July

Abby's birthday was the 3rd and I'm not so good with presents. Most who know me say it's because I'm cheap and that may well be true and the reason in the past. Over the last 6-8 years, however I have been seeing less and less value of all the "stuff" that clutters our lives. I just checked and I still have a $200 gift card from LL Bean from my birthday in 2006. I check their catalog every once in a while, but never find anything I fancy. Perhaps if they begin selling epoxy?

As luck would have it, I found a reasonably good deal on a pair of Harken 32 Self Tailing Winches. These are new "old stock" Italian made Harkens with all metal internals. With new manufacturing "techniques"/chinese plastic parts the price of new winches has come down quite a bit in the last 5 years. They're still pricey and most people don't seem to realize that the prices have dropped as I often see 10-20 year old winches selling on Ebay for close to what new ones can be had for. In my opinion, used (especially tatty chrome) winches really make a home built boat look cheap. Also, the older winches have a larger diameter base which means that a future upgrade would result in much hole filling and new backing plates, etc.

I could have bought some used non self tailers for around $100 each that would have worked; but hey, it's my wifes birthday.

The best birthday present?? Abby did protest somewhat, but then I reminded her how long our friend Carolyn Goodlander had to wait for Fatty to buy her a nice pair of self tailers. (Correct answer is around 50 years) So, that logic won the day and Lily had a great time inspecting them with Dad to make sure all the bits were included in the "good deal" She even got a good bit of grease on her after this picture was taken.
See you in August. Need to demo the concrete apron around the patio to move the first hull outside!