Up A River.....

I've continued to make progress on the water maker.  I've updated the "Project" page where more can be read about this on-going project (click here).

I had previously bought all new gauges and flow meters as well as a nice digital TDS  controller as a start to my home-made RO system.  When I figured out the meters and gauges on my watermaker project needed replacing I decided I was in luck and could just use the new ones I had stored on the boat.  I drove down to get them last Saturday and discovered our boat had been broken into some time in the last two weeks.  Some one had attempted to remove the wind generator, failed and left it dangling over the side.  In the process they broke one of the carbon fiber blades.  Total damage is about $650 in parts.  They also broke the lock and hasp off the companionway hatch and made themselves at home down below.  They went through everything, looking for God knows what because it doesn't appear that they actually took anything.  When we had the boat pulled we removed everything we could so the boat was fairly empty but it still had all the instruments, radios, outboard engine, etc.  Nothing was missing.  When they departed they left the companionway open.  With daily storms blowing through, some of them serious, rain water was blown through the opening and all our teak woodwork down below is now covered with mildew.  All the cabinets in the galley and the entire bulkhead enclosing the aft cabin and aft head need at least a good cleaning.  I reported this to the marina office and they got this stunned look on their faces.  I took a shot in the dark and asked them how many other boats had been broken into.  Ours made fifteen that they knew of.  They asked me if I wanted to file a police report and I said no thinking that the damage was less than my deductable so what's the point.  Cheri and I went back on Monday to clean down below and replace the lock on the companionway.  It was then that we realized the entire interior of the boat is coated with mildew.  Grrr.  What a bummer.  With no power or running water in the long term storage area this becomes a very big job for two people.  I think we may have to  have the boat moved to a different area that has power and water and bring in a cleaning crew.  We went ahead and filed a police report and are in the process of dealing with our insurance company.

Looking around at the other boats around us I'm pretty sure there are more than just fifteen that have been broken into.  There's another Island Packet next to us and looking into his cockpit from ours I can't see a lock on his splash boards.  I also found some rope and a pile of stripped out bolts next to another boat.  Not a good sign.  While we were there another boat owner came by and I mentioned that he should take a close look at his boat.  His lock was also broken off and some things were missing from down below.  When I was getting ready to leave he was standing at the gate to the long term storage area.  He was going to close it for me after I drove through but he didn't have a key.  I asked him how he got in and he said he just squeezed through the gap in the gate.  Gee, that's not so good.  I mentioned all this to the marina office manager.  She mentioned that they were investing in motion sensor cameras for the storage areas.  Great!  How 'bout a security crew too?  This marina has hundreds of boats scattered around several remote lots.  They have zero security other than a chain link fence with some barbed wire at the top.  When they set our boat in there they put the stern within two feet of the fence.  Someone with a little initiative could back a pickup truck up to the fence, throw a blanket over the barbed wire and walk right onto our boat (they're supposed to move the boat further back today).  Of course with the gap in the gate if they're skinny enough they could just walk right in.  The marina used to keep an extension ladder in the area for folks to get on their boats.  That's probably not such a good idea either.  With millions of dollars in boats and gear being stored at this marina they just don't seem to get it.  Security should be a high priority, not an afterthought.

So here we are at Green Cove Springs Marina.  There aren't very many places to keep a larger boat on the St. Johns River which is really too bad.  It's a beautiful river, naturally protected from big storms and just a few days run from the Bahamas.  If I wasn't so anxious to sail away I'd consider opening up a real marina here and give these guys some competition.  Anybody out there looking for a good business opportunity?

Going With The Flow

So, here we are in Jacksonville, Florida waiting out the hurricane season.  We bought a small house on the west side of town and have been adjusting to being stuck in the dirt again after six years of living aboard.  I like gardening and putzing around the house so it's not all bad.  Plus we have a big garage so I have plenty of space for a shop to work on all those unfinished boat projects.

La Vida Dulce is in long term storage on the hard at Green Cove Springs Marina.  When we arrived back in the middle of May we found this place to be more of a third world boat yard than a marina.  They use old concrete Navy piers that were abandoned years ago.  The place had been used for the moth ball fleet because it's located way back on the St. Johns River, very well protected, and has a history of very little impact from tropical storms and hurricanes.  This is the main attraction for us bringing our boat here.  Plus it's only 45 minutes from our new home.

The downside is that the pier is in terrible condition and has been condemned by the local government.  The wooden pilings along the sides are all rotted through and the deck of the pier is way above the level of most pleasure boats requiring a climb up.  There is no power or water either.  When we came in the wind was blowing about 15 knots from the SE, across the pier, making it a challenge to tie up.  Where most marinas have someone come out to the dock and lend a hand, here we had to ask for assistance since this is a "do-it-yourself" marina and everyone is expected to fend for themselves.  We managed to get tied up but the pilings were completely rotted through at water level and we were concerned about the boat getting pulled under the dock if the wind shifted around to the north.  We did manage to move the boat to a position that had a few good pilings so we left the boat over night with some peace of mind.

The next day she was scheduled to be hauled so we got down there bright and early to unload.  Since she was going to be on the hard for months to come we decided to unload everything and rented a U-Haul truck to bring it all home.  When we got the truck there we found that we couldn't drive it out on the pier (although the pier was plenty big enough) and would have to cart everything out to the parking lot.  Between handing everything off the boat up to the dock 6' above deck, bucket-brigade style, and then hauling it down the pier to the truck we didn't get finished until noon.

To get the boat hