Happy Anniversary To Us

Yep, 23 years of wedded bliss. When people ask me how long I have been married, I usually like to tell them, “forever”. The men usually nod, and the women usually smack me. But seriously, what keeps a man young if it isn't chasing around the woman that he loves. If I had a dollar for every sailor who told me that I don’t know how lucky I am, because a sailorly wife is hard to come by, I’d be a rich man. My standard answer to that is that I wouldn't be with someone who didn't share in my dreams, and I in hers. And, if Serena didn't want to go sailing, neither would I. So yes, I do feel pretty damn lucky.

Enough mushy. Sorry, middle age…….

We have opening ports in the salon. Woohoo. I got the idea from my friend Larry, who got the idea from someone else, who got it from another guy, and so on, and so on…. Install an opening port in the existing window pane. Our friends George and Mary have been using Beckson ports in their CS36 for years, and if its good enough for them, and good enough for Larry, its definitely good enough for us. Some people you just listen to, you know.

Removing the old windows was easy. The old bedding compound was leaking on our bunks every time it rained anyway, so it wasn’t holding all that well. Other than the putty knife coming out of the handle and promptly inserting itself into my hand, the first window was a breeze. Then I traced the required outline on the 3/8” plexiglass, cut the corners out with a hole saw, and then finished the job with a jig saw. Perfect fit, seriously; first try. I bedded the window using butyl tape. I decided to try butyl tape after it was recommended to me by a few really salty ol’ salts. The trick apparently is to use the black butyl tape, because the lighter colours are kinda gooey. It was pretty easy to work with, and if the first rain was any test, it works very good. It will continuously squeeze out over time, and will eventually need to be replaced like any other sealant. But, its cheap, $9.00 to bed both windows, which would have easily taken two tubes of 3M 4000, maybe more, at $17.00 per tube, and you can add some later if needed.

When I removed the window, I purposely left the inside frame still stuck to the fibreglass. That way it would be easy to line up the bolts for re-installation. Which worked great for the first window.

You bet, the first window was a breeze. The second window was such a pain in the ass that I was prepared to throw a match down below on the salon carpet, and walk away, man was I frustrated, and in pain, my fingers, my elbows, my knees, and my back were screaming at me full volume, and I kept repeating the same movements over and over again until it finally lined up. The last hole I had to take the drill to, because it was just off every so slightly, and just wouldn't go. Hopefully it will hold out water too, I don’t want to go through that again. Cross fingers, knock on wood.

Ain't she beautiful?

A wise ol’ man once told me that every time you see your boat it should make you heart race and put a smile on your face. Not unlike a good partner. Happy anniversary Baby.

Flashback - July 21, 1990.

We have Solar Power

I think October will make the solar panels 2 years old, but this morning is the first time they produced power. But, they do make power. Woohooooo.

Way back in the winter I blogged about the mounts that I had made for the solar panels which would allow them to move around in all directions. The concept didn't work the way I had planned. Not because of the mounts, but because the boat and the pushpit didn't work with the mount. So we compromised and mounted them flat above the new bimini. Marine Outfitters in Kingston was gracious enough to take back all of the fittings and pipe, and sell me the new stuff that I needed to build the following mounts. Its attached to the pushpit, and the toe rail, and it has two supports off of the back to stabilize it. It seems to work well, but it sags ever so slightly in the middle. Time will tell.

For people that have been following the blog, you may remember the slip I had with the drill bit way back when I was building the original mounts. Well, luckily it doesn't seem to have affected the panel. Knock on wood. Output for each panel is very close. We were getting 8.5 amps from the panels at lunch, which is pretty good for 170 watt PVs. The MPPT controller converts that to 9.5 amps to the batteries by milking the output for all its worth.

Also, you may remember a short time ago where I slipped with the hole saw and ripped a few components off the circuit board for the solar controller. Well, my friend Don was able to source the parts for me, after I got the part numbers from Blue Sky, and I soldered them into the board. As you can tell from above, we seemed to dodge yet another bullet. Mind you, while doing all this work, I broke the mount on the chart plotter, by leaning on it. I know, I know, that's what Serena said too. By the way Don, there is a 28 pack of Keiths in the back of my truck looking for a new owner, thanks so much for all your help.

