Trip Planning Begins

Monday I drove to Toronto to drop off my transmission. I know that it would probably have been cheaper to ship it, but I find that when you are getting someone to do work for you then a face to face meeting usually makes the work more personal, and usually a little better. Plus, I had some Mason's chandlery bucks left over that were about to expire. Although in hind sight, I should have just went to West Marine and paid full price rather than drive to the other end of the city; note for next time. I also wanted to go to the Nautical Mind Book Store. I have been ordering from them for years but never was able to get to the store. I tried a few times as an after-thought while we were in the city, but was never able to find it, this time I took a map.

The transmission was a good deal, because the wholesale dealer messed up not correcting their database to show the transmission discontinued the lady at Eastmar Marine guilted them into doing the rebuild themselves for a 4 hour charge plus parts. So apparently this is something special and I have lucked out. Guess we'll know after going to the Bahamas and back.

The Nautical Mind,,,, if your a book junkie, and a sailing junkie, don't ever go there. If you do, you will while away hours of you life, drive whoever is with you crazy, and go home much poorer than you came. I went with a list, and the store isn't any bigger than my bedroom. I put $2 in the meter which gave me 40 mins. I ran out later, 15 min after my ticket expired, and put in another $1 for an additional 20 min, then when I left that ticket was 15 mins overdue, and I was really rushing it; with a list.

 After much deliberation, these are the books I decided to get. Guides and charts are expensive, and as much as I would like to have them all, its just not in the budget. We have several copies of the Canadian and American charts that we need. Mostly electronically, in several formats, but some in paper. However we need the ones for the Bahamas. The Explorer Chartbooks seem to be the most often recommended, so I went for the them. There are 3 for the Bahamas, but I figure that we will not likely make it that far down until the next year. We'll only have three of four months, and we are taking our time. For guides I chose the Waterway guides, the Chesapeake, the ICW, and the Bahamas. The Northern one would have been nice, but it covers a small area of where we will be, and I didn't think the extra $50 was worth it. I also picked up Nigel Calder's Diesel Engines book, it will soon be time to become intimate with the grey beast under the companionway. I don't particularly like the Waterway guides, being spoiled by the Ports guides up here in Canada; the format is lacking. However, they did seem to have the most information, and the most pertinent information. Now all I have to do is rip out all the adds so the books can be as small a possible.

 I also picked up Scott and Wendy Bannerot's Handbook of Fishing. I have been a pretty avid fisherman for many years, making my own lures, and being fairly successful on the water. However moving over to saltwater and bigger fish needs a little schooling. And, this is about the only book in the game. My intention is to enjoy the bounty of the sea, and this book is going to help me prepare. Guess I'll be making some new lures this winter.

 Lastly I threw in some pictures of my latest project. It was recommended by one of our old salts down at the club that I replace the boom before I go, with something a little heftier. After spending time and money extending the original, it seems kind of sad, but I think he is right. I bought a mast off of a Bayliner Bucanneer 28. The guy uses it for a cottage/motorboat and has no use for the mast.

 The new boom works out to be almost twice as strong as the original. And it has more room on the sides for mounting blocks, cleats, and a small winch for the clew reef points.

I'll have to build a new piece for the gooseneck, and set up where the lines will go. Then I have to sand off the black paint, prime and paint it before the spring. Its black, and Vita's spars are white. I am also reengineering the whole system with a shorter boom and moving the mainsheet in front of the binnacle. That way we have room for a bimini, and we get that damn mainsheet off my back, literally.

That's all. I am in the woods this week trying to get enough firewood for next winter, in case we are stuck here for another year. I am hopeful, if not confident that we will be gone, but I also need to prudent and responsible. Sometimes being an adult is hard work.

Winter is coming......

