Contessa 26 ‘Tess’

I’m on deadline but Rob’s kicking ass on priming. He’ll focus on getting all the priming and sanding done before I’m finished with the issue. Then next week we’ll paint!

BEFORE:

MIDWAY:

My heart warmed at lunch today, as I walked up the dock to see these sights:

I climbed in the cockpit and this greeted me:

It apparently was being used for this:

Then I stepped below to find the boys (did I mention Aaron’s back – YEA!) working on this:

So things are progressing. I just wish I could be there to make sure they do it right!

Most blogging sites allow you to see what terms folks type into search engines to find your site. This is my favorite so far: “pretty little holes”. What, exactly was this person looking for? I’m just guessing it wasn’t a pic of this

or this

or this

but probably something closer to this

Go figger.

PS: Aaron’s baaaaack!

No photos today. I did manage to get the final primer coat on the V-berth and it looks good. A light sanding and it’s ready for paint. Rob’s been working on the rigging, getting new halyards, etc up and running (ha). While I’m working he’ll be painting lockers and priming the rest of the interior. We haul out at the end of the month and have way too much to do before then! Eek!

Since Rob started ‘working truck’ at West Marine, the weekdays have been a little wonky. He takes a nap before he goes in at 11 p.m. on Monday night, works till 7 a.m., sleeps most of Tuesday morning, the goes back in Thursday night at 3 a.m. till 7. Ugh! So while he was napping Monday evening, I did laundry and primed the v-berth.

Just look at the post below for the BEFORE. Rob went over it with another thinned coat of primer but, as you can see from the barely coated green bulkhead, it didn’t do a whole lot. All of it will get another unthinned coating before painting. Meanwhile, I picked up a gallon of white paint at the Depot the other day so he could start painting lockers – as you can see from the above pic, he’s well on his way. I tell you, Tess is looking more and more like a boat again!

He also rigged up a new mainsheet setup and backstay adjuster. That WM employee discount is worth all the hassle!

We got so much done this weekend, yet it doesn’t seem like anything at all. We’re, once again, feeling overwhelmed with all that’s left to do before the Singlehanded Farallones Race in April. But let’s talk about what we did, not what we have left!

Our new-to-us North spinny arrived Friday. It’s in surprisingly good shape for a $200 sail. There are a couple of patches (which are well done, by the way) but the biggest problem is the goo left over from trying to remove the sail numbers. The cloth is all stuck to it and looks like someone patched it with duct tape.

I talked with our sailmaker (man, that sounds so cool!) and she said it’s no problem to use acetone to get rid of the goo. I also asked her about washing it as it has a slight but bothersome mildew problem. No problema! Rob even likes the crazy colors.

While I was working Friday, Rob got the bilge pump permanently mounted just inside a cockpit locker. I suppose a photo is not really needed for this but I like this shot!

Now we just needed to hook up the cockpit drains to thru-hulls so rain would stop draining into the bilge. We’d thought we would put in traditional thru-hulls with seacocks but Rob decided to put them just above the waterline instead. It’s crazy scary drilling great big holes in your hull while you’re still in the water . . .

After getting it installed and gooped up, we attached the hoses. The two port (fore and aft) cockpit drains are connected to a T fitting which leads to the starboard thru-hull, and vice versa.

After getting it all hooked up, we just had to test it . . .

SUCCESS!

I finished sanding while Rob worked on rigging stuff, so it was definitely a productive weekend – just feels kinda weak considering all we have left to do.

It also didn’t help that these little buggers were swarming us all weekend. I had a lot of fun with my electric bug zapper though!

Finally – FINALLY – made it down to Tess yesterday afternoon. Days of rain left us less than inspired to work on her but yesterday was pretty nice. I decided to tackle sanding the V-berth while Rob worked on the hole/platform/companionway area. I managed to get about half done with the V-berth before my wimpy little-girl arms couldn’t hold that sander anymore. What a baby! But half is better than none. Tomorrow I’ll do the rest and maybe, just maybe, get started priming.

Rob finished fitting everything into the step area. Check it out. Here’s my concept drawing:

And here’s the finished not quite finished product:

We will paint everything but the step and cleats, which I’ll sand, shape and varnish. Will probably slap on some clear non-skid strips to the steps.

I’ll be back Monday with more pix of the great deeds we intend to do!