boatyard
Swell was finally set afloat, leak-free(!), by my crew of boatyard friends, ending an era I won’t soon forget. Eleven months total spent there since August of 2008!? In the wake of my sea freedom, I got inspired to write a poem about the place that brought me so many… Read the rest
“Leeeeeeez!!” I heard from behind me as I wandered back toward Swell at the end of a long day in the yard. Little Henoa came running over with an icy cold pineapple juice in hand. Dirt was smeared across his left arm and sweat dribbled down his cheek. I imagined… Read the rest
With the tube removed, there was no more time to waste. I had… Read the rest to find someone to help me do the fiberglass work. I’d conceded to the realization that it was NOT going to be Laurent. It was beyond me why he didn’t want to do the job, but that
Adrian, the cheery 6’ 2” Canadian, was low on cash but full of spirit. He had been borrowing my bike for the prior week to ride to town for parts and pieces to fix up his newly acquired steel sloop. He dropped by just as Mike’s overtime charges were about… Read the rest
I woke in the middle of the night to a pounding on Swell’s hull. I shook myself from a dream and looked up at the clock. It was 3 am. “Who the heck drops by for a visit at this hour?” I thought.
I peered over the side and saw… Read the rest
For a week after Poe died, it felt strange when I’d return to Swell–no more chirping, no more fishy stink, and no more fuzzy head popping up? Instead I found only piles of progress-less projects staring at me. Despite grinding off the recent epoxy job and making a more precisely-fitting… Read the rest
So…I carried the broken parts back across the yard. Everyone looked over at me curiously.
“Extracteur!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I yelled. They just wrinkled their foreheads and went back to whatever they were doing…I’m like a bad rash around …impossible to get rid of…
So next,
- Make the washer out of a thick
- FML
I pulled up the email fromCal 40 owner, Fin Beven.
It read:
“First, we disconnected the propeller shaft from the V-drive and removed shaft and the propeller.”
Okay, I already did that…
“Next, Doug Grant made up a “slide hammer”. It was a 1/2″ stainless rod, approximately 6′ long,
After a weekend spent indulging in the rare angle of wave energy produced by the latest cyclone that turned southwest, I busily made the final preparations for Laurent, the yard’s in-house glasser, to get started cutting away the shaft log the following morning. The week prior, the mechanic had helped… Read the rest
“There is only room on the back lot of the yard,” Karin said. “And Nisha has been downgraded. Are you sure you want to haul out now?”
“Yes.” I replied. “I’m here, so let’s just do it.”
The crew hauled Swell and transported her to the back of the yard… Read the rest
