The move to Myrtle beach turned out very well. Weather was perfect. Mary Lee ran like a sewing machine. Engine does not use oil or lose any fluids. I am over propped so it took longer than anticipated. But I am not complaining.

I had quite a few things to try finishing before the trip. Namely a dinghy.

First I cut 2 inch long blocks for gun'ls

Glue in place.

It took 22 clamps on each side.

I had seen pictures of this on other boats. The spacers were put inside.  The plans for this dinghy had no spacers. They nailed firehose to gun'ls. I decided to put spacers on outside so hose could be tied to gun'ls.

First I cut gun'ls. Then routered the corners off. This will make more sense shortly.

The gun'ls also get a piece of wood on the inside. Everything is glued and screwed. All holes are pre-drilled. I do not want any wood splitting halfway done. It would require pulling everything off and starting over.

Starting to get somewhere. Funny thought.... I have never built a dinghy. Never met anyone who had before I started. The only person I have found who did. Build one like this about 20 years ago. I converted mine over to stitch and glue construction so I actually found nobody to ask any questions. Had I grown up on the water...I would have built a dinghy as a kid. It just surprised me to find myself being the only one I knew building one. :-)

Almost done with first side. It took a little though, but is going smoothly.

Definitely have the hang of it now. Side two is a breeze.

Just have ends to finish.

A little more epoxy. This time mixed with micro-spheres. Makes it easier to sand out.

Much sanding to fare it all out.

Not done fastening the ends of gun'ls. Still have knees to put in.

However. Tonight she gets the bottom paint.

First coat went on very well.

Took tape off after second coat. I have one day left. I am hoping knees go in easily tomorrow.
Top will be white.

Moved Mary Lee over to fuel and left her on the inside. wind has been pushing her up against the dock for days. I thought it might be easier to pull out by myself if I didn't have to fight my way off the dock. Have watched some boaters really struggle with this here. Between fairly strong current and wind it is problematic.

Home for a night.

So back to the dinghy. Rode bike over. Decided there was no sense doing any paint on topsides without installing knees. Looked over woodpile. Decided to ride down to Lowes hardware and get 2x6 and 1x8 for knees and seats.

I rode down to Lowes. Back to Mary Beth's. In the meantime I had to ride over to marina. I had actually intended to leave this morning (Wednesday) but really was trying to finish dinghy. I was up and gone before marina opened so needed to pay for another day when they opened.

So the first knee went in. Talk about a lot of angles on one little block of wood. I marked the wood. cut it out with jigsaw. Then took as long as necessary to sand the different angles until I had a fairly tight fit. The drilled holes and screwed. I then sanded edges off smooth. They all get epoxy with final fit but for now... I just need them in place.

it was kind of a bear. I am learning all the time. I know some things you do not do when building a dinghy.

Finally!!!! All is epoxied and screwed into place. Cannot paint on top of wet epoxy. It took most of 6 hours to finish this little chore. Add on the time spent moving Mary lee and riding all over on bike. I ended up with no time to do seats and paint. I need to clean up my mess and get back to Mary Lee so I can get ready for tomorrow.

I am two days before it is finished. I need to put in seats. install oar locks and block to hold bottom of mast. Lets not forget false floor. Hilti makes a low expansion closed cell foam. I will fill gaps under false floor with that. May also use some under seats on either end.
Then a little sanding before white paint. Topcoat takes 24 hours to cure before using. That will be fine. The dinghy will make the trip to Myrtle beach in a pickup.

Will I build another dinghy??? You bet. I somehow doubt if I will do as much changing of the plans as I did on this one. I think the nester is next. I have those plans.

Will miss my little supervisor on next build. Bailey got a haircut. I still cannot get over the change in appearance.

Cannot find the picture I want. But believe me. Bailey is unrecognizable from hair grown out to haircut.

Of course... The parking lot was full of admiring fans in the morning :-)
But Mary Beth did stop by with an egg McMuffin, coffee and hash browns for me. That was reason to be in the parking lot anyways. Mary Beth is a good friend. We will always be friends I think.

