Well I swore I was not going to put too much time or money into my new boat until I had a chance to really sail her.  Oppsssss I took her to the yard for what I though would be a new cutlass, a bottom job, minor keel repair, and wax and buff the sides...yeah right!!! A friend of mine says, "if you want to save money on your boat, sell it."  I just bought her I cannot sell her, so I saved no money.  While it was an expense, I should not have to worry much about the boat from the hull sides all the way to the keel for a long while other than routine maintenance, (knocks on wood)!
Here is what she got:
Bottom Job
New zincs
Keel joint, tightened, repaired, refaired
Rudder Repaired
New cutlass bearing, shaft, prop (wish they had asked I would have gotten a performance prop)
New anchor locker thru hull drain
Heat exchange remounted w/ custom brackets
Compound and wax hull sides, remove registration and previous boat name

Here are a few pics in the yard where the work was done.  We are working on her as often as possible and will have her pretty, and in bristol fashion, one day!!!

Fresh bottom

Starboard side before they washed her.

New shaft, uhh I said shaft!!

Almost done!!

Waiting patiently for us to sail her home!!

This is not an O.H. Rodgers 24'

For those of you that were following my Rodgers 24' blog I hope this does not disappoint.  For those of you wanting to share my new adventures in sailing, boat repair, and all things related; welcome:)  The following pics are of our maiden voyage on the boat, a 1987 Catalina 30' currently named Afternoon Tea.  My apologies to the former owner but we are looking for a new name.  We considered keeping the name for superstitious reasons even though we were not thrilled with it.  Upon finding out the previous owner had not named her anyway we decided to work on a name more appropriate to the boat and our experiences we have with her; similar to how the native americans named their young.  The boat was almost named "kill switch" due to my forgetting to push it back down and thinking the engine was dead in the water.  This happened right as we were to go through a draw bridge, so we just sailed through and barely moved in the sweltering heat.  We got the main sail up and were moving a little better.  After not much headway, changing the fuel filter, and all sweating out 10lbs of water weight, I realized my error.  Pushed it back down and vavooom, we were motor sailing again.  Once we got under the bridge we shut down the diesel and sailed the rest of the way to home.   We only fired the diesel back up to pop through the last bridge and into the slip.  I hope all of you following the blog enjoy the progress as I attempt to "gold plate" her.  First things I hope to address:Repair keel, and rudder, replace cutlass bearing, bottom job, and replace leaking hatches.  I hope to have this all done within a few weeks.  Updates and pics as I can.

Prop after it was scraped.

Boat in the sling for survey.

Glad I did not scrub the bottom here!!!!

Sailing at 150deg most of the way home.

Plenty of room on the fore deck.

In da cockpit!

Too busy sailing to post

Well since I have had the boat in the water I have been sailing it a lot. Here are a few pics a crew member took on our way to and from a race.

Finally a new post

I know I have been slack. Sorry! i have been sailing the boat. The day we put it in was crazy! Luckily I had a lot of help. Stepping the mast was pretty smooth as I rigged the pole to the mast loop and ran a line through a block on the deck at the bow and back to a winch in the cockpit. Joe winched, I guided and rigged the foot of the mast and the stays and Matt and Will steadied and lifted the mast. Al in all it was pretty smooth. Here are some pix. I have been sailing it about 1-2 times a week. Night sailing is in season as it is not as hot or sunny. I will try to get some pix of us sailing up sometime.

I think she is done!

Finished up the 4 spots where the stands were. Rolled two coats on those areas and a third coat on the rest of the boat. It had about 4 hours to dry and then it rained here. I think it is ok though. The deck is dirty from all the pollen. I am hoping to put her on the trailer this week and splash this weekend.

Bottoms Up!!

Finally got some bottom paint on!!! It has been a long road or waterway...but we are close now. Today was an 11 hour day and my back is shot but I got the first hot coat of Interlux Ultra Coat on. She now has a total of 8 barrier coats but I sanded one off. Two more bottom coats Sunday and then do where the stands are and we splash her.

The Poxification of Four Winds

The barrier coat is now going on correctly. After using a foam roller and realizing I had screwed up I am back on course. After the first two coast with the foam it was runny and gloppy and not bridging some small pin holes and crevices. I went back and filled the holes with spot glazing putty then sanded the entire bottom again with a random orbital and 80grit paper. Hosed it off, blew it off, taped it off then went around two times each with acetone (me and Joe), then applied barrier using the mohair roller. WOW, having the right tool! The coatings are now flowing properly and also evening out the rough spots. Three more coats of barrier and then we begin bottom paint. I am hoping to finish the barrier next week and hopefully get the bottom paint on! I know these pics do not show much but the shiny look is the barrier coat!