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Sailing Sine Metu

~ It was a dream. A singlehanded sailing adventure to the Sea of Cortez; six months of cruising and writing, but years of prep only got me 25-days. A small sailboat on the big blue was no match for an angry sea.

Sailing Sine Metu

Category Archives: Galley

The Cabin’s Sole.

06 Tuesday Sep 2016

Posted by Sailing Sine Metu in Galley, Random Thoughts., Singlehanded, Pacific Sailing Plans

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Tags

Cabin Sole, Lonseal, Throeau

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.” J.R.R.Tolkien – The Hobbit 

If chance favors, and an invitation to come aboard Sine Metu is gladly offered, then a trip down into my cozy cabin would mean that a first impression is about to be experienced. When you first view my little 1963 Columbia 24’s interior, it should be a surprise, a pleasant surprise, I hope. But, when I first bought her for $800,Baring my sole that experience could only be seen through my eyes: Covered in a mosaic of glued-down, beige vinyl tiles from the late ‘70s or early ‘80s, and covered again with a cheap blue carpet and covered still yet again by a beige throw rug, too! Thankfully, I don’t have any photos of that visual cacophony, but this is what it looked like when I ripped all of that out and threw it away as fast as I could.

Teak and Holly Lonseal     In my mind’s eye, this is what I envisioned the cabin sole should and determined to look like (click on the photo for a link to Defender.com):

It was an expensive investment as I had to buy a 7-foot long section to get the length I wanted, but as they only sell it with a width-wise pattern 6-foot wide, I have a lot left over to this day. So, out of 42 square feet bought, I only used 15.75 sqf. The rest I am thinking of using in other locations, including on deck and exposed to direct sunlight and weather. I did have a large piece covering the top of the old foredeck hatch for about a year, and it held up without issue, but in the lifetime of a 53-year old sailboat, that was just long enough to cut my teeth on the idea.

Working on my sole     So, with Stephen Covey’s second habit in mind, I went about rebuilding the cabin’s sole — which was appropriate as I’ve been rebuilding the sailboat from the keel up since buying her. The first thing I did was to rebuild the cabin sole’s foundation and to widen the bilge access for a new hatch. The original lip being dry rotted, wobbly and unable to be secured down. Cutting along its circumference, about an inch in, revealed good, solid, wood, which I then heated with an electric cabin heater and applied epoxy resin. A friend told me that, as the wood cooled, capillary action would absorb and draw the epoxy deeply into the wood’s grain. Which, it eagerly did! I then went about drilling small holes just into, but not through the sole, and applied the same alchemy to the rest of the cabin floor.

A sole takes a lot of work!     A couple of days after the epoxy had dried I painted the bilge, the empty engine compartment and along the cabin’s edges (to cover up the old paint that was there). I also painted inside of the lockers.

It was then time to cut a template of the sole, which was kind of fun I have to admit. Lots of brown paper, a straight edge, scissors, a razor, tape, and a Sharpie to scribble all sorts of notes.

Next, I unrolled the Lonseal on the dock and carefully lined the template up knowing that if I got the angles wrong, the teak and holly pattern would be skewed off to one side or the other and not be parallel with the rest of the cabin. Not wanting to go for a psychedelic experience, I spent a significant amount of time getting the pattern lined up as perfectly as possible. Finally satisfied, I installed a brand new razor blade in the box knife and commenced to committing myself to the task.My new sole!

Satisfied with my tailoring, I dry fitted  the flooring and trimmed off some of the extra material I left along an edge or three.

Finally, it was time to apply the Lonseal adhesive to the floor. I did the port side first with the material rolled width-wise. Working from the middle to the far side, I troweled on the adhesive, making sure to use the proper grooves so as to spread the glue thoroughly and evenly. Then, after letting it rest for the appropriate amount of time, as per the instructions (yes, I do read those from time to time), I slowly unrolled it and wiggled it into place. I then repeated the process and did the starboard side.

Making sure things stay put.     I then covered the floor with a multitude of hardcover books and other weights to press it down. I wish I had a picture of that process because it amused me to no end to  see all of those James Patterson, Stephen King, Robert Ludlum, Dean Koontz, John Grisham, Clive Cussler, Ian Fleming, and Tom Clancy books radiating out from a centerpiece of J.R.R.Tolkien and Henry David Thoreau. “Did I do that by accident?” I had to ask myself as I sipped some well deserved single malt whisky. A Glenmorangie port wood, now called the Quinta Ruban, if I recall.

In the end, I’m proud to show off Sine Metu’s interior as I think even a Hobbit would feel comfortable having a bite to eat and relaxing in the main cabin. Yes, it’s a small cabin, but it’s my cabin.

My dwelling was small, and I could hardly entertain an echo in it; but it seemed larger for being a single apartment and remote from neighbors.” Henry David Thoreau – Walden.

My Hobbit-hole

Java time!