Sewing is done. Well, almost. I have a couple of small jobs I am going to do for people over the winter, and a bunch of jobs for us. But other than that, its all finished, whole pile of happy customers and a tired out Tailor or seamster, or sewer, or outdoor products specialist, uhhhh....... I tried to find out what to call a man who sews, but there seems to be no consensus on the matter. Tailor doesn't quite fit, masochist comes close, but not really appropriate or particularly relevant. Oh well, have to stick with Rob I guess. Maybe Rob the guy who sews, kind of like Bob the Builder, oops that's me too. Too many names, maybe Rob the omnipotent, ha ha, yeah right. Serena reminds me that its more like Rob the pain in the ass. So Rob it is.....Sewing is just something else I do, like laundry, dishes, and changing the oil in the truck.

If you got this far into the post, there is actually boat stuff....

I finished sewing on Wednesday, so Thursday I went down to work on the boat, clean up the club house from the mess I made, and meet with the last few customers so they could pick up their stuff and pay me. I only charged for the materials that I used to complete their specific jobs, plus a tiny bit to go toward the shipping and handling and my gas to get there, that's it, so it was pretty cheap for these guys. I did get that much more experience, and I had fun, so it was well worth it to me. The last customer to see me yesterday, and in fact the only one, owed me $50 for restitching his mainsail cover and putting in a new zipper; restitching his bimini top and putting in two new zippers; patching and stitching some bad spots in his mainsail, and restitching the UV protection strip on his genoa. He paid me $100 cash and gave me a 40 oz bottle of 12 yr old single malt scotch to boot. I felt guilty taking it, offered him change, but he would not accept it. It was a very nice gesture, especially the scotch. But I felt like I owed him, maybe my fist born, but she's 23, and that's illegal in this country. Oh well, guess I can be bought cheap, cause now I feel like I owe him.

Regardless... This is supposed to be about the boat.

Cleaned everything out of the boat. And emptied all the areas of any water, stuffing box, bilge, anchor locker, etc.... So the boat is ready for winter. I did leave food in the fridge, but didn't realize it until I got home, so I'll have to go back soon. But otherwise, she is ready for -30 deg and snow. Boo hoo hoo....

Had lunch and a little nap, then got to work putting in the supports and face frame for the drawers under the nav table.

 The only thing I don't really like is the catch. Like most marine drawers, they slip over the frame when they are closed, so they can't slide out on their own, but it takes extra effort to lift the drawer before pulling out. Plus, due to the nature of the beast, roller glides are a bad idea, making the whole system kind of archaic. But they are functional, and they don't look too bad. I still have to plug the screw holes and put a couple coats of Cetol on the face frame, but that will have to wait until warmer weather.

And here is a little pick of my sewing loft. I am actually in the picture, hiding behind the sewing machine.

And I also got a chance to make up our boat cards. The blogger won't let me put the picture right side up, I tried loading it several times with different orientations, but it always came back 90 degrees out of whack. Beats me, I'm either too stupid, or too impatient to figure it out, so here it is. Boat, us, our email and blog address. Apparently these are nice to hand out to fellow cruisers when you meet them. They are especially good for us, because we can't remember peoples names for the life of us, boat names, types, etc..., but people names, not for love nor money. A gentleman in my club once told me many years ago that the reason I can't remember peoples names is because I don't care enough. Thanks Ken..... I never forgot his name. There maybe some truth to that, but it could also be that there is just not enough room in my head for all those names. 15 Johns, 42 Marys, 12 Devons, you get it........ That's why the military always wears name tags.

And lastly...... Our transmission, what a cluster F**k. Pardon my french. I covered it in an earlier blog, the removal. We were planning on having it rebuilt, but we were having trouble getting info on companies that did this, whether it was a good idea or not, etc, etc, etc.....

After a lot of thought, and discussion with other sailors, from the internet, to the club, to those who have done it, we decided to go with a new one. The company quoted me, and I sent back an email requesting information on the shipping costs. That's when they found out that they are no longer available new, I have no choice but to rebuild. Oh well, into everyone's life a little rain must fall. I just hope the rebuild is a good one. So Monday we are off to Toronto to drop it off, hit Mason's Chandlery, and the Nautical Mind Book Store. Serena might even take me out to lunch if I am good. Road trip........................

