Earthly Delights

Last weekend (04-25-14) we installed the Mermaid Condensators on our two reverse cycle air conditioning / heating units.  The installation is pretty straightforward.  You cut about 3" out of a straight section of the water line running from the A/C condenser to the overboard discharge.  There's an arrow on the Condensator that shows the correct direction to mount it.  Then simply remove the old condensation drain that fed into the bilge and replace it with the line supplied in the kit.  This has a filter that'll need to be checked occasionally and a reducer that attached to small diameter tubing that runs up to the Condensator.  Everything gets secured with clamps to prevent any wear from motion.  That's about it.  It sounds simple on paper but the job took most of the afternoon to install these two simple items.  The second one went much faster then the first.

The hardest part was clearing the area around the A/C units to be able to get at them.  On our boat the larger 16,000 BTU unit is located Port side behind the settee in the Main Salon.  You get to it from beneath the settee, which is a storage area, and also behind it, which is another storage area.  The other unit (8,000 BTU) is located in the Forward Stateroom beneath the head of our bunk.  Once the mattress is pulled out of the way a 2' square hatch is revealed that's right above the A/C unit.  Finding a place for all the stuff that got removed for access was the most time consuming part.  The boat was a mess with no where to sit for most of the afternoon.

Once everything was installed we fired up the A/C water pump and checked for leaks.  The Condensators make a little chug-chug slurping sound but once everything gets closed up you can't hear it at all.  With no leaks we put everything back in it's place and fired up the A/C.  We flushed out the bilge using dock water and pumped it out with both the electric and manual bilge pumps to get as much out as we could.  There was still about an inch or so of water down there but that's the best we can do without using a shop vac.  Our bilge is quite deep, probably 48" down and about 18" wide and maybe 36" in length.  In the past with the A/C running we would get about 10" or 12" of water over seven days in there before the bilge pump would kick in and the standing water would get really pukey, stinky.  Part of our weekly routine, March through November, has been flushing out the bilge.  It's been like that for over four and a half years now, constantly flooded.  The only time it's not is when we run the diesel heater and shut down the reverse cycle systems.

It's obvious now that all of that was coming from the air conditioning condensation run-off.  I checked the bilge on Sunday and found the suction end of the hand pump was partly under water.  My biggest concern was that we still had water leaking into the bilge because that would possibly mean it was coming from our water tank.  Island Packet boats are notorious for having leaking tanks, be they water, fuel or waste.  The tanks are all located beneath the cabin sole, the floor, which means that replacing a tank is a nightmare and very expensive.  We've already replaced our waste holding tank and I don't want to have to go through something like that again.  With this in mind I started making plans to figure out if the water tank was leaking.  I was going to add colored dye to our fresh water tank and see if anything showed up in the bilge.  Cheri was going to be out of town this next weekend and I was planning to do it then.

This morning, Tuesday, I got the urge to take another look in the bilge.  We had a good rain all night and odds were good that the water level would be even higher due to rain water running down the mast into the bilge.  When I pulled up the floor plate and shined my light down there I was pleasantly surprised to find the water level had actually dropped maybe half an inch.  The intake box for the hand pump was almost completely exposed and dry now and just the floor of the bilge was still under maybe a half inch of water.  It was evaporating.  This is a first for La Vida Dulce and I can now see a time in the near future when we'll have a dry bilge.  This weekend, instead of coloring our drinking water maybe I'll get the shop vac out and pump the bilge dry.  I'd like to scrub it down with bleach and then give it a few coats of paint.  And then maybe stare at it for a few days.  A dry bilge!  What  concept!