Mary Lee in center of picture. I have a few things to do before pulling out.

And I am going. 8:00 as I go by the dock masters tent. I am happy and thoughtful. Lots of good things happened here in Oak Island. Lots of good things on the horizon.

It is a beautiful day for traveling. I wonder how long this boat has been sunk?

There is always a lighthouse.

A swing bridge or in this case....three.

What a nice place to put up a tent. I guess that is what the pvc poles are for. Of course you must have a bridge.

Lots of bridges.

Getting closer now.

Vivian on last swing bridge. Couple miles left.

Finally. Vivian took this as I approached the last swing bridge.

And onwards.

As I approach fuel Island at osprey Marina.

Tied up to fuel dock for the night when arrived. Marina said it was fine to wait until they came in at 7:00 am to help me put it is slip. Vivian had a group of well wishers with boats there to greet me but I was fine with docking Mary Lee there for the night. Here she is in her quiet new temporary spot. No current and blocked from heavy breezes here. I am going to put in air conditioning. I will be getting ready to go to work and I hear august is the hot month here.

After watching how the locals run their powerboats in the channel here. I have decided that the dinghy is not the answer for playing around exploring the area. I am thinking of a 14 foot runabout just to go fishing and playing with. I have one in mind.

But this blog is long. I will save that for the next one.

One last picture. I went to a Pelicans (local pro baseball team) game with Vivian and two of her neighbors. It was entertaining. The game, Vivian, Debbie and Pat.

Vivian took the picture. Can you see how many people photo-bombed??? I see four, maybe five.

Where to even begin!!
I am well over 3 months off pain meds now. Hurray!! Was not easy. Most folks think it impossible to get off the meds by yourself. Nope!! It can be done. At this time the "buzzy" feeling I would get from time to time that I associated with meds working out of my system has tapered off. Little bit on rare occasions but my head has cleared up.

I have to learn to be more careful now. I have no recourse when I do something wrong and hurt myself. If it takes days to recover I am very limited until I can. So what??? I am not on pain meds anymore, unless you count Tylenol and aleve. They don't do much for me but they are all I have and I want nothing stronger.

Besides that....what have I been up to? Quite a bit actually. Big changes coming again.

You know how you can never quite tell what is happening until it gets here?

Something starts...then you watch it change right before your eyes?

Sometimes it does not seem to work the way you had thought it would. Sometimes it is better than you could have imagined. (sorry pic is blurry, phone pics are a little tricky at times but phone is always handy)

So I will get to all the changes in a moment. First I have to work my way through some earlier stuff.

Dinghy work has been slow for several reasons. I hurt myself a few times and instead of just taking it easy, I tried to force my way through it. Ended up more run down and finally when I could accomplish no more, I had to just stop until I felt good enough to continue. When this happens, I usually feel poorly enough I do not eat well or even just take very good care of myself in general. I am trying to be a little more careful.

One small project was port covers for dockside. I suppose curtains are the norm here but I had the wood and tools. Very little effort went into these. Took a couple hours to build.

Threw together a screen for forward hatch. Will be replacing hatch later but for now I need to keep the bugs out

I wanted something solid to tie things to on basket. Also keeps some water from splashing up

Did eventually get shower sump pump put back together. Put one way valve in hose from cooler and ran it into sump. It was hanging in bilge. Don't really want bilge smells in cooler.

Met Vivian over 5 months ago now. She is gonna die when she sees I posted this picture. Out of the two pictures taken the first one made me look like a dork. My blog... :-)

So to be fair, I will add a selfy she took and sent.

Anyone taking selfies knows how difficult that is to get your best shot. I will get to some of my prize winning shots in a minute.
Vivian works at Coastal Carolina university in the institutional research department. She has her teaching credentials and teaches on occasion. Pretty busy gal. But all introductory blah, blah, blah aside. She is the first woman I have ever been with that somehow I feel like I have always known her. Those of you who know my personal history know I do not commit easily. I cared for everyone I ever spent much time with, but I have always looked for something in a partner that I knew would only present itself when I found it. Compatibility numbers are high here.
Of course it is under 6 months since we met so it is possible for things to change. But at this point.... nothing has come up. All is well. Vivian also wants to travel with me on Mary Lee. Really!!!

