I'm within a data cable of getting internet on my boat through my new cellphone. Once I find or make one that will fit my phone I'll be able to post pictures and have full internet functionality from the boat. I'm thinking the vinyl on the side is in need of replacing to get any kind of finished look. I've tried wax and it just turned white. Tried armor all, and it doesn't look good still, so I think I'm going to just put new vinyl. I'm still getting better at driving. Anyway that's all I have to type about from the library today.

First Voyage

I'm still doing some painting and fixing up, but I took her out yesterday, and it was great. I stayed close to the marina because I don't have much gas or money, although things may be better on that count very soon. It's kinda tricky to steer a single inboard if you expect to do it with the wheel, but once you figure out how to do the engine it gets a lot easier. Reverse causes the stern to turn left, and forward will swing it back the other way if you keep the wheel hard over. It's kind of non-intuitive, but once you get the feel for it it is fairly easy.

She Floats

My Owens has been in the water for almost a day and a half. She floats. There is a little leakage, but I'm getting by well with a 500 gph bilge pump, although I have a 2000 gph ready to install if needed. They say these old wooden boats expand and tighten up after a couple of days in the water, so she should leak even less in the near future.

No worries now. The engine is good to go, and the only thing that kept me from taking her out this morning was having a job interview to go to, and other errands to run. I did rewire some stuff between the batteries, the coil, and the ignition, but the intermittent fail on the ignition key (which I may or may not have mentioned before remains). My theory is that it is in the starter, and that if it stops at a certain place it doesn't brush or whatever to get the ignition voltage.

Anyway, I still have a ton of cosmetic stuff to do above the waterline. She looks a little rough with my spread it with your finger caulk job, but the rain has mostly stopped coming in, and the rest can be tackled bit by bit for as long as I own the boat.

Moved In

I am now living on this boat. It is going in the water for the first time tomorrow, and as soon as possible I am getting a phone for dail up, or maybe cable internet, so I don;t have to go the library every other day or so. I got the motor running with a little help from some friends. It wasn't pumping fuel the way it was supposed to through the carbuerator, so I took that apart on a wing and a prayer, and managed to get it working right by some miracle all by myself.

There are tons of small jobs still needing doing, but I'm anxious to get out on the water Not enough time to type about it right now. But things are still coming along.