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A Pirate Parade Float In the Making!!!


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:ph34r: Yeah, I'm glad we discovered that flaw before a rainy parade- sheesh, the stuff looked good, but ran like watercolors under the hose!

By the way Captain Gary, Nyre and Captain Jack-

I've added a mention of "Land Shark Patrons" to the Land Shark Page Captain Gary for offering the Royaliste's figurehead to reproduce and Nyre and Captain Jack for constructing the figurehead.

Many thanks to ye' mates!! :ph34r:

Looks great. I guess I missed a few things during my absense.

Pushing the limits means getting out of my comfort zone and giving more when I don't think I have any left.

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Here ye' arrrrrrrrrrr!!! The latest update! Lots of progress and lots of new photos to see! She's just startin' to show her piratical colors now!!

A special thank you to Captain Gary, Captain Jack and Nyre their help and patronage of this project. And to me husband Saber who's been a wonderful pirate since this crazy idea stuck in me haid...

Land Shark Update

-Claire "Poison Quill" Warren

Pyrate Mum of Tales of the Seven Seas

www.talesofthesevenseas.com

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We had a rainy night, but the paint made it through under the tarps, we only lost one exposed step on the trailer. So far so good. It was too drizzly on the mountain to remove the tarps this morning, but we've got a forcast of "Partly cloudy" so I may run up the mountain at lunch to remove them and give it some sun. Keep yer cutlasses crossed!!

-Claire "Poison Quill" Warren

Pyrate Mum of Tales of the Seven Seas

www.talesofthesevenseas.com

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Great photos PQ...

I'll be after sending a thought or two seaward to the powers of water to keep the sky dry for you over the next week!

Keep the pictures coming for those of us that can't make it there in person. :ph34r:

Well, you may not realize it but your looking at the remains of what was once a very handsome woman!

IronBessSigBWIGT.gif

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It actually looks like a pirate ship!!! Not that I ever had any doubt, but the blue/white fiberglass just made it a bit hard to envision. It looks great now, though.

Coastie :ph34r:

Here's t' fair weather :ph34r:

She was bigger and faster when under full sail

With a gale on the beam and the seas o'er the rail

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Thanks mates, I took a long lunch and ran up there to pull off the tarps- it should be sunny today and tomorrow. We've got some wet spots and some that ran, but most of it set up pretty well. There's nothing that shouldn't cover over in the next coat. Leaving it out today and will put another coat on over lunch tomorrow, that should pretty much finish the brown if all goes well.

Yeah I know what you mean Coastie... pirates just didn't do turquoise blue, ye know?!!!

-Claire "Poison Quill" Warren

Pyrate Mum of Tales of the Seven Seas

www.talesofthesevenseas.com

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Ya know, with a little fiberglass work on the back ya could make it "lake" worthy. Just a thought.

--------------

"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in one pretty well preserved piece without an even a kiss your hand, but to skid across the line broadside, thoroughly used up, worn out, smelling of powder, shouting ARRRG!!"

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She's looking just lovely. Yer doing a wonderful job! I wish I could be there to see her person at the Parade. I noticed part of the trailer is now brown. Are you going to finishe the rest of the trailer with brown or are you going to make some kind of "water" to disquise the trailer?

~Tori

Like any unmanned ship, a novice sailor will eventually steer into the wind and then in circles.

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We had a perfect day for painting which has been a rare occurance up here in the forest. Sun, light breezes and paint drying beautifully. I think it must have had something to do with Iron Bess, as she said she would put in a good word for us for sunny weather. It was supposed to rain according to earlier predictions and instead, we had a Disney quality sunny day, with paint drying like magic! (Many thanks to Bess for putting in a good word with Uncle Walt!!)

I put the final coat on the hull and tomorrow will completete the trim. We bought the last of the 2x4's and will put the remaining railings on tomorrow. We also bought the PVC for the mast and the bowsprit.

I think we might even finish tomorrow if all goes well. Then we can enjoy the Thanksgiving weekend without the pressure of having to finish. All that's left after this is the skirting, the sheet for the sail and the holiday decor. It's actually looking very cute and after today, the paint looks much better. I'll have photos at the end of the weekend.

Black Deacon, I can't make it seaworthy again because I officially took it out of commission with the DMV. It was offically "junked" so that it could be made into a parade float. We've also drilled holes in the bottom of it to allow for drainage. We get a lot of rain up here in the Santa Cruz Mountains and I would have it full of water in no time, out in the open like it is.

Endkaos, the trailer is now all brown to blend in. We'll have metalic blue skirting, typical of most parade floats. all around the trailer. I'd like to make a "wave" out of chicken wire covered with cotton and spray painted, but I don't think it will get done for this first parade.

-Claire "Poison Quill" Warren

Pyrate Mum of Tales of the Seven Seas

www.talesofthesevenseas.com

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AYE! Carrie.... what inspiration! Looks wonderful & I dare say you will have pix of this fine vessel from it's maiden voyage at the parade?

Again, such inspiration to those of us with boats that have no more use. Now we can find a use for it! :lol:

Huzzah!

