Tropical Storm Isaac

Hi Everyone: I haven't been updating as of late cause I think it may be a little boring to some people to read a sailing blog about a sailing vessel being upgraded or repaired but on the other hand when I do tell of things I've done I get some reasonable questions from a few readers like David's question about hooking the water system into the marina water which I ashamedly have never answered, so sorry David. Also I think it's a pretty fair record of what has been done to the boat should we ever have to sell it. I've done so many things to the boat and not documented them in any way and my age I'll never remember until it breaks again but once I start something I seem to forget about taking pictures of before and after, shame really.
To answer your question David. I cut what I recall to be about a 2 7/8 hole in the stern and caulked with Dow 5200 and mounted with stainless screws a pressure limiting water connection. Before this I mounted a carbon filter available in the RV section of Walmart on the spigot. Inside the boat I changed a few of the original water lines which were metric to new 1/2" line and tee'd this into the cold water line that runs to the shower mounted on the transom. I turned the water on and watched my water tanks to make sure that my 2 12 volt water pumps had check valves in them and didn't feed any water back to the tanks. They don't and now I'm thinking I will put a by-pass around the pumps with a valve in it so I can open this and fill my tanks while still hooked to supplied water through the carbon filter and maybe never have to open the deck fill fittings again. The whole operation was pretty easy and painless and so worth doing. The 35 psi that the marina water is regulated to is nice in that it doesn't create any leaks or faucet drips in the on board plumbing unlike the 65 psi that the onboard pumps provide.
With Isaac being hyped up so much on the news as being possibly a cat 2 hurricane and smashing it's way up the center of the state I thought I should have engines ready to run, water tanks full, freezer full, all the canvas off etc etc but as it was I was in California until Saturday evening with Isaac supposedly hitting us on Sunday evening or Monday by noon. Then I started thinking what if they cancelled flights into southern Florida and Traci was on the boat alone then I started to panic. I thought "the news likes to hype things up to keep you watching so calm down and check NOAA and Wind Guru and see what they say." As suspected, we were due to catch the edges and remain on tropical storm watch but I have to say that working on Friday in California took some concentration to keep my mind from wondering and thinking the worst and Saturday nothing flew fast enough to get me back there. Saturday evening I removed the solar panels on the Bimini top and the top and Traci pretty much had everything else lashed down or removed and the offers of help and calls of concern where above and beyond and I thank you Grady Chance and Paul Baynham, someday when you need me I'll make sure I'm there. I was more nervous than I'd ever let on but all for not. Wind got up to around 40 mph and probably gusted to 60 or so and it rained cats and dogs but when we thought about it, we've been caught sailing in similar weather and faired well so we missed the bulk of it and are thankfull.

Above are pics of the heat exchanger on one of the engines as I removed the end cover. I noticed 2 black fingers off of a raw water pump impeller and I cursed a wee bit as I just changed the raw water pump last year. The next one shows the exchanger plugged about 50% and the last one shows the cap and the left side or intake side plugged with the 2 rubber fingers and mussels. I cleaned the exchanger in a few minutes with 50% muiriatic acid and water and it looks like new again, shoulda took a picture. Got it back together and then hooked the engine cooling to the heat exchanger in the hot water tank so that when we run this engine it will circulate hot antifreeze through a radiator in the hot water tank and heat some water for showering and dishes without electicity. Filled it all back up with antifreeze and started to mount another new alternator and smart regulator. Not done yet as I have to take the alternator apart and by-pass the regulator.
On a great note, the marina bought a brand new house boat for live aboard folks to do laundry in. It has 2 brand new washers and dryers, a shower and bath room. They also gave us an efficiency to use during the storm as the short back and forth motion was making Traci a little motion sick. I offered to pay but they said no as I help him around here now and then and it was appreciated. Turns out we didn't need it but we did do some laundry in it and watched some tv.
Sorry for the boring update, promise lots of underwater pictures when we hit the Bahamas in January.
Dave

Com'on December

Bonjour and similar greetings to all:

I haven't alot to add as we are still sitting in the relative safety of SW Florida and the Faka Union Canal, working on the boat when I get the energy and flying around the country from the Fort Myers airport to try and earn money I'm paid every 2 weeks.

There are a few pictures and a couple thoughts I wanted to share while I'm inspired (this really means I'd rather do this as opposed to some of the chores I should be doing). Great word, inspired.

