Greetings,

We are still at Cherry Point and we've been working hard to fix our bowsprit leak. Well, we did take off to enjoy the Air Show with friends Dick & Libby off Calypso's sister ship, Tarwathie.

Instead of driving we broke out our Strida bikes and rode the 3 miles to the flight-line. What a great plan, not only did we get a bit of exercise but it saved us a ton of time by not getting caught up in traffic.

Today, it's back to work. The source of the bowsprit leak was water working its way between the stainless steel bowsprit and 20 year old powder coating that was breaking down. The water travelled down the mounting bolts and between the teak & fiberglass deck layers.

The other culprit was bolt holes from the previous bowsprit that were not correctly sealed.

With the teak deck removed we are now working to reinforce the deck, in the area of the bolt holes, with G-10. It's a high density fiberglass material used for backing plates and even engine mounts.

These small sheets will be epoxied to the chain locker overhead so we can fiberglass over the multiple existing holes. Once the bowsprit is reinstalled we will re-drill new bolt holes.

Based on what we have seen already we plan to laminate several quarter inch, 3"x6" pieces together to help correct the mast compression post issue. But that will be Phase II.

With all this going on we had to make a decision. We can either not work at camp and get everything completed or we could work & not go south. Easy decision, we have decided not to work at the camp this summer!

Speaking of which, it's time to get back to work!

Fair Winds & Quiet Anchorages,
Jeff & Wendy