07/29/2009, Miami, Florida (United States)
Total Distance: 14 Miles Under Sail: 7
Average Speed: 2.67 kts
Conditions: Clear, 80-85 F, Wind South at 5-10 kts, Seas 1-2 ft
Baby has a new pair of Shoes -
It was that time for Rhapsody in Blue to get hauled out of the water for new bottom paint and entire replacement of the power train. Fred and I launched out at 540am to make the 630am bridge opening on the Miami River. We had 5 bridges to get through. It can be tricky on the river depending on the current flow. We showed at the first bridge, Brickell, right at 630am. So we didn't have to wait but a minute for the bridge to open. The river is very narrow and thank god no Bahama freighters were making their way down the bridge. We hailed the bridges on Channel 9, told them who we were, type vessel, and request opening The bridges talk to each other so they know who and what is coming up/down there way. One thanks them as they pass under each bridge. It is kind of cool, to watch the bridge master open up the bridge just for you, hold up traffic and such.
We got to Norseman Shipping Yard early, so we had to wait for the workers to arrive to haul out. When they did, they were all business. The travel lift is scary to watch as your baby gets hauled up out of the water on two slings. Their travel lift is ran by remote control which is pretty neat in itself. You can see in the photo the guy in front of the boat hold the remote control. Power-wash, than on to the stands, (HARD). Since I cleaned the bottom a month ago, the power-wash and scrapping of the bottom were real fast. Once on the "Hard", Fred and I tried for 6 hours to get the flange coupler off the shaft. It was real hot inside the boat. Fred and I both lost about 3 pounds in water loss. I talked to Rick (the owner of the yard) about it before we left for the day. He said sometimes we have to cut them off. The first coat of bottom paint was put on to dry.
Second day
I arrived at 0730 to the yard. I told Rick to take off the flange and take the shaft next door to see if it is true. It took the mechanic 15 minutes. I didn't know if I want to kill him or hug him. Here the right tools and experience comes into play. Once the shaft was out, I put in a new PYI Drippless packing gland. Second coat of bottom paint was applied.
The shaft came back from the prop shop after lunch and it was straight. They also mated a new flange and squared it off to the shaft. With the shaft back in, the new Campbell propeller went on as well as a new cutlass bearing. My baby has new shoes!
As you can tell I was determined to get rid of the squeal I have had since I owned the boat. As it turned out I was right along, it was a singing prop.
Third day Launch day.
When I arrived at the yard, Rhapsody was already in the water ready to go. I was a little disappointed for I wanted to watch the dance in getting her back in. Oh well. I came up the river with Ed on his dinghy. It was a fun ride over. He has a real nice big dinghy that goes with his Hatteras up in Atlanta. Ed is partners with Angela on her Hatteras where I slept last night. I launch out of the yard to make the 9am openings. Ed followed in his dinghy. I was nervous at first because I didn't know how the new propeller was going to handle. Can you say "SWEET!". As advertise, the Campbell propeller has more power at less RPM and little prop walk. Lets all say "SWEET!" again. I made all the opening except the last bridge. It was another 15 minutes before the next opening So what is a girl do to but practice with the new prop. I did my power exercises to see how she would handle. Can we say "SWEET"!. I tried several docking along a wall with many bumpers. For the first time I even parallel park the boat, come stern too the dock than hard over to parallel the boat. When the bridge opened I went back to the marina. One the way there, I opened up the throttle to see what speed I would get out of the prop. Hull speed, 7.5 knots, at 3200 RPM.(85% RPM's). Can we say "SWEET"! I gain a knot of speed in power mode.
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07/23/2009, Key Biscayne, Florida (United States)
Total Distance: 0 Miles Under Sail: 0
Average Speed: 0 kts
Conditions: Clear, 90-95 F, Wind South at 5-10 kts, Seas 1-2 ft
I haven't been sailing down in Miami since my last post but I have been a busy girl getting ready to haul her out on the 29th of July. Rhapsody in Blue is getting a new bottom with Petti Pro, 2 coats, new Cambell Sailor Propeller, cutlass bearing, zincs and new PSS dripless packing gland. If this doesn't take care of the squeal, she sinks. Radical yes but I am desperate sort of.
The new propeller should give me hull speed at a reduce RPM. I can bearly get hull speed now at full throttle. New Cutlass bearing. When I had the boat surveyed, he said replace it at the next haul out. Since it is only $50 cheap insurance. I am anal about a dry bilge so the PSS Dripless is going in. Also since the battery charger doesn't seem to wanting to work of late, the bilge pump won't have to work so much.
While she is out I will wash and wax the hull to a mirror shine.
Bad News. If you remember last month I made Georges going away party. Well, he lost his boat 9 days into his cruise off the coast of Bermuda on his way to the Azores. Sad story and I am very upset by this. His log and my comments are post on a website forum I use all the time.
http://www.sailnet.com/forums/general-discussion-sailing-related/56387-lost-sea.html.
The actual log is near the bottom of page 1 and my comments are on page 2 and 5.
