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ok i do have an update….
but first, sorry i haven’t posted on the progress or seemed as proactive as i should be…i have been in and out of doctors offices, the hospital and had more than a few personal crisis’. anyway here’s what’s new:
i have gotten a promise of dock space, that means i have everything more or less arranged as far as how and where to host an event. the final step for me is to go talk to the director at walter reed in person.
There won’t be any collections or donations accepted, everything is on a volunteer basis. If any money is spent it will come from my pocket only. This is a crucial part of what I’m trying to put together, it’s about our civic duty and responsibility to the men and women who have given so much for us. The whole point is to remove the monetary aspects and keep it pure gratitude.
I do appreciate the encouragement…believe me, just trying to figure out how to get something like this started, much less actually starting it, gets a bit overwhelming at times and I gotta take a step back for a day or two. There have been times I’ve even thought “is it worth it?”…but somebody always seems to step up and offer those words of encouragement I need to keep going. And of course I think of how I was helped, what it could mean to somebody else and i just know it’s the right thing to do. I seriously believe if I hadn’t had the chance to get out sailing, well at the very least I’d be depressed and feeling like my life was over because of my disabilities. It’s tough to feel whole and useful when you lose the ability to do the things you used to love. That’s one of the big motivators behind why I want to do this…to show my fellow veterans (many of whom are worse off than me) that just because they cannot do one thing doesn’t mean all of life is un-accessible to them. Possibly give them hope when it seems everything is hopeless…I’ve been there and it isn’t a nice place to be. So to all of you that have offered to join in or given advice or pointed me towards resources and contacts… THANK YOU! you might not know it but all your help could keep a soldier from giving up.
well guys -n- gals, just talked to the fellow over at CRAB. he gave me lots of good info and advice. he was even able to give me some contacts to call. so, I’m going to be trying to acquire commitment for a staging area. If i can get that, the next step is getting either the hospital or DAV (or both) to agree on transportation, from there it’ll just be a matter of setting a date for the first event and getting commitments from owners (I’ve gotten a few other non-Dickerson owners interested as well). all in all i think it’s going well and looks like the 1st event could happen this summer.
first to Tessanna, i will be in contact with you soon and i also want to say thank you for jumping on the wagon. And to Crew Rest, i must say that’s an excellent idea about walter reed….one of my best friends happens to be stationed at reed, so i’m going to give him a call and see if he can put me in touch with somebody there. i suspect i can convince walter reed’s wounded warriors program director to help out with co-coordinating an event. i just needed to be sure of an interest and willingness on the sailors part first. having that, i can now move forward and maybe go from an idea to an actual plan. i’ll get in touch with irish mist as well on the next part but maybe Crew Rest can help too…i’d like to make a list of owners willing to get involved. i believe if i had at least 10 i could count on then i could take that to the program director to help convince him that it is a very doable event.
i really hope i’m not violating any rules with this post, if so i plead ignorance and ask forgiveness. it’s just that this is something very personal to me.
i gotta say i really love this forum you guys are such a great source of info and your questions actually make me think about my decisions alot harder. that said i am definitely going with a portable gen, found a few that are about the size of a small suitcase, quite and come in both gas and diesel. as for the water-maker well my girl only has a 20 gal tank; me and my two teenage boys…doubtful that’s be adequate. now considering I’m not looking to be a weekend cruiser, basically the ole girl will be our summer home and we do plan on some extensive cruises over time (eventually we’re looking to sail from the east coast to as far as Hawaii). well you can see i need to set her up for the long hauls.
