Deck paint

 FINALLY got round to this after a very long time sweating it’s be one of the last things I’d do. Less than 72 hours before scheduled departure I used up a whole quart of Interdeck in cream. 

 This is a very traditional color - quite common with schooners and Herreshoff boats. We did a number of C44 decks in this color.  I truly wasn’t sure how it’d turn out and honestly it took some getting-used-to.  

 I’ll post more pics taken in daylight but I took these to emphasise that it took ALL AFTERNOON to wash, mask, and apply paint with a brush.  Many thanks to Boo Lyzack for invaluable help & encouragement.  

 One long-procrastinated job was installing the foredeck hatch hinges.  I was really afraid to screw up this since I’d get only one chance to drill screw holes into the varnished hatch cover.  But once the gasket was applied (which was the real reason for the procrastination) I just aligned the hinge halves along the edges of the hatch cover and base; and that was perfectly adequate.  Of course the gasket will always be temporary - this is cheap self-adhesive air-draft foam but when the UV eats it I’ll use something better and also get the corners cut properly.

 Also I owe the poor frame a couple more coats of varnish; so that’ll have to happen before it gets much more sun. Stuff like this should have AT LEAST five or six honest coats of high-UV-resistance spar varnish before one even thinks of setting out in summer.  I use either Captain’s Varnish, which is very pretty and very good against UV, or Flagship, which is even better.  Both are from Z-Spar.

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Hibernation

Diana in July, under her Sunday flag - the US 50-star Union Jack.  In the foreground is Maci the dinghy undergoing fiberglass repairs and awaiting new mahogany gunwale sticks.  Note rack awaiting installation of 200W solar-power array.  This was modified twice, each time cut down to be lower, mainly to keep from looking too ungainly.  Here it is as low as it may go, owing to the fish plate of the backstay having to rise up just ahead of it.

• The boom is here supported by one of the halyards; I do not recall why.
• Red streamers (on port shrouds) are the ribbons from the new Rolly Tasker mainsail which came from SailWarehouse this summer.  SailWarehouse have been really terrific, especially since they maintain an extensive list of production sailboats and each one's sail-dimension data.  Though I was pretty confident of having remembered the H25's measurements, I have (so far) not come upon any detailed drawing from my dad giving the 'official' figures.  Diana currently has a 100% jib (not originally for the boat) and a mainsail too short on the foot (7'6", which owing to the extraordinarily high aspect I suspect was probably meant as the mizzen for some small ketch.  Over 2020/2021 she has received several sails which, though not meant for the H25, fit her well by virtue of sharing an appropriate luff (along the stay) measurement.  These include a new Rolly Tasker 135% genoa (actually a Cape Dory 25 jib), an inner staysail, for the removable inner forestay (actually a Cape Dory Typhoon jib) also from Rolly Tasker, and a 150% genoa (actually - believe it or not - a large genoa meant for an Essex 26, which was discovered in my parents' garage - circa 1973-1974, truly NEW, never used, in the original bag, which fits Diana perfectly as a 150% genny).  Diana will certainly receive a proper 110/115% jib later; but for now either the 135 or the 100 will suffice.
  
• The erose edge of the bottom paint is immaterial; the white below the boat stripe has been sanded and evereything below will be done in Seahawk CuKote ablative antifouling - in Shark White, of course.
  
• The inner forestay and running backstays are here rigged just to show off.  The boat sat here at the corner of the restaurant parking lot owing to there being no room for her in the water - hence the delay till 2022.
• In the background is Noddy the Astro van.
  

 

 

I have promised the boat that this, at last, will be the 'last winter'; and this time I truly believe that this time I can deliver on that.

As of Thanksgiving 2021 Diana is under shrink-wrap again, courtesy of the excellent services of Jeremiah Masey of JDOC Marine in Delran (NJ).  Jer always does a terrific job and, understanding the tedium of preparing and painting a boat in actual paint, takes great care to preserve the finish despite the threaten of overcooking with the high-powered gas-fired heat gun.  Little Diana probably resents this humiliation; but the fact is that she is well-protected from the winter elements and is able to be rather cozy inside (especially with the heater on).

 

New Year's midnight, looking upriver towards Trenton; the glowing facility is the Amazon fulfillment center at the river's edge.  To the left is Burlington Island, a city-owned preserve that overreaching officials are always trying to redevelop into a taxable paradise.

Essentially the same view, about seven hours later.  Weirdly, it was quite chilly but the River remained at about 50 degrees; hence the fog.

 

I have kept busy with a few interior projects, especially the engine electrical system and some plumbing.  I even got some artwork clear-laminated and mounted for the bulkheads; but there is more to come and most of these pieces need handsome frames, which will be fabricated out of Honduras-mahogany castoffs after the drop-leaf table has been finished.

The 'solar system' has been amazing, consistently keeping the house bank between 13.2 and 14.4 volts.  Thanks to installing so many LED bulbs, the biggest dingle draw on the whole house system has been the 2A mobile-phone charger.

The primary dinghy shall be Maci, named for a little girl whose grandparents sold the dinghy to me (for a nominal amount of cash).  The dinghy itself will receive some restoration, including the application of some hull graphics similar in style to the beautiful designs currently on Diana's topsides.

Little Maci herself will receive her boat's original mahogany name board, once I have restored it for her, and some token collection of photos to remember the dinghy that shall always bear her name.

 

 

Diana's 'trick' little 'dashboard' including weatherproof switches for cockpit overhead lights, cockpit footlights ('courtesy lights'), and instrument lights.

The 'Cherubini' logo was designed by my brother Steve and becomes the official brand logo of Cherubini Art & Nautical Design.

Kindly forgive the scuffed appearance as this end of the cockpit has received plenty of wear and tear; and this area shall be the last to be given a 'finishing' coat of paint and varnish.  The bridge deck, of course, remains natural - for this may be the only Hunter 25 to boast of having a teak deck!

 

This blog will have more detail on the boat as she nears recommissioning (April 2022) in coming installments - with photos without the shrink-wrap on of course.