My health kick is going a bit south. I’m not eating dairy but ingesting a bit of wheat through beer :)
Motivation comes in mysterious ways. For me…, if I feel I have done a good job by 2pm, I treat myself to a Snickers, Coca cola, and a few beers. Not so healthy but I’m working harder. I actually work for the treats like Pavlov’s dog, ARF-ARF!
My last few days have been big. I shot white paint on the aft cabin house, stern, and re-installed my wind-vane (Quint). I named my wind-vane “Quint” after the captain in Jaws.
I want, I want, I want, to go voyaging 
next season.
Truthfully I have a bunch of work to do but who knows, I’m not stressing it. Worst case scenario I’m in San Blas chartering another year, Boo F’n Who things could be worse!
It feels really good to be putting things back together and painting as opposed to taking them apart & stripping.
I WILL make Splendid a beautiful, comfortable, and sound, world voyaging sailing ship!
I broke one of my own rules and it was a good learning experience. I never, never, NEVER, let anyone touch my boat but me. Well I got a bit ahead of myself and gave a local carpenter a shot. For Twenty bucks the guy was going to rebuild my aft hatch. He has a carpentry shop down the road and specializes in making beautiful hardwood beds.
Well for twenty bucks why not, right?
So I brought him my hatch and asked him only to replace the plywood under the teak strips, about three hours work. This would entail popping the bungs, pulling the screws & teak strips, fitting a new piece of plywood, putting the teak strips back, and installing new bungs after the screws. I told him I’d give him an extra five bucks if he prepped (sanded) the
hatch for varnish.
Well he ripped the old plywood out with a crow bar, cut all the screws off with a grinder & cutting wheal, put the plywood in, and from the bottom screwed through the plywood all the way through the teak strips and cut the screws off with an angle grinder. So now I have metal dots on the top of my hatch. To add insult to injury he damaged the teak strips so badly with the angle grinder it blows my mind. I had to sand more than 1/16th off of the entire hatch. And he did sand the whole hatch with the angle grinder and a flapper disk.
When he showed me his work I almost ____ myself! I handed him the $25, strapped the hatch to my back, and took off down the road on my motorcycle never to return. I almost spilled the bike trying to ride back with the hatch and ended up putting it on a bus and followed the bus home. It was just too big.
In my humble opinion being a good captain is less about “ability” and more about “responsibility”, and I will take 100% responsibility for working on my boat! Nobody touches Splendid but me.
I’m a “Splendid” restoring ninja these days. As long as I can have a cold mid-day coke, snickers, and a few beers to finish the day I’m all about it. If I don’t get enough accomplished not treats, and I’m strict on myself!
I ordered Stencils for my hull graphics from www.stencilsonline.com. For $60.00 I got the name “Splendid” in two sizes, “Gresham, OR.” as the hailing port, and four Chinese symbols which I will paint on Splendid. The good thing about the stencils is when the paint fades in 5 years or so I can just touch it up, no more buying expensive vinyl graphics.
Well I’m on my third beer. It’s 4pm, the day is over for me and I’m going for a swim, I earned it today!
Life is grand, I LOVE my boat.
Peace, Love, Sailboats & motorcycles!
– alex
Sounds like you’ve got it dialed in, finishin the finish on the boat……….Lookin good Alex. Hope you have enough sealer for all the stuff your needin to re-install. I like the stencil concept, are you gonna use a brush or spray the lettering?? I’ve always had bleeding problems with stencils. I didn’t need to sign in, did you do away with the “members” log in?? I like the double sugar and beer diet, tell me how that works out for ya.
Could be a new thing, could work better than the 5 hr enegy drinks. And it’ll probably make that Frog taste better too………Dennis
Alex,
I recently followed your advice and got an 80 pound manson anchor. My only problem is that I can hardly lift the darn thing. With the 1/2 chain I got, I don’t think that I will be able to pull it. Do you think that maybe I went overboard with it, I only have a 30 foot sailboat (Pearson) with no winlass. I have thought about trading it or selling it, but wanted to get your input first. My other ground tackle consists of a 40 pound CQR, a 40 pound Danforth, a 35 pound danforth, and a 25 pound danforth. I plan to follow your route from Florida trough the Bahamas/Jamaica/Haiti, and cross to Colombia.
