Archive for the 'Texas' Category

Smalt

Sunday, June 17th, 2007

sanding bottom paint

We’ve been busy turning Jeff’s yard into a superfund site. Not actually smalt, of course, but probably just as toxic. I met a doctor today who told me that people about to die from copper poisoning have copper rings around their irises. It’s true! I looked it up as soon as we got home. I also looked in a mirror. I should have worn a moon suit.

In other news, I upgraded wordpress to version 2.2. This didn’t require much work really. I backed everything up then clicked the dreamhost one click upgrade tool and ducked. The site was totally wack for about 10 minutes until I could login for a second click that upgraded the database. Everything still works (I think). Yay.


Gimme Samoa

Saturday, June 16th, 2007

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Aransas Bay, Texas

A video obviously taken from a moving platform. John Williams on Gimme Samoa tries to catch up with us on Wing and a Prayer in route to Ingleside. He’s making 15+ kts.


Roseate Spoonbill

Tuesday, June 12th, 2007

Roseate Spoonbill. Rockport, Texas

Rockport Beach, Texas


Playa Wear

Saturday, June 9th, 2007

Cheyenne in a moonsuit


DIY Haul Out

Thursday, June 7th, 2007

searunner 31 trimaran preparing to haul out

searunner 31 trimaran positioned on the haul out skid

Pull up your pants!

searunner 31 trimaran starting up the slide

Cheyenne scratching mosquito bites. The mosquitos surrounded us in thick swarms to feast on deet.

haul out truck winch setup

You can see the 8000lb electric winch setup for a 2:1 pull. The blue truck in the background also has a winch connected to the brown truck to help anchor it in place.

searunner 31 trimaran being jacked up to clear the seawall

Bill arrived and found us in contemplation of the jacking.

The slide wasn’t supporting enough of the minikeel so we had to jack up the boat by the amas and lever the slide further under the boat (it wasn’t long enough to get it far enough under the boat at first). It seems scary to support the whole boat by the amas, but it has to be that strong to sail. The static weight of the main hull is only a fraction of the forces applied to the amas when beating to weather.

haul out slid problem

You can see another problem here… The hull is too wide to fit through the gap in the bulkhead.

cutting the seawall with a chainsaw

Jeff operating a chainsaw dangerously close the hull. We had to cut away part of the bulkhead to allow the hull to pass through because we couldn’t jack it up high enough.

main hull clear of the seawall

inspecting the bottom of the main hull

At this point the winch failed us. Mostly because all of the weight was still resting on a single roller that had jamed sideways. We had to do some more jacking to straighten it out.

nigerian dugout canoe

An unexpected collision with a Nigerian dugout.

searunner 31 trimaran side at an angle nearly clear of the water

searunner 31 trimaran take off

At some point near the top the winch failed again. It just couldn’t pull it any higher. Maybe the truck batteries were low. Anyhow, Jeff jumped in the truck, put it in drive and yanked it the rest of the way out with Cheyenne and I shouting “Whoaaaa! Stop. stop. Wait!”

searunner 31 trimaran haulout complete

Due to the rapid ascent we couldn’t block up the amas fast enough. You can see that the entire boat is balanced on the main hull. Cheyenne is on the other side holding it up with one hand. After this, we had to jack it up by the amas again to pull the slide out.


Cheyenne Weil, Joshua Coxwell