Sad realization

So another season is nearing its end and Teal has unfortunately spent all of it on her mooring.
Keeping her in Baltimore was suppose to be the answer but we basically put her out of sight
and out of mind.
I have kept an eye on her and managed to spend a night or two on board and do a little house
keeping, run the engine etc. However I don't want to love her to death so sadly we have decided to offer her For Sale.
My current plan is to take her up river soon and put her to bed for the Winter. There are a few
finishing touches I need to do inside and the canvas deck has not held up well so I am going to
remove all the deck fittings, rubbing strips and toe-rails and recover it, either in canvas with different
paints or epoxy coat it. The only reason I would now consider epoxy is for longevity and the fact that
if I sold her and the deck goes bad it will destroy the whole boat.

Next season I will bring her back to Union Hall where at very least I will see her much more regularly at which stage I may advertise her elsewhere.
Its not that she requires much annually, a good week gets all the paint and varnish done and and doesn't cost much, the yard and insurance are the biggest cost but even that is not too bad but its
all for nothing if she is not used.
Things have changed somewhat for me since we started on Teal six years ago, the charter boat
which was originally planned to be a way of covering the cost of the boats has now become my
livelihood and as much as the kids love getting out on Teal we want to do other things as well when
I'm not fishing. This isn't a light hearted decision and I have sat to write this post numerous times
over the last few weeks.

We were asked a while back what we would have done differently in Teals rebuild with money no
object and the answer was, "nothing" she got what she needed.

So thats the story really. If you are interested in a sail-away condition, 103 year old Falmouth quay punt with all the hard work done get in touch and we can have a chat.

glandoreangling@gmail.com

My laptop has come to a sorry end after an encounter with a large wave so I'm waiting on a new one but have a few pictures on my phone from a few weeks back on a little trip with the kids to sherkin and hackets creek.
Unfortunately we have failed once again to make use of Teal much this year and now serious questions have to be asked.

No its not a clip from the Goonie's, The ship is going the wrong  direction obviously LOL

Not something you see on most mackerel trips. I had to head straight to this spot for the picture.
I looked her up on AIS and she is a UK registered ship called the Phoenix. I haven't read any more about her yet.

A little while later the breeze died and it brightened up as she turned further South with her stern to us, It looked pretty dam impressive heading out over the horizon.

More on Teal soon once I gather a few pictures up.

Upholstery

Ken and Grainne hard at work. Finally getting Teals cushions covered.
Just in time for the weekend. Off to the 2017 Baltimore Wooden Boat Festival tomorrow morning.
Have to get off the mooring early or we'll be hard a ground for all the races. Spring tides this weekend.

Camera was on a funny setting for this one. We had a small accident with the crane. We had to let the chains down into the cockpit to let out some links and as we were watching the rigging when they were being hauled back up a link caught the cleat and ripped it out of the coamings, Thankfully the cleat gave before the coachroof, Need to do a repair the next day.

Varnished stripped

Redone

We had a nice easterly going down the river so sailed most of the way with just the main up. We had no outer forestay  rigged yet so had to do without a jib

Launch day tomorrow

So its final bits of varnish and painting that needs to be done before launching but there are coats to be done when we are out on a nice dust free mooring.

Ken had to be back at school time today so I took the opportunity to treat the Apple Pie dinghy to some much needed TLC. It finally got some rubbing strips on the bow and stern albeit softwood, but after  three seasons it seemed to be that or nothing. It had also been covered in rust from angle grinding when left in the yard last year so it got a nice new coat of paint. Blue because its what I had. 

Engine cover got new paint and varnish as did the washboards, tiller handle and my oars.

Teal is looking pretty well now again so tomorrow it is mainly a case of getting the rest of the spars on and mainsail bent on.

Drifting of topic a little but I thought I'd show you round my shed and some of the various other bits I spend my time messing about with. It probably explains why I'm quite comfortable in Hegarty's yard.

