Sails up!

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Originally uploaded by rick_barr
Brian and I went sailing for about 3.5 hours today. We didn’t have great wind, but we managed to get off the mooring, up past Conimicut Light and about even w/ Bullock’s Point in Riverside before turning back. Once again the outboard gave us trouble – it kept dying at idle. Brian thinks the idle speed is set too low. Unfortunately, we need an hex key to adjust it and we didn’t have one aboard.

Still, it was a good day. I tacked a lot on my own while Brian was working on the motor. The new mainsheet system works quite well. Dragonfly is very comfortable and settles right down after crossing wakes, etc.

Brian took this picture w/ my new phone.

In the water

Dragonfly was launched last week. She spent a week in the Warren River before my son and I found time to move her to the mooring at Barrington Beach. We cheated and used the motor the whole way – but hey, the motor works now so why not!

Bottom paint

Motor is fixed and launch has been scheduled so it was time to paint the bottom. I had to dodge the rain for most of the weekend, but I did manage two coats of red anti-fouling paint and one coat of black striping paint for the bootstripe.

I had been a little nervous about moving the boat stands, but the hauler gave me some tips on how to do it safely. Everything went very smoothly.

Here are a couple of photos. I took them in the evening so the light isn’t great.

It’s the middle of June and I feel behind schedule. Can’t wait to start sailing!

New hatch installed

‘Couple of weeks ago I got the new forehatch back from Brian. He built an all new teak frame and re-used the plexiglass and hardware. The next step for me was to put some finish on. I used a product called Cetol, which isn’t a true varnish but is supposed to be durable.

Yesterday I put it back on the boat. It’s beautiful! Take a look:

Thanks, Brian.  You’ve earned mucho sailing time!

Outboard motor – Part 6

Home again. No picture (because it doesn’t look any different), but I got the outboard back from the shop. It sports a new power cable (yeah, all my electrical work was for naught) and a clean carburetor. I hauled it around in the car for a few days so I could enjoy the gas/oil smell during my commute(!) and now it’s back on the boat.

Time to paint the hull!