While She is in the Shop … Doors

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A bit more in the nip and tuck department.

It makes sense to try and get as much done as we can while the boat is under Native Brightworks nice big cover. The interior faces of the cabin doors have suffered from exposure to the elements, wear, and time. Might as well go ahead and have them repaired.

Mike Thomas from Thomas Marine Interiors is going to whisk them away to his shop, work his magic, and bring back something shiny and nice. You may remember Mike from the exciting episode titled Restoring Our Teak Decks. The age of Archimedes combined with all the wood on the boat means there are lots of opportunities for Mike.

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Varnish Off, Varnish On – Part 1

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She’s 35 years old this year. Like an aging movie star, it is time to take a short sabbatical for a little nip, tuck, and polish. For the next month or so, Archimedes has checked in to  Native Brightworks on Lake Union for some desperately needed brightwork work.

As you can see from the following “before” photos, it is definitely time. This is what most of the cap rail looks like.

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Almost Alone at Blake Island

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With the boat headed for a month or so of downtime, we though it best to hop over to Blake Island for the weekend. This being February, and with a bit of a chill in the air, other boats were scarce.

On the upside, no waiting at the locks. The sailboat ahead of us was kind enough to do the waiting for us.

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Seattle Boat Show This Weekend!

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We are headed for the Seattle Boat Show this weekend. It’s always a nice time wandering the isles looking at all the stuff we don’t really need and probably can’t afford. But it is still fun looking. Mostly, I like crawling around on boats.

`What?’ cried the Rat, open-mouthed: `Never been in a–you never–well I–what have you been doing, then?’

`Is it so nice as all that?’ asked the Mole shyly, though he was quite prepared to believe it as he leant back in his seat and surveyed the cushions, the oars, the rowlocks, and all the fascinating fittings, and felt the boat sway lightly under him. Continue reading →

Restoring our teak decks

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Some people love teak decks, some people hate them. We are firmly in the first group. To me, real, seaworthy boats have teak decks. But I understand why others, faced with a significant cost of repair, choose to pull the decks off and go with non-skid fiberglass. Lower cost, and lower maintenance in the years to come. I’ll admit that could be us in a few years.

It started small. Like most repair projects. A few open seams in the deck caulking, a few exposed screw heads. With winter approaching, it seemed prudent to address these little issues now. We just need to fix this little spot here, that little spot there. And like most projects, it grew. And then grew some more. In the end, we just about did it all. I suppose I should correct that last statement. We (Kim and I) didn’t actually do any of it. Mike Thomas of Thomas Marine Interiors did all the real work.

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Alas, Poor Windlass

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Thirty four years ago, the Ideal Windlass Company manufactured a nice little windlass. Serial number 937. Since that time, that little windlass has been dutifully serving it’s masters on the bow of our boat. Last month, it finally decided to go on strike and refused to do the job it had been conscripted to do. It would pay out chain nicely when anchoring, but was just too tired to pull it all back in again.

Ideal claims that parts are available for 99% of their products manufactured since 1940. (I doubt most companies could make that claim about their products.) An email exchange with Ideal proved them right — at least for the part we needed. A quick call to Ideal when we got back from our trip and the exact replacement motor for our 34 year old windlass was on it’s way to us.

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