I'm a bit late getting this update out as life has been really busy for the last couple of weeks. During this trip we continued getting Grace ready to receive her engine (now sitting ashore ready for a few new parts and a coat of paint) and getting ready to bring her to the mainland. We left early to pick up a couple of things at the chandlery and catch the ferry from Marina Del Rey to Avalon. Traffic was worse than usual, and even leaving an extra hour failed to get us to the chandlery before the boat left. That turned out to be a good thing as we had left Roo's bed behind in the rush. So, after getting breakfast, we went back home to re-pack some things and then headed to San Pedro to catch a later boat to Avalon. My brother Jon kindly gave us a ride both trips. We were hoping for a cat straight to Avalon but ended up on a mono-hull going to Two Harbors first.
Roo enjoyed the ride as usual and we had fun watching one of the tall ships sailing in the channel.
The first thing on the agenda after arriving in Catalina and unpacking was to clean the engine room and paint it. Grace used to have iron fuel tanks, but they rusted out and were removed before we bought her. Unfortunately, the tanks coated the bottom of the bilge with 1/8" of rust sludge (she is bronze fastened and all her other tanks are aluminum).
Here is her engine room before much cleaning was done.
After a lot of scrubbing and cleaning all the sludge was gone and drying ready to paint the next day.
After adjusting the air flow through the boat using fans and opening the rear deck hatches I spent a morning giving the engine room a good coat of bilge paint, which dries fast and covers really well but isn't great to breathe.
We spent the rest of the day in Avalon while the paint dried and the boat aired out.
The next day I worked on tightening the standing rigging (I wouldn't claim to actually be tuning it). It made Grace feel much more solid and ended most of the creaking. The rest of the day was spent cleaning and getting ready for....
.....Grandma and Aunt Gwen to visit! Roo loves spending time with relatives and had a blast with Grandma for the rest of the week. Gwen had to leave for work and school that evening.
Corrie and Grandma Anne worked on sanding all nineteen spindles of the taffrail with Roo keeping a keen lookout for Tot-tots (California Sea Lions).
All of the spindles came out looking really good. A couple are in need of some repair, which we will get to at a later date.
Corrie oiled the spindles.
The finished product; clean, sanded and oiled. Grace's rails and trim are Honduras mahogany (as far as we can tell) and are truly beautiful, albeit rather weather-beaten.
Here are the finished spindles.
While the ladies were working on the brightwork on the aft deck, I was cleaning the wood on the hull and preparing the hull for painting. Here on the beakhead, you can see the fore part cleaned and the aft section still grey.
Capt. Jim lent us his catamaran to use as a work platform. Once the hull was scraped I scrubbed it down with salt water and a coarse brush.
The starboard side scraped and scrubbed, ready for a freshwater wash and paint.
We ended up staying in Avalon until after dark one night and got to see the waterfront in the fog.
The trip back "over town" was fast and smooth on the Marina Del Rey Flyer. I had a good time talking with the crew and the service was first rate, as always.
Back on the hard after a long but good week.
