Last day in April, If I don't post at least something this month, I'll lose my followers.

 OK, Im just dumping photos, and I'm going to try to caption them the best of that I can.

My Cal 35 has(had) a draft of 6 ft. That is normally considered to be almost too deep to navigate the ICW and the Bahamas.  It's limiting access to marinas, and more protected anchorages. 

Against the counsel of experts, the opinion of the interwebs, convention and wisdom, I cut 18 inches (a foot and a half) off the bottom of my boat.


Glassed the huge hole in the bottom of the keel.

Popped the lead out of the cut off section.  I estimate this to be between a third and half of the total lead ballast, 5000 lbs.  I will get an exact weight.


I have been cutting that sucker up into pieces I can move.  sort of.


This is going to be reworked into ballast bulb halves and bolted to the sides and glassed in.


I have an idea... stay tuned.


Careful to keep the sawzall tailing contained.


We have lots of canvas work to do.


...and Lithium batteries to install.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rainy cold weekends are always a setback. 60 hour workweeks don't leave much time for catch-up.

Image
All this was accomplished on Memorial Day Weekend. After a failed attempt to hire members of the local highschool football team to move this thing, I broke out the gear, and slowly inched this over to the saw horses waiting near the fence.  A come-a-long, an A-frame ladder, and some timbers made slick with soapy water made for a slow but easy move.   Once along side the saw horses, My Grandson and I were able to lift and pivot the mast the rest of the way. Next was the construction of what will be my lead keel bulb foundry. Leveled and ready for the mold media.  I am thinking of using sand mixed with Mop and Glo to stabilize it.  A platform at the far end will hold the lead on a heat proof surface, slanted to run into the mold. This next weekend was too crappy to do anything outside.   We did start ripping the seams of the old dodger, in an effort to make patterns for a new dodger.  Also, we bought a hot knife to cut the Sunbrella fabric.  I ...
Read more

19 February 2023, Some Progress and a Flashback

Image
After the recent installation of the bevel adapter for the new furnace flue.  I had to reinstall the plastic grab rails.  Unfortunately, one of the mounting holes was now covered by the bevel adapter, so I had to split the grabrail into two pieces, and reshape it.  I think it came out OK... I am bedding everything with Butyl Rubber, and the recent sleet storm tested it with no leaks found.  while working on Via Mente in my front yard, it is so cold, and the times it is warm enough to do anything outside are few and far between.... I spend a lot of time reminiscing.... Here was a fun day. November of 2016 Sailing back from Marco Island to St James City.
Read more