Cupcake Afloat
Here are a bunch of photos I’m dropping on you while we’ve got some internet.
Allen Island.
Stonington Harbor.
Swan’s Island wild blueberries.
Unfinished paint job on Swan’s Island. We think they stopped for want of a ladder.
Sailor cat.
Buckle Harbor beauties.
Lunt Harbor on Frenchboro, Long Island.
Frenchboro butterflies.
Long Island beauties.
The rocky coast of Maine, on Long Island.
July 20, 2021
Let the summer sailing fun begin!
Today after many trips running up and down the stairs to the beach we got Cupcake loaded for a three week adventure Downeast. Included in the crew for the first time we’ve got our girl Friday along. Friday is a cat. So far she is less of a scaredy cat than we feared.
To get her to the boat, Moss lured Friday into a duffel bag and then we did what felt like an extra-judicial rendition and hustled that duffle bag full of unhappy feline out to the boat. She is snooping about and getting used to life aboard. So far so good.
We sailed then motored to Cliff Island. Still in Casco Bay, but we needed to get a few mechanical issues sorted before heading to our next stop tomorrow. This year began with Cupcake not producing any electrical power when the engine was running. Neither tachometer nor hour meter was working. Clues.
Turns out it’s the alternator that provides the data to the instrument panel about RPM and hours, and of course it’s the alternator that produces the electricity when the engine is running. I wasn’t too worked up about the problem because we’ve got all that solar panel action. Also I had other things to worry about these past few weeks.
So I finally did a bit of Googling yesterday, dug out the spare alternator this morning, and installed that self-same alternator this afternoon. Now the engine puts out all the electricity a kid could want. Problem solved.
Our other girl Mr. Flowerpot got a big power upgrade of her own this summer. We finally got our hands on the outboard of Moss’ dreams: a Yamaha 15 horsepower, short shaft, two stroke. Found it on Craigslist and bought it from a woman who has retired from cruising. She and her husband cruised the Caribbean and South America for 18 years. He got sick and they moved back ashore. A year ago he died, so his wife is selling off cruising gear she no longer needs. She seemed pleased to know the outboard will go on to have more adventures with a sailing family.
The only real issue with the engine is that it is a non-US market model so finding which parts fit can be tricky. But the thing is so well built and has been so well maintained I’m not too concerned about reliability. Anyway I’ve got a nice collection of spare parts for it squirreled away just in case.
The Yamaha’s first adventure was a bust when it wouldn’t spit out any cooling water two weeks ago. I took it apart, cleaned out all its water passages, checked the oil in the gearbox, put in fresh spark plugs (it has two), and now it works a treat. It easily gets Mr. Flowerpot up on plane with a full complement of people and gear aboard. We are looking forward to plenty of dinghy exploration.
So now we are anchored for our first night. For those keeping track: 100’ of chain in water that’s 8’ deep at low tide (an hour ago) and 18’ deep at high (in about five hours). Ellen and Moss are binge-watching some TV show. A thunderstorm is rumbling nearby, it’s raining but the anchorage here at Cliff Island is calm and protected and lovely.
July 21, 2021
There wasn’t much cell reception at Cliff Island last night, so I didn’t get a chance to upload yesterday’s text. After enjoying the thunderstorm, we took the dinghy ashore and went for a nice walk on the dirt roads (muddy roads) of the island. Saw a kid riding a tandem bicycle with no co-pilot, saw a bunch of goats standing around, saw the rustiest truck I’ve ever laid eyes on.
Today we left pretty early hoping to cover some ground and get a jump on the many miles we need to cover. The weather was foggy this morning and there was absolutely no wind. So we made our way across Casco Bay, past Sequin Island and its iconic lighthouse, past Boothbay Harbor, and on across Muscongus Bay. The goal is to get to Roque Island before the weekend so we can take our time exploring on our way home. In twenty years of sailing the Maine coast we’ve never made it to Roque. So stay tuned.