Later kids.

A Week of Sewing

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions! And, although I can't draw a direct correlation, I might be getting close.

Long story short, I had offered to do some sewing for our club members, repairs only, as fabrication just takes too much time. I figured it was something I could do for them, save them a little bit of money, and work on my textile confidence that much more. Plus, lets face it, I just like doing this kind of work. I am not charging for my services, just the cost of materials to do the jobs. However, I had intended to get some work done on the boat, since I was staying onboard for the week, and, well, you probably no where this went. Yep, that's right, sleeping and making coffee, that's all that happened on the boat, to the chagrin of my better half of course.

The sewing took far more time than I had envisioned, starting at 5 o'clock in the morning and going until 6 at night, or so. I barely had the energy to have a shower and eat let alone get any work done. I will be there all week again this week, and I have no aspirations of getting any further work done on the boat. So that also means the blog will suffer of lack of updates.

The good news is that I have been having fun making that which is borderline useless, usable once again. There is something to be said about the satisfaction of a job well done, and the appreciation of ones peers, or elders in some cases, right Jack....

Oh, by the way, I also changed the name of the "Camera in the Bathroom" post to "Misplaced camera". I was mildly confused when I noticed it was the most visited post on the blog. I know that it is the main post for the davit installation, but that didn't explain the traffic, until it hit me. People going there weren't looking for information on mounting davits, and I don't think that needs further explanation. So the rename. Damn perverts!!!

Cheers, and fair winds.

Transmission Removed

Down to the boat on Friday for a few hours. I needed to get the transmission out so that I could take it to Toronto to get refurbished. The tranny on the little Yamars use a cone clutch; the cone slides into one of two cups, and the friction locks them together to drive the shaft. Well, when these get a little older the cups tend to get a little shiny and some slipping occurs. Ours likes to slip when its warmed up and we take it out of gear, then it takes some time and RPMs to engage, making a clunk sound when it finally does. And for the record, "clunk" sounds in engines are bad.

It wasn't too rough a job. A little blood, a little dirt, and a lot of cursing deities names, but she finally came.

First disconnect the shaft coupling. I had to remove the coupling itself to get that little 1/8" extra room to fit in the socket driver. I had a 3", 6", and 8" extension, what I really needed was a 7", but I don't think they make such a creature.

 Disconnected the shifter linkage. And took this picture just to remind myself that this is where the ground connection is for the battery. I do not want to forget to put that back on. Bad ju-ju.

 All removed. Ta da. 8 bolts, everyone of them needed a different extension or ratchet setup. One on the top was loose, really bad, so I think maybe the threads are stripped. If so, I'll have to tap and put a helicoil in. Or go to a bigger bolt. Have to wait until I put it back on.

 Tiny little thing. Heavy, but tiny.

 The shop I have been talking to in Toronto, East Marine Inc, had a new one in stock, but not the right gear ratio. Oh well.

In a couple of weeks I'll get it down to Toronto so they can have a look at it. I tried to get them to give me an idea of the cost to rough up the cones, but they wouldn't bite. They just said the mechanic will have to look at it first. I wish I knew someone who knew them. It is a small market, I have asked around, and no one had a name for me to contact, not even the Yanmar newsgroup. And, these guys were the only ones I could find on the internet. Good news is they sell brand new Yanmars, $7k for a new 2YM15. Not too bad, but not this year.

I installed the lids on the port side quaterberth. The deck still needs paint, and fiddles, but its looking better.

 Then I mounted the seat. Its one of those fishing boat folding seats, but fits the space well, and I got it for $10 at a neighbors yard sale. It has an aluminum frame, and I used stainless bolts to mount it, but I have a feeling that there are some non-stainless fastners that will need attention after we hit salt water.

 I also installed the new electrical panel. This one is a lot nicer than the first one. All that is left now is to start wiring the boat. Soon....