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07/10/2009, Key Biscayne, Florida (United States)
Total Distance: 18 Miles Under Sail: 17
Average Speed: 4 kts
Conditions: Cloudy, 95-100 F, Wind Southeast at 5-10 kts, Seas 0-1 ft
Dinner Cruise-
It has been a month since I last took Rhapsody in Blue out of her slip. Part of the reasons I haven't been down to Miami much due to commitments here in NJ and the weather hasn't been real nice in Miami. The days I went down to check on the boat the weather has been horrible, with rain, thunderstorms and no wind.
My continue maintenance issues is a battle with no end in sight. I have been doing some small projects inside because of all the rain. As I was getting ready to leave for my flight back to NJ, I notice my battery monitor system was showing negative amps. For you non-tech folks that means the boat is drawing DC power off the battery. Not good when the boat is hooked to shore power. The DC (battery) side gets it's power from the battery charger while hooked up to shore power. I quickly checked-out the battery charger and sure enough it is not working. Not good at all. I need DC power to run the refrigerator and bilge pumps 24/7. I quickly ran to West Marine to buy a new one. NOT CHEAP! Installed it than went to NJ that night.
My refrigerator and air conditioner hasn't really been functioning properly since I owned the boat. For the second time I called a mechanic to come out to look at them both. Well, he came, when I was in NJ, to report back that all is well with them. Fast forward one week later, I arrived to the boat with the refrigerator not working and the air conditioning only being able to cool the boat down to 82 degrees. My boat stunk to high heaven because of all the spoiled food on the boat. After cleaning it out, and a quick call back to the mechanic that looked at it I was pretty mad. So I decided to troubleshoot the dam refrigerator myself. As I was doing that my brand new battery charger quit working, There was a strange noise of a rely chattering coming from the settee where the battery charger lives. If I was mad before I am spitting nails and ready to sink this damn boat in the slip. A quick call to ProMarine technical support confirmed the charger is bad. He said to ship it to me and he will have another one shipped in 5-10 days. Unacceptable! In talking with my dockmates, I mentioned that the charger was bought at West Marine. Well, thank god, West Marine has a no questions asked exchange policy. After a quick phone call to the store, I had the new charger install in less than 2 hours. Now for the kicker. All three chargers were those smart chargers the knows the battery type and has three charging scheme; fast charge, assumption and trickle. In all these months of owning this boat, I never paid attention to the charging scheme, only watching that the batteries were getting charged. Well, when this battery charger went to the assumption charge the voltage went up to 14.7 volts. Those batteries have never seen that kind of voltage. I freak out!! After a few hours of research, that is normal. That is what the batteries should have been charging all this time. When the charger went to tickle charge the voltage dropped to 13.4. So a lesson learned here. Big time lesson. The big question still is why did the first two chargers quit working? No idea and if anyone has any please comment. I am also concerned now, with 4 year old lead cell 4D batteries, will they be able to take the assumption charge to desulfate them. My guess is NO! Time will tell.
With the charger taken care of back to the refrigerator. With manuals in hand, I (NOT the dam mechanic) troubleshot what broke: the thermostat. It only works in the full on position. So it starting working again. It also doesn't shut off. Umm maybe that is why the damn thing uses 125 amps a day. A new thermostat is ordered and should arrive sometime next week.
As I was contemplating sinking the boat, one of the small chores that needed to be done was clean up the thru-hole plumbing. The galley sink bronze thru-hole was showing sign of corrosion. With a wire brush, all the thru-hulls were cleaned up, painted and corrosion sprayed. I didn't have the heart just yet to cut the hoses to sink her. If fact, the boat got cleaned, polished both inside and out. We had a company coming, the next day my most favorite cousin is coming for a dinner cruise.
My most favorite person in the whole wide world is my cousin Sandy ( CUZ). Her husband Andre' isn't bad either. CUZ came down today with Andre' for a dinner cruise. For some that follow this blog, you will remember my first cruise with this boat was down to Islandmorda Keys where they have a house there. I was real nervous all day because the weather wasn't all that great. The sky was cloudy, with rain threatening and little wind. Rhapsody and I wanted to show them a good time. Both of them have only been sailing once before on their honeymoon a few decades ago. We launch out of the slip at 3:30pm. Raised sails once cleared the marina and low and behold we were sailing at 4 knots in 8 knots wind. It was a grand sail. The boat glide through the water on Biscayne Bay with my two most favorite people on board. After 3 hours of sailing, we dropped the hook at Nixon's Point. Like a good skipper, dinner duties were divided up. Dinner was fresh caught Red Snapper, saffron rice, tropical salad and fresh baked brownies. Dinner was served in style in the cockpit with a nice bottle of Pinot Noir. Great company, great dinner, great sunset on my boat. Life doesn't get any better than that!
After cleaning up dinner, I tried to talk them into spending the night on the hook. Since both had commitments the next day, we did the next best thing, sailing for 2 hours at after sunset with downtown Miami in the backdrop. Did I mention we saw a pod of dolphins too!! Priceless! The maintenance issues were just a bad dream.
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