Last post I mentioned the wind scoop, and moving docks.

The scoop is a godsend, thank you again Cabbage. There is a wind tunnel in the head, the boat is still at 36 degs, but the air moves.

Our previous dock was very close to land, and left us pointed to the east while the prevailing winds are from the west. It was next to impossible to get air flow down below, and it was cooking us slowly. So, we moved to the end of the club onto the visitors dock. It puts us further out from land, away from other boats, and pointed in the right direction. The improvement is incredible, and we are closer to the clubhouse, showers, etc...

There has been a fringe benefit that we did not expect though, and that is the wonderful people we have met. We started this whole cruising thing for a lot of different reasons, but one of them being to meet new people. Well, what better place to meet new people then on the "visitors" dock. There has been a constant parade of absolutely wonder people tied up beside us. Sharing their stories, and sharing in our adventures. Its awesome. My only complaint would be that they are often only there for one night, and it is devilishly hard to get to know someone in such a short time. Ironically, the people from our own yacht club have started to visit us more as well. Some just curious about the move, others missing us from our usual hangouts. Its hard to believe that one place can be more sociable and more secluded at the same time, but it is, and I can think of no better spot to spend the last 3 weeks at the club.

As an update. The batteries are doing much better. It looks like they have survived admirably. The only major thing that needs completion before we leave is the windlass, and I plan to start that on Sunday when this heat wave is expected to break. Nothing worse than sanding fibreglass while sweating through open pores, okay, some things, but not many.

There are still a dozen things that need blogging, and they will come eventually. This blog is already getting very lengthy, hitting the 2 year mark this fall, and I intend to keep it going as long as we are cruising. Some people have found it useful already, and like I said way back in the beginning, that's why it's here, many others have left a trail long before me, its just my turn.

Joke of the day.

Two men are golfing and one of them slices his ball over the hill into another fairway. When he goes to retrieve it, he stops at the top of the hill and comes back. He tells his buddy that he can't go get his ball because his wife and mistress are on the other side golfing together. So his buddy graciously offers to retrieve the ball for him. Stopping at the top of the hill and returning. He says to his friend, "small world isn't it".

Its Hot, Damn Hot.

We left the boat at 1:00 in the afternoon to go do laundry, and it was 36 deg C. down below, now that’s not really working weather. And, it was cooler in the boat than on the dock. I will admit that the generous donation from our friend Pat (aka. Cabbage), of a wind scoop over the front hatch, and moving docks has made a huge improvement to the circulation of air down below.

My apologies with the slow blogs. There is lots being done, but with the heat, and the exhaustion, there is no time or energy in the day for bloggin. I posted a small update from my Blackberry yesterday, but it was more like a status update to Facebook then it was a blog entry. Silly perhaps, but I was really sun f^@$ed. That’s my excuse, and I am sticking to it.

We are about three weeks away from leaving the dock, and about 3 months away from finishing the refit. We won’t be ready, but we are leaving anyway. I wish the boat was better prepared, but we’ll survive. Many of the projects will just have to get completed along the way. Unfortunately we will have to carry the supplies with us, and the boat is already starting to get a little heavy, especially in the stern. Ironically, about half of the lockers are still empty.

I mentioned in the last update the we had finished the bimini, and I know there are a lot of people curious about how we got a bimini on a Bayfield 29. Truth is, it was really easy.

The key was getting rid of the traveller on the aft rail, and moving it to just in front of the binnacle. The next step will be to mount the solar panels so that they extend the shade past the edge of the bimini to complete the sun shade. Way back in the winter I had made swivel mounts for the solar panels, but they don’t seem to work to well on the boat, so I am reengineering them right now. The mount will likely be more stable, but will lose some of its manoeuvrability.

We installed the chart plotter that we have had for about 2 years now. It works great, and although the position is open to the weather, I personally prefer it at the helm. I just need to make a nice cover for it. That will have to wait until I get parts for my sewing machine since I broke it working a sail for a friend.

