Frankensail

Yep I made that word up today. The reason for it was because of my first attempt at sail making. Well not "from scratch" sail making but rather, trying to give new life to a much larger old sail for the dinghy. First things first. The sewing machine I have is a regular machine, not an industrial one. So the first thing that needed to be done was, use a stronger leather sewing needle, check! Next use an upholstery thread, check! Then the next one on the list is cut the old sail to fit the new dinghy...check. The biggest thing of all was last, figuring out how in the world to piece together an old sail and sew it...check!! This should be a piece of cake. Or so you might think. One of the biggest problems I noticed right off the bat was a normal sewing machine just doesn't cut it. The fabric on a sail tends to get very thick in certain spots and the machine just couldn't handle the job. That means that some spots are gonna need to be sewn by hand, FUN. But over all it handled the rest of the fabric ok. Of course the little foot peddle and needle were working overtime. In the end however the job got done. Not very pretty I might add but it is done. My stitching leaves some room to be desired of course, that's why this particular sail is nicknamed "The FrankenSail" for a reason. What I do know is this, if I had hired someone to do the job and it turned out looking like it does now, I would have been pissed! But since 'I' did the job and it was my first attempt with the wrong kind of equipment, I am proud and giddy. The way I see it is my sail repair and making techniques can only get better from here. They would have to cause there is no way they could ever get worse. P.S. Matthew did a fabulous job at being the deck supervisor on the whole project. All joking aside, he did a wonderful job at making the sail too.

As an additional note, here are some other completed jobs. Another coat of Cetol was added to the top side of the exterior wood. It really is coming along beautifully. Matthew busted his booty getting the dinghy together by adding a rear cleat and a bow anchor bitt as well. We are looking forward to getting her in the water soon. We also started to clean the deck with some acetone, what an amazing job that is turning out to be. The deck is actually becoming white again. Recently a neighbor gave Matthew this stuff called Never Dull. He has been non stop using it to polish all of the stainless steel and it looks shiny new now. This is something that every boat should have aboard, along with Bartenders Friend Cleanser.

Amongst all of our hard work we have found some time to relax, enjoy and meet some new people. In the past week we had the pleasure of meeting other fellow Island Trader 46 owners. Right around the corner we met Frank & Gail who bought their boat around the same time we got ours. I don't remember the name of their boat but I guess that doesn't matter too much since they are changing the name anyways. Really nice couple with lots of work ahead of them too. Of course no where as near the amount of work we have to go. Then today we finally met Peter, he owns a beauty of an IT 46 that's in Venice, FL. We already took a sneak peak of the exterior and she is a looker. In fact it has thrown us into high gear to get the Coup ready. Peter has invited us to go down one of these days and see her interior. That should be a great experience to witness what an IT 46 could look like all completed. Then you have Barry and Sami, I mentioned them in a previous post. They don't have an IT 46 at this time but they know tons about them and have talked to many owners. They are looking to buy one when they find her. In fact they looked at the Coup before we got her. But from what I hear they might be looking at starting a website for IT 46 owners. That would be awesome! There is so little information out there on the IT's and that would be a great way for owners to connect. I think it would be a fabulous idea if that could happen.