Today we saw two pods of porpoises, a puffin, and an Ocean Sunfish (mola mola…look it up, they are crazy looking creatures). Now we are poaching a mooring in George’s Harbor between Allen Island and Benner Island.
In 1605 George Weymouth, an English explorer, anchored in this same harbor (“harbour" to him) and erected a cross on one of the islands as a sign to future Europeans. Unlike Weymouth and his ilk, we will not be doing any pillaging or exploiting.
On the way here, a mysterious clunking got more persistent when we were using the autopilot. Investigation revealed that the autopilot ram mount had come free of its connection to the quadrant. A little work with a socket wrench and some Locktite cured what could have been a more serious problem. A pessimist would say everything breaks on a boat (a realist would probably say the same thing). But an optimist would say we’ve fixed all the malfunctions swiftly and easily.
Now we are relaxing and enjoying the lovely spot. We’ll probably launch Mr. Flowerpot in a while and go have a look around.
July 22, 2021
Today was a busy day with lots of parts. After a quiet, calm night, we set off from Allen Island bright and early. Ellen enjoyed an easy start because all she had to do was drop the mooring line instead of haul up 100’ of muddy chain and anchor.
As soon as we poked our nose out of the cozy harbor we realized a reef or two should have been put in the mainsail before we left the mooring. So we rounded up in to the blustery wind and double-reefed the main. Then off we roared across Penobscot Bay.
The day started with low, unpleasant-looking grey clouds and ample wind. Cupcake acquitted herself well, as always in a bigger breeze, and we made good time. Oh my goodness are there lots of lobster floats in this part of the world. We are used to them, of course, but there seem to be even more here than at home. And many have toggles, a second float seemingly designed to catch sailboat rudders. We snagged a few but they all slipped off before we had to take measures. Eternal vigilance is the price we pay for sailing.
The tide was ripping out of east Penobscot Bay so we motorsailed our way close-hauled up the east side of Vinalhaven towards Stonington where we stopped at Billings Diesel to fuel up. We took a whole 7.5 gallons of fuel.
Billings is a tricky spot at which to dock. The little harbor is shallow and crowded with boats. With a stiff north wind, getting off the dock and turned around to head out was a bit of a white-knuckle affair but Cupcake is a good girl and her crew is top-notch.
We sailed a lovely reach through the Deer Island Thoroughfare and then found glassy water and warm sun for the last eight miles to our anchorage at Swan’s Island. It was a fun, exciting, exhausting 40 mile day. Ellen made bread bowls and we gobbled up the clam chowder therein with gusto.
The cat, it turns out, is not overly burdened with fear (aka common sense) and ventured into the cockpit while we were under sail, heeled over in a good breeze. Things even out because Moss has more than her share of caution and kept a sharp eye on Friday. Friday seems to have acclimated herself very nicely to shipboard life and adds purring and cuddling to the mix. And fur, lots and lots of fur. Everywhere.
We are all taking hot showers tonight!
Super slow internet connection. Pictures will have to wait.
July 23, 2021
Today we stayed at anchor in Buckle Harbor. After waking up at a reasonable hour and eating a leisurely breakfast (small crisis: we brought tea but forgot the tea ball…that sounds mighty privileged) we took Mr. Flowerpot about two miles across the top of Swan’s Island to the ferry dock where we set off in search of adventure.
If adventure is defined by wild raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries then we found it.
If a long long walk to Tims, (The Island Market Supply) the island grocery store where we got ice cream, beef jerky, Doritos, and nail clippers counts as adventure then we definitely found it.
After that excitement we headed back to Cupcake and Friday to watch lovely boats come in to the harbor for the night. There’s a sweet 38’ or so ketch anchored just aft of us, another lovely sloop behind that, a big trawler a bit farther out. And in front of us a neat old cutter sailed by a neat, even older couple dropped anchor for the night. It sounds a little crowded but is really just a chance to see some of the prettiest sailboats gathered for the night in one of the most beautiful spots we’ve ever seen.
Also we saw a bald eagle.
