Updates

Work has slowed down on Benevolence. It's been raining and our income is almost nothing. We are gearing up for a show this weekend. We did purchase our holding tank, y-valve and shower shump gear to start installing the head hardware. Unfortunately the hose is the biggest expense.


We refocused and came up with a finishing list and a project list for wet vs dry days. It was nice to see it on paper (for me) and that we can actually list what needs to be done. Before, the list was endless. Below is our initial "left-to-do" list and parts list. I'm sure there will be more but this gave us an idea on what to focus on.



Last night we went for our walk and noticed someone on the ol' steel boat. We've always loved the steel boat, it's big and a world cruiser but no one has been seen near it for years. We always tell each other that the lights we see on it are just reflections from the steet light but this time I said, "No, Brett. There are actually people on that boat!"




We veered across lawn next to the steel boat for a closer look. I noticed they were an older couple, barefoot, and told Brett we probably didn't need to worry about it. The old man waved at us and invited us to come aboard as long as we will accept a beer. We kinda laughed and said then we couldn't come aboard because we don't drink. He said to come aboard anyway. We introduced ourselves and they did the same. He shook Brett's hand and I reached out my hand. He leaned forward and gave me a hug. Jack and Marcy invited us down into their boat and we got to learn the story of her. They lived on her for about 12 years I believe it was and they owned her for about 22. They told us story after story and told us where to cruise in Mexico. It was so fun to talk with them inside their, now baren, boat. They had not been to the boat in years! They had us write our names in their log, the last log being in 2000. When we left, again, Brett shook his hand and he hugged me. It was awesome to meet them.



I enjoyed meeting them and was stimulated by their cruising talk for the first time since meeting Charl. It is always so neat to talk to real cruisers who have been there. People who had no engine but went anyway on their 42 foot steel boat. People who had crew utterly ill and couldn't help. The captain (Jack) broke his arm and continued on to Galveston, taking 7 days!! And they never called the Coast Guard or turned around.


Anyway, I could have stayed there all night and listened to them and asked them questions. But Brett was tired and needed a cigarette. oh well. He is used to cruisers and I am so new. But it was a really neat meeting and I hope to meet others with this kind of cruising experience. They told us they will probably end up selling the ol' steel boat soon. She is a great boat with a great story.

I have been trying to find a costume for our victorian show in December. It's been a challenge as victorian costumes appear to be quite expensive. But the search continues....




TO DO
OVERALL
Elecrical System
Lighting
Floor
wood trim
cabinet and drawer fronts
fill and paint head liner
instal water tanks
sew fabric stuff
paint bilge
install pumps
DECK/COCKPIT
deck fittings
tracks, water and waste fittings, engine vents, solar vents,stand up blocks,
install hinges for cockpit seats
install hinges for propane locker
repair teak floor
install compass/instruments
companionway
clean and repair sails
install antennas
windvane
finish varnishing toe rails
ENGINE
rebuild transmission
fuel intake
install engine
insulate
LAZARETTE
shelf for water heater
shelves for tools
shelf over steering
HEAD
install holding tank
install water heater
install head faucets
freshwater plumbing
install shower sump
overhall toilet
install toilet
install shower drain cover
install sink
macerator pump
GALLEY
build cabinets
install sink and faucets
install counter tops
stove
refrigeration?
Install foam insulation in galley
SALON
curtains
cushions
build table top/attach to leg
finish nav table
install electronics (VHF, radar, stereo,
speed and depth finders, autopilot)
SAILS
repair and clean sails
halyards
lubricate the mast
attach the windex
attach nav lights
spreader boots





PARTS
connectors, bus bars, solder, zip ties, outlets
lights (8 swivel under the cabinets-
2 led red/white), 3 under the cabinet flourescent
teak/holly ply,varnish,screws,
pressure treated ply for sub-floor, glue
teak,glue, mahogany ply, varnish, screws
teak wood,glue,varnish
rustoleum primer
hoses, water tanks, valves
dodger,bimini,sail covers, cockpit
cushions, salon cushions-fabric, thread, zippers, etc
paint
2 large pumps- 1800 gph, hoses
5200,bolts,vents,blocks,wood for chocks
chocks for spinnaker pole,
mid ship cleats, dinghy chocks,winches
hinges
compass
rebuild the hatch and refinish the rest
sail tape
windvane
Epiphanes