Traci, the love of my life, the conqueror, looking like she just taught this aligator a "who's the boss" lesson and wants my Dad to know that this could easily be him if he doesn't tread lightly around her. This is how they get along and love each other.

It would appear that this big fellow is cruising around the boat waiting for revenge upon Traci but the truth is that it is now mating season and step on the deck at any given time and you'll see at least 3 of them.

Work progresses slowly on Daruma. It's hard to cut a precise angle on a piece of aluminum step trim with a hacksaw and one has to keep in mind the method and lengths of various attaching means or one will have a variety of screws hanging out of the bottom of the tunnel under the boat.

We broke down and purchased a new camera that is supposed to be good to 33ft of water depth, shoot video and add gps info to your pictures so I imagine they could be added to a program like Google Earth showing the exact location the picture was taken.
I've often thought and tried to put into words why we choose to live this lifestyle so it could be explained to those who look at you like your from another planet or have a deathwish or something and the best explaination I could find was written by someone else in a copy of a magazine. It's sorta long but is a great summary.
"In half and hour we'll be anchored in the cove and I'll fix dinner without a microwave, food processor, blender or hand mixer. I'll knead bread sans Kitchen Aid dough hook, I'll wash the dishes with a non-electric foot pump, and we'll spend the evening reading by oil lamp rather than the blue flicker of a TV. (or I'll beat Traci at a game of crazy eights) Our weekend is a far cry from the work week in our condo in the central west end of St Louis, (our floating house on the river in the suburbs of the big city of Cardinal, Ontario) but it's one we hope to adopt full time soon. Our family thinks we're crazy, and aquaintances look askance at us whenever they hear of our plans to sell everything and sail away on our 42' Tartan. (our 40' cat) "Why would you do that?" they ask. So why indeed? It's a multi-faceted answer not easily understood by someone who doesn't sail. There is the need to be rid of the noise of the city, the confines of the cubicle and the hectic pace of living today, but to claim that as the whole answer cheapens the reality. How can I adequately describe the feeling of accomplishment to someone that sailing on and off an anchor gives me, or prop walking the boat to a perfect landing on the dock (few and far between) or weathering a nasty blow and having the old girl deliver us safely through it? How can I describe the caress of the breeze flowing over my face from the V-birth hatch as I rock to sleep gently in the anchorage, or the smell of baking bread wafting out into the cockpit as I read the piece of literature that I always told myself I'd get to some day when I had time? Oh yeah. Time. To read. I guess the best answer is a simple word. Freedom. Everywhere there are efforts to control my life, to fill it with an ever-escalating volume of input. Working in a windowless cubicle for a living, hammering out design jobs for a marketing firm, (not me), my day is handed to me in minutiae ad nauseam. The relentless deadline pressure to complete projects with which I have absolutely no meaningful connection drains me emotionally, spiritually, and even physically. The television programmers attempt to feed me a list of things they feel necessary for my happiness, providing a parade of fashionable role models to that end. The news networks fill my mind with fear and leave me looking over my shoulder every time I exit my car in a parking garage. There is the illusion of freedom to choose the way I want to live, but it occured to me recently that my life had changed course somewhere along the way, choreographed to some score written by the author of The American Dream - someone elses dream. Then through a bit of serendipity, I was introduced to sailing. It was an epiphany. As a weekend live-aboard, I'm untangling myself from the maze of competition for my attention, opening myself to new things. Would I have seen the flock of white pelicans soaring above me this morning if I had been stressing on the commute? Not likely. Would I take the time to feel the elasticity of a perfectly kneaded ball of bread dough yield under my hands? More than likely, I would buy a highly preserved loaf from the store on my way home, late from work. Being free doesn't mean living without responsibility. Every choice I make is balanced with an equal measure of it. Is it risky? Sure. There's no one to blame if I fail, but neither can anyone else claim responsiblity for my success. I could sit in an armchair watching my life pass me by in Technicolor, but I've decided to live it by sailing. It's not for everyone, for sure. It's demanding, it's difficult, it's challenging, it's sometimes scary, it's peaceful, it's amazing, it's infinitely rewarding.
Kinda sums it all for me 'cept I haven't kneaded dough on Daruma as yet, I don't work in the cubicle, we don't sleep in a V-birth and we do a little more than weekends but the rest is spot on. Our clock runs a little different speed........