But the neatest thing that happened today is we were treated to Cupcake’s siren song. The wind is probably no more than 5 knots, but it is playing in the rigging and Cupcake is singing a song just on the edge of hearing. It sounds like a benevolent madman playing a pipe organ in the background of a dream. I love this boat.
July 24, 2021
We left lovely Buckle Harbor for the short hop over to the sweet little hamlet of Frenchboro on Long Island. Our thought was that if we staged ourselves here, the big jump to Trafton Island and then Roque Island would be that much easier. So we sailed off anchor and then hoisted the asymmetrical spinnaker to ghost our way around Swan’s Island to Long Island.
Of course, it didn’t work out that way when the wind shifted and the incoming tide conspired to slow our progress. We dodged lobster floats and are now anchored in about 28’ of water between Long Island and Harbor Island. In the past we have paid for a mooring, but because we love anchoring on Cupcake and because the evening weather is predicted to be very settled, we thought we would anchor tonight.
Went for a little walk on the island, checked out the little museum (not the finest we have seen this week), and had some contemplative time on the stony beach a short walk through the woods.
Dinner plans are simple tonight: dinghy to shore and eat hamburgers. Then early to bed because we will be up early to get a good start on the 35 mile day ahead of us. Weather is supposed to be rainy, but wind and tide should be in our favor so off we will go.
The cat has gotten more bold lately and has taken to stalking the deck when we are at anchor.
MOSS BLOG
7 • 23 • 21
I’ve been away from my side of the blog for over two years. I apologize for my mysterious absence. While I was gone, I have been on some exciting adventures. Such as today.
Today we woke up in an idyllic anchorage at Swan’s Island. Don’t worry, we went to sleep here too. After a breakfast of Great Grain cereal, and a few work calls on my dad’s part, we set off to the ferry terminal in Mr. Flowerpot. The ride felt magical as we planed the whole way thanks to our Yamaha 15 2 stroke short shaft (I don’t ca-are, I love it!). Speaking of magic, boy did we have a magical day today! It all started with the wild roadside berries straight out of some sort of cruiser’s fairy tale. We picked lot’s of delicious raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries. At one point I had to double check to be sure I hadn’t been sucked into Blueberries For Sal. After all, I am in Maine. After some crunchy and creamy Dove chocolate ice cream sticks at Tim’s, we traveled back to Cupcake. Shortly before reaching her, we stopped to yuck it up with some friendly cruisers on a beautiful sailboat (picture Hinckley but not). Once on board Cupcake, we lounged about with our girl Friday and watched an entertaining old couple come into the anchorage and anchor. Hours later, after wonderful egg plant parm, we started to hear a mysterious harmonic hum. My dad quickly traced the enchanting sound to the rigging. I always thought fishermen who perished due to sirens stupid and weak but now I get it. The sound is a mouth watering hymn that is pure magic. I don’t have the vocabulary to describe the noise but I’m sure you are imagining something that will suffice. The sound is so mysterious that I feel as if it is not meant for my ears. If you find Cupcake on the rocks someday, I hope you will now understand what led to such mishap. I have not mentioned my mom in this post yet, don’t worry, she is happy and safe on board and loved very much. All is well in Cupcake-Town.
I’ve been away so long I may need to catch you up about my life. Well, as of June I now wear spectacles. They are semi-circular tortoise shell glasses. I look like a nerd but at least I ditched the headgear in 2019. Power to the nerd people! Also in June, I had my bat mitzvah. Yippee! It went well and I surprised myself with how good my voice sounded. Almost as good as Cupcake’s siren singing. To get more personal, I am wearing very comfortable shorts right now. Riveting information, I know. The hairs on the back of your neck must be standing up. If you turn around, Darth Vader may impale you with a lightsaber so I recommend you don’t turn around. I’m joking of course, this is what me procrastinating on going to bed looks like. I’m going to go to bed now so goodnight people of the future. It is wonderful to be back in your presence.
Shoutout to Aunt Flora’s knitting group. Thank you for sticking with us all this time. We love you.
