Spending time on the water

Arpex on the mooring

Arpex is still resting at its mooring, while I work on the repair of the rudder. Which is almost finished. The damaged part has been replaced, glassed and faired. And now it has been primed. All it needs, is to be painted with antifouling. 

Red or blue?

Mrs. Arpex enjoying carnaval. 

É Carnaval!!!

Carnival season is back again! Adri and I started early, on thursdays "Sarongue Ball". It was a lovely party, with everybody using creative phantasies. Hope I can manage to find a few idle timeslots to finish my rudder,... :-)

Beamed

The beam has been cut to fit, and mounted. I think it works quite fine. Despite some adjustments that are still necessary, I will first go sailing with it like it is, to see what I should do. 

Rudder coating

Today, Sunday, I gave the rudder the second half of glass and epoxi coating. I am quite happy with the clean result of the lamination. Hopefully I can manage to sand, and fair it. the prime and paint in good time to sail on carnaval!

Regular bottom maintenance

Getting work done

The current focus is on finishing the repair on the rudder, and in paralel, attack long heged project like the forward beam. Roger came to help, and we laminated one half of the rudder. 

Rudder Job

Work on the rudder has begun. Roger is supporting, and thus we have quickly sanded it all down. Now the rudderblade will be sealed in glassfiber. 

I also madd a funny test of hoisting an old kite. I playing with the idea to rig it one day. Just for fun. 

I aldo managed to glue an aluminum sheet to the keel of my dinghy. To reduce abrasion when pulling it on the beach. 

Rudder Split

My brother in law, Mauricio, helped me to remove the rudder blade safely from Arpex. I am now looking at the possibilities for repair. It will involve grinding, sanding, lots of epoxi and glass fiber. 

Maintenance Day - News from the Rudder

Yesterday, was a maintenance, organisation and cleaning day. I worked the deck and cabin, while Rodrigo scrapped the bottom. 

Unfortunatly, he brought bad news from the bottom. The rudder blade opened up its trailing edge. I grabbed flippers and mask, and confirmed the problem. 

The rudder will need to be removed for repair. Removing it will not be a big problem. I can easily do it in shallow water. The boat will wait patiently at its mooring, for the rudder to come back. 

I also made an assessment of my spares. I think I will try yo find someone who can actually use them. 

Night visit to Arpex

I definitely need to do this more often. A visit to Atpex at the end of the day. Nothing better to leave the pressure from the office. 

Yesterday I had the bonus of meeting my mate and neighbour Pascoal, for a great chat.  

Lovely images of a sailing outrigger

Arpex View

Barbecue on SantoAntonio

Yesterday Arpex got a really nice scrub, inside and out. it was a job really well done. And to top it off, we had a really nice dancing barbecue party afterwards. 

Minna sailing

Regatta Circuit

I have been invited to crew my sisters 40 footer on the yearly regata circuit "Circuito Rio". It is a four day regata series. First day I had to miss but yesterday I was in. We all got thorougly wet in the cold and rainy weather. But we had fun anyway. 

Afternoon at Urca