More rain and 14kts N wind

i awakened about 0530 this morning to the sounds of water and surging; therefore, I was on high alert listening for issues but a few minutes of listening produced no sounds worthy of alarm. However, I was awake and there was no turning back to sleep mode.  Now, I am writing  and slightly cold  as the heaters are not really keeping up with this size of boat.  I have an estimated 3KW running and this is about 10K± BTU's which is not sufficient to do more than take the chill off.  Still I am happy for this and am feeling like making some coffee on the stove to add a bit more heat.  BFN.

Thread the needle

We moved into our slip today AM as Holland Marine wanted our spot for business purposes.  We did not get too much advance notice so we had moved in less than 15 minutes using the HM crew.  Kyle was the pilot for the move.

We are in slip 4B and it was lie threading the needle.  Once into the slip it seems OK but we will find out in the next gale.  I have every fender we have on board deployed to starboard but they could be easily moved if the situation arises.  I will spend the next few days getting the wired internet working and maybe even the cable TV will work too.

Almost, almost there - drat one more thing or two

This is the first time I have sat on the boat writing on the computer with all systems running including airconditioning/heat pump.  Yea, and here we are many $1000's later. Marina just changed antifreeze (not needed but gives me assurance), oil (probably not needed but again those assurances) and adjusted valves that definitely needed attention ( a burn valve would be just around the corner.  To-Do is to add a solenoid that assists existing starter manual solenoid so as to allow a much more direct connection to the battery as the generator was not starting so good.  Also needs a new start 12VDC Battery.

Oh no not again

This morning before I had returned from the clubhouse I saw the lift moving Inspiration towards the water.  I jumped in the car and drove down to the launch site.  There she was sitting pretty in the water.  I was watching for a few minutes and saw the bilge pump spew out a large quantity of water so all was OK on that front. After a while I saw the bilge come on again: Not Good.  A quick check showed that a large quantity of water was coming in via the depth transducer thru hull. Out come the boat for the the third time - DUH.

SAM & I decided to light the stove to check propane levels while waiting for the bilge pump to come on again. No gas was coming out of the stove.  With a muttered curse, I opened the propane locker to check if the valve was turned on.  It was so I removed the tank, the only one I could, and then started to pull the connected tank forward so I could turn on the gas:  It was already on.  Back at the stove, I turned on the LP Gas switch and it clicked just like it should.  A few more on-off-on cycles and everything appeared normal but still no gas at the stove. I took the two cylinders to Ace Hardware that has a refill station right in GCS.  The Tech was real nice and very informative with some appropriate knowledge.  The grill tank had 2# of gas - about half of a tank.  The one stove tank was totally empty and the one that was connected had 7# of a total of 12#.  The tech guy explained to me that for the past 20 years or so that there is a pressure switch that closes when the brass probiscus is removed and you can open the tank main valve but no gas will flow until the probe is inserted and tightened.  BINGO: some lights turned on in my head.

Back at the boat I carefully inserted the probe and tightened while turning on the main tank valve.  I could hear gas escaping all was good to the electric valve. I went below and still no gas but the solenoid  was turning on and off.  As I back tracked I found another in-line manual valve that was off.  After turning it on all was AOK. One success for the day.  I went back to the Hardware and had the empty tank filled to the 13# level. I also painted the bottom of the tan k because it was getting rusty and tank would not expire until 2018 so it was worth trying to save it.  I will do the same with the other two tanks if the expiration is 2018 as well.                                                                                                                                                     

To the water and back again

We awoke and followed our usual schedule of eating breakfast, then police up the grounds in and near RV, down to the club house for tea or coffee and then back to the boat for some work.  Today was different because we went to the storage facility to deliver a trunk load of goods and to bring some back.

While at the storage we re-packed the smallish area we have to better utilize the small square foot but large cubic foot area.  The locker goes up to the ceiling if you can figure out how to use it.  We added a whole trunk load of stuff and removed Jerry's dingy plus the side curtains for the cockpit enclosure.  As such we returned more fully loaded than when we left but were better organized.

Upon return to Holland Marine SAM noticed the boat lift was snuggled around Inspiration II and was suspended in the sling.  Since it was 1230 hrs the workmen were off for lunch so we hurried to the Rv and had a quick sandwich of cold meat and returned to the boat just in time for them to start moving the boat towards the water.  I took a bunch of pictures with my phone so I will post some on this blog line later.

With the boat in the water it was time for leak checks and indeed we found one on the water speed transducer.  Tom Holland determined that the boat should come out and the thru-hull be re-bedded.  As of this writing it was finished and was waiting for the 4200 to set.  So I expect to be in the water tomorrow morning.

The temperature is supposed to drop to 36°F tonight so frost is expected.  We are snug in our RV with the electric fire churning out sufficient heat to keep us plenty warm.  Earlier we went to the club house for coffee and had a nice long chat about solar, tiny houses and off-grid plans of a guy who built his tiny house right on the property.  It is 24' x 8.5' x 13' high and is road-able.

LED Lighting re-done

I pulled the fixture down today and added 4 more LED modules.  I also added a ton of tie wraps to no avail.  You can still see the wires thru the fixture translucent panel.  I guess that will be bottom line for this panel.  The next one I will drill holes and run the wires to the backside so they cannot be visible.  I may replace the panel with the newer design if it looks good.  The heads have the old fashion 20W linear fluorescent tubes and I think making these will be easier.  I think 4 white modules and three red ones will fill it from end to end.

I spent an hour this morning downloading drivers for the wireless printer in the clubhouse and was ultimately able to connect to the wireless HP 6600. I printed out a FedEx return lable as my first document.  Anyway, I was pleased that it worked since copy document to a thumb drive and printing for the clubhouse computer was a pain.

We have set the date to launch Inspiration and the slip 4B has been assigned.  It looks sort of narrow so tonorrow I will ash how wide it is from the aft guide paost to the dock.  These are floating piers but the stern will face the open water and this will lead to some stern slapping by the bigger waves.

Required Visibility - Navigation Lights USCG

I just ordered a new bow light made by Attwood with following specifications. It is for boats up to 20 meters / 65.6 feet. Meets USCG CFR 183.810, ABYC A-16 requirements and all applicable standards as tested by Imanna Laboratories, on 3/6/2007. 2 nautical mile visibility.

REQUIRED VISIBILITY IN NAUTICAL MILES (NM)

Type of navigation light	Light beam	Angle	Type of boat	Boats < 12m	Boats < 20m	Boats < 50m	Boats > 50m
Starboard		112.5°	Sailing & Motor boats	1 nm	2 nm	2 nm	3 nm
Port		112.5°	Sailing & Motor boats	1 nm	2 nm	2 nm	3 nm
Stern		135°	Sailing & Motor boats	2 nm	2 nm	2 nm	3 nm
Masthead		225°	Motor boats	2 nm	3 nm	5 nm	6 nm
All-round		360°	Sailing & Motor boats	2 nm	2 nm	2 nm	3 nm
Bi-colour		2 x 112.5°	Sailing & Motor boats	1 nm	2 nm
Tri-colour		2 x 112.5°+ 135°	Sailing boats	1-2 nm	2 nm