One more picture it wouldn't let me upload on the last entry, guess I had too many pics.
Umm, well.......I got the Moosic in me.  Ha ha

It's been some time, apologies but HELLO!  We have been spending time, about the last 6 weeks, on our floating house in Canada as I had to renew a work visa and other things but most of all, got to see friends and family and enjoy the great weather while we slaved on the yard and driveway. 
Currently, we've returned to the catamaran in Naples on the edge of and feeling the effects of Debby, a tropical storm located in the Gulf to the north of us.  Not stopping Traci though, she's out cleaning the deck off.
I want to share another video that I compiled of our journey last year.  It is effective, makes tears to eyes every time it's watched by us, enjoy.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zidftfc0qiuq0tf/BAHAMAS%202011.wmv?dl=0
Had an interesting time getting ready to return over the past week.  I went out to the Galop Canal Rd. from the house last Monday to bring the little car closer to the house so I could pack it up for the journey to Florida and low and behold it wouldn't try to turn over.  I checked all the safety crap, nope, checked all the fuses, nope.  We gave it a pull with the truck and got it going, took it to the garage and I got under it and had a look around.  The wires are on with some sort of clip and since I didn't have a screw driver in my hand to release it, I never bothered and I noticed nothing else out of place or odd and the thing had been faithful with no strange noises or actions all along.  We figured a safety switch or something had failed and postponed our trip for a day and took it to the dealer, Star Motors, in Ottawa as he said he'd try and look at it throughout the next day.  He called the next day and said it needed a new starter, they had to pound on it to get it to work which to me indicates worn out bushings at either end of the starter.  I thought "thats funny, there was no indication of that being a problem." so I asked how much a new starter was, $881.00, GULP.  I then asked if it was starting now to which he replied "yes, but you have to fiddle with it."  I'm a good fiddler so I said I was coming to pick it up and he then said "Well you can't drive this car, both front coil springs are broken."  What?  I'm on my way in, how much do I owe so far?  It was around $120.00 for one hours labor for troubleshooting.  When I got there he said that the wires on the starter were corroded which made a lot more sense to me as it sits near the ocean an awful lot but now I'm wondering which it was, worn out starter or corrosion and whats up with the springs?  He said the coils were both "right down" and if we hit a fair bump that it might drive one through a tire, scare tactics!  The car started right up like normal and has all the way to Florida and continues to.  Just the act of pulling off the wires and putting them back on removed enough corrosion to make it work.  The springs?  Well I looked briefly underneath and I can see at least 2/3 of them at which point they disappear up into the body and they look fine, make no noise turning the wheels left or right and nothing is different.  If broken in two within the exposed part then maybe a bump would send one of the broken ends out into a tire but funny thing is, we got HIT BY A TRANSPORT on the way down here at over 70 miles an hour and forced over to the guard rails on the passing lane side.  We had to chase the truck down as he never stopped as he didn't feel anything.  While I was chasing him and pointing to the side of the road, Traci was calling 911 and giving them a mile marker and they treated it as a hit and run but we had the guy stopped by the end of the call.  The guy was large with a bald head and sun glasses on but I didn't care, I was pissed, and then he made the mistake of appealing to Traci and she wasn't long tuning him in!  She was a little excited.  She apologized after as did he.  Now we have to chase down the trucking company for restitution or their insurance company as they please.  I am so tired of being ripped off and taken advantage of just cause you're trying to do the right thing and be a nice guy......watch out.
Pictures are of the little car with a smashed mirror, rubber on both fenders from his rear trailer tires and the marks on his tires from the black pearl, (our little car).  We were right up near the back of his cab in the passing lane and there was another transport pulled off the road with flashers on so he decided to come into the passing lane and didn't see us.  Lucky.
Dave

Hi All:  Finally got the picture upload to work, not sure how, it just worked today.  The fellow in the top photo was cruising around the boat a few minutes ago and Traci spotted him.  A couple fellows tried fishing for him but he wasn't interested.  The bottom photo is the water regulator / back flow preventer that makes marina life so much nicer.  I have it and the shower all isolated on valves with new hose as the old one kept blowing off deep in the bowels of the back of the boat once in awhile.  It's been raining like crazy the last few days and I'm wishing I hadn't said "I dare say that may have been the last leak."  Really proving me wrong.  Is it just me or is it anyone who requires not an inch less than a quarter mile of paper towel every time you have a caulking gun in your hands?  Well I best go and get some of the chores done so the engines are ready to go in case of a hurricane.  I'm off to Louisiana to work this week and leaving Traci with paint and brushes so we'll see what I recognize when I return.  Her birthday was yesterday, the 28th and I must say, she got a little spoiled this year.  I got her a new little laptop so we could Skype while I was traveling and kara painted her a picture that Traci fell for while we lived in California, first picture above.  Later,
Dave

