COLD - and slow.

Well things with Highland Fling are not getting anywhere fast.

That much I can say...  The rest of life has just taken over the last month...

Good news -  I have the genoa fixed up for furling next season.
                   -  I have a main on order with Genco
                      a deposit down with # and big G :)
                   -  I have an autopilot and cockpit cushions coming
                      from my friend Rob - ty!
                 
So that said of all my projects I had listed.. I have not gotten any further on any of them yet.

I did get a surprise trip to Jamaica from my wife on my birthday Nov 25th - How amazing is that!!! And then winter hit, and we also get sick in the house - wiped us out for a week.

So a serious think will now need to take place... It is looking like its going to be a very cold winter here. Since most projects require chemicals of some type to used (fibreglass, strippers, paint) its not looking good what I will be able to get done before spring.

I will need to revise the LIST again.....
                   - I seem to be doing that more than work..  oh well :)

James

Working on the boat in the yard!

Boat is in the yard, with the mast up, and I am trying to set it up so that I can work over the winter when the weather is warm enough to do so. Mast up.. hmmm this was tougher than I thought it was going to be, I am having to "cut and paste" the tarps so that I can keep it covered but also still access the boat to work. Picked up some interstrip 299e from Westmarine for $18 a can.. good deal. I will add some pics to this post in a couple of days.

 Covering the boat from the US spy camera's ;) Yep camo green!! What can I say it was on sale at Princess Auto, so when you want a 20 x 40 ft tarp you buy whats going. That is my lovely and smart wife Dawn, patching the slits we made for the sidestays - this cover goes all around the standing rigging! :)

 This is a shot from the companionway entrance forward. As you can see the cover is steep, it should get most rain and snow on a path down before it can build and cause an issue... I hope..  I do hope to leave some areas exposed during the winter, so I hope this will work.. Can you see the boat?? didnt think so ;)

 YEP.. me, asking for my phone back, so no more pictures of me can be taken.

 ok she moved away.. now am I thinking hard? or hardly thinking?? hmmm

 The burlap from the inside - yes a yellow mustard colour, and the cushions at the moment are the same colour. One of my wifes plans - said it was last year as well ;) is to cover those cushions. A friend is giving us some cockpit cushions, so maybe we might match those once we get them.

 The bare fibreglass once the burlap is off. This will be getting a nice white paint job.. anything past that.. I have not decided yet. I have heard of people putting insulation in, and then a marine grade carpet.. maybe.. but at the moment white will brighten it up.. and I am not sure how much I want to do with this for now.

 This will be the paint I will be going with.. Two reasons. 1. its cheap.. $18 a gallon, and 2. its one of the only Alkyd whites around that I could find. Alkyd paint is getting harder and harder to find.

Begining the projects

Well I managed to get out Monday night the 25th. Dark falls about 6pm now.. So by the time I got down to the "yard" at 8pm.. it was dark.
There is one big lot light that does light up my boat pretty good. At least enough for me to get plugged in and going.
What I did was remove the lifeline and stanchions. I also tried to remove the pulpit rails. The foremost vertical support in the bow fitting did not want to come out.

I have to go back and CONVINCE it.

WHY?? did I do this.

Well the plan is to have a framework for the foredeck made from lumber and use the boom as my support for the cockpit. Cover the boat with tarps.. then I can work on the boat under that.
The lifelines are coated and cracked.. so I am going to either replace.. or shorten and re-use if it becomes a $$ issue next year.
I am going to put a stern rail on anyway.. so this stuff needed doing.
The stanchion bases will be replaced with toerail mounted ones anyway.
And the intent is to prep the deck for repainting in the spring.

At home I tried to drill the holes in one of the Handrails - my first attempt was not great. I am still working on it.

WOW - So excited - need new list!

Hmmm... as per Don Casey's "This Old Boat" I had made a priority list last year of the things to do on the boat. It was hard to really make that list hard and fast as I was not completely aware of what the boat might NEED as we were just coming into possession of the boat and Getting out to sail was a very high item on the TO DO LIST!

Well.. end of season 1 and my list is longer.. but also different, as MOST of the items are for fixing her up.. not making her functional.

Near the end of the season this year we got a furling unit for the boat.

Ultra Furl 300 - not new - used, but locally made and supported. So if I did need parts it was easy peasy. We also got a 135% Genoa with it. It had a torn luff tape. SO it was off to the sailloft to have things looked at.

We found that the furling Genoa was MOSTLY good. It needed a new luff tape, and typical stitching fixes and the foot near the luff re-enforced where it crosses the life lines.. typical.