At this point we are working towards that goal.

Speaking of working. At the beginning of July. I got a letter from social security saying it had been a while since I had my case reviewed. Everyone on disability knows this is a regular thing. I decided to go a step further. I could have went  to a doctor and got my letter signed. I decided to try going back to work. Social security has a program called Ticket to work. I am doing it through South Carolina's, vocational rehabilitation office. I am in remedial testing right now to see where my math and reading skills are. I see an orthopedic surgeon at the end of the month to be evaluated for what I am capable of doing. If he says I cannot work yet.... well. What does he know??? I am going back to work anyway.
I know they are sending me to the Doctor because they are concerned about getting me into a job I will not re-injure myself with. Me too.
So then the next stop will be a facility in Columbia, SC. at which I will stay for a month while they do an in depth study of what I am physically capable of and teach me more pain management skills. Once through that, I qualify for every resource vocational rehab has available. How do I pass that up??

So back to the dinghy...

I added the bilge battens. That really stiffened the bottom. Have been fairing out the edges for the fiberglass I will be laying in.

Seat risers are in. Have gun'ls , seats and just a few things to finish fiberglassing before ready to paint.
So.... why has this taken so long?? I mean besides the obvious pain induced breaks?

One of the 454's in a trawler at the marina.

I assisted with the teardown.

Sitting around taking selfies.

Spending time with Vivian.

Got Mary Beth's lawnmower running so she could sell it.

Threw together a vented companionway board until I have time to finish everything else and get louvered companionway doors built.

in primer.

and white.

watching sunsets.

fixing Vivians bass boat ,she nicknamed "the barnacle Barge" so it could be sold.

added fuel pump to my 1960's outboard so it would no longer need a pressurized fuel tank.

reading a couple books. The children of the law of one is a very thought provoking book. Very!!

Have spool of line so I can now start re-stringing new lines on Mary Lee.

Ruined a few shirts and shorts with epoxy.

took more pictures. (this after a long stretch sanding on dinghy)

new sander

added a few cuts

couple good slivers. This is bad picture. This sliver was about 3/8 in. long and was in my palm for about 3 hours before I got it out. First attempts with utility knife were unsuccessful. :-)

sliver.

helped Dave cut and pry an aluminum holding tank out of his 2004 Island Packet sailboat.

no access. had to cut hole in deck first.

had to cut with grinder and pry pieces out. 8 hours with both of us on it. Even people who had done them before would not show up to bid on it.

They make a tank designed to slip in. Apparently this is something to know about Island packets. Lesson for me? Never volunteer for that job again and when I get a bigger boat... Make sure there is access to the tanks and holding tank is not aluminum. Apparently uric acid is hard on them.

yet another selfy

and Lucy. Vivians 15 year old lab. She stamps her foot and breathes hard for attention. I think she is trying to play rap so have nicknamed her Puppa D. At her age she is a house dog. So truly... Puppa D. is in the house.

See... I don't just put in my best pictures.

I painted helmet white.

So I could look like a crash test dummy  :-) :-) :-)

And finally... I am moving Mary Lee down to Myrtle beach at the end of the week. I found a nice little marina. I will be close to Voc. rehab. and Vivian. Have I thought of a job I would like?? Sure... I want to stay next to the water so I can use Mary Lee. I want to be in the boating world. If I can get it ok'd I am going to see about an apprenticeship in sewing canvas/upholstery/sails. Vivian can teach online. I know I can find work anywhere boats are doing canvas. Will it turn out as planned?? Have no idea. Will I quit planning?? I think you already know the answer to that.

Always on the path... No matter how far I happen to bounce back and forth through the trees on either side. :-) I would not trade my life for anyone else's. Mine is great!!

Almost forgot about boat cards. Office depot sold me a program so I could print my own boat cards. Then sold me a printer that would not :-) Go figure. Vivian finally made it happen.