All systems GO!

It’s been a long… long… haul. As an engineer, I’ve done some napkin math problems in my day, but this one has been a doozy. By my guess, Team Monkey Fist has put somewhere on the order of 700 primate-hours into refurbishing Wildfire and getting her ready for the wilds of the Inside Passage. We’ve Read More…

Re-lighting the (Wild)fire

Well, it’s been a while since we’ve posted anything here, but in our defense we’ve had a crazy month+. I (Ryan) came up to Seattle for 10 days, and we started an overhaul on Wildfire. This has included replacing the motor mount from the transom, removing most of the deck hardware from the cabin top, Read More…

TMF Update

One Giant Leap for Monkeykind… March is here, calendar spring is around the corner, and a 2023 R2AK hopeful is back in the game. Team Monkey Fist introduces our new starship Wildfire, a 1982 Olson 30 and 3-time national champion. With a little clean up and a few customizations she should be ready to go, Read More…

MUTINY!

We’ve had a MUTINY! George had been grumbling that he hadn’t been getting his due. I had thought I had appeased him with some banana nut bread flavored Cliff bars, but here I am, tied up in the hold. He’s running around on deck, swinging my R2AK Pocketknife around like it’s a sword, trying to Read More…

Three years with this mistress

You know how your Facebook and the photo app on your phone pop up flashbacks? An out of context picture with a caption along the lines of ‘Here’s what you were doing XX years ago!’? This week, I pulled out my phone and noticed the photo app lined up four boxes:  Three years ago, Two Read More…

Getting organized below

So if you have ever had a small boat with a cabin, you know how the cabin quickly becomes a dumping ground. Stuff ends up in piles, pushed around while you’re trying to find things. adding shelving or compartments detracts from the versatility of the space, and stuff all over makes finding things hard and Read More…

Setting the Spinnaker

So, about a month or so ago I managed to get some more done on the Lady Jane. If you remember, when I got it on the water for the last Wooden Boat Festival, it was sailable, but still needed some bits resolved. Sailing the boat was a two handed ordeal as I had no Read More…

Getting to know the Lady Jane.

So, She’s been in the water a month now, tied up out at Shillshole. In that month, I’ve been getting to know her. She’s been all the way to Port Townsend for the PT wooden boat festival, and thru the locks for the last Duck dodge, and again thru the locks for the festival at Read More…

Making a Splash!

Friday, I hit a huge milestone. I hauled the boat on it’s trailer out of the shop at the Center for Wooden Boats in Northlake. Took it out to the sunnyside ave boat ramp. And put it in the water. First time it has been in the water in at least 20-25 years, and probably Read More…

Ropework!

Well, Today I made some steps towards finishing the running rigging. I had to do some interesting bits of rope work I thought I’d share. I had to make up the jib cars, their adjustment lines, and the tricky, double reverse tapered jib line.  Fortunately, I remembered to take lots of pictures, so I can walk Read More…

Mast is stepped

So I managed to sell my 1965 Vespa 90; selling it got me the cash for some big-ticket items I had been needing. I’m happy to say that I now have all the ports installed. I also picked up this big box of custom rigging from Fisheries Supply. It’s a full set of standing rigging Read More…

Centerboard winch done

We’ve had rain for the past week or so here in Seattle, so I took advantage of the now enclosed cabin and installed the centerboard winch. These old Lightnings use an interesting setup to gain the mechanical advantage needed to lift the honkin big swing centerboard keel. It’s a winch, but not your typical sailboat Read More…

It’s the little things

It’s getting to that point where all I seem to be doing is little things, but these little things look huge as far as progress towards finishing. Last year, I’d spend two weeks doing carpentry and the boat would still look roughly the same; now I spend an afternoon on little things and it just Read More…

Rubrail installation – with one person!

So, today I installed the Ipe rubrail down both sides of the boat. I had been hesitant to tackle this solo, as the thought of wrangling a 20 foot rubrail into position by myself self gave me pause. But, after looking at the problem from many angles, I came up with a solution. First, i Read More…

PAINT!

Well, With the exception of the rudder, the paint is done. Huge step forward, as it now looks like I’ve actually accomplished something. I started out with Petit EZ-poxy one part polyurethane. I decided to use their ‘Performance enhancer’; basically it’s an isocyanate catalyst that is supposed to improve gloss and durability. You add a Read More…

Chugging right along!