The shed which is an old sheep shed has seen a lot of various uses and projects of every sort come and go. The biggest thing about all this stuff is that it was important enough to me to survive the   "the great Teal funding sell off of 2011-2014"

Or just worthless 

Yep! full of crap, but it is improving

The last year has seen this end becoming a workshop, The new floor is level, everything else is not.

The Salt bay skiff sitting on top of a strange little 8ft speed boat which given years and years ago. I may do it up for my kids at some point. Other things include piskie's sky light which we didn't use in the end and a big section of Teals original keel.

My beloved Jetta amidst an engine transplant

My 323 which has been waiting for a respray since 2010. I'll get there

And hiding over there is "Suzette". Shes not mine, just looking after her.

Paint & varnish

Finally we have made a start getting Teal ready for the season. I took on a lot of work to my charter boat this year which moved other commitments out in to April but now that things are under control it is Teals turn.
She had sat under the crane hook all Winter and has still some how failed to have her mast taken down. I had it ready to take out in November so we could get her covered up properly but we had a very dry mild Winter for the most part and it never happened.
It is likely now that we won't take the mast down at all this year but I need to go up and give it a good look over for any failing varnish.
Main thing she needed was a dam good wash inside and out, everything got filthy last season for some reason. On the plus side the hull paint looked bad but is actually in very good order once we polished it up so no hull paint this year which is a great bonus.
Varnish on the other hand is another story. The long term tests are showing results now and these are probably worth taking note of.

Epifanes original 1000ml 45euro. On the masts and spars. 7 coats 3 years ago. 1 coat on mast 2 years ago, Spars got a coat each year. All are in very good order with no sign of any UV damage or water ingress.

International woodskin 750ml 25euro .On the toerails and rubbing strakes. Looks crap after a year and has to be redone but very forgiving and easy to scrape off. Looks smart when patched up. Have had it rained on while wet and held up fine.

International original 750ml 22euro. On the cabin sides and cockpit coamings. Varnished a year before leaving the tent so has been on for 4 years. Untouched and still looks great.

International Schooner Gold 750ml 36euro. Everyone loves this stuff but I don't know why. I used it on the cockpit, hatches and deckbridge because I thought it would be tough. It has had more coats than any other surface getting 1 to 2 every year, It always needs thinning to make it more workable and is nearly twice the price of original. Numerous patches have been UV damaged and have water ingress. Forehatch had to be completely stripped back last year and re done in epifianes and the main hatch needs the same treatment this year. I always follow the've instructions and required prep and coats when it comes to varnish but this one has failed as far as I'm concerned. I am going to redo it all in Original.

The canvas deck. We have have some deterioration on the canvas deck this year with a few tears appearing where the canvas was stretched more when fitting. I read a long time ago that 10 years was about it for a canvas deck so I guess with a repair this year and a few more in coming seasons that that may prove correct. I may switch this year from the Hemple Multicoat which I had been using on it to something a bit more "gunky" for lack of a better word.

While I'm at it I may as well go over the other paints. I would never use anything short of International toplac or a 2k finish on fiberglass but on Teal I've been asked several times what I used as it has a really nice gloss, simply Dulux High Gloss for interior and exterior wood and metal. Magnolia at that. Great stuff.

Anti-foul. Sick of International anti-foul so have started using Hemple on my charter boat and Jotun on Teal and far more impressed.

Bilges washed, engine cover has come home for paint & varnish

Hatch with schooner gold

Deck before washing, 

Hull after a quick cleaning

Apologies for the lack of anything recently. A mix of my laptop acting up and an all time low with my interest in posting anything at all on the internet of late has made things very quiet. Anyway as it's winter there is little happening so I enjoy the break from the need to post on Facebook etc for business purposes and also December and January tend to be my break from boats. I have ventured back to the yard in the last week or two to make a start on the charter boat but as per usual I will get that out of the way before getting Teal dolled up for the summer.

My wife came home from an auction with a box of sailing books a while back and amongst them was a hardback copy of one of Percy Woodcocks books.
I already had the book but this one was a hardback and had its dustcover with a picture of the man himself. So here he is Teals first owner, the man who had her built