5.18.04 Tuesday
Ariel splashed on a rainy Friday afternoon last week - and she's floating! Beyond that, she started right up despite all the work I'd done on the fuel system. I was also happy to see that there aren't any cooling system leaks either - again, despite the fact that I had practically all of the cooling system apart over the winter. We did have to deal with some air trapped in the cooling system and, we think, a stuck thermostat. The engine was running a bit hot, but after leaving the caps off the header tank and expansion tank the system finally burped as the thermostat popped open and allowed coolant to flow through the engine.

Our post-launch fun was interrupted when a couple who had just launched before us, and happened to still be tied up at the fuel dock, arrived and discovered that their boat had two feet of water in the cabin. My dad and I dropped what we were doing and went over to take a look, thinking that the wife must be exaggerating. There was little doubt about the seriousness of the situation when the owner lifted an engine access cover in the cockpit and revealed a semi-submerged engine and completely tanked transmission. With no idea of where the water was coming from, a lone electric bilge pump - his manual bilge pump wasn't working - and no shore power, it was questionable whether he would be able to pump water out faster than it was coming in or have enough power, so my dad and I grabbed two 5-gallon buckets and began bailing while the owner ran to the local home improvement store to pick up a heavy-duty pump. By the time he'd returned, we'd made pretty good progress and there were only a few inches of water covering the sole. We hooked up his new pump and dropped it in the bilge to finish up.

As it turned out, the gasket on his raw water strainer was dry and cracked, allowing a substantial amount of water to flow into the boat. Lessons learned? 1) Close ALL seacocks on launch - which we do; 2) Be there when your boat is launched - nobody cares about her as much as you do; 3) Ensure that your manual bilge pump is functioning - when you need it, you NEED it; 4) Invest in a spare manual bilge pump that is mounted on a board - two pumps are better than one, and you might just need the added portability; 5) Never assume that things are okay, check and recheck - the owner was thinking about checking on the boat in the morning, rather than coming down that evening to see if the marina guys had done a good job. Had he done that, his boat would have been on the bottom.

Now that Ariel is in the water we've been finishing up the teak (and the bowsprit) and getting on a few coats of Cetol Light. In fact, we just finished the toe rail, bowsprit, and rub rail yesterday evening. Things are looking good and she's coming along.

5.7.04 Friday
It has been far too long since I’ve posted an update! I was gone to D.C. for a week on our school’s annual Educational Tour, and prior to that I was busy getting my plans for the week together. I managed to sneak in a few hours of work on Ariel, but progress was slow. I finished up the bootstripe – well, almost, I’m still finishing off the forward end at the sheer line – and it looks quite good. I did cut one corner and apply a third coat of paint before the recommended 16 hours of dry time had elapsed. As a result, the final coat doesn’t have the mirror finish of the previous two. However, it still looks pretty good.

As far as the other things I’ve accomplished, I can’t remember when I did what so I’ll just rattle off a brief overview. Today I insulated the radar cable in the mast with pipe insulation. It took a bit of doing to get the insulation to slide past bolts and other hardware that protrude inside the mast, creating a dozen or so potential snags. I spent part of yesterday afternoon preparing the mast for the insulation by pulling out the few pieces of old material that were still kicking around in there and cleaning out an old bird nest that was wedged about 10 feet from the foot. It took me over an hour, using a long piece of PVC pipe and a garden hose, to finally dislodge the sucker. I still need to insulate the VHF cable.

Some time this week I also managed to scuff the bottom and get a fresh coat of bottom paint on. So now she’s got a newly painted bottom and she’s closer to being ready for the plunge!

Yesterday I also used nearly a whole tube of LifeCaulk to seal about the mess I made of the bowsprit. I was able to inject polysulfide between the sprit and deck, plus I made a nice angled bead to finish up, so I’m hopeful that things should be adequately sealed. I still need to reinstall the bolts and bungs.

We’re scheduled to have the mast stepped next Thursday then launch on Friday. Bring it on!

