GBCA Discussion Forum

For those of you with some time and money to spend on your boats, may I recommend a *great* local business I used when I pulled my mast to service it last summer, Royalty Metal Finishing, Inc.  I had a significant amount of aluminum parts re-(hard) anodized, including a pair of spreaders, and am delighted with their work.  I only found two companies in Houston who do hard-anodizing for individuals, the other company has a bigger tank (12' if I remember correctly) but they wanted a detailed work order so they could give me an estimate before they would talk to me ...

Royalty Metal Finishing is a family-owned business, their hard anodizing tank is 3' x 6', and their response was, "Bring it over!"  The prices are reasonable and the service helpful and friendly.  Although I haven't used their other services, I assume they are similar, some of them are color anodizing, chrome plating, and powder coating.  It is a big place, it took me less than an hour to drive there from Kemah, and since their main clients are oil-related they might be happier than ever to see us "little" clients.

FYI, the aluminum pads my bronze winches were mounted on my mast were BADLY pitted with corrosion (very very bad), I asked how to prep them and they said they would clean them before anodizing - well, the deepest part of the pits didn't get cleaned to my satisfaction, so I recommend you carefully pre-clean terribly corroded stuff yourself with a metal brush and pick.  Also, aluminum parts cannot have any other metals attached when they are anodized, if it has SS rivets, screws or anything they MUST be removed (they can do that for you).  I've got several winch drums I'd like to re-anodize, but they all have SS helicoils, so I'll research how to remove and re-install helicoils from corroded aluminum before taking those to get re-anodized....

www.RoyaltyMetalFinishing.com
13550 S. Gessner
Missouri City, TX 77489
281-208-4455

Hi Suzy,

I'm also addicted to sailing, but I'm owned by a boat so "fixing my addiction" means Time and Money, LOTS of time and money.  I don't understand your post - did you mean you are addicted to RACING?  Maybe there aren't races every weekend, but there is always sailing in Galveston bay, if you don't believe me drive over the Kemah bridge and have a lookie on any day of the week.  "We Texans", and others, DO desire to sail year-round, you would too if you owned a boat.  So why don't you buy a boat?  Oh!  You have access to the Galveston Bay Sailing Center, and you don't have to maintain any of their boats, good for you.  So what is the point of your post??

Racing is hard on boats, and the owner of the boat I usually race on will spend quite a bit of time and money servicing his boat before the HYC Midwinter Regatta.  Since you haven't raced with us and never will, howze about you contribute some of YOUR time and money to the boats you use to satisfy your addiction?

"Herein lies the problem with Galveston bay sailing"
You wanna know about sailing problems Suzie?  My boat has been raced hard (offshore) and put away wet, come over and let me show you the $3500 primary winch I just cleaned and inspected, it is trashed, I don't know what happened to destroy a big winch like that, but my boat isn't sailing anywhere until I renew that winch.  If we have ever met, the first thing you probably noticed about me is my smile, and that it needs about $2500 worth of dental appointments.  I also desperately need new glasses, but that ain't gonna happen any time soon because last night one of my crowns came unglued I was eating dinner, which didn't bother me nearly as much as the solenoid for my propane tank that started misbehaving while I was making dinner.

"The best part is that I don't have to maintain any of them! "  Oh Joy, I am sooo happy for you.  But please explain some more about your addiction and our problems with sailing year-round, I'm not getting it.

Howdy Ewald,

"ShakenNotStirred" is exactly what TMCA is about - a misnomer if there ever was one - it should be TMPA, the Texas Mariners Partiers Association.  But just like GBCA, they don't/can't change their name because the Government Loves Us So Much, e$pecially our money.

Send me a PM and I'll get you on a comfy beam reach.

Kindest regards,

Miss Pris

Since the Bayport Channel is STILL being dredged ...
Thanks to Philip Kropf for the following:

USCG Safety Alert - Dredging Equipment Hazards
December 30 - The Coast Guard issued Marine Safety Alert 14-15 to remind recreational boaters and commercial vessel operators to use caution when operating their vessels near areas where dredging operations may be taking place. This alert also reminds commercial entities performing dredging in waterways to make sure all components of pipelines are properly marked and accounted for regardless of the recreational boating season and locations where dredging is taking place. The Coast Guard strongly recommends recreational boaters, commercial vessel operators, boat repair facilities and others to immediately report issues associated with improperly marked or unmarked dredging components to the nearest Coast Guard unit. All waterway users should operate at a safe speed when the potential for hazards such as dredging components are present. The Coast Guard also reminds those persons and organizations associated with dredging and other commercial activities that cause or create navigation hazards to follow the requirements of the Navigation Rules, specifically Title 33, Chapter I, Subchapter E, Part 83, Subpart C, §83.27 (Rule 27). Failure to follow these regulations may result in federal fines or penalties in addition to any civil lawsuits that may be filed. For full details, please view the Safety Alert here: US. Coast Guard
(http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/cg545/alerts/1415.pdf)


