May 10 to 15 2010

May 10, 2010
Saturday the 8th was spent standing on a ladder sanding the transom. Why?, well the easy off oven cleaner did not take off all of the paint. We are going to keep the name but need to update the Home port. This is a US Coast Guard registered vessel so the owners Home Port has to be on the boat. It was a hot day too. I finally finished up about 3:30, just in time for Charlie from the yard to buff out the gel coat. Looks great, now all we have to do is find the vinyl name that Patti had made a couple of weeks ago.
Sunday we decided to take the day off and do some exploring for Mother’s Day. I will let Patti talk about that.
Monday started out cool and clear and never really warmed up. In fact it is 10 pm right now and Patti is lying on the settee cold and just had me get her a blanket. I did not think I would see that for several months. Don’t get me wrong, the cool weather is a real blessing. It is so nice to feel cold.
I finally found the engine exhaust gate valve. I had looked everywhere and finally stumbled upon it when I was trying to get the brand info off of the top of one of the battery chargers. The surveyor had identified it as needing replacement so I was happy to find it. As everything else it was pretty tough to remove. Lay on the cockpit sole, half way into the seat locker to reach the valve. It was pretty badly corroded. I replaced it with a 2” ball valve that went in a lot easier than the gate valve came out.
The next project, other than the constant task of storing, packing, and finding room for all of our stuf, is to tune up the heads. I keep looking at the pod and wonder where all the stuff will fit. Slowly but surely we are moving into the boat from the pod. Today was heads and seacocks. A head is a marine toilet for all the non boater types. A seacock is the valve in the hull of the boat that the thru hulls are connected to. You don’t want a hole in the bottom of the boat without a way to close the hole. That is what the seacock does. We have 9 of them and they are all frozen. The boat sat for a number of years with less than ideal maintenance. I finally got two of the seacocks freed up so that they move, but I will have to take the others apart. Not a big deal, just time consuming and really has to be done while the boat is out of the water.
The head maintenance turned out to be an interesting exercise. I got the forward head working yesterday, I think anway. Not being in the water it is hard to check to see if the head valves are working properly. ie pumping water and not leaking. The aft head was not as cooperative. I finally decided that it was better in the long run to replace the aft head with a new one. Patti wasn’t real excited about the very seaworthy looking green bronzed look of the old heads. Great for a guy boat but not so much for the admiral. The head came out a lot easier then it came apart to perform the maintenance items. It would have had to come out anyway to replace the “Y” valve that directs the head output either to the holding tank or to overboard. It is illegal to pump the head overboard unless you are 6 miles offshore. In fact the Florida Fish and Game folks have been boarding boats to check to see that the “Y” valve is locked in the holding tank only position. I had to enlarge the access port in the head where the out flow hoses enter the head from the bilge. So I got to use my new favorite tools again. The multi tool “Don’t leave home without it”, my “Tool Bench in a Box”, also known as the “Power 8”. Check out the video on line, just google “Power 8 tools”. My other new favorite tool is the small cordless screw driver. It is a small pistol grip style just small enough to get into most of the tight spaces.
The old head came out and then what else, off to West Marine for a replacement head. I checked the discount marine place but they did not have the locking style that I wanted. It is pretty important to have a head with a locking main pump. The heads in this boat are mounted below the waterline, so it is possible that they could back siphon water into the boat. Not Good.
A little West systems epoxy from our neighbor, (good trade for a cold beer, eh?) to fill in the old mounting holes and on to installing the new “Y” valve. One of the boats next to us, two of them actually have serious blister problems. If there are any problems with the gel coat while it is mixed or cured during the lay-up of the hull, then it may develop blisters in the the gel coat. Sometimes they go deeper than the gel coat. At any rate the repair is extremely labor intensive. It can involve anything from the spot repair of a few, dig out the blister and fill with epoxy and repaint with anti fouling bottom paint, to removing all of the bottom paint and all of the old gel caot and then adding a barrier coat to the hull. Our neighbors issues are pretty serious. One ended up not only removing all of the bottom paint, but also large areas of gel coat as well, the other took off all of the gel coat..
As you might expect, Murphy is in the house when I was working on the aft head. The new head doesn’t align to the y valve very well so I will look for a right angle exit pipe from the Jabsco web site. The new Y valve is quite a bit longer than the old one, makes fitting the new head in a little more interesting.
Well at any rate, should be able to finish up the aft head installation tomorrow after I get the engine put back together, the new cut-less bearing and dripless shaft packing and shaft in. The prop still isn’t here but that can wait until later. I suspect that when the admiral sees the bright shiny new toilet in the aft head, then she will want a new one in the forward head also.
Once the heads have been replaced, that pretty much finishes up the safety recommendations on the survey. Then it is on to the stuff we want as well as a few of the more critical items on the survey. The windless needs to be re-built and then powder coated, and on it goes.
May 15th
Well, the engine is back together. It now has a new Dry Plate, heat exchangers for the oil and transmission coolers. All of that stuff is on the engine now. The shaft and cutless bearing and dripless packing will wait util the middle of next week when the mechanic is back to work.
Captain Kook
The admirals corner………
While Dave has been slaving away on engine and head projects, I have been trying to find space for all the stuff we think we need. I know I brought way too many clothes! Right now there is room, but we’ll see what happens when all of the boxes have been opened. We are getting close though.
Mother’s Day was fabulous!!! Although I didn’t get to spend it with my boys, Dave made my wish come true, and we went to see the ocean. We drove out to Fernandina Beach, which is on Amelia Island, just off the coast at Jacksonville. Rayoniers headquarters are located there, so I got to see where Dave spent all his time when he was there several times over the last couple years. To get there we took a small ferry (one deck, about 30 cars). The weather was perfect, around 78, and low humidity. We went straight to the public beach and had lunch at a beachside café. Watched the waves crashing into the shore, and the people enjoying their day at the beach. Afterwards, we went for a walk along the shoreline, letting the water wash over our toes.
Next, Dave went back to the café to watch the end of the Sawgrass Player’s Tournament, while I sat on the beach and read a book and people watched. Afterwards, we went into downtown Fernandina and walked the streets. It’s a quaint little town with lots of interesting shops, and a beautiful marina. It will probably be our first stop on the day we set sail from Green Cove Springs. We had a delicious dinner in Dave’s favorite Mexican restaurant while we watched the sun go down (and the bugs come out!).
Both Austin and Matt called, and it was wonderful to catch up on all that is new in their lives. Matt and Jacinda just got back from their delayed honeymoon to Maui. Of course they had a great time and want to go back ASAP. The day after they got back was James’ 7th birthday!! I can’t believe how quickly he is growing. While they were in Hawaii, they got word that the foundation was being poured on their new house. It should be ready by late July.
Austin is still working hard at the Marriott in DC, trying to put up with the stupid demands of the hotel clients. Meanwhile, Cindy is deep into finishing up her finals for the year, then she is meeting her friends in Vegas for a bachelorette party. The bride and groom are tying the knot on Austin’s birthday in July. They will fly to Seattle for the wedding. Shortly after that, we should be arriving in the Chesapeake and hope to spend some time sailing with Austin. Cindy will be in Atlanta on an internship. In August, we hope to have Matt, Jacinda, and James join us in the Chesapeake as well.
So all is well! Except for the relentless assault the mosquitoes are having on my body. Can’t wait to get our boat on the water and away from these pests!!!