Well, if roadside blueberries weren’t enough excitement, we found some more. This morning we awoke and were sails-up and underway by 6:50am so we could catch extremely favorable wind and tide conditions for the first big jump DownEast toward Roque Island.
About three miles out from Frenchboro we caught a lobster float and line. They stopped us in our tracks and we had a hard time even spotting the line. It was on a toggle below the surface, impossible to see. But it was at just the right depth to catch Cupcake. We cut the line and carried on sailing. But as the wind died a bit I had a feeling all was not well. I started the motor and put the engine in gear just long enough to hear the sickening thump thump of a float and line wrapped around the propellor shaft.
We had a quick discussion and decided the prudent move would be to turn around a head back to harbor to deal with the problem. So we sailed back into the tide and wind (which got very gusty as we approached Frenchboro) and dropped anchor back where we started the day. I’m very proud of the crew for excellent short tacking in challenging conditions (dodging shallows, more lobster floats, and an anchored sailboat that was right in the way).
I made a call to SeaTow (that’s AAA for boats) to find out if they provide diving services. They do not. So that means I need to don my wetsuit and mask and get into the 54 degree water so I can get under the boat with a knife and clear the snarled line and float from the propellor shaft.
My language skills are insufficient to describe how much I do not want to do it. The sky is overcast, the air temperature is cool, the wind is gusty, and my mood is low.
July 20, 2021
Let the summer sailing fun begin!
Today after many trips running up and down the stairs to the beach we got Cupcake loaded for a three week adventure Downeast. Included in the crew for the first time we’ve got our girl Friday along. Friday is a cat. So far she is less of a scaredy cat than we feared.
To get her to the boat, Moss lured Friday into a duffel bag and then we did what felt like an extra-judicial rendition and hustled that duffle bag full of unhappy feline out to the boat. She is snooping about and getting used to life aboard. So far so good.
We sailed then motored to Cliff Island. Still in Casco Bay, but we needed to get a few mechanical issues sorted before heading to our next stop tomorrow. This year began with Cupcake not producing any electrical power when the engine was running. Neither tachometer nor hour meter was working. Clues.
Turns out it’s the alternator that provides the data to the instrument panel about RPM and hours, and of course it’s the alternator that produces the electricity when the engine is running. I wasn’t too worked up about the problem because we’ve got all that solar panel action. Also I had other things to worry about these past few weeks.
So I finally did a bit of Googling yesterday, dug out the spare alternator this morning, and installed that self-same alternator this afternoon. Now the engine puts out all the electricity a kid could want. Problem solved.
Our other girl Mr. Flowerpot got a big power upgrade of her own this summer. We finally got our hands on the outboard of Moss’ dreams: a Yamaha 15 horsepower, short shaft, two stroke. Found it on Craigslist and bought it from a woman who has retired from cruising. She and her husband cruised the Caribbean and South America for 18 years. He got sick and they moved back ashore. A year ago he died, so his wife is selling off cruising gear she no longer needs. She seemed pleased to know the outboard will go on to have more adventures with a sailing family.
The only real issue with the engine is that it is a non-US market model so finding which parts fit can be tricky. But the thing is so well built and has been so well maintained I’m not too concerned about reliability. Anyway I’ve got a nice collection of spare parts for it squirreled away just in case.
The Yamaha’s first adventure was a bust when it wouldn’t spit out any cooling water two weeks ago. I took it apart, cleaned out all its water passages, checked the oil in the gearbox, put in fresh spark plugs (it has two), and now it works a treat. It easily gets Mr. Flowerpot up on plane with a full complement of people and gear aboard. We are looking forward to plenty of dinghy exploration.
So now we are anchored for our first night. For those keeping track: 100’ of chain in water that’s 8’ deep at low tide (an hour ago) and 18’ deep at high (in about five hours). Ellen and Moss are binge-watching some TV show. A thunderstorm is rumbling nearby, it’s raining but the anchorage here at Cliff Island is calm and protected and lovely.