The preceding USCG Safety Alert contains very important information that all recreational boaters should be aware of!!! Please click on the link to see the full alert. This is especially important in our part of the world where dredging will be continuing in the Bayport Channel through at least the first half of 2016 (re: my latest report on this project in the current edition of The Texas Mariner (http://texasmariners.com/images/Newsletter/2016/January_2016.pdf ) on pages 7-9. And then, as I wrote in the December edition: "I don't mean to write only about dredging, but that is one of the things that I pay the most attention to in the Lone Star Harbor Safety Committee meetings that I go to. It affects us all, it is never done, and there is more coming in late 2016, specifically this time dredging in the HSC all the way from Redfish to Morgan's Point!"
There will also be ongoing dredging projects during 2016 at various locations in the GIWW in both directions from Bolivar Roads, and so we will all need to be paying close attention to these projects as we traverse these waterways this year!

Fair winds to all, and stay alert and safe!

Philip Kropf
TMCA Past Commodore (www.texasmariners.com)
Recreational Boater Rep to the USCG Area Maritime Security Committee (AMSC)
Recreational Boater Rep to the USCG Port Coordination Team (PCT)
Recreational Boater Rep to the Lone Star Harbor Safety Committee (LSHSC) www.lonestarhsc.org
Recreational Boater Rep to the Central Texas Coastal Area Committee (CTCAC) www.ctcac.us 

***

And really, if you ever run into Pilip Kropf DO thank him for all the work he does to support recreational boating in Galveston Bay.
Actually, I recommend you go out of your way to "run into" him.
To THANK him, that is! 

Miss Pris

Thanks for sharing the sad news, Bee.  Butch recently built a mainsail for my boat and during our conversations he spoke fondly of his dad ... I know he hasn't had enough of him.  Very sad indeed. 

The Bee stings ... that hurt!   



And you made me laugh so hard I spittled all over my computer.   

Ya know, I've wondered about the Karma points thing ... much more fun to wonder about these types of things than find out ...

Quote from: Bee on December 29, 2015, 02:10:55 PM
How about everyone on board dressing up in HOT PINK?

Minus 65 is not negative enough for that comment.   

Which reminds me, the afternoon of Saturday May 4, 1985 I got to visit with the Karma Police.
They gave me an orange.
Life is good.

Well, Jim misunderstood my post and did not use my links to see the products (tsk tsk   ) so a double stack is still available

Hi Jim,

You got it!  I'll give you a call in the morning.

Pris

You got it!  Sent you a PM.

Pris

Two triples, max 1/2" lines, $75 each, $125/both.
($150 each new)
http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|118|2358482|2358483&id=116010
Defender item #603161  Schaefer model #704-81

Two double-stack, max 1/2" lines, $95 each, $175/both.
($186 each new)
http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|118|2358482|2358483&id=115824
Defender item #603145, Schaefer model #704-30

All are clean and in great condition.

(Copy and paste the links, clicking on them doesn't go to the product.)

Gahhh, this is personally so sad for me, not only did my boat abduct me in Annapolis, I've walked past the AYC many times (among other reasons) going to the Annapolis Boat show.  The Amazing Philip Kropf provided this list of links to info about the fire.  It may have started from the Christmas tree.

http://patch.com/maryland/annapolis/breaking-fire-annapolis-yacht-club-0
https://storify.com/MarylandPatch/annapolis-yacht-club-fire
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/massive-fire-rips-through-historic-annapolis-yacht-club/
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/breaking/cgnews-annapolis-yacht-club-on-fire-20151212-story.html
https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrBT4JDr21WMkIAinVXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEydHA3bnZiBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMzBHZ0aWQDQjExNzhfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=Annapolis+Yacht+Club+Fire&fr=yfp-t-901-s

The donations link currently says, Please hold your donation??  Not sure what is up with that - several thou$and donated already.

THANK YOU!   

 
http://wtop.com/maryland/2015/12/fire-breaks-out-at-annapolis-yacht-club/slide/4/

If you would like to help with the fundraising effort:

https://www.crowdrise.com/annapolisyachtclubfi/fundraiser

Here's the scoop:

Plans have changed Again, from 12,000 sf now to 40,000 sf., the new location is very close to the original proposed location.  The goal of raising $1.5 million was exceeded ... but since the plans have changed ...

Construction is expected to start next spring and finish late 2017.

The museum is working on a new web page, and here is a link with a video, drawings, and more info about the new museum:
http://www.buildhmm.com/

I asked about using the Bayport Cruise Terminal and one of the reasons it is not being considered is because the proposed location at the Port of Houston is more accessible and has other nearby attractions.