I’ve been steadily chugging forward, and making significant headway. I got the boat in primer. Of course, once I sanded it it quickly became apparent how much fairing I had missed. So, I decided that I was going to have to skim coat the hull sides with fairing compound, sand it, and re-apply the hi-build Read More…

Moved in to new digs!

Whew. We’ve moved and finally have internet on our new liveaboard so I can finally post an update. The Lady Jane now has taken up residence in the yard at the Northlake workshop of the Center for Wooden Boats. I’m truly happy for their support and for them accommodating me and making it possible to Read More…

The bottom is done!

there’s been not alot of posting, but alot of progress nonetheless So to recap: I did a solvent wipe of the entire bottom with brushing thinner. I decided to go with pettit ‘Black Widow’. This is a Hard bottom paint, a non ablative. it’s loaded with stuff to make it polishable and slippery. And spiders, Read More…

The cabin goes 3-D!

Ton of progress this week. To start things off, I ended up having to replace two more ribs. thought I had been done with that, but the more I moved about in the boat the more it became apparent two more of the midships ribs were not up to snuff. So a step back, but Read More…

Watertight bulkheads installed!

The hits keep on coming! big progress today on the 4th of July. It was a four pieces of wood day. Two big, and two small. The two small pieces were the backups for the traveler/bridle. I also spaced these so that if I later wanted to install an autopilot I’ll already have the backup Read More…

Stemhead fitting found!

I’ve been looking for a replacement stemhead fitting for the Lady Jane. As it came to me, the boat had a loosely held on amalgum of hardware hanging out of a hole in the deck. It was comprozed of a worn bronze bow loop, two bent up and modified stainless steel tangs, and a brass Read More…

Setbacks.

Well, last weekend I had a few setbacks on the progress on getting the Lady Jane done. I began the day by trying to finish off removing misc hardware and scraping the interior paint. Previously i had limited my paint removal efforts to the bottom of the boat and the areas i nmeeded to to Read More…

Replacing Ribs, part one.

Now that the paint has been removed from the bottom, I’m tackling the most pressing repairs; the boat needs four ribs replaced. I want to get this taken care of first, so the hull is back to where it needs to be, structurally. I’ve discovered that this boat was fastened with brass hardware, and that Read More…

Paint removal, and Taking up.

The paint on the Lady Jane was in rough shape. Here’s a shot. Coming off in flakes, and generally just a mess. I have made significant progress. I had been scraping the paint, but a few weeks ago, i noticed something else. See, wooden boats of this style of construction (carvel planked) are sensitive to Read More…

George meets the ‘Lady Jane’

So, it’s true. The Minnow has been sold. I’ll be taking it to the Wooden Boat Festival in Pt. Townsend this year, and it will leave there with a new skipper bound for Montana. There is a replacement. George met her today. The ‘Lady Jane’. The ‘Lady Jane’ is a Lightning. Designed by Sparkman & Read More…

Countdown to 2017 R2AK

Shesh. after a layoff at work taking a big bite out of my R2AK budget, I’m finally back to getting prepped for R2AK. Sadly, i had to curtail some of my bigger ticket modifications. I’ll still have oars, and not a new Hobie Drive. I’ll also still have the same set of tarps for sails. Read More…

Registration Confirmed!

Prep for this year has been rather minimal; I had hoped to add a Hobie drive, and get some other things done, but a layoff at work dried up alot of the R2AK money. Hence, there hasn’t been alot of updates. However, I can say that today my tax refund came, and I was able Read More…

Preparing for 2017

Well, I’m in it again- I’ll be doing the first leg again in 2017. I’ve begun re-evaluating what worked and didn’t last year.  The oars have got to go. While I previously have carried oars on the Minnow, it does not row well. With the flat bottom, it does not track well without input from Read More…

R2AK leg one – The Recap.

Whew. While alot of my new friends are either in Johnstone Strait or preparing to enter the Seymour Narrows, my race ended a few days ago, in Victoria. It’s been a few days, I’m back in Seattle, and have finished my first shift in the shipyard after living on the Minnow for basically a week. Read More…

Let’s do this thing.

Its 4 am. In two hours the gun goes off and I’m on my way. The tracker is up at http://leg1.r2ak.com. There’s 35 miles to Victoria, we’ve got a full set of sails, half a pack of beef jerky, it’s dark out, and we’re wearing sunglasses. Hit it.