...mast day 2008...

...4 hours under way...

Epilogue made it safely through the locks on Saturday morning and steamed nicely all the way up to Everett where she is in a temporary slip until she is rigged and ready to come back to Ballard. The day was as boring as we had hoped for. Beautifully sunny, warm, and complete with lunch and a toast with Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum to celebrate Epilogue's first voyage under her own power.

We're crossing our fingers for decent weather on Wednesday, though it doesn't look promising.

she will sail again...

After seven months of waiting, we are scheduled with the Port of Everett to install the mast on Epilogue next Wednesday, 4/16. There have been several hang-ups in this process, mostly related to delays in part delivery and component compatibility. Issues that couldn't have been foreseen. My rigger is very deliberate and fastidious, which is good for ensuring a quality job, but frustrating for my time schedule. We will be taking her up to Everett under her own power this Saturday and she'll sit in Everett until the mast is stepped and the rig is made up. I'm guessing we'll bring her back down to Fisherman's Terminal between April 23rd and April 27th.

This monumental event will undoubtedly trigger all sorts of other progress, like new sails, new deck hardware, fixed rigging, running rigging and navigation instruments. I'm guessing I'll be spending the Fall and Winter of 2008 addressing the interior job. It's way behind my ideal schedule, but the trade off of reclaiming my life has been well worth it....indeed, she will sail again, and be beautiful.

fail, fail again, fail better...

-- Samuel Beckett

saw this on a random writer's blog the other day. it's short and sweet, needs no real explanation. in fact, to explain why it spoke to me threatens foreclose the possible meanings for others...

hibernation...

You may be inclined to think that's me way up that mast. While it certainly looked fun, I have to say I was the one at the helm that day. It was the first sail of 2008 on Augusta and the wind was blowing 20 knots out of the North with beautiful sunshine all day. It is days like this that inspire me to continue with Epilogue. It's been a long, cold winter and I'm just now waking up from hibernation to dive into "the project", as I affectionately refer to it. It's been a bit slow going, getting back into the rhythm of things. Part of it's frustrating but mostly it's because after nearly three years of giving every spare moment to this boat, I've decided to put some balance back into my life and start living again. Really, I've just now started coming out of the hibernation I went into three years ago. I've been hunkered down with a combination of laser beam focus on rebuilding this boat and a somewhat unconscious circling of the wagons in an effort to somehow regain some sort of footing. I suspect recovering from this sort of trauma takes place on a much deeper and often unconscious level. It feels like spring is thawing out parts of my life that have been in a deep freeze for three years. I feel the warmth of the sun on my face, I see crisp shadows, I smell fecundity all around.

disobedience was not our downfall...

One supposes that, even then, this new taste for turning away might have been overcome, but that is assuming the two had found the result unpleasant. The beginning of loss was this: each time some manner of beauty was offered and declined, the subsequent isolation each conceived was irresistible.

excerpt from The Entrance of Sin by Scott Cairns, Recovered Body (1998)

Sea Trials...

Today was sunny and beautiful in Seattle so we did some more water proofing to fix leaky windows, dry-fit some more Flexi-Teak and then took Epilogue out for a little cruise around Lake Union. It's pretty fun to approach one of the three draw bridges on Lake Union in a 55' sailboat and not hail the bridge keeper. I was actually nervous passing under a bridge I normally see raise when underway aboard a sailboat. I imagine it's like having a phantom limb after an amputation. Soon enough I'll be nervous that the bridge isn't raised high enough for the 75' of mast she'll have.





Epilogue ran smoothly, cool as a cucumber and seemd to handle just fine. I'm confident she's ready to take the trip north to Everett as soon as the mast is ready to step.

Flexi-Teak

Flexi-Teak is a synthetic teak decking material that I'll be using in the cockpits and probably eventually in the cockpit soles. Today I installed the first two, of 10, panels just to get a look at how they look. I think they're going to be beautiful and virtually maintenance free! Tomorrow I'll go back and run a bead of black caulk around the outer edget to seal so water can't find it's way underneath. Tomorrow we may install the large center cockpit panel, depending on weather.

