Friday Funny 06/30 (Carhartt Brown)

Carhartt Brown work clothes.

Yes, Carhartt Brown really is a color designation.

Carhartt work clothes are the standard attire for Alaska North Slope oil workers, commercial fishermen, hunters, construction workers, plumbers, truck drivers, my brother Lee.... you get the idea. I, personally have never owned a pair, because I'v never needed heavy duck canvas clothing, but Carhartts have as big a following as Xtra-tuff boots. The complete outfit includes both Carhartts, and Xtra-tuffs, now you're ready for anything.

I think most workers wear Carhartt pants with their Carhartt toolbelt.

Carhartt Corset, doesn't look comfortable to me.

And just like the cult following of all things Xtra-tuff, and being able to find it in earrings, cozies, Christmas decor, and key chains, you can also find Carhartt wedding dresses, underwear, baby, and children's clothing, wallets, bags, socks, stickers, wine glasses, and even a vineyard.

Imagine my surprise as I was sewing our new sail covers, and the thought struck me, "this color reminds me of Carhartt Brown!" WTH!!  I'm outfitting my sailboat with CARHARTTS!?!  Do I need to complete it somehow with Xtra-tuffs? How about Carhartt cat collars, with Xtra-tuff booties for Gus, and Elsie. Bill said that he thought I had done it on purpose, which puzzles me, since I don't own anything Carhartt.

This color according to Sunbrella, is called Nutmeg.  (Sunbrella is a leader in performance fabrics for indoor & outdoor upholstery, awnings, shade, marine applications, and more.)

Carhartt Brown, or Sunbrella Nutmeg?

Sunbrella Nutmeg was recently discontinued, and I can no longer buy it anywhere, except in limited amounts on Ebay. I asked Sailrite which color would they recommend to compliment nutmeg, they advised, Sunbrella Tan.

Sunbrella Tan is a good contrast to Nutmeg.

I'm finishing up the main sail, and the mizzen sail covers with the Nutmeg I have, otherwise known as Carhartt Brown, and the rest of the canvas refurbish will be Tan.

Main sail cover, you can see old mizzen sail cover in faded Sunbrella Toast in the background.

I tried to get the cover finished before I published this post, but I didn't make it. These photos are before I put in the hem, and added the twist lock fasteners. I was measuring for the hem while it was on the boom, and then had to lay out the 18 feet of material on the dock to draw the hem line. I got one side done before it started to rain again, so one side has a hem, and the other doesn't. (yet)  

Also, because, I have resigned myself to the fact that, yes I'm using Carhartt Brown, I bought real Carhartt buttons on Amazon. I like a bit of whimsey, and I'm going add them somewhere useful. Maybe corporate Carhartt will let me put their label on too. (?)

What do you think of Carhartt Brown, or is it really Sunbrella Nutmeg? Should I have used the "everyone has it", and readily available Marine Blue instead?


As always, we enjoy hearing from you, either here in comments or on our Facebook Denali Rose Sailboat page.

Friday Funny 06/23 (Cracked Window)

Nope, not this kind of cracked window.

Windows might be cracked, (or crack?) for some, but not for us. We use Apple/Mac products on Denali Rose. I know others may argue that decision with us, but it's our preference. Case closed.

Not this kind of cracked windshield either.

The front windows in our pilothouse are made out of tempered glass, and are very strong. They would protect us in the event of a large breaking wave over the pilothouse. That's called taking on green water. If any of them were to crack, we would have to replace it immediately with boat bucks. (B.O.A.T. = Break Out Another Thousand)

See that etching, (amidst the raindrops), that means the window is certified tempered. All of the windows have that etching.

Buh Bye scale.

We have a scale onboard, but I don't know where it is, and I don't want to know. We know what clothing fits, and what doesn't, and we're working on that. The swear jar is not a good idea either, well.... because:

Here's the cracked window I AM talking about. I might have said a few of those swear words when I did it.

I taped it closed.