The main on the other hand was shown and pointed out to me to be... well not so good. The sail material in several area was paper weak, and would tear with almost no pressure. We can bandage it to "working" for a couple of hundred, but we are going to look into another new main.

So, new sails - well thats a bit of money - but adds to the boat.  SO the rest of the budget this year is not huge.

I will need a new list - and new priorities - I would like to get the TOPSIDES painted this year as I am replacing wood trim which can be all off the boat.. and I need to re-bed the chainplates at least .. so why not do all the fittings so that I can remove - clean - prep - paint - re-bed (epoxy fill holes and re-drill) and put all the hardware back on a sexy clean glossy deck!!!

Letting you know!

SO I have been updating the blog.

I have added pages for the projects..

I feel most of you would be interested in the pictures etc.. of the various things I am doing with the boat, but no so much interested in having to fish though a ton of posts on me talking about spring/summer/fall just to find that floor project ;)

Take a look, I like what I have been able to do so far..  boat out of the water gives me much more time to work on fun projects like a blog!!

James

The winter / spring - State of the union address ;)

YES its that time, to make the list check it twice..  Ahh well not Christmas, no one is going to drop what I need under the tree for me.

To be honest, the list is not that out of control really - My friend Rob from the owners list did a lot of this stuff on his boat before it went in the water this past year.. so I have to admit I almost feel the slacker.
But since I have a blog - I will use to detail what I had planned - what changed during the season and what I am now planing that I am out, and looking over this again.

OFFICAL - 1 year ownership - it was mid OCT last year that I could say
I officially owned what would become Highland Fling.

Year in review 

   When buying anything - if you at all have the ability to TAKE IT NOW - in your hands - control the situation and not rely on others - do it. You will feel better about EVERYTHING is all I have to say. I ended up ok all said and done - but WOW the anxiety I dealt with getting there.


  When dealing with your marina and or staff you need for services - SUGAR wins over Vinegar every time!! I would like to say here in my blog - Thanks to the entire marine staff of Lakefront Promenade Marina in Mississauga - awesome place to have a boat - NEVER a complaint of service. To the staff of Port Credit Yacht Club - Kelly, Mike, Mark, Dave - The specific people I have dealt with - and some of the Students in the summer, these guys were great - who says teenagers are slack asses! ;)
  We had a number of adventures, good and bad on the lake this year. Our furthest TRIP was Centre Island this year, but we also went to Oakville, and hey even just went out for Dinner and one time just for Coffee down the coast.
  We did a lot of night sailing, if you have not done that.. we it is incredible in Lake Ontario - NO traffic, if you have a clear night - you have the stars, the sound of water, the moon.. well its awesome.
I did not take a pictures of Lakefront Promenade Marina, and I really should have - was awesome for a family. There is a water park, a playground - miles of path to walk - on the lakeshore and other - There is a beach, picknick areas, we get gated parking for the marina - we have slip owner only facilities - including showers and laundry if we needed it. Great place.
  I was worried getting a boat that had sat on a cradle in a heavy vegetated yard. That my survey might have been less than perfect and something with the RIG etc would go awry.. but I set the rig as best as I know how.. got it as even left to right as I could and tensioned everything like I know it should be without a Loos gauge.  WE did fine.
  My Chrysler Sailor 250 ran throughout the summer - My 5600lb displacement seems a bit much for it in strong seas, but we did fine, I guess I would be a little more concerned if I had to use it in 1m chop for 20km.. but we never faced that this year.

Oct 15th.. end of the season.

END of Season #1 with Highland fling

Oct 15th was haulout, 8:45 in the morning, at PCYC - staff was once again excellent. I have yet to have any complaint about this club.

Here are some pictures of haulout - antifoul held up well dont you think? Bottomkote XXX - good by me. Have to admit I was worried what I might see say with rudder or keel after my first season with an almost 40 year old boat, but this is a solid boat and I think at least in structure I got a good one.

Well we did get at least one more sail in before the end in OCT. Last Sunday the 10th.. In fact we were lucky to go sailing twice in one day.
Around noon we were able to go sailing with a friend that has a very nice Catalina 30.. and wow.. fun boat and very enjoyable sail - even though we did not have the best of winds.
Afterward we enjoyed being out so much we decided to have one last sail of the season on Highland Fling, and the weather was great.. we has some pushing 10Kn winds and we were able to get the boat over 6knts several times.

Almost seasons end!

Sailing in Sept.

Well still enjoying the boat. We did get out Furling unit this past week.. but we will not put it on the boat this season.

I did stay out on the boat this past weekend of the 25th.. 8*c at night.. but it was fun, and the sail the next day was fantastic.


Haulout has been arranged.. wow.. went fast.

Outboard worked all season! :) Happy about that.. I will work on the cables for next year.

