01/16/2012
We are nearly ready for splashing, maybe mid-week, if the yard can schedule us. Our port name (I like the new font!)and engine are back on board. Steve spent the weekend reassembling Ms Yanmar. What a job - much like tying oneself into a pretzel. ( In our next life we will have an engine room, instead of a engine cabinet)
The new mixing exhaust elbow is pending, the shop has it and are adding insulation to keep the heat from cooking adjacent items. The yard guys and JJ will be back tomorrow (closed Mondays), so we hope to have her 100% by late tomorrow or early weds.
I am really ready to be floating. Climbing up and down a 12 foot ladder a dozen times a day is hard on my ole knees. Living on board up in the air is more like camping. I really miss the motion. The water under the keel acts as our box spring under our mattresses. The bunks all seem softer in the water. The motion keeps my knees happy. The constant motion seems to keep all the muscles warmed up and working as I adjust to the angles and slants without even thinking about it.
The refrigerator/freezer cannot run ( it is water cooled and- we are not in the water.) So we have to load ice blocks up, and then bale out the same water as it defrosts in the refrig box. The box is very well insulated ( we installed vacuum panels) so it takes a week for the ice to melt. But it is really cold water to fuss with, bailing it out of the box. I am now using a "dry Sack" - sort of in reverse to its design - keeping the water in instead of out. I put the block ice inside the sack and it catches all the water so all I have to do is lift the entire bag out and drain it down the galley sink drain. A very cold shower for anyone standing below!
The little electric heater (which was left on the dock with a free sign on it the day we got here) keeps up and more with the daytime chills - which are getting more often here in mid January. We shut it off and climb into the v-berth under our warm sleeping bags at night. The insulation we put in the ceiling and v-berth seems to be working. We are not having the condensation problems we had last winter...but then again it is not really all that cold here. Got down to 30 last night. When it is up around 40 at night we sleep with the hatch cracked to let in fresh air.
We have a Dickensen LP gas heater-fireplace installed that we have never tried to operate. It is vented through a deck plate in the deck and draws its oxygen down thru the chimney and has a sensor to shut it off if the oxygen is depleted. We are waiting for the LP computer alarm system to be re installed. The sensors will tell us if we have a LP leak and/or carbon monoxide in the cabin. Both very bad things in a small boat. We ended up sending the computer and its 2 sensors back to Xintex. They are checking the components to determine why the alarms will not stop screaming when activated. Hoping to hear back from them this week.
We will fill today fussing with little projects and studying for our HAM license. We are installing a pair of bike red led taillights over the refrig area. The Cateye lamps have 5 very bright red leds behind clear focusing lens, run on batteries and will light for 100 hours on a pair of AAA's. The very bright RED led's will provide nightvision in the nav station area (over the freezer box). After checking the prices for red LED marine gooseneck lamps ( upwards of $100) the $18 cost for each taillight seems great. Plus there is no need for additional wiring. We are going to mount them on a plastic pipe ( they come with very clever clamps for a bike frame) mounted over the area. The clamps are adjustable and will therefore be able to slide across to the area selected by the navigator.
Pictures to follow.
PS The number to the right are the number of views..pretty cool to have people actually reading about this adventure!!! Thanks
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She has arrived!!! Now we will spend the next few days reattaching all her stuff..wiring, fuel lines, new exhaust, cables, alternator, water intake, etc etc...
She ran very nicely on the bench so it is expected she will do it again in the boat. By Tuesday we should be back in the water.
Time for a beer and roast beast sandwich at the James. Enough for now. Was a hard day for the cap't, much like watching a father awaiting his newborn's arrival. Pacing, and pacing. All worn out.
Got the new fiddle over the galley stove installed. See photo.
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check the gallery for the final photos for the exhaust. Waiting on the machine shop to give JJ back the head so he can finish the reassembly and run his tests.
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01/07/2012, N 34.720729:W 76.652569
Aslteton VA...hmmmm hassleton....nah new graphics will repair this.
Working on the exhaust. Check the gallery for more photos. This is the new exhaust with flapper. The remaining letters are gone and new graphics are heading towards us.
Marina Steve stopped by to say the engine is ready except for the head, the machine shop will have it done by Monday. He is hoping to have Ms. Yanmar home by the end of next week.
If the weather holds out we may be sailing in January...which we have done before - brrrrrr- but this time will be warmer (we hope!!) It surely well be very nice to be back in the water. That means we get to turn on the refrigerator and start eating better instead of camping.
Back to work, starting to hook up the hoses.
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Where are you.
01/03/2012, onboard cimaise
A Happy New Year...we hope...we hope!!!
We are back onboard cimaise. We spent Christmas week in Virginia "house-sitting" our house while our tenants went on their honeymoon to Mexico. It was fun to have cats and plants again to care for. It was strange to have other people's stuff instead of ours; we actually get homesick for the boat these days. The weather reminded us how lucky we seem to be in Beaufort where it is around 15 degrees warmer and definitely sunnier. BUTTTT.....the next 2 nights -however- it will be well below freezing as a nasty batch of cold weather moves east. By the end of the week it will be back up near 60.
Steve (the marina owner) stopped by to tell us he is shutting off the dock (outside spigots) water for a couple of days but will have it back on the end of the week. A large difference from the Chesapeake where- 1) the marina owner never stops by and 2) the water goes off Nov 1 thru the middle of April no matter what the weather. The live-a-boards there run hundreds of feet of hose to the only freeze proof spigot to be able to fill their water tanks. We will be fine without water, our port tank is full and we are using the marina bathhouse for personal needs.
We are gathering supplies to start the engine exhaust re-install. Barbours Marine (Steve's new favorite store) had almost everything we needed in stock, and affordable compared to West Marine. We have to wait a day for hose clamps (3 inch t-bar) to come UPS from McMasterCarr. Steve has moved the siphon loop as high as possible. foto in gallery The marina repair yard returned to work after their Christmas break and now we will get to talk to JJ about the progress on the engine. We hope that it will go back in this week. Feel kinda empty without Ms. Yanmar around.
We did get stuff done in Virginia. We read around a dozen books, listened to a lot of music and we hauled out our industrial sewing machine and repaired the lee clothes (the hammock like devices that stop you from falling outa your bunk when the boat is heeled over) and made a few more sheet (rope) bags. We are trying to control all the lines in the cockpit and being able to stuff same in a bag is much-more-better than standing on a tangled pile-o-rope. The really important stuff to do before heading offshore- like upgrading the teakettle to a larger size - is getting done. We have now eaten all the frozen premade dinners (for the offshore trip in Nov) and a good chunk of the snacks. Back to the gym tomorrow.
Wow, the wind is just screaming!!! 40+ gusts. I looked at the weather maps and sure do hope our friends in the Bahamas are hanging in there! This is a very nasty weather pattern right now, Britain is getting nailed with 100 mph gusts and there are a couple more lows developing hurricane force winds starting to churn in the Atlantic. Really glad we decided not to sail out there this month! Just waiting for early spring..early-mid march around here and then we can go sailing.
Well that is all the news for now...hopefully not too boring...happy new year everyone from cimaise.
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12/14/2011, Front St Beaufort NC
Working on exhaust repair before we leave for Virginia on Saturday. Painting new fiberglass work today. Installed new shaft (cutlass) bearing since with engine out we would not have to pull the rudder. Got all the sewing projects lined up, planning to spend ten days sewing. See new photos in the Beaufort and engine albums.
Back to work, the days are short.
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Cheers