4.18.04 Sunday
The cover is off! Today was a beautiful spring day, complete with blue sky, sunshine (I even managed to get a hint of sunburn), a pleasant breeze, and a yard full of sailors getting their boats ready for launch. Unfortunately we’re not ready yet. We’re getting there, though. A couple of days ago I cleaned the scum line along Ariel’s waterline. I used ON/Off to remove all of the scum above the bootstripe, but it wouldn’t work on the scum caked all over the stripe. After a bit of scrubbing, I decided I’d rather spend the time doing something that we’d planned to do, so I went ahead and began raising the bootstripe – figuring I’d just sand the scum off prior to covering the old bootstripe location with bottom paint. I used 2” masking tape to follow the upper edge of the current bootstripe, then ran 1” masking tape along the top edge of that. I then removed the 2” tape, exposing the new bootstripe location. Of course everything needed a good sanding – the new location and the old bootstripe. Using a 2” roller, I applied a coat of Interlux’s bootstriping (Brightside Polyurethane) paint. I’ll have to add about two more coats this week since you’re supposed to allow 12 hours of dry time, way too long to get more than one coat on in a day. So far things are looking very nice. I’m impressed with the smooth glossy finish I’m getting with just a foam roller.

I also spent some time today cleaning the bilge and engine compartment in preparation for Bilgekote. It took a fair amount of time to reach into the recesses of the bilge and give everything a good scrubbing. I’m sure I missed some spots, but I won’t be able to reach those spots for painting either so I guess it’s okay.

I took a bit of a trip Friday. For better or for worse, we now own a CD10. I found it on Ebay and my dad and I decided it might be neat to have a CD tender to complement Ariel’s lines – and visa versa. I left home at 5 am on Friday and headed to Stillwater, PA – about 9 hours away according to Yahoo Maps. The drive was long and mostly uneventful. I arrived in Stillwater around 4 pm, loaded up the tender, and headed home. Talk about madness! I wasn’t sure how I was going to do, but the trip home went pretty well. I had to make a couple of stops to add a few more ropes to the dinghy, eat, and get gas (3 times!). I took advantage of the stops to get some coffee and move around. I finally made it back to St. Joseph at 5:30 Saturday morning after nearly 24 hours of driving.

So what’s the tender like? Rough. The gelcoat is badly crazed and cracked, the outer rub rail is missing on both sides, and there appears to be some water in the skeg. Another winter project! It’s a great looking little boat, though, and it’s going to be a lot of fun fixing it up and restoring it to its original beauty. One word about this CD10: it looks just like the sailing version, but it doesn’t have a centerboard trunk or any rigging. I’m curious to know the boat’s history – how many Cape Dory built (like this one), year of manufacture, and value. At this point, I don’t know if I paid too much, too little, or the going rate. Hopefully I got a deal and will have a gem once it’s all fixed up. Picture of the CD10

4.11.04 Sunday
Mom and dad here. Mom working on Carrie’s dress while dad was sleeping after driving up last night – he arrived at 3 am. Carrie was rehearsing for Three Divas Concert. Figured there wasn’t any reason for me to sit around and waste a nice day so I went to the boat. Cleaned up my mess a bit. Removed the corrugated manual bilge hose in preparation for replacement. Noticed a few worn spots where the wire was exposed. Flowback valve also toast. Need to source new hose.
Removed primary valve on fuel filtration system. Presence of air bubbles in 500FGs led me to think that the valve wasn’t screwed on tightly enough. Rewrapped all threads on primary valve and reinstalled, cranking things down good and tight. Flipped on Walbro and still noticed air bubbles. Perhaps it’s due to the air trapped beneath the turbine, or maybe coming from the shut-off valve at the tank.
Cleaned mess around bowsprit from my attempts to remove the dang thing. Things are clean and ready for caulking. Need to buy or make 1-1/4 bungs to fit in screw holes.

