mvweebles
Guru
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2019
- Messages
- 7,723
- Location
- United States
- Vessel Name
- Weebles
- Vessel Make
- 1970 Willard 36 Trawler
Notice the title is "Splash" vs "Complete." I've decided to go with a "Dear Diary" approach to writing to share some of the emotion, not just the tick-tock details. Will try to update daily over the next week or so, perhaps more if I feel ambitious. Enjoy!
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Dear Diary - Thursday, Jan 5th. Weebles will not be splashed this Friday, just as she was not splashed before Christmas, nor Thanksgiving. Why? Variety of reasons - I've added a couple last minute items such such as storage shelving in the aft laz. Parts' delays such as 316 stainless flat bar to fabricate chafe gaurds for docklines. Discovery and repair of past poor workmanship. And definitely some 'squeaky wheel' work-deferral by the yard (TwistedTree coined this nicely recently). Cheryll (wife) thinks I am too nice to the folks working on the boat and perhaps I am. But I just don't want to be a squeaky wheel.
Splashing is a really, really important day. Looks like next week. And then begins another round of work, much of it falls to me now that I will have the boat back. I'm a bit worried about it - the stabilizer system is new and did not work propertly on sea trials a few months ago. I have some emails from Wesmar that I need to brush-off and hopefully just a config issue. I need to verify with Orlando that the 12V>>>24V step-up transformer for the Eaton brain-box was installed. And there are also tons of configuration for the electronic's suite. I'm probably over-thinking it, but find the notion of MMSI a bit daunting, probaby because I have done no research. And then there's just the issue of learning curve. Plus getting all the WiFi (Peplink)/Starlink communications setup.
So Guillermo, yard owner/boss, tells me next Wednesday is realistic. Once again I will need to tell Octavio at Cruiseport Marina I will be late getting there. Nice folks.
New bottom paint is being applied on Weebles. When she went into the yard, she had a crop of blisters which have been mostly repaired, though not a full peel bottom job. Blisters didn't bother me but since it was easy to repair (and the boat fully dried-out in the Ensenada climate), decided it was a good chance. (below is a picture from yesterday - Guillermo giving the yard worker some instruction on where more work is needed).
Today I am making another trip to San Diego. Serafin, the upholsterer, has pre-ordered Sunbrella in the color we want for dinghy cover. Unfortunately, it had not arrived 2-days ago when I was last in San Diego. Also, the Stainless Flat Bar has arrived so I can pick that up too. It's a 6-hour round trip to San Diego which isn't a bad drive, but is getting old. A lot of people consider having work done in low-cost labor areas like Mexico. But availability of parts and materials is difficult - much of the savings are consumed with shipping; or you accept lower quality goods (316 stainless is difficult to source in Mexico, at least here in Ensenada). Even though I complain about the distance, having San Diego nearby is a godsend. I also have a PO Box at a UPS Store just over the border and have all manner of stuff shipped to me.
Peter
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Dear Diary - Thursday, Jan 5th. Weebles will not be splashed this Friday, just as she was not splashed before Christmas, nor Thanksgiving. Why? Variety of reasons - I've added a couple last minute items such such as storage shelving in the aft laz. Parts' delays such as 316 stainless flat bar to fabricate chafe gaurds for docklines. Discovery and repair of past poor workmanship. And definitely some 'squeaky wheel' work-deferral by the yard (TwistedTree coined this nicely recently). Cheryll (wife) thinks I am too nice to the folks working on the boat and perhaps I am. But I just don't want to be a squeaky wheel.
Splashing is a really, really important day. Looks like next week. And then begins another round of work, much of it falls to me now that I will have the boat back. I'm a bit worried about it - the stabilizer system is new and did not work propertly on sea trials a few months ago. I have some emails from Wesmar that I need to brush-off and hopefully just a config issue. I need to verify with Orlando that the 12V>>>24V step-up transformer for the Eaton brain-box was installed. And there are also tons of configuration for the electronic's suite. I'm probably over-thinking it, but find the notion of MMSI a bit daunting, probaby because I have done no research. And then there's just the issue of learning curve. Plus getting all the WiFi (Peplink)/Starlink communications setup.
So Guillermo, yard owner/boss, tells me next Wednesday is realistic. Once again I will need to tell Octavio at Cruiseport Marina I will be late getting there. Nice folks.
New bottom paint is being applied on Weebles. When she went into the yard, she had a crop of blisters which have been mostly repaired, though not a full peel bottom job. Blisters didn't bother me but since it was easy to repair (and the boat fully dried-out in the Ensenada climate), decided it was a good chance. (below is a picture from yesterday - Guillermo giving the yard worker some instruction on where more work is needed).
Today I am making another trip to San Diego. Serafin, the upholsterer, has pre-ordered Sunbrella in the color we want for dinghy cover. Unfortunately, it had not arrived 2-days ago when I was last in San Diego. Also, the Stainless Flat Bar has arrived so I can pick that up too. It's a 6-hour round trip to San Diego which isn't a bad drive, but is getting old. A lot of people consider having work done in low-cost labor areas like Mexico. But availability of parts and materials is difficult - much of the savings are consumed with shipping; or you accept lower quality goods (316 stainless is difficult to source in Mexico, at least here in Ensenada). Even though I complain about the distance, having San Diego nearby is a godsend. I also have a PO Box at a UPS Store just over the border and have all manner of stuff shipped to me.
Peter