This is the center front window on the dodger. (def: A dodger, also known as a spray hood, is an enclosed structure that protects your cockpit from harsh weather. from Sailrite.) 

We were anchoring this past winter, in the dark, and I had to open this piece to see the hand signals that Bill was using to tell me what to do at the helm. It was cold, and I heard it crack.

We are planning on replacing the whole dodger assembly, but we're not going to get to it this summer, unless, all we want to do is work, and not actually use our boat to go somewhere. So I was thinking... I know, a bad sign. We really can't see out the front, it's old, cloudy, and damaged. I thought that maybe I could take off the front piece and just replace the vinyl window for now. I'm a little afraid that I won't get the right dimensions, or the proper stretch, and then it won't fit the frame anymore. We had someone else put on a leather rub strip, and it totally tweaked the fit. I had to move all of the zippers in order for it to be reinstalled. What a pain! This time, I'm planning to not use any zippers, just one full vinyl glass window, so less margin of error. (optimistic thinking)

I'm ordering my supplies today, so add another project to my list. Hopefully it will have a positive outcome.

FYI, one piece of the medium grade 54" x 110" is $178.95. That's why spray suntan lotion, bug spray, or anything chemical next to these windows is strictly forbidden. I only use the IMAR cleaning line, as recommended by "Practical Sailor" magazine, and the purple microfiber towels are the only ones that are allowed to be used to clean and wipe.

The best absorbent microfiber ever! I get them from FlyLady.

As always, we enjoy hearing from you, either here in comments or on our Facebook Denali Rose Sailboat page.

Friday Funny 06/16 (Blogging)

I had that block.

Seriously, this block was on my desk, (actually table), this week, and I couldn't come up with anything to write about. In my defense, I had the flu, and still put together a post about Captain Ron and Suzie visiting us in Wrangell. I hope I didn't give it to them, Bill did the cooking, so I'm trusting they escaped.

Kitties keeping me company.

While I was aching all over, and napping in the salon, this is how Elsie, and Gus kept me company. They never sleep together, they're not that good of friends. Bill always says that they know when you don't feel well, and cuddle up, to help you feel better. I also never nap, so if I fall asleep in the middle of the day, you know I'm ill.

This is the salon table where I work, with my mug of coffee, and Elsie curled up on her sheepskin.

Pay no attention to the differences in cushions. I did one cushion to see if I liked the color, and the rest will wait to be an indoor project this winter.

Gus likes the Captain's stool, hmm, should we read anything into that?

My blogging friend Stephanie, recently posted about how she sometimes finds it hard to write, Inspiration Can Be Overrated.   (They have a beautiful boat, and it's for sale.) It's a little ironic that her lack of inspiration was inspiring. 😁

There are also blogging friends like Ellen at Cynical Sailor & His Salty Sidekick, who pretty much posts content three times a week. Her posts are funny, and she frequently receives plenty of comments. It takes me too long to write a draft, and then I have to wait a day to go back and edit out the glaring errors. I'm not a whiz at grammar, and it helps to wait awhile, and look at it fresh. If I posted that often, I wouldn't get anything else done. Ellen is an author though, and she's good at it.

If you want to know about other blogs we have subscribed to, look at the right hand column under "Sailing blog/sites we enjoy". Normally you only see the last five that have a recent post, but for this week, I have changed the setting to see all of the blogs at once.

It's cathartic.

This blog started out as a way to let friends, and family know, and record our whereabouts, and doings, but it has sort of morphed. (We described this in the Prologue tab.) I found I enjoyed writing, even though I sometimes struggle at it, and I use an online dictionary/thesaurus all of the time. Bill is extremely knowledgable about all things sailing, and is a member of several forums. People ask him questions frequently, and he records our technical "stuff" in the right hand column under, "Stuff we have and use". That way he can just refer questions to the a particular blog post, and only has to type it once.

I always say, "Bill writes the technical posts, and I write the goof-ball stuff".

