Happy!

'cause I'm happpy.....

like a room without a roof!!!!

We're so happy to have been in Isla Mujeres for the last 5 weeks! Sunny Ray docked at El Milagro Marina for 4 of those, enjoying those who work there & were staying there. Dale & Ray met new friends.....decidedly the girls Dale's age outnumbered any Ray's. Ray hung with the adults.

Kylee came over to help Dale make valentines. Ray supervised cookies.

Dale missed Kylee & Kyndall when they left and was happy to meet Afton & Brooke when they arrived from Minnesota also.

Ray & Dale amusing themselves by submerging Pearl, capsizing her, righting & bailing her out.

Good exercise & good skills to have. Yeah, they look crazy!!

Staying warm in sunny Mexico

Carnival started happening soon after our arrival.

Streets are abuzz with laughing & happiness

 Lots of dancing & fun

colorful music all day & night!!!

So fun to visit during this time of frivolity, now all is tranquillo.

Our anchorage for the last week.

Sunny Ray at El Milagro

Some of El Milagro's shell art/fountains on interior wall

The Where's Waldo of iguanas. I count 4, how many do you see? (There were dozens on the other side of the wall.)

Unlike my cousin Jan, I (Marty) will not be wearing iguanas on my head!

Miss you all! Marty

Chillin on the back porches

Ready for launch

Almost finished

Glassing, grinding, fairing

Most of the glass has been applied to the starboard extension.  There will be many hours of sanding in my future.

 Foam in place for the port transom.  The foam is incredibly easy to shape by hand sanding with a block and a straight edge for a reference.

The overall length of the boat now measures 41.5ft, and it looks like we will have 11 inches of overhang at the transoms, but we won't know for sure until we launch.  A new copper bottom coating will be applied before the gel coat work begins.  The copper coat is epoxy based so it will bond nicely to the epoxy filler and form a watertight barrier coat.

Building the mold for the urethane foam.

The foam is incredibly strong, considering it weighs so little.  The force of expansion popped out some of the screws that held the mold.  No problem, too much foam is easily sanded away in minutes.

In this picture you can see the glass and filler covering the factory exhaust holes.  Since we purchased Sunny Ray we have glassed over 14 factory holes in our boat!!!  Holes are just simply not good things in boats.  We almost sunk due to a through hull failure in the Gulf of Mexico, so I am happy to seal up any unnecessary holes.

I decided to use filler over the foam to help the shaping process and to aid in sealing the foam so no water works it's way in over the years.  The sanded and shaped filler will provide a good base for the layers of biaxial glass which will come later.  The rail along the deck will be screwed into base plates not allowing the screws to penetrate the deck Nidacore.  The base plates are pre-drilled, bored out and filled with epoxy.  After the glass and gel coat work is finished I'll re-drill the holes only deep enough for 3/4" screws so the watertight deck will not be compromised with screw holes.

One piece at a time

Vertical bulkheads, and decks glassed in place.

 Starboard transom piece with mounts for swim ladder in progress.

 Port transom with outboard engine transom board receiver mount in progress.

Nidacore is amazingly strong, light and stiff building material.