Three years. 

It has been three years since the top two feet of Moontide's Main mast snapped off in light winds.

Those of you who have followed our odd odyssey of discovery of decay and the repair that our little Mariner has undergone over these several years will be relieved to know...

We have Masts!

Through much effort, expense, and a lot of help from our friends, our mizzen was stepped in our slip at Pirate's Cove on July 21.
(See the latest entries under "Restoration - 2014" on the website)

Today, 8/05/14, the main mast, at long last, was stepped in the ways at Rocky Pointe Boat Yard.

Our special thanks go the folks at Rocky Pointe for their help and advice, to Jason Bent, Dar Nelson, and Kim Winkler, who were integral in helping us step both masts, To the Pirate Crew of Royaliste, who relinquished a day of work on their own boat to help us, and to the incredibly generous people of Pirate's Cove whose generosity of Spirit, kindness, and encouragement helped us to persevere when times were tough over the last several years.

Moontide Looks like a boat again! 

Now if we can only figure out where the damn oil leak is on the engine!!! 

Michael here.
With Winter efforts to reassemble the aft quarter of our  little vessel coming to fruition, and with the progressively warm evenings of Spring filling the air, the gallant crew of the S/V Moontide has paused, if only for a brief glance, to review the work done to restore helm and the complex navigation structures of Moontide.
Cleats, hawsers, hatches, seating, electronics, steerage, and an outboard crane have all been built back into the cavity that had once been the back of the boat. 
Gabrielle has graced each structure with her attention: Bronze shines, varnished woods gleam, and all new fiberglass radiates with the glow of fresh paint and attention. It is a joy to behold.
That said, back to work!
April showers may bring flowers, but it also marked the reappearance of our long-hibernating masts.

On the last rainy Sunday of April, with a little help from our friends, (and maybe some pointers from Archimedes) we inveigled the masts from storage into the open to begin the prep work for stepping them.
Stepping a mast is simple -- take a 48 foot length (about 800 pounds) of wood and steel, stand it on end, and tell it to stay put!
Since Moontide and both the main and mizzen masts have never worked together, all new rigging is needed to get them to fit as a unit.  This involves...dah, dah, dahhhhh! Mathematics!
It's one of those situations where our very lives may, in fact, depend on Math.
Father Bede, my high school math teacher, would be pleased. 
I can see him now, chalk fingerprints, dusting his black scapular, pacing back and forth across the front of the classroom after I had made a fool of myself trying to solve a problem:
"Hah! " He would say, "Apple Pan Dowding," as he liked to call me, "Have you ever heard of... Bomba the Jungle Boy?" He would turn to face the class and smile.  "He was a character in old serial movies... he would always run through the jungle and... fall into these obvious... obvious traps." And then he would chuckle. "You, you, Apple Pan, have fallen into just such a trap."
I hated math.
Fortunately, applied math (think: life depends on it) seems to make more sense to me than all the abstract classroom math I ever did, despite Fr. Bede's best efforts. 
And taking Brian Toss' rigging class last Fall didn't hurt, either!

Still, we have no death wish, so the first part of May,  Ian Weedman, a professional rigger, came and reviewed our rigging, our plans, (and my math) and gave us the benefit of his knowledge and experience as we began the task of putting these masts back together.
Now it is a matter of gluing and screwing (in a nice way, I mean) and spending money, lots of money, to get the hardware we need to be able to safely stand these beauties up for sailing. We shall see what our wallets and our backs can bear!
And we'll keep you posted how things progress in June!

Fair winds,
M&G

Last June, when we discovered dry-rot lurking beneath the decks of Moontide's aft deck and cockpit, Gabrielle and I dug in with all the temerity we could muster. There wasn't much choice, really.
We had done the bow deck, the side decks, and a good portion of the cabins already, why not finish the job?
And yet, we hesitated. 
Rebuilding this section meant removing the electrical and mechanical components that gave us power to and steering of our little boat. Without those components, why, Moontide would become -- dare we say it? -- a BARGE!
Not that we personally have anything against barges. Aside from its unfortunate use as a verb, a barge can be quite lovely. 
However, they are also used to haul trash. And they aren't really considered... boats. 
So it was, with these thoughts in mind, that we carefully removed the wheel and control cables, steering box, deck, frames, carlins, and pretty much every rotten part of the back of the boat we could 'til we reach the hull. (See above)
Then we started putting it all back together, adding a few features that we hope will both customize, and modernize the boat while retaining her Marineresque character and qualities.

