A lot has happened since our last post! We have decided to finally launch the boat this Thursday afternoon, July 30 in Cowichan Bay. We picked this day for a few reasons; it is about 1/3 through our summer vacation/time off, so we still have time post launch. It is also our 4th wedding anniversary and thought what better present for our family, than to have Arctic Loon in the water?! We have booked the trailer, the crane truck to help step the mast, and a slip at the Genoa Bay Marina for Arctic Loon to reside for a few days post launch.
Here is a list of what we have accomplished in the last 2 months: installation of Purple Heart caprails – this proved to be a lot of work for Ellery and took up at least 3 solid weekends, mainly because we did not have old caprails to use as a pattern. This was the process: first, measure to figure out what width of wood was needed due to the curved nature of bulwark, buy Purple Heart wood, place the wood on and trace the size needed, cut it out using the table saw and bandsaw, replace the blades on the saws because Purple Heart is such a hard wood, finally once the pieces have been cut, then the edges needed to be routered, lastly clamp the caprails down, drill the holes, take them up, put glue down on the bulwarks, screw the caprails down, glue plugs in, cut off plugs when dry, sand, and varnish (this we have not done yet but soon), installed cabin lights, installed two Barient 23s, 2 speed self-tailing winches, installed bow sprit (made by previous owner) and new whisker stays, fixed the mast step, installed custom stainless steel water tanks under port and starboard sittees (each 87 L), bought track for sheet cars, painted side decks, cleaned fenders, laid out and measured the anchor cable, we also went through all of the stuff/gear/parts we got with Arctic Loon and found some key parts that we needed and also some stuff we didn’t even know we had.
Now, here is a list of what is still to be accomplished in the next 3 days before launch: install rudder, install aft bilge pump thruhull, install cleats, paint hull with bottom paint, install boomkin, secure a coin to the mast step (nautical tradition), install mast gooseneck and mast cleats, install masthead light, install deck/steaming light, buy champange to pour over the bow in celebration of launching!
Hopefully we can get it all done in time for Thursday afternoon! We appreciate everyone who has helped and supported us along the way! Thank you!
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