Birthdays, bronze and boat movers...

Work has been fun here since we got the mast glued.  This had been a worry and a challenge, so we didn't feel we could book the boat to be moved until it was done, and we knew where we were.

So Impetuous is listed on U-ship to be moved on or after the 8th of March.  We've a long list of local boat movers to call but for the next few days we'll see what u-ship comes up with.  This is an auction website that I (Ruth) used, to help my mum move with great effect.  In that instance it quartered the cost from her first original quote!  You register the details of the job; to move a 38ft boat with mast from Dickinson to Kemah (only about 12 miles) and wait for the hauliers to place bids.  With this job we'll be perhaps a little picky; I insist on proper insurance and someone who takes careful consideration over what to do about our rusty cradle!

I had a quiet birthday here working on the boat.  We're chugging through the jobs nicely but I couldn't help but think how nice it would have been to celebrate my birthday with a big splash!

We borrowed Rogers big truck to go and buy batteries on one of the rainy days we've had.  Whilst on the road we stopped in at the 'junk shop' and got our best ever bargain there yet; a BCD (buoyancy control device) each for scuba diving and a pair of fins for me, all for $50. Then it really felt like birthday treat time!

 

 

We've taken lots of advice on our chainplates and have decided to make new ones from bronze.  It was not as expensive as we'd first been lead to believe.  Bronze will be easier to work with and potentially last forever.  We found out that stainless steel has a life expectancy generally agreed of around 25ish years.  In the end the decision was easy.  Almost as wonderful as how it will look is that we could get the bronze from Galveston, delivered for free for very little more than the stainless would have cost us online.
 

Here's what $500 worth of bronze looks like.  Don't be fooled by that relative tidiness, the other end of the workbench is a chaotic pile of allsorts!

We'll be posting the finished products all in due course.  We're eager to make the first soon but we have eight to make. The grinding might get a little old in the tooth by the eighth chainplate so they won't all get finished until we're in the water.  At that time our jobs list will change; 'before splash day' to 'before mast stepping day'.

At first we were a little concerned by these little cracks that were down one side in amongst the mill marks from where they pull it out of some gert big machine. 

But then with a little light sanding they soon polished out.  Evidently this is why where we ordered 3/8" they sent us almost a 1/2"!  We're already trying to think of a use for all the bronze dust.

 

Now that the boom is being varnished, the mast shaping has commenced.  This is going to be a bit of a job. The routing and planing don't take so long and you can see the results as you go.  The sanding at the end is another matter.  Even with Duncan's beloved 40 grit (very coarse sandpaper) it is very tiring.  Perhaps if we swapped the paper more than once an hour...