Listening to WXPN 88.5's '885 best and 88 worst songs ever' countdown

24-25 October 2014

I delayed all work to prepare for this radio event, of which the 'worst songs' part was simply hysterical.  'XPN's program director Dan Reed deserves much credit, firstly for being an excellent DJ, providing information, context, and witty banter (as well as interviews with artistes and persona guests), and secondly for actually enduring all seven hours of the worst songs ever.

One thing I had to do was to move the speakers out to the cockpit to continue work on the hull.  On our Raider 33 Antigone we had cockpit speakers which my brother Steve made for his old Fiat, which had come with none.  They were nifty little white-overlay-plywood boxes with aluminum grilles and Sparkomatic 6x9s in them.  I came up with the idea (which I don't remember if we actually did) of mounting a Herreshoff-style cleat on the top of each one, to serve as a handle and a place to wrap the cord.  We just took these out and stood them on the cockpit seats whenever we wanted them.

For Diana I'm doing the same thing, likely with these nice little speakers which come from a 1980s Sony component portable stereo (which is currently in the boat).  I have already run the speaker cables back to the lazarrette but have yet to decide if I want to install connection points in the side of the little Dorade box or just to leave them below.  I hate how I screwed this little box to its mounting cleats; I should have used the cleat-on-cleat method that CY's Ziggy uses all the time as it hides the fasteners (provided there is interior access).  I will most probably plug these holes and add the cleats inside to do it that way... after the cover goes on and I remove the box for varnishing inside.

The Sea Dog low-profile vents are meant for the Dorade boxes on the cabintop.  The ones back here should be the taller traditional kind but as yet I have only ordered the low ones from Defender.

The one shown installed (and not totally pushed-in) is the one that vents through the Dorade box  and through a hose to the foot of the quarter berth.  It works great.  The other one leads directly through a hose to the bilge, where I have yet to fit a bilge blower for the gasoline vapors.  It is plugged here because, as Diana is not now swinging to weather on a mooring, I can't keep the cowl trimmed as an exhaust vent.

The patched hole in the cockpit was where I installed the Whale manual bilge pump, one of the first things I did when I got this boat as the cabin windows leaked like a sieve.  I decided to relocate it to the inside of the coaming, both because it's easier to operate while steering and because it'll free up access through this cockpit-seat locker.

WXPN is at xpn.org

The 'XPN radio event was really a lot of fun and I helped clog up Twitter with many comments.  As a result of the event's effect on listeners, '@885countdown' was the number-4 most-Tweeted event in the US on 24 October, easily number-1 in the Philadelphia region, and the station's own website crashed due to too much traffic.  Truly an event for the ages!

BTW: the number-one favorite song, as it had been at the last countdown in 2004, was Springsteen's 'Thunder Road'.  The worst one, on this, the first-ever worst-songs countdown, was Starship's 'We Built This City' (I am not making this up!).  And here I had thought 'Billy, Don't Be A Hero' was a shoo-in.

- JC2

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Interlux Brightside

I chose the Primekote 404/414 as primer because, at the time, I had not decided between Brightside and Perfection.  I have long referred to Perfection as 'the poor man's Awlgrip' and to Brightside as 'the poor man's Perfection'.  All three share similar qualities: they are rugged, hold up well to UV and to seawater, go on very well with a minimum of application effort (just roll on and take care) and are somewhat compatible in that primer for any one of them can be used with the lower grades of paint.  If you can't afford Awlgrip or a guy like Jeremiah at CY to apply it for you, your next bet is to apply the two-part epoxy Primekote and then pick either Perfection or Brightside.

Jerry, from the C44 Second Alarm, has been my boatyard neighbor for two seasons now.  He very generously offered to assist me with the application and did most of the rolling of both the Primekote and the Brightside himself.  I defer to his expertise in applying surface finishes as he's completely redone the hull of his 1981 boat from bare fiberglass to finish gelcoat, almost entirely on his own.  We readily share concerns, advice and encouragement and so he was a natural and welcome partner in this vital chore for Diana.

Taking the time to do it now

I took the better part of two days off from work for this.  To some this sounds irresponsible; but, to me, a boat is like a pet.  If it needs you now, it needs you now; and you are irresponsible to put it off till a situation becomes unhealthy.  I don't consider boats mere things, like that.  They have spirits and souls and feelings and needs.  Sail one and you know what I'm talking about.  I saw it during the Sandy storm-- with 68,000 boats in New Jersey having insurance claims filed, you just know that some of them were owned by people who said, 'It's only a boat.  It's insured.'  I could use the money anyway.'