Engine:bearing, new seals, starter, altenator
insulation for engine room
wood, paint,screws
hoses, valves
water heater, heat exchanger hoses,
tp valve plumbing, etc
hoses,shower head and hose
hoses,valves
hoses
overhall kit, parts
hoses,valves
drain cover
head sink, foot pump faucet,hoses, shower,etc
macerator pump
birch ply
galley sink, foot pump faucets
electric faucets, hoses
formica
stove
system?
insulation foam
curtain hangers, fabric for curtains
cover or use sheets
wood/trim/varnish
wood, varnish, paint
flat screen tv with dvd
sail tape, thread, hanks?
nav lights for bow
leather and thread
wind vane

USCG is cooperating/I sailed the dinghy/stain varnish looking good

This picture is with our tarps on the boat. These tarps have made an enormous difference in the heat of the inside of the boat. It has cut it down by 10-20 degrees. It's amazing. We're the only ones with white tarps too. Apparantely Texas doesn't sell white tarps. Strange, eh? The tarps also make it so we can leave the hatches open when it is raining and it will keep the air flowing in there. This especially helps because we currently don't have ventilation. The two solar vents we need cost about $120 each and we just can't afford that right now...

The USCG called us back as promised. They reviewed everything and made the determination that they had enough paperwork to put the documentation through. So in a few days, Benevolence's paperwork will be in our hands! The most exhilirating and freeing feeling with this... This was one of our biggest obstacles and, after seven months of battling and patience, we shone through. yay!!!! I count the days I have that paperwork in my hands.

On Sunday, Brett went out on the dinghy with me and I sailed it by myself up and down the marina. It was nice to finally take control of the sails. Scary but confidence-building. I want to go out again but we've been so busy... When I go solo, Brett said he'd take a picture.

We've applied the three coats of stain/poly to the salon and locker areas. Looks awesome. We're very pleased with it. I am putting the satin finish, first coat, on today and staining/poly the nav area. We haven't decided yet on the trim. We are either going to leave the mixture of lighter wood clear with a gloss (teak, mahogany, etc) for the trim or we're staining everything with the Bombay Mahogany. What do you think? WE NEED VOTES.

The bamboo will look pretty nice in there on the cabinet doors and the flooring will be a natural teak color as well. The color of the stain is actually much redder than these pictures. Go look at my pictures under MY PICTURES link to the right.

I have been working diligently on putting my website together with more items, I worked on it ALL day yesterday from 7am-9pm.

I got to go work on the boat now. Talk to you all later... Talk to Y'ALL later. Love you. Enjoy the new pictures of the boat through My PICTURES link on the right of this blog.

Kyla (and Brett)

New Update

Hi all! I’ve been working very hard on the boat since I got back. I have been able to stain/varnish the bulkheads and the two doors. What a job! We put a mixture of Bombay Mahogany and Cherry MinWax together and put 3 coats on and then 2 coats of Polyurethane Satin Finish, exterior. The vee berth bulkheads are done and the salon and locker areas have their 2nd coat of stain on. Today I’ll put the 3rd coat on and then we can start the Satin and hopefully be done by Tuesday night. After Brett gets the trims built, we will varnish all the trim in clear gloss since it is mostly teak and mahogany. So we’ll have the dark red wood I wanted and the two toned look I wanted. Cool, huh? The stain of the wood turned out exactly the color I always wanted to begin with. All the forums are correct, Birch is a bi*** to stain.! LOL. But it turned out okay. With some trim, cushions and floor, our boat will be rockin’! We’ve really been progressing.

Do you like the new cushions?

Aren't they fabulous? >:)

I finally finished varnishing the starboard side of the Mahogany that we have attached to the cockpit where the winches and dock cleats are bolted. Brett attached it a few days ago so we now have both sides complete. Yay!!

We did have a setback with the starter of the engine. After 3 wrong starters, the company has come to the conclusion that we need a starter that costs $1000 and takes 90 days to get. So we’re a bit bummed about that.. But we’ll manage. We’ll have to start saving money for it.

