FishingNosara Futbol!

One of the best parts about the green season is that our staff gets a little time off to pursue all Costa Rican's great passion: Futbol!

The guys are participating in a friendly league for the next two months and anyone who is visitng is welcome to play. The games are on Tuesday nights and the cost is $2 (just to cover field maintenance and lights).

Oh, and fair warning: Captain William is the best soccer play you have ever seen. Seriously. 

July 26, 2013 - Day 471

It's hard to believe that three weeks have passed since the last post, but know that we have been neck-deep in The Discoverer Project for every second of it and we have some excellent results to report.

In the last post we completed our epoxy sleeves for any bolts through the decks.

We turned our attention to final details and we doggedly approach painting time; first up was filling small fiberglass pit-pockets with a muddy mix of polyester resin and phenolic microballoons:

This stuff finished off so smooth after sanding that we decided to coat the entire deck and floor with the same process:

It's always the out-of-the-way spots on boats that are the tricky ones, and Craig set about chasing down potential water intrusion spots in every conceivable place.

During this work it was discovered that the sides of the boat in the rear had too much flex in them for our liking, so we added a horizontal fiberglass stabilizer from the lip of the fuel deck to the outer hull.

We patched in a small overlap section in the back so that this repair would be continuous down the whole side of the boat.

We then backfilled the newly airtight cavity with Great Stuff Pond and Stone which is much more water-resilient than open-cell Great Stuff.

Matt enclosed some raw wood under the console which was so out-of-the-way that an access panel needed to be cut in the bathroom floor:

Craig continued to chase last minute items:

The nose:

The mid-ship access covers (freshly cut and wrapped in fiberglass):

The feet around the fighting chair mount:

Fuel tank rear supports:  

Final clean-up and wipedown:

Lastly, we are lifting the level of the footpads about 1/8 of an inch where they bolt to the deck.

Plus it adds that much more strength and resistances to water intrusion in this critical area.

So where was Matt during all this?

Let's get painting!

July 27, 2013 - Day 472

It took a whirlwind day of painting, but we sprayed every drop of gelcoat we had and have a pretty good jump on the paint work for The Discoverer Project.

Our pal Ginno was the trigger-man with Matt backing him up on the mixing station.

We're pretty pumped that our gelcoat spraying technique worked out and we got two coats on before running out of materials. We are certainly excited for the next 15 gallons to arrive on Thursday so we can finish this thing off!

August 3, 2013 - Day 480

Ah the misery of logistics! Just when we were getting a head of steam built painting the white part of the boat, The Discoverer Project hit a snag when we ran out of gelcoat, hardener, and paint strainers.

We waited 6 days for our Thursday delivery from FGCI and there is only so much piddling around one can do on a boat that is all ready for paint.

Then on the fateful day to spray, Ginno the painter called off because he had some other projects to do. We decided to proceed with the final paint work ourselves rather than putting the project off any further.

We started by hand brushing gelcoat over any spots in the hull that needed extra material, and as it set-up we sprayed more material over the top.

Also, Matt came back around and filled in the couple of square feet where the lack of white gelcoat had hampered our first spray. Check out the rear transom deck, finally completed:

All told we are pumped to have reached this point, but the next challenge is equally murky and daunting: how to best prepare this gelcoat-only paint job to make it look shiny and new.

We are planning on wetsanding the whole thing with P400, P600, P800, and P1000 over the next few weeks. Until then we are proud of this result:

August 8, 2013 - Day 485

Still rocking and rolling on the paint work for The Discoverer Project. First up we slid the tripod boat stands a few feet so that we could spray in those areas:

Also we discovered that one of the tripods was hiding a dirty little secret: two cavities in the hull that went all the way to the original fiberglass. Here is the repair process:

Most recently we rolled, brushed, and sprayed some nice marine grey gelcoat into all the sub-deck areas.

Also we have gone around the new paint job filling in tiny little air pockets...these look rough now but will sand down beautifully.

• Entry level package for up to 3 anglers.
• 5 nights in Casa Tranquilo, Casa Surfeando or Apartemento (sleeps up to 3 persons)
• Three Half-days (5 hours) of fishing on 27' Explorer. Each trip includes water, fruit, snacks, and tackle. Choice of morning or afternoon start time.
• $2100 Total
• $700 per person

• Entry level package for 4 anglers.
• 1 week (7 nights) in Casa Bonita, Casa Caribe or Casa Jardin (sleeps up to 6 persons)
• Three Half-days (5 hours) of fishing on 31' Wanderer. Each trip includes water, fruit, snacks, and tackle. Choice of morning or afternoon start time.
• $2800 Total
• $700 per person

• Fully-loaded package for 6 anglers.
• 1 week (7 nights) in Casa Capitan (sleeps up to 9 persons)
• Three Full days (8 hours) of fishing on 31' Wanderer. Each trip includes water, fruit, snacks, lunch, and tackle.
• Include Four Passenger Safari Cart for 7 days.
• $4500 Total
• $750 per person

• Mixed fishing package for 2 anglers.
• 1 week (7 nights) in Casa Bonita, Casa Caribe or Casa Jardin (sleeps up to 6 persons)
• Kayak Safari Tour. Trip includes water, fruit, snacks, guide, equipment, and lunch.
• Fishing Safari Tour. Trip includes water, fruit, snacks, guide, equipment, and lunch. Choice of river mouth or beach casting.
• Three Half-days (5 hours) of fishing and/or snorkeling on 23' Adventurer. Trip includes water, fruit, snacks, and tackle. Choice of morning or afternoon start time.
• $1540 Total
• $770 per person

• Romantic getaway for couples.
• 1 week (7 nights) in Casa Tranquilo or Casa Surfeando (sleeps 2)
• Champagne and Chocolate Check-in
• In-house couples massage for two.
• In-house Breakfast for 5 days includes assorted local breads, fruit, yogurt, coffee, and juice.
• Full service cleaning including wash/dry/fold laundry.
• Private 2 person Horseback Mountain or Kayak Safari Tour. Trip includes water, fruit, snacks, guide, equipment, and lunch.
• Sunset fishing trip (2.5 hours) on 31' Wanderer. Trip includes water, fruit, cookies and champagne.
• $2000 Total
• $1000 per person

• Nature exploration package for 2 persons.
• 1 week (7 nights) in Casa Tranquilo, Casa Surfeando or Apartemento (sleeps up to 3 persons)
• Kayak Safari Tour. Trip includes water, fruit, snacks, guide, equipment, and lunch.
• Horseback Mountain Safari Tour. Trip includes water, fruit, snacks, equipment, guide, and lunch.
• Snorkel Safari Tour. Trip includes water, fruit, snacks, guide, equipment, and lunch.
• Two bicycles for 7 days.
• In-house couples massage for two.
• $1400 Total
• $700 per person

• Fully-loaded package for families up to 9 people.
• 1 week (7 nights) in Casa Capitan (sleeps up to 9 persons)
• In-house Breakfast for 5 days includes assorted local breads, fruit, yogurt, coffee, and juice.
• Full service cleaning including wash/dry/fold laundry.
• One Half-day (5 hours) of fishing on 31' Wanderer. Each trip includes water, fruit, snacks, and tackle. Choice of morning or afternoon start time.
• Safari Tour for up to 8 people (Snorkeling, Kayaking, Horseback, Fishing, Surfing, Eco). Trip includes water, fruit, snacks, guide, equipment, and lunch.
• Include Six Passenger Safari Cart for 7 days.
• $5000 Total

Airport Transportation

Lodging at Nosara Paradise Rentals

CHECK OUT: Safari Cart Gage section of the FishingNosara Blog.