Stuart Davis

'nuff said!

Ohhhh noooo.....

MUST BE THE SEASON OF THE WITCH! As I was sanding, ....a painstaking process, at least I could listen to good music. the Super session album with Al Kooper, Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills. Also listened to Donovan. Both albums have the song "season of the witch" written by Donovan but I prefer the supersession version best....this being the day before Halloween, kind of a triple witching day if you know what I mean.

it's a shame they don't play the whole song....hang out with me in the world of pain in the butt boats and i'll play the whole album for you.

BB King stain party

Listening to BB as work continued including varnish removal, sanding (110 grit) and staining.

And with an extra bonus shot of Stanley at the helm!

God's work continues

Here's a before and after shot of the paint removal I'm doing on the hull. Since I'm lazy and want to minimize work....and I'm a cheapskate, I've decided to remove paint from areas that are devoid of stain and varnish and leaving the OK stain and varnish......so....in order for it to look non-splotchy I'm removing varnish from entire planks which will look acceptable....hope this makes sense to you because I'm having trouble 'splaining this....the pictures tell the tale better than I can explain it. I'm using Jasco paint remover. And by the way the lady pictured is from the Key West Fantasy Fest "make your own bikini" contest.

Look out my back window

Ther it is, the back yard where the pain in the butt boats live. Now that I'm back from the trip it's back to ....whatever

Having fun at "red" night!

Here we are having a freakin' blast at the Red party (where people dress in red) at FantasyFest in Key West. The day before was the Plaid party where, you guessed it, everybody wears plaid. Note that Minnie Mouse attended.

Here's Stanley!

It's good to know Stanley is watching over the boats while I'm away.

alien invaders!...swear to God!...they're here...

I'm not bushing you! Just look at the pix!

Dramatic Views

the last fireplug....

...before you hit Cuba! Yes, this is the most southernmost fireplug in the continental united states! Locals and tourists alike take a small bit of time every day to celebrate this humble little fireplug by raising their glasses high, giving a cheer and then a long slow pull from whatever it is they are drinking at the time, usually a tropical drink like a maitai or a hurricane, ...whatever.

cool photos....of .....Key west!

Shots of one of the marinas and my nephew Tyler with his gal Ali.

the ripped back sides....

...of key west. You don't need to see the "typical" sights of key west do you? this shows where the locals park to work the bars and restraunts that serve the tourist trade. Let's give a big shout-out for all the hardworking chumps that make us feel like we're something special!

Greetings from Key West

I am here in Key West checking out other peoples pain in the butt boats, but that gets boring after awhile so most of my time is (well) spent at Sloppy Joes Bar. If you ever have the oppurtunity drop by this place, .......good drinks, and the weather is warm and comfortable.

Sumo glue replaces Gorilla glue

Move over gorilla glue, there's a new glue in town and he's wrestling you to the ground!

Do you get as excited as I do about exciting new products!

As the picture demonstrates, you either have to squeeze the Gorilla glue with the power of a gorilla or use vice grips or clamps (as pictured) as it doesn't flow too easily. Sumo glue flows way better!

Cut it out!

...and that's what I did on the project boat. Exposing the last of the rotted out portions of the boat. After doing a gut check, a shot of Brandy and a self centering meditation in a yoga position I sprung into pro-active action and cut that piece out!

Boatin' with Stanley

Know what I'm doing?

...cuz I don't! I'm looking at this and don't have a clue what to do next! ....help!

Justa guy with nuthin' to do

Look at the front and the back...the transom and the cutwater/bow....this is what makes this boat....it's a Shephard brand of boat.

Tell her I'm boatin'/surfin'

Brain Damage!

I used some of this CPES which I told about in another posting. The noxious fumes emitted are really smelly, yet, even though I got used to it and continued working. I was a printer for 30 years and have smelled my share of fumes but this stuff! After about an hour of working and breathing this I started getting dizzy and realized what was happening. Now it might be too late,...irreversable damage to my brain, liver, kidneys and maybe even the pancreas.

Not boatin' today

Sometimes you have to do what you need to do to do the things you want to do.

Tell 'em I'm Boatin'

When I was working out at the gym, I looked out the window and told myself "fletch the bench press, I'm going boating." ...here's 2 views from the top of the dam and one looking up from the dock up the ramp....at Anderson Lake (Morgan Hill, CA)

Look at this boat!

It is scanned out of "Rudder" magazine published by the Antique and Classic Boat Society (ACBS). It's such a good lookin' boat I just had to put it in here. Let's all look at it for hours, how about it?

Dry rot never sleeps

Back to the rotted out bow...cleaning it out, thinking about how to repair it. may use Smith Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer (CPES) to soak into the fibrous rotted wood to make it strong again. Fortunately this is the only location on the boat where rot requires attention. Of course rot can be where you don't know so I'm knocking on wood and hoping it sounds good (if it has a nice hollow sound it's sound wood if no knocking sound good chance there's rot, if you poke an ice pick into it and it sinks in, it's rotted.)

Driftin' and stumblin'

Like a ship out on the sea! Well, I did it, I took it out into the endless sea here at Santa Cruz, CA. The pictures show the santa Cruz Beach and Boardwalk..home of the Big Dipper Rollercoaster...and then the other two pictures are at the Santa Cruz Harbor where slips are available, no waiting, ...the first time in 34 years. It's the economy stupid!

Ride the wild surf

Dead man's curve

from another blog, I do this sometimes

Sunday, October 5, 2008

FINALLY!!! I know everyone has been wondering what’s been going on with the Settlemeyers, right? Well, I could go on forever, but I’ll cut to the chase and hit the highlights. First of all, we are now in our new home and loving it. Of course we still have plenty of boxes to unload as we try to figure out where everything goes. The first day we were moving in, all of the neighbors came by to introduce themselves. On one side of us there is a young couple with a 7-month-old girl. To the other side, it is a couple with two girls ages 3 and 6. Everyone is so incredibly nice and we couldn’t have asked for better neighbors. Evidently this neighborhood goes all out for the different holidays and has a big party on Halloween. Josh, Superman (aka Connor) and I are really looking forward to that.

Mission Accomplished!

My mission for the day was to pull off the old rotted planking on the bow deck, and I did pull it off. About three hours on this caper....gonna have to deal with the rot.....later, today I did what I set out to do and I'm gonna give myself some strokes for that!