S/V Sjokolade

Intermittent thoughts on my Journey to the Deep Blue Sea.

Vessel Name: Sjokolade
Vessel Make/Model: 1982 Morgan 383
Hailing Port: Bayfield, WI
Crew: Rolf Peterson
About: Departed August 22nd, 2015 for Annapolis MD via L. Superior, Huron, Erie, Erie Canal, Hudson River, NYC, and Atlantic Ocean. Currently stopping in Pensacola for awhile.
Social:
23 October 2017 | Masonboro
21 October 2017 | Cape Henry
21 October 2017 | Cape Henry
19 October 2017 | Chesapeake Bay
15 December 2016 | Pensacola
11 July 2016 | Bean Compound
09 March 2016 | Pensacola
29 February 2016 | Matecumbe Harbor
27 February 2016 | No Name Harbor
25 February 2016 | Dinner Key Marina
31 January 2016 | Dinner Key
28 January 2016 | Fort Pierce
27 January 2016 | Indian River
22 January 2016 | Georgetown, SC
21 January 2016 | Little River Inlet
16 January 2016 | Beaufort, NC
12 January 2016 | North River (near Kittyhawk!)
07 January 2016
04 January 2016
08 December 2015
Recent Blog Posts
23 October 2017 | Masonboro

Visiting bird

7:00pm Monday, October 23 - we arrived at the Masonboro Inlet about 730 this morning, anchored, had a huge bacon, eggs, hash browns, and bagel breakfast.

21 October 2017 | Cape Henry

Cape Hatteras

7:00am, Saturday, Oct 21 - We have just departed the Chesapeake Bay outside of Norfolk VA. There is no wind and the swells minimal, though we are rolling a bit. There is a lot of traffic on the VHF, particularly the clear broadcasts of the young men and women aboard the Navy vessels leaving and entering [...]

21 October 2017 | Cape Henry

Cape Hatteras

7:00am, Saturday, Oct 21 - We have just departed the Chesapeake Bay outside of Norfolk VA. There is no wind and the swells minimal, though we are rolling a bit. There is a lot of traffic on the VHF, particularly the clear broadcasts of the young men and women aboard the Navy vessels leaving and entering [...]

Back to the Boat

15 December 2016 | Pensacola
I have been "working on the boat" for about a month now in Pensacola. My working days run from about noon until eight in the evening, well after dark here. My first goal was to get a working bilge pump with completely new wiring so it would be fully functional, unlike the old pump. The boat was on the hard for the first few weeks, and needed bottom sanding and painting, topsides cleaning and waxing, and a working bilge pump before launch.

With the painfully partially re-plumbed and fully re-wired pump and water sensor in the bilge, a new bilge monitor at the nav station, all eight wasps nests removed from the: anchor, the side rail, the radar, the cockpit trash can, and 3 from the lifesling, I got the bottom painted, the topsides clean and waxed.

I launched on Dec 8th, a Thursday, and spent the first few hours trying to dock fairly deep in the bayou at a private dock where it became apparent that it would be too shallow for my boat in a low tide, with the north winds blowing the water our of Pensacola Bay, and thereby emptying the Bayous as well. While this condition normally isn't present, it was enough for me to be concerned about my keel on the bottom and my access to use of the boat at times of my own choosing rather than tide and weather dependent.

So as the day wore on and I slowly motored across the bayou, my call from the boat to my previous marina was successful in finding a slip, and I Broke Out Another (lots of) Twenties and signed up. I like the marina, it is low key, everyone is friendly, and I am free to come and go, use the facilities, and work on my boat. The altered budget will impact the boat projects, but there are certainly cheap ones to do. There is a band practicing a bit up the bayou from us, and they are playing all old hippie classics from the 60's and 70's, so, while they need the practice, I can follow along in my head.

A week of sitting in the slip has been focused on the battery and battery monitor/charger re-wire project. I have been reading about electricity on boats for months now, posting questions here and there on some forums, and came up with a design for my wiring that should satisfy for awhile. I made my "start" and "house" banks independent with a relay that keeps them appropriately charged, with the start battery starting the motor and the house getting the bulk of the charge. The monitor is now wired so everything is being monitored and I should be able to track my usage and status accurately. We'll see . . . I certainly have learned a lot.

After the final 2 wires were added to the batteries, everything tested, I climbed into my starboard cockpit locker, crawled back to the manual bilge pump and essentially took it apart in place, replacing the bladder and two flapper valves. This pump, a Guzzler 600, had to be 32 years old, as old as the boat. While the bladder and valves showed no sign of tearing, they were covered in huge chunks of what I surmise is salt, dried in place where the water had stopped moving, collected, and evaporated leaving the salt (or other residue) behind. All cleaned up, new rubber/vinyl/whatever, and I crawled out over 4 hours later, very glad to have done this maintenance, but seriously wondering why I own such an old boat. I've had brand new, and I now have old, and brand new was nothing like this.

Next up for maintenance are some sewing projects: a new lifesling cover and covers for the solar panel wires. Then we need new lifelines, rigging for using the whisker pole, installing the new autopilot control head, a 2nd bilge pump, water filter system, and a new gas tank for the small dingy motor. A busy January for me.
Comments
Journey So Far
Sjokolade's Photos - Main
Projects I've worked on while in Pensacola
9 Photos
Created 15 December 2016
19 Photos
Created 9 March 2016
Photos taken along the ICW from Solomons to ?
8 Photos
Created 21 January 2016
These are pictures of the projects I am attempting to complete in the Solomons.
23 Photos
Created 10 November 2015
Pictures from the Trip from Bayfield, WI on Lake Superior to Annapolis, MD on the Chesapeake Bay, via Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, the Erie Canal, Hudson River, Atlantic Ocean.
8 Photos | 4 Sub-Albums
Created 1 September 2015
Pictures of projects done or contemplated
11 Photos | 1 Sub-Album
Created 20 May 2015
8 Photos
Created 20 May 2015