Ready for launch

"Josefin" is finally ready for launch. Grinding, epoxy, putty, grinding, grinding, epoxy, epoxy, epoxy, epoxy, epoxy, anti-fouling, anti-fouling and anti-fouling. It's tiring being a boat owner... But now she looks as good as new and the aim tomorrow (i.e. Saturday) is to launch "Josefin" and get the mast on as well before the evening. And yes "Algot" - the Cross Spider - has been spotted again. Maybe he'll stay the entire summer?

Step by step

The first layer of epoxy coating is finally on the keel and following that also some Water Tight putty for the uneven surfaces. This will now dry and harden overnight. Also a first round of anti fouling on the hull completed today. Tomorrow I'll start with final grinding and then a few more layers of epoxy on the keel. The weather will determine how many... Also the freebords will get some TLC with TC Nano wax. With this I believe I've completed the most time critical work elements for launch next weekend. Anti fouling is obviously a "no brainer" as long as it's dry and reasonably warm so we're basically on track.

I mistakenly scared the living daylight out of this little fellow, a Cross Spider (Araneus Diadematus), when I opened the cockpit locker. He ran off and parked about two feet forward. I named him Algot and I guess I'll get to see him tomorrow morning again and maybe he can become a new onboard pet for the season?

Happy Easter!

Countdown

This weekend spring (or rather "early summer") finally arrived in Stockholm with almost every boat owner out and about to enjoy a day's work and also a day in the sun. 17 C degrees is after all not common place in Sweden Mid April so I guess most of us enjoyed every bit of it.

On "Josefin" the focus was on deck and cockpit woodwork and keel. A huge thank you to Karin for all the help with the rails and cockpit woodwork - that end result was truly perfect. I worked on the keel and grinding does take its toll on your back and shoulders. With some 70% of the grinding done today I will (hopefully) finish tomorrow. A couple of layers of primers and a few layers of antifouling on top of that should do the trick. It will be International Paint for the whole lot. As always it's critical to get everything below the "deckline" ready for launch date (April 30th) whereas the rest can wait a few more weeks. Brand new halyards for this season as well as a new spinnaker pole from Seldén (for the North spinnaker which is to be delivered in the coming weeks). One of the Lewmar locking cleats also needed a new spring so that was replaced as well (thanks for all the help Fredrik!). The fact that Lewmar charges 90 SEK for these corrected springs is downright lousy, considering that this was a design error for the original model. To summarize - a great weekend making considerable progress whilst improving the tan...

An inconvenient truth?

Every boat owner has probably on one occasion or more wondered exactly how much time and money that is spent on “my little precious” each year. Those of you who have been able to stay away from that calculation I can only congratulate because the truth is far from uplifting. It’s actually rather inconvenient to even accept. Some years ago I read that any boat owner should be able to pay at least 10% of the purchase value on yearly maintenance. Back then, being the happy owner of an Albin Express I thought that this surely could not make sense for larger boats whereas you on the other hand might just pay a little more than those 10% for a 24-footer. I think my rationale was that I knew that I did spend much more than those 10% each year (a new set of sails, a new outboard engine, anti-fowling coating etc – it all adds up over a couple of years) and I just could not imagine that the cost would be that much higher for a larger boat. I did sell that boat at a higher price than I purchased it for but that was only fair given the improvements I had made. So with the Dehler 29 I thought to myself – just to be safe - let’s make darned sure I can pitch in at least those 10% before I move forward and go buy one. And I’m glad I’ve saved up that bit of margin because just like with the Express the Dehler is a black whole where you are free to place as much money as your wallet can afford and the “spendometer” will allow you to do. Still – whichever way I look at it – it’s worth every bit of the money. So have I lost my mind? Not necessarily and in order to explain this I need to turn to some other options. Ok, let’s say you want to sail every weekend from May to August (like I do...), how much would that cost you in terms of rental boats? Definitely well beyond those 10% of the boat’s purchase value. So then you might argue that you don’t use the boat every single weekend during the spring and summer months - indeed if it rains for three consequtive days you probably don't - but if you rent a boat you cannot lend yourself to the luxury of sailing only those weekends when the weather is good. You are left to accept whatever weather is available that particular weekend and if you rent a boat for a full week in July there are obviously no guarantees that the sun will be visible a single day. Sure – that could be the same also for a boat owner but we can then instead chill and head out a week later (jobs permitting etc…). My experience is that people who sell their boat for the flexibility of rental/charter end up not doing just that. They simply stop sailing. It’s after all different to pay up 15-20’000 SEK per week for a boat than to spread out the cost over a longer (and more "invicible") period of time. So instead they end up doing all kinds of fun stuff but they don’t get to sail. End of story. If I look at my "generation" of sailors (born in the 70s) I don’t see the same wish to own a boat as with our parents. This "new" generation just never even considered owning a boat. Yes, even here people would enjoy that sunset with good friends around an evening or two each summer but they just cannot imagine learning everything that is required in yachting let alone do the actual work. This category does occasionally rent a boat for a weekend or two but that's pretty much it. So whichever way I look at it - if you own a boat you use it. If you don't - well you just might have lost a great summer in the archepelago. And that "truth" for a boat owner is not very inconvenient at all...