Sunday, January 31, 2016

End of January

Here it is!  The end of January and it will never be repeated again in the timeline of history.  It is a day that is overcast and cool with not too much wind.  SAM is down in the marina clubhouse cooking up some goodies for this evenings movie.  We think it will be a good one but then again there can be surprises - "War Room".

I have been perusing eBay trying to find a sheath for the old Leatherman Super Tool.  I have become used to using a Leatherman knock-off for a couple of years and it is used almost every day for something.  So I brought out the real thing that I have had in the car for years.

The Leatherman story began about 1996 in Detroit.  I had the honor of leading the team that integrated the big, big ITS system in the metro area for a major Aerospace design company.  Our
team used leatherman's  for use at the top of towers were climbed to commission and repair equipment.  Well, one day a guy named Chris B. left his somewhere and it was never found.  Some years later, I was climbing up to the top of a tower and reached the equipment box near the 40' level and guess what I found?  Chris's Leatherman and it was in nearly perfect shape with no rust or corrosion at all!  The salt environment of close to the Detroit freeways in the winter is incredible and that is a testament to Leatherman quality.  Chris was off the project somewhere else for our company so I inherited his Super Tool and that is the rest of the story.

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Variable Sunday

This morning it was high winds, intermittant rain and overcast grey skies.  This afternoon it was sunny skies and moderate wind and falling temperatures.  As usual on Sunday it was church in the morning and a little bit of work in the afternoon.  I did a bit of repair of the cabinet closures and looked for some more on the internet.  I did find some very similar replacements and this is good.  I then logged the find in the blog watermanwater.tumblr.com for my future review.

My afternoon was slow but I did go to Monkey Fist to try and scrounge some stainless steel tubing to act as legs for the saloon table legs when it is expanded.  The first part was successful and the second part, implementation, was partially successful.  OK, the deal is that the 26" was a bit too long with the plastic feet installed.  The end tables sloped a bit upwards and I had two choices: the first was to cut off the tubing to less that 26" and the second was to raise the table.  Guess what won?  We raised the table 3/4"  and all was fine.  Now all I have to do is find the one missing foot from the new table legs. :)

It is going to be cold from what the weather forecasters are saying.  Reports from Indiana say in the single digits and colder. Right now I hear the cycling of the reverse cycle heater on the boat.  The barometer fell rapidly this morning around sunrise and then started climbing.  The wind was up and somewhat variable since the boat was first close to the dock and later farther away.

Near sunset the son of the new owner of Quest went out to start flying his Phantom III Standard.  The quadcopter costs around $500 and is quite a bargain since last year it was double that figure.  In spite of the 15 mph winds the copter was able to hoover and fly and be stable.  Wow, what a deal.  Mom, I want one!

Friday, January 15, 2016

A Friday in January

Today is Friday and it is overcast, dark clouds and raining heavily here in GCS.  The radar shows it abating and I can hear the patter on the cockpit enclosure.  Just a few drops came into the cockpit as the wind drove into us: This is good and now I know where to put a little flap outside to shunt those drops away.

The reverse cycle heat is idle so the outside temperature is about equal to the interior.  I will monitor to see if the humidity increases from the current 60% as viewed on the Weems and Path barometer.

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Propane: We bit the bullet

I have been dancing around the subject.  The propane smell has been emanating from the propane locker.  I really did not think itwas that bad but a full tank of LPG escaped in 8 days. Time to get worried and shut off the gas and get some parts.  The Admiral says no amateur work on this so we have another punchlist item for Holland Marine.  I went to West Marine to see what they had and made a list of the 4 parts I need.  Cost is about $250.  Now to get this scheduled this quick so I can get food made on-board.  Wow, boats will be boats and there is no rest for captains.

We ate Middle Eastern today at a little strip mall near Flemming Island.  I had Hummus and Grapeleaves.  SAM had Tabbouleh and Hummus.  It was good and made the trip to West Marine one without hunger.  Later SAM went to look for some new shoes.

Right now I am watching a DVD from the library called "Argo" and listening to the real helicopters flying overhead. It is about President Carter, Iran and the hostage situation.  By today's standards thiis is real tame stuff.  Today the whole 60 hostages would be dead ducks, fodder for the television viewers.  Oh well, enough of that.


Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Another thing to do

Well, our LPG tank ran out of gas in less than two weeks and we have not used the stove that much.  Well, this means we have a leak and you can smell the propane in the fuel locker.  As an experiment I attached the new tank to the line and we finished dinner.  Later I went out and you could smell gas so I just shut off the fuel to the line.

Tomorrow I will go to West Marine to see what they have in the way of regulators, hoses and gauges. I need to take a picture so I can remember what I need when I get there.  So the punchlist is growing again.

The rest of the day was spent puttering around with the autopilot.  We used the aft shower today and I was told the water temperature was adjusted just right.

