TIMING
August 14, 2012
Almost mid August and just a few weeks at most until we start phase VIII. We have not been in a procurement mode this trip home as in previous trips since we now have finally made Why Knot ready to go cruising. Though our sails are old and out of shape so to speak, we will attempt to get some additional time from them. Our days of racing, hence sitting for seconds looking at how we can tweak them are done. They still move us at respectable speed and that is good. That being the exception, we now have the boat list past the necessary things into the secondary things with the exception of that infernal forward head. That will be a high priority as long as we live in the water world.
Our time home has been filled with things to do, some of which have been very high priorities. For instance, our water well electrical conduit chose this time to fail thus requiring us to retrench 150 feet and install a new one. That one we did ourselves. Then last Friday, we had a storm with lateral winds that took out a dozen mature Oaks and Juniper trees and a major portion of our roof shingles. With a bit of luck we can get that repaired including substantial internal water damage before our intended departure date. One can speculate about the timing of such events since we consider this to be a dock side event. By that we mean that over the years, many things needing repairs have happened at the dock versus at sea, some just as we were pulling away. We view that as a good thing since anything that breaks at the dock is far easier to fix. Makes one sort of wonder what it happens that way to some sailors.
So, we did procure two things for the boat and crew. One is a Speedseal™ for the sea water pump on the engine. We have used this product before on other boats. It is a very cleaver device that replaces the impeller cover with a precisely machined one having an “O” ring for a seal rather than the paper one used originally. The good thing is that it is removed using “user friendly” thumb screws rather than those tiny slotted screws I no longer see in the dark. Methinks that gizmo will take a few minutes off the impeller changeout. My record is 16 minute in the ICW of Louisiana over two years ago. Might I get that down to something like 8 minutes? Did I mention that one version of that product has a sort of thrust bearing built in so that the impeller wear is greatly reduced?
The other procurement speaks to the issue of walking on icy docks. I know, I know that walking on icy docks is an alien concept since a mere 1,400 miles to the south will eliminate that. It is a product that fits over the shoes and using small cleats, becomes crampons of sorts. ICE is a dirty word when existing anywhere other than ones drink or food preservation but we are told we will definitely experience it in the Solomons this winter. It is no stranger to our area either so if we decide to jump ship some January day and head home, they might be useful here. We don’t do falls well especially Bear. This trip poses a bit of a challenge since we just removed heavy clothing. Do we rig for winter or wait until after the trip home for the holidays? Does Scurv need snowshoes?