July 21, 2021
There wasn’t much cell reception at Cliff Island last night, so I didn’t get a chance to upload yesterday’s text. After enjoying the thunderstorm, we took the dinghy ashore and went for a nice walk on the dirt roads (muddy roads) of the island. Saw a kid riding a tandem bicycle with no co-pilot, saw a bunch of goats standing around, saw the rustiest truck I’ve ever laid eyes on.
Today we left pretty early hoping to cover some ground and get a jump on the many miles we need to cover. The weather was foggy this morning and there was absolutely no wind. So we made our way across Casco Bay, past Seguin Island and its iconic lighthouse, past Boothbay Harbor, and on across Muscongus Bay. The goal is to get to Roque Island before the weekend so we can take our time exploring on our way home. In twenty years of sailing the Maine coast we’ve never made it to Roque. So stay tuned.
Today we saw two pods of porpoises, a puffin, and an Ocean Sunfish (mola mola…look it up, they are crazy looking creatures). Now we are poaching a mooring in George’s Harbor between Allen Island and Benner Island.
In 1605 George Weymouth, an English explorer, anchored in this same harbor (“harbour" to him) and erected a cross on one of the islands as a sign to future Europeans. Unlike Weymouth and his ilk, we will not be doing any pillaging or exploiting.
On the way here, a mysterious clunking got more persistent when we were using the autopilot. Investigation revealed that the autopilot ram mount had come free of its connection to the quadrant. A little work with a socket wrench and some Locktite cured what could have been a more serious problem. A pessimist would say everything breaks on a boat (a realist would probably say the same thing). But an optimist would say we’ve fixed all the malfunctions swiftly and easily.
Now we are relaxing and enjoying the lovely spot. We’ll probably launch Mr. Flowerpot in a while and go have a look around.
July 22, 2021
Today was a busy day with lots of parts. After a quiet, calm night, we set off from Allen Island bright and early. Ellen enjoyed an easy start because all she had to do was drop the mooring line instead of haul up 100’ of muddy chain and anchor.
As soon as we poked our nose out of the cozy harbor we realized a reef or two should have been put in the mainsail before we left the mooring. So we rounded up in to the blustery wind and double-reefed the main. Then off we roared across Penobscot Bay.
The day started with low, unpleasant-looking grey clouds and ample wind. Cupcake acquitted herself well, as always in a bigger breeze, and we made good time. Oh my goodness are there lots of lobster floats in this part of the world. We are used to them, of course, but there seem to be even more here than at home. And many have toggles, a second float seemingly designed to catch sailboat rudders. We snagged a few but they all slipped off before we had to take measures. Eternal vigilance is the price we pay for sailing.
The tide was ripping out of east Penobscot Bay so we motorsailed our way close-hauled up the east side of Vinalhaven towards Stonington where we stopped at Billings Diesel to fuel up. We took a whole 7.5 gallons of fuel.
Billings is a tricky spot at which to dock. The little harbor is shallow and crowded with boats. With a stiff north wind, getting off the dock and turned around to head out was a bit of a white-knuckle affair but Cupcake is a good girl and her crew is top-notch.
We sailed a lovely reach through the Deer Island Thoroughfare and then found glassy water and warm sun for the last eight miles to our anchorage at Swan’s Island. It was a fun, exciting, exhausting 40 mile day. Ellen made bread bowls and we gobbled up the clam chowder therein with gusto.
The cat, it turns out, is not overly burdened with fear (aka common sense) and ventured into the cockpit while we were under sail, heeled over in a good breeze. Things even out because Moss has more than her share of caution and kept a sharp eye on Friday. Friday seems to have acclimated herself very nicely to shipboard life and adds purring and cuddling to the mix. And fur, lots and lots of fur. Everywhere.
We are all taking hot showers tonight!
Super slow internet connection. Pictures will have to wait.
July 23, 2021
Today we stayed at anchor in Buckle Harbor. After waking up at a reasonable hour and eating a leisurely breakfast (small crisis: we brought tea but forgot the tea ball…that sounds mighty privileged) we took Mr. Flowerpot about two miles across the top of Swan’s Island to the ferry dock where we set off in search of adventure.