:lol:

Tempt Fate! an' toss 't all t' Hell!"

"I'm completely innocent of whatever crime I've committed."

The one, the only,... the infamous!

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SHe's looking great. I'm totally taken away by the amount of work that has been accomplished since I was gone. Keep em coming.

Pushing the limits means getting out of my comfort zone and giving more when I don't think I have any left.

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Thanks El Pirata!

OK here's the latest. I'm going to wait to take a photo until we've got the paint dry on the railings and everything is in place.

We're nearly done!!

The railings were a bit more difficult to do than we expected, but we have them all assembled and painted. As soon as the paint is dry they'll go on the ship.

The mast, yardarm and crows nest are complete, assembled and are looking great. I made a mistake calling them PVC. They are black ABS piping. They are sitting on my deck, waiting while we figure out how to attach the mast to the Land Shark. It looks like we'll just build a box at the base. We were unable to find a fitting that was deep enough to use as a base.

We had a couple of mishaps- One of the cherubs became a "fallen angel" when it tumbled off my deck rail and broke off it's wings! So I'll be making a replacement. The second was when the ship's wheel fell over and a thin piece of the finish wood broke off the back side of the wheel. That was repairable though and fortunately, the damage was limited to the back side of the wheel.

I finally found the elusive letter "D" that I needed! So I have all the letters for LAND SHARK now. We have the wood painted to cover the motor hole and will put that on as soon as it is dry and put the letters over it.

All but two of the window panes are painted and ready to go. I'll finish the other two this week. So we're almost there, mostly just assembly and touch-ups

-Claire "Poison Quill" Warren

Pyrate Mum of Tales of the Seven Seas

www.talesofthesevenseas.com

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LOL , But what more could ye' ask for Saber, than a wife who takes up sailing? And on a tall ship no less?!! I don't hear the Peanut Gallery complainin' on the weekends we head to the Royaliste!!! :ph34r:

El Pirata, we looked into polyurethane, but at $30 per quart and 17' of Land Shark to paint. Enamel would have been rigid and might have cracked and flaked when the Land Shark was transported. We went with a base coat of Behr Aqua Acrylic Gripper Primer, which sticks to slick surfaces and provides an absorbent surface. Then we painted with Behr exterior laytex house paint. It worked great, but our biggest problem has been the damp weather in the mountains. For a while, with the first coats, we had to use a blow dryer to get it to stick! The gold takes a couple of coats more to cover than the brown.

Funny thing about that gold paint. Mosquitos are attracted to it and I got a whole bunch of them stuck in it by their feet!! So if you look closely at the yellow, you can see bugs! LOL!

Hmmmm.... perhaps someday, an archaeologist is going to dig up the Land Shark, and when they find the holes drilled in the bottom, they will speculate about what sort of mysterious pagan religious ritual it was used for. Then they can clone my family from the DNA in the mosquitos that bit us and the Land Shark will become a virtual time capsule! And then... hmmm... perhaps I'm reaching a bit, eh?!!!! :ph34r:

-Claire "Poison Quill" Warren

Pyrate Mum of Tales of the Seven Seas

www.talesofthesevenseas.com

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Funny thing about that gold paint. Mosquitos are attracted to it and I got a whole bunch of them stuck in it by their feet!! So if you look closely at the yellow, you can see bugs! LOL!

Hmmmm.... perhaps someday, an archaeologist is going to dig up the Land Shark, and when they find the holes drilled in the bottom, they will speculate about what sort of mysterious pagan religious ritual it was used for. Then they can clone my family from the DNA in the mosquitos that bit us and the Land Shark will become a virtual time capsule! And then... hmmm... perhaps I'm reaching a bit, eh?!!!!  :ph34r:

:ph34r: I had some yellow paint do the same thing. There's just something dementedly sad about a bunch of bugs adorin' themselves to a freshly painted door. And what a scary thought to be cloned out of it. I'm praying the paint fumes contaminated the sample. :ph34r:

Captain of The Morrighan.

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Hmmmm.... perhaps someday, an archaeologist is going to dig up the Land Shark, and when they find the holes drilled in the bottom, they will speculate about what sort of mysterious pagan religious ritual it was used for. Then they can clone my family from the DNA in the mosquitos that bit us and the Land Shark will become a virtual time capsule! And then... hmmm... perhaps I'm reaching a bit, eh?!!!!  :ph34r:

Sounds like you've been sniffing paint fumes.

Glad she's getting together. Can't wait to see pics.

Pushing the limits means getting out of my comfort zone and giving more when I don't think I have any left.

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I'd like to make a "wave" out of chicken wire covered with cotton and spray painted, but I don't think it will get done for this first parade.

Chicken wire and cotton seem like alot of work and kinda of unstable. Have you considered a piece of luan board cut with a jigsaw and painted blue to make a wavey ocean? Well, I understand the time crunch. Maybe something to think about for the next parade. She's looking wonderful. Don't forget to have a Christening party for her.

~Tori

Like any unmanned ship, a novice sailor will eventually steer into the wind and then in circles.

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