Piper Down!

14 January 2012

Where have all the real men gone?  We found them at the Scottish Highland Games that are going on this weekend in Winter Springs!  An event we deemed worthy of missing a day’s work on the boat, we drove out to watch men in kilts play games and bagpipes, and of course to drink overpriced beer.  

Anyone who has ever been to one of these festivals knows how much fun they are.  We were so excited to first find out that it was free parking, and the short line to get in was even cooler.  But soon enough we found the line... it was at the beer tent where we ran into Ron.  As our new friend and history buff/tour guide, Ron spent the afternoon with us teaching us the Scottish history behind the games, foods and traditions.  

Over the course of the afternoon we watched bagpipers, drummers, Scottish country dancing, border collie/sheep demonstrations, a game of hurling, and a few different athletic events. 

Pipes & Drums

Clachneart is an event where big men carry big boulders (some twice my weight) around competing for the longest distance.  In the event of sheaf toss more big men use a pitch fork to hurl a 16 pound burlap bag full of straw over a bar for points.  While we were there the bar was at 30 feet straight up.  The caber toss, which was my personal favorite, is an event in which huge men pick up a pole 19 feet long and 130 pounds (think of picking up a telephone pole), get a running start and heave the pole ahead of them.  The judges rate the throw by its alignment and whether or not it flipped.  Now this is what I call real men!    

Hurling

The Caber Toss

The Caber Toss

We listened to a couple of bands play, and toward the end of the day Ron treated us to a round of meat pies, a traditional fare that neither one of us had tried before.  When the sun started going down along with the temperature we called it a day.  When he suggested playing hookie from boat work and avoiding the truant officer to go spend the day being nickeled and dimed for food and beer, I wasn’t sure if it sounded like a good time.  However we had an awesome time and missing boat work for the day was definitely worth it.

~ C

Rockin' on the Hammer

10 January 2012

Hammer Time on the Hammer

For our readers who are new to the blog, and as a reminder for our faithful followers, here is a flashback shot of what our boat used to look like, only a short year and a half ago. 

It is absolutely amazing the small things that make you so happy when you live on a boat, and especially when you have been “roughin’ it” (to put it mildly) for two and a half years.  So guess what we now have?  Cabin lights!  He wired and hooked us up for LED lights all through the boat, which I couldn’t be more excited about.  We are only wired for 12 volt and therefore to use anything AC we have had to run an extension cord (which was pretty much only a lamp and a dehumidifier).  Needless to say we were happy to get rid of our little desk lamp, which has been our only lighting on the boat since we have lived on it.

We finished up our floorboards yesterday.  We are really happy with their turnout; in our opinion they look beautiful.  We made them from heavy oak ply, using our trusty brown craft paper to make templates, and the tailgate of the truck to cut the wood.  

The head project has begun, and so far he has the frame built with intentions to be finished building it by Friday... YAY! A place to pee this weekend!

Last week we made a run to St. Augustine to sell our Aires Windvane from the old boat.  While we were there we met up for a quick drink with new friends, Frank and Yu aboard S/V Moitessier.  We drank beer, told stories and laughed too hard; that quick drink turned into several hours, and a good time was had by all.  They have a beautiful boat that they have put a lot of work into.  Check out their blog at:  http://sv-moitessier.blogspot.com

Once we are finished with the head, we will move on to resurrecting our Perkins Diesel.  The building of our anchor chain box and our hard dodger will follow the engine job.  After these projects we will wrap up the interior work with some shelves in the forward berth, and trim work to marry it all together.

~ C

I'm a Lumberjack and That's OK, I Sleep All Night and I Work All Day

4 January 2012

Although we are behind on our original schedule, we are still making progress with our interior work.  While we have been working on the interior, we have also been battling the condensation nightmare.  While most boats have this problem when the weather gets cold around the hatches, it is a much bigger issue on our boat because it is a steel boat. 

We have tried a few things to fix the moisture problem and to avoid mold and mildew.  We pulled all of our over head back down one by one, and coated the backs with a water, mildew and mold resistant paint.    We also added another 1/8 inch of insulation that covers the stringers before we replaced the overhead (our regular insulation sits between the stringers leaving them bare against the overhead).  A dehumidifier was the last measure we took.  We were hesitant to go this route because we are hoping that in the near future we will not be spending too much time at the dock where AC hookup is available.  A permanent fix is our goal rather than the temporary fix of the dehumidifier, but a permanent fix has yet to come to us. We broke down and got it, and it dried up the boat immediately.  However, the hunt for a long-term cure continues!


In the midst of this little headache, we have gotten a lot accomplished...


Cedar kickboards were put up in the saloon... what kind of saloon doesn't have cedar in it?

We replaced our floorboards on our table step under the saloon table with teak, and have turned this little bit of storage space into our liquor "closet".   

The galley is now equipped with a four foot long solid oak spice rack that he made last week.  That thing is amazing!  

I also now have oak shelves in the galley as well.  They aren't quite finished yet, but they are close enough that I couldn't wait one more minute to fill them up and free up some pantry space.

