We are faced with the dilemma of either getting stuff done or writing about it. If we get stuff done, there is too much to write about and no time to do it, but if we were to try to write about it all, there would be nothing done to write about. Well, clearly we could try to balance the two, but instead we are very biased towards getting stuff done and getting relaunched. So, readers are missing out on much of the neat stuff being done, but not being written about. The big news is that the scaffold was moved from the port side to the starboard. The implication is that the port side hull is done–and with a few small exceptions it is basically done. All indications are that the starboard side will go much faster. After all, we have a learning curve behind us.

A while back, the hull was nicely sealed, so in accordance with my “how to build a wooden boat” posting it was time to drill more holes in the hull. I had already put in the big obvious thru-hulls and I thought most of the holes were “there.” So I was surprised when I added up the needed new holes and came up with more than 10. It was time to pull out the drill and get to work. The holes for the forward-looking sonar (a real cool toy), the hole for the speed-depth-temperature sensor, and the six holes for the deck drains. I think we are up to about 17 and there are about four more to go in the transom for two exhausts and two cockpit drains. The two holes I dread most are for the hawse pipes in the hull near the bowsprit. Oh, yeah, and the 6.25 inch counter bores for the spigots on the 7 starboard portals–those are a bear to drill without putting big gashes in the planks. And after that, the well-sealed, waterproof deck needs lots of new holes in it. The number of needed holes keeps going up the more I think about it…so I had better stop thinking.

Speaking of holes, we are still waiting for the propeller and shaft to come back from the machinist so that we can plug that big hole in the hull. I am waiting for the shaft with the new flanges before drilling the last engine-mount bolt holes. I want to make sure the drive-train is aligned as well as possible. Of course, once we get the hull wet, everything will move and I hope we will have enough freedom of movement to realign the engine and propeller shaft.

In other engine news, it is exciting to have some of the interfaces done. We have plumbed raw water feeds to both the Cummins engine and the Onan gen-set. We also have instruments for both installed in the charthouse and hooked up. Still needed are the battery hookups, throttle/shifter, and exhausts, well that, and, as describe before, the propeller shaft and engine mount bolts. I am also very excited to have finished the fuel system for both engine and gen-set. Fuel in the tanks can now go to and from the engines–but we have no way to put fuel in the tanks. That latter (important) capability is two more holes in the deck and is part of the upcoming cockpit project which also includes the throttle/shifter and bolting down of the steering gear. We briefly discussed the necessity of the throttle/shifter since we could have someone in the engine room and just shout commands–or ring bells as they did in the old days–but we broke down and bought a beautiful bronze Kobelt unit instead. The steering gear does need bolts because right now when the wheel is turned, the wheel turns sidewise and the rudder stays where ever it wants to be. Not the way to control a 29 ton vessel.

In addition to the engine instruments, we now have a ten-tank (Tank Tender) fuel gauge, lighting switches, and the best part, a Cruz Pro MaxVu110 multifunction instrument. With the cost of sailing instruments as high as they are, I expected to build my own multifunction display with an LCD and some microprocessors that I could program to display anything I wanted to see. It turns out that Cruz Pro already does this. So, rather than reinvent the wheel, we bought one and installed it. With all the instruments, the chart-house is starting to look like part of an operational boat.

The lack of surrounding water, because we are still in a boatyard in the desert, is the only real distraction from this illusion.

In life, you rarely get got where you are expecting it. Such was the case with my water fears. Despite the TV meteorologist’s proclamation that the danger from rain was over, the day after posting my “water tight” post, we had a little sprinkle. It was just enough to get Brenda and me running around with plastic sheets covering stuff. And then it stopped with the ground speckled with little wet spots where the drops had hit and everywhere in between was dry. Besides getting Brenda and my heart rates up, all the rain really accomplished was to take the very fine, even, invisible layer of soot from the next door cement trucks and turn that layer into a blotchy mess on all the cars and the Mahdee. Oh, and it re-confirmed that listening to the weather forecast is a waste of time.

