Guildive Cruises Blog

We made it to the Penobscot Bay, we are slowly making our way up the west side of the bay right now with plans to be in Castine by tonight. After leaving the Cape Cod Canal we had a long day of wind shifts, 3-6 ft seas, and scattered thunderstorms, much to the dismay of Maggie’s stomach.  But we did get in a good day of sailing, not always heading in the direction we wanted, so finally around 10 pm we fired up the engine and powered the rest of the way to the entrance of Penobscot Bay.  In Maine fashion the fog greeted us early early in the AM as we were trying to dodge lobster pots.  All in all it has been a great trip, thank you David, Maggie, and Haley!!!  Pictures to come, promise!

We made it from Easton and tonight around 11 pm we will be transiting the Cape Cod Canal.  Some good sailing, some good motoring, and of course some good motor-sailing.  There are 5 of us northbound, Haley and Maggie Chutz, David Shepard, and of course Zander and myself.  Our track this year took us from Easton, north through the C & D canal, down the Delaware Bay, and straight across towards Buzzards Bay… no NYC this time. We had some great S/ SW breeze 15- 20 kts so we set the sails right as we entered the Atlantic and had a great day and night of sailing.  Unfortunately, once the sun came up the next day the wind fell right off… back to turning on Mr. GM.  Guildive is doing great, I think she is happy to be back moving through the water and not on jack stands anymore, of course we have not stopped tinkering with the rig, sails, engine, electronics, etc. but thats just natural!!  The crew, well 4 of the 5 are happy, poor Maggie is testing her stomach and finding that it prefers to be on land but today she is moving around and even eating!!  I will post some pictures once we get to Maine as the internet reception is very poor, and we need to use the computer to get some weather.  Also check our facebook page (Ketch Guildive) in a few days for some more pictures.

We made it, well not to Maine yet, but one step closer… the boat is in the water!  We splashed Thursday morning after a long winter full of tons of work.  Replacing the stern tube, refinishing the heads, building a new head, re-seaming the decks, fixing the rudder stops, cleaning and painting the engine, re-wrapping the exhaust pipe, and of course painting the hull were just some of the projects we had going on this winter.  We cannot thank Dickerson Harbor enough, here is the link to the blog they post daily about happenings around the boatyard:

http://www.oya.com/service/yardblog.php

Here are some shots of Guildive in the slings and going in the water.  

Just because the boat made it into the water does not mean Zander and I can take a break, we spent Friday rigging the masts.  Saturday morning the crane came at 8am and by 9am the masts were all in and the boom truck was driving away.  We could not have been happier about how it went, now Guildive is a sail boat again!  Today we rigged the booms and put the sails on – thank you Goldie and Austin for all of your help, it was huge to have a few extra hands around.  I do not have pictures yet to post as they are on another camera, but they will come!!  I cannot forget to mention all the work dad has put in to the woodwork.  Today he mounted the door for the new head and it is stunning!  Nothing on the boat has right angels or is really straight so it has been a lesson in patience working with the moldings.  Now we have some work to finish up and do a massive clean of the boat but we should be heading north on June 1.

Her rudder is back on, hurray!  Now she is starting to look like a boat ready for the water.  We just have a few more things to attach before we can splash her and get her ready for the trip north.  We have been splitting our time between the masts and the boat so that once the boat is ready the masts can go back in.  We have been inspecting the spars and all the rigging – sanding, painting, and some epoxy work (all the usual), but, they are in another town from where the boat is currently, so we are constantly going back and forth trying to share limited supplies.  

Here are some photos that show the progress better….

bottom work almost complete

Some epoxy work on the main mast - all clamped up

We work some late nights - just not enough hours in the day! You can see the boat lit up from the spot lights.

The last view of the empty stern

Finally back on, hoping not to have to take it off again for a while.

Welcome back, rudder!

Our wind blocking tent

Where has the time gone??  We are approaching June rather quickly and our transit to Castine.  This year we are offering the opportunity to join us on our trip from Easton, MD to Castine, ME.  The trip would leave Easton June 1st and arrive in Castine June 9th (of course all this is weather dependent).  We are taking bookings for up to 6 guests all ages and sailing ability.  The cost is $75.00 per day ($675.00 for all 9 days).  This includes food, bedding, and sailing/ navigation instruction.  We encourage all guests to share in the meal preparation and ship handling for the daily operation of Guildive.  Please follow our link for more information and pictures.

http://www.guildivecruises.com/TransitEmail/TransitEmail.html

Please contact us if you have interest in some Adventure Travel!

                 The weather has really been on our side for the last few days allowing us to get the first 2 coats of bottom paint on the hull.  Zander has been really working hard with the stern tube.  The new fiberglass tube had to be cut and shaped, centered and soon to be bedded into place.  Once that is secure we need to wait a few days just to make sure everything has cured properly, then Guildive gets to go back into the water.  

              Guildive has not been the only boat occupying Zanders mind.  He has been working on a Grand Banks removing an engine.  Our boatyard writes a blog daily and there are some pictures of the engine coming out the window.  Check out their blog:

http://www.oya.com/service/yardblog.php

              Here are some pictures from the first 2 coats of bottom paint:

1st coat, notice the green keel (the grey paint mixed with the base black tar paint)

2nd coat, getting better... no green keel

              The bottom paint was not all, we have been working on the framework for our new head and bench.  Cushion and cushion covers to come soon…

                  Don’t forget to check out more photos on our facebook page… Ketch Guildive.  