We also got another letter from the Coast Guard. They didn’t even READ the letter I sent them. They asked us why we cancelled the first Bill of Sale and wanted a signed explanation from me, Charl and Jose. They TOLD us to cancel the first one because it had Charl as Trustee, not Agent. Then they TOLD us to cancel it so the 2nd one would be legit! Apparantely they can’t read letters or the original fact that we CAN’T get a hold of Jose. So Brett called them and chewed them a new butt and supposedly the gal said she would call us on Tuesday. We’ll see. They would not let us talk to a supervisor. Sounds like a bunch of bull to me. It was unbelievable…. (can you tell I’m upset about it? We’ve only done everything they ask us to do for the last 7 months!!)

The weather here has gotten a LITTLE cooler. It is in the high 80’s now instead of high 90’s or 100’s. We have been horribly battling 3 different species of ANTS while I’ve been back. Brett battled them before I got back. They are awful. We have tiny little black ants, medium sized black ants (regular ants to Oregonians) and then the red ones. Fire Ants. Fire Ants bite and the bite stings worse than a bee sting. It creates a dull pain for hours. And they keep biting you till you pluk them off and, as we “Texans” like to do, “roll and flick ‘em“. All of them have made their way into the camper and even into our bed! It’s awful. We have used gallons of ant killer and bleach and salt and all kinds of remedies on everything they could climb up to the camper. First we sprayed the hose they were climbing and surrounded it in a salt mound. That worked. Till they started climbing the jacks! So Brett sprayed the Jacks. But they seemed to have already found their way into the camper walls. The boat has them too. Everyone has them everywhere here. I still firmly believe that ants are aliens that are taking over the world.

We cleaned up the dinghy last night so I could start playing with it again and learn how to sail it and as we were taking it to the water, noticed… FIRE ANTS. They had crawled in between the hull and liner and had a nest inside! So we spent the night flushing the inside of it (in between the hull and liner through deck plates) with water and bleach. (Thanks for the tip on bleach, Don). Then we put it in the water away from the ants and sprinkled it with ant powder. So I didn’t get to row my little boat around last night. The last thing I want is fire ants crawling up my pants. The saying, “ants in my pants” ? It’s true. Absolutely. And it is NO laughing matter! LOL

As we were cleaning out the dinghy, Don looked over our ants. “Oh, it looks like you have some swarmers there.” “Swarmers?” I ask. “Ya, when they have wings, they are getting ready to spread the nest.” “Well that’s great. I have been seeing the winged ones in the camper.” I declare.

By the way, this question is for Ray. Ray- What will ants do to the inside of my new computer? It’s really interesting that I can be typing a long and a tiny ant runs across my screen and down to my keyboard. Brett said he can see it now- We send back the computer to Dell for the accident warranty and they open it up and there are fire ants in it! LOL. We could spread fire ants throughout Dell! LOL.

My camcorder quit working. Now every (original) electronic I have has quit working. Nice. It has the same problem as my Canon A610. This time, though, it WAS on Canon’s list for repair so I will be sending it in for them to fix for free. It makes me nervous to hand it over but I am sure they’ll take care of it.

As you can see in my blog, I have been able to open another website shop with my jewelry. Etsy.com was a lot cheaper (no monthly fees). It’s decent too. The only thing is, that there is a lot of cheap jewelry and it is hard to compete but I am just glad to get my jewelry back online so I can share with others when I have new pieces. I have only put twelve items on but I”ll get more when I can. I’m just excited to have a website again and it didn’t cost me much.
Brett and I might participate in the Harvest Moon Regatta http://www.harvestmoonregatta.com/ at the end of October with a friend of ours and his boat. We haven’t been able to talk to him about it but he had mentioned it awhile back. Apparantely this is a pretty big regatta for the Gulf Coast. You go from Galveston to Port Aransas. That means, we might have to take the boat up to Galveston which takes 24 hours or so. Then it takes a couple days to sail to Port Aransas. Then you party. Then we would bring the boat back up to Palacios. It would take 3-4 days. We may just tag along the race from here, in Palacios, to Port A. and just do an overnighter. Brett wants me to go, says it would be excellent experience to really get to experience the Gulf/offshore and overnight. I am excited about it. Dennis said he would watch the animals, too. So we’ll see…

