We had a great party for my parents Steve and MarySue for their 50th wedding anniversary. 50 years later and they look GREAT!!!
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My brother Mark and our cousin Shannon
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That about gets you up to date and now we are just waiting for Mikes last
Dr appt on the 28th of this month and we hope to leave to 29th for Mazatlan and back to the Slacker.
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What can I say? With all the excitement (not) of the Del Mar Fair opening last Friday I was overwhelmed by this beautiful lady.
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Yea, I know its been a long time since we updated the blog. Frankly, its just not that interesting here. We are working, buying boat parts and worrying about the economy. In an effort to boost the economy we purchased a new dingy. Our was only about 8 years old which isn't that much but it had some hard use.
With the boat 1300 miles away in Mazatlan we don't have a good place to store the new dingy until we head back down in the Fall. Fortunately we got a 2 bedroom apartment this year so the second bedroom is now the dingy dock. It didn't come with the plant, that was extra.
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Our Mexico season comes to an end, and the Del Mar season starts.
After spending the winter in Mexico it was time to put the boat to bed for the summer season and our work time back here at Del Mar.
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The boat gets stripped of just about everything! Halyards and sheets come down, get washed and stowed below, along with sails and canvas. And a couple of tarps go up for a little sun protection.
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The interior gets cleaned and everything stowed for a long hot summer. And our protector takes his post guarding the Slacker.
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Of course we had time for one last Dock 6 Party!
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After driving for 3 days we arrive back in to Encinitas and immediately need Ugg boots!
It's COLD up here!
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We had to get in one last trip to Dunia's for a big shrimp feed before heading back to San Diego.
Remember when we told you about Dunia's? Its a locals cantina where you purchase shrimp from the vendors outside and bring them inside where they will boil them up for you for free. If you want them in garlic and butter or spicy sauce they charge about $3. The beer is ice cold and they even have live music.
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Love, Miss Doris
Mazatlan's Carnival is reported to be the 3rd largest carnival in the world, and the Mazatlecos sure do know how to put on a party! Carnival is the week before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. The fun in Mazatlan began on Wednesday the 19th of March with the coronation of the King of Joy and the burning of Bad Humor. The effigy is of a local man in Mazatlan who is not well liked or has pissed off the people of the city and his burning is to bring fun times for the carnival.
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And then the election of the Queen of the Pacific
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Some of the decorations in Plaza Machado
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This guy was walking all over the plaza selling these huge crucifixes.
I just don't see that as an impulse buy!
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One of the best signs. The bathrooms at carnival are at a premium!
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Love, Mom
On the21st the navy staged a mock battle between land and sea forces with fireworks instead of cannons. We went down the day before and the guys setting up for the big battle.
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It was an amazing fireworks show and the people are everywhere. Mike and I stayed out way to late but had a great time! The crowds and the bands were unbelievable and just trying to walk up the street was like trying to swim up stream in a very crowded stream, but everyone was having a great time laughing and dancing to the music as we got pushed and pulled toward the next bandstand
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The next day was the first of 2 parades. We purchased tickets here at Marina Mazatlan Yacht sales and it included a dinner and seats for the parade. As we were walking to the Aqua Marina Hotel one of the many vendors was this enterprising young man selling chairs and little tables
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This was at 2 pm on the parade route for a parade that did not start until 6pm , these people must have sat here all night
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Some of the temporary platforms for seats. No OSHA here!!
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We loved this guy with his bandolier type Pacifico beer holder!
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The parade route about one hour before the event, the route is about 5 miles long and it is this crowded the whole way.
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One of the premium seats, no discounts for poles or palm trees.
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Neptune and the Sea
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The Princesses' Float
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The Ley Grocery Store Float
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After a day of recuperation, we went to the day time parade Tuesday afternoon, with some friends who just got back to Mazatlan, Michael and Rene from Ahea Kali.
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Along with the crews of the boats, Precious Metal, Wanderer, and half of Mystique, (the other half having to do some dental work), we found a great place to sit and wait for the parade.
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Mike and Rene
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The 2nd parade is the same as the 1st. It just goes the other way.
This band got tired of walking
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This truck driver got sprayed in the face with some silly string, he was not happy.
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The Queens float
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They had a tram with some of the Queens of past carnivals
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The performers were all very tired and at the end of the route but they were happy to smile and pose for one last picture!
