How Did You Spend Your 4th of July?

 We are aboard Gypsy Rose on this hot 4th of July morning.
  She sails beautifully.
 

Connie and I are loving it. 
She was taking pictures on launch day and did not get in much sailing time 
but today we will be out for several hours.

The temps today will hit 90 degrees Fahrenheit.  
That's why we dressed in light colors to beat the heat.

 Here is Connie, my smiling beauty of a wife with her sailing gloves on.  
39 years together and we are still best friends

Gypsy Rose is a very unique and vintage looking boat 
and
 we can already see that she will attract attention 
wherever we sail her. 

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm............Pirate Island??

A board sailor out enjoying the wind and waves.

Lots of flags out today. 
I for one love the USA!

Back in the slip and the weary but happy sailors head for home,
 only 10 minutes away.

She's a little beauty.

Thank you for visiting my blog.  
I look forward to reading your comments 
and hope you have happy times ahead.

Happy sailing everyone!
Steve and Connie.

Launch Day!!!

Yes I'm smiling.  It's launch day! 
And we got her in the water in June!!!

This is what is looked like when we arrived at the marina.

Gray skies, thunder and lightening in the distance.
It might not be the ideal time to raise the mast, 
but I'm ready and have been waiting too long, 
for this day.

This is my friend Matt.  
He's a newbie sailor and came to help.
Matt has a boat of his own, that he is starting to re-do.

Every boat is a little bit different, but basically has similar  rigging,
whether it's a 21 footer like Gypsy Rose or a 100 footer.

Shipping the rudder.

Here we are in the water motoring to the slip,
where we will set the sails.
Because, it's raining off and on and it's her first time out,
I'm only going to set the mainsail, today.

Some of you might be wondering why Connie's not here.
She is, she's behind the camera.

Today we stayed in the little cove by the marina,
hopefully on the 4th the weather will be great and Connie 
and I can raise the jib and get out and explore more of the lake, .

This is way more fun than it looks.  
I had never sailed her before and was delighted 
to find that she handles like a proper yacht.

Here we are coming back into the slip to change passengers.

This is Matt's family, they were excited to take their first sail, ever.
Connie stayed on shore to set the picnic table for lunch and take all these photos.

 This is a photo of the Key Lime cheese cake that Acashia, Matt's wife brought to the picnic.

 She bakes specialty dessert cakes.
You can find her here on face-book:
https://www.facebook.com/lalassweetreats?ref=ts&fref=ts 

How do you like the looks of our beautiful lake?
Smooth Sailing
& 

Happy 4th of July!

Please leave a comment,

Steve

Gypsy Rose ~ More Before & After Photos

We have had four months of sanding, scraping, rebuilding, repairing, painting, oiling wood, varnishing, polishing brass, fiber-glassing,  replacing parts and rigging, and cleaning.
Now, It's time to set the mast and put her in the water.

Are we happy?
You Bet!

 BEFORE

AFTER

 BEFORE 

AFTER

 BEFORE

AFTER

 BEFORE

 AFTER

Some of you asked for more photos . . .
There are still a lot of little jobs to do.
Finishing up the port hole windows
&
Replacing all the rigging  (ropes to all you non-sailors).
Sailboats have what seems like miles of different ropes
 and each one has a job to do.
This boat has been sitting for so long that all of her's were rotten. 

We're almost on the water.
Hopefully my next post will be lake photos.

Please leave a comment, I read them all.

Steve

We Are Itching To Get Her In The Water

She is still in the driveway but not for long.
We said we would launch her in June 
and 
June has one more weekend. 

 We are so close to being ready that we have sailing fever. 

Be sure and come back to see my launch day post,
but in the meantime,
leave a comment and tell me what you think.

 

 

CABIN HATCH
BEFORE







CABIN HATCH
AFTER 



Have a great day
&
Smooth Sailing,
Steve

Jacking Her Up To Paint The Bottom

We spent a lot of time this week . . . working on Gypsy Rose.
She is getting prettier every day.

Today I built these wooden boxes and reinforced beams
so we could jack her up off the trailer.

I wanted to get her jacked up enough to attach a new cable to her keel,
but we couldn't jack her up quite high enough and still feel safe.
So, I'm going through the cabin to attach it.
 

We did get started painting the bottom.
After scraping the keel to remove barnacles and rust,
 from her days in salt water.  

Well, it doesn't look like we'll have her in the water by the first of June . . .
but we are still optimistic about sailing before the end of the month.
  For all my followers that are watching her progress,
I just want to say thank you.
It is nice being able to share this project with you,
and I enjoy reading your comments.

Have a great weekend . . .
I think that we are going to check out the new Star Trek Movie.
I've been a Star Trek fan since the first TV shows.
My sister and I used to watch then together as kids :)

Sanding, Taping & Painting

Hi there friends . . . well, here's what Connie and I have been up to.
Sanding, taping and painting on Gypsy Rose.
We are still planning on having her in the water,
sometime in June. 
Check out these photos.

Here I am sanding the hull.
She needed it all over, deck, hull and bottom.
So far we have the deck and hull finished.

Here's Connie taping the the side.

The sun was so bright in this shot that the colors washed out,
but maybe you can tell, 
that we are replacing the pink deck with a gray.
It has a green tint in it and I think in looks so much better.
We think that the pink color was a result 
of the sun fading out a beige color.

Here's Connie painting the edge of the hull a deep gloss green.

Here I am laying in the hull paint.
Notice the reflection of the boat trailer.
It dried just as glossy.
She's looking prettier with every job we check off our list.
Thank you for stopping by. 
 Please leave a comment and let us know what you think.

Gypsy Rose hatch covers are done!

Here we are coating the hatch cover with epoxy resin, 

which is a super waterproof high end plastic.

 

 We also did the forward and rear hatches 

when doing the main hatch.  

 Here is Connie wetting out the 6 oz fiberglass cloth with more epoxy resin. 

This will make the hatch covers very tough  

so they will stand up to being walked on.  

 Done except for sanding the fiberglass off the edges. 

Here is the final before and after shot.

What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by my blog and happy sailing to you!! 

Steve