Well good ol Looking Glass finally has arrived back in salt water and is gearing up to go play. I'm living on her here in Seattle now and she's moored at Shilshole Bay Marina while I work here at the Seattle Sailing Club.
Projects have been abundant and have certainly kept me busy.
Here's a quick run-down on what I've been up to.
-The engine was pulled out last August and given to a mechanic for the winter. He tore it apart, played around with the cylinder, piston, valves, and injectors and such, painted it Yanmar gray and stuck it back together. I put it back in the boat before LG came to Seattle, finished hooking it up here and replaced the shift control cable. Still need to really use the engine and break it in, but she seems pretty happy.
-Worked on the shore power connections and charging system. Bought a nice new shorepower cord with pretty blue lights. Hooked up another AC switch/breaker for the battery charger and ran the power to the charge. Now I just flip the switch instead of run the goofy extension cord to the outlet. Need to find just one AC battery charger label. Not interested in buying the whole pack.
-More with the AC shorepower. I ran another wire for an outlet behind the galley stove. Cut a hole in the hanging locker (or shelved locker) and wired it all up. Pretty easy deal and it's nice to have a galley plug. This lets me plug in my phone and heater and play with both without getting out of bed.
- I bought a Garmin GPS plotter this spring when I started work here at the Sailing Club for a Cruise and Learn trip I was doing for a week in June. I knew I would also use it for LG. Mounted it in place of the old compass and ran the wires to the DC panel. I need to replace the compass and will probably put a mount in the bottom hatch board.
- I took apart the stem fitting on the bow for the forestay to find out why it was popped up a 1/4 inch or so. It's never moved but it just wasn't right. I couldn't find any reason why it was so after a little bit of shaving and sanding it fit back on flush to the deck and with a little bit of Lifeseal mess, it's finished and hopefully good to go.
- Installed an electric water pump for the galley sink. The handpump faucet wasn't working so I installed the pump. It's nice to just turn on the water wherever I am. There still is the filler in the aft lazarette but it now runs directly to the water bladder to fill it up. I need to install another water bladder which might have to go up front in the v-berth if I can't find one for the bilge.
- Replaced the vhf connections at the mast with new cable coming through the boat. I need to replace the mast cable sometime, but for right now there seems to be good reception so I not too concerned.

There have been many other little projects to make life more comfortable on the boat. I'm still in my first month of living aboard and so far it's been great. It certainly will be interesting to see how the winter treats us here in Seattle.

I'm looking at going for the first cruise on Looking Glass here this weekend. Probably will end of going around Bainbridge Island for a couple nights. It will be a good shakedown to see what I need to keep working on.

Big project yet to come.....dodger, roller furling headsail, steering vane??

So much fun!!

So another years moves along at a steady pace and my life's plans have changed again and another branch taken. Luckily, it's still a sailing branch and so the fruit at the end will be mighty tasty. After spending another season in the Grenadines and away from the snow, I took a job in Seattle working for the Seattle Sailing Club. I've been here for a couple weeks now and so far life is good and I'm enjoying the urban lifestyle.
Sadly, Looking Glass is in a holding pattern, elevation 2960 ft. I moved the boat out of the yacht club after I decided to drop the membership and found a place for her up by the airport near Kalispell. It's indoor storage which hopefully she'll enjoy over the regular beatings from sun, rain, snow, and everything else Montana throws at her. I would certainly like to have her out here with me, but for the time being it's just too expensive.
I'm going to spend the summer season considering how to deal with the boat. I don't really want to sell her, however I might have to do just that if I'm not going to be able to sail her like shes meant to be. I would much rather keep up with the original plans and take her on some cruising adventures up north and down so.
So if you are one of two or three people who read this and know of a good place to keep the yacht or a place I can store her on near Seattle and complete some needed repairs, let me know. I'd like to keep her keel wet and sails full.

Looking Glass is finally a complete package. First off, I received my shrouds back from Fisheries in Seattle after three weeks waiting for them to be made. I took them off after bringing the boat up in the Trestle to Trestle race in the end of June. Now it's almost the end of July and the boat is back sailing again.
I also purchased a trailer a few weeks ago. It's a nice dual axle, 12,000lbs capacity trailer that I found on craigslist. While it sucked every last drop of money out of my account, I think it will be a good thing to have. Now I can move the boat when I choose, and store it where I choose, which hopefully will be the yacht club this winter. Now I just need to spend some time and fit the boat to the trailer and get all the pads right. Hopefully all goes well.
A few other things that have been added to Looking Glass.
There is now a voltmeter for the batteries. I attached it to the forward side of the aft settee seat. It has a light and reads 8-16 volts. Will be nice not have to tear apart the seat and hook up the handheld voltmeter to see how the batteries are doing. Not sure exactly how old they are but they are giant, and I don't have concerns about running low on juice.
I hooked up the water bladder that lives in the starboard side to the shore water pressure system. Now while i'm at the dock, I can refill the bladder with just a flip of a valve. No more bringing a hose into the boat. I also ran a new vhf cable through the boat and up to the mast, however I'm not really sure how to put on uhf connectors so I might have to revisit this. Still need to replace the mast end of cable too.

