I had to give my shower key back to the folks at the yard this morning so they can redo the bathrooms. It'll be great to have nice, new, clean showers, but by the time they're ready, it'll be time to leave. So, it looks like I'll be taking my showers outside again. It got up to 80 today, so it's not a problem.
Unfortunately, I don't have water at the boat yet. They have it down at the dock, which is about a hundred feet away, but haven't fixed the pipes that run behind my boat yet. They told me it would be this week, but since they just started on the bathrooms, I sorta doubt it. Up until this week, I'd been carrying water from the office a quarter mile away. I don't mind too much, but it'll sure be nice to have it at the boat. I'd also like to go ahead and clean my tanks, but don't want to run a long hose from the dock -- mine's too short, and their's looks a bit too dirty for my taste.
Boat watch:
I ordered the chainplate material last week, so it should be here any day now. Pip, one of the owners, said I could use their drill press to drill them. Hopefully, they've got a band saw I can use to cut them as well. I still need to get some bits, but might have to order them. I checked with the local hardware store yesterday, and they don't have the sizes I need. However, I might be able to borrow some. I'll find out tonight.
I put in the order for the rigging yesterday, but since they have to order the wire, they won't ship till later this week. Hopefully, I'll get it next week. They'll cut them long and swage eyes on the upper ends of each one, so all I'll need to do is cut them to length and attach the mechanical eyes to the lower ends. I also ordered an extra one as a spare and a good set of cutters. In addition to cutting them myself and saving a lot of money, it's a good idea to have a set on board, just in case you get dismasted and have to cut away the rigging.
They moved the power boat that was next to me this afternoon -- he'll go in the water at high tide -- so that allowed me to move the steps to the stern. Now, I don't have to walk over the entire deck to get on and off. That'll make it much easier to finish the work and non-skid the deck. It's tough to keep it clean when you have to walk over it several times a day, especially when it rains -- the yard's a dusty gravel that gets sorta muddy when it gets wet.
The deck work should only take a few days, but I'll probably wait until after I finish the chainplates and rigging before I try to start working on it. The weather's getting better all the time, but it still seems to rain every few days. About of week of sunshine is all I need to prepare and paint. I'll need to put down one coat in small sections and sprinkle sand into the we paint. Then I'll come back a few hours later, brush it off, and lay down another coat. If all looks good, I'll put down another coat over everything. I'd considered using something to dull the finish, but it looks so good like it is, I might wait on that.
The forward decks are ready to go, but the cockpit might need a bit more work. I just need to make sure I don't get carried away and waste too much time. I can always fix it once I get to Houston. I just want to make it safe for the trip south.
Leak watch:
I re-caulked the toerails, but I still see a little leak when it rains really hard. The leak is right where the chainplate pulled through, but it doesn't seem to be getting into the wood gusset. Actually, it might be coming from the bow. The outboard seam right at the forward end of the starboard toerail -- where I cut out the rotten wood and mounted the bow roller -- looks like it might have separated. I'll smear some more caulk on it this evening once it cools off a bit. I don't want to mess around with it too much, especially since I plan to remove them once I get to Houston.
26 April 2011
17 April 2011
Bath Day
It finally warmed up enough to give Zoe a bath today, and she looks great. She always looks really good, but even I noticed she was getting a bit gamey. They haven't turned the water on yet -- still a bit cold -- so I took her down to the shower with me. She's pretty good about it, but really didn't like it much.
After we were done, I took her for a walk to let her air dry. It was really nice out, so she hung out on the deck most of the afternoon, but her hair's so thick, she wasn't fully dry until we took our evening walk several hours later.
She's got long, shiny black fur and looks great right after a bath. I only wish I'd taken a photo. If the weather's not too bad tomorrow, I'll take my camera along on our walk and try to post a few.
After we were done, I took her for a walk to let her air dry. It was really nice out, so she hung out on the deck most of the afternoon, but her hair's so thick, she wasn't fully dry until we took our evening walk several hours later.
She's got long, shiny black fur and looks great right after a bath. I only wish I'd taken a photo. If the weather's not too bad tomorrow, I'll take my camera along on our walk and try to post a few.
16 April 2011
Spring is Finally Here
It's a little cold and overcast today, but spring has definitely arrived. The high today will only be in the 40's, but it'll be in the 60's for the foreseeable future, so it's time to get back to work.
Blog watch:
Now that I can finally get back to work, I'll try to post more often. I doubt too many people would have been interested in numerous posts all saying the same thing, e.g., cold and rainy, waiting for spring.
Radio watch:
I bought a new Icom IC-7000 a few days ago and love it. My marine radio, an Icom IC-M700Pro, works fine, but lacks the bells and whistles normally found on ham rigs. The 7000 uses DSP filtering which makes it easy tune in hard to read stations. It also puts out a very good signal, and I find that other stations can hear me much better, even with only 100 watts, than they could on the marine rig which put out 150 watts. I also bought a Heil headset which really helps too. I'm looking forward to getting her on the water to see what she'll do -- right now I'm surrounded by tall masts which makes it about as bad as it can get, sorta like being in a faraday cage.
I'm also about a mile and a half south of an AM radio tower, 660 and 880, and can hear the radio broadcast on multiples of 220 khz, including 14300, the Maritime Mobile Service Network, which I listen to all the time. I called and reported it last week, and it looks like they're going to try to fix it. It's a clear channel station, so it transmits with 50,000 watts. They also duplex both stations from the same tower, so that explains the 220 multiples, that's the difference between the two stations. I mainly hear it during Yankees games, which is when they turn off an HD channel. I'm not sure exactly why that makes a difference, but the engineer at CBS thinks it's an important clue. I thought they were cranking up the power, but he said they always transmit at full power.
