Launch Day

Tah-da-a-ah! Here's our pretty, new girl! Dolphin can smell the water she's been longing for and it is a fine day. Jeff at Tobermory marine makes everything look easy; frist step is getting the boat settled on the trailer and hauling it down to the dock where...

 ...the crane guys put her in the slings and up we go. She gets to hang there (12 tons) for 10 minutes while we scrape and apply antifouling paint to the very bottom of her keel.

 

Just look at that luxurious nine foot cockpit!!! We have not had a boat with such accommodation, plus it makes helming very comfortable.

This story would not be complete without a picture of one very supportive fellow, Chuck Beaton, the owner's (Mark) father. Chuck did a lot to get Dolphin into our hands and all fixed up. He told us of past launches that all involved much leaking at the seams, screaming, swearing and mad dashes to get more pumps. Well, we smugly thought, we'll have no such problems!
Don't ever have smug thoughts. The minutes that followed Chuck's departure were truly mind boggling. All of a sudden we could hear what sounded like someone taking a shower. We quickly pulled the sole up and to our absolute horror we saw the Georgian Bay pushing the cotton  caulking through the a seam. Then some tar. Then another length of the same seam, the all hell broke loose as we realized that there were not just wee weeps hidden under the fuel tank, but great big ones making that shower-y sound as the incoming lake was hitting the now pooling water in Dolphin's bilges.
Jim made some very fast manoeuvers in order to stem the leaks, first we had to pull out some timbers that held the sole up, then pull out the water tank. But what could we do with the full fuel tank that was keeping us from reaching the bigger leaks down under? Jim took out the thin plywood liner for the water tank compartment and sawed it to size to cover 4 areas, then wedged in some other bits of wood we were saving for our fireplace on board. It mostly worked, but wouldn't hold for long...we needed a solution...fast! The water started to gain on us, we simply didn't have enough bilge pumps. So the screaming, swearing and mad dash to get another pump began, thanks for heads-up, Chuck!!!
I had to bail by hand while Jim drove to Tobermory Marine to borrow a pump, I was barely keeping up. A fellow launchee noticed out predicament and inquired if he could help, I simply didn't know what to say. I was to discover that he inquired of a friend  in town about leaky wooden boats and the friend recommended to get a diver to go down and do something to the outside planks. It took Jim a split second to race over to the local dive shop and find a willing diver to make an emergency call. With the third pump, we started gaining on the leaks.
A lovely, efficient angel-in-scuba-gear appeared at our sides and we passed him the materials required to drive more caulking into the bad seam.
He went down and it took no time for him to find the problem, and we could hear the hammer and iron ring from below. And the leak came to a full stop. I stared to cry.  The word relief does not describe what Jim and I felt at that moment. Niagara falls went away. The diver later said that as soon as he put the strand of cotton up to the seam, the incoming lake sucked it in with such force that all he had to do was guide it and hammer away. He saved our boat, no doubt. Now, here's where giving credit can be a problem; there has been a recent notice given by The Diving Industry that those not licenced to work for pay couldn't. So we didn't pay him. As a matter of fact, I was so emotionally spent, and exhausted by all that hand bailing, that I couldn't go to meet him after he de-suited, Jim did. Jim delivered a big hug (from me, but Jim was pretty relieved too!) and misplaced an envelope in the hugging. All I can say now, is have a look at www.WetRockStudios.com to see what our angel is making his other living with, you'll see Tobermory and vicinity at it's finest. He does mail order.
And so, after we collected our wits, mopped up and got confident to put everything back, we then installed our brand new marine-composting toilet in the head, but I was too wigged-out to remember to take any more pictures of that day. You shuddah seen the bright green water on the other side of those planks!
The fellow that suggested a diver has invited us to dinner tomorrow night, and Chuck wants us to come dine with him and his family on Sunday, so I guess the cruise portion of this Blog has begun! Night One sees Jim sleeping on board, listening for what he won't hear...someone taking a shower.

With our launch date set back a few days, we decided to have Dolphin moved into a cover-all shed and do some serious painting. The weather has been a bit unstable, this made great sense. I enjoyed being out of the sun and wind and just concentrate on one thing; painting my boat! You can see the top photo has her bottom paint on, we did that with brushes  because rollers pull the primer off, plus we get better coverage with this very pricey product.

The next step was priming the topsides, I did that by rolling and tipping. Then the day I had been waiting for...I painted the topsides in a beautiful buttery yellow.

And by Golly! She's high off the hard!

 

And here's Chippy, chipping away at some plank repairs with some mahogany we'd been saving just for this day (I'm just glad to get it out of my bedroom!) You might think that making these repairs should have come first, but Jim has already done a Herculean amount of work. Today alone he installed bilge pump hoses, eyeballed the shaft for alignment, installed two batteries, pulled out the water tank so he could tighten the keel bolts, and visited with the Harbour Master to determine where we would tie off and what all the details were. This is after searching for and ordering a whole bunch of other parts for later installment. Oh yes, and make and install two more plank patches.

When people comment that wooden boats are a lot of work, I would have to agree, but they are also a lifestyle choice you must have time for.

Tomorrow we rip out the head and holding tank and install a marine version of a composting toilet in its place...happy day!

Work Week Three

Work week 3 has seen me doing more work than I ever have done before in my life. The big push before launch is on. We have had some great weather and got primer and bottom two coats of bottom paint on. One each of a different colour so I can see where I missed. One wee spot is all a toredo worm will want for a snack!

There is nothing like removing a boat's paint to reveal all her secrets, and Dolphin has her share. Fitting for a 60 year old boat, but so far so good. No whole planks need replacing, just some bits thrown in to make her sound. She'll no longer be a racer, however. Racing puts too much strain on her shrouds and stays, opens up the hull like  basket weave. She'll be a cruiser; a little bit slower and not being asked to work too hard to weather.

 When we discovered rot around the cockpit drain holes, Jim found some solid wood for the new holes and put a nice covering plate over the old ones to seal them up until we can make a more complete repair to the cockpit sole. The old fittings had 60 year old gate valves...we now use the beautiful bronze handles as decorative chart-weights.

And here's all I could see of Jim as he wrestled the old drain hoses out. Yep, he can cram himself into

 

... some pretty impressive places!

Jim has replaced just about every hose, wire and battery. After he changed all the injector hoses the engine started with only minor complaint...then we realized we had to turn the key and push a button heh, heh! We have sealed up some port leaks, companionway leaks and just plain old leaky leaks. I'll have to keep stuffing more leak-stoppy-stuff into the forward deck posts, or I'll never sleep when it rains!

 

So here's Super Jim, happy with the warm spell, glad to be out of that engine area.

And this is me, photo taken Monday, May 6 on the eve of our 7th wedding anniversary. We met because of another old woodie, Chelonidae. God help all poor wooden boat aficionados!

And below is a shot that reminds us of why we are getting up at dawn, getting covered in sanding dust, wearing masks to keep noxious fumes out of our blood streams, balancing on ladders to carry heavy items, swinging hammers, sanding again, painting, getting neck cramps from overhead work, getting sunburned one day and chilled the next, cheering (and I mean Cheering!) when launch day was pushed back by one day, then by three. Watching facebook posts from other friends who are already out there doing it. All this...for one rum punch!