Forgive the harsh opinion; but these people clog up the insurance-claim process and annoy and delay those of us who truly care.  I saw BOATUS and many others come through like knights in shining armor for boat owners who truly cared-- and I worked very hard on restoring several of those boats myself, if only because of two things:

1. I know what you feel like when your boat needs work, since I love my boat as much as you love yours.

2. I want to see your boat happy and sailing again as much as I want to see mine happy and sailing again.  This is what I do, and this is why I do it.

So I was grateful to Jerry for his help but I knew he knows how I feel about it because I know he feels the same way about his boat.

Brightside lessons

Since this is me, I have to delve into the bad news first!

I uploaded these two pics in a large format to illustrate how the first coat of Brightside goes on.  Formerly both of these places on Diana were repaired, using a combination of Evercoat 27 and WEST epoxy with filler.  The first one, below, had some significant pitting in the gelcoat and, being on the shaded, close-quartered side of the boat when it was in The Swamp, I did not get the chance to finish fairing these.  In truth I didn't really see them that well there.  So Jerry and I decided, what the heck? --and we painted over them to see what we'd get.  I don't think you can notice in this picture but the Brightside does not cover imperfections very well, if at all.

So, Lesson #1 with using Brightside:

It is not latex house paint.  It is not 'high hiding'.  It changes the color and seals the surface; it does not fill divots at all.

The second pic, below, illustrates what I call 'the thin white panties problem'.  (You get no further explanation of the name.)  This was where I filled the factory-installed galley-sink drain hole (relocating it, with seacock, to the bilge).  I was anxious to see how well Brightside would cover over darker-colored stuff like the WEST epoxy with gray and tan filler in it.  The result was that one coat did pretty well.  This would disappear completely on the second coat.

So, Lesson #2 with using Brightside:
It does change color; but when it's white over dark, it'll take two coats.  This is in line with pretty much any other paint; but here I believe it is a factor of the thin application layer of Brightside.  You don't put it on thick; you do multiple coats.  (In other words, it's not Bilgekote!)

At the end of the day, the guys from the shop were coming out and saying things like 'Hey!  John has a shiny boat now!'  I doubt they realized what this meant to me-- it may be the first time I have received any kudos from others on my work with this boat at all.  Naturally I replied that it was all down to Jerry-- for his constant encouragement, invaluable assistance and almost-paternal admonishing me to keep moving.  This is a guy who supervises urban firemen-- he knows how to motivate people and in my case has done it well.

We got the second coat done the following day, after I spent the whole morning (18-20 hours' drying time) sanding this coat with 320.  We had one egregious error (mine, I am sure) where we had to retouch a place where I missed tipping (probably due to intense sun glare that side).  The attempt to get it on and all smooth was not successful.  It ended up being covered but as a lump that looks like a bulkhead pressing through.

So, Lesson #3 with Brightside:
You have about five minutes, and no more, to finish rolling and tipping applied paint.  Don't hesitate-- get it right now, and keep moving on.  You won't be able to go back and fix it; it'll mean another whole coat if you let it go.

This is all well anyway, as I'd like to redo a few places on the transom and resolve the matter of a few divots.  I'll do the third coat in the spring (as well as another barrier coat on the bottom).  For now, Diana's going under a shrink-wrapped cover so I can focus on the engine, the electrical system, and a few odds and ends that can be fit to the boat and finished in the shop.

Thanks again to Jerry for all his work; for this is really all down to him here.

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Moving day

24 October 2014

I have not been happy with the boat's being where it's been.  This is sort of the 'swamp' of the yard.  Well-- it is not really a swamp-- Diana has been sitting on good solid packed gravel-- but the ground immediately beside her is low and tends to fill up in any rain.  This, in addition to the constant mosquitoes, makes doing boat work after 4.00 pm and on weekends less than fun.  So I contracted the guys to relocate Diana to a drier, happier place, especially with regards to facing another (her last?) winter on land.