It's funny about boatbuilding. Maybe other forms of construction are like this, too. But we know this about boats:
you work and work and work, and even though you know your accomplishing tasks, nothing really LOOKS different. 
And then, one day, things strangely begin to take shape. Pieces that you never thought you'd get to reuse are suddenly part of the assembly.
We realized all this as we put the wheel back on this evening. 
Yes, we have so much to do: paint, rigging, chainplate, masts, sails... and yet.
And yet, our little barge has triumphed, and transformed. She is once again, truly, a boat!
Welcome back, our Good little boat!  Welcome home, Moontide! 

In the summer of 2011, after both the main and mizzen masts had been removed from Moontide and deemed irreparable, we did a close inspection of where the main mast was stepped, and found a ‘soft spot’ on the cabin top.

Soft spots are not good things on boats. It has been argued that owners of boats may have a soft spot in their hearts -- or even their heads -- for owning a boat. Certainly, boat owners have soft spots in their wallets because of their boats, but the boat itself should never have soft spots. Ever.

Concerned and curious, Gabrielle and I removed the fiberglass skin from the portion of cabin top at the mast step that felt soft, and discovered a blackened area on the plywood underlay about 20” in diameter. Dry rot. The spot seemed to have a little black tail that trailed off the forward edge of the cabin.

We followed the tail as it expanded, cutting larger and larger pieces of fiberglass from the side of the cabin and then from the deck until day became evening and we couldn’t see to continue.

The next day, I had to go to work. Gabrielle opted to continue ‘exploring’ for dry rot.
“How far should I go?” She asked.
I shrugged. “‘Til it stops.”

Perhaps now is the time to explain how wonderfully tenacious and energetic my wife can be. I sometimes call Gabrielle my little rat terrier, (rest assured it is said with only the greatest affection) because she has the remarkable capacity to sink her teeth into a  project, cause, or goal with such vigor that there can be no doubt as to her reaching a successful outcome. She is my inspiration. And I want to be like her when I grow up.

That said, in retrospect, it might have been wiser to have chosen my parameters more carefully.

I came home from work to find the foredeck and a good portion of the bulwarks gone!

“It just kept going.” Gabs said with an exhausted smile. 

Thus began our saga of rebuilding the decks of Moontide, from bow to transom. 

After two years, we reached the farthest aft section of the boat built of wood, and removed the rotten wood there. 
I told Gabrielle “From this point on, if we find rotten wood, it’s going to have to be on someone else's boat.”

As we finish sealing and fiberglassing the cockpit area of Moontide, we look back and are grateful for the experience. Because we have shared this labor of love --tearing apart and rebuilding our boat --  we now know the structure and workings of our boat/home better than many people will ever know their home. 
Yes, for all this we are grateful... still, we hope we never have to go through this experience again! 

Whoooo'd a thought it would snow like this at Pirate's Cove?!
We haven't had snow like this since 2008. Then, it was just a snow storm.  So far, there have been 3 storms that brought days of snow on the dock amounting to over a foot of snow.
Of course, it started raining a a few days later, and all traces of the white stuff were washed away within a day or so.

And took care to keep the snow from weighing down our 'terrarium' on the afterdeck of Moontide.

We hope everyone is coping well with whatever weather you are encountering this season. We are making slow progress under the tarps, and will have more to show you when we can. 
Be Well,
M&G

Well, The end of the year held a few surprises. One was the early snowfall at Pirate's Cove -- a good half-flask deep! Add a lingering, biting cold snap and nasty cold/flu season, and that slowed epoxying efforts down considerably.
All in all, though, 2013 was pretty good to us. It gave us prolonged stretches of mild to really nice weather that allowed us to reach the farthest realms of deck and replace old and rotted wood. It gave us pretty good health (relatively speaking) to continue our work and lives in a manner we choose.
We have much to be grateful for. As we stumble under our tarps and listen to the thundering threnody of rain coming down, we remind each other of the weather extremes so many other folks are suffering through right now. It could be worse.

We shovel a little snow, but not too much. The cold air may bite, but it's not deadly. We have the love of each other, the support of those dear to us, and a dream at which we persevere.
And finally, we are reminded that, in the words of Van Morrison, 
Precious time is slipping away.  Between the achy mornings when it's hard to get out of bed, and the sadly declining health of our 

dear companion Carmen the Wonder Dog, we appreciate the need to keep moving. Not to waste hours or days or lives.
Carmen is an important part of our life on Moontide. To help keep her able to get on and off the boat, we built her a Christmas present of a new boarding ramp.  It's handy for us, too, getting aboard with armloads of gear.
We wish everyone a prosperous and healthy New Year!