This is the main drum of the new roller furling system I'm installing. I've never seen a roller furling drum this big. We're hoping to take Epilogue north to Everett in a couple of weeks to have the mast stepped and rigged and return to Ballard for the winter. This will be a huge event. She'll look like a real sailboat and have a mast that is 73' off the deck.


This is the new mast collar and cut-out where the mast will enter into the boat. Have to get some work done before the mast makes it impossible get back in there.

Coasting...

There is in this aspect of land from the sea I know not what of continual discovery and adventure, and therefore of youth, or, if you prefer a more mystical term, of resurrection. That which you thought you knew so well is quite transformed, and as you gaze you begin to think of the poeple inhabiting the firm earth beyond that line of sand as some unknown and happy people, or, if you remember their arrangements of wealth and poverty and their ambitious follies, they seem not tragic but comic to you, thus isolated as you are on the waters and free from it all. You think of landsmen as on a stage. And, again, the majesty of the Land itself takes its true place and properly lessens the mere interest in one's fellows. Nowhere does England take on personality so strongly as from the sea.

- Hilaire Belloc, "Off Exmouth"

I'm reading Jonathan Raban's Coasting: A Private Journey - a story about his sailing in a small boat around his native England.

Shipwreck...

No other element has such accreted layers of significance for us, such complex archetypal meaning. The sea’s moods and uses sex it. It is the great creatrix, feeder, womb and vagina, place of pleasure; the gentlest thing on earth, the most maternal; the most seductive whore, and handsomely the most faithless. It has the attributes of all women, and men too. It can be subtle and noble, brave and energetic; and far crueller than the meanest, most sadistic human king who ever ruled. “I believe in the Bible”, an old sailor once told Lord Fisher, “because it don’t mention no sea in Paradise”. I happen to live over the sea myself, I watch it every day, I hear it every night. I do not like it angry, but I’ve noticed that most urban and inland people adore it so. Storms and gales seem to awaken something joyous and excited in them: the thunder on the shingle, the spray and spume, the rut and rage.
--John Fowles "Shipwreck" 1975

This passage came from The Oxford Book of The Sea, edited by Jonathan Raban. I was scouring it for inspiration and found myself quickly searching the web for other work by John Fowles.

Bitter-Sweet...

Ah my dear angry Lord, Since thou dost love, yet strike; Cast down, yet help afford; Sure I will do the like. I will complain, yet praise; I will bewail, approve; And all my sour-sweet days I will lament, and love.
-- George Herbert

Rainy and cold in Seattle today...

Good times and noodle salad...

Last week my Dad came out to help work on Epilogue for an entire week. Again, it was great to have him see and experience all that I'm going through with this project. He even got to spend an afternoon doing parts runs for me...it's my least favorite thing to do, besides grinding fiberglass. He was a huge help and we spent many an hour laboring and dreaming about what is in store for this boat in the very near future. The last thing he said to me before he disappeared into the airport was "I'm proud of you." I think I knew that, but had been hoping to hear those words all week and even thought about asking him if he was proud of me at one point. That it came unsolicited made me want to jump out of my skin. Thank you. I only wish we'd taken more pictures. Mom will be disappointed we didn't.

Whaleback Marine Systems...

Part of what I've been working on for the past couple months is the electrical and mechanical systems. When my Dad was out here, we started the engine and she ran for over an hour at the dock, in gear, and was beautiful. Short of a couple minor changes, the engine is all plumbed, wired, aligned and ready for a little test cruise around Lake Union before she goes up to Everett. This we all did by ourselves and feel pretty good about the old Perkins workhorse.

I've also been working with an exceptional electrician to build the foundation of my electirccal system. This will be a 12v system with an inverter to change to 110V if I need to run something while away from the dock. The guy doing the electrical work is building a solid, redundant and protected system that will make it easy to operate and modify as the project moves on.