Here in the Northeast, when placing a boat for the winter season, it is best to situate her nose-into the weather.  This is better for the boat, for any covers, for the stowage of gear on deck and on the ground, for persons entering the boat in the off-season, and for a host of a million other reasons.  Diana, especially, with her low-profile deck and cabin, heads to weather very well-- but all my covers and the cockpit have taken a beating over these (too many) years sitting stern-to the weather, which here in Delran comes to us on a direct line from Philadelphia (bearing from W/SW) in summer and from W and NW in winter.  The compass in the bulkhead shows her facing E/SE.  Enough said.

This is Diana's old spot, in 'The Swamp'.  Here Jerry's C44 Second Alarm has been moved to his new spot and I was standing, for the first time in two years, where his boat had been.  Together these boats and the others in this photo weathered Superstorm Sandy and all the rest.

Now I know how these guys work.  The guys from Riverside Marina come over, back the hydraulic boat carrier to the front of your boat, and then-- wait for it-- remove all the stands.  I mean all of them but the very back and the very bow.  I've seen them do this even on windy days, with the rig up.  Yikes.

Watching them do this with a C44 or Ben's Rhodes Reliant (with that narrow transom!) is unnerving.  Watching them do it with my own boat is an automatic case of the heebie-jeebies.  I was so paranoid that I subtly replaced the stands in the very back with a pair a little closer forward, though they were not at any bulkhead, just to persuade them to leave those as the last two.  But they moved them back (to right where they were before), saying they couldn't get the truck under it.  I was near fits.

Then, to really bring on the stomach acid, the forward pads on the truck would not find the boat.  I've seen this thing in action many times but always thought that for smaller boats the pads would angle inwards.  Apparently, they don't.  The picture shows the back ones too far forward and too low, the front ones way too high, and the keel (read that: whole weight of the boat) on a 3-inch-wide strap spanned between the wheels of the truck thing.  Sheesh.

Meanwhile, between snapping photos (which I did not really do so much) I was worrying that the pads in front are pushing against the v-berth shelf, probably popping off the rode-locker bulkheads I 'glassed there, and definitely scraping off the newly-applied primer paint.

Then Jeremiah in the shop says, 'It better not be scraping off the paint.  It's epoxy.  If they're scraping it off, it wasn't applied right.'  And it was applied right.

End result: Diana arrives across the yard safe and sound.  There was a problem with blocking her, as the guys could not get the strap out from under the keel without blocking the keel bottom in the same place as before-- meaning I still can't scrape, prime and barrier-coat the very bottom.  But I can sort that out another day.  The bulkheads forward were fine (of course).  And the epoxy primer survived very well-- the traces of black wiped off with one hand while I was talking on the phone.  No worries.

In this location the barn part of the shop will block most wet snow.  The weather now comes from off Diana's nose or from slightly to port.  I will have this shrink-wrapped by the end of November (after topcoat on the hull).

The few odd places where the barrier coating was sanded through are the repairs I had to make for the cracks; this is reported elsewhere.  Jerry gave me some leftover stuff so I may not need to go into the quart kit of Pettit Protect that I bought for these (and for the rudder).  The gray cover is because of the instrument holes in the back of the cabin and because the forward edge of the hatch hood is still open (needing woodwork, the last major job to be done to the deck).

On the deck there is a bucket upside-down over the mast step.  The step will be removed for the deck to be painted and then reinstalled with 5200.

The holes forward, where the running lights were mounted, are to be covered with Plexiglas panels, as Diana's eyes (more on this 'secret' later). 

The foredeck hatch is slid open in this picture.  I have to put hinges on it, then remove them, then varnish the whole thing, which, with the boat under shrink-wrap, can easily be done in the shop.

Little Diana likes her new spot in the sun!

In the background can be seen the CY spars rack, welded and bolted to the side of the former storage trailer that is now the lumber-storage room for the shop.  On this rack are C44 spars, the ones for Dave's Reliant, and a few others.  Jeremiah puts each up there with the forklift (another operation that has to be seen to be believed).

I prefer six stands, not four (not counting the bow) because it's simple to pull one down to paint the bare spot.  The plywood steps came over from Diana's old place because I used them to fill and fair the old bow damage and will use them now to reinstall the section of toerail, the stem fitting and the anchor roller.  In this photo I have not yet moved the spars and the workbench to the new spot.

The half-gallon of iced tea is Turkey Hill from 7-11-- the very best cold green tea you can get!  :)

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