If adventure is defined by wild raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries then we found it.
If a long long walk to Tims, (The Island Market Supply) the island grocery store where we got ice cream, beef jerky, Doritos, and nail clippers counts as adventure then we definitely found it.
After that excitement we headed back to Cupcake and Friday to watch lovely boats come in to the harbor for the night. There’s a sweet 38’ or so ketch anchored just aft of us, another lovely sloop behind that, a big trawler a bit farther out. And in front of us a neat old cutter sailed by a neat, even older couple dropped anchor for the night. It sounds a little crowded but is really just a chance to see some of the prettiest sailboats gathered for the night in one of the most beautiful spots we’ve ever seen.
Also we saw a bald eagle.
But the neatest thing that happened today is we were treated to Cupcake’s siren song. The wind is probably no more than 5 knots, but it is playing in the rigging and Cupcake is singing a song just on the edge of hearing. It sounds like a benevolent madman playing a pipe organ in the background of a dream. I love this boat.
July 24, 2021
We left lovely Buckle Harbor for the short hop over to the sweet little hamlet of Frenchboro on Long Island. Our thought was that if we staged ourselves here, the big jump to Trafton Island and then Roque Island would be that much easier. So we sailed off anchor and then hoisted the asymmetrical spinnaker to ghost our way around Swan’s Island to Long Island.
Of course, it didn’t work out that way when the wind shifted and the incoming tide conspired to slow our progress. We dodged lobster floats and are now anchored in about 28’ of water between Long Island and Harbor Island. In the past we have paid for a mooring, but because we love anchoring on Cupcake and because the evening weather is predicted to be very settled, we thought we would anchor tonight.
Went for a little walk on the island, checked out the little museum (not the finest we have seen this week), and had some contemplative time on the stony beach a short walk through the woods.
Dinner plans are simple tonight: dinghy to shore and eat hamburgers. Then early to bed because we will be up early to get a good start on the 35 mile day ahead of us. Weather is supposed to be rainy, but wind and tide should be in our favor so off we will go.
The cat has gotten more bold lately and has taken to stalking the deck when we are at anchor.
MOSS BLOG
7 • 23 • 21
I’ve been away from my side of the blog for over two years. I apologize for my mysterious absence. While I was gone, I have been on some exciting adventures. Such as today.
Today we woke up in an idyllic anchorage at Swan’s Island. Don’t worry, we went to sleep here too. After a breakfast of Great Grain cereal, and a few work calls on my dad’s part, we set off to the ferry terminal in Mr. Flowerpot. The ride felt magical as we planed the whole way thanks to our Yamaha 15 2 stroke short shaft (I don’t ca-are, I love it!). Speaking of magic, boy did we have a magical day today! It all started with the wild roadside berries straight out of some sort of cruiser’s fairy tale. We picked lot’s of delicious raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries. At one point I had to double check to be sure I hadn’t been sucked into Blueberries For Sal. After all, I am in Maine. After some crunchy and creamy Dove chocolate ice cream sticks at Tim’s, we traveled back to Cupcake. Shortly before reaching her, we stopped to yuck it up with some friendly cruisers on a beautiful sailboat (picture Hinckley but not). Once on board Cupcake, we lounged about with our girl Friday and watched an entertaining old couple come into the anchorage and anchor. Hours later, after wonderful egg plant parm, we started to hear a mysterious harmonic hum. My dad quickly traced the enchanting sound to the rigging. I always thought fishermen who perished due to sirens stupid and weak but now I get it. The sound is a mouth watering hymn that is pure magic. I don’t have the vocabulary to describe the noise but I’m sure you are imagining something that will suffice. The sound is so mysterious that I feel as if it is not meant for my ears. If you find Cupcake on the rocks someday, I hope you will now understand what led to such mishap. I have not mentioned my mom in this post yet, don’t worry, she is happy and safe on board and loved very much. All is well in Cupcake-Town.
