I got my BOOM stick

I took a drive with my wife on Sunday to Toronto to pick up my new boom. It was a great day for a drive (with A/C) and I don't think things could have gone much better, even considering having to deal with Toronto traffic.

Before we left we measured the car with the seats folded down and there was more than enough room for the boom to fit inside the car but I figured I should take the roof rakes "just in case".
Well it was a good thing I did, the boom was about an inch too long. After trying a few different angles to get the boom in we gave up and fitted the roof racks to the car. After securing the roof racks in place it was time to lash the boom to the roof racks. I wrappend the boom in 2 towels where it was resting on the roof racks and then lashed the boom down with lots of rope. This was the first time the roof racks had been used on this car and we were a litte worried about how everything would work out. Well everything went great, the boom did not move a bit and we got home without incident. I consider this a perfect test drive for when I pick up the mast!

I must say that the clubs on the toronto harbour are great, what a wonderful atmosphere, a great place to sail and friendly people. If I lived in Toronto I know where I would be looking for a dinghy club!

Time Stands Still

I wish I had more to write about but unfortunately nothing much has happened since my last post. I have finally made time to go pick up my Boom in Toronto from George R. I'm sure he's getting sick of waiting for me to arrive but this has possibly been the busiest summer I have every had. I am almost happy that summer is almost gone. I find it strange that in a country that has a lot of winter that we do not do more during the cold months instead of trying to jam
everything into the summer months.

But I digress, after picking up the boom I only have to pick up the mast, which of course is located in Ottawa.

I'm looking forward to see what the clubs in Toronto are like, I've heard so much about them from George that I am sure I will be disappointed upon my return as the Kingston area does not have a single dinghy club. I am sure there are more than enough small boats around, maybe that's something to look at?

I pulled out the rudder and centreboard on the weekend to inspect them. The centreboard when I got it had a big chip out of the trailing edge that I had to repair and I was pleasantly surprised that the repaired was still in place and was as strong as ever. I will have to see if I can find the picture I took of the centreboard before I repaired it. The rudder is in just as good of condition as it was when I put it away oh so many years ago, which I am very happy about.

I would love to get the boat in the water for the remainder of this year, but I think the way the weather has been going these past 2 weeks and the problems finding a trailer, I don't think I will be sailing before next year.

Thanks for Reading

No changes on the sailing front

Alright,
It's been a little while since my last post. Nothing much has changed. I was hoping that a buddy of mine would have been able to bring down my boom from toronto for me on the weekend but it wouldn't fit in his big car. I find it ironic that the boom should fit in my Nissan Sentra but his Grand Prix is too small.
Well I guess it's not the size that matters but how you use it... Yes I am still talking about the cars, again I am struck by the utility of the fold down seat!

My mast arrive in country just over a week ago. I still need to go pick it up. To get the mast I will need to drive to Ottawa to get it. and no I don't think the mast will fit in my Sentra :) I'll have to strap the mast to my roof racks to get it home. It should be an interesting drive home :)

With these two items secured the only quest that remains is the one for the trailer.

I have hit a block concerning my website. I just cannot seem to decide on a look for the page or a domain name for the site. Do I do something general that could expand to include other classes in the future or do I just do an Albacore site? Both have advantages and disadvantages.
I guess I will have to continue to mull things over for a while longer.

Anyways I think I have rambled on enough for now. Hopefully for my next post I will have some interesting news to share.

Until next time...
-Rob

The Adventure Ends....

I should have known better, just when you think everything is going perfect something has to screw things up. Well this is no different.

When I tried to test fit the sail into the new mast it was too big, I looked at the sail and it had the tell tale AL on it so I knew the sail wasn't to big, which meant... you guessed it, the mast and boom were too small. I had been had, ripped off, hood winked, conned... Now I really don't think it was done on purpose. I really think the guy thought he had an Albacore which obviously didn't. I am not sure what type of boat it was but I can be sure that I should have been more careful.
Let chalk it up to experience and move on shall we :)

With this newest setback and winter arriving in short order I was saddened that my dream of fixing and sailing the boat that summer was not to come true.
I proceeded to wrap the boat up and store it for the winter, which ended up turning in to 5 years.

