Kaimusailing

I was looking on Craigslist in Maryland to see if the deceased Capn Chris’ trawler was up for sale. Instead I saw a small sailboat, a San Juan 24, up for sale. Free to a good home. I did my research, comparing the San Juan to the C&C 24 I like so much, Trillium. They have remarkably similar specifications, both derived from an IORC 1/4 ton racer, but the C&C had a ballast/displacement ratio about 1/3, and the San Juan about 1/2. It means both boats have to shove aside the same amount of water, but the San Juan has more ballast, it can carry more sail, it would outsail the C&C. I was excited. But what condition was this boat?
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I needed someone to find out what condition the San Juan sailboat was in, so I contacted my friend and sailing buddy, Capn Ed, up in Pennsylvania. He said he would look at the sailboat for me. Later it turned out the boat had been taken by someone else who got there more quickly. Darn.
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The old deflatable dinghy that I had been trying to reinflate was losing pressure right through its worn out fabric. I put a 2 coats of “inflatable boat top coating” on the topside areas I could access with the dinghy deflated. This paint is made by MDR and it cost me $38 for a quart. The dinghy is model 8.6RIB by Severn Marine, but was sold by the old Boat/US stores and has Boat/US decals on it.
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The next day I inflated the dinghy and it held air somewhat. I prepared the newly exposed lower areas that had yet to be painted and put two coats on them. While the dinghy isn’t perfectly air
tight at this point, I’m confident that applying an internal sealant will finish the job and then we’ll have a test boat for the Chinese outboard motor.
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The boatyard has been hauling boats 2 and 3 at a time and space is now short. Rocky, the owner, general manager, and chief crane operator said he probably wouldn’t have room to haul me out and could I step the mast and replace the crossbeam while docked. I have done that before and that was without a crane helping me out. I agreed to to that. I have to finish the mast step and the rigger has to put swage eyes on one end of both my running backstays.
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I made another batch of Chinese Beef Tomato, a Hawaiian dish of Korean or Manchurian cuisine. I had bought a 4 lb. chuck roast at Aldi’s when we went to Jacksonville and my initial idea was to make beef bourguignon so I also bought celery, onion, and carrots. I ended up making a double batch of the Beef Tomato and after serving it up to anyone who cared to eat it, I still had about 6 quarts of the stuff. The next day I invited the whole boatyard to join in. I’m afraid people will bring their own concoctions and I still won’t have disposed of the Beef Tomato.
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I used green slime, an inner tube sealant, to try to seal the deflatable boat. I put 10 oz. in each chamber and inflated the boat, then moved it around to spread the sealant inside. It was tiring to keep tilting the boat, lifting it and holding it. It was difficult to get supports to hold it in position. Finally I stopped trying to coat the entire interior of the dinghy, I would put soapy water on the outside and just position the dinghy to allow the sealant to settle where I knew there was a leak.
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It kept getting better and better as the leaks were sealed one by one. Another product I ordered was E6100 sealant, which is a urethane product, clear, similar in consistency to silicone sealant, but much stronger. I will use it to reattach the dinghy’s rub rail, also to glue up a couple of areas where the transom meets the tubes.
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The photo is of the food preparation for the Chinese Beef Tomato.