and so it continues...three years of I Hate Shoes

By Sailor Keddy -
Earlier this month marked the three year anniversary of starting this blog. More importantly, it marks three years since I first purchased Winchelsea and starting taking steps towards changing my life forever. In those fervent annuals, this blog has been the single consistent thing in my life. I'm not using the ubiquitous noun 'thing' without reason either; it's not a human, quite obviously, because I've come to know people within that period I'll never know again;  I've had three boats, crossed the country three times, and gone on some fantastic sailing adventures. I'm not involved with any of them now to a great degree; some of them by choice, others not.

It's impossible to guess how much I've learned in these past years, and I'll admit I knew next to nothing when I first started this blog and moved aboard Winchelsea. I've come full circle though, living again in the northeast for a winter. So far, it's been bliss. I've become a high school swim coach and have been banking some cash working some mindless paper pushing job that keeps me warm, sans the expense of running my oil-filled radiator 24 hours per day. Work on the boat has been on hold temporarily until the swim season is over in mid February. I've just returned from Florida and that trip has only resparked my motivation to never, ever spend another winter up here. Again, its been great so far, but the nor-easter I've come back to isn't exactly welcoming.

As far as priorities (again, when I have a spare second), I've decided to move the chainplates from inboard attached to, in my opinion, weakly supported knees and a bulkhead made of rot prone wood to the stronger solid fiberglass hull externally. After that the only thing holding me between blissfully warm weather further south is some rudder and minor electrical work. Everything else is icing. I would like to get some cushions for down below and slap some paint on, but cosmetics can wait until she's sailable.

Comments

sgkuhner said…
Scott, What is the rudder problem you mentioned? When Kitty and I were sailing from Panama to the Galapagos I heard an unmistakable clink as we rocked with the waves. I was so worried that the rudder might be falling off that (even though it was the middle of the night)I grabbed a flashlight and dove overboard. On close examination, I realized that while we were not about to loose the rudder, there was considerable wear between the pintals and the gudgeons. When we got to the Galapagos, I knocked the blocks that were between the gudgeons that kept the rudder from coming up and off. I then removed the rudder and using a block of Teflon that another cruiser had and made a set of bushings. That lasted until we got to Fiji and I could haul Bebinka out of the water and have bronze bushings made. BTW your idea of fastening your chain plates to the exterior of the hull is a good idea; just be aware that you will either have to cut into the hull to deck lip or build a fiberglass plate to bolt the chain plates to. I finally built fiberglass knees to fasten the chain plates to inside on Tamure and that has worked well.

Never forget your dream and continue to save for the day when you can leave for an adventure of your life.

Please keep in touch and update your blog more than once a month; because, there are those of us who want to live your journey as well and your story reminds us of ours over 40 years ago.

Scott Kuhner
The Seawind Ketch Bebinka and now the Valiant 40 Tamure.
January 1, 2013 at 9:05 PM
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