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We have had a great first week. Everything has gone well so far. The planning is a process we are still going through at this point trying to keep going forward and still figure out what really needs to get done now and what can wait until later. Rob Ellyn and I have come up with a bunch of  good ideas for the best way to get what we need done this time and how to get it done well and keep the cost down. Doing a bunch of the work ourselves is going to be a huge savings. As we start week 2 we hope to have the windows in and the varnish well under way so we can start paint on week 3.

The covering boards are so thin that we decided to go with new ones. We found the wood here in Kona at Hardwoods. The reason we decided to go ne was that they were so thin that the 130 tackle would most likely crack these. It was missing over a 1/4 of an inch of meat and we really were not left with much to work with. The tuna tubes will need a wider board on the starboard side to be in the covering board so it made sense to replace these to fit the tubes and be strong enough to handle our tackle. The holder placement will be right for our needs and the transom will look new and freash.

We decided to keep the old windscreen off the boat. It was made out of plexiglass as well as the windows and just isn’t going to hold up to the Kona sun. The screen was put in very well and very hard to get out. I had to take it off when I was in Florida for the shipping over here. It would have been taken off for us by a bridge if we didn’t remove it. Barney and I got it out but I cracked a corner of it right at the end. We checked on a new one but it was going to be very expensive to keep replacing so I decided to wait till I got home to do something about it. We found that the new Gamefishermans don’t have them on them any more and most guys don’t put them back on so I am glad that I waited to make a new one. We bought a nice piece of mahongany and cut it to fit the groove that the windscreen fit into. We epoxied it in place screwing it in from the bottom so there will be a clean finish on top.

Mike Akazawa and Roberto of Akazawa painting are on the job again this year and are working on the front windows. They are curved around the port and starboard corners of the house. They are plexiglass and need to be replaced. The cost of real glass was going to be very high so we decided to make the solid glass instead and glass the seems in so there will be no leaking. We found leaks in the bottom corners where there was the beginning of a little rot but we saved it in time. We will either use this piece of glass the guys glassed over the plexiglass as our part or use it as a mold to make our new windows.

The windows on Gamefisherman boats are plexi glass and after 10 years or so need to be replaced. These were ready. The rest of the boat is in great shape. We have to cut the window trim out using a special tool and get the trims out with out breaking them. Epoxy the frames and fair them smooth so when the new windows go in we can get a good seal without any bubbles in the bedding material. I was able to safe all the trims and the task went well. We got the trims ready to put back in and the old widows to our friend Terry who is making the glass we are putting back in. They are getting tempered and will be back to us on Monday to go in.

The Redding family came out with us today looking for some small game and a day on the water. The bait was hard to find today but eventually we found a good school of bait to work. We caught a bunch of oi oi that Tracy saved for bait for later. We trolled a bit and before our half day ended found a pod of dolphins to see before we went in. We spent the afternoon working on the 40 til dark. We are going to be fishing a bit and working on the 40 every chance we get from now on.

Kona Transportation arrived with the boat today. She made it all the way to Kona without a scratch on her. Check out how low the low boy trailer was to the ground. Thanks to everyone involved in the transport she made it with no delays or damage. Barney at Skipper Shippers worked with Tim Bosche to get the boat loaded and across country. Kevin Jones At Kevco got her loaded to PASHA. And Albert at Kona Transportation got her from Hilo to Kona. The pictures you see here is of the unloading in Kona.

Gene Pence came back and did it again this year. Coming off of our first good day of three last year Gene started where he left off. We were able to find the porpoise early and got a early bite on the stick. The fish have been very hard to catch lately. They are rolling all over the surface and will not bite. We fish them for a couple of hours and left them to try for marlin but no bites.