Looking at our earlier blogs, one might get the impression that all we do is work on the Moontide. Not at all! 
Well, it's what we MOSTLY do, but life on the boat, particularly life here in Pirate's Cove, does have its fun and relaxing moments.
For instance, last Saturday, we had a wedding on the dock, just a few slips down from us!
John and Char Redlich tied the knot on the bow of their new boat. Fortunately, Nature obliged with a with a beautiful Sunny day!

The weather was not as accommodating the following day, however, as we joined the crew of the pirate ship Royaliste for one last dash of the season up the channel to the Willamette. 
It was cold -- obvious, when you note how bundled everyone was -- but the rain let up, and the wind eased, and we were able to motor without difficulty south up the channel.  Kate and Shuhe, owners of the Royaliste,  led the crew in some sailing songs, and the raised voices seemed to chase the clouds off, as the afternoon warmed and turned beautiful for the voyage home.

Back on the dock, rum and music-making were the order as everyone joined in to bundle the Royaliste up in her togs for the winter.

Actually, in the summer, there are many dockside potlucks, BBQs and dinners here at Pirate's Cove.                                                                                               We celebrate birthdays and bon voyages, from TGIF to TGI-Wednesday- or if it's not raining, or if an eagle flew over, or if someone catches a fish, or -- any of a thousand good reasons to celebrate life.

In July, the dock had a going away brunch for our neighbors RaeAnn and Frank Haynes, as they cast off and began the voyage South to warmer waters on their sloop Luna Sea. (So jealous!!!)

We hope everyone keeps warm this Autumn as the weather and waters turn cold .  Til next time,
Fair Winds,
M&G

Building frames for a new design in the wheel well required head-aching math, contortions that people our age are loathe to do, and a good deal of trial and error to get a result with which we could live. 
But, as things were just beginning to fall into place, the first storms of Autumn came early... and with a vengeance, on the last days of September!

We stopped building on the boat, and devoted the next several days to creating our latest version of the Moontide "Conestoga."
Not only does it keep the rain out, it gives us room to keep working out of the elements on the deck.
By the first week in October, the rains had subsided , giving us moments of fair skies. We could crawl out of the tarp, run and cut a piece of wood on the table saw up in the parking lot, then run back down to the boat before the sky dropped another deluge on us.

Now, as mid October approaches, we can once again look through our main hatch, and see the general shape of a cockpit on Moontide's aft deck.
We still have filling, and grinding, and sanding, and epoxying, and fiberglassing, and more sanding and stuff to do, but we also have th satisfaction of knowing all our rotten wood is off the boat, and she is regaining her shape and beauty.
We'll share more as it happens.
Fair winds,
M&G

I'm afraid Sterling Hayden may be right: the years DO thunder by! Despite our plans and hopes and good intentions, a third summer has passed without getting the masts on Moontide. However, our time spent on the boat has been fruitful. We rebuilt, glassed and epoxied both cabin sides and decks, tore out the rot from the cockpit, clear back to the transom, and have almost completed rebuilding the whole rear of the boat. (See the Restoration Section of our site)
Weather was accommodating, to say the least. We cannot remember a sunnier summer in Oregon! 
And it was not all work -- we took a break and spent three wonderful days in Pt Townsend at the Wooden Boat Festival, looking at other people's boat projects and accomplishments.

There were boat builders, designers, sailors, would-be sailors, carpenters and dreamers at the show. We ran into an assortment of folks we knew: friends from Oregon, people we'd met at various other boat shows from years before, and even two couples we knew from cruising down the coast of Mexico. It was a fun getaway, a nice respite, and we saw some amazing boats.
We returned, rejuvenated, and pleased with the progress our little Moonie is making.
Be Well,
M&G

It's just that we never seem to get away from the dock to actually DO any sailing!
Spring is upon us, and the weathergods have been generous, giving Pirate's Cove an unseasonably mild February and March, and an almost scarily warm April to allow boatbuilders and rebuilders and repairers to build and rebuild and repair. 
Certainly, for laying down fiberglass and epoxy, we Moontiders have been singularly grateful for the lack of rain, and even pleasant days to put down epoxy, and sand it off. And put down epoxy, and sand it off. And put down epox-- well, you get the idea.
But the side decks are taking shape, and are downright watertight as of this April evening. Which is good news.
The inside of the boat once again looks like a boat, and we rejoice in its pleasing image and space.

Some new notes on the website: The Restoration Tab at the top of the page has subcategories now, dividing our work efforts into years and projects.
We've put several video 'trailers' on, just for fun, that folks might enjoy.
We also added more guests and crew to our list of folks who have had the opportunity to share Moontide with us.

Hope the Spring is being kind to everyone else. If you enjoy the site, please let us know.
M&G