One Girls Ocean Challenge

December 28, 2011

So what does a sailor do when she can’t work on her boat?  Work on another boat of course!  This was a Christmas present from my nephew and niece. It’s a plastic “twist” on snap together building sticks.  Two empty water bottles snap into the bottom of this “Uberstix” boat, and it will actually float, sail and bop along 🙂  How was everyone else’s holidays?  I’m back to work at Bristol Marine this week trying to get the touch ups finished on OGOC so we can get the hardware down in time for the Toronto International Boat Show.

Diane

December 23, 2011
TADAAAAA!

She looks beautiful! The non skid is SO aggressive that I’ll never slide off!  Even the boys at Bristol said Nick and I did a great job rolling it out in one coat.  A big thank you goes out to Bristol’s master fiberglass guy who mixed us the perfect colour match and texture for the non skid.  A job well done for sure.  Since it’s Christmas this weekend, Nick and I decided to give each other the day off so we could finish our Christmas shopping!  Good thing we’ve got our priorities in order 🙂  Happy Christmas, Hanukkah and Happy All Other Holidays that are celebrated!

December 22, 2011
The deck is ready for the non skid.  It’s been a ton of sanding filling, sanding, filling, and in fact there are a few little spots to sand this morning and then we roll.  With the incredible help of Bristol Marine’s master fiberglasser, we have a perfect colour match for the deck and just the right consistency for the non skid.  Not only will she look great for the boat show, but I’ll also have the BEST traction when the gale force winds blow out in the Atlantic!  Very comforting for sure 🙂
Diane

December 20, 2011
Class Mini has announced a new group to organize the 2013 and 2015 transat race.  For 2013 “Douarnenez – Courses”  will be organizing the race and that means a new course.  It’s back to a previous similar course.  Very similar if not the same as the course that Ellen MacArthur did.  We will start in Douarnenez and go to the Canary Islands.  Then leg 2 will go from the Canary Islands to Guadaloupe.
Diane

December 20, 2011
We’re still sanding!  Maybe end of day today….but could be another day.  The goal is to have the new non skid rolled on by end of day Friday.
December

December 19, 2011
Alright everyone……..Back to work!  Let the sanding begin!  That sounds very familiar doesn’t it 🙂  90% of this job really is sanding isn’t it.  Hopefully today or tomorrow we’ll be finished the sanding and be will be rolling on the new non skid on Thursday
Diane

December 16, 2011
Happy Friday!
The crew have the day off today, but yesterday was a busy day of diggging out all of the loose gel and then grinding with the dremel.  Then we filled all of the voids on deck to get ready to roll on new non skid around the entire deck and cockpit.  We also discovered that some of the stanchion bases were significantly cracked, and upon further “digging” found that the raised bases that are part of the build process of the deck are actually mostly gel and that there were voids within them.  Soooooooo, the cracked ones got ground off and we did some glass layups on them to build them up nice and strong.  It’s comforting to know that the stanchion isn’t going to rip out from under you while you’re desperately leaning on it!
Diane

December 14, 2011
Busy Busy day.

Weighed the keel – 975lbs

Rolled the hull over and plunked her back on her keel and then started taping off the deck for sanding.  |

Sheila is our hero of the day today.  She finished cleaning up ALL of the deck hardware!

That means she scraped, cleaned and scrubbed with solvent until everything was free of goop, gel and rust……seriously unbelievable job.  Thanks Sheila!

Diane

December 13, 2011
The bottom’s done up to 400 grit with our hero of the day Nick.  The lighting doesn’t do it justice.  In the shop she’s shiny like metal, which is one of the characteristics of Baltoplate.  Tomorrow we’ll weigh the keel and then roll her over and get OGOC back on her trailer and attached to her keel.  Then we start ripping the skidding non skid off of the deck to prep for new non skid.

Here’s our hero of the day!  Nick did the yeoman’s work today for sure 🙂

December 13, 2011
Bottom Paint is on!

Let the sanding begin…….again!