1-1-07

Ben and I loaded up in the pickup truck and made a quick trip to the boat on New Years day. The tide was out and the boat was really way down below the finger pier so we had to pull the boat over to a lower dock on the starboard side just so we could get on the boat. We found the boat in good shape and no water in the bilge. I tried to start the motor but it would not light off  without a little help from the starter fluid. It has been a long time since we ran the motor and it was a cold day, but one little squirt of starter fluid and she started right up and ran good. While I was running the motor Ben was removing the bimini top. He got it all unbolted and we got it off the boat and into the pickup. I ran the motor for about 20 minutes then we packed up and headed home. When we arrived home, Margie had a New Years Day feast ready for us. She had made a honey glazed ham with black eyed peas, cornbread, potatoes, Broccoli rice and homemade rolls. MMMM..good!, just what a southern boy needs to start the new year right!

Alma Del Viento

1-06-07

Margie and I went to the Houston Boat Show at Reliant Arena. We walked in the place and as far as you could see in every direction was every kind of boat in the world. I scanned the horizon of boats and said "ok that way, I see sails way over there" so we made a beeline for the sailboats. We went aboard many boats, we looked at the new Catalina from 30 footers to 45 footers. Margie  liked the Hunters and I liked the Catalina's. Both were beautiful inside and out. It was interesting going in a boat that has rooms with doors and even hallways. One had an aft stateroom with doors on each side of the companion way stairs and a king size bed. A really big boat!! We strolled through the miles and miles of vendor booths and checked out all the new equipment and goodies
for boats. The most interesting one I saw that captured my attention the most was the booth for Marina Del Sol in Clearlake. This marina is located about in the middle of Clear Lake and they have FLOATING docks plus other stuff like a pool and club house but mostly they have FLOATING! docks. Wow that would be nice to have the boat always in the same position and just step aboard. We soon left the show and headed for the boat but I just couldn't get the marina out of my mind so we first stopped at Marina Del Sol and walked out on the docks. The docks are great and have concrete tops with nice wide fingers. The boats are right there and not down below. We saw a Catalina 27 just like ours and it was just perfect to get on and off the boat. We may move the boat here when our lease expires in April. It will cost more money but the floating docks are worth it. Next, we head out to our boat and just to prove the point to us we find the tide is out and the wind has been blowing from the north all day and our boat looks like it is sitting in the mud way way down below the dock. This is the lowest I have seen it here and I don't even want to attempt to try and get on the boat. So Margie and I just walk around the boat looking at it. It feels kind of stupid when you cant get on the boat. I think this convinced us that we will be moving the boat. It was getting dark so we headed for home.

 M A R I N A D E L S O L
 

1-07-07

All the paperwork is done and I have received all my certificates back. Our boat is finally legal! The Texas  Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) has sent me the licenses stickers and I have a fresh new title for the boat in my name. I also received my documentation certificate from the Coast Guard. I now have a US registered documented boat. She is now prepared to travel into international waters and foreign ports with the protection of the US government. Her documented name is Alma Del Viento and her hailing port is Galveston Texas USCG Doc. number is 1082297 you can look her up online (click here)  

1-20-07

Margie has been sewing and fitting and sewing and fitting our new burgundy bimini top. The top is huge and it's a lot a canvas for Margie to wrangle around. The Sunbrella fabric is beautiful and tough so it is also tough to sew. But when Margie puts a hem down the side it makes a sharp crisp edge that looks really good. She is using a burgundy V92 thread that is UV and rot resistant, so it should last a long time. She also plans to make the boot cover for it.

