Re-Rover

When I arrived at the boat back in January, I had a list of tasks I needed to accomplish and more that were discovered once on board.  At this point all of them have been accomplished and the boat is once again in good cruising condition. One of the things that I didn't expect but found when I got to the boat was the extreme fading of the vinyl boat name graphic.  After only four years, the name was nearly unreadable.

How the boat name looked when I arrived.

The interesting thing is that, while the name was almost completely faded, the hailing port lettering still looked fine.  When I ordered the lettering, I had them add a UV protective film to the lettering and my first thought was that maybe they applied the UV film to the hailing port letters but forgot to apply it to the boat name.  That would certainly account for the vast difference in the fading.

I decided to contact the supplier of the vinyl lettering and ask them if this could have been the case.  When they responded, they explained to me that, since my boat name lettering had a drop shadow of a different color, it was made differently than the single color hailing port lettering.  The former is created by printing the colors onto a white vinyl substrate while the latter is made from a solid color vinyl. The printed vinyl seems to only have a 3 to 5 year lifespan in outdoor applications (even when the UV protection is applied) while the solid color vinyl can last much longer. So, if you are ever in the need of vinyl lettering for long-term outdoor use, this is something to keep in mind...less you experience the same result as I did.

As an effort to make up for the confusion and my disappointment in the name lettering, they offered to send replacement lettering to me for half-off their normal price.  When I told them that I didn't want a repeat experience, they said they could send me letters made from the solid color vinyl in both the primary and drop shadow colors. That way I could apply the drop shadow color letters and then apply the main color letters at an offset to get the same effect.  For an additional fee they offered to align the two sets of letters onto a single application sheet to ease the complexity of the installation.  Since the boat needs a readable name to be a legally documented US vessel, I decided to go ahead and order the two sets of lettering in hopes that their explanation was correct and the new lettering will last.  I did not have them do the alignment.

It only took a few days for the letters to arrive.  While waiting, I removed the faded vinyl lettering using a plastic scraper and heat gun and then cleaned up the glue residue with Goo Gone and denatured alcohol. I made sure to protect the hailing port lettering as I didn't want to cause any problems with it.

In order to get the alignment correct on the boat, I started by attempting to align the two sheets of lettering, using a flashlight to shine through the lettering and backing paper and used a ruler to measure the offset for the drop shadow.  Once I got the alignment the way I wanted it, I used painters tape to hold the two sheets together. Then I used a variation of a sewing trick I learned and cut two V shaped indexing notches at the upper edge of the application sheets making sure the V was cut into both sheets but did not cut into the actual vinyl letters.  By doing this, any time the two V's in the two sheets were aligned the letters would be properly aligned. At this point I could remove the painters tape knowing that I can easily realign the sheets of letters.

From there, I took the yellow letters out and taped them up to the boat, positioning as needed to center over the hailing port sticker while allowing for the slight shift to the lower right for the drop shadow effect.  When I had the letters where I wanted them, I applied two small pieces of tape to the boat directly under the location of the V notches and traced the V into the tape. I then ran a strip of tape along the upper edge of the sheet of letters and applied them to the boat just as I did the last time.  Once I smoothed out the letters as best I could, I removed the application sheet and the large strip of tape so only the yellow letters and the two marked V's remained. I then retrieved the set of blue letters, lined up the V notch with the ones traced onto the tape, and applied the blue letters over the yellow ones. Again I smoothed out the lettering with a squeegee and removed the application sheet and all the tape.

The new lettering, using the two solid color sets of letters.

For reference: Here is what the original looked
like the day it was applied 4 years ago

The end result I think looks just as good as the original did when it was new.  You can see the slight outline of the yellow letters underneath the blue ones, but you have to be very close to even notice.  So, Rover once again has a shiny new name, hopefully this time the lettering will last.

Renaming Ceremony Video

I've mentioned several times in the past that I've met some pretty cool people since I've started living aboard. I've also met some pretty cool people as part of this blog.  Britton and Dieter from Diving Into Cruising fit both of those categories.  In addition to their talents as scuba dive masters and at restoring their Newport 40 Ketch, they seem to be very good at taking, editing, and producing videos.

Back when we did our renaming ceremony for Rover, they shot some video of the occasion and yesterday sent me the completed video.  I think they did an awesome job (especially given the subjects), going well above and beyond anything I could have imagined.

So, here is the video of the renaming ceremony courtesy of my friends at Diving Into Cruising...



As you can see, lots of champagne was offered to the gods of the seas and the winds to help ensure Rover is safe within their realm.

While some may question the effectiveness of our ceremony given the engine trouble we had a few days later, the fact that it was all resolved with a $40 part and some new engine coolant (instead of a new engine) tells me we must have done something right.

Renaming Our Leopard

I'm still catching up on the posts...but at least heading in the right direction now.

While my wife and I were both together on the boat, it seemed like the best time to perform the renaming ceremony.  For anyone that isn't familiar with all the superstition surrounding sailing vessels and the high seas, there is a lot of it. And naming, or renaming, a vessel is one of those items steeped in tradition and lore.  Since we had already submitted the paperwork to the Coast Guard to change the name (which I hear might be processed in a few more months), it was about time to make the name change happen.