How did one winter turn into 5 years? Well it's really quite simple. I ended up getting a job out of town and I was now renting so I was not able to store the boat
with me and besides I still didn't have a trailer. The town I moved to is not know for it's sailing conditions and given the cost of everything involved
(trailer, mast, boom, club membership) I figured out that the boat was just going to have to wait.

Then my wife and I ended getting jobs back in my home town (known for it's sailing) and then we bought our house. So here we are, almost completely up to
date on this saga, I don't know what started me searching for a mast and boom again this year but something did. My wife noticed me staring at the lake
one day as we drove by it and she said "You want to go sailing don't you", I don't think it was really a question. I guess it was with that statement my wife gave
me a mental kick in the butt to get work on my boat going again.

The boat is still sitting in my parents yard where it was put 5 years ago, there is some small paint chips that need to be touched up but nothing a few mins
of light sanding and painting won't fix. I need to still put in place the centreboard gasket, check the rigging, get some lines and get the mast and boom,
oh and I still need a trailer.

The good news is that I was able to locate both a mast and boom. The mast is being brought up from the US early next week and the boom I have to pick up later
this month. It almost took me the entire month to find these two important pieces of equiptment.

Now I just need to borrow a trailer until the end of the season and I will be able to get the boat in the water.

I will continue to update this site as things develop on the boat and on my site.

The Story Continues

Ok the adventures continues....

So far I have found a boat, determined I was in for a whole lot of work, had a setback with a bad gel coat experience and had a great outcome from my first attempt at repairing fiberglass. Now on with the Albacore adventure.

Well with my confidence brimming and more research under my belt, I proceeded to use the west epoxy system that was recommended to me by a number of people. The West system with filler worked wonderfully and the Albacore hull now looked like a beautiful patch work quilt. With all the divots filled, it was time to sand and sand and make the patches as smooth as I could.

With the hull patches sanded it was time to paint the hull. The original colour of the Albacore was blue, so the new colour was going to be blue. I felt that this Albacore deserved to relive it's glory as a beautiful blue boat. I proceeded to paint the hull a nice blue, a very close match to the original blue colour, everything was going great.

After a few coats of paint and with the hardware back in place with new gaskets etc. it was time to take this Albacore sailing....

Well that was going to have to wait because I didn't have a trailer, mast or boom. I found a mast and boom on the Canadian Albacore Association website and made arrangements to purchase the mast and boom. Everything went well, I got the mast and boom home after a 3 hour drive
(both ways) and proceeded to fit the mast into the boat.

Everything seemed to be going great. The hull restoration although off to a bumpy start went very well. I impressed myself with my fibre glassing skills and I had found a mast and boom for the Albacore at a great price, you could say everything was going good... almost, too good....

Come back for the next chapter in this Albacore restoration production.

Up to Speed

Well it has been a while since I got my Albacore, almost 6 years. And it has been a long six years.

I will be using this blog to chronicle my adventures in restoring my Albacore and then my adventures in learning to sail this boat. But first I need to bring everyone up to speed on what has happened in the 6 years since I got the boat. Let the adventure begin...

To start the off the story I got the Albacore from a local yacht club that didn't even know that they had the boat. It was "stored" behind their boat shed on the side of a gravel lane buried in brush. I was tipped of the existence of the boat and approached the club commodore about the boat, I got the boat and the club got a website.

Now that I had the boat it was time to look it over, it was in really bad shape, it had been well used and then forgotten. I evaluated the boat, blistered paint and fiberglass, rotten hiking straps, nonexistent centreboard seals, broken rudder, missing tiller, no mast or boom
and a hole in the bow.

This boat was going to require a lot of work and I began to wonder if I could do it. But I was so hooked on sailing having spent the past 3 months crewing in club races, I knew I had to fix this boat that was mine! Well when school was done and the warm weather returned, I began my work. I sanded and sanded and finally got all the loose paint and fiberglass removed from the hull. I was advised to use a gel coat product to fill the divots in the hull, well this was a remarkable failure. So it was back to sanding and sanding.

While recovering from the Gel coat failure I decided to tackle the hole in the bow. Now the hole wasn't big and I felt this was a good place to rebuild my confidence. I think I missed my calling. Now I am not saying I loved the work but I must say the results were amazing. Today I am hard pressed to find the hole without peaking on the inside first.

I will continue the adventures of the restoration in my next post. Hopefully you will come back to read so more.