I’ve been away so long I may need to catch you up about my life. Well, as of June I now wear spectacles. They are semi-circular tortoise shell glasses. I look like a nerd but at least I ditched the headgear in 2019. Power to the nerd people! Also in June, I had my bat mitzvah. Yippee! It went well and I surprised myself with how good my voice sounded. Almost as good as Cupcake’s siren singing. To get more personal, I am wearing very comfortable shorts right now. Riveting information, I know. The hairs on the back of your neck must be standing up. If you turn around, Darth Vader may impale you with a lightsaber so I recommend you don’t turn around. I’m joking of course, this is what me procrastinating on going to bed looks like. I’m going to go to bed now so goodnight people of the future. It is wonderful to be back in your presence.
Shoutout to Aunt Flora’s knitting group. Thank you for sticking with us all this time. We love you.
…about sap. It’s really not an issue of collecting enough sap to make syrup. The trees are pumping out more sap than I can process. The issue is boiling the sap. It takes a ton of time and a ton of energy. When it’s cold out I’m happy to boil the sap on the wood stove in the barn. After all, I’m in there anyway, the fire is going.
But as the season turns, running the wood stove hot enough to boil sap in the barn is too warm for me. SO I boil on the turkey fryer and that task consumes a bunch of propane. And time. Lots and lots of time.
On Sunday I was in full pioneer mode. Got up early to split wood, boiled sap at the same time.
So this week Ellen found out it’s not just sugar maples that produce sap that can be boiled down to make syrup. As an experiment I tapped our two Norway maples to see what we would get.
Say it with me: spiles.
Went to the Tru-Value Hardware store in Wiscasset on my way home from court on Monday and picked up three shiny new spiles. (Bonus: I get to say “spiles.”)
Drilled the holes and tapped in the spiles (there it is again). I was astonished at how fast the sap started flowing and how much came out.
We only have two maples on our property (actually I’m not certain one of them is even on our property, but we’ve been working on adversely possessing a vacant abutting lot for years, this act is more grist for that mill). Three taps yielded about a gallon and a half in the first 18 hours. Would have been more but a bucket fell off its hook and another bucket overfilled.
Poor Cupcake is shivering in the background.
The Sugar Shack. No shack, actually.
Last night I took the sap to the sugar shack (ok, just our turkey fryer set up by the barn) and commenced the boil. About two hours later we had about a cup or two of good-looking syrup. When I tasted it I was blown away by how incredibly delicious it tasted.
Then, despite warnings from sap experts I consulted, I boiled it little longer and wound up with caramel-syrup-goo. It also tasted like heaven, but this weekend I will keep a better eye on viscosity and stop when it is still in the syrup stage.
This whole experiment worked out far better than I anticipated. Today we’ve got three buckets collecting sap. Tonight it is supposed to get below freezing again, which I’m told is critical to producing good sap flow the next day. So tomorrow I’ll likely have a couple of gallons of sap to boil down.
Liquid gold.
Although the big excitement of this blog is well past (tropical sailing, hurricanes, sharks, squalls, etc.) nevertheless I figure there may still be one or two readers who maintain a desire to learn how I get my splinters these days. So here is the update on the little projects I’ve been fussing with the past few months.
One of the many winter projects it does not look like I will complete before spring is rebuilding the newel posts in the house. I’ve wanted to construct a hollow mast for a while now but haven’t had a boat that needed one. So I built three test posts to practice for newel posts in the house. Now I have the router, router bits, and outlines of a plan for the final design. But I’m stalled because of dust.
You can see the mousetraps in the background. It’s an ongoing battle with those little vermin. But I think by installing strobe lights in the shop and the attic and the garage, they are being kept out because I have not caught any mice in my traps since installing cheap Amazon strobe lights in those spaces.
