A couple of days ago we jettisoned the hard dodger on the Islander and the boat now looks a lot better. Granted, I will have to do some sort of minimal dodger but that can wait til the Holidaze have passed. The downside of removing the dodger is that the coach roof really does need …
I’ve not forgotten the DIY self-steering post that sits unfinished on my desktop. Truth is, I’d much prefer finishing it rather than the internal combustion clusterfuck I’m sorta/kinda dealing with. The problem is mostly that I just don’t like working on engines for starters as engines are, more often than not, oily messy contraptions that …
Most everything, interior wise, in the Islander 36 is overbuilt. So, I’m going to really enjoy replacing a lot of heavy interior with lighter weight monocoque replacement units. Why anyone would use 3/4″ plywood when 1/4″ is available is a mystery to me? Meanwhile, this in the green-washing department makes me wonder how some folks …
I’ve taken a break from monitoring potential VolksCruisers for sale but from today’s cursory glance there is no shortage of boats for reasonable money available. As to the Islander: work continues but most of the tasks are fairly easy and the difficult parts is in resisting the urge to throw money at needless things. The …
One thing no one ever tells you is that all boat building and refit projects is mostly a lot of sitting around doing nothing while you try to figure stuff out. Which is not always a bad thing. So far this month, I’ve put in a couple of hours of actual work on the boat …
There are days when the insanity of boat gear makes me want to scream and shout. What’s even worse is how compliant we all seem to be with this kind of norm where boat stuff is concerned. Talk about marine quality… The last few days I’ve been trying to fix a traveler car which retails …
Every day or so, West Marine sends me an email trying to sell me something and, while I seldom ever buy anything from them, it is a connection I keep an eye on in the hope that, one of these days, they’ll come up with something truly needful. I’m still waiting on that but my …
Every project in my experience has a “day from hell” or something like it and yesterday was the Islander’s day from hell. Funny though, it started as a day with high hopes with no problems foreseen. In fact, it was a day of high expectations with nary a sign of a problem at all. One …
Well, according to the website How Close Can It Get that Hurricane Lee will be at it’s closest to me on September 11th being 350 miles away. From where I’m sitting that’s a very good thing as I’d much rather be working on the Islander than than tying-up two boats in the mangroves. As far …
I’m on So It Goes today sorting out a CARE package to take back to the Islander to complete the various projects. I’m also waiting for some cable and cable lugs. It’s amazing just how work grinds to a stop when you don’t have all the bits and pieces in hand. That being the case, …