I'm also about to order new coax, a balun, and a few switches so I can hook up all the radios correctly and make up some new antennas. I want to be able to switch between my backstay and a couple of different dipoles on the fly. I'd also like to be able to switch between the two radios and see how much difference the filters make. However, I won't be able to do that until I get the mast back up. I only have room for a single dipole right now.
Boatyard watch:
I mentioned all the tall masts interfering with radio reception above. Well, those tall masts are sitting on top of very big boats, mostly expensive racers. And now that it's spring, a lot of the owners are out here on the weekends getting them ready for race season. I don't know much about racing boats, but I figure the one with the Lotus parked in front of it must be one of the more expensive ones. Or could it be the one with the Bentley parked in front? I must admit, I'm not that much up on expensive cars either. Heck, I don't even have a car or a license anymore.
Boat watch:
I'm also about to order the chainplate material. I've decided to go with stainless steel and do all the cutting and drilling here. The yard manager said I could use their drill press, so that makes it simple. I'll also order the rigging next week once I get a quote from the local rigger. I don't think he'll be able to compete price-wise, but I promised to let him bid, so I'll give him a chance. He gave me a bid of $3,000+ for the whole thing, but since I plan to measure and cut myself, it should be cheaper. The other quote I got, is about $1,100 including shipping. That's a big difference.
Transmission watch:
Okay, I haven't done anything with it yet, but now that it's warming up, and I've moved everything out of the way, I'm running out of excuses. I plan to crawl down there as soon as the weather clears, perhaps Monday. But first, I need to reread the manual again to make sure I do it right.
Zoe watch:
She needs a bath, but other than that, she's doing fine. She's made lots of friends on the island, both human and canine, but not with all the cats, or the skunk, in the boatyard. She mostly ignores the cats, preferring to go after their food once they run off. However, she seems really interested in the skunk. I try to discourage that, but am not sure she pays much attention to me. In any case, I'm not anxious to find out, so I never let her off the leash.
There's also a family of raccoons that live nearby. They usually walk right under the boat or along the fence just behind it, so Zoe likes to hang out on deck in the cockpit and keep a lookout. I'm not sure if they know she's there, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did it intentionally to taunt her. She gets really excited, but never barks.
Blog watch:
Now that I can finally get back to work, I'll try to post more often. I doubt too many people would have been interested in numerous posts all saying the same thing, e.g., cold and rainy, waiting for spring.
Radio watch:
I bought a new Icom IC-7000 a few days ago and love it. My marine radio, an Icom IC-M700Pro, works fine, but lacks the bells and whistles normally found on ham rigs. The 7000 uses DSP filtering which makes it easy tune in hard to read stations. It also puts out a very good signal, and I find that other stations can hear me much better, even with only 100 watts, than they could on the marine rig which put out 150 watts. I also bought a Heil headset which really helps too. I'm looking forward to getting her on the water to see what she'll do -- right now I'm surrounded by tall masts which makes it about as bad as it can get, sorta like being in a faraday cage.
I'm also about a mile and a half south of an AM radio tower, 660 and 880, and can hear the radio broadcast on multiples of 220 khz, including 14300, the Maritime Mobile Service Network, which I listen to all the time. I called and reported it last week, and it looks like they're going to try to fix it. It's a clear channel station, so it transmits with 50,000 watts. They also duplex both stations from the same tower, so that explains the 220 multiples, that's the difference between the two stations. I mainly hear it during Yankees games, which is when they turn off an HD channel. I'm not sure exactly why that makes a difference, but the engineer at CBS thinks it's an important clue. I thought they were cranking up the power, but he said they always transmit at full power.
I'm also about to order new coax, a balun, and a few switches so I can hook up all the radios correctly and make up some new antennas. I want to be able to switch between my backstay and a couple of different dipoles on the fly. I'd also like to be able to switch between the two radios and see how much difference the filters make. However, I won't be able to do that until I get the mast back up. I only have room for a single dipole right now.
Boatyard watch:
I mentioned all the tall masts interfering with radio reception above. Well, those tall masts are sitting on top of very big boats, mostly expensive racers. And now that it's spring, a lot of the owners are out here on the weekends getting them ready for race season. I don't know much about racing boats, but I figure the one with the Lotus parked in front of it must be one of the more expensive ones. Or could it be the one with the Bentley parked in front? I must admit, I'm not that much up on expensive cars either. Heck, I don't even have a car or a license anymore.
Boat watch:
I'm also about to order the chainplate material. I've decided to go with stainless steel and do all the cutting and drilling here. The yard manager said I could use their drill press, so that makes it simple. I'll also order the rigging next week once I get a quote from the local rigger. I don't think he'll be able to compete price-wise, but I promised to let him bid, so I'll give him a chance. He gave me a bid of $3,000+ for the whole thing, but since I plan to measure and cut myself, it should be cheaper. The other quote I got, is about $1,100 including shipping. That's a big difference.
Transmission watch:
Okay, I haven't done anything with it yet, but now that it's warming up, and I've moved everything out of the way, I'm running out of excuses. I plan to crawl down there as soon as the weather clears, perhaps Monday. But first, I need to reread the manual again to make sure I do it right.
Zoe watch:
She needs a bath, but other than that, she's doing fine. She's made lots of friends on the island, both human and canine, but not with all the cats, or the skunk, in the boatyard. She mostly ignores the cats, preferring to go after their food once they run off. However, she seems really interested in the skunk. I try to discourage that, but am not sure she pays much attention to me. In any case, I'm not anxious to find out, so I never let her off the leash.
There's also a family of raccoons that live nearby. They usually walk right under the boat or along the fence just behind it, so Zoe likes to hang out on deck in the cockpit and keep a lookout. I'm not sure if they know she's there, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did it intentionally to taunt her. She gets really excited, but never barks.
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