12 Thursday Jun 2014

Posted by Sailing Sine Metu in Galley

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

coffee, French Press, Thermos Nissan

Today on Facebook, Practical Sailor posted a question about what’s the best way to enjoy coffee in the morning. Well, here is my system:
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•I start with whole beans from Starbucks, with Italian Roast being my current favorite.
•Then, I store all of that in a stainless steel, 64 fl. oz. AirScape canister. It holds just shy of a full pound of coffee beans.
•When I want coffee, I hand grind those perfectly stored beans using a Kyocera Ceramic Conical Burr Coffee Grinder. While I’ve never timed how long it takes me to grind enough beans for a press of coffee, my routine is to start 7 cups of water boiling on my Forespar Mini-Galley stove (4 cups for the French Press and the rest for either oatmeal or a freeze-dried breakfast and a little left over for washing up), set everything up, then start grinding. I’m done grinding before the water has boiled.
•Then I add the grounds and just-boiled water to a 34 oz. Thermos Nissan French Press. Wait about 3 minutes, give it a couple of little taps to help settle the grinds, wait 1 more minute and press.

The Thermos Nissan Press keeps the coffee very hot for over three hours. But, if I were to improve upon it at all, I’d look for a lid that locks down. Boats rock, accidents happen and spilled coffee burns! If that’s a threat, in other words, anytime I am not docked or in a quiet anchorage, I transfer the contents over to my pre-heated, Thermos Nissan 48-Ounce Wide Mouth Stainless-Steel Bottle and clip it to a leash. Hey, Sine Metu is only a 24′ sailboat and it can get a little sporting out there some days. I may not cry over spilt milk, but freshly brewed coffee is a whole other story!

As with all things galley related, I have to thank The Boat Galley, for all the great advice on everything I use for my morning coffee. Their website and book have earned them the title of being my Galley Guru!

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Soda blasting the hull clean.

16 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by Sailing Sine Metu in Galley

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Advanced Restoration, Interlux, Soda Blasting

In response to a post from a fellow Columbia 24 owner on Columbia Yacht Owners Association, here are a few photos I took back in July, 2011…

This is what I started with! I bought the sailboat for $800 without a survey and based on my own 20+ years of knowledge of these boats.
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I half expected Bootstrap Bill to peel himself out of the growth and announce himself!

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Then we power washed as much of the growth as possible… Which took about 45 minutes!

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Here she is, cleaned down to reveal layer after layer of old bottom paint. Pitted, peeling, and oh so rough, doing a simple bottom job wouldn’t be wise. So, I decided on doing the soda blasting project. I wish you could see it, but the buildup of that paint, paint-over-the-old-stuff bottom job after bottom job was thick — thicker than a nickel in most places.

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A couple of days later, the soda blasting team arrived and started prepping everything. Even though soda isn’t an issue, the ancient anti fouling paint certainly was…what chemicals did they use in the ’60s, the ’70s, or in the ’80s? Something nasty called TBT… If you have ancient bottom paint, safely get it off and start fresh.

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Here is Advanced Restoration’s Mobile Paint Stripping and Restoration setup. And for SEO, their website is GotBlasted.com and if you are in Southern California, you can call them at (619) 286-3300.

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Okay, one last look at the “before.”

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About four hours later, after they finished and cleaned up the work area of drop cloths and swept up and bagged – their estimate – 800 pounds of blasted baking soda and pulverized paint.

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A few close ups of the hull…

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Then we started applying three coats of Interlux 2000e epoxy barrier coat; alternating between white and gray.

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Here is what it looked like when all done. Three coats of epoxy paint and two layers of Interlux Ultra anti fouling paint; fresh zinc and the three bladed bronze prop (which Advanced Restoration also soda blasted clean and shiny).

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All done! No longer a drifting sponge, she’s a sailboat once again!!!

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Heading back to her element…

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And ever so delicately, she gets splashed!

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Some final thoughts a year later: I hire a diver to clean the hill every month and they report that the bottom looks great.

As a side note, the day it went back into the water I obviously went sailing! And equally as obvious there was a vast improvement in performance…so much so that in my exuberance, I popped the starboard upper shroud! Well, I didn’t loose the mast as I tacked as I had sea room and I was able use a spare halyard to support the deck-stepped mast. I lowered sail and motored back to the dock. I’ll keep you informed as the third phase of this restoration project takes off this fall: Dropping the mast and replacing all standing rigging; adding fore and aft lower shrouds; moving all chainplates to the hull and removing the through-deck fittings; new sails, et cetera, et cetera…

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Hopeful departure date.

Hopefully cutting the dock lines and heading Sou' by Sou'West!November 7, 2019
Setting sail for the Sea of Cortez!

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Mainsail sail at reef No. 1.
Mainsail sail at reef No. 2.

First shakedown sail in light, Force 4 winds.




Stemhead
Teak bow sections.
Bow section sans teak.






Columbia 24 Specifications

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New vs. original shaft.





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s/v Sine Metu 1963 Columbia 24
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s/v Sine Metu 1963 Columbia 24

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