The boats are on the hill and the houses sit empty, but the action never stops at Nosara Paradise Rentals and FishingNosara. Like all great franchises, we don’t rebuild…we reload!
It’s the rainy season in Nosara during the months of September and October, so this is the time of year when our team prepares for another great season.
Last year the FishingNosara crew obliterated every record on the books for trips run and billfish released, while the staff of Nosara Paradise Rentals established a new high mark with over 500 weeks of rental guests on the books.
The boat crews are hard at work getting the fleet refit for another record-breaking campaign.
The Wanderer takes center stage as she has been dis-assembled and prepped for a fresh coat of white and blue:
The main focus of this off-season is the rebuild the cabin of the flagship Wanderer.
This cabin has served us well, but the lesson we have learned from the Discoverer and Harvesteris that wood is a liability…therefore we plan to rebuild the cabin out of super-strong and lightweight Coosa Wood.
The crew has been preparing for a month now for Craig, Matt, and Brian’s arrival next week.
We plan to have the process complete inside of a week, just in time for the start of the fishing season in November.
Meanwhile, the property staff is keeping ahead of the aggressive Nature preserve by trimming the dead crown of this tree over Casa Bonita.
They also trenched out a segment of the land for a new wall on the north edge of the campus.
You think you’ve had problems digging through a root…look at this monster:
Of course all the buildings get treated to a fresh coat of paint, including our main office in Guiones Beach:
It’s the rainy season in Nosara during the months of September and October, so this is the time of year when our team reloads for another great season.
Last year the FishingNosara crew obliterated every record on the books for trips run and billfish released, while the staff of Nosara Paradise Rentals established a new high mark with over 500 weeks of rental guests on the books.
The boat crews are hard at work getting the fleet refit for another record-breaking campaign.
The Explorer is the focus of this year’s boat work. With over 400 trips under her belt, the Super panga has outperformed all exceptions. However there are a few rough spots that we hope to address during the next two months.
Captain David and Captain Carlos have already strengthened the soft spots in the floor with fresh fiberglass.
Mate Kevin assisted Captain David in adapting our new outriggers to the existing outrigger bases…funny how new stuff never lines up perfectly with old stuff.
Lastly they rolled the whole Super panga with a fresh coat of white and grey gelcoat, plus added a sweet chair for the Captain.
The flagship Wanderer was thoroughly rebuild last year so she is still good-to-good as the best fishing vessel in the area. However last season in our haste we ran all over our freshly painted interior and left smudges that only a sander could remove. After a complete sand-down the Wanderer‘s interior was rolled with a fresh layer of bright white gelcoat.
This time we left it to cure for several days and the quality of the result is obvious. The exterior blue still looks good, however the local bottom paint has been shy about sticking to the fresh gelcoat from last season.
This now-iconic image of Charlie Phillip’s Marlin release revealed this adhesion problem, and left un-
We are currently experimenting with different sanding and paint combinations to make sure the next layer of black bottom paint adheres without incident.
First Mate Alex poured time into maintaining his ‘office’ by completely refinishing the fighting chair.
Panga
The growth of FishingNosara has substantially increased the burden on the local panga drivers of Garza Bay, and with the increased traffic comes increased chance of delays.
To remedy this we are proud to introduce our new addition to the fleet of Garza transport vessels. The new Transporter was ordered from NBC Boatworks / FibroMaster and picked up from Nicaragua last month.
This is the same builder of the Explorer and Adventurer, so we know that is it up to the challenge of ferrying supplies, anglers, and crew from the beach.
Captain David is our resident expert in marine construction, so he took the lead fashioning a beautiful floor for the new panga.
Marino helped to sand the beams to perfect level with the horizontal stringers, and David attended to the final details to make all the pieces fit smoothly.
It goes without saying that this is the sweetest little panga boat you’ve ever seen!
Meanwhile, we have two exciting expansions to announce at Nosara Paradise Rentals. The first is the acquisiton of our newest property, Casa Serene. This oversized studio is intended to fill the needs of the couple or small family wanting the intimacy of a studio combined with the larger property footprint of a two-bedroom house.
