We're looking for the trash fence...

This weekend we will be moving the boat from Blaine to Shilshole Bay Marina as you can see on the map to the left we'll easily sail down I-5... wait no that won't work at all. We'll be on the blue part of the map :-)

We'll be sailing from Blaine to Port Townsend and then to Shilshole (Ballard) in Seattle. Its a big push in 2 days but we can do it or we'll take Monday off. :-)

It will be so nice to have the boat 15 minutes away as opposed to 2 hours. So many little projects to do that are just impossible with the boat so far away. We will miss the Laura at the Little Red Caboose Cafe though. If you are in Blaine you MUST go there tell her Patrick and Dawn from the sailboat sent you!

I have a bunch of photos of our new Nature's Head composting toilet I need to put up for you as well. We'll be using it on this trip if needed, but won't really have the full install done. The older head isn't really working that well and only has a small bag as opposed to a holding tank so we decided to to just move on from that technology and to go with the composting. More on that to come for sure....

Wish us luck and we'll have lots of pics I'm sure when we're done!

I just locked up a sublet on D Dock at Shilshole Bay Marina which is right down the street from us as opposed to Blaine Harbor which is 2 hours away. Dawn and I are soo excited about this. It will let us go to the boat after work and on weekends for a few hours in stead of always having to plan a multi-day trips.

We started today removing the fabric hull lining from the places where there was one. turns out this fabric was also pretty moldy on the backside. (Welcome to the Pacific NW) We're pulling it down and scraping the hull as clean as we can which is turning out to be clean in some places (nothing loose or gummy) and not so clean in others. Our desire is just to get it all to solid material (hardened glue counts, but caulk and rubber cement does not) so that we can prime it and paint it with anti-mildew bathroom paint. That was the recommendation for all the smart kids at SSCA anyway.

Project is in-progress Flickr updates nightly.

I know this isn’t 100% complete, but I attempted to create a set or categorized links to upgradesrefit projects from all the Pearson 424 owner sites I was aware of. You can see it here: https://www.deepplaya.com/page/Pearson-Upgrades.aspx

The sites I know about are (in no particular order):

• Spirit
• Black sheep
• Regina Oceani
• Oriana
• Hi Flite
• Whoosh
• Sarah
• Indulgence
• Ketch Ya Later
• Silver Heels

If you have a site or some links I’ve missed let me know I’d love to keep this page up to date. It will be a huge help to me as I start my own projects to have an organized set of reference examples, I hope it’s useful to others as well.

Here are our pics of removing the salon table.

Ok, just got back and here's what we accomplished

• Clean the interior
• Remove anything we don't like (e.g., lanterns in salon)
• Remove all paperwork with the old name and bring all paperwork home to be dried and scanned (some of its a little musty)
• Determine how many locks are needed, I think its 6 (2 Companion Ways, Port, Starboard, Stern lazerettes, Dock box) + Spares

A little less than I had on the big ambitious to do list. :-)

To be honest though, it was good just to give the whole interior a good wipe down. Next weekend we plan to remove the liner from along the inside of the hull and under the shelves. Its got a little surface mold, smells musty and isn't well attached anymore. That and we don't like it. ;-)

Had a bit of a hiccup with the Pactor it has no power supply; DOH! So I wasn't able to play with that. I also forgot to bring a power supply for my laptop, which is ALWAYS supposed to be in my bag. That lead to running low on battery power so I didn't do the inventory as I had planned.

We also got rid some old (and some new but old) life vests which were musty. The neighbors on the dock scarfed those up before they could even make it back to the car. We took everything off the boat except cleaning supplies, the salon cushions parts and tools. The boat is clean and empty and ready for us to start to make her our own.

This weekend we're going to Blaine to spend our first weekend aboard and the first weekend doing projects. To be honest I don't even know if we'll get her off the dock. Here's the stuff I want to do this weekend:

• Clean the interior
• Remove anything we don't like (e.g., lanterns in salon)
• Possibly clean the bilge
• Clean the top-sides
• Do a full inventory of all compartments
• Remove the name from the hull
• Remove all paperwork with the old name and bring all paperwork home to be dried and scanned (some of its a little musty)
• Determine how many locks are needed, I think its 6 (2 Companion Ways, Port, Starboard, Stern lazerettes, Dock box) + Spares
• Measure all the lines and running rigging in preparation for replacement
• Check the anchor rode (its rusty on deck) and measure it
• Go up the masts check the anchor light, check antenna base on mizzen
• Get detailed photos of areas for future projects: Head replacement, Install holding tank, porthole replacement, etc.
• Try out the SSB, Pactor Modem, send first position report

Today I signed all the paperwork and we officially own Deep Playa!!

Dawn and I are VERY excited to say the least. Now all the projects can begin. ;-)

Tuesday the selling broker broker brought the boat down to Bellingham so we could do the haul-out and complete the survey. The haul out was pretty amazing, my broker and I rode in boat while they lifted us about 30 feet above the water. I expected to hear a lot creaking and moaning but heard absolutely none. The survey went well and didn't yield any major surprises. After the haul out my Broker and I took the boat back to Blaine. We had an ebb the entire time but we were still pushing her pretty hard in order to beat the sunset. The engine ran solid the entire time, no overheating (yeah!) and I managed to figure out the autopilot as well which will be very handy.

Given that the survey went well, we're moving forward with the title search work and the rest of the documentation including USCG and WA State Registration and as part of that we'll be renaming her to Deep Playa. I've not written "the check" yet so we don't officially own the boat yet. I'm guessing by next week everything will be sorted out and we'll be proud owners of Deep Playa a 1981 Pearson 424 Hull # 152.

And so a new chapter in life begins....

I still owe you my detailed notes and thoughts on this process and I'm holding those back for now, but I wanted to let you know what is up with our offer and the boat. Wednesday Dawn, My Broker, My Surveyor and I were in Blaine and taking the boat to Pt. Roberts to be hauled-out. The Surveyor and I were down below going through the v-berth area when the over-heat alarm started to go off. So we shut her down, sailed back to Blaine and the selling broker started to look at the engine while my Surveyor completed the part of the survey that could be done without the haulout.

The selling broker checked the water impeller and it looked good to him. He then started to look at the heat exchanger and to run a coat hanger through the slots to clean it out. There were broken zincs and impeller bits in their and he decided to pull of the heat exchanger completely and have it boiled and pressure tested. Something that is typically done annually but clearly had not been done so recently on this boat.

So the game plan moving forward is to complete the survey in Bellingham (Blaine can't lift a Ketch and Pt. Roberts was not available) and then to sail her back to Blaine afterwards.

I view all of this as somewhat of a set back but I'm still waiting for the complete survey before making any final decisions. I obviously now have questions about the integrity of the engine overall. If you have any thoughts on this please do drop me a note.

More info when I have more info...