Thats it. Today we are planning on putting up a wooden frame and covering the boat. I was going to leave it uncovered, but there are just too many leaks at the moment, a couple of windows, and some holes in the fore deck.

Later....

Nov 08, Update

I wish I could say that I've got a lot done in the past two weeks, but the truth is, that I have been rather slothful. We managed to get our Xmas shopping all but done, the tree is up, and the camper is winterized. Actually went out for an evening with friends, something we haven't done in months, and got a little boat work done. It has turned cold here, well below freezing in the morning, and just peaking its head above for the afternoon. We have been putting back too much beer in the evenings snuggled up in our little house. And all of this has led to a rather slower pace than usual. Its time though, we have a few days of nice weather coming, so we'll get all the loose ends tied up for the winter. I have a weeks worth of sewing to do for club members, or so, and then Vita will be pretty much on her own until spring. I will try and get some things done while its cold, as epoxy doesn't mind the cold weather.

Below is a picture of the drawer fronts and face frame for under the Nav station. I will make the drawers today, and hopefully get a chance to install them tomorrow. Its been a long time since I have made cabinets but its nice to see that I can still figure it out.

 I also made and finished a new electrical control panel. The first one was really crappy. Its one of the problems with working on a boat, nothing is square, nothing is straight, and everything usually ends of getting done twice. Plus, the second time around I usually fix my mistakes. Besides that, Serena said I had to fix it, it was ugly.

 And, here are the port side quarterberth compartment lids. Two coats of paint on either side. I did them at home in the shop because its easier and warmer. Plus there isn't a lot of extra room to lay things out in the boat. It'll be nice to get them in the boat and mount the seat for the Nav station permanently. I'll try and get that done this weekend too. The quarterberth itself is still lacking a coat of paint, but its way past the temperature that allows that kind of work.

That's it, told you I have been slothful. I have managed to keep up my guitar practice, mostly. Its my retirement hobby, learn the guitar. I found Eileen Quinn's ( http://www.eileenquinn.com/ ) sheet music on line, and will order it soon. Those of you who have never heard of Eileen are missing one of the cruising greats. She is a singer/songwriter that writes humorous songs about the cruising life. Her and her husband traveled around the eastern seaboard and the Carribean for 12 years or so in Vita's sister a Bayfield 36 named Little Gidding. A few years ago they swallowed the anchor and headed back to Canada to settle down. I had lost track of them and was searching the internet to find out where they had gotten to. Eventually I found an old blog entry that mentioned they were rebuilding an old cottage. Turns out they are 6 kms from our house. What a small world. Perhaps I'll talk them into a Timmy's coffee one day, and I can bend their ear.

That's it for now, off to the shop to get some work done.

My Favorite Cruising Books

If I had my own website, I could post all the lists I want, but a blog can be a little bit more restrictive. I would have a website, but a good one costs money, and they take that much more time, time I don't really have to put into a web site. So I thought I would put a list of my favorite boat related books in a post, just for kicks and giggles. Maybe someone else will find the list useful.

Lin and Larry Pardey - They have written a pile of books, some are narratives, some how to's. Small boat, and engine-less, this couple are my generations gods of the sea, and they're writing is addictive. They have also made 4 DVDs that are a nice change from reading.

Herb Payson - Blown Away, and You Can't Blow Home Again. I love the way this guy writes(funny), its too bad he only wrote 3 books, the third being an advice book about cruising, called Advice to the Sealorn.

Don Casey - His finest work is of course, This Old Boat, and has a place in my tool bag. Any work done to the boat needs to be read about in this book first, during, and afterwards. Beyond this though, he co-wrote Sensible Cruising: The Thoreau Approach, with Lew Hackler, another how to do it simple, but do it right book. I had to hunt down this book through used sources because it has been long out of print, but it was well worth it.