well guys it seems the concensus is pretty simple…”get her wet”.. so i guess my spring break plans are pretty much locked in lol, gonna have to drop her in the water and stay onboard to monitor the bilges, mop, and generally keep her from sinking while she swells up. honestly i can’t say i’m upset by the idea though. if all goes well i might even be able to sail her to the meet in june. i’ve been tossing lots of ideas around in my head as far as upgrades go and for now at least i think i want to keep her as classic as i can while still comfy/safe so the list of “upgrades” is pretty short.. cold plate conversion for the icebox, radar, sonar, portable generator (not sure i want it to be a premenant install), and a watermaker (a small system should be fine since it’s just me and my 2 boys). speaking of my boys, they have decided we will spend the entire summer onboard at myrtle beach.
oh and can somebody tell me how to find nancy’s pics or if she can email them to me that’d be great too. my email is: stevechadduck@yahoo.comi am definately saving and planning to attend in june. as for progress think we’re gonna get her wet, see how much she swells, adjust any planking thats out of place and seall her with 5200 (i think it’s a 3M product) and paint her top to bottom with some fresh paint. i’ve even settled on the color scheme: working from the keel up it’s gonna go; bottom will be a dark blue, then a 6-8 inch red stripe then white the one difference is i’m thinking of doing a slight angle so it’ll end up being blue almost all the way up to the transom and the bow will be white down to the waterline.
oh and shane i too was once in the 82nd as you correctly deduced, i did 4 years on active duty, the 5 in the reserves, then 6 in the NC National Guard before being medically retired after two tours in iraq. but the army was another life and now i’m moving on to a new life of open water and coastal scenery my teenage sons and i are looking at spending the entire summer aboard and abroad. maybe even homeschooling them from aboard next year.
this is copied from another post and it might be useful to you: Sadly the time has come to break up my ketch, and not continue to restore it.
Any of its parts are available, including: –
Aluminum masts including rigging,Steering gear,incomplete westerbeke 4-107 +Paragon trans,, two used Perkins 4-108+ Hurth trans,Brand new rudder,Monel fuel and water tanks,bronze fittings of all kinds,Llead keel, Etc.
Please ask. I may have it!
410 639 7506. Rock Hall, MD.best wishes
steve chadduck
s/v skaphe
D35 ketchhappy thanksgiving to you as well,
while i don’t know anything about how to fix your issue i can suggest a great place to go to for answers and a mechanic…check out lippincott marina they’re not too far from you. just across the bridges in grasonville. matter of fact mine is stored there and they’re gonna be doing the work i need. best of luck to yousteve chadduck
s/v Skaphe
D35 Ketchsorry was so excited to share in the news i forgot to mention some of the important info. ok so here’s what little i know: she is an aft cockpit, i have a pic of her under sail and the main has the number 76 on it so i’m guessing thats her sail number (yes i know i don’t know much yet but i am learning alot very quickly), she does have the westerbeke diesel option, and the previous owner was Dick Lawrence (a wonderful fellow), oh, and she is currently on the hard in maryland, which is where the hull work will be done. so any locals who wanna stop by and check her out and offer their advice just email me for the location. and she hails from Queenstown md.
thank you. believe me i am well aware of the deal i got. i do plan on a few upgrades and some re-fitting. my priorty right now is getting back to sailing condition (she was and the hard for about two years so there is dehydration issues and the gapping is enough that she has to be sealed before she touches water). among the list of future work are: upgrade the head, larger fuel & water tanks, converting the icebox to a fridge, modern eletronics (ie; radar, sonar, chart plotter though i do want to learn to celestial nav as primary navigation), also looking at watermakers as i plan on extended cruises with my two teenage boys. now i do have a few questions too:
does anyone have any experiances with watermakers and some advice? i’m looking into adding solar charging as well as wind vane turbine so any advice there would also be helpful. but my biggest question or favor really…we plan on launching in the spring and while i have some very minor experience sailing (i learned on a 30′ single masted open boat) i know nothing about sailing a ketch and rather than try to figure it out i plan on hiring a pilot to sail/teach me from Maryland to NC as i live in Fayetteville nc, which of course mean taking the ICW. so if anyone on here knows somebody in the maryland area (or wants to do it themselves) i would love to hear from them.