Working in the Jungle

Hi everyone. When we last checked in, we made it back to San Diego. We are still at the Cortez Marina, next to the Harbor Island Hilton. Time to update you on all the jobs we are doing on Jungle. First all engine and generator maintenance was completed.

Then it was time to go after the tired bright work (teak trim). The starboard toe rail needs some love.

Nothing like a little varnish. Check out the bronze rub rail - looking sharp.

Feeling so good I treat Garrett and I to a lobster dinner at the Boathouse restaurant. They have a special running on Weds nights - I'll take 2 thank you.

Now for the fun stuff. The forward head stopped working. And This is the culprit. A failed water solenoid switch. While I'm at it the whole head could use a sprucing after 3+ years of heavy sailing.

Prepping is the key to a good job - cleaning, fairing (filling cracks), sanding and taping.

Looking better.

The finished product. Check out the Admirals accoutrements. Love a nice head!

Now we attack the port side toe rail.

Sanding with environmental guards in place - can't just dump the stuff in the water, wouldn't be nice. Besides the bid fines from the Coast Guard. Hey, who's size 15 that.

That's better.

Back to the heads! Now we are working on the main cabin head (our head).

The good news is we can paint these things. Beats replacing. Man, this is probably more than you ever looked at heads. Welcome to my world.

While I'm in this bathroom time to repair a serious leak in our sink. It took me days to fix as we have a fancy Italian made sink with custom faucet and hoses. Only solution was a custom repair job to the hot water line. More fun. Might as well paint while we are at it.

Voila! Or Bravo! Sink repaired and back in.

Great view of San Diego from Harbor Island.

We biked down here as its close to our marina. Jenée has a new (used) folding bike that we bought at a swap meet. Stylin'

We decided to check out the Southwestern Yacht Club which is offering membership specials and good slip rates. The SWYC is next door to the San Diego Yacht club. This is season opening weekend and new member weekend. There is a pirate theme running on this dock.

All the boats are dressed up with their flags flying.

Jenée is enjoying herself.

And is now being kidnapped by one of the pirates - Garrr! This is more of a hug and the pirate is Alec Oberschmidt, one of the clubs top racers.

Alec invited Jenée and I to go on his boat Staghound, for the club boat parade.

The people on board include club members in full Yacht Club regalia. All very nice folks.

We wave at the boats on the YC docks and they wave back.

Everyone is having fun.

Back at the dock we pose next to Staghound (18th Century hunting dog - a few left). This boat has one purpose - go fast! Definitely the other end of the spectrum from Jungle.

Another week rolls around and it's back to work. Working on the cockpit teak. Lots of prep work again.

But it's worth it when it's done.

The doors to the pilothouse before.

And after.

This time I'm attempting to make it a once a year effort vs. four times per year. We'll see how it goes.

Oh no! A life threatening boo-boo.

I survived that scare, thanks. Looking back on the starboard side, we see the anchor windlass could use some help.

It needs to be cleaned, sanded and primed - special green primer since it is cast aluminum.

This is the white prime on top - looking better. We've already started to prime the white portions of the deck. Next we lay down the final white coat, then we repaint the nonskid panels (now ugly gray).

When I say we, I mean me and my new buddy - George Martinez. I definitely couldn't do this job as well without George. He knows what he is doing. Me, I'm learning.

Here is the foredeck being prepped, sanded and taped. You see some different colors we are trying out to paint over the gray nonskid portions. We like none of these colors. We'll keep looking for something in tan. That is the last part of the deck painting.

Quite an improvement with a little white primer. A lot more prepping, sanding and painting to go. We've got about 4 weeks into it, 2 more remaining. It's a big job.

Speaking of big jobs, I'm wondering how my mate Simon is fairing. He is in the Galapagos Islands, preparing for along sail to the South Pacific. He looks to be getting along well.

We are doing wonderfully, thank you. Cheers.