HIGHLAND FLING IS SOLD.

BUT I am now an owner of a Grampian 28 - I expect this boat will be with us for a least a little while.

I will do a new blog with my experiences with the 28 and I will continue to be supportive of the Grampian Community.

Hope you enjoyed my posts.

James

HIGHLAND FLING is for SALE!!

I have picked up a Grampian 28 and so I am selling the Grampian 26.

If you wish to make and offer, look at it, or maybe take a sail on it later this year then contact me.

416-473-7400

Many items done as you can read. It will be in the water and ready to sail by June 1st.

Looking to sell quickly as I have another boat.

James

Oh so busy...

I still have Highlandfling.. but I have not been doing a good job of blogging.

I will get some of last years stuff up.. and soon I will update where its at right now.


In General things are good.. but there is a creek when sailing coming from the area around the companionway hatch. I think something needs re-enforcing etc..

Otherwise I have changed jobs - I am now running a Chandlery /Marine store.. so .. no so sure how much time I am going to have for DIY on my boat now. OR sailing for that matter.

At least the first couple of years - I am going to be the MAN at the store and that is going to take almost all my time and effort.

Back here soon.

James

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!!!