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

Saturday: rain to clearing but cooler

The temperatures are trending lower throughout the day with promises of 38°F tonight.  The day was a lazy one for us but we managed to go grocery shopping at a couple of local stores where we find good prices and sales.  That took way longer than I wanted but the First Mate is in charge of that detail so I find it better to keep my mouth shut.  Total bill today about $140.

When we returned to the RV we FM SAM put stuff away and we had rotisserie chicken with other pieced thru items like Artichokes, and bread with Almond Butter and Blueberry Preserves.  Afterwards I took a nap and FM went down to the clubhouse for quite awhile to work on the picture puzzle..  I was just coming around when she returned.

I went to the boat to do some work and made an aluminium cake dish into an air filter assembly that will filter the incoming air for the engine compartment squirrel cage blower.  Looks like it will work pretty good but we will be testing the design over time.

While at the boat I tried the new Attwood Louver vent plate but it did not fit.  It was too big by 1/32" to 1/16" in the height direction.  I just got thru putting  a new 1495 ventilator and 1491 collector box into my Walmart basket as well as 4 Stearns Type II vests.

FM is now making spaghetti for the crew and it smells good.  Abby is whining around wanting dinner too.  So the bottom line is that I did do some work today but not as much as I dreamed about last night.  With that I must go because the dinner bell is ringing.  BFN.

I connected with this scene

A Tall Ship

Jobs completed & started today

I installed some of the remaining sta-set line on the boarding ladder to use as a retracter to stow the ladder.  I'll probably change this setup so I can deploy the ladder from the water should the need arise.

SAM applied the second coat of Cetol to the decorative trim under the caprail and it looks real nice.  We were thinking about a third coat today but we were tired so we went to Home Depot to get some Hangar Bolts.  I want to use these to hold the cabin light assembly in place.  It is very difficult to install the wood screws while holding a couple of fixture parts in place.  The hangar bolts will serve as a guide for the fixture base and I bought wing nuts to allow quick access.  They are pretty expensive items.

I mounted the curved base cheek block on the whisker pole today using 3/16" Stainless Steel pop rivets and installed the 1/4" red fleck sta-set line  from the wire pendent.  Let me tell you those rivets are very, very tough to set and took all the strength I possess. The job is complete and I extended the pole all the way and retracted it then stowed it away on the mast track. I am glad to have this little job done.  I must admit that I would like the cheek block sheave to be a larger diameter because 1 1/16 is pretty small.


The "Snap" Instant Zippers arrived today and with great excitement I brought them aboard.  Miracle of miracles they actually worked and this is the best $10 I ever spent.  I also ordered the fixnzip but it has not arrived yet so I may try to cancel the order.  Anyway, these things absolutely work and work well.