Boat performed awsome - Need to finish the handrail replacement and change the boom vang bail. The bail I had bought was for a dingy.. not a keel boat.. and it was a huge failure. I will put blank rivits in the holes, and then put the bail from a McGreger 26 on.. it was the right size, and $8.. how can you go wrong. But other than that everything else that needs to be done is cosmetic.

I will give a more detailed list.

Spring will bring some big jobs - including crack repairs, a soft spot in the cockpit sole repair and interprotect for the hull.

I have really enjoyed my G26 this season. I do have a dream of owning a Catalina 30 in the somewhat near future.. But this boat was an awsome get back in.

Lake Ontario in August

We have been out quite a bit, not a lot of photos of it.

Weather has been many days of good wind.

I need to work on my strong winds sailing, not the greatest, and our CREW is working out better and better every time we get back out on the boat. (Thats my wife and I)

My son Seamus has been over from England, and although sometimes he has fun, he is not a rollercoaster type sailor and I think some of the times we have been out he would have enjoyed a little less excitment then we have had.

We have managed to get to Center Island and that was very enjoyable weekend. One of the best GTA sailing locations - CenterVille, the parks, the beach. The Island marina is a great place for a Transient Slip and they have a good resturant and usually some entertainment at night.

You can get a fairy to the city if you wish pretty cheap - if your from out of town- cheaper than driving and parking in the city.


Continuing, and enjoying.

Sailing..

Well we have been out several times now.

I think i have the rig tensioned pretty good. The Genoa works very well, and the main, is not bad considering it was made for a different boat and was not recut.

The outboard - the Sailor 250 is working well OVERALL - i think I might have starter issues.
I will post a few more pictures soon, I am cleaning up the hull and decks, I have the new licence #s on, the temp head is installed, electrical is ok to sail with, though I have to clean up the wiring soon.

Overall I am happy with this boat, it sails very nice, and the more you actually get to sail it, the more you like it.

I thought this was an inexpensive way back into sailing (which it has been for the most part)

Launched and in the water!! Wow, I will edit this later and elaberate but wow.. finally have her in the water and in her slip.

SHE FLOATS!

Positive I need to get his wired!

Ok, so I know its moving forward.

I need to get the outboard working so I can at least motor into the slip (about 100ft away) and from there I can get a lot more work done.

Once the boat is local I will be able to do something on it almost every night.

First though I need to have enough of the wiring up so that I can use the outboard.. its there.. its just messy at the moment and I am not sure where I am going from there.

This is my GOAL wiring plan.

But I am going to be short of that getting it in the water.

Well this week will be a busy one. Exciting, scary, and full of activity, but the last part is the best.. at least we are moving towards it getting in the water.

James

Well, phewww is all I have to say. Today I talked to the owner (previous) whos property the boat sits on. We are moving forward and we might be able to have the boat transported to Mississauga this coming weekend.. Wow.. I feel sooo much better. Lots to do to get it there. Paperwork, insurance, transport, arrangements for launch with PCYC and he marina.

Well if you did read this.. thanks for the wishes of luck! :)

James

More work, boat not moving

Well I was out on Saturday, and I managed to get some more work done, mostly CLEANING, and I did put the name on the boat.

Hard to see from the pic, but it is in plaid.

Anyway, this baby is paid for and sitting about 190km away from the marina. We could have had it moved last fall in October, but we had the offer of storage, and transportation in the SPRING! (not June) but that did not work out.

The property the boat sits on, and the person I bought it from are the same, but that person went to florida for the winter, I found this out, after we decided to leave it there, and only one week before he left. I did not get the paper work, so the boat has not been transfered into my name, we cant get insurace, cant put it in the slip, until all that is done, OH and it has been transfered to Lakefront Promanade marina in Mississauga.

Wish me luck, because I need it, this sucks.

In the beginning

Well I have not blogged before, so I thought I would start one about my boat.

We bought this boat in Sept of 2009. We have yet to take possession... that is a very long story and I guess I will get into parts of it in this blog.

This is out name, it comes from the fact that the boat was Designed by and named after a place in Scotland. Our ancestry is from Ireland, Scotland and England.

Highlands is where Grampian is.. its a Mountain Range. The Highland Fling is a dance.. and I think of sailing as being a bit of a dance. A fling is fun, and the point of this boat was to have a bit of a fling.

She was dirty, had been sitting for a while, but she was pretty complete, and there seemed like not too much structral work that needed to be done. One point I did not follow Don Casey in, this boat is not my goal boat, or have a special place in my heart. It is our step back into sailing, one we started as a family 7 years ago with a Tanzer 22.

The name we have done as shown, I have not applied it to the hull yet.