John Vigor - Twenty Sailboats to Take You Anywhere and Small Boat to freedom. The first book I've read so many times I almost have it memorized. I was in lust with the Alberg 30 for many years, and this book is the bluewater cruiser list for small boats, including the Alberg. The second is a wonderful story about John leaving South Africa on a 31' sloop that is a must read. However, probably his most influential book for me is The Seaworthy Offshore Sailboat, this is a guide for my refit, it might as well be the preparation bible for offshore cruising. This one has a home on our boat, always.

Jim Moore - By Way of the Wind and Swan the Second Voyage. Cruising narratives, and if you like cruising stories, you'll love these.

Gregg Nestor - Twenty Affordable Sailboats to Take You Anywhere. A John Vigor sanctioned extension to his similarly titled book, but this book deals with small boats the next size up. In fact some of them are not all that small, but it does cover Vita's sistership, the Bayfield 32, and there is more in common with the two boats than there are differences.

Ann Vanderhoof - An Embarrassment of Mangoes. Just one of those stories I need to read once in awhile. I met Ann at the Toronto International Boat Show peddling her book, but I had already read it more times than I could remember, so didn't have an excuse for an autograph.

Beth Leonard - The Voyager's Handbook. How she got so much information about the cruising life crammed into less than a whole library is beyond me. This book stays with the boat too.

Peter Nichols - A Voyage for Madmen. My Mom gave me this book for Xmas one year, and it sat on the book shelf for probably another year before I finally decided I should read it; in case she asked. It turned out to be one of the most amazing books I had ever read. It is a story about the first non-stop round the world race, the Golden Globe, and not usually something I would be interested in, but Peter wrote it so well that I couldn't put the book down. If you appreciate good writing, and a sailing story to boot, this is the cats meow.

Paul and Sheryl Shard - Sail Away. The book is getting a little dated, but for us Canadians its nice to have a home grown couple give us the what for of outfitting. They also produce the Distant Shores TV show that has them tracking all over the place in their boat, movies, etc.... Ontario, Canada's own sailing Royal Couple.

Ann Hammick - Ocean Cruising on a Budget. Title says it all, and together with Annie Hill's - Voyaging on a Small Income, are the guidelines for the thrifty and cheap.

Dave and Jaja Martin - Into the Light. A wonderful narrative about a young couple and their 3 children who just don't fit societies idea of a normal lifestyle. They also have a video that is worth whatever the cost is.

Reese Palley - There Be No Dragons, Unlikely People, and Unlikely Passages. I think Reese will live forever, he is old, and he writes like he is old. His words are very proper, almost old school if you will, but his stories are addictive, enlightening, funny, and an absolute must read for anyone who has been bitten by the sailing/cruising bug. You won't learn what food to pack, or how to trim your sails, but you'll be a better cruiser for having read them, I guarantee it.

Dan Spurr - Guide to Upgrading Your Cruising Sailboat. If your doing something crazy like I am, refitting a 30 year old sailboat, then this book needs to be sitting right beside Don Casey's This Old Boat.

Nigel Calder-Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual. I said it before, if you own a boat, you should have a copy of this on board, or are on the way to the bookstore to pick it up. Its the first thing I bought after I bought Vita. Unless of course you are omnipotent, and even then you should have it just in case. You might also want to get Nigel's Marine Diesel Engines book as well. If you have a diesel of course.

Emiliano Marino - The Sailmaker's Apprentice. If you have sails, you should have a good book on taking care of them. This book might be overkill for some, but it is right on the money for those of us who do our own canvass work.

There are a few others of course, but this is the big list. Some of these books I have had for years. Don Casey's This Old Boat, I bought almost 20 years ago, and its as relevant today as it was back then. Its been updated, but my old copy is still a godsend.

I hope you find some of this list entertaining at the least. I have a large library of cruising/sailing books that I have been collecting over the years, but the ones above are the highlights. If your looking for information on cruising sailboats, or just a good story, these will serve you well. If you know of one that isn't on the list that should be, let me know, I would love to have an excuse to get another book.