Regards,
Charlie
Dennis,
I will hand paint in the stencils and basically use them as a guide. Spraying I’d worry about bleed. This will be my first time working with stencils but i figured it was a better long term solution than vinyl.
Charlie,
I think you went a little overboard with an 80lb manson on a 30 boat. That being said your anchor can never be too big, you just need a good means of wrangling it. If you bow can handle the weight I’d add a good windlass. The Lofrans tigress is good for the money and you wont have problems lifting the anchor. 60lbs would still be over kill for you but I tell you one thing, your not going anywhere :) I think the 45 manson would have been the good choice for you. She’s a beast eah? The best anchor I’ve ever owned hands down!
I started with a 45lb CQR on Splendid and it didnt hold the way i liked. I went to a 60lb CQR and I still didn’t like the way it held. For me the 80lb Manson is perfect for my 40′ ketch. I have piece of mind when I leave her to go on trips and that goes a long way. Your ground tackle is your insurance on a cruising boat and at least you have good insurance. I use 5/16 bbb chain and may upgrade to 3/8 at some point, not for the strength of the chain, but the weight of it.
Not getting so much done today and not giving myself any treats, bummer!
It’s noon and I haven’t done ship. my reel broke pulling in that tuna last week and I need to get another one. I also dont have a spear for my gun which is a bummer. I like to KILL fish!
We have a 30 foot Catalina, and I just bought the 45 pound manson earlier this year, great to hear that recommendation. With the 80 pound, I definitely wouldnt lose any sleep at night while at anchor. :) Seems to work great with 45 pounder, once we drop it we stay put. Cruising the San Juan, Gulf, and Discovery Islands and Canadian coast, we often dont have a lot of room for scope however. I was curious, do you ever use a sentinal (canterbury)? What are your thoughts? Seems to work great when we are crowded and cant use as much scope.
Mark
I have a sentinel and truthfully never used it yet. With my manson in tight anchorages I’ve been fine in heavy winds on a 4/5 to 1 ratio. I’m a hog when it comes to scope I like 6/7 to 1 as I often leave home for the day/days and we can get some pretty nasty squalls rolling through. I was recently on a 5-1, I was dragged down on and hit, and managed to hold my boat and the other 40’r no problem. he was hooked on my chain.
I love my supreme!!!
gresham?
Gary,
My “home” (hailing) port is a bit of a complicated issue for me. I documented Splendid in Gresham, OR. because that’s where the previous owner of Splendid lived and it was easy to have my USCG ships documents sent there. It was just an address as I didn’t have one. I’ve never been to Gresham, or even Oregon for that matter. It was the same with Namaste. Namaste was documented in Peaks Island ME. I’ve never been to Peaks Island. When I bought Namaste Peaks Island ME was on the hull graphics and I just left it. Splendid is my 5th sailboat and since I left L.A. over a decade ago I’ve had issues with my home port. New York would make the most sense for my “home” port as that is where I grew up but it isn’t a place I care to live and I have no family there. I figure having an arbitrary home port of call makes more sense for me at the moment.
As you know by law I need to state a “hailing” port on the back of Splendid. If it was up to me I wouldn’t have one. On the back of my USCG ships documentation it states:
“This certificate is not valid for operation of the vessel until the vessel is marked with the name, official number, and hailing port as shown on this certificate”.
“This vessel and its equipment are liable to seizure and forfeiture to the U.S. government and the owner is liable for a civil penalty of not more than $10,000.00 per violation. Each day of continuing violation is a separate violation”.
It’s hard for me to want to call any place home that threatens me like this. I don’t have Splendid or my hailing port on the stern at the moment as I’m painting, and “technically” I guess the government has the right to my home and the ability to fine me 10k a day? I just don’t want to live like that, raise children in that kind of environment, or grow old under that kind of rule. Is this for my protection?
Part of my journey is to find a place I want to paint on the back of Splendid. Truthfully Caribbean Panama is the only place I’ve lived that I ever wanted to return to but I’m not done looking. So for now it’s Gresham, OR. I hope it’s a cool place :)
Cheers
Wow. You be the man… My Snikers and Coke days are over unless I water that coke down with rum. But on that note I’m happy. You sound good. I don’t do wheat but a few beers do go down well and don’t seem to upset the body so… Your body will talk to you, but you have to listen.