Dust. Up until recently I ignored dust in the shop because it’s just sawdust, how bad can it be for me? Turns out, plenty bad. So I picked up a Harbor Freight dust collection machine to suck up the dust from the various saws and drills I use. Of course it’s not enough to just assemble it as I should. I researched online and decided I could make the machine more efficient if I reconfigured it. Reconfiguring it required building a whole structure to hold the bits and pieces in their new layout. That job is almost done. I’ll still need to install it in the shop’s attic and then plumb the ducts all over the place. That should happen this weekend. Then I will be ready to start on the backlog of projects, including the newel posts, a new outdoor shower, repairing the kayaks that were beat up in the storm last fall. And so on.
The thermostat shows why I haven’t been moving forward with shop projects. The space is unheated except for a wood stove. And since it takes a good 45 minutes to bring the temperature of the space up to anything civilized after lighting a fire, it can be tough to motivate myself to get out there in the evening when temperatures are so low. But spring is on the way!
As for Cupcake, we thought the addition of a wood stove/cabin heater would be nice. So I mocked up a cardboard copy of the tiny stove we like. Unfortunately, there’s nowhere we can put it that will give it safe clearances from wooden surfaces. No heater for us.
Finally, I made a clamp storage thingy. Low tech, but don’t those clamps look nice and organized?
Supposed to have 24 inches of clearance between the stove and combustible surfaces. We have less than 10” so it’s sweaters for us.
Here are the girls. We checked out Giant’s Staircase in Harpswell. Lovely spot.
And I made this high-tech, custom holder for my tire pressure gauge. I’m pretty pleased.
After a bit of interest from a number of people who wanted to buy Cupcake we’ve decided a sale is not going to happen. Buyers are, understandably, properly, excited about the boat…she is comfortable, extremely well prepared and equipped, and has an excellent resume. But alas, she is also a mid-1980s production fiberglass boat with a balsa-core deck and as such is subject to the bane of all those boats: delamination, moisture, rot.
So after high hopes that she would sell, a survey yesterday revealed a good deal of the deck is wet. It’s my position that none of the moisture impacts her strength or safety, but there’s no denying that lots of moisture is hiding in the deck.
The buyer, very disappointed, bailed on the deal. I would have done the same.
As it happens, Ellen, Moss, and I are not at all upset. We weren’t convinced we were ready to give her up. It’s out intention now to keep sailing Cupcake for the next few years. Then when time comes to move to the next boat (lately it’s been the Nordic Tug 37 that catches our eye, although Moss would love a Lagoon 38) we will sell Cupcake for whatever we can get. By that point all the new systems she has will be older, she will be pushing 40, and will owe us nothing.
In any event, we are now planning our 2021 sailing season. If we can, we would like to make it to Canada. Then we will have sailed the entire US east coast on this boat. Hooray!
Meanwhile, I finally finished pimping out the oars for Moss’ boat Moon Cracker. Feast your eyes.
After much longer than expected, Skimmer is restored and back home with Jim and Sherry. Like so much else this year, our restoration was impacted by the pandemic. What was supposed to be a weekend project where we all got together to work on the boat became much more challenging. But Skimmer is complete and looks fabulous. She’s ready for many more years on the water and I know her crew is looking forward to seeing how she performs at the 2021 Cupcake Cup.
Shiny new brass on the skeg.
Fresh paint, fresh varnish.
All the thwarts are new. The rail is new. The gunwale guard is new.
Resplendent with her shiny brightwork and fresh coat of Bikini Blue inside. Skimmer will be the loveliest belle at the dinghy dock.
Next up I’ve got some (more) varnishing to do, some kayak repair (the kayaks got battered by a late fall storm), and some home-improvement work.
This week I’m working on getting seven coats of varnish on Skimmer’s transom, mast step, and new rails. In the meantime, I am also wrapping up the refresh on Moon Cracker. But because her oars will look shabby next to her new coat of paint, I’m tarting them up as well. They are the bargain-basement “lobsterman’s oars” I picked up at Hamilton Marine probably a decade ago and I figured it’s time to give them a better, thinner blade shape and more comfortable handles. It’s really satisfying work.