I'd just like to point out here that when we bought the boat in September 2009 we paid big bucks for "experts" to install the A/C systems.  There are a number of things I've come across that I woulda done differently.  In the Forward Stateroom they ran the duct into the cabinet at the foot of the bunk and directed the air right at the head of the bed.  Even with the fan turned down as low as it would run it was still very annoying having wind constantly in your face.  This past Winter I pulled the old duct out and redirected it out the foot of the bunk so it blows at floor level and distributes through the room.  It still heats and cools just fine but is now much more comfortable.  The return for this system was a vent built into the side of the storage area beneath the bed.  The problem there is that the storage area has compartments that are walled off from where the A/C unit is located so the air can't get through.  The system was pulling air up from the bilge.  I cut 4" holes into the compartment walls to get better air flow.  In the Main Salon the through-hull is plumbed with pipe fittings (not hose) to the strainer basket and the basket is mounted rock solid against the floor of the compartment.  The strainer basket gets removed from the top but the glass container screws off for cleaning from the bottom.  There's no way to remove the container and the opening at the top is too small to reach into.  The worst thing they did though, was running the condensate drains into the bilge.  It just doesn't pay to have someone else do the work.  It's only going to be done to my satisfaction if I do it myself.

Another project we took on last weekend was getting our vegetable garden back in shape.  Two years ago Cheri got permission from the marina's owner to use a small piece of land for a vegetable garden.  It's located across the street from the marina near an old tobacco barn so we have water and power and a place to store our garden tools.  The owner let us use some planting boxes they had used for growing shrubs and trees for landscaping the marina.  The boxes are about 7' x 9' and made of 2" x 8" lumber.  We rented a rotor-tiller and dug up an area about 20' x 20' for four boxes with aisles around and between each one.  Our first year we lost pretty much everything we planted to the deer and ground hogs but we did learn a lot.  Last year we didn't do anything because we concentrated all our time getting ready for our trip to Bermuda.

This year we got a good early start on the season.  We weeded and turned the dirt in the boxes, then added about six bags of good topsoil to each one.  We're only doing two boxes this time to keep our work load down.  We then drove in wood steaks around the boxes and added wire fencing.  In the middle we planted 6' steaks and added a chicken wire roof to each box.  Cheri planted a bunch a veggies and we included two flats of marigolds to help keep out the bugs.  Some of the veggies included two kinds of tomatoes, cherry and heirloom beefsteak, zucchini, cucumbers, mint, oregano and strawberries that survived from two years ago, bush beans, thyme, Thai and regular basil, rosemary, lavender, artichokes ( a gift from a neighbor), and some summer squash.  With the help of a little Miracle-Grow I think we'll have a pretty good harvest this year.  Cheri is an excellent cook and enjoys being creative in the galley which is the primary reason we made the improvements we did last year.  Having fresh veggies from our own garden is really great and something not a lot of live-aboards can claim.  This will most likely be our last year for this so we'll try to make the most of it.

Friendly Fire - Bombing our Boat

At the start of every Winter for four years now we've closed the boat up tight, turned on the diesel heater and insulated all the ports and hatches as well as any interior hull surfaces that we might come into contact with.  This has worked well to keep the boat, and us, nice and cozy even in the coldest weather.  Because of the temperature difference between inside (70 degrees F) and outside (usually somewhere between 0 and 40 degrees F) there's bound to be condensation that forms inside the boat.  Condensation left unattended results in mold and mildew.  Of course, this only happens where there's poor air flow, which would be in places that you can't normally see or reach.  Of course.

So every Spring we field-day the boat and scrub it down from bow to stern with bleach and water and soap and more bleach.  It's a nasty job.  We hit every place we can get into and some spots really require a 12 year old dwarf contortionist but we do it because we're dedicated to keeping our boat really, really nice inside.  But there's always those spots that you can't see or reach.  These are the areas that are responsible for that lingering odor throughout the year and for the never ending runny noses.  We know it's not just allergies because when we travel and stay somewhere else our noses stop running.  Starts right back up when we return to the boat.  And every now and then, under the right conditions, we'll get a blossom of mold in the boat that tries to take over.  More bleach and water gets it back under control but we know it's always there, somewhere, just waiting to come back again.