I was able to get into a great show in Galveston this year! In fact, I got into all the shows I applied for so I am booked, booked, booked this fall. But the one in Galveston is huge. And hard to get into. Its called, Dickens on the Strand http://www.galvestonhistory.org/Dickens_on_The_Strand.asp . Very hard to get into and it’s a HUGE show. And they accepted my application! We have a LOT of work to do for the booth and our costumes before we go. Definitely check out the website. I also got into, Rockport SeaFest which was one I really wanted to be in in a couple weeks, Kyle Fair, Bastrop Art on the Bridge and Galveston Seaside Festival (a smaller one day show in Galveston). I am also getting into the Rosenberg show that we did last year before we got to Serendipity. I’ll be applying to the Bay City Holiday Market again this year like last year. And maybe Palacios’ Texas Seafood Festival in November. So I am packed.

Brett’s sister called yesterday. It was so nice to hear from them, we don’t get to talk with them very often. I think it made Brett SO happy to hear from her…

I found this picture of our boat with the genoa up. We raised it right before I went to Oregon in June. The end of this week, I will raise Brett up the mast to lubricate the tracks and attach our windvane and nav lights on top of the mast. Then we'll be able to raise the other sails to see what kind of shape they are in.

Well I thought I would catch you up on some things. Hope everyone is doing well, we miss you all! I will post pictures of the salon staining in a couple days after we get the finish coats on.

Home Again

I am finally back in Texas with my animals, my boat and, best of all, my husband. I have been diving right into wood work on our boat since I got back. We have begun the staining/sealing process on the bulkheads inside the boat. After going around and around with stains and sealant choices for the last 9 months, we have come to the original conclusion of our old favorite, Bombay Mahogany. With a little Cherry mixed into it, it is turning out beautiful. The rich dark wood is stunning. The red hue glows under the light. I have started the vee-berth and will work my way forward.

We have decided to stain the Birch bulkheads the Bombay mahogany/Cherry mix and do the Teak trim in a clear polyurethane. This will give the different shades of woods we used. I think it will be really pretty. We'll see... I will be working on the third coat in the vee-berth today for the stain.


Brett was able to finish and paint the head this week. It looks fabulous! He is working on the shelving that pops into place. We are working to get our plumbing for the head installed next so we can start using the shower in there! LOL

BEFORE WORKING ON IT...

NOW...

We had a major setback with the starter for the engine. Come to find out, the only one that fits takes 90 days to get and costs $1000. oops. So it's , AGAIN, on the backburner.

Brett called the Coast Guard yesterday after 2 months of no response. They are running two months behind and should be getting to it in about 3 days. But at least we know now that they received it in any case.

Our visit with mom and Dave was great. We ran them ragged through Galveston and then to the USS Lexington in Corpus Christi. They got to go sailing twice on two different boats. Dave even took the helm on Charl's boat for most the sail. It was great. They were exhausted but I am glad they made it down to see our boat. I wish we had had more time with them here. I spent too much time running them around the coast that we didn't get enough time here with the boat. But at least they got to see it in person. We were swarmed with our famous "Love Bugs" while out on the first boat but we still had fun.

The day they left, Brett and I discovered a huge yellow moth that had landed on our dark blue chair and laid eggs. It was so strange! The body of the moth was the size of my thumb, it's wing span about 6 inches.

A couple hours after it had landed, I found two of its four wings about 20 feet from the chair. Apparantely the birds had gotten to it. We were sad. I looked it up and discovered it to be an Imperial Moth, common around this area this time of year.

The other day, we were talking with Dennis next to our camper and an orange cat (we later determined to be one of the park cats, Darryl) circled us, checking everything out. Then he mosied onto the docks and proceeded to stroll down the dock, stopping at each boat and sniffing at it and then moving on. It was the funniest scene of this cat "dock-walking", looking at the boats. Then, he came back up the other gangway at the end of the dock and continued on his "rounds". It was hilarious.

I need to go get to work on that wood, but thought I would drop a line on here since I knew so many people were waiting to hear back from me. Take a look at my newest pictures under my link "MY PICTURES".