                       We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel… well at least for now! The weather is shaping up really nicely for the rest of the week to get some bottom paint on and the stern tube in place, hurray.  Once those two big tasks are taken care of the rest is getting the engine back together and getting her in the water.  Then some more fun happens… rigging her up!

                   It was awesome to have a good friend, Marann, visiting from California last week.  Zander and I sailed with her when we were working on the Irving and Exy Johnson, two boats owned by LMAI – so she knows a thing or two about boats, which was SO nice she could just jump right in and help.  The first day we took in easy on her, as she was still getting over jet-lag, and she wrote a great blog entry about that day (the post just below!).  The next day we introduced her to the wonderful world of epoxy.  We were patching some of the sheathing that covers below the waterline so she probably mixed up about a gallon of epoxy that Zander and I spread around.  So by the end of the day we were all covered, I was doing some patch work below the keel which meant I was the lucky one to end up with it all in my hair (a little acetone wash and some serious brushing and I was all set to go).  After some great days of Guildive work we dropped her off in Baltimore to sail on the Pride of Baltimore, we are just trying to convince her to come back now when the boat is in the water!!!

                    The rainy weekend was great to get some indoor projects done, work on the new head down-below and the new bench we are putting in also the vinyl for the curtains was laid out and the border was pinned on, now they just need to be sewn.  Here is a picture of the new curtains taken from outside the boat (what Marann talks about in her blog).

New Curtians

                   So all in all things are looking up, so far.  We just need a few more hours in every day to get everything done.  We cannot thank my dad enough who has been putting in tons and tons of time to get some molding trim work done for the renovated heads, it will look great.  Also, we need to thank our friend Goldie who came down from the Sultana on his day off to help us paint – we are so lucky to have such great friends who like to do boat work!!

                      You can now join our (new) facebook page – Ketch Guildive  - and see some more pictures from last years season in Maine.

          Guest blogger strikes again!  Hi, all.  This is Marann, coming to you live from the amazing massage chair at the Kana house in lovely Easton, MD, having completed my first day of work on Guildive.  I am happy to report, she has new curtains!  

           Kate, Zander, and I spent a rainy day fighting the battle of the grommets.  It wasn’t all grommets and curtains, though. We had a fantastic visit with another LAMI vet – the wonderful Jochen Hoffmann. He came up from D.C. for a reunion, some great conversation, and (generously!) treated us to lunch at an eatery in Trappe. A note for the curious – the restaurant is named in honor of actor Robert Mitchum (if you haven’t seen The Enemy Below, I highly recommend it), a one-time resident of the tiny eastern shore hamlet. Food’s fantastic. If you’re ever in Trappe, hit up Mitchum’s!

             Trappe has another claim to fame these days: it happens to be where Guildive is currently on the “hard.” I use the word ‘hard’ grudgingly because the ‘hard’ is actually grass!  (It amuses me that, though we were on dry land, because we were on a boat, when we had to leave said boat to, ahem, answer nature’s call, we’d refer to our mission as going to the ‘shore head…’) I saw the boat for the first time in person today, and was impressed, despite her present state of… growth. She’s getting a new head, a new stern tube, and lots of prettifying. Which brings me back to the curtains.

           We began our task by pulling down the old yellow canvas and vinyl ones, and measuring the new ones against them, to determine placement for grommets.  That turned out to be only semi-productive.  The new curtains – tan canvas and mesh – weren’t as stretched-out as the old. The marks we made didn’t match the fasteners on the framework when we hung the new curtains in place. The job required a new tack.

           We’d hang them, stretch them into place, then mark the spot for the grommet on one side, and take them down.  Next came the process of affixing the grommet.  Using blocks of wood to absorb the punishment, we’d employ a punch – kindly on loan from the sail maker who constructed the curtains – to hole the canvas.  It was quite the challenge a few times, as we were having to muscle through about 8 layers of canvas and mesh.  That done, we’d put glue on the first side of canvas and attach the front of the grommet. Then it was time to flip the curtain and glue on the backing. The final step – push down 4 tabs that hold the backing and the front together.

             Grommet attached, we’d rehang the curtain, fasten the grommet into place, and stretch the opposite side across its fastener to measure where the next grommet would go.  Wasn’t always as easy as it sounds.  It involved a lot of pulling into tight corners. But we prevailed, and soon found a system.  Kate and I worked the starboard side – including the infamous top, forward grommet that liked to dispute whether or not it would cooperate – while Zander went to town on port.  We tried to work it so one ‘team’ would be bending on a grommet when the other was hanging and stretching.

               And so it went – hang, measure, take down, attach grommet, hang, measure other side, take down attach grommet, repeat…  Port, starboard, aft… We were a well-oiled machine by the end, and Zander’s side was on tightly enough that Kate and I coined a nickname for what it resembled: the trampoline.  As of now, Guildive looks snazzy and sharp with her new ‘window’ dressings!  Hopefully tomorrow the rain will go away and we can paint.  For now, I’m going to sleep.  Pictures to follow!

Here are a few shots taken last fall to get everyone inspired about this summer!  

The boat is still hauled out and will hopefully be launched in the next few weeks (fingers crossed!).

All photos taken by John Kaiser