Back in March we had dinner with some friends who had recently bought a previously owned Island Packet and are cleaning it up and modifying it to make it their own.  Over dinner they told us about a mold bomb (click here) they tried and were very pleased with.  This sounded like the answer to our woes.  We ordered two cans (just in case one didn't do the job).  The order came in on Friday and we tried it out before leaving Saturday to spend Easter with our family.

It works just like a bug bomb where you set it in the middle of your home, pull off the cap and press down the lever, then leave for a couple of hours while it fills your home with a mist, killing off any mold spores.  It's supposed to be good for up to 1000 square feet.  We opened up all the storage areas and the access to the bilge.  Our chain locker was the worst place, practically black with mildew, so we pulled all the chain and rode up onto the deck and opened the access door into the forward head.  We set the bomb off right in the forward head thinking it would cover all our spaces pretty well from there.  I think we might have about 400 square feet of total space in our boat.  Maybe.  Smaller than some people's closets.  We lit it off, closed up the boat and left.  I wasn't really aware of a problem on our boat because we constantly work at keeping it clean and Cheri uses these melted wax things from Yankee Candle to keep it smelling nice down below.  When we came back the following evening the boat smelled the cleanest it ever has.  It was immediately obvious.  There was no residue to clean up from the bomb so we just closed up all the cubbies we had left open and went to bed.  The next morning Cheri contacted me from work and said this was the first time in over 4 years that she hasn't had a runny nose.  Me too!  This stuff really works!  It's not cheap but it's worth every penny.  Highly recommended for all those stinky boats out there.  This stuff will make you love your boat again.  It's that good, I'm not kidding.

We do take pride in how clean our boat is.  It smells nice and fresh when we come home from our jobs.  At least most of the time.  We're still fighting stagnant water in the bilge caused by air conditioning condensate.   The two A/C systems were installed so the condensate drains into the bilge, guaranteeing that we always have water down there.  In warm weather it turns pukey within a week and we have to flush out the bilge.  The solution is to drain the condensate overboard and to do that we need a device called a Mermaid Condensator (click here).  This cool little device gets placed in the cooling water line that exits from the air conditioning condenser.  It T's off into a small tube that runs up to the pan beneath the A/C unit where the condensation collects.  The cooling water running through the hose creates a vacuum at the Tee and sucks out the condensation and dumps it overboard.  Now that's the way to do it.  We have two of these on order to the tune of $165 each from Defender.  That seems like a lotta dough (it is) but to be able to dry out the bilge and get rid of this occasional stink it's worth it.

Something else we worked on this past weekend was finishing up the dinghy cradle project.  It's not actually finished but we made some significant progress on it.  With the dinghy hanging on the derrick over the side we disassembled the cradle on the dock and sanded it down with 120 grit sandpaper.  For paint I selected an exterior latex primer/final coat with a semi-gloss finish.  I had the paint custom mixed to match the ivory color that Island Packet uses.  Three coats should give it enough protection to last a few years.  I also added bunk carpet to the rails.  I used aluminum strips (1/8" x 1/4" x 48") with holes drilled through every 7.75" or so and mounted them on the underside of the rails to hold the bunk in place.  It gives it a nice finished look but more importantly it provides a non-scratch surface to slide the dinghy onto.  To finish up this never-ending project I still need to install anchors in the deck so I can bolt it down securely instead of using tie-down straps.  I also want to make a zip-up cover for the dinghy.  Probably come up with more to do before the next time I write.

We're also working on replacing our mattress on the forward bunk.  We picked out a nice 10" latex mattress and saved up our bucks.  Cheri made a template using heavy brown paper because the mattress will have several interesting cuts to fit the space we have and the corners are more rounded than a regular stock mattress.  The sales lady said it was no problem with a custom order for the foam mattress.  On Saturday we drove into Annapolis to place our order.  When we opened up the template the sales lady immediately started back-peddling.  "I'm not sure we can do that!" says she.  "Give it a try" says me.  She's supposed to call us by the end of the week with an answer.  We do have several other options so I'm sure we can get what we want one way or another.  It would have been nice to get it locally because these guys will deliver it to the boat and take away our old one.  If they fall through it'll be up to me to muscle two mattresses through the companionway opening and around the dock.  Uhm, yeah.  That should be fun.

