Westsail rendezvous in Cocoa, Florida

I got to see my first manatee! There are lots of birds and flora that I am not familiar with too. Quite a treat. I pieced together a video of my visit below.

The first couple of minutes are just shots I made of the 7 other westsails that were at the marina. The last 8 minutes are video clips of a sail we took on Werner's beautiful Westsail 32. Enjoy

Meet Bud Taplin

Well I finally got to meet the grandfather of Westsail boats, Bud Taplin. He is somewhat of an icon because despite the fact that Westsails have been out of production for 30 odd years, you can still buy any parts for them through Bud and his www.westsailparts.com website.

He is in his 80's and is spry as all get out. He was a supervisor at the original factory that built the boats and when it closed down he carried the spare parts business on. I met him at the Florida Westsail Rendezvous here in Cocoa and got to meet 30 other westsail owners, and viewed 7 other boats. I even went for a sail on this BEAUTIFUL boat named Rhapsody.

It was so clean, polished and better than 40 years ago when it left the factory. Thanks Werner!
One of the highlights of the weekend was a slide show by Jim And Jeanne Kenaston on their Westsail "On Sabbatical" that they went around the world on in 1980. Gripping story and Jeanne has a crystal clear memory of the trip.

What worked and what didn't

Well after nearly 3 months absence from the boat, I got to see some of the results of my labor.

What worked

Getting rid of leaks. This was a biggie. Last time I was at the boat, I fixed a blocked scupper in the cockpit and as a result I had about 30 buckets of water to clear out of the bilge. This time I had virtually nothing there. That doesn't mean to say that I am finished in this department.

Solar fan. When I opened the boat up, there was no smell. Unbelievable! So I will be getting more of these fans. I was tossing up whether or not to get some dorade vents or solar fans, but I am tending towards the solar fans.

New upholstery fabric covers for cushions. These came out looking really good. I was not sure whether or not the fabric I picked out would be any good or not but as it turned out they look super. Thanks Dorothy.

Led light stick. Really strong light and just a few dollars. I have played around with different forms of lighting and really like these light sticks. They have a strong magnet on one end so they will stick to anything metallic. Here am I replacing my bilge pump with one of those light sticks stuck to the fuel tank.

What didn't work

Coating on bowsprit. I am going to have to do some serious work on my new bowsprit next time I come to the boat. It looks terrible.

Glass for oil lamp. I looked around for a glass chimney for the oil lamp above the stove and ordered the smallest one I could find. It is still too big. Back to the drawing board. It fits upside down!

Port hole covers - did someone say termites? I tried a short term fix for the keeping the port holes dry with plastic and zip ties. Only half of them stayed on.

Unfortunately I found evidence of insect activity on the microwave that sits under a porthole. The wood is damp and this could indicate that I have a serious problem developing. I need to raise this issue to the top of my to do list.

One small project that I managed to complete while I was at the boat was replacing the Whale gusher bilge pump in the cockpit.

I had messed around with the old one and finally decided I would just replace the whole jolly lot.

I am not sure what this piece of paper is but I think they are called directions.

You have to act like Houdini in the enclosed space next to the engine. I am glad I am small.

While I was there, I exercised the 40 year old sea cocks.

This one has seen better days. I really need to look around for a replacement.

One wooden object on the boat, still baffles me. I still have yet to work out what it is for. There are 2 of them either side of the boom crutch.

Goodbye Onapua. See you in another couple of months.