The current structure sits next to Casa Caribe and beside Casa Jardin. This pushes the outer perimeter of our campus to the main access road, so this privacy wall will deliver the level of quiet and comfort that our guests expect.
Of course the ink was barely dry on the sales agreement by the time Javier had a few guys over there starting with the renovations. Javier is a building machine!
Casa Serene features the same authentic Tico archetecture of Casa Tranquilo and Casa Surfeando. The difference with Casa Serene is that we will open up the floorspace of two small units into one oversized studio.
The staff is hard at work getting Casa Serene ready, and we can’t wait to see the results.
North Loop Office
We are very excited to introduce the new FishingNosara office located on the North Loop of Guiones Beach near Kaya Sol and Guilded Iguana.
This office will serve as the headquarters for our airport transfer drivers and also offer fishing trips, safari tours, and safari cart rentals. Only 1km from our main office, this substation will serve the community of surfers and vacationers who come to the North Loop and never make it over our way.
This office used to be our off-campus house Olas Pequinos until Craig and Javier began the reconstruction back in May.
Here’s how Craig’s magic marker works:
Front:
Side:
Back Wall:
Landscape Barrier:
We managed to transplant a few of these trees back to the main campus which adds that much more vegetation to the nature preserve.
Front Entry:
Once all the major reconstruction was complete the crew plowed ahead with the new parking lot and garden. Also a fresh coat of paint helps the new office really pop out of the jungle.
We are in the process of furnishing the new office and expect to have it open for business on November 5.
Back in the US we are burning the candle at both ends to finish up and deliver the Discoverer to the boys in Garza.
The boats are on the hill and the houses sit empty, but the action never stops at Nosara Paradise Rentals and FishingNosara. Like all great franchises, we don’t rebuild…we reload!
The Explorer is the focus of this year’s boat work. With over 400 trips under her belt, the Super panga has outperformed all exceptions. However there are a few rough spots that we hope to address during the next two months.
Captain David and Captain Carlos have already strengthened the soft spots in the floor with fresh fiberglass
They also plan to revamp the cabinets in the consoles, touch up some hasty mid-season fiberglass repairs, and of course go around the entire boat and service every bolt, nut, and washer with fresh 5200.
The Wanderer received such a thorough rebuild last off season that this year the maintenance is mostly cosmetic.
Clearly a new coat of bottom paint is in order, along with a new set of stickers for the prow (look close…the port side says “WAND_RER”
First Mate Alex is redoing the finish and stain on his custom fighting chair. This item takes a lot of abuse from clients during the year so it needs to be tightened up. In addition to being an excellent carpenter and a world-class fisherman, Alex is a perfectionist and will do whatever it takes to get this piece up to his high standards.
The property staff is also busy getting Nosara Paradise Rentals ready for another banner year. As usual all of the houses are getting fresh paint and varnish, but the real star of this year’s work is the facelift for Casa Caribe.
This two bedroom house on the outer perimeter of the Nature Preserve has pleased many clients over the years, yet we never loved the drab pastels of the paint scheme, especially the pumpkin orange.
Here’s the new look of electric blue and yellow. These pictures barely do it justice, but believe me that now this house POPS out of the jungle.
Also the upstairs patio deck was starting to get a little soft so in the interest of safety and longevity we ripped out the old deck and installed a completely new one.
If you need someone to defy gravity you can always count on Grevan Hernandez…Look how he flies with the greatest of ease!
So the property staff is on the houses and the boat guys are on the boats, so where do you think the office guys are?
That’s right…Repainting and reorganizing the office!
Anybody want to help Arturo inventory the our shirts?
Didn’t think so!
Work continues and we look forward to sharing the results in the October report.
Anyone who has been to Garza is impressed by the authentic, laid-back nature of this classic little fishing village. However this rustic feel has it’s drawbacks as municipal services are slow to react to the growth in popularity of fishing in Garza.
Trash accumulation is one of these services that are lacking, so we took the initiative to create this garbage collection station to help keep Garza clean and beautiful.
Nice work by Javier, Arturo, and the rest of the NPR staff to put this project together. If everyone pitches in then we can keep Garza clean without sacrificing her native authenticity.