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As usual here we got back to the Central Market just in time to miss a bus back to the Marina, but the next bus ended up being one of our most entertaining bus rides yet. There was a group of the performers from Durango Mexico, they were a hoot! Singing and dancing and just having a great time.
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And the Back of the Bus Guys
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And this little guy was not to be outdone. Pedrito had to get up and shake all the gringo's hands and introduce himself "Hola, me llamo Pedrito"
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"Mi Carro"
That ends our Carnival week and we are still exhausted! We sure tried to party like a Mazetleco, but they did us in again. Maybe we will try again next year.
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Ok, so maybe not the end: when we went to the Tuesday parade Pat from Mystique and I came upon a man selling little hats for your dog. If you have been reading our blog you know we have a dock cat, so in our infinite wisdom we decided that the hat would be cute on the cat. Mike got out the gauze and band-aids and I put the hat on the cat, turns out the cat was kind of ok with the hat for a couple of minuets. What do you think?
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I've seen some calm and cool cats, but that's the best one yet.
I know you're good about planning ahead, Michael.
Love, Mom and John
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Didn't know you had a kitty traveling
passenger.
Hugs
Along with Sam and Teresa, cruising friends from Alaska, we went on a road trip to find beaches, sun and friends from past cruising seasons.
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Sam and Teresa's ride
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We decided on the advice of people who had driven down to Barra de Navidad and back, to take the toll road the way down and to take the free road on the way back. Sounds like a plan!
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The toll road goes all the way to Guadalajara then through Colima and then past two volcanos.
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love those English translations!
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On to Manzanillo. 510 miles of divided highway, and 908 pesos in tolls
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After 10 hours of driving we arrived on Melaque. We spent one night there and then went a couple of miles down the road to Barra de Navidad.
Dinner in Barra de Navidad with Rene and Mike of Ahea Kali.
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The next day was a beach day at Tenacatita. Sam and Teresa went for a kayak and then we played a little bocce ball.
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Rounding off the day we met Erik and Terri of Mija on the beach for a couple of beers and food
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Hugs, Miss Doris
We stayed in a really nice place in Barra de Navidad, right across the street from the Sands hotel. The Delphin has very nice clean rooms and a deck to have your morning orange juice. The Lagoon and Grand Bay hotel provide a spectacular backdrop.
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We then started our trek back on the free road to Puerto Vallarta. The road was a very pretty. Thru all types trees and jungle.
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And then back to the coast into P. V
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We did have a mission on this trip besides fun and frivolity. There is a Costco in Puerto Vallarta and Slacker needed some new batteries. Have you ever seen a Costco store with empty parking spaces at the front of the store?
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Protecting the military base outside of P.V.
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We then made our way to Sayulita, a small town on the beach north of Punta Mita. It has been discovered by surfers from all over and the shops and restaurants are plentiful. Again we found a nice place to rest.
We would have like to stay another couple of days, but Teresa had a plane to catch back home to Alaska, so off we go.
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We did find some time for a couple of cold beverages.
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It was a good thing we did not have to follow this guy a long way!
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Carnitas anyone?
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Back home in Mazatlan we needed to install the new batteries. Of course they go down at the very bottom of the cockpit lockers.
Everything out of the cockpit lockers, or on Slacker we say "Everyone out of the pool!"
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The new Kirkland batteries in their new home.
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Happy Traveling!
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Our biggest project of the season here in Mexico was to build a fiberglass hardtop for our dodger. The dodger is about 7 years old and beginning to really show its use. We have always admired the commercially produced hard dodgers like the Wave Stoppers and Tartarooga, but could not afford their steep price tag.
This is our dodger. Our plan was to use the existing frame for the form and laminate the new top over it. One of the advantages of a hard top is that you can stand (or kneel) on it when removing or replacing the main sail cover.
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Cheers,
Rick
I've enjoyed looking through your blog.
About the dodger; how did you finally mount it to your dodger frame? Also, did you use the FRP panel material available from Home Depot; the stuff with a matte finish on one side and gloss pebble on the other? If so, did you lay up on top of the textured side? And if so, did you find it necessary to scuff it up for adhesion of the glass?
Thank you for your assistance! I'm going to build a hard top for the dodger on our Westsail 32.
Fair leads,
Aaron N.
Two stainless steel reinforcing struts to the front hoop of the dodger frame.
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With the canvas removed we bent a piece of FRP panel over the frame and secured it by drilling a whole on either side of the tube and then tying 100 lb test fishing line through it. We then rough in the basic shape we wanted, first by marking the lines with pencil and then trimming with a jig saw.
