It was probably around 8pm, I was back on the boat after having a bad-ass bifteki and wine with my buddy Ulber, when the phone rang. It was Mom asking if I was back and safe because in Athens all hell was breaking loose. I assured her all was well as I noticed a small drizzle of rain. It hardly rains here and there wasn’t anything for it the forecast. By 9pm it was raining a bit more which canceled a few pops with Ulber aboard Pyrrha before picking up “the crew” around 10:30.
Suddenly around 9:30…. BAM! Zoot Allures was almost on her side, the wind howled like nothing I’d heard before as I was holding on to anything I could find, looking out the window while I tried to get dressed. It wasn’t letting up, my wind alarm was screaming off the charts and I verified my anxiety of dragging through a mooring field of boats (no Rocna anchor will hold if you don’t leave any scope which I hadn’t due to temporarily anchoring on a quiet evening). I fired up the engine and flew to the bow to raise the anchor as I passed a few boats heeled over tangling from their mooring balls. As the Rocna came up I noticed something in the dark dangling from it but there was no time to get fancy cleaning it up so I rushed back to the cockpit to take control of Zoot Allures flying tilted sideways through the harbor. I made a big circle and anchored further off leaving about 50meters of chain in a depth of 5. Secured to the seabed I returned back to the salon to dry up while monitoring my surroundings thru the port light while the gale subsided.
The next morning was sunny and ol’ Zoot was squeaky clean! Quite content, having my morning coffee in the cockpit, I noticed something over the side of my stern. It was big and black and spooky and wavy …. 
Pretty much looking like a medieval banshee! … not that I’ve seen one before. After taking a better look I realized that it was an old fishing net dangling from a good hold on my prop! So that’s what was dangling from my anchor and after a minute I realized that it must have fallen off and fouled my prop right before I re-anchored. I finished my coffee and shuddering at the thought of how bad things would have been if my re-anchoring had not been successful and Zoot Allures would have been out of control in that squall!!!
I dove in with a knife and hacked on it for 20minutes and was getting nowhere with that gross banshee all over me and freaking me out! I had the bright idea of spinning the prop backwards (duh) and in 5 minutes the banshee was free to fuck up someone else’s life. What the Faaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!
And all this happened on my return from a mini cruise to Petalious Islands. That morning I sailed off anchor after having the most beautiful time of bliss. The sail back was perfect. So perfect that I was saying to myself “this is perfect!” with a huge grin. It’s mind boggling the way things can be on a sailboat! Swinging Extremes!
funky neighbors at Petalious
blissful moorings
It’s been a really nice month since the last time I’ve written a post. I had friends over and took them for rides but haven’t written a post about that due to their wanting to scan the photos before publishing (f-em!).
blissful sunrises with a few drops of rain
It’s quiet as well with very little traffic and powerboat noise etc. A most lovely time to enjoy boating…. And I am!
Back home I’ve been pouring over the designs for the CLC nesting pram. I realized that I couldn’t sprawl them out because 2 of them are 5meters long! I’m planning on building it at home, cutting the wood on the balcony (after moving a bunch of pots of plants) and assembling it in my bedroom (after moving my bed to the living room, eliminating my dinning room). Cutting the wood is going to take more time than assembly I’m afraid. I’m starting to believe everyone that I must be insane!
So…
Stay tuned…. At least for that!
Capt Pete
Ps…… This week (following the most awesome weekend) has gotten cold and the wind was blowing force 8! Poor ol’ Zoot! Time to haul out. But when? It’s either blowing like hell or I’m working like hell. As normal!
pss… Kostas boat is almost done!
moonlight (plus some more) boatbuilding
Sailing Zoot Allures 
You’re a lucky man that mess didn’t foul up your prop good and proper when you first started motoring. (That only happens to me!)
I see a resemblance with Joshua Slocum of you sitting there calmly steering with your foot…minus the beer, the poor guy only had warm water out of a barrel. What a luxurious life you lead, mishaps and all.
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Ohhhh what a lovely compliment! It would be luxurious if I had a barrel of beer!
Why is it I think of you every time “foul prop” comes to mind?! (lol)
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wow …otherwise speechless!
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To save half of the cutting – providing your lines are not critical – you can cut one piece, lay it on top of a blank piece of plywood, and trace out the new piece with a router.
I once cut out one canoe, and made 4 copies this way.
Sadly the copying method worked well, the stitch and tape construction method worked well , however the basic canoe design was total junk. The damn things were unstable. I built one, and junked the project. Still making projects from the pieces.
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Junked the project? Wow, that’s sad!
So yeah, the identical panels will laid together and cut simultaneously. Thanks for the input!
But I’ve got a question for you. Most of the boat will be 6mm marine okume. I’m having a hard time finding 5-ply. Would it be foolish to go ahead with 3-ply?
Regards!
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I’m not the expert on ply wood, I’m the one who screwed up my project. Mine was from 3 ply. My opnion is that as long as the surface is good, the boat will be strong. have you experimented with fillers yet? I’ve used baking flour, epoxy sanding dust, and sawdust. The glass beads are super expensive, and the saw dust wants to lose the liquid epoxy, but works. Have you worked much with epoxy? Having a boat, I imagine you have. It would be good to experiment with any lumber scraps, making one or two joints and filling, and making fillets (internal radius) and trying those things. learning how fast your epoxy sets up. Don’t mix too much epoxy (exothermic) otherwise it will get hot, start smoking, and go off (set up at quicky) you can somtimes spread it out to cool it down. Get a cheap scales on amazon (about $14) to weigh the epoxy.
But the construction method is very strong. Especially after fiberglassing and epoxy. On these canoes, the plans called for fibergalssing only the joints with 2 inch strips of fiberglass. But they were very strong. I made the boat about 17 years ago, and had it banging around the back yard for about 15 years, out in the weather and such. It was coated in epoxy, and painted with house paint ( a house painter told me glossy exterior latex house paint is the best paint). When it came time to send the boat to the dump, I was showing my son how tough it is. I took a large hammer and struck the boat as hard as I could. Not even a mark, the hammer bounced back like striking a car tire. But it could not stand up to the chain saw.
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All notes taken…… except for the chain saw! Thanks alot!
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