The work goes on...

We are getting into the real heat of Mexico summer. The First Mate took my photo as I was leaving for the Green Flash... here's the summer fashion for this morning: cut off sweat pants, tank top, cheap but sturdy sandals, iPod, kerchief headband to keep the sweat out of eyes, super-dark sunglasses (prescription). What you can't see is the sheen of spray-on sunblock by Banana Boat (great idea), but you can see the sheen of sweat already starting at 6 am.

The sun comes up early here- we're on the eastern edge of the combined Mountain/Pacific daylight savings time.

Over the past couple of days, I've been putting up more vertical supports and using them to haul the cut-up deck sections off the FLASH using block and tackle systems. I also built a frame for the front gate to the area.
Later today I'll haul up four deep cycle 6 volt batteries and build a battery bank in the bathtub. I'll rig the wind generator to this bank and run a 2000 watt inverter to power my electrical tools and lights if I should need them. I also have an Onan 4kw generator and a Honda 2000, but if I can work without the noise and the cost of gasoline, I'm happier... plus I can hook up my stereo and listen to my favorite music if I want. Hmmm. Maybe it's time to get the 12 volt fridge fixed?

Yet another "Before" picture of the GREEN FLASH. The bathtub circled in red.

1st Mate's BD

Today is the First Mate's birthday... so if you have her address, send her a comment, a greeting, a card, some cash, etc. We're going to take Chica for a walk and get strong coffee beverages. More later.

An email from a legend.

Today, as I was surfing the net, I came across a quote in google that "Nelson/Merek did NOT design this vessel..."

I had seen this come up in a forum before, and hoped to get to the bottom of it. So, I found Charley Morgan's email address in Florida and posed the question. Here's the copy of the email & reply a couple of hours later:

From: Jim Cochran [mailto:mxsailor@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 12:17 PM
To: Charley@charleymorgan.com
Subject: The 43 CC mid to late 80s

Dear Charley,

The 43 CC mid to late 80s
I am restoring one of these boats.
There is much discussion about who designed this boat. Could you clear
up this issue?

Thanks,
Jim Cochran

proud owner
33 O/I 1973
43 CC 1987
San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico

From: charley@charleymorgan.com
Subject: RE: The 43 CC mid to late 80s
Date: July 8, 2008 11:51:10 AM GMT-07:00
To: mxsailor@gmail.com
Reply-To: charley@charleymorgan.com

Jim,

The model is not my design.

It has always been my understanding that the design was by Nelson & Merrick, but since I was long since retired from the scene, I cannot be certain. Nelson & Merrick was a top-flight design firm.

From first hand accounts by those who delivered some of this model to the charter fleets, they were fast, seaworthy and well behaved. I believe that Catalina made a variant or two from the basic design.

Hope this is some help to you. Cheers and smooth sailing ~ Charley Morgan


Charles E.(Charley) Morgan

And although I didn't get an absolute answer, I feel like I'm closer to the truth than the guy who keeps saying this boat wasn't... etc. BTW, this person never does reveal WHO he thinks did the design. I know that the same hull was used for the Morgan 44, and that N/M did design the Catalina 42 (Catalina had just bought Morgan Yachts around the mid-80s), of which there are over 1,000 hulls. I wonder if N/M will answer this question? Check back.

From the desk of Bruce Roberts

Bruce Roberts is a yacht designer who has the same vision as I. He likes big, fast, roomy yachts. Although I hadn't spent a lot of time familiarizing myself with his work, I found that a quick jaunt to Bruce Robert's website provided a number of drawings and photos of features that I like for the FLASH.

The "poop stern" offers volume and easy passageways below. I also want a deck saloon. The FLASH version of this design would offer a sugar scoop transom and a hydraulic swim platform/dinghy storage (more about this later).
One design element I really like is the small twin chair/table setting in the deck saloon...


Here is an unfinished hull/cabin done in aluminum. It's his "DS 495" and what I was looking for in a design for the FLASH. I'm willing to give up the wraparound windows (note to Rob) because this look works so well.


Starting to get excited about this again. OooooWeeeee.

Saloons, boats and bars

The deck saloon design is the one I'm favoring right now. Wraparound, reinforced, tinted windows. This design suggests the raising of the stern quarters to add volume below and easy passage from the saloon to the masters cabin astern.
By the way, some people may chuckle at my use of the word saloon. The truth is back a couple of centuries ago, a bar owner in Colorado (I believe) decided to furnish his bar like the interior of a yacht to attract high class customers. He borrowed the word saloon- the main cabin and social gathering place on a yacht- and soon, many tavern owners followed his example.

It can't be tarps...

Spent a morning hoisting up a tarp over my work area just before I left for Errorzona. This is what it looked like.

Now it's lying on the ground, shredded along the edge where I had tied it with cordage. Tarps just won't do it. If I'm going to have shade, it will be more than a tarp. I'm thinking of beefing up the vertical 2x4s and adding cross members for wood or metal roofing.

There was a big blow here with rain, so now the boat needs pumping out... but not today.

We drove back last night and it seemed to take forever. There's road construction all the way up and back... they divert traffic from four lanes onto one each way and prohibit passing- for 300 miles! You can't go faster than the slowest vehicle in front of you... so the trip took seven hours instead of the usual four-and-a -half. I need a siesta.

I'll go out to the Flash tomorrow and restart the work. It'll be cooler, now that the monsoons are here.

I wanna go home...

Today is my second day in the US. We drove up yesterday from San Carlos in order to appear at the muni court in Sahuarita, Arizona over a ticket for expired license plates. In Arizona, if your auto insurance isn't renewed, they suspend your registration and hand out tickets. Then they tell you they want you to commit to a 3 year car insurance policy... all for a car that may spend a total of one month in Arizona over the 3 year period. Arrrg..
We got it sorted out when we showed up and paid a fine of $143, got the state of AZ to accept our Mexican car insurance as proof of financial responsibility, re-registered the car, jumped through several hoops, and groveled at the feet of Authority.
I want to reduce my trips to the US. I'm going to start planning the "Stuff in America Reduction Act."
The US is a nice place if you have to have everything really organized and you want your life structured and predictable, and it's OK to have everyone have a say in about how you conduct your life... then the US is a good place to be. But I wanna' go home to Mexico.
I think I would like to go to Turkey some day. I read the Ferroever blog and I've met other people who loved Turkey. Folks who have done circumnavigations in small yachts.
Sounds like a cool place. I might make it if I don't get too many more tickets in the US.