Time for another installment of the FishingNosara maintenance odyssey! This time, the crew of the Wanderer replaces mooring point in Garza bay that we have used for over 3 years to tie off the beloved flagship.
You can see here that the rope itself has begun to fray and stretch:
Not pictured are the four 55-gallon drums filled with concrete that serve as the anchor point for this rope at the bottom of the bay. Captain William and Alex prepared a new floating ball system and affixed it to a hefty length of 2-inch diameter marine-grade rope.
Next up the boys strapped on the re-breathers and dove down to the bottom. Let’s hope no vengeful Sailfish find their way into Garza and exact revenge on the two most productive fisherman in the area!
Everything went smoothly below the surface and the Wanderer is sitting pretty on her new leash. Excellent work by the best crew in Costa Rica on the water, on land and even under the water!
Time to see if all the hard work pays off! The entire FishingNosara team was on hand to re-launch the refitted and repainted Wanderer.
As usual we waited for the high tide to peak at the western end of Garza, then David backed the mighty Wanderer into position on the shoreline.
Here is her last view of the shore without the water in the way for the next 9 months.
All hands were required to push her in, so we don’t have photos of that endevor, but you can always check out the Explorer Beach Launch Video to get the idea.
Our flagship vessel should now be ready for another 600+ great trips and she looks better than ever.
The refinished wood cabin, fighting chair, and teak covering boards are the eye-catchers, but those who have followed the Wanderer refit know how many essential non-cosmetic repairs went into the refit.
It was a grisly couple of months, but the sight of the blue beauty in the water and ready to fish makes it all worth the effort.
Thanks everyone for the great response to the Wanderer refit thread. Here are some fresh photos of the flagship as we get ready for our fishing season to kick off next week.
We addressed the Morse code-esque holes along the rear lip of the hull where a few generations of trim tabs used to be:
Next up was installing the rub rail and the thru-hull fittings on the outer hull. Lots of 5200 now means less troubles later!
The boys also tightened up the transom deck and painted over the fiberglass repairs from the trim tabs. The end result is a new-looking transom that should provide years of good service.
While Captain William and First Mate Alex tidy up the flagship and get her rigged with fresh line and new tackle, Captain David and Captain Carlos painted the bottoms of the Explorer and Adventurer to match the bad black on the Wanderer. This look helps tie the fleet together and should last much longer than the chip-prone blue paint we’ve used in the past.
It’s been a whirlwind eight weeks but I am proud to report that all three FishingNosara boats are ready to rock and roll! Keep a sharp eye the FishingNosara blog for catch reports, photos, and videos from the Best Sportfishing team in Costa Rica!
Craig and Captain Jack have completed their first day of finalizing the Wanderer repairs. Here are the highlights:
First up was to fix the constellation of screw holes in the transom where the trim tabs have broken off multiple times (Thanks snorkelers!) and water had begun to intrude. Here’s what we were looking at back in September:
The water dripping down the rail tells the tale. We overdrilled these rotted holes until we found good wood and then left these holes under heat lamps for the last month. Confident in their dryness, the boys filled all the holes with fresh fiberglass.
We removed the trim tab piston (see the three hole pattern at the top of the photo) and snatched the pump out too…Captain William doesn’t even use trim tabs! He is able to trim the Wanderer with the motor tilt alone, so this will clean up the transom a bit.
We had a small intrusion spot on the port gunnel, so Jack and Craig cut out and replace a large precautionary section. Jack has gotten a crash course in this kind of work recently on The Discoverer Project.
A fresh layer of glass and it should be ready to go.
Lastly we have installed some of First Mate Alex’s master carpentry into the Wanderer. Here’s the bathroom door:
The fighting chair is an amazing redesign. Behold:
Here’s the big surprise. Polynesian Teak covering boards for the cockpit:
Once the glue dries and we get the batteries off, this is gonna be a beauty.
It’s the rainy season in Nosara and we all know what that means….boat maintenance time! The captains and crew have the grounds of Nosara Paradise Rentals all to themselves and are dead-set on reloading the fleet for another record setting season. Let’s take a lot around the grounds:
The Explorer looks good as usual, and it’s required repairs are relatively minor and cosmetic.
