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Latitude 38 |
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Seayanika -- Down the Homestretch We’re back from Pacific Sail Expo – and what fun that was! Aside from conducting seminars, meeting other boatbuilders and visiting our vendors, we also made some much needed purchases including lighting fixture from IMTRA, a life raft and some cabin accessories. We even met several people who made it a point to introduce themselves to us as dedicated followers of our Latitude 38 articles, including my own personal ‘stalker’. Hey Sue! Now we’re back in Vista working with renewed vigor on the latest 'final' phase of construction on Seayanika, our 49-foot custom sailboat. Lamentably, as we pass the two and a half year mark, certain work we are forced to do already maintenance instead of progress. For example, some of the exterior teak that has been baking in the Southern California sun for the past year, particularly the bulwarks, was in need of scraping, sanding and revarnishing. Take it from me: It's a little disheartening to have to spend time on upkeep when the boat isn't even in the water yet!
Pit crew -- Above, Katriana cheerfully tackles maintenance. Make that 'dutifully.' Right, Erik admires the installed rudder. Below, work crew admires Erik's energy (and brewskies) as he readies the rudder for lifting. Not that progress isn’t continuing. Erik has installed the interior chain locker access hatches, the headliner in the forward cabin, and is now busily finishing up the transom and installing the rudder. We also made the somewhat-dreaded call to all our friends last week for another ‘boat party’. In Erik-speak, ‘boat party’ means spending your Saturday providing free manual labor in hopes of eventually going sailing with us when Seayanika is complete. Most come willingly for the camaraderie -- and, well, the beer -- and their help is invaluable to us. Thanks guys!
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Those of you who have been following our construction may remember that a couple of years ago, Seayanika was broken into and several thousands of dollars' of equipment was pilfered. Our best line of defense to prevent further intrusion was to visit the pound and procure Taurus, our ferocious (looking), 12 year old, 100-lb guard dog. Sadly, Taurus passed away a couple of months ago. As a continued deterrent to would-be thieves in the night, we left Taurus’ dog house and food bowls in their customary locations, hoping that would be sufficient. Not! Two weeks ago, another break in. This time we figured it must have been neighborhood kids because the only thing missing was our $200 marine stereo and speakers. They didn’t even take our collection of CD’s, passing up such great artists as The Who, Don Henley, Jimmy Buffett and the Rolling Stones. (Gotta be kids!) Although the boat had been rifled through, all of our power and hand tools were also dismissed as useless. We were lucky! So, Erik became the new watch dog -- he started sleeping on the boat. When he was explaining this to one of our friends, Erik said, “Hey, Bob, someone broke into the boat”. To which Bob replied “You broke in the boat? Congratulations!”. Obviously they were talking about two very different things!
However, after a week or so of
boat-sitting, we once again determined that our best course of action was
to visit the pound for another over-looked, older dog for the On-the-Hard
Marina. Enter Wylie, a 6-year old, 107-lb Rottweiler. Although he’s
as fierce looking as a dog can get, Wylie has yet to produce a single
bark. He doesn’t seem to be a particularly social dog, either, and we
can’t get him to approach us even with the bribe of a cookie. We’re
hoping that he will come around. Meanwhile, mostly as an 'inside joke',
we’ve attached a sign to the fence which reads, “WARNING: Trained
attack dog on duty. Do not enter the premises without the owner present;
do not place your hands near or through the fence; do not feed the dog.
The owner will not be responsible for injury to anyone not adhering to
this warning.” Do you think anyone will be fooled? |
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