Proof of Concept

January 4, 2018

Suntex Marina Vero Beach

It seems strange to be writing this sitting in a horrible New England blizzard, but in about three weeks Tardis will begin to fulfill her destiny and will be hauled south down I95 to eventually arrive at Suntex Grand Harbor Marina, Vero Beach, FL.

The schedule from there is a little sketchy because Molly is having some pretty painful back problems, but she seems much better after an injection, so I should be able to get down to the boat just before February 1, and Molly will arrive for 10 days on the 14th. February will be spent in Vero warming up, seeing friends, I think doing some work at the Youth Sailing Foundation, and lots of minor boat work that I didn’t get done before the cover went on last fall. From that the plan is even sketchier, but I hope a cruise north up the ICW to Jacksonville, then with luck the beautiful St. John’s River. We may never get out of Vero (also known as Velcro Beach), but trailer and boat will be reunited there in April for the haul back north.

At one point, I sort of had this trip planned down to the hour the way I would have when running a project at work, but all the folks I’m dealing with on the haul and Vero end are all very cooperative and not as crazed as us ex-New Yorkers are, so what happens, happens.

Meanwhile, work on the Offcut continues at a very leisurely pace. After pulling the stitches and turning the boat over, the next job was taping all the seams with 12-0unce “biaxial” tape, super-strong fiberglass that has strength no matter which way it’s twisted or pulled. This is important in a boat that has virtually no mechanical fastenings, but biax is really tough to wet out with epoxy to make it stick. So I got out my old lasagna pans and wet it out by pouring on epoxy, then brushing it in, and it went very well. When placed over a seam that has been painted out with epoxy, virtually no more wetout is required and the best tool for smoothing everything out is simply a hand in a rubber glove. Compared to my first efforts on Tardis, the taping looks pretty good, although fairing out and sanding over and over again is a pain, since all the seams show and even on a workboat, you want them halfway decent.