Up the creek with a newly varnished paddle.....

September 24, 2016

I bought a CD9 Cascade Sailing Dinghy from a friend.  It was built in 1980, so it had some wear and tear.  I spent the weekend sanding down the teak dagger board and the teak rudder to varnish them again.  I also took the time to strip down the oars with an orbital sander and 80 grit paper.

Here you can see the before and after sanding of the oars.

Once stripped down, I added a personal touch of a couple of Hawaii Kai decal's.  It made the oars look like a branded well finished product.

After decals added with Hawaiian Kai decals.

The final step was coating the oars with 6 coats of varnish.  They were both sanded with 220 grit in between coats.  This sanding provided a smooth coating of varnish and a glassy look to them.

Final finish with 6 coats of varnish on the oars and the teak boards.

Here's a look at the CD9 which is to be tackled next week.

CD9 Cascade Sailing Dinghy.

Long Weekend Around Sauvie Island

Thursday September 15, 2016

After spending too much time at work, and too little time on the boat I began to feel like Ishmael at the beginning of Moby Dick.  It was high time I took to sea.  Not having enough time for a trip to sea I took a long four day weekend to cruise around Sauvie Island.  So as the sunset on Thursday evening, after a long day on working on the boat, I made plans with my trusty dog Kona to take off and sail about the watery bits for a while.

Musings on our gazebo planing for the next day's adventure

Friday September 16, 2016

Last night I had pizza with friend Ray and Alicia from S/V Rowena, and we discussed an invitation we had from Chris and Kim on S/V Kaaluna.  Early in the morning I pinged Kim on email basically inviting myself and K-dog to stay at their marina.  By noon we'd loaded the boat and set sail for Big Island Marina (BIM).  BIM is located just down river from Fred's Marina on the Multnomah Channel, but it's on Sauvie Island.  I put our life jackets on and we set off for BIM.

K-Dog with his life jacket on.

Willamette River heading to BIM

BIM as it turn's out is a great place.   There was a huge field for Kona to run in, and use the facilities.  There is an awesome "man cave"/pirate hangout, and generous docks with power, showers, and welcoming neighbors.   The only hard part was getting into the single slips which are 45 degrees orthogonal to the current.  It means you basically pass the marina slip, then motor toward the slip you want while the entire time pointed at the slip just up river from you. To complain about that though is a bit like insisting your grapes are pealed.

Man Cave at BIM

Kona's field - He loved running around it.

BIM's docks

Chris was kind enough to help us moor without hitting anything.  Chris went back to work while I broke out the sand paper and continued to work on the bow sprit.  Although I came in about 2:30, I had finished the bow about 5:00pm.  Chris and I had a beer as we waited for the others to join us.  S/V Rowena pulled in about 8:00pm right when it got dark.  Kim cooked chicken and Alicia great sausages which we enjoyed with beer and wine, talking the evening away.

Saturday September 17, 2016

Wet rain dampened the next leg of the trip to the Gilbert River Docks.  We left BIM about 10:30am and arrived at the Gilbert about 12:30.

Rainy day headed to Gilbert River

The Gilbert River Docks are basically in the middle of the Gilbert River with no access to shore.  We met people from the yacht club there and had dinner.  It rained and rained so much. Kona and I went to bed earlier that day.

Kona sleeping next to the heater staying warm and dry.

 The next day we had a great breakfast with them.  I brought out the FLIR attachment to the camera and took a couple of photos.

bre

After breakfast we packed up and headed back to the docks at Hayden Condo Bay Marina. We stopped at Fred's for lunch, and to give Kona a break to go to the bathroom on grass.  He was grateful for the stop over.

We got back to the Vancouver Railroad bridge and waited a good 45 minutes for a train and then a shift change.  They swung open for us.