Wednesday IS photoday!!!

SFS

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Aug 18, 2015
2,065
Currently Boatless Okinawa
Spoken with expectation like a true skier.
Man I remember those days, waiting for snow in the mountains. When I first moved to Seattle, I couldn't understand why people bitched about the weather. It barely rained the first three months I was there, yet Mt. Baker was open by Halloween. I thought I was in heaven.
 
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TomY

Alden Forum Moderator
Jun 22, 2004
2,758
Alden 38' Challenger yawl Rockport Harbor
Last week was a good one to haul out on the coast of Maine. The schedule was nearly empty as was the harbor so I could pick my time.

Only one public dock was left in the water but that was empty.

Stripping sails for haul out.jpg


Time to do things is a luxury and we had ample of that over the weekend.

The next gale, in-coming, was well forecast and we'd beat it easily.

By the time I had the sails stripped and the spars on the dock, the tide was low. These days I get some help lifting them onto the 'spar truck'. But rather than wrestling them up the 45 degree incline, I left them until morning, and high water, and changed the oil instead.

The next morning, my fit wife and I handed them easily across the dock to the parking lot and truck, now all at the same level. Easy with the time and tides help.
Spar truck.jpg


The next gale was a honker! I felt 50 knot gusts rattling the windows in our old house. Her granite moorings are well tested in over 170 years of coastal storms.

It was good to know that the boat was on jack stands down below, as our harbor took the brunt of the South winds.

The last gale, like the few previous, did some damage.

The Hinckley SW 42 below (not my photo) was somewhere around (or in) Bass Harbor to the east.

Sophie .jpg


Meanwhile, I had ample time to remove and paint the old front door now that the season is over. It's nice to have the time, and a good old storm door.

Waiting for the door.jpg
 
May 6, 2010
472
1984 Oday 39 79 Milwaukee
Last week was a good one to haul out on the coast of Maine. The schedule was nearly empty as was the harbor so I could pick my time.
...
Time to do things is a luxury and we had ample of that over the weekend.

The next gale, in-coming, was well forecast and we'd beat it easily.
We had to haul out early this year due to a change in boatyards. I scrambled to get a structure built over the decks last weekend, and wrestle a 30x50 tarp over the whole thing one evening just in time to beat a 4" heavy snowfall on Halloween. My wife was kind enough to point out we had five months without snow this year - the last one being on April 27th - the day of our youngest daughter's wedding.
 

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Oct 26, 2008
6,041
Catalina 320 Barnegat, NJ
The next gale, in-coming, was well forecast and we'd beat it easily.

The next gale was a honker! I felt 50 knot gusts rattling the windows in our old house. Her granite moorings are well tested in over 170 years of coastal storms.

It was good to know that the boat was on jack stands down below, as our harbor took the brunt of the South winds.

The last gale, like the few previous, did some damage.
Autumn in the northeast is amazing. We have these freakish storms and gales that come through and in between we have the most astonishing weather and colors. The sky that we see in that first picture is so intensely blue that it would appear to be un-real, except that I'm looking at that color right now outside my house (albeit with more cloud cover right now). Our colors in the hills around us appear to be mostly down right now in the higher elevations to our west. I'm leaving our boat in the water a little longer this year. I could have anchored out last night, as it was a beautiful evening, but Sue wanted me to make my pancakes this morning for her house guests, so I packed up and came home to enjoy Sunday in the hills instead.
 
Oct 22, 2014
20,989
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
The advantage of the storms is they do a good job of clearing all that color off the trees, like a landscape gardner with a leaf blower.

Once in the air, the leaves are distributed across the neighborhood so all of the neighbors get the joy of fall leaf raking.
 

Jim26m

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Apr 3, 2019
579
Macgregor 26M Mobile AL
Got to go with my cousin today on Lake Martin, quick spur of the moment sail. Not enough breeze to blow a thistle off the hood of a freshly waxed Cadillac, and that boat would still do 6.5 kn. Hate to say it, but mid 50’s low 60’s temp. How do you lake dwellers stand that calm water sailing? I felt like I was in an alternate dimension. Full disclosure: we had the chute up when we hit 6.5. Could only make 3-5.5 with the main and jib. Wind seemed to constantly shift. Very different from what I’m used to.
46D4B659-6EAA-4D3B-86C9-3E9A1827EB9A.jpeg
 
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TomY

Alden Forum Moderator
Jun 22, 2004
2,758
Alden 38' Challenger yawl Rockport Harbor
As October sailing goes, 2019 was not a great one. Despite being the warmest October recorded, globally, Maine seemed cooler with frequent wild weather from 'Bomb Cyclones' to colder temps than normal, and wet it seemed.

I mention the above because I likely used the boat less in October 2019 which may have something do with the bottom growth I noticed at haul out at the end of October. The growth appeared about average.

My bottom painting routine is a minimum system honed over years of watching Ablative paint build up.

Following a power wash by the yard at haul out, the the last 10 years (about) my routine is a light scrape of loose areas and a bit of sanding - maybe one spring and not the next - to remove a little of the build up. The boat could probably use a total bottom coating removal, but,....

I've been using water based ablatives during this time. I find the water based easier to apply - clean up - and the protection as good as oil based ablatives I used the decade before.

Application: A very thin coat; purposely to limit build up: Roll Aquagard onto hull with a 9" foam roller followed quickly tipping with a 3" brush. This application takes about 2-3 hours, is very smooth, and uses 2 quarts of paint on the 38' hull (with a lot of wetted surface).

5 months in Penobscot Bay water, freshly hauled below. Growth removed easily enough by power wash a few minutes later.

HAul out growth 2019 Aquaguard.jpg



What's your bottom painting routine and are you happy with results?