Quickie again

I just installed the Blogger App on my Android. It seems to work OK and I am using it write this as a trial. Reviews of the app are mixed and it works or not.

One thing I do not like is that if you save a draft in Blogger and publish it some days later, the publish date prevails not the chronological date of the writing.

I tried to add a picture but app crashed so I am adding again now.

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Week 1 2016 update

Week 1 has been characterized by wet, windy and cool and week 2 has been downright cold. The temperatures for Sunday week two were in the 30's at night and 50's daytime, Monday was even colder and today, Tuesday the 12th, dawned with a temperature of 31°F.  When I went up to the car at 0830 there was about 1/8" of ice on the windshield - ice not frost. The reverse cycle air handlers are working great and keep us warm and toasty at night in thee temperatures we have been experiencing.

I went down to the clubhouse to fix my oatmeal and coffee.  A few guys came in so we yaked for a while and then I took a shower.  SAM joined me some time later with Abby and we went back to the boat about 1100.  I had an appointment at First Assembly at 1500 hrs to start the characterization of the network and internet ( nothing is documented so it is up to the team to figure it out).  I also made a quick trip to Home Depot to get some white and black liquid tape and some self-sealing electrical tape that I will need very soon to do some of the jobs mentioned in the Punchlis for this year - and I have already found a few minor items TBD over the next few days.

After the meeting I went over to Monkey Fist to find a terminal strip to use for the helm electronics enclosure +12VDC and ground buss.  He had one for a decent price that was new so I bought it so I can get started tomorrow.

Now it is getting close to bed time as I finish writing this blogline.  All-in-all it has been a good day that started cold but became a sunny, lo 60's day with near calm winds.  Cheers & Night.

Punchlist 2016 & Companionway Repair

The Punchlist for 2016 has a few holdovers from 2015 and several new items.  This may be a long process since we seem to be moving slower and our budget is being reached sooner than expected. Any here is the list to this date but I am sure more will be added:

  • Re-bed companionway cover and re-seal the hold down screws. DONE
  • Straighten dingy davit arm. DONE
  • replace LPG tank with new. DONE
  • replace seatalk line from helm to controller
  • install terminal strip power buss in helm instrument enclosure to clean up wiring.
  • install new RG-213/U coax from masthead to nav station and install new whip antenna.
  • replace existing windex with new 15" at masthead
  • replace Steaming Light with new LED type
  • replace Stern Light with new LED type.


The companionway repair was one of the first big items to be completed in 2016.  The job was much more simple than envisioned and took about 3 hours.  We used 3M5200, in spite of all the horror stories we hear on almost every website, blog and infonet, and will probably hate ourselves when we have to repair it again in a few years.  Hopefully this blog will serve to keep us from forgetting.  The pictures snapped are below. During the re-bedding process we found a hole that had been drilled by someone and hole  that could have caused a leak if water remained in the grooves beside the companionway sliders.
 This is a picture of the companionway hatch cover.  I would estimate it took 15-20 minutes to remove. Then another 45-60 minutes to clean up all the groves and nooks and crannies.
  
It was very windy the day this was done and it is a mistake because when we applied the sealant the chucks of debris became embedded into the product.  This was hard to clean up after the sealant solidified about 3 days later. To clean it up we used lacquer thinner many days later. Trying to clean up while the sealant is soft would be a disaster and this is to be avoided at ll costs.

Applying the sealant was straight forward and a thin coat applied to the hood and the thicker part to the groves.
Be sure to put some product on the screws and into the screw holes.











Monday, January 11, 2016

Punchlist 2015 & GCS area

We are back on the boat in Green Cove Springs and have been here about a month so far.  December saw record heat and very nice temperatures with little rain.  Our arrival was characterized by lots of energy and this has been slowly slowed down as we get in the groove.  Our big plans have been scaled back and new items for the punchlist have appeared so we have thrown the script to the wind and sill just go with the flow of work to be done and enjoy the weather we have. The people staying our house while we are gone have said the weather is pretty brutal up North.  So, with the old 2015 punchlist of items below that are completed we will generate a new punchlist for Winter 2016.

The 2015 punchlist of items has been whittled down and are generally listed below:

  • rebuild the fwd/aft head single handle sink faucets with Delta parts.  DONE
  • rebuild the fwd head single handle shower faucet.  DONE
  • install new aft shower single handle faucet and adjust water temperature valve to 105 deg F.  DONE
  • replace all aft head lines with new white no smell ones and clean holding tank. DONE
  • replace fwd/aft head overboard through hulls with new brass ball valves. DONE
  • install new lines on fwd/aft head overboard lines.  DONE
  • Install new lens in aft cabin large hatch ( both are done now aft).
  • Inspect and replace spreader bolts in mast
The 2016 Punclist will be the topic of another blog post since I want to eat dinner and do some other important stuff.  BFN.  Pictures will come later.