We somehow managed to fit in lots of fun time in-between our numerous boat projects. Three driving trips brought us to Maine & twice to Vermont, as well as several boat excursions. While our week-long boat trip to the Vineyard was shortened due to weather, we made a few local trips.

We also joined friends at a speakeasy in Wallingford, disguised as an old timey video rental store.  But walk through the classic soda machine and you enter a dimly lit, beautifully appointed speakeasy. Fun cocktails- popcorn too of course!  Dinner next door was easy too!

Of course, every trip requires a few donut shop stops!

We made 2 trips up to Vermont to visit with Benj, including for his birthday – Happy Birthday!

The Dog Watch Restaurant in nearby Stonington is one of our favorites. We always get there at least once every summer by either boat or car.

Attending the Chester Fair on a perfect summer day. Our nephew (Matt – lower left corner) organized the 1st Timber/Lumberjack Competition to be held at the fair, with various cutting & chopping heats. The 2 women (to the right) using a ($2,000!) 2-person crosscut saw made the required 2 cuts thru that 10″ square of wood in less than 30 seconds – truly looked like cutting butter!

Turning back to the water, we hosted several friends aboard Twin Sisters. Even though we only went a few miles up & down the Connecticut River, Cathy & John had a blast!

Likewise, Linda & Tom thoroughly enjoyed a longer, overnight trip to Three Mile Harbor on Long Island.

Especially with perfect weather & a fabulous fireworks show.

On the way to our (abbreviated) weeklong trip to the Vineyard, it’s not uncommon to pass a departing or returning submarine to the New London Sub Base up the Thames River.

You’re looking at 1 of the 2 windfarms between Block Island & the Vineyard recently completed for 9 billion. Unfortunately, there was no wind, so no power being generated on the days we passed by…

Block Island never disappoints with fabulous sunsets.

While we shortened our trip & skipped the Vineyard due to a dismal weather forecast, we did enjoy other stops to Mystic, Block Island & Cuttyhunk.

Labor Day Weekend is here already, so we’ll soon be heading south for cruising season #17! While we have to time our transit thru NYC for favorable current through Hell Gate in the East River (up to 5 knots with or against you – both extremes are bad), the UN in session mid-month is even more of an issue as the Coast Guard completely closes down the East River to all vessels for certain periods – not always to the published dates/times. One year we had to idle in 4 knots of current for over an hour as the world leaders apparently wouldn’t stop yacking (if they were at least solving a few of the world’s problems we wouldn’t have minded as much :).

Departing in early September usually works out best for keeping warm temps. If we transit south at just the right speed, we can avoid changing from shorts into jeans except for the occasional cool morning – that’s our goal anyway!

Once back to Connecticut, we got right onto our projects. The sooner we start, the sooner we can be done. Well, that’s the theory anyway…

Our cockpit enclosure was at the top of our list as age is causing cloudiness & discoloration. A normal person would have a marine canvas company fabricate a new one. Not only would that likely cost over $8,000, but we would also be without our enclosure for much of the summer, as they would take them to use as patterns & slowly work on them while juggling dozens of other jobs. Would the work even be done when we need to leave in September? As the cockpit is our “living room” & it can be quite buggy here – would not be good.

I also didn’t want identical replacements. While the standard Strataglass clear vinyl is o.k. & can be rolled up for ventilation, it is optically imperfect with wrinkles inevitable. High end yachts & sportfish boats are now using semi-rigid materials such as Lexan at extreme cost.

One of my “how hard can it be?” moments brought me to replace the 3 rear panels myself with a scratch-resistant type of polycarbonate. While unable to be rolled up, clarity is much more important. I decided I could re-use the vinyl border & while it’s common to use 3M adhesive tape to attach the polycarbonate, that method has its own concerns. In the end, I used the old Strataglass panels as patterns to drill, then stitch using high performance thread to the old vinyl edging.

Thousands of .1 mm holes, drilling one for every other stitch.

Once I got going, the drilling went fairly smoothly, except when Lori once yelled up asking me something – I drilled right through my thumbnail & halfway into my thumb as the bit broke off – all in a fraction of a second. Fortunately, a tiny portion was sticking out, so I could back it out.

Probably my most satisfying boat project ever – the polycarbonate is as clear as glass with fantastic visibility. New panel to the left / old to the right.

Clear both day & night

To see what’s coming

Sadly, with the 3 rear panels looking fantastic, the old side panels looked really, really bad. While I was tempted to continue using polycarbonate, there are 2 curved corner pieces, plus I decided having the roll-up “smiles” & built-in insect screening was important, so I used the traditional flexible Strataglass material. Hand stitching, including the “smiles,” took many hours.

“Easy” projects such as replacing a rotting plywood base for our freezer was almost a pleasure. Engine maintenance, oil changes & coolant replacement – no problem!

Surely, a double rainbow must be a sign my projects are done??

No such luck – the rainstorm which caused that rainbow had caused an occasionally drippy porthole to gush water, so … out it came. The original installation wasn’t ideal, so I’ll be re-doing all 8 portholes 😦

While I’ll repair the worst couple of portholes now, the rest will have to wait. We have lots of fun plans for the rest of summer, boat trips to Long Island, Block Island & the Vineyard, fireworks, car trips to Maine & Vermont & much more!