We also installed a Raymarine X-5 Wheel Pilot. The boat came with an old Autohelm 3000, and it worked well, but it clutters up an already tight cockpit, plus you just never can tell when something that old is just going to give up the ghost. The new X-5 takes up much less space in the cockpit, and provides nicer control. As an added bonus, when the autopilot is engaged, it provides enough friction on the wheel that it can be left for short periods of time to fend for itself.

After installation the autopilot needs to be calibrated. So we left the dome, and drove out passed the breakwater. The engine performed fabulously, and after figuring out that the motor wires were backwards on the wheel pilot computer, the calibration went well. We shut off the engine and sailed home. Not much wind, 5 knots, but we were making 3 knots, so that is pretty good for a Bayfield. A good day.

Then Saturday when I performed my monthly check on my batteries, I found my three very expensive, brand new Trojan batteries boiled dry, or close enough to it. It took 4 litres of water to top them up. Under normal circumstances the batteries would be garbage, but these are Trojans, and it is starting to look like they may have survived the ordeal. How, I don’t know. I charged them up and we have been monitoring them very closely, with the battery charger turned off. Fingers crossed….. What happened was that the little 6 Amp Guest charger that we bought, although “smart”, gets stupid when there is a load on the battery bank and will continue to charge at 14.1V, which, if given enough time will completely boil a battery bank dry. Commonly called overcharging. With no load it goes down to a 13.3V float charge. Live and learn.

Also have most of the wiring finished. The mast lights are all wired, and working. The radios are up and running. I installed a red light over the Nav station that we use when we are not home, makes it easier to figure out where were stepping when coming aboard. I also installed a small light over my bunk for reading. The screws were so small that I had to use a pair of micro tweezers to hold it while I used a jewellers screw driver to put them in.

Its coming, I could use a break in the weather. Maybe 24 deg C in the daytime, 14 deg C at night, cloudy, and no rain, for a week. Does anyone have a favour they could cash in for me?

Quick Update

It's a quicky today. I am way behind in my blogging, I apologize, but it has been hot, and busy.

Highlights, we took the boat out and swung the new autohelm, yep, long story. Finished the Bimini. Went sailing kinda, the winds were really light. Almost finished the wiring. Boiled our batteries dry, still trying to determine the extent of the damage. Serena is burnt in white areas, that don't often see sun. We moved docks in the club, trying to find some wind. Went shopping, clothes and boat. All long stories that I will get to soon, I promise. Back sometime in the near future.

Fair winds.

And the Beat Goes On

 Sunsets on a boat.

The heat is on, too. Holy crap it’s hot. It’s a good thing we got acclimated to the heat by living in it, because there is no way we would be able to sleep at night otherwise. It is funny though that when the cabin gets down to 27 deg C. it starts to feel chilly. The fans help, they keep the moisture off of us while we sleep. The problem is during the day with the UV index maxed, and still trying to get work done. Both Serena and I are suffering from sun burns, and I have even started using sunscreen. There is a first for everything. I never once used sunscreen in Kandahar, Afghanistan, but on the boat…..

We have running water. Or at least manually operated running water. We removed the original pressure water system in order to save H2O. I eventually plan to connect pressure water from outside, but it’s not a priority yet. So we connected the taps, and filled the tanks, cleaning the gunk out, filling, cleaning the gunk out, filling…. You get it. The only issue was that I never changed the vent lines, and they were full of crap, crud, and corruption. So the next day we bought some new water line and replaced both vents. Now the system is clean, and I would feel fine using the tanks for drinking water. The problem though is that the tanks are not the size I thought they were. The previous owner told me that they were 40 gallons, the literature from Bayfield said they were 30 gallons, and after measuring we find that they are in fact 20 gallons each. Which means that we are short 30 to 40 gallons for happy cruising. I guess that will have to come in the form of 1 ½ litre water bottles stashed all over the boat for now. Eventually we may install a watermaker, but not this year.

Awe, our illustrious Captain. Okay, just me.