Despite our apparent luck, we plodded forward with project “water tight,” along with all the other work to get Mahdee ready for re-launch. The deck is now better than ever and we were feeling pretty safe. Most of our belongings are in storage locations. One place has pretty limited access, so we rented a garage in a small apartment complex for storage with 24/7 access. We have had the garage for over a year, but it wasn’t really packed tight until we moved out of our apartment August 1st. Three days ago, we got a call that a water heater on the second floor had burst the night before. We rushed over and sure enough, lots of our stuff was soggy. We had been “got by water”, but where we least expected it. We knew the boat deck wasn’t yet sealed so we worked on that; the work shop leaks like a sieve; so we are really careful of what we put where and how thing are covered. The other storage unit looks like it has leaked in the past so we cover our stuff there, but the garage–it had proved safe and dry–until now.

We hauled the wet and soggy stuff to the boatyard so that we could lay it out in the blazing sun that has been relentless for 5 months now–this is the desert. And, for the last three days, it has been completely overcast with no sun. Not only is it proving very difficult to dry out the wet stuff, but my solar showers are suddenly not nearly so enjoyable.

Some good information has come to light as a result of this mini disaster. It turns out that the apartment building is up for sale, the past owner is suddenly not returning phone calls and the handy man tells us that the records show that no one is renting the garage we are in. We would have hated to have had the new owners cut off our locks and auction everything. As it is, we are pulled everything, not just the soggy stuff, out of that garage. We are disappointed because we had hoped to keep that garage for storage while we sailed the west coast. Apparently fate has a different plan. And if you are going to get got, you are going to get got. Water has an amazing ability to go places you least expect. Well its time to drill some more holes in the bottom of Mahdee so the water has someplace expected to go.

The stateroom is done–for now anyway.  Getting our berth finished was a priority.  The original plan was to have the berth done before we moved aboard on August 1.  That didn’t happen.  Plan B was to put down the sole in the main cabin and put our mattress there.  That gave me more time to do the joinery for the berth in the main stateroom.  I’ve decided that it is a hard fought battle for every square inch of flat surface in a boat.

We wanted to maximize the size of the berth and we were constrained by the door opening into the main saloon, the door into the scuttle room and the foremast which sits almost right in the middle of the room.  We did have control over the height, but the stateroom doesn’t have that much headroom to begin with.  I can just stand upright if I stand amidships with put my back against the aft wall and I turn my head sideways so it fits up between the deck beams.  At the forward end of the stateroom I think the headroom is down to less than 5 feet.

We wanted sufficient headroom over the bunk and settled on 36 inched over the mattress.  That meant we needed determine how thick the mattress would be.  We decided that 4 inches of latex with a plastic spring set would be less than 6 inches.  The deck and corresponding overhead slopes in the stateroom.  The wide end of the bunk is at the aft end of the room which, given a level bunk, has the least headroom.

To have the biggest bunk, we decided to set the headroom at the foreward, small end of the bunk.  That means less headroom at the head of the bunk, but the width of the bunk is slightly larger than a full size bead at the head and quite a bit narrower at the foot.  A big benefit, however, is that the bunk is over 7 feet long–luxurious for an old wooden boat.

With those decisions made, I was able to build the bunk.  Of course, the bilge stringer runs right up through the bunk–adding a nice challenge.  The area under the bunk was divided into three large storage areas (some of the first storage we have put on Mahdee).  Meanwhile, Brenda bought a really nice latex mattress which arrived two days ago and is really comfortable.

As of the end of work today, I can also say that the entire sole is down in the stateroom.  And with that done, it was time for our cat Beamer to be moved from his happy place in the forepeak into the stateroom.  Actually we just moved his carrier but his carrier is his “safe spot” when work is going on.  He rarely goes far from the carrier during the day.  But this move makes it possible for me to start working on the forepeak for the first time since Beamer moved aboard on August 1.