The basic concept is that you need to appease the gods of the seas and wind (Poseidon/Neptune, Boreas,  Zephyrus, Eurus, Notus) and it seems, just like with many a sailor, drink is the appeasement of choice for the sailing gods.  So the ceremony consists of asking the gods to be good to the boat while pouring copious amounts of champagne or wine into the water or flinging it through the air.  There are some other "options" and variations on the theme, but they all seem to have that in common.  I do wonder why it is not rum...but then I don't really want to waste perfectly good rum do I?

Here is a write-up on the ceremony we used:
http://www.boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/rename.htm

To get the old name off of the boat was easier than I thought it would be.  I ended up using a plastic scraper and my newly acquired heat gun (if you own a boat and intend to do any work on hoses, you'll need one of these) to remove the old lettering.  A little heat loosened the glue and the letters peeled off fairly easily.  A little goo gone took care of what little residual glue remained.

Farewell Breathe

After the letters were removed we could see both the old name (Breathe), and the prior name (Magnificat) in the gel coat. There was some discoloration and the gel coat, of course, does not wear under the vinyl letters so they are raised a bit.  I used some rubbing/polishing compound to try and smooth it out before adding the new letters.

Applying the letters is pretty straight forward.  We got the lettering from Lettering On the Cheap (which may be a bit of a misnomer but weren't bad, had easy to use online design tools, and delivered pretty quickly). The letters come attached to a big clear temporary sticker used for positioning.  Following the online video instructions on their site, we were able to get the new lettering applied to the boat a few hours before the ceremony was supposed to start.  Of course, we had to immediately cover up the new lettering so as not to offend the gods until the ceremony was complete.

Our first attempt at the ceremony was postponed due to the cold and rain (so much for "Sunny Florida" during "the dry season") but several guests showed up anyway so we ended up having an impromptu party...or maybe it was the pre-naming celebration.

The next day the rains held off so we were able to complete the ceremony.  Unfortunately we didn't have quite as many people show up as the previous day, but it was a fun time anyway.  We asked begged the gods to be kind to our fine vessel and poured and flung champagne (keeping the corks from the naming ceremony on board to ensure the boat stays afloat is apparently another tradition), then finally removed the covering from the new lettering.

Hello Rover

So, it is now official, we have a cat named Rover. If you want to know more about how we came upon this name, check out this post.  Now a few random pictures from the ceremony and party (sorry...my wife won't let me post any including her yet).

Opening one of the sacrificial bottles of champagne.

A few friends waiting on the dock while we did the ceremony.

Champagne, wine, beer...something will appease the gods, right?

Hopefully the first of many gatherings of friends on Rover.

A special thanks to Britton and Dieter for providing some of the pictures...and for reaching out when they noticed I was in their area.  The cruising community is very cool because of people like them (and most every cruiser or wannabe cruiser I've had the fortune of meeting thus far has been very cool).

What's in a Name

I haven't really mentioned this yet, but we have decided to rename our Leopard 38.  The previous owner had named it Breathe.

He was a doctor, so I'm not sure if there is a correlation there, if it was just a reminder that we all need to stop and take a breath from time to time, or what the story behind the name was.  Since we never actually met the prior owner (unfortunately timing and schedules just never seemed to work out so I only know his broker), we may never know.  All I can tell you is that it didn't really hold any special meaning for us, and we feel it needs to change to better reflect us.

I know a lot of people have blogs named after their boats...or is it boats named after their blogs.  While I like the name of my blog because it did speak to our intentions, I just don't think it makes for a good boat name. So what to name our boat.

Lots of people with catamarans give their boats "cat" names.  The other Leopard we looked at was Catzpaw.  I know of a Lagoon in St Pete named Meow.  Catatonic, Catatude, Catalyst, Aristicat, Magnificat, ...you get the idea.  We really didn't want to go that route.

We also needed a name that would pass the "mayday" test.  In other words, it needs to be a name that you can see using if you ever need to make that mayday call.  While Breaking Wind might be funny, how does "Mayday Mayday Mayday, we are Breaking Wind two miles off the coast of...." work for you?

Since we are more dog people than cat people (we have two that will be joining us aboard), we thought a more dog based name might work.  Dog Sled (a catamaran kinda looks sled-like, right) or Dogonit, Dingo, Fido (or to be confusing, spell it Phideaux) or Woof. We bounced around a lot of names, but in the end, it was actually Pete's suggestion that won out.

Our boat will be named...

Rover

It seems to work on several levels.  It is simple to say and easy to spell. It conveys the more nomadic life we seek. It pays homage to our furry companions that have enriched our lives.  And when I first told my wife we could have "a cat named Rover" it made her laugh.  Good enough reasons for me.

Now I guess I need to come up with a design...or at least a good font...for the decal. Have I mentioned that I'm an engineer...not really an artist...so this might be interesting. And then there is the whole boat renaming ceremony.  And I guess I need to go look how the current name is affixed so I can figure out how to remove it. Hmm...this might become a bigger job than I thought.