4.9.04 Friday
Mom here for her 53rd birthday. Spent a bit of time at the boat. I had previously sanded the pseudo-blisters that appeared upon haul-out (and when Ariel arrived in MI) so I mixed up some thickened epoxy and sealed each one after wiping them down with acetone. I’d made too much epoxy so, not wanting to waste any, I began looking around for a place to use it. Remembering the worn aft end of the keel – gelcoat totally scraped away from dragging her bottom – I slapped on the leftovers and faired it with my scraper as well as I could. At least now Ariel will have a little more protection there before she gets back into the glass mat that had been exposed.
About the “blisters”: Only two of about 20 or more that I discovered upon haul-out appear to be a genuine gelcoat blister – and even then, only one actually oozed a bit of the stinky cobalt blue pus. All of the others appear to be water trapped between the gelcoat and the Interprotect barrier coat the previous owner applied. When I pop them, water (not smelly or sticky) leaks out, but the gelcoat is entirely intact, devoid of any pitting, oozing, etc. The only thing I can figure is that the PO didn’t prep the hull properly before applying the barrier coat. As a result, in areas of poor adhesion, water is able to penetrate the barrier coat. We had this suspicion last season, soon after Ariel arrived, but now that we’ve confirmed it we’re thinking seriously about stripping her bottom all the way down to the gelcoat, completely removing the barrier coat, and starting from scratch with West System epoxy. We will, of course, have to research this a bit more – cost, benefits, disadvantages – before actually doing it, but we’re thinking it might be a good idea, especially since we’re able to maintain a fairly dry bilge on Ariel.
Dad and I decided to hold off on raising the bootstripe this season. The reason: we both agree that it makes more sense to adjust the bootstripe when we tackle the bottom; make next season’s big project the hull. That, and we’re running out of time.
I decided to tackle soldering the radar cable connector back together. With 16 pins and 15 wires, it was a bit of a challenge – especially for my first real attempt at soldering – things were really tight after a few wires had been soldered in place. I quickly discovered that three (maybe even four) hands would have made things a lot easier. Nine wires later and only a couple of burns, I gasped when it dawned on me that I’d forgotten something. In my haste to try my hand at soldering I had neglected to slip the connector cover over the cable! Even now, a day later, I’m forced to draw a deep breath as I think about that. By the time I had removed the 9 wires, slipped the cover over the cable, and re-soldered the same 9 wires, a friend and his girlfriend stopped by to see what I was doing. My other two hands hand arrived! I put Jake to work, handing him the solder and iron, as I held the wires and connector. A few more burns and we were done – all 15 wires soldered and covered with heat shrink tubing.
Dad will be here tomorrow. I wanted to clean things up so he won’t freak out when he sees tools strewn about the boat and things disassembled, but I ended up talking with Jake and Kelsey for too long and had to leave things a mess. Maybe dad won’t want to see the boat? Fat chance!

4.4.04 Sunday
Used a snake to try another route for the radar cable. Pulled a light line through to attach to the cable. Tried pulling cable, again with no luck. Finally determined that it was necessary to remove the connector. Carefully cut and recorded location of each wire. Hated to do it, but there was no way I could fish the cable through with the connector in place. Successfully fished cable only to discover that the route through the bilge was far too convoluted and there wasn’t enough cable to plug the cable into the radar unit. Decided to create a more direct route from nav station to mast step by drilling through the floors (sole supports), routing the cable over the freshwater tanks. Fished cable through without a problem, leaving plenty of cable at nav station and mast step. Routed the cable through the bookshelf to starboard of nav station, down through the void below the chart table (behind the drawers), and alongside the water tanks. Not looking forward to rewiring the connector, though! That should be interesting.
Put electrical panel and battery selector switch back together. Hooked battery test wires up correctly. Drilled epoxied holes and began driving the screws in only to have both pieces of epoxy break. Too bad. Decided that more attention could be paid to those later once Ariel is in the water – maybe a lousy weekend when we’re not sailing.
I wanted to do some major sanding in preparation for painting the nonskid, but had to pick Jakob up by 4 so I had to go.

4.2.04 Friday
Epoxied the center mounting holes for the electrical panel. Used modeling clay to shape the form. Seemed to work well. Hopefully it will hold when finished. I used my Dremel to widen the holes to give the epoxy a better bite on the wood.
Brought the Shop-vac to pump all the junk out of the bilge. Ended up removing several screws, a couple ball-point pens, and a ¾ inch drill bit. Began removing hoses, etc. in preparation for scrubbing the bilge and, eventually, painting. Removed manual bilge pump pickup hose and scrubbed it with a brush in a 5-gallon bucket with some Castrol Super Clean. Very oily. Noticed a few spots that looked questionable – wire reinforcement was exposed. Also noticed that the rubber valve that prevents flowback is so old and deteriorated that it’s useless; water flows freely back into the bilge after pumping. Removed shower sump pump. Cleaned pickup screen. Wasn’t able to actually scrub the bilge because water is still off at the marina. As soon as the water is back on I’ll get things clean and degreased.
Tried routing radar cable to mast step with no luck. Something is in the way. Ran out of time.

