The Periwinkle and Stargazer Blog

Here's that next clip I was talking about in my last post on the second long sail I got in last year. It's a morning clip when I woke up and poked my head out the hatch. Really nice morning, I can't wait to get out sailing again...

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This entry was posted on February 17, 2012 at 8:29 PM and has received 20 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I've got all kinds of videos and pictures and I was thinking about how I was going to put them together into something viewable and have neither the time at the moment or creativity to do it.. there wasn't enough video in succession to make any sense! bummer. I'll have to do better next year. Trip 1's videos aren't bad, I'll see what I can do there but maybe I'll just take this approach of putting up small clips that show a part of the trip as I narrate it and show the surroundings.

Anyways, this clip is from the second sailing trip that I took over to the gulf islands. I had sailed all the way across with just some minor motoring at the end where the wind somewhat died off. It was a beautiful day and a great sail across with lots of wind. I think there was so much so that I wasn't able to concentrate on too much other than sailing, so no video of the trip across, just the first destination.

This is where I made it to: http://g.co/maps/a7rf4, just off of Valdes Island on the North end, beautiful area in the right weather. I didn't have any issues that night and have another clip in the morning that I'll have to post up shortly.

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This entry was posted on February 15, 2012 at 9:10 PM and has received 21 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Well, I realize it's been a while since the last update but things have been busy otherwise and boating has been at a standstill due to crappy weather.. Not like it's getting any better but I thought I would get on with some preliminary work on Stargazer as my goal is to get both the port side interior done and the hull completely repainted before sailing this season gets underway.

Without further ado, here are a couple of before pics of the port side:

From one angle:

and the other:

As you can see.. it's very ugly. As with the galley side:

Here's the final for that, the previous owner had done a real hack job with the paint and setup. The original layout of the boat seems to have been changed a bit over time and if all goes well then maybe this will be the last! Who knows..

Anyways, my first step was to gut it. I need all the ugly vinyl off the wall and let it dry behind there. As I took it off, it was of course no different than the starboard side and had a lot of mildew on the vinyl itself on the back and also on the hull. When I get in there next I'll have to plastic everything off so I can sand away at it and then put on a coat of paint to inhibit and kill any remaining. Same as the starboard side.

For planning, I will once again turn to my trusty 3D software and see what kind of concept I can come up with. It should be spacious and functional, built out of mahogany of course. I need new shelves and possibly a bit of a cubby to put stuff in and close it away. I also need a permanent spot for the radio and stereo. A couple of "cigarette lighter" sockets would also be handy so I can connect back up the portable fan and anything else I want like a charger for the phones etc.

Here is how it looks now:

From one angle:

and the other:

This entry was posted on January 9, 2012 at 9:25 PM and has received 56 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted up on here. Not to say things aren't happening, but both Terry and I have been VERY busy doing all kinds of things that aren't boat related which makes it tough to get updates out in any timely manner.

On Terry's boat there are all kinds of updates. I've been waiting to get some pictures from him to put a good story together but he's a busy guy. To put things in a nutshell though, the boat has had it's mast removed and been moved inside the shed at the marina to be worked on over the winter. The hull has been heavily fortified with a ridiculous amount of fiberglass that despite what may be though, physics does take over and it should float. The inside has been very nicely cleaned up and reinforced all around to accommodate the new engine that will be going in.

The fuel tank has been manufactured and now fitted with the brackets built and installed.

Cushions have finally come back from the seamstress/cushion maker, so those can go in when it's all done.

No work on the galley or head yet, Terry is still hard at work refiberglassing the inside of the hull and fixing holes in the deck etc.

The boat was painted, trim done and topside got a fresh coat of white. From here hopefully the inside will be finished up before next sailing season.

My boat hasn't received any upgrades because it hasn't needed any! ha! I did get a few trips in the boat which I'm keen to tell about on here. Got video and pics but just no time to do anything due to family needs and work overload. Life is incredibly busy and good, I'm very much looking forward to this winter for some good snowboarding and sledding, and of course next sailing season. The next thing I want to do on my boat is the port side ceiling pieces and a new shelf to go on it. Needs to match the starboard side of course and I have all the materials here.. I may work on it over the winter myself, just need to warm the boat up.

Once the spring warms up I'll be painting the hull. That's a total pain as it all needs to be done. Gotta sand down to the hull and do it from scratch. If I can make enough money this winter then I may pay a company to do it.. we'll see.

Anyways, that's the quick update for now, I'll try to post more soon as I hassle Terry for pics the next time I'm over there. Until then though I'm sure I'll be busy with work and with a certain little girl's first birthday! ha! I can't believe it.... time flies.

This entry was posted on November 15, 2011 at 1:19 AM and has received 65 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

A quick note before getting into the updates. There is a mobile version of this blog for those on phones or tablets. Loads quicker and all that. Anyways, up until now I actually hadn't properly set it up and it was showing some default values that come with the software. I've finally got around to fixing that, so the mobile version should be up to snuff now.

On with a couple of pics that Terry sent over. He's made good progress on the aft end of the boat with pretty much the whole engine bed area done now:

With that, there is also the cockpit that needed to be nicely cleaned up after all the holes got filled in:

Terry likes to make his boats bullet proof, check out the Periwinkle I (the catboat) for proof of that with one and a half inches of marine plywood all around plus fiberglass..

Either way, this is great progress and it's just a matter of time before he gets the tank in, engine mounts and then the engine. Need a bit of plumbing in there too for intake and out for cooling and the scuppers need somewhere to drain out to too. Getting there.

This entry was posted on August 12, 2011 at 12:03 AM and has received 162 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I've finally got some updates for the Periwinkle II here. Terry has been extremely busy on the boat and it's hard to tell from a quick glance, but quite a few items have now been completed and it's not long now until the new engine can finally go in. According to Terry though, it looks like he won't be going sailing this year, just too many things to finish up.

First up is the obligatory shot of Terry hard at work:

That's after a night of fiberglass grinding all over the place. The boat was a mess, here are a few pics to show that..

An immense amount of fiberglass dust but it's all cleaned up and the aft end of the boat is looking pretty sharp. A lot of work was done back there to smooth things out and get rid of shoddy workmanship back there from either previous owners or original builders. Terry is very meticulous and doesn't like to see anything out of place or under his standards. In other words, the boat should be completely rebuilt by the time he's finished with it!

Moving on to another item he needed to get on with, there's a problem with the current wiring in place. The electrical lines that come in happen to cross to the starboard side from port for no real apparent reason other than to supply electricity to one light. From there, the electrical then goes back across to the port side to supply juice to the rest of the boat. Strange setup for sure and the wire is just in the way:

Of course, Terry can't leave a rat's nest like this hanging around:

So that all got removed and the holes that you can see here:

have been filled in and the whole area is now ready for a good coating of fiberglass. That's nicely cleaned up compared to what it used to look like:

Last but not least in this particular update is the new supports for the new fuel tank. The current (now removed) tank was a small tank in the lazarette. It leaked too I think.. anyways, completely inadequate and Terry is going to have a custom one made up to accommodate his heavy usage of the motor that he's going to put in once he finally gets this boat on the water and ready to go. Just for fun I'm sure he'll zip around at full throttle just because he can!

Anyways, the supports are custom made fiberglass pieces, here is one in a test fit:

It's just a matter of time now before he gets all that fiberglassing done back there, a coat of paint, tank supports, engine supports, plumbing and ... I think that's about it and then he can get the engine in. Not long now!

This entry was posted on August 8, 2011 at 10:30 PM and has received 116 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.