Today was finally launch day for little Looking Glass. I was down in Dayton teaching an afternoon private lesson and must have bugged the guys there enough about getting the boat in the water and out of the marshy wetlands it had been living in since last October.
Dayton Yacht Harbor has an interesting contraption for moving boats around. Many marinas around the globe use Travel lifts as the primary mover. Generally they have four wheels and can move around on there own. Here in Montana we do it slightly different. There is the hoist, there is four wheels, but there is not an engine. The power is provided by an old fire truck that is rigged to pull the hoist around the muddy fields. Then it gets even more entertaining when it has to drive down a hill to the lake with the boat swinging in front of it and pull out onto two wooden piers that create the launching area.
Well...everything went just fine. No calls were made to the insurance company this time. LG was lowered into Flathead Lake around 4:30 this afternoon and in fine summertime weather. I think the boat shivered a little bit when her keel felt the frigid post winter waters of the lake. There might still be an iceberg floating around the middle, I wouldn't doubt it. After the straps were removed and the hoist pulled away, and after doing a quick check that all my time and hard work would stay at the appropriate level on the lake, I took the task of cleaning of the several weeks of muddy footprints and greasy handprints that littered the deck. I also played around with the new oars from NRS to see if they fit. Yep..check...roger...The true test of whether that was a good purchase or not will likely come this weekend.
So the yacht is all tied up fore, aft, and a spring to keep her happy. This weekend I'll head back down there and get the engine fired up again and continue cleaning. The Trestle to Trestle race from Dayton to Somers is this weekend, so I'll spend Saturday on the boat then sail back with the fleet on Sunday. Pray for downwind...I might have a chance then.

First day back with LG today. My dad is here for the week helping with a few spring projects on the boat (and if the weather improves, do some hiking). After running around town grabbing a few supplies we drove down to Dayton Yacht Harbor to say hello to the yacht. The cover over the cockpit came off first for access to inside, then I hooked up the batteries and turned on a generator to get them charging. The rest of the short day was spent measuring up the floor and the forward settee so that it can be repaired. Also looked at sizes for a new water tank to fit into the bilge.
The projects continue tomorrow. If it's nice I'll take the rest of the cover off and start doing the work inside along with taking shrouds off and maybe a few engines pieces. Some other exciting news is that I got an old tiller pilot off another boat. Going to try and see if I can it to work and fitted to the little yacht.
Looking forward to getting back out sailing. The lake is still five feet down. This could take awhile...

As I'm hanging around here in the islands, I sit here thinking about all the good stuff I'd like to do to get Looking Glass ready for some cruising fun. Here's a sample of the list. If you have any thoughts, send me an e-mail @sailfast14@hotmail.com

A nice canvas dodger is high on the list. Keep the rain away from the companionway and provide some spray protection while sailing. Would like to make it myself, since it could be considerably cheaper.

A solar panel. I would rather not use the engine to recharge and solar setups are getting cheaper. Thinking about mounting one 85w panel on the stern pulpit. The infamous SolarStik is just a little too pricey and I want to keep things simple.

Change lights to LED to conserve power.
Replace water tank in bilge and paint bilge (Interlux Barriercoat?)
Replace ceiling liner. Paint overhead.
Tiller-autopilot.
New shrouds, forestay, backstay.
New bottom paint
Give the little YSB8 engine an overhaul. Hopefully that'll keep it happy for awhile.
New depth and speed instruments. New compass
Work on increasing and improving storage in the boat. Organization of things.
Wifi Antenna for increased chance of gaining a signal while out.
A trailer!! I'd love to be able to have my own place to store the boat while out of season.
Ohh there are lots of little projects. I'm hoping to keep things simple and not focus on getting the boat "perfect". I love the idea of going cruising now versus waiting for conditions and the boat to be ideal. Looking Glass is a safe craft currently, everything I do from here on out will just make life easier.

The plan is to be cruising by the summer of 2012. chip chop chip.