Monday, May 30, 2011

Bettie's ready to get wet


She is renamed

We are as ready as we are going to be. On our next trip down, Bettie P should be in the water. The past few weeks have been very busy so I haven't had as much time as I would like to post on this blog. I have been busy with work. This last week we started the 101 sailing classes, which will be done this week, and start the 103 classes next week. Dave raced his Cobra last weekend. We have been busy with the boat too.

In the last few weeks we installed the new larger fuel tank now with a fuel gauge. We installed a 2000 watt power inverter/charger, because having coffee fast in the morning is very important. We did a bunch of rewiring of the boat but have some to go yet. We are adding both 110 and 12 volt outlets throughout the boat. We started to set up the 2 GPS locations on the boat. Most of the wood work is done. We filled and tested the water system. We have sealed most of the leaks we know about on the upper deck, and have one or two more to fix. The motor was started and ran for 10 to 15 minutes. We tested some of the electrical systems and found some stuff we want to change over the summer. Dave removed all the old graphics and installed all the new ones. Yesterday the marina lifted the mast up on top of the boat, so today I removed all of the packing materials and pre-rigged the mast with some of the instrumentation, and as much of the standing rigging as I could.

The marina has one last coat of paint to apply before putting her in the water and set the mast for us, which will happen within the next week or so.

Because of classes and other things going on, neither Dave nor I will make it back to the boat until a week from Friday. That weekend Lori, her daughter Jane, and I will be camping about a mile from the boat so we're hoping to spend some sailing time over the 3-day weekend. The week after that we will be finishing up the 103 class on Dave's boat.

The 101 class was interesting, we had about a minute and a half of instruction before boarding the boat and setting the sails. The boat that we used at the class was much smaller than Dave's, but the fundamentals are still the same. After a few hours out on the water I am more excited than ever to get out on the water and sail Dave's boat and prepare for the long trip this Fall.





we moved the mast on top of the boat and pre-rigged it so they can set it when it goes in the water 



Saturday, May 28, 2011

Fwd: Check-in/OK message from Bettie P SPOT Messenger

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <noreply@findmespot.com>
Date: Thu, May 26, 2011 at 5:47 PM
Subject: Check-in/OK message from Bettie P SPOT Messenger
To: donavanshomes@gmail.com


 Bettie P
 Latitude:44.90779
 Longitude:-93.64084
 GPS location Date/Time:05/26/2011 17:48:04 CDT

 Message:Were in the world is Bettie P.

 Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/4ubxa/44.90779/\-93.64084

 If the above link does not work, try this link:
 http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=44.90779,-93.64084&ll=44.90779,-93.64084&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Bettie P

 You have received this message because Bettie P has added you to their SPOT contact list.

 Every day is an Adventure. Share Yours.
 http://www.findmespot.com

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

5/11/2011

We made good progress today despite on and off rain. We got a couple of the stanchions reinstalled and sealed. I was able to finish all of the plumbing for the holding tank for the toilet and all the valves, and reinstall the seating over top of it. I also started reinstalling the nav station and it is all in place other than the top cover. We did rubber coatings on the forward cabin and the area behind the galley, so other than touch up, all we have left is the aft cabin. We're still having a small problem with seapage in an area near the bilge. We drilled a hole today and drained that area. The whole bottom is black slimy goo that we need to wash out before we can put the sealer in. The marina was able to put on another coat of bottom paint. They still have four more coats before it's finished. The boat should be ready to go in the water in about a week and a half to two weeks, as long as everything goes well.


melted light from Sunday

2nd view of light

forward cabin before final coat of rubber

nav station, almost done with finished walls

galley before final coat of rubber

starboard wall nearly done

port wall waiting for upper cabinets
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5/15/2011 photo update






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Sunday, May 8, 2011

5/8/11

Driving home now. We got all of the 2nd coat of the rubber coating on today before the rain came in. The rubber coating is strange stuff to work with. While trying to heat up the forward cabin, I melted the light off the ceiling, oops. Wednesday we should wrap up the rubber and start putting everything back together.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

5/4/2011

Today Dave and I started coating the interior with the rubber coating, it is a little harder to get smooth than we thought, but it's looking good. We will try to finish it on Sunday or next Wednesday. Dave installed the new prop. We also slid the new fuel tank into place. It's a very tight fit but it goes in. We may need to move the exhaust pipe from the diesel motor to fit the tank. We reinstalled 3 winches that Dave had repacked with grease.

We are finlly getting warmer weather. The water at the dock has dropped 4 or 5 feet so far, but has a ways to go before it gets to the normal level. The marina is putting boats in the water every day now. There are  more and more people working on boats around us. We are looking forward to getting the boat in the water in the next few weeks.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

More photos #2

more cabinets installed

The Spot

old brass prop and new composite prop

4/30-5/1/2011

Work is progressing well. On Saturday Dave and I rebuilt and sealed all of the cabinets except the top of the navigation station. Dave laminated two sheets of plywood to make the top of the nav station, which took most of the day on Saturday. On Sunday, Dave needed to work on the race car to get it ready for a race in a few weeks. I went down to the boat and finished up the sanding, and everything is ready to start for the rubber coating on Wednesday. I also installed all of the woodwork I could before the coating goes on. I layed out how the new plumbing  is going to run from the toilets holding tank, Y valve, macerator pump and discharge valve. The way it was before it would not pass Coastguard inspection. You cannot discharge the holding tank into the water unless you are more the 3 miles offshore, and, it must be locked with the lock disabled anytime not offshore.

 New Y valve & Macerator pump

new top for seating area


Cabinet  rebuilding in shop with  Dave's race car

Part of the Nav station before build



rust stains are where the boat was leaking, fixed now