Up early powered by breakfast from crew member we picked up in Fort Greene and on the road by 7:00 it’s a whole new world. Got to the yard and found some spots where rust got through the barrier coat. And along the edges of the G Flex. Sanded the spots and then sprayed rust converter. Let it dry and then applied barrier coat for a couple coats. The rudder got some serious attention and also a few coats of barrier. Also sprayed keel nuts with rust converter. Curious to get back and see the results of the chemical reaction. After taping it off, started on the bottom while barrier coat was drying. Used the paint straight. In years past have mixed with linseed oil and some acetone to thin it a bit. I think also the thinking behind the mix was to really let the ablative paint fall off leaving you with less old paint at end of season. I kind of cheap/efficient way to “sand” off the layers of older paint. Helped launch our friends Ericson 27 and then that was it for the day. Will be heading back out soon to splash ours.

Getting going on the rudder

Sanded spots where rust reappeared.

More barrier coat and then letting it dry.

New blue bottom paint.

Keel painted as well.

Henry chilling in a bush.

Sunday April 24th. Up early and out the door by 8:30 with our canine assistant. No traffic. Stopped at a yard sale in East Hampton on the way. Didn’t find anything, but was a cool neighborhood of smaller houses. Could have been at the boat in under 2 hours, if we hadn’t stopped for gas and the yard sale.

Did a home depot run the day before, so was all set with discs for the angle grinder.  Donned the Tyvec suit and took down all of the areas where rust is coming through on the keel. Also cleaned up the prop and inside the boat around the bilge we cleaned off the hardware that bolts on the keel. Will do a little more cleaning up of the area where the keel meets the hull and then will be applying a rust neutralizer, then G FLEX (“With a modulus of elasticity of 150,000 psi”), then a barrier coat and then our bottom paint. And this should last more than a few years. (Fingers crossed). Solid day. Turned my head blue.

Hopped off 27 in Hampton Bays to find a sandwich on the way home. Ended up with an ANTONIO from Scotto’s  and a Shrimp Parmigiana grinder. HEAVEN.

Before

Progress

Progress

Progress – After we clean this out for all of the loose caulk and stuff, this is where G Flex comes in handy

SCOTTO’S PORK STORE

It’s time. Either this weekend or the following, will take the boat out with the travel lift and put on stands for the winter. I have started researching wiring diagrams, hardware upgrades and will get going on interior & Cockpit wood projects in the spring. Originally started this site to document before and after projects as I did not find a lot of information out there for the Kirie Elite 32. But fortunately the Diesel Volvo 2002 engine started right up, we scrubbed above and below deck for a couple weekends and then we had a great season and ran strong all summer.

Will try and get the gopro in place to document the haul out and pressure wash. Depends on the timing.

We took our time for the long weekend. Heading out Saturday midday picked up supplies in town, cleaned the boat up and then went for a short afternoon sail. (Low battery slowed our departure, borrowed a battery and started right up) Sunday morning, we drove over to the Springs General Store for coffees & bagels. Grabbed some more supplies from the One Stop in Springs, NY. (Supplies =’s goldfish and beer). And then it was low tide midday, so wait until it was + 0.75 to push off. It was a funny sensation as we didn’t ease out of the slip right away. Had some muddy seafloor to contend with. Our neighbor kept asking me when were departing and if we still planned on the circumnavigation. I was anxious that we were leaving at 1:30 pm and not 10:30 am, which was never going to happen, but was my idea of wake up and go. Anyhow we were off. Headed straight across Gardiner’s towards the light house North of Shelter Island at the Peconic River. Made good time, and we headed into the Peconic. Passing Dering Harbor we were attempting to go basically straight up wind. After being rocked by a few large power boats I started the motor to assist our upwind angle to get around Fanning Point and on our way. We cruised along and had thought of stopping at Sunset beach for the night. It was how i picture greece. Boats everywhere jammed in. And houses littering the hillside. We had daylight left so kept on. Once we cleared Jennings point we flew South. Good lean and we were cruising, turned east and then turned at Tyndal Point and again flying south. Rounded Mashomack point and up to the mouth of Coecles. Passed a big yacht parked outside Coecles as the sun was setting and then found a spot to anchor near shore in Coecles just before dark. We did it! Circumnavigation of Shelter was complete! Next time I want to go clockwise and never touch the engine. Dering Harbor and Greenport and all of that Peconic behind Shelter was garbage for sailing. So many A hole power boats. I don’t know why anyone would keep a sailboat in there. Reaffirmed how happy I am in Three Mile Harbor.

Mike & crew took a break from Harvard and came down for an overnight. Saturday we got started early afternoon and headed to the Ruins, (no sign of Mark Cuban’s Fountainhead) for a cool view of the old structure and then downwind wing on wing all the way to Shelter Island to Coecles harbor where after rowing Henry ashore and back in the dinghy we spent the night. Sunday morning Mike helped me press on UP THE IRONS vinyl name finally. So finally our KIRIE has a name! The naming celebration was required, although a bit early for the mandatory toasts, we made it happen. (ROUGH) Then back to the dock after a quick stop for swimming off of a mooring in Three Mile and then into the car and dinner at our favorite spot in Amagansett for LOBSTER ROLLS. Sat outside so Henry could join us and he loves lobster. Solid weekend after a rough week.