We’ve been working on Mahdee steadily since last fall when we pulled her out of the water to begin this massive rebuild project. This August, we’ll be doing “less” work on Mahdee and spending more time on our business activities and sailing on Stargazer. Hopefully, I’ll have time to put up more pics of the project!

We’ve run through all the good mahogany for planking and can’t get more long lengths shipped down from Washington State until sometime in August. David has begun work on the deck beams but can’t really move forward with that project until additional Douglas Fir is shipped from Port Townsend as well. John, who had planned to spend most of the summer in Canada, kindly kept working on Mahdee’s planking until we ran out of wood. David and I were really focused on our business activities from mid-June onwards as we had some clinical testing and follow up data analysis to do, so it was great to have John continue to work away on the Mahdee planking while we were conducting business and while we were on travel back east. He has been working with us on Mahdee since late November 2006, and is now taking a much deserved break and will be vacationing in Canada for the next several weeks. With John happily in Canada, no more wood for a few weeks, and Mahdee located in a boatyard where she is safe from the mischief of errant boatyard workers, the timing is good for us to go ahead and take a break from Mahdee as well.

While no work is underway, we still have to check on Mahdee every other day or so. Mostly just to make sure that the nifty green house “fogger” is doing its job in keeping Mahdee’s tent humid. Her planking was at 9 to 12 percent moisture content before we moved her to SDBM; her purpleheart stem, tailfeather, and deadwood were drying out quickly from their higher moisture content; now even with the heat, the environmental system (running on timers) keep her planking at a steady 14% moisture content and allows the purpleheart to dry out more slowly.

Right now, we’re working away in front of the computers, but hoping to take several overnight trips on Stargazer throughout August.

Today, we’re finishing up putting together the mooring lines for Mahdee’s mooring at Fiddlers’ Cove Marina on the San Diego bay side of Coronado Island. This is the military marina where Mahdee was docked for more than 20 years before we purchased her from Tom and Denise. We were originally scheduled to put Mahdee back on a mooring there this summer. But, with more than three times the work than that which was anticipated to be done on Mahdee, instead of rushing back to the water, we’ve moved her to an independent boat yard where we’ll perform the rest of the work needed. Thus, we have a mooring for her but don’t need it quite yet.

This poses a bit of a problem since the waiting list for mooring at Fiddlers’ Cove is very long and it would be impossible to dock or moor Mahdee anywhere else in San Diego. She’s too big for the new size limits for San Diego’s regular mooring fields and the marina and yacht club waiting lists are many years long for a boat of her size. We’d hate to start back at the bottom of the Fiddlers’ Cove waiting list at this point. Our solution to the problem is to move our Rawson 30, Stargazer, from her dock at Marina Cortez to Mahdee’s mooring at Fiddlers’ Cove. It will be more of a hassle to go sailing from a mooring rather than from a dock, but worth it for the peace of mind knowing that Mahdee has a place to go once she’s back in the water. It won’t be a big problem to get the smaller 30’ boat back into a marina when Mahdee needs her mooring.

The people at Fiddlers’ Cove have been very friendly and encouraging of Mahdee’s rebuild. They have told us that we should be able to have Mahdee at the marina visitors’ dock when she first gets back in the water and if we need to perform work that requires electricity/dock access. This is very comforting since she’ll probably be taking on water for the first month or so and having her bilge pumps running of the shore power at that time will be helpful.

Back to the bridle/mooring lines. Monday we drop of the lines and the marina diver will attach them to the mooring blocks. They use two lines—one on the bow and one on the stern—so the boats do not swing with the wind. I suppose this means more stress on the lines, but it allows more boats to be placed more tightly together in the mooring field. Because Mahdee is 54’ on deck and Stargazer is only 30’, the bridle is going to be extra long. David did the mooring line and bridle splices, eyes, etc on Friday. Today, I’m finishing up the work with seizing. We don’t have large enough whipping for the 1” mooring lines. So, in a few minutes, we’ll stop by the marine store on the way to Stargazer—then David can sail Stargazer and I will perform the seizing while we’re sailing. That will make me feel quite happily nautical—working on things while underway. We’ve spent so much time in the boat yard with Mahdee and so little time out on the water with Stargazer that I’m just happy to be on the water doing anything!