Wiring, wiring, and more wiring. We are getting close, I think, to finishing. Both blowers for the engine compartment are installed. One to bring air from the cabin, one to take air outside. All the wires that run through the cockpit lockers have been run. We are trying to finish up in them so that we can start filling them with stuff, and get it out of the truck. We have a masthead tri-light, the speakers have been mounted, we have new LED nav lights, of which the port bow light is more of a blue-green instead of green. The accessory plug is wired, so now we can start using all of our 12V stuff, like the vacuum and cell phone chargers. Its been slow, but there has been progress. Tonight I plan to finish wiring all the mast lights, the radios, and maybe the nav station. Cross fingers, knock on wood.

All the switches have been labelled, and you’ll notice in the picture, I am out. Have to get creative if another one is needed.

And this is the aluminum cage we built to go around the fridge compressor to protect it from things flying around the cockpit locker. I am thinking that I might wrap some pipe insulation around the lines, just to provide them with a little of the same. The cage is made of ½” x 1/8” aluminum, cut bent, and riveted together, right in the cockpit, not rocket science, but it works fantastically.

There is more, and I really should get to it all sooner or later. Problem is finding time to blog. This afternoon we are hiding in a laundry mat, making dirty cloths clean, and abusing their air conditioning. Hey, nobody is perfect….

Into Everyone’s Life a Little Rain Must Fall

Déjà vu, I think I have used this title before…….

I could have called it the propane fiasco, but that started giving me flashbacks too, for some reason, must have been from my time over seas.

Okay, the story begins a year and a half ago at the Toronto boat show where a deal offered itself to us. Two composite propane tanks from the Lite Cylinder Co.; stop me if you heard this one… I designed the propane lockers in our aft seat to hold these things of beauty, a little room for the gauge, the regulator and piping, etc. etc…..

For a year and a half they have followed us around waiting for the day that we would have the two burner stove with oven installed, connected, and making us eggs and toast. Then last week, after 3 days of running around looking for parts, we finally had the system up and running, filled both tanks, and tested for leaks. Of course the temperatures were in the 30`s, and nobody wants to cook in a tiny fibreglass bottle at 30 deg Celsius. Sunday morning the temperatures came back to human levels, and I decided to take away our stove`s virginity with a generous helping of fried eggs. It was great, the ENO stove was awesome, better than I ever expected.

Then the cloud of darkness came in the afternoon. Sorry Don, but thank you. Without you, we probably would have gone along obliviously until someone finally refused to fill the tanks, or we were removed from the planet in a rather spectacular flash. Our friends Don and Tracy let us know that they had read about a recall on our particular model, which said, ``stop using them immediately.`` We decided that we better get a little more information before throwing our $365 investment in the dumpster. So off to Timmy's free wifi. It turns out that the approving authority in the US had shut down the company. There is not a lot of information about the defects, sounds more like a bun fight between another high and mighty government agency and the little guy. Maybe they were short on their baksheesh. Anyway, the effect is that every tank ever made by the company was ordered destroyed (55000 units), and because the company is insolvent, there is no money for compensation.

Now I guess this would be good, depending on how you look at it. We dodged a potential bullet, and now shouldn’t have to worry about getting blown to bits. The loss of money is not a big deal, we`ve thrown away more than that before. Eventually, like all bleeding cuts, they heal up and go away. However, and here is the moral of the story, don`t build propane lockers to fit a particular bottle, make them bigger…..

It looks like we are going with steel tanks for now, as there is not quite enough room to fit in the aluminum ones, which would be our first choice for durability, weight, and corrosion resistance. After watching the gas leak out of the composites, removing the valves, and disposing of the tanks, we think we are done with the composite route. We`ll wait until the technology catches up.

Good news. Some more wiring is done. We moved out of the storage unit. Everything we own is either in the truck or the boat, with a little bit stored at Serena`s parents.  I started the ships log, still no entries, a weather log, and made a couple of entries in my journal. I bought a smaller guitar. A Taylor ¾ size. It was expensive, at least by our standards, but she is a beautiful piece of kit. I just have to learn to play it. And boat life is starting to kick in.

We are way behind our schedule. And I was starting to get the feeling that we were dangerously close to not going this year. Our friends told us no matter what, we have to go. “Don’t wait until its ready, just go…” So for them and for our own sanity, we are renewed in our quest to get off the dock this year. The shakedown might just happen on the way to Oswego and the Erie canal.

Breakfast of champions. Thanks again Don for the loan of the propane tank.