I'm one of THOSE People

[crazycarl]

I walk the docks of the many marinas here quite often.  It's nice to see all the different rigs and talk with their owners.  The live aboards and transients are my favorite.  When looking it always amazes me to see derelict boats that have so much growth on them it looks like a floating garden.  Why pay $200-$450/month for a slip for a boat you don't sail? 
When we lived in IL I stored our 19 in the driveway and tended to it on an almost daily basis.  If I saw leaves in the cockpit I removed them.  If the deck started to look dull, I'd get out the 4" buffer and polish her up.  She was always stored with the mast up and she shined. (her cockpit was/is the only place i read my small craft advisor magazines)  After I moved her to Oriental in April I set the trailer on planks to keep it from sinking into the earth and there is where she has sat since.  Last June I tried shining her up, but without power I had to do it by hand and it was time consuming and I quickly tired.  Since then she has been sitting there unattended.  Today after mowing I moved her to the corner of the lot.  Climbing aboard I saw 1/2" of water in her cockpit and drains clogged with pine needles.  The deck was stained from the Maple leaves and the gelcoat was dull.  The outside teak is need of sanding and cetoling.  Going below a tree frog hopped out from under the companionway hatch and a tiny green lizard greated me.  The Irish Spring soap bars were still doing their job as I didn't see any mud dobber nests inside.  I felt bad.  This is the first time in 11 years of owning her I let her down.  Tomorrow I'll tow her to the rental house and wash her down proper.  I'll vaccuum the inside clean and replace the soap bars with new ones.  When I'm finished she'll return to the lot, but this time with a cover to keep most of the falling leaves and needles off her. 

[Gerry]

I'm happy you are a reformed boat neglecter [sp].  Did you do it on you own or did you go to Boat neglecter's Anonymous?

[Seachelle]

Carl, I am sure you are a wonderful 'boat father' and your 19 can overlook all of that! :-) I know what you mean, tho, I feel like that, too, when I am not as attentive as I would like to be. Since Sunny has been home, I check on her every day (sometimes, multiple times) to make sure her 'winter clothes' are holding up AOK. The tarp I bought to cover her seems to be holding up to the elements thus far. We've had some doozy of thunderstorms, wind, etc, but the true-tell will be how the tarp holds up to the snow we get. I made sure to set the tarp about Sunny so that the snow can easily slide off as well, as trying to make sure that I didn't leave too many creases within the tarp for snow to get trapped inside. (The tarp is pretty big and there were some places I had to double it up.) As crazy as it may sound, I like to crawl up into Sunny's cockpit, under the tarp, just to sit there and relax, daydream. She also has that certain 'essence de bateau' that I love to smell! :-D I suppose it's all a kind of therapy for me... I may not be able to sail right now, but having her here, at home, is a blessing!

[crazycarl]

when we lived up north i kept a small electric heater in the cabin so her temperature never went below freezing.  i shouldn't need it here.  we had gale forsce winds predicted today so i didn't bring her to the house, perhaps monday. 

[wes]

Carl - although the water doesn't freeze in NC, the air temps can be below freezing for several days in a row (usually in February). When that's in the forecast, I usually run a heat lamp in my engine compartment to keep the raw water strainer etc. from breaking.

The boats most at risk are the ones on the hard. When I was restoring my boat in a boatyard in Washington NC, my fresh water hose from tank to pump froze solid. Another boat sank in the Travelift basin due to a cracked Perko raw water strainer. Shame on the boatyard crew for not closing the seacock before launching. That's when I swore nobody would haul or launch my boat without me watching them carefully.

Wes

[crazycarl]

Great information, thank you.  I already scheduled a mechanic to ready the Seidelman for winter.  The Compac's dry inside and the engine hasn't been run since I had a new carb and tune up done to it.  I've sailed in the Midwest as late as Thanksgiving so I'm hoping my season hasn't ended yet.

[Al]

My boating/sailing season runs all yr here in NC.  We've been in New Bern over 20 yrs, and most yrs we've been out at least once every month.  Feb. is usually the coldest, and Aug. the hottest, sometimes we might not get out then.  We got a new Compac Horizon last Mar., I've only missed a few wks since then.  We are in Duck Creek, I think only once has ice been thick enough to hold the boat in place, but usually it's only a thin skin of ice that's usually gone during the day.  I have had to break ice away from the boat before going out in it. 
  hope to meet you someday,

[crazycarl]

Hi Al!

This area does have a lot of Compacs in it.  I'll be working on our 19 through the winter to get her ready for a spring launch.  She hasn't been wetted since CLR 2019.  Most of the items I need to get it ready are still in storage in Illinois.  When we go there for Christmas I hope to reorganize the storage unit and bring everything back with us.  Right now I don't even have a hammer, so tools and the air compressor are top priority. 

[crazycarl]

Monday I vacuumed the inside of the boat, scrubbed the topsides and left her to dry.  Tuesday I saw dirty spots I missed so I scrubbed her down again and cleaned out the cockpit drains with a bottle brush.  After two scubbings, the deck didn't look as bad as I thought.  Those four coats of wax from 2019 were still doing their job.  Today I was able to buff everything except the cockpit.  I scrubbed the cockpit soul again, this time with a green 3M pad and cleanser.  The teak grate I left in it stained the soul.  Again, not really an issue as it's not visible with the grate installed.  Looking over the outside teak, there are only a few areas in need of attention.  Much better than I remember.  Tommorrow afternoon I donate blood so I may skip working on the boat. 

[brackish]

I am also one of those people not known for neglect of my sailing vessels but have recently fallen.  My 23 had reached a level of deterioration not experienced in my 11 years of ownership.  Unexpected life events put me on that path.  But, with great effort, I have reformed.  I hauled, did the bottom, cleaned and waxed all fiberglass, refinished all exterior teak, cleaned all the running rigging, and did about a hundred other small jobs that came up during the close inspection period. I then relaunched, raised the mast assembled all the standing rigging and tuned it to the Loos recommendation. Yesterday I went for the checkout sail and made adjustments where necessary. My list is down to about a half dozen things or about a couple of hours work. In the last two days I've had three people stop on the dock and ask me if I had new non-skid put on the boat while I was out of the water, I guess confirmation of the difference in appearance. So Carl. what wax are you using? I use Meguiars liquid cleaner wax followed by Meguiars paste wax, both applied with a DA buffer where possible. Some pics of the efforts of my reformation.

[crazycarl]

That's a beautiful 23!  Looks like all your hard work paid off.  I too use Meguiars.  I use the compounding first and then the wax.  I only have the cockpit to finish and then I'm thinking I may wash and wax the truck.  I've only washed it once this year and haven't waxed it since I bought it 6 years ago. 

[brackish]

Now you're making me feel bad.  I occurred to me that my truck turns 15 next month and I've waxed it a total of one time.  During the years of the hurricane damaged house rebuild, when I was traveling constantly, I didn't wash it nor clean the inside for nearly three years. Guess maybe I should clean it up next. I did polish the headlight lenses early this year so I could see at night. Well, mostly see, I'm scheduled for cataract surgery in January, so that should also help.

[Renae]

Now you're making me feel bad.  I occurred to me that my truck turns 15 next month and I've waxed it a total of one time.

I've never waxed my car.  I wax my boat every spring!