Too many projects, and how we are missing Stuart Island!

It is the best of times, it is the worst of times. It is the age of productivity, it is the age of laziness. There are a pile of boat projects completed, there are a pile of boat projects remaining. In this regard, these days are so much like those of any other time, and yet it's noisiest adherents insist upon it being proclaimed in the superlative degree of comparison only.

Its noisiest adherent is me. And I proclaim these days to be so overfilled with boat projects that they surely can't compare with any other days with anything less than a superlative.

We have Aeolus down to Bainbridge so I can accomplish more work than I am able to do on our trips to Friday Harbor. This is necessitated by our plans to go around Vancouver Island next summer. This is all great and wonderful, but it is really hitting Amy and I like a ton of bricks that we are desperately missing our weekend get aways to the San Juans, and in particular, Stuart Island. There is nothing quite so wonderful as a winter sail to Stuart and having the harbors and island virtually to yourself. It is priceless to us and we miss it painfully.

But the sacrifice must be made to get these projects done on Aeolus and so I am putting all my spare time into them.

Just to give a sampling of what I am currently working on:

Partial removal of old teak. It is both screwed down with wood screws, and glued down with something like 4200.

Teak is largely gone, and now the fun job of scraping off all the adhesive begins!

Stern teak rubrail replaced

Now that I have tackled the majority of structural and operational items on Aeolus, I am turning my attention to some of the aesthetic points of her presence. The stern piece of the teak rubrail has long caught my eye for being ragged and in sore need of attention. It was split in various places, and over time had been crudely re-attached with both adhesives and screws. The overall effect was that it looked dreadful.

To replace it I first had to remove the old teak, which was surprisingly difficult. After removing the bungs and all the screws holding it on, I had to battle with whatever adhesive had been used at the time of construction, which felt like at least 4200.

This is what she looks like with the old teak removed, exposing the hull joint. You can see the joint, and some of the screws which help hold the two boat halves together. Everything is glassed on the inside and so is bomber strong.

Hull joint showing teak removed. Screws are glassed over inside.