BEFORE SHELVES

THE GALLEY AFTER HER RECENT ADDITIONS

The pantry has a floor as of yesterday.  This is great for me because I don't have to stand on my tip toes on a cold rib to see the back of the top shelf anymore!  The dog has also taken to this space, claiming it as "his" room.  I suppose he prefers it because he is out of the way of feet.

We are currently in the middle of the flooring project.  I LOVE the look of oak and teak together, so we are doing the floor in oak, which contrasts with the teak of the table and the table step beautifully.  We have gotten the galley, chart table and forward berth floor finished, and are working on finishing up the saloon in the next couple of days (pictures this weekend).


Building the head will begin later this week once the floor project is complete, and then on to engine work and other smaller projects.

~ C

New Year, New Plan

1 January 2012

Happy New Year!  As a lot of you probably know, we are still in Florida.  Our to-do list has been slowed down a bit and it looks like we will be here for another month.  The best laid plans of mice and men...

As of now we are planning on taking the Hammer on a shake down cruise possibly as far north as South Carolina.  We are doing some research on towns and marinas to keep the boat for March through May.  When we were on the last boat we spent some time in Jacksonville FL, Beaufort, SC, and Charleston, SC and are considering all of these and the in-between places as possible suitable places to keep her for the Spring work season.  

In June we will resume our original plan of cutting the umbilical dock lines and make for some hardcore cruising.

Check back on Wednesday for pictures and updates of our progress on the boat.  Internet has been very scarce here; we are able to update when we are out making a hardware store or West Marine runs!  

-G

Gremlin Claws is Coming to Town

26 December 2011

Merry Christmas, everyone!  For our first Christmas actually spent on the boat I decided that it was time to finally try out the oven for the first time.  Of course we have been using the stove for the past year, but embarrassingly I have not even attempted the use of the oven.

  

Celebrating Sailor Jerry Eggnog and a cold Coors light

I admit that I was a little intimidated by a gas oven, but now that I have used it I wish that I had been using it all along- especially during the cold snap we had last winter (baking really heats up the boat).

Cooking the Turkey

Another first for me (don't laugh!) was cooking my first turkey!  Although I usually cook for us three meals a day on the boat, cooking is something I am learning and fumbling my way through.  I'm still no Better Crocker, but my turkey turned out really YUMMY, and so did everything else including the pumpkin pie I baked for dessert.  

My Prized First Turkey

Pumpkin Pie Fresh out the Oven

The Meal

Post Meal

We shared a little turkey with the doggie, so all three of us spent the afternoon fat and happy.  The evening was spent telling stories and having drinks on the dock with friends.

Taking a Post-Christmas Dinner Nap

We hope that everyone enjoyed a beautiful and relaxing Christmas day as well!

~ C

Holidays at the Hammer

20 December 2011

What an amazing holiday season we are having here at the Gremlin’s Hammer!  The weather is beautiful and warm, we are getting a lot done on our projects list, and we are really enjoying our free time with each other and the boat.   

RELAXING IN THE HAMMOCK WITH A COLD BEER

 Early on this past week we attempted to get our genoa on.  Unfortunately our furling track was a bit dinged and would not allow the sail to go all the way up.  The following day I winched him up the furler in a bos’ns chair with a Drimel, a cut-off wheel and a can of Sail Kote.  Within a half hour I let him down with the problem solved and we were able to get the sail up and on easily; both of our new sails are now on!

Gremlin’s Hammer is now officially federally documented- very exciting!  Our boat documentation numbers oak board came in the mail a couple weeks ago, and it is now mounted in the forward berth.  

The overhead paneling is finally complete.  The final step on the overhead project is trim work, which will be put on hold until our more important projects are checked off the list.  We have had a LOT of other boaters ask us about how we tackled our overhead project from start to finish.  Here is how and what we did:

1. Paint:  First we coated the bare steel with three coats of Devoe pre-prime and two part epoxy primer.
2. Insulation:  We used 3/4 inch sheets of insulation from Home Depot or Lowe’s.  We cut the sheets into strips, and fit the strips in between our stingers and ribs.  We used a combination of spray adhesive (medium sticks better than low stick, and doesn’t eat the foam away like high stick) and outdoor double sided tape.
3. Slats:  We measured four inches from each side of the ribs, and halfway between ribs and inserted slats in these places between the stringers.
4. Frames:  We had to build wood frames where stingers were not built, and where the overhead was uneven (hatches and coach top).
5. Templates:  We made templates of each section out of craft paper since we did not have any other patterns to go by.  Templates were made by measuring, cutting, fitting and adjusting the paper.
6. Paneling:  We used 1/8 inch white paneling from Home Depot.  The templates were traced out onto the paneling, and then we cut the panel board accordingly.  
7. Mounting:  We mounted the panels section by section, using the slats and the frames to screw the panels to the overhead.  
8. Trim:  We have not gotten this far yet, but we will be using a dark wood trim over the panel edges to bring it all together.

INSULATION AND TEMPLATE MAKING

PANELING IN PROGRESS

Our upcoming to-do’s include building our head, engine work, and some of the interior “pretty” work.  As of now it looks like we will be spending a little more time in Florida than we had hoped or expected, but with weather like this it is hard to complain!

AS PROMISED, HERE IS A PICTURE OF OUR SETTEE CUSHIONS

Hope that everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!  

~ C