Marina Politics - GCS

The marina we are at has told us today we can no longer access their internet, which is very poor I might add, since we were not considered customers.  We told them we considered ourselves

customers since we spend a lot of $$$$.$$ with their tenent maintenance facility but they disagreed and cut our internet off.  However, we could get their measly 1MBPS up and 0.25 MBPS down for $40/month.  OK, so I go to Verizon and activate their 4MBPS up/down. Ok, Captain of Reynolds you made a mistake here since I am a highly trained wireless engineer and offered my services free of charge to expand your system,

End of rant.

Very cool period and many accomplishments.

The weeks seem to fly by here on the boat at GCS.  Since I last wrote  the weather has been cool to cold with the barometer rising and falling in large swings.  We have endured heavy rain too.  We enjoy the fully enclosed cockpit.

The mast top work is done: a new windex wind vane, new RG-213 cable from the masthead to the  nav station below, new LED Steaming light and a few other improvement around the spreaders.  We spent several days tracing cables from the nav station area to the helm sttion in the cockpit.  I added a terminal buss in the instrument pod, pulled a new SeaTalk cable from the autopilot controller to the Depth/Speed/wind instrument pod and installed the new Ritche SS-2000 compass and dimming switch,  While doing all this work I installed pull string in the tubes for any future work I want to do..

When the weather was warm we pulled off the "eyebrow"  so SAM can refinish it and re-seal the screw holes.  When better weather happens we will re-install the eyebrow and re-seal the screw holes.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.