On 13-Apr-14 10:42 PM, bownez@juno.com wrote: Hi Bones, Your statement that: owning a sailboat is a long learning curve! But you neglected to say that once you have bought a sailboat your learning starts, and you keep learning, and learning, ..... and it never stops. As you become proficient with a paintbrush, and can cut in a nice boot top and water line; you decide to add or change hardware on board. New problems; new considerations, and new learning.... You have to learn about your outboard; take care of / and repair your sails; learn knots; learn how to whip the ends of your sheets and lines; to splice; and do fancy rope work. All new skills that a good sailor learns and uses to insure the safety of his ship and of the voyage. Of course, your predecessors, going back ages in time, learned these trades, so that eventually p0kes your nose into maritime history/ boat building/ sail making/ navigation/weather knowledge/birds/fish/ stars and constellations ..... a life time of learning something new. Now that we are living in Dallas, TX, when I talk to my neighbors about our sailing in Europe or on the East Coast, they look at me as if I just told them I was an astronaut. Nautical activities and what they entail are a strange new unknown world for them. Half the fun of owning a sailboat is optimizing it to suit "your" requirements, which involve your geographic sailing areas; how you like to live on board; and what sort of luxury level you would like. Some of my personal must-haves are: a CD player for classical music; a wine cellar; proper wine glasses; a good cockpit table for proper dining when the anchor is down; a shaded kerosene lamp to provide the proper ambiance; a Bimini for shade and rain protection; a companionway rack that holds my 7X50 binoculars/my marine radio/my Grundig radio; cockpit cushions while sailing; and an eyeglass shelf just inside the companionway where the sun glasses live. Its been a life-long education and I've enjoyed every minute of it. Happy sailing Connie & Katrina
Hi Robbin,
Was all the damp balsa isolated to the area you have exposed? If so, that should be a very manageable repair. I used a product called Coremat when I rebuilt the foredeck of my M17. Good luck with everything, once again, owning a sailboat is a long learning curve! Keep us posted please.
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