1-27-07

Margie and I arrived at the boat today about 2 pm. We found the boat in good shape and the water level was about normal so it wasn't hard to get on board. We didn't do much today but loaf around the boat and discuss the plan to work tomorrow. The motor cranked right up and I ran it about 30 minutes. I got the power cord out and we plugged the boat into the dock power to get the battery charger running and charge up the batteries since I hadn't charged them in a very long time. We made a quick trip to West Marine and I picked up a RAM swing arm to mount the chart plotter next to the companion way so it can be swung out and viewed from the cockpit or swung in to view from the cabin. Margie picked up some snacks and some propane bottles for the heater, since it is supposed to get cold tonight. We got back to the boat and I tried the swing arm in various positions around the door to finally decide where I wanted to mount it. I also placed some new stereo speakers  around the cabin to see where I would mount them. The new stereo is still in the box at home, the stereo project will have to wait for me to build a cabinet to mount it in and after I completely rewire the whole boat. It was getting dark and getting cold so we closed up the boat and started the heater. We got our bunks ready for the night with sleeping bags and warm blankets then we started watching DVD movies. We watched movies until about 2 am before going to sleep.

I got the medium swing arm.

1-28-07

The winds howled all night long and the boat swung back and forth in the slip and it got really cold during the night. Good thing we were still in the slip, it would have been quite a ride if we were out on the hook, in the bay somewhere. But I cant hardly wait to try that someday! ha-ha!. We got out of bed about 9 am and Margie wanted coffee but I don't have a stove in the boat yet so we got dressed and headed out. When we got in the cockpit we looked around and the dock was gone! Well it was way up over our heads, the winds had blown the water out of the bay and the boat was almost sitting in the mud. I pulled the boat over to the starboard low dock and we had to crawl off the bow to get out. We went to IHOP and had a nice breakfast then back to the boat. I checked the swing arm position a few more times and took some measurements. We made a quick trip to the Blue Water Boat Store to pick up some hardware. Got back to the boat and I checked the position again for the swing arm then I marked the position and finally did it...I drilled 4 holes in my boat! Luckily the holes lined up perfectly and the swing arm mounted nicely next to the door. The next project was to mount the new tiller. The old tiller was cracked and too badly delaminated to use so I got a new one. I braced up the tiller in the cockpit at a height that looked good and drilled two holes into my nice new tiller. The fun part was finally getting to play with the autopilot and confirming that it actually worked, I  mounted the tiller pilot bracket on the tiller and got it aligned then ran the tiller pilot from stop to stop to make sure it cleared everything. It was kind of fun watching the boat swing in the slip and the tiller move to try and correct. I cant wait to try it out sailing. We cleaned the boat some and I worked on the aft running light and got it working. I ran the motor about 20 minutes. We took down the main sail and bagged it up to take home and clean and repair it. The batteries were fully charged so we disconnected shore power and stowed the power cord away. Closed up the boat and headed for home.

New Mahogany and Ash tiller

1-31-07

Here at the house we have washed and soaked the mainsail several times but the stains are just not coming out and upon closer inspection we see several seams that are loose and the stitches coming out. I think this sail is done for and its time to get another one.  I checked several places on the internet and a new sail is 1000 to 1500 bucks whew! too high so I check EBay and hey they have a Catalina 27 main sail going for auction today with no reserve. The problem is that the bid ends at 2pm and that's when I have to be at work. So I unchain Margie from the sewing machine and chain her in front on the computer. HaHa!! I show her how to bid on the sail by just entering our maximum bid about 5 minutes before the auction ends. I figure about 500-600 bucks would be good for a used sail.  I leave for work. I call Margie when I get in the parking lot at work and she is hysterical! She is screaming we are going to have to pay 57000 dollars for a sail. I almost fell down and said What?!! She said she typed in 57500 instead of 575.00 for the maximum bid. I said oh that's ok because you haven't confirmed it yet.  (silence)  Uh! you haven't confirmed it yet, have you?... Uh-huh, she said. -  OH MY GOD!! -  @#$!#&^%$*!!!

Well needless to say we won the bid. Somebody kept bidding it up right at the last minute and the final price was $735.00  Whew! not a bad price for a main sail only 100 bucks more than I really wanted to pay but we probably would not have won the sail. The guy emailed me and he will be shipping the sail tomorrow. I guess I will have to let Margie out more often I think she has been smelling too much sunbrella.

This is Margie confirming the bid on EBay

Our $57000 dollar sail