The Adventurer is so new that it only requires some screw tightening. That only leaves…
The mighty Wanderer! After 3 years and nearly 600 trips our flagship is quite ready for a complete repaint and refit. This craft has taken everything that the Costa Rican environment could throw at her and is still hanging tough, but if you want a boat the last for 30 years you can’t skimp on the upkeep.
Our typical offseason painting on the boats consists of spot fixes and lots of masking tape. It is our goal to bring this paint job back up to the original level that we shipped to Nosara, so we are disassembling as much as possible. No tape lines on this boat!
Back in 2009 we were satisfied with the condition of the cabin, but now it is time for the chambers to get some TLC. The wood is still good in the cabin, but the paint is beginning to fade. Also we are deleting the hardwood shelves that ran along the sides of the cabin in order to save weight and reduce clutter.
The fuel tanks were another issue of concern. Three years ago we installed the tanks in what we thought was a watertight compartment. We were so confident that we did not paint the tanks so they are vulnerable to even the smallest drop of moisture that could sneak through.
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Looks like we dodged a bullet there! This tank is almost exactly as we shipped her and we will not make the same mistake twice. A protective paint job and fresh foam will help us sleep a little easier at night.
Craig, Craig Jr., and Matty showed up on September 5 (one day after the big earthquake) and brought the requisite sanders, sandpaper and paint supplies. Removing the bottom paint is the hardest job we have ever asked of the boat crews, and despite the pain and itchiness they have made excellent progress stripping off 20+ years of old paint.
Despite the backbreaking discomfort of paint grinding, the crew jammed it out and kept their usual high spirits through the difficult times. One small step for man, huh David and Alex?
The prep work continues inside where the boys have dutifully taped off the cabin wood and started double-action sanding the floor, walls and ceilings.
First Mate Alex is an ace carpenter, so he is in charge of sanding and refinishing all of the cabin interior wood, the cabinetry, and the dis-assembly and cleaning of the fighting chair. Take a look at the shine on this wood:
With the fighting chair we have sanded all off the old gelcoat and have decided to let the beautiful wood grains shine thorough. Alex got his hands on a thick chunk of pichote wood and formed this exact replica.
Once everything is stained and put back together this should be a beautiful piece of functional fish-fighting art.
After a few days of sanding the bottom paint off, we realized that the boat’s trailer was obstructing our ability to reach all of the area. Furthermore the impeded access would create too many null spots where we would have to come back and paint later.
The solution is pure Tico engineering…using two bottle jacks and big sturdy tree limbs as lifts, these fellas propped up this 3000+ lbs boat and slid the trailer out from underneath.
Sure enough this change enabled Craig jr. and the crew to finish sanding the bottom of the Wanderer. In hindsight this is the first step we would have taken, and in the future we will do all boat work down here in a saddle similar to this one.
We also employed a little local knowledge in dealing with another persistent adversary: the rain! During the rainy season in Costa Rica you can count on at least one gutter washer per day, usually in the late afternoon.
Our crew rigged up a tarp roof out of four smaller tarps and it is suited to repel most of the direct rainfall. Still with the humidity hovering around 99% we have to deal with condensation forming on surfaces we are trying to prep.
Matty and Carlos spent the better part of two days getting all of this paper and tape to adhere to the hull. Most of the effort was in pre-wiping the surface with acetone and quickly applying the tape before the water could re-establish it’s hold.
Also we ran a little short of paper so we resorted to the local tabloids…not only does this boat now repel paint but is also helps keep us up to date on soccer scores and silver screen starlets.
There was prep work still underway in the cabin and cockpit when Craig Jr laid down the first coat of gelcoat on the bottom. In their fervor to scrap the old bottom paint off, the crew accidentally went too deep in spots and exposed the top layer of fiberglass.
Here is the final prepped surface before painting; notice that the rough spots have all be filled with fiberglass resin and sanded down flush. Hopefully these patches will blend seamlessly once sprayed.