Fast Forward Fall...

Fall is fast approaching but summer seems to be holding on tight with 70+ degree days and plenty of sunshine. As Fall approaches, so does a very significant milestone for Epilogue. By the end of October, I hope to take the boat up to Everett under her own power, a major feat in it's own right, and step the 80' mast which has been lying up in the yard for over two years. This is a brand new mast and boom that was purchased by the previous owner before he handed her over to me. With equipment like this, it doesn't make sense not to finish her off well. There is well over 450' of Dyform Stainless Steel wire rope being ordered to complete the rig, along with a roller furlingn system for the genoa (the foresail of a sloop rig). The cost is staggering for sure, but compared to the cost of a new mast and boom, it's simply icing on the cake. Why go to a dance with a new dress and old ratty shoes?

She will be beautiufl, yes, she will be beautiful.

A Great and Glorious Game...

Today (Sunday) I spent an hour at the boat and decided I wasn't going to get anything done so I went to see the Mariners play the Detriot Tigers. Both teams are well in contention for a pennant and this was the final game in a four game set in Seattle. Even though the Mariners lost, it was indeed a beautiful day to take in a baseball game. The rythm of a baseball game, enjoyed with friends, soothes my soul and seems to bring clarity to my life - if even for a few hours on a Sunday afternoon. It's better than church...well for me at least.

I snapped these two pictures as I left the boat feeling pretty good about the previous day's accomplishment of installing the stainless steel bow and stern rails. Now all that's left of that job is to replace the broken stancions and install lifelines throughout. probably next year sometime.

Slow Summer Evenings...

As yet another summer passes I am becoming more and more aware of what this project is costing me. So many parts of my life have been sacrificed to the dream of getting this project finished and Epilogue underway by this time next year. Obviously, it's a worthy endeavor for me and is changing me in ways I could have never imagined. But sometimes I just want my life back. I want slow summer evenings outside with a BBQ going. I want three day weekend backpacking trips in the North Cascades with the hope of a mocha shake at the little coffee stand in Cedro Woolley when we come down. I want sailing trips on Augusta, Sundays with nothing to do and more time with
friends.


Of course the boat doesn't demand time from me. She's not a jealous lover. She only takes what I give her and it never seems to be enough. She doesn't care if I don't show up every day. She doesn't care if I don't think about her every second of every day. So it's self imposed, but if I don't do it, nobody will and I'll be at this for years and years. I want it done and I want it done now.

She has an engine!

While it doesn't really feel like it, this weekend was a giant step forward towards a June 2008 sailing date. We were able to tow Epilogue using Dan's beautiful sailboat Augusta, over to the West Wall cargo crane and install the newly rebuilt Perkins 4.236. Everything went off without a hitch and she was back in her slip (without the canopy) safe and sound within an hour. It'll be another month or more before the engine is operational (plumbing, wiring, cabling etc...) but just to have her sitting in the bed is such a relief.

This weekend marks completion of the waste side of the plumbing system. On the water side, I really only have one shower fixture to install and a fresh water supply to the deck washdown. I'd say I'm 95% done with the entire plumbing system.

I'm quite happy with how the holding tank came out. It's sealed up with four coats of industrial strength epoxy sealer, cover gasket and 40 SS fasteners that I drilled and tapped myself, which was yet another learing experience. Theoretically, I should never have to open that tank up again. There is an option to "macerate" it and pump it out of the tank through a thru-hull or suck it out of the tank through a deck fitting at a marina pump-out station. Of course there's also an option to pump waste directly overboard, but that's not legal inside three miles from shore.

Note the 12 gallon water heater just forward of the holding tank. Also, this happens to be located in the bunk boxes directly under the master state-room bunks. I'd hate to wake up to a failed holding tank or water heater.

This week I hope to begin installing the 110V AC wiring with an electrician guy I've hired.

Maddness and Mourning...