On the road. Away from the sea. Good times but bummin a bit. Sweet and sour. Panacea is being watched by Alex my mate in Ft. Myers. He’s a good one.
Take care and continue the party.
Capt. Paul
s/v Panacea
Capt. Paul.
When are you comming for a visit? You could teach me some majic, it would be fun to show people/kids as I travel?
Rum is a good addition to the coke for sure :)
Cheers bud.
Alex,
Thanks for the advice. I think I will get rid of it in the Bahamas. I went ahead and got a simpson-lawrence winlass, and it’s on the list of projects to be installed. I can’t wait to get out of Florida. All I am doing every day is just getting the boat ready to sail. Once I am in Colombia, I will worry about fixing up the cosmetics.
Regards,
Charlie
gresham is basically portland…it is on the columbia river and close to the sandy river. it is a relativly cool place as it is at the mouth of the columbia river gorge….it could be worse…..next year when you renew your documentation you could change it , to what ever you want, like lahaina, maui
When renewing you can use my address in St. Augustine, FL. Also, I’m curious if you can use a place like Lawrence, Kansas just to mess with the authorities’ minds.
Gresham is fine for me, and last I checked they charge $80 to change anything on your documentation.
Charlie,
I wouldn’t let an 80lb supreme slip through my fingers if I were you, dropping it is some pretty nice insurance when a storm rolls through? If you want to get rid of it I’m sure you’ll find a lot of interest.
Hi Alex, you folks were talking about the Manson so I looked it up & am just SHOCKED,, the price is WAY OUT THERE!!!! Holy high dollor batman!!! There is no way,, I do some metal work & will build a copy for a couple hundred, they want 3200 ^%$#^%&^ dollors for a stainless 80 lbs manson, they must be smoking some good stuff, 1798.00 for a 45, the heck with wrenching for a living I am going to build anchors!! I worked in a machine shop that did alot of stainless & will not have any trouble with this, but wow,maybe 300 or so in metal & some work.. 1800 for an anchor for me is crazy,if I could sell them for half I would make money,I think they are smoking crack!!!!
Charlie: so what do you want for that big chunk of metal? Where in Florida are you?
Capt. Paul
s/v Panacea
Butch,
Stainless anchors are for rich people. People only buy them because they are shiny. Truthfully I don’t like stainless on a boat at all. It is a bad material. It hides imperfections in the metal and with the added fact that people like to polish it, people often have cracks that they never come close to seeing without running a dye over the metal and inspecting it super closely. I’ve had stainless turnbuckles fall apart in my hands, and seen stainless shatter like glass when hit with a hammer. It’s brittle, overpriced, but shiny. When it comes time to re-rig Splendid I will rig her with galvanized wire & turnbuckles. Cheap, easy, and when the material goes bad you can see it. You know me, I’ll find a cheap alternative to just about everything but my ground tackle. Real men don’t buy stainless anchors :)
A good anchor should also be forged. I recently saw a Rockna anchor (very similar to a manson supreme) in the back of a pickup truck all twisted up like a pretzel. The anchor didn’t fail but was worthless after a large squall came through.
In my humble opinion a Galvanized manson supreme is worth every penny. Unless your boat has lots of insurance, or you just don’t care so much about it go cheap on your ground tackle.
For me, a Manson Supreme (main anchor), all chain (300′ +) and a good electric windlass with manual override is crucial on a proper cruising boat. Having other types of anchors aboard is a good idea. I like a danforth/fortress for a stern anchor, and I’ve been looking for a fisherman anchor for rocky conditions.
Just my opinion :)
Thanks Alex,I thought the whole world was crazy for a sec,or maybe just me.. I know stainless has its troubles but was thinking that was what you were talking about & was trying to understand why & it was really sinking in how much you can have riding on that thing & how a guy like you on a budget & why you would invest that much in an anchor knowing that alot of the time you get what you pay for,, but still , they sure are proud of of that stainless thing… I feel better knowing that you did not do a stainless.. I have built a couple of a different style,maybe I will do a plow or copy a manson,will work on it & send a pic later,thanks-Butch