3.28.04 Sunday
I had just a little bit of time so I finished the access plate. I positioned the insert so that each one of the four holes fell right in the middle of the epoxied holes and drilled them to size. I then coated the piece with Life Caulk and pressed it into place.
I spent some time Friday rewiring our fuel gauge in the hope of getting it working again with no luck. On my way home Friday afternoon, I stopped by the marine store to see what I could find and came across a tempo gauge and sending unit. I was able to pick that up for only 19.99 – normally 42.99 at West Marine. Back at the boat, I removed the old gauge and sending unit and installed the new parts. The gauge went in without a problem, but I had to cut part of the bracket that supports the sending unit before it would fit in the tank. I hated to cut the bracket, but there was no way it was going to go in the tank. With things hooked up, I gave it some juice and the gauge moved from empty to ¼ of a tank. Success. I am a bit concerned, though, that the baffles in the tank might prevent the float arm from moving all the way up when the tank is full. I had to fish the float arm around a bit before I could find a position where it felt like it had unrestricted movement, so I’m still a bit skeptical. I guess the most important readings are at the lower end, however. We’ll have to wait till Ariel’s in the water to fill up the tank and check things out.

3.26.04 Friday
Kind of here and there without any real plans about which project to attack. Topped off the four mounting holes with fresh epoxy. First had to remove rainwater from the depressions. Removed duct tape from inside of cutout and was pleased to find that the epoxy had filled the entire void, leaving no air pockets. Once the new epoxy sets up, I can re-drill the mounting holes and re-bed the access plate.
Cleaned up a bit – things are a mess. Got distracted and removed DC electrical panel and battery selector switch – what a pain. Needed to switch the battery test wires to the correct bank. I also want to over drill the electrical panel mounting holes and epoxy – especially two center screws that are completely stripped out. Just need to find a way to “sculpt” the epoxy without thickening it. Maybe modeling clay will work as a mold?
Rewired fuel gauge according to the Tempo diagram. Still no go. When 12v is sent to the gauge it flips from empty to full. Thinking something might be wrong with the sending unit, I pulled it out of the tank and disassembled it. The contacts and internals were completely corroded and the potentiometer had a couple of broken wires and didn’t look too promising. I left the boat and went to Wolf’s to check out their collection of sending units. I found a Tempo sending unit and gauge in the box that is very similar to our current mechanism. It was marked 23.60, so I figured it was too good to pass up at that price – I think it retails for around 40.00 at West Marine – and ended up getting it for 19.99. After looking at the new sending unit, it’s more than likely the old sending unit that’s causing the problems. The new unit’s arm moves with noticeable resistance as it drags across the potentiometer – the old one just sort of flops around. It will be nice to have a working fuel gauge! I’ll get it in as soon as possible.
I’m anxious to get Ariel in the water and I’m feeling – perhaps too optimistically – that I’m moving along at a fairly decent pace. I’m a little concerned about the new fuel filter setup. I turned the fuel polishing valve today and a bit of fuel and air bubbled out around the valve stem. I hope this isn’t an indication of air leaks that will wreak havoc on the system and require replacing the valves!

3.25.04 Thursday
Removed at least a ½ inch of core all around cutout with a flathead screw driver. Over drilled mounting holes. Taped bottom holes and edges of cutout in preparation for epoxy. Mixed up epoxy and used a syringe to inject it into the mounting holes. Noticed epoxy oozing from tape barrier and leaking on head of rudder shaft and upper bearing. Not good! Wiped it down and re-taped leaking spots, but feared that rudder might end up sticking. Presence of grease on upper bearing might discourage epoxy from doing any damage. Epoxy must have soaked into the balsa a bit because after topping off holes it was apparent that the epoxy had gone somewhere – maybe it leaked more? Ran out of time and had to head home. Plan on filling low spots the following day.

3.23.04 Tuesday
Pulled external raw water strainer from outside hull. Replaced strainer and bolts with fresh bed of Life Caulk and larger washers. Hopefully we won’t have any leaks when she’s dropped in the water.
Removed emergency tiller access plate and discovered wet core. Water had been leaking in around the outside of the access and collecting behind the rudder shaft, so I wasn’t too surprised – just confirmed what I figured. Ran out of time and had to leave things apart.

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