Google hosts this blogging site, and though we do get statistics about how many hits in a day, how many hits on each post, what country they are from, and what kind of browser was used. We don't know how many receive a notification of posts through email, or rss notification, or who you are. See sidebar to the right for how to "Subscribe to our nonsense".

Me too

A word of caution:

As always, we enjoy hearing from you, either here in comments or on our Facebook Denali Rose Sailboat page. (Don't make me beg... 😳)

Sistership Visit to Wrangell

This lifestyle has introduced us to new friends, and quite a few of them we know online only. We met another Nauticat 43 owner this week in Wrangell, (we're hull 16, they're 29), when they passed through on their way from Seattle to Glacier Bay. Bill and Ron (Captain Ron...hahaha), had been communicating online with each other for awhile, and now we have met them in-person.

(Redacted contact info)

He even put it on their boat card, it's good to have a sense of humor!

This gave us a good reason to play hookey from the project work on Denali Rose, and go play host, or tourist, whichever. It was wonderful to meet virtual friends, compare boats, and have some fun. Ron, and Suzie are warm, delightful people, and they have worked hard to make their Nauticat a beautiful boat. Bill has already placed orders for some of the items that we admired. 

Headed out past the Heritage Harbor breakwater at low tide.

A couple of local sailors in Wrangell, who had just come back from a recent trip, shared some fresh caught crabs with us. We passed that on in the form of crab omelets one evening, it was good eating! Then we watched "Guardian's of the Galaxy 1". I know this seems a bit strange, but "Guardian's of the Galaxy 2" was in town over the weekend, and we all wanted to go to the movies. Suzie and I loved Groot, and all of us enjoyed both the movies.

Gotta see the movies to understand.

Bill and I hadn't taken advantage of the local jetboat tours up the Stikine River, so we booked a last minute charter, and spent six hours sightseeing. Zach, who owns Muddy Water Adventures, grew up in Wrangell, and has traversed the Stikine River his whole life. He really knows it well.

Zach Taylor, and his company, "Muddy Water Adventures". 

It was an overcast day, but we still saw lots of great scenery, float-houses, scoped out the Forest Service cabins for rent, and went up to Shake's Glacier.

A water neighborhood.

Floathouses are used for base camp when the owners are boating, fishing, or hunting. Some of them were just small square boxes with minimum amenities, and others were small houses. They do need to have a permit from the State of Alaska to build and anchor.

Typical interior of a Forest Service cabin.

Cabins are $35.00 - $40.00 a night, and you bring all of your own supplies. We would really like to go back with our kayaks. It would be easy to get dropped off by jet boat with all of our gear, and enjoy the back sloughs. There's a hot springs on one of them, which would be fun to experience.

Shake's Glacier

As glaciers go, not a particularly spectacular one. There were some lovely blue colors, and this is one that rarely calves, though it is in retreat. 

Jetboat - 30+ knots, Sailboat - 7 knots, give or take.

Scenic waterfalls.

We stopped off at a friend's house, this is on Farm Island, and is not part of the Tongess Natl Forest.

This is Brenda's art studio, the actual house is to the left.

Brenda Schwartz-Yeager, who is an artist, also grew up in Wrangell, and owns a guiding business. Since she was fully booked up, she helped set up our charter, and went out of her way to make sure we would have a good trip. We really appreciate Brenda's help, and Zach was a terrific guide.

Alaska Charters and Adventures

This is Brenda's art business card.

Brenda does watercolor over charts, and they're beautiful. I have two of her prints hanging in Denali Rose's galley.

Sea Lions

We were teasing Zach, that we would have to mark him down on the animal quotient part of the trip, and then we saw sea lions sunning themselves on the mud flats.

Me, Suzie, Ron, David, and Tin, (an Australian couple who joined us). Bill was taking the photo.

And no trip to Wrangell is complete without a photo on the Wrangell log.

Captain Ron and Suzie

Bill and Donna