Wednesday, March 30, 2011

NEVER buying another boat with bottom paint

I tell myself that every time I get that itch.  And now i remember why...  Disk sander with 60 grit loads up after 3 minutes.  Palm sander takes for-ever to cover 1 sq foot.

I have two words for you - Aqua-Strip!  Chemical stripper to the rescue.  Sweet.  Trowel on, even out with roller, spray with squirt bottle every 15 min or so, 2 hours later, scrape off 1/8 inch of goo.  SWEET!  I will never begin with sanding again.

hmmm..  one gallon, 1.5 layers.  poo..  Need another gallon for the final 1.5 layer.  Getting Super-Strip this time.  More money, but hope this will be it.  Some of the paint that was not submerged would not come off without sanding with 80 grit.  This is some snotty looking stuff, and I know snot!

Road Trip!

Well, would you look at that.  I threw out a PING to the Capri 25 webcrawler and a trailer ON THE WAY TO SD shows up on the radar...  Who knew it would fall into place this easy, or just a day after I found the ad.  There was no way I wanted to pay slip fees at $300 a month, so a trailer was required.  This trailer had been in a barn for 10 years and had a CP25 on it, so no pad adjusting was required.  From the pictures, it was looking sound and had fair tires. 

Cash was in hand as I stepped into the Expedition one more time for a road trip to SoCal, as I have done WAY too many times for a boat.  Leaving at 6pm for Hemet (ok, while not STRICTLY on the way to SD, it was better than going to.. say Dallas.. for a trailer).  Arrived at dairy at 11pm.  Transacted the dirty deed, tried to get a gallon of whole (like strait from the cow whole) milk, but big brother is always watching and the dairy owner could not risk it.  So much for reliving my formative 15 years down the street from a dairy in WA.

Drove a few miles to WalMart - camped out in parking lot.  Hey, look at that, a Starbux...  Almost like I planned that.  Took up the charge to CV, since I had a date Sat with my new boat at 8am.  Arrived at 7:40.  Always said, if I am not 10 minutes early, I am 5 minutes late...  I was 5 min early.  Love that lack of stress that accompanies that.  No one around, so I tried to piggy back a ride through the gate, but no luck. 

At 8am, I got a txt indicating the Sea Scouts where on site.  As a matter of fact - in the little truck right in front of me.

30 minutes later, I was motoring my new baby to the launch ramp.  Nice big outboard should push this a bit faster.  Hmm, when I release the gas, the thing just sits down and about stops.  Hmmm.  No good thoughts running though the visions in my mind. (See: Catalina 25 Restoration blog).

9am - she is sitting on the trailer.  Crap - would you look at all that marine growth.  Scrape, scrape, scrape, scrape.....

10am - I think I have killed half the life forms in the harbor. She is not sitting on the trailer quite right.  Lets reset her.

2pm - What a pain in the arse.  She is sitting OK, but 400 miles to go, is it OK enough.  Tires are now flat, and the transmission will not go into reverse.  YIKES!

3pm - breath, breath...  OK all is better...  Off to AZ with my new baby all strapped in and new tired up!

10pm - Home - shower sleep.  Road Trip OVER.  Adventure just about to begin.

1980 Capri 25 #67 finds a new home

I found this little gem on Craigslist San Diego advertised as a Capri 22 (which is what I was looking for).  She was in the water in the Chula Vista Marina in the care of the Sea Scouts - the seafaring branch of the venerable Cub Scouts. The pictures looked funny, and the description did not remind me of my old CP22, but the price was right?  After looking at the ad and the fuzzy pictures for a while, I thought:

What is going on here..

Clue #1 - The two windows - 22's have one.
Clue #2 - The boat is freeking as wide as the slip
Clue #3 - They did not make a 1980 CP22 - not till 1986..

A little investigative research yielded the Hull ID from the poster, and a mast height.  Hmmm...  The plot thickens.  I called Catalina Yachts, and sure enough, it was a Capri 25.  I started looking in earnest for a trailer and asked the poster to hold it for me until I came down with the money that weekend.  A deal was struck and I had myself my second Capri 25. I had cash in the pocket after dealing away another boat just recently.