Snowbound No More

Hard to believe in mid-November that it's warmer here than Atlanta. I'd know, because I've spent the better part of the last two weeks in Georgia (and for good measure, a day in Reno). Why isn't really important.. what is important is that I'm happy to report that the garage is a comfy 75 degrees with the heater as the outside temp hit nearly 50 degrees here. That's convertible down and shorts weather. We're expected to be into the low 50's until Wednesday, then the floor will drop out from under us like a gallows. That means I have until Wednesday to get whatever epoxy down until next season.

As a reminder, I'm in Minnesota, yes, that one, the Great White North and the butt of many, many Fargo jokes, usually from people living in New York who think they live in some tropical oasis. In fact, when I was in Reno, one guy went on for a few moments about how cold Minnesota was, and I let him go for a bit. When he was done, I reminded him that it was warmer there than it was here (it was 37 degrees in Reno at the time). Some people need to look at their thermometers before dissing other weather patterns. And for the record, I'd much, MUCH rather live in Minnesota than Reno.

With that out of the way, I spent the better part of the afternoon destepping the mast from the Macgregor. Technically, it was already destepped. Removing it is more like it: jib, mast, boom, chainplates, and all. I'm taking the hull and trailer about an hour south of me to a town called Hastings. She'll sit on some guy's lawn until spring for $25 a month. Since I had to take the sails off for storage, and I'd like to rewire the mast for a mastlight and redo some of the running rigging, I stuffed everything in the garage next door. To my surprise, they barely fit. I thought there'd be plenty of room, which makes me think the boat probably wouldn't have fit in there.

The sail sat in my living room for a bit as it dried out. With fair warning about rodents from fellow PocketShip builder Chris, I'll have this stored with a few cats I'll recruit from the neighborhood. That's what I think he meant by keeping rodents away, I think.

Living room a loft as I spread out the Macgregor sail. The electric outboard sits above.

Once everything was stored, and the interior of the Macgregor cleaned for transit, I set to re-paint PocketShip's cabin. My original vision for the cabin color was an eggshell white, an offwhite that wouldn't be glaring, but still bright enough so the cozy cabin wouldn't feel like a cave. I thought I found that in "Snowbound," a cool white (meaning a slightly blue tint) that looked great in the showroom but blinding in the garage. I knew I was in trouble when my wife saw the finished paint job and asked if I actually painted, since it wasn't much different from the primer. Admittedly, it was a few levels of white higher than I wanted, but another gallon of paint would cost $50 and Snowbound, though bright, went on great. So I firmly resisted the color change and all the work that would have to go with it, such as taking out the installed conduit and bilge pump. I wasn't going to repaint, no sir..

But then I realized I'd painted over the spot where the pendant sheave needs to go on the centerboard trunk, meaning I'd have to sand the paint off to find it. When I did that, I noticed that the original kit-drilled hole was too small, so I drilled a slightly bigger hole for the bolt I'm installing so I could epoxy that back over and have a nice protective ring of epoxy around the bolt. (Note to new builders: I'd recommend expanding that hole size another 1/8" or so to fit the sheave bolt. Fill it with epoxy as normal.) That means I repainted the entire cabin because I had an unpainted spot about the size of a postage stamp. But it would be Snowbound no more!

The offending pendant sheave hole which caused the whole thing to get a facelift.

This time, I knew better how to pick the color. With Snowbound, I erred on the side of bright. For this, I erred on the side of dark. I settled on "Choice Cream" and as it went on, I knew instantly I made the right choice. Whereas before, the white was so blinding I felt like I was back in the office in Minnesota, this looks like I'm swimming in butter. I'll probably hate it after a year but for now, it's a lot better than it was before. And since the original paint basically acted like a primer, I didn't have to do any prep except for a little sanding here and there.

Overhead view of the first coat of the "cream". Much softer than before. The original color is along the top of bulkhead 2, which I didn't repaint as I shouldn't have painted it the first time..

The bilge pump outlet (right) and electrical conduit signed, sealed, and delivered on bulkhead 8. The wire is a RAM3 (VHF radio extension) that will run from the starboard locker to the storage locker in the cabin. Sealed with epoxy.

Finished dashboard with trim. I left this Snowbound so as not to risk painting the trim. Figure it'll stand out nicely.

I put on the first coat of cream and just finished the second coat. Snowbound the color will likely wind up in the cockpit, though I'm a little nervous about it being too bright underway, so I'll test it come spring. I'd hoped to be further along, but I've given up on a timetable. These extra days are bonus. They're certainly warm enough to work; the weather will cooperate through mid-week. And with the garage in the 70's, who knows how far I'll get before I really need to shut down for the season.