big time, I have to build the cradle and start scarfing the hull panels together. Then the boat will really begin to take shape!