We thinned the gelcoat by almost 50% in order to spray it (most painters apply gelcoat via brush) and Craig drew the unenviable task of applying this nasty stuff. The mix of acetone thinner and resin catalyzer was a potent brew that required full facemask respirators to work around.
Due to rain it took a whole day to apply the bottom coat and another long night of spraying to finish the transom and all of the deck pieces.
We were blown away by the great results from this chemistry experiment. Check out the smooth coverage of our two gallons of sprayed gelcoat:
It was around this time that disaster struck: our Dupont Imron paint had been seized by the Costa Rican port authorities. Apparently our shipping agent forgot to declare the paint products and our precious supplies disappeared into the underworld.
We first learned of this issue on September 6 and after two weeks of fruitless phone calls, the boat was nearly prepped and the whole project would come to a screeching halt without paint.
The boat crews stayed on task like true soldiers and finished up the surrounding work while the gringos set about figuring out how to paint this boat.
FishingNosara is famous for taking a bad situation and turning it into a legendary result, and the repaint of the Wanderer had become a bad situation. Finally the solution hit Craig Sutton like a bolt of lightning to the forehead: “Let’s gelcoat the whole dadgum thing.”
After all, every Tico panga boat you see gets an annual coat of gelcoat slathered on via brush and you can buy the stuff at any hardware store. The DuPont paint is world-class, and as such it is hard to find in such a remote location.
If we could combine the Tico’s time-proven approach of gelcoating with the gringo spray technique and attention to detail, then we might have a real one-of-kind result that will look great and last a long time.
Craig called on the experts: he asked Charlie Keen of the Discoverer Project and our good buddy Chappy if gelcoat would adhere well to fiberglass. Their replies were identical: “Well that is what it’s made for, Craig.”
Convinced, we dispatched Cumi to the Sur paint store in Nicoya and he retuned with 8 gallons of white gelcoat, 2 gallons of black bottom paint, 16 cans of acetone thinner, 10 more rolls of masking tape, and a few ounces of blue pigment.
On September 16, Craig Jr. and Matty set about turning this nightmare into a dreamboat. They hustled through the last few repairs on the boat, most significantly patching the old rubrail bolts and touching up last September’s front pulpit repair.
By 5pm all the fiberglass had cured and Carlos finished the final acetone wipedown. Normally the rains blow through at this time of night but it was an eerily clear evening; also Matty and Craig Sr. were scheduled to fly back to Florida to next morning.
The die was cast: all-night paint session!
Craig Jr. started with the hardest part which was the front cabin. This entire area was masked off tighter than the lid on a Pringles can, and literally every second of spray exposed Craig’s skin to low-grade chemical burns. Oxygen was scarce and only a small household fan was available to provide circulation.
This is what hell on Earth looks like:
After that horrible experience, the remainder of the interior was a breeze.
The floor was a little tricky, but the momentum was building and there was no stopping us now. Craig Sr. came through with dinner around midnight and the boys continued hammering away with only a few Flor de Cana breaks.
By 4am Craig Jr. was working down the sides…the home stretch!
They finished the job at 5:30am just in time for Matty to load up and head off to the airport. With his last gasp of energy, Craig Jr. issued the following orders to the crew: Don’t touch the paint, and take the sanding operation to the other side of the property.
After 12 well-deserved hours of sleep (and cure time for the white top), Craig Jr. kept the ball rolling by spraying the bottom paint:
Then came back on Saturday to apply the final coat of blue-tinted gelcoat.
After two weeks of worrying and stressing (not to mention almost working the crew to death), the Wanderer shines like a new dime.
Captain William is pumped with the finish, and Craig Jr. looks relieved to be on the way back home. The boys will finish up with the cleaning and will begin pre-assembling the components over the next four weeks.
Craig Sr. and Captain Jack will be back in late-October for the final tightening and water testing. After this process the FishingNosara flagship will be lighter, cleaner and shinier than ever.
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With the fighting chair we have sanded all off the old gelcoat and have decided to let the beautiful wood grains shine thorough. Alex got his hands on a thick chunk of pichote wood and formed this exact replica.