Finances

Everyone is always so tight lipped about their finances. And I usually don't say much about them other to complain about how much things cost, but I think it is about time I offer up the goods, so-to-speak. The title of the blog "Sailing; Freedom of Simplicity" probably seems confusing when I start complaining about the $56,000.00 we have into the boat already. Refit not finished. When realistically, a simple boat would be much cheaper. And, if we end up cruising for more than a couple of years, I can see that number growing. But, that's not what this post is about, this is about, how much do we have, how did we get there, how much we plan to spend, and what kind of shape are we going to be in when we finally decide to swallow the anchor and head home.

How did we get here?

That one is easy, Serena is cheap. So cheap that she could squeeze a penny and get two nickels. Okay, that's part of it, but there is a long story here, with the most important thing being that we learned to "live below our means", and put the rest away. We retired at age 40, I from the Military, and Serena actually a couple of years earlier from the minimum wage slog. We had saved up about $120,000 in investments, and about $180,000 in real estate equity plus my small pension. Then we built a house with our own hands, earning us some needed sweat equity. Add to that a small check from Veteran's affairs; compensation for broken body parts due to service related injuries. And we end up with a net worth close to $400,000.00 and $1919.00 per month. To some this probably sounds like a lot, to others they are probably scratching their heads trying to figure out how we eat. We bought the boat, have been refitting it, and plan to leave Aug 2013, assuming the house sells.

Ready to go?

Assuming a certain value for the house, our reserves look like this.

$200,000.00 in stocks, hopefully making us about 6% per year or better, between dividends and capital appreciation. This is not to be touched if we can help it. Some of this money will be in a non-registered investment account, and we may use some of the dividends if needed, for unexpected expenses; like beer.

$60,000.00 in a high interest savings account. Not to be touched. This money is so we are guaranteed that we will be able to start building a house when we eventually move back home. Just in case the stock market is not doing well and we can't get at the rest of the money.

$20,000.00 in a US account just to hedge against fluctuations in the dollar. But a lot of this will be spent while we travel, in lieu of using Canadian funds from our chequing account. Plus, when you exchange more than $10,000.00 you get a much better exchange rate.

Then we will have some money in our chequing account, plus my pension of $1919.00 per month. This will be our cruising budget. Minus storage for the Truck and our camper. Insurance for the truck and the boat, and yacht club fees. So maybe a cruising budget of $1600.00 per month. And, unfortunately my pension does not get indexed for cost of living increases until I turn 60, so in ten years it will not be enough to live on for sure. Hopefully the investments will be able to offset the increases when they are required.

We purchased the travel trailer so that we would have somewhere to stay when we were home visiting, to provide somewhere to live when we build our next house, and maybe allow us to do something a little different once in awhile. We own two building lots, 1.75 and 2 acres respectfully where we can park our trailer for a bit, or to build a house on when we return. And we are keeping the truck for a a couple of years just because we like to have access to a vehicle when we come home to visit. As you can probably tell, we are selling out. When we leave our assets will be limited to the boat, the 9 year old Dodge, a new 21' travel trailer, 2 building lots in a rural subdivision, about $300,000.00 in cash, and $1919.00 per month.

We are pretty sure that we can cruise on this indefinitely, if we are very careful, and still come home if/when we want and settle down.

I have spent a lot of time surfing the web looking for budget information for cruisers. And although there is lots to read, the truth is that there is no way any of it is going to do us any good, other than letting us know that it is possible for others to live within our means. It still may not be possible for us personally, we won't know until we are out there doing it. I intend to publish our results, and we'll get to see whether or not our original thinking/planning is anywhere close to what it actually costs us.

Eventually I'll do a cost breakdown of the refit as well, but since it is still underway, it will have to wait.

I think the key though in making all of this work and maintaining our "freedom" to do as we wish, is sticking to a small boat, and of course, living below our means, or a "simpler" lifestyle. Hence the name of the blog.