Preparing for the off
We have made our third and final trip to Maine to finish off the Herreshoff boat Dave has been working on. It was great see the ‘Wagon Box’ finally back in the water after three years on the hard. These two photos show the transformation it has undergone.
from this...
to this...
Dave made sure the engine was running and we all went for a float around the bay to check everything was working. The masts are now up and Jim, the owner, will be sailing the boat to Nova Scotia this summer.
Back in Newport, we have had fantastic weather. They say there is no spring in New England, winter just turns to summer and that’s exactly what seems to have happened.
Three weeks ago, we couldn’t venture out without a winter coat and the town was quiet. Suddenly, we’ve got temperatures in the 70’s, the shops are bustling, ice cream parlors are back in business and Harley Davidsons are back on the road.
Not that I’m complaining … but I got a serious patch of sunburn on 'the bit I couldn’t reach’. The strength of the sun is surprising until you consider that we are on the same latitude as Spain and northern Portugal.
However, the weather has been a gift to us for working on the ‘Ros Ailither’. The topsides are painted and we have got several layers of varnish on the deck hatches. Dave has replaced bottlescrews, overhauled all the mast fittings and re-sheeted the main on the wheelhouse roof (which we have strengthened with a micro-laminated internal beam).
It is so long since we ran the engine that birds were starting to build a nest in the exhaust. We fired the engine to blow the debris out and draped a tarp over the exhaust to prevent a second attempt. Here’s our disappointed would-be resident!
There is a lot of wildlife around the dock. Our neighbour Meri and I saw a mink creep under the boardwalk in broad daylight and we had a night-time visit from a skunk on the trawler. Luckily he couldn’t get below decks and Dave managed to scare him away without incident (armed with a torch and boathook). There are also a surprising number of starfish in the water, we often see them high and dry on the rocks and pilings at low tide.
So Dave is slowly ticking off his list of jobs to do on board and our departure date is fast approaching (we aim to leave around 15th May). I am frustrated not to be able to help out more but I have my hands full looking after Katie. I try to get out with her as much as possible - walking around the shops, going to playparks, story-telling at the library (a social event for me as well!), or simply playing on the grass at the hotel. Time goes nowhere...
from this...
to this...
Dave made sure the engine was running and we all went for a float around the bay to check everything was working. The masts are now up and Jim, the owner, will be sailing the boat to Nova Scotia this summer.
Back in Newport, we have had fantastic weather. They say there is no spring in New England, winter just turns to summer and that’s exactly what seems to have happened.
Three weeks ago, we couldn’t venture out without a winter coat and the town was quiet. Suddenly, we’ve got temperatures in the 70’s, the shops are bustling, ice cream parlors are back in business and Harley Davidsons are back on the road.
Not that I’m complaining … but I got a serious patch of sunburn on 'the bit I couldn’t reach’. The strength of the sun is surprising until you consider that we are on the same latitude as Spain and northern Portugal.
However, the weather has been a gift to us for working on the ‘Ros Ailither’. The topsides are painted and we have got several layers of varnish on the deck hatches. Dave has replaced bottlescrews, overhauled all the mast fittings and re-sheeted the main on the wheelhouse roof (which we have strengthened with a micro-laminated internal beam).
It is so long since we ran the engine that birds were starting to build a nest in the exhaust. We fired the engine to blow the debris out and draped a tarp over the exhaust to prevent a second attempt. Here’s our disappointed would-be resident!
There is a lot of wildlife around the dock. Our neighbour Meri and I saw a mink creep under the boardwalk in broad daylight and we had a night-time visit from a skunk on the trawler. Luckily he couldn’t get below decks and Dave managed to scare him away without incident (armed with a torch and boathook). There are also a surprising number of starfish in the water, we often see them high and dry on the rocks and pilings at low tide.
So Dave is slowly ticking off his list of jobs to do on board and our departure date is fast approaching (we aim to leave around 15th May). I am frustrated not to be able to help out more but I have my hands full looking after Katie. I try to get out with her as much as possible - walking around the shops, going to playparks, story-telling at the library (a social event for me as well!), or simply playing on the grass at the hotel. Time goes nowhere...
posted by Katie at 1:16 AM
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