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