Springtime is a busy time for boat owners.  We still have to scrub down our exterior teak and re-oil it.  Also have to wash, polish and wax the exterior from the waterline up.  And re-paint the anchors.  And finish up all those chores that I managed to put off all Winter.  But it'll be nice to wash away the Wintertime blues, spend some time in the cockpit and get back out on the water.  I think that last one needs to go to the top of the priority list!

Jiffy Lube

Last weekend I took on the annual chore of servicing the engine.  While doing this it occurred to me that this will be the last time it's done annually and from now on will be done according to engine hours.  That's a pretty cool sign that we're getting very close to our goal.

We have a new oil transfer pump that was actually installed last year with the gen-set but I hadn't tried it out until now.  It's a Reverso 3012 with two valves and it can service two separate systems.  You can get them with up to six valves but we only need two.  The pump is mounted in the starboard cockpit locker and has hoses and fittings permanently mounted on the oil pans of the engine and generator.  Each line has two valves, one at the oil pan and another at the bottom of the pump.  There's also another hose running from the top left of the  pump that's about 6' long and is used to transfer old oil out or new oil in.

Here's how it works.  It's best to transfer the old oil when it's warm so it'll flow better.  Run the engine for a bit to get it up to temperature.  Shut it off and let it sit for half an hour to let the oil drain back into the pan.  Open the line valve at the pan and the other one at the pump labeled "engine".  Place the end of the transfer hose in an empty container.  My engine holds 6.5 quarts of oil so I used a couple of empty one gallon oil jugs.  There's a green switch on the right front cover labeled "Fill" "Drain".  Hit drain and it starts pumping out the old oil.  This is just a light duty pump so it's not real fast (2.5 gpm) but it is easy and clean.  The hose is attached to the bottom of the oil pan so I think it's probably more efficient than pumping oil out through the dip stick tube.  After pumping out the old oil I added two quarts of fresh oil and pumped that out too.  I was hoping to flush out more crud and leave clean oil in the line.  At this point I changed the oil filter, only filling it half way with oil since it's mounted horizontally on the side of the engine and filling it all the way would only make a mess.  I don't think it really matters if you do it now or after adding the fresh oil to the engine because the filter is located above the pan and the oil gets pumped up to it.  I decided not to use the Reverso to transfer fresh oil into the engine and just poured it in at the oil port on top of the valve cover.  I was thinking there's probably still plenty of dirty oil in the hose and I didn't want to pump that back into the engine.

When I first tried to use the pump I ran it for a minute or so, waiting for some sign of oil but got nothing.  The pump had been installed by Hinckley Yachts when they put in the genset.  They did a nice job of installing everything but they didn't prime the pump.  The manual doesn't hint at priming the pump either and in fact says the pump is self-priming.  Sorry but this one needed priming.  I poured clean oil into the end of the transfer hose to get some oil down to the impeller.  This took a while because the oil had trouble getting past the air trapped in the hose.  I finally got maybe half a cup of oil down there and it started pumping oil as soon as I fired it up.  The transfer hose is 3/8" and had a 3/8" male pipe thread fitting with a cap to prevent oil leaking out when it was stored away.  Good idea but the 3/8" fitting won't fit inside the opening of a gallon bottle of oil because of the hose clamp.  I could have just removed the hose clamp but instead changed the fitting to a 3/8" hose barb and added a short length of clear 3/8" tubing so I could better see the oil as it's being transferred.  To the end of this I added a cap (minus the clamp) for when it's not being used.

After changing the oil in the engine I replaced the fuel filters and flushed out the glass bowl for the primary filter.  I still need to flush out and replace the coolant for the engine and then take on servicing the gen-set.  At this point I was out of time though because Cheri had the tequila sunrises and cigars ready to go.  A guy can only play with his toys for so long.  Sooner or later ya gotta get down to serious business.