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Fiberglass is messy work and we needed to keep as much of the mess off the boat. The dodger frame was removed and a tarp was lain over the work area, then the frame bolted back down through the tarp. The frame was wrapped with Saran Wrap to protect the tubes and tape was added to fill any gaps. We thought we had it pretty well covered. Not! While the work area was covered we neglected to cover the side decks. I thought they were far enough outboard that they would not get dripped on. Well, that was true however our hands and feet collected more than enough. Lesson learned. Next time tarp the decks as well.
We laced the FRP form back on and cut all the fiberglass layers to shape. Our initial lay up was one layer each of mat, roving and cloth.
One of the reasons we cruise in Mexico is that it is sunny and warm in the winter. Not the best weather for glass work. Fortunately, the forecast was for cool and cloudy for the next couple of days.
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Day one
Step one.
Paint on a coat of West Systems epoxy mixed with slow hardener. We mixed about 8 oz of epoxy at a time. Once mixed you only have about 10 minuets to use it before it begins to harden. In order to prolong this working time we keep the resin and hardener on ice in a cooler.
Step two.
Lay down mat and pour on the epoxy. This is not as simple as it sounds. You need to wet out all of the fibers being careful not to get any air bubbles. Once it's all saturated you use a plastic squeegee too remove as much of the epoxy as possible. If you leave too much epoxy in the fiberglass it will be brittle.
Step three.
Lay down the roving and wet it out.
Step 4
Lay down the cloth ect....
We wanted a finished product with a thickness of approximently ¼ inch. One layer each of mat, roving and cloth is about 1/8 inch. From step one through step 4 required about 3.5 hours. We wanted to give it plenty of time to harden before the evening dew so we called it quits for the day. In this weather eoxy gets hard in about 30 minuets but requires 24 hours to really cure.
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Day two.
Look around at the incredible mess we made and start to clean it up. This is when we discovered our epoxy cast foot prints in the deck. O well, another project for this season was repainting the non-skid on the decks.
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Day three.
Step 5
Sanding.
Remove the new top from the dodger frame and move it to the dock. We did the rest of the lay up there. If epoxy is allowed to cure you must sand and wash the surface before you can continue to lay up additional layers of glass.
Step 6
Repeat steps 1-4.
We were really pushing it towards the end. We only had 1.5 gallons of Epoxy and we were getting a little nervous, but we finished with about 8 oz to spare.
Day 4
We let the top cure for 36 hours. In the mean time we cleaned and continued to pick off spots of resin from our bodies.
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Day 5
Step 11
Using the jig saw and an angle grinder we trimmed the top to its final size.
Step 12
Sand and wash
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Step 13
Fairing. Here is where the fun begins. Using a short fiber polyester fairing compound with a working time of 2-3 minutes, plop it on and squeegee it out. What you are trying to do is fill all of the low spots and open areas in the fiberglass weave.
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Step 14
After allowing the fairing to dry a couple of hours sand it almost all off with 36 grit sandpaper in an electric sander. At this stage we used a palm sander.
Step 15
Do it again
Day 6
Step 16
Repeat step 15 about 5 more times.
Day 7
Getting really smooth now. After another sand and wash we mixed up a batch of West Systems with low density filler and squeegeed it on.
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Day 8
Step? Lost count
Sand the low density filler with 50, 100 and 150 grit. By now we were using both the palm and the oscillating sanders. If you are noticing that we always have the same clothes on you are correct. No, it really didn't take one day, we just refused to ruin more that one set of clothes.
After it was as smooth as we could get we flipped it over and used epoxy and filler to fill the holes from the fishing line. Our plan was always to use the FRP and the inside layer. It has a really good flat finish.
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Day 9-13
Paint the top and bottom with Interlux Brightside one part paint. Why not that fancy 2- part that looks so shiny? To get the top fair enough for that would have required several day of additional fairing and we would need a long board sander and other cool tools we don't have. Hey, were doing this in Mexico and we are Slackers. It looks just fine with one part.
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Day 14
Ta-Da! The finished dodger top. As we only have another month on the boat we are saving the new canvas for next year.
All in all it turned out great. A bit harder than expected but most boat projects are. Cost? Just under $ 400 in material. Total hours? About 150 for the both of us, but who's counting?
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I can't wait to see you two again this coming summer.
