the duck reloaded cont.....

Hello everyone,

we have pictures and a place where we have speedy internet.

In a nut shell this season was great. A lot of work but the results put a big smile on my face. It is almost like we have a new boat.



this is what the woodduck looks like when we left.
this is the stb stern 7 days before we left. 65 knot winds picked up real quick and the results sucked




The dock was crushed by two big sailboats. I had to cut a line on the woodduck and push it out of the way. As you could see I wasn't fast enough. No worries though I was able to fix it in just acouple of days.
Now jumping back in time the next picture is the cockpit being moved to the boat. we used a swimming platform that the marina had.





The work that we had to do for the cockpit was compiled with dry rot.
the mast step had some and the crossbeams. This year I attacked it with penetrating epoxy instead of replacing the wood. The next picture is showing Drew and I working on the mast. we had to move it over.



Now let's get to the fun stuff our sail to Belize. We wanted to see the whale sharks but we missed the full moon window. but we did stay out on the reef for 5 days the first stint and 6 days the second stint.





This gives you a better look at the entrance ways we cut out for the new cockpit. It is very easy to get in and out now



and lets not forget our fish this is drew with one of the two fish we caught.( cere mackeral)



the next couple of pictures are of our four legged friends. lookie, weewee and flaca





Here are some just random shots


here is drew after he saw the jungle medic. somehow he got wood in his eye.



For the first month we rented a cabin at the marina




and now................................................ the award winning picture. This was done after the remodling was complete.
as you can see some one is really enjoying it.



I hope you enjoyed the pictures. More are on there way.
jake

another look at the woodduck

here are some more pictures of the duck. We had to destroy the old cockpit and comand pod and rip out the old deck. We used Santa Maria, a hard wood local to Guatemala, and made the boards six inches with the thickness being a true one inch . We oiled the deck with pine tar , linseed oil ( boiled) and paint thinner. The wood was a beautiful red but this will turn black and then grey when it is ready to be oiled again.
The new cockpit is ten feet by ten feet and hangs from the crossbeams by 7 bolts 3/4 inch stainless steel thick. After furnature was built we had the shade structure welded from 1 1/2 inch aluminum. The shade structure works great for the sun but we are going to add shade tarps for the sides and the front near the mast to help with the rain. These tarps will be able to be rolled up for when we are sailing.
Here are some more pictures from the trip. The next couple pictures are the destruction of the cockpit and command pod.







The solar panel was secured on top of the shade structure. We want to put another on the other side for full solar power so we can reduce gasoline comsumption



This is another look at he hatches. this is showing the stb hull. now we have access to the head without going into the stb. hull



Here we are on break



The kayak was a usefull tool for cathy to explore the reef.