Ongoing improvements

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/74105973/Cruisin%20with%20Terry%202010.wmv
Hi everyone.  A little video test on the link above, just click on it and it should take you to a video I constructed a couple years ago and gave to my bff Terry.  If it works well I'll put some more in the drop box. 
We added a water pressure regulator, back flow preventer that allows us to hook the reverse osmosis - desalinated water from the marina directly to the boat through an RV carbon filter so we don't have to keep filling the onboard tanks and running the pumps for water pressure.  I had to cut a 3" hole in the transom of the boat to mount it and I took the shower out of the transom for access.  Upon pressuring up to test the install, I noticed a leak on one of the fittings for the shower and after fixing this I realized this has been leaking all along and now there is no water collecting in the rear quarter and the pressure stays up in the plumbing system as it should have before.  The city water inlet won't do much for us on an anchor but it sure is sweet while in the marina.
Tomorrow the new mixing elbows, zincs, injector return line and the heat exchanger cleaning get started and hopefully completed as the week after next we are HEADING HOME!  Yup, I have to go home to renew a work permit and drivers license and close a land deal so we should be home for a few weeks. Yahoo!
Blogger has a new format and it is seeming to take forever to upload pictures so I will check it out farther tomorrow.
A torrential downpour the other day allowed me to finally find a nagging little leak we've had forever in one of the coach windows, I dare say it was the last one.
Bye for now, will figure out how to add pics over the weekend.
Dave

Pics from the past

Hi Folks: Since our last blog was shut down and all was lost I thought I'd put up some of the memories that were lost so these pics are from a couple years ago and I'll post more in the near future.

The first is of the active volcano at the island of Monserrat where the capital city of the island has been deserted and buried under a pile of lava, ash and mud. We passed under the plume, perhaps closer than we should have been, and got gritty, volcanic dust in our eyes, hair and all over the boat but wouldn't have missed for anything. Anchored on the north side of the island that night we almost got plowed over by a huge barge and tug that was docked and being loaded when we anchored but must have thought he could use us as a bumper when leaving.

The next is a picture of what we refer to our kids as our only chart for the trip which is on the back of playing cards. Why would anyone worry about us?

Next was a full moon while we were docked at Rum Cay. We were anchored on the east side of Long Island and the wind wasn't right to go around the northwest end so we went to Rum Cay instead and it turned out to be one of those life changing moments that would have been easily missed. How much it changes our lives will be decided in the future as we've been asked back to help out around the marina and told that when there's nothing to repair I'd get paid to take people fishing, sweet! I looked at his water maker that he had all ready put over a thousand dollars into without results and we fueled up, ate, drank beer, showered, did laundry, filled with water, got ice and docked for 3 nights and he wouldn't take a cent and he's the best cook in the Caribbean I'm sure.

Next one is where we anchored off Cockburn Harbour on South Caicos and where the water is so turquois. We went ashore there to sign in with a young fellow named Dirk we met from Germany who crossed the Atlantic alone and came over to introduce himself. That night he came over and played cards and drank some rum and we travelled together for a couple days. We ran into him again in the Exumas a week or 2 later and we keep in touch with the odd email. On this island there were dirt roads, hardly a vehicle, friendly people and the dogs laid around too lazy to bite. Terry, my BFF, said it was his speed and he was going to look for property there.

Last one is of Terry on his first real day of sailing, January 16th, 2010, just four days after the earthquake that devasted the capital of Haiti and we happened to be on the north side of the same island in the Dominican during the quake. We were waiting for some weather that was suitable but after the quake things got a little crazy as it seems Dominicans and Haitians don't like each other due to the Haitians ruling the Dominicans by force a few hundred years ago and I guess they still haven't gotten over it. I decided we were leaving the next morning, come what may, and it turns out the swells were around 14' high coming at us from the starbord beam an indication of which can been seen behind Terry in the picture.

Talk again soon,

Dave