Stuff

G'day Cal Privateers Shoo, I'm ill. I have the illness. It's all I think about now. My dreams, my wake time, my spare time, all times! Just about smack in the middle of the conversion from dreaming my life to living my dream. It's the sailing illness ... Arggh matees. I've purchased a 1965 Cal25 that one could say is basically a hull and deck with all wood (coring and furniture) rotten. But she sings to me. She wants to be taken out to the waves and wind again. When I'm in her working, she almost seems to purr to me. I can feel it. I've also purchased an ancient '75 Islander 30 that I think has seen it's last days and live in it with my Cal tied up next to me on the dock. I look out my port often to make sure my old Cal, "Shakedown" is still there. We had 2 boats on the dock sink from Wilma. One couple took off, vowing never to live on a boat again, the other guy is reworking his life onboard. I raised both vessels. Wilma was powerful here. Surges from both sides of the Keys (as she passed the winds changed directions) and wind. So now, I have a list. It grows more than it shrinks as I keep finding more stuff to repair/renovate/replace than actual projects completed. Being new to the sailing world, I find I spend more time reading and learning and practicing than I do on the actual project. But I sure do love her and my work on her. There's nothing like after all the sanding time and care spent on an old teak slatted door, reglueing and squaring it, then coating it with Cetol only to find you've followed the directions too liberally and have runs, waiting for it to cure, resanding and being careful, learning the art of painting and tipping with a brush, to come out with a very nice shinely protected from the elements door! This is practice on my Islander with Cetol so my Cal will be a pretty vessel. I may even sacrifice my Islander's furniture for my Cal but please don't tell her that. One of the vessels that sank from Wilma's wrath had window coverings (plastic stuff that sticks to windows with no adhesive) and since I raised her and the couple hauled ass, I was free to take anything I could salvage. I cleaned and salvaged some dvd's and this window covering stuff that I was told was a bit expensive. Since my current window coverings on my Islander are old towels, I figured I'd put this fake stained glass plastic stuff on them. She didn't like that. I guess I covered her eyes and she got pissed off. After work, on the day I carefully cut and placed the fake stained glass window coverings on the inside of the windows and threw out my browned by smoke towels, I came home to hear a static-like sound within before I opened my hatch. "What the f*^k's that?" I said to myself. "Damn". Upon opening the hatch, I found my floorboards covered in water. Instant movement like lightning to the water shutoff on the dock! Bilge pump overwhelmed, I put my back up into place and pumped her out. A rubber washer in the water valve of my sink on/off handle (dock pressure) had not split, but was pushed out by pressure on one side and was no longer seated properly. If I hadn't have had a short day at work and come home early, all my stuff would have been loss. All I keep in Shakedown, my Cal, is my current working on her needs. Everything is in my Islander. Sooooo, after pumping and cleaning up, I figured she didn't like that fake stained glass stuff on her eyes. I took it off and without waste of time, promptly carried it to the dumpster. As in a movie I had just watched, the color of "those we don't speak of", the coverings were disposed of and I put new clean white towels back up in the windows. She seems to like that and now I turn off the water whenever I'm not home. Okay, what about a friday departure. Bad luck? Last friday I noticed it was also the 13th. How does that work? If it's supposed to be bad luck for all and also we have the sailor's bad friday leaving thing, is it double bad for sailors or maybe they cancel each other out? I'm sticking with it's okay for a day sail on a friday but not to leave on a passage on a friday, 13th or not. Well, I've been rambling for a bit and Shakedown calls. Current project consists of the standard replacement of the deck core and the deck stepped mast support under the deck. Lots of scraping of what good plies of the wood are left. The rotten stuff comes off easily. Sorry for the post but figured I'd give a bit of my life to y'all that are also renovating dreams into life. No questions asked here but I should would love any help in any manner from you sailing renovators, especially on Cal25's. The owner's manual post started my thinking on this post. I need pictures of interiors for ideas on my renovation and any specs so I place my furniture in places to also accomodate structual needs. Following winds for all Peace Matt lo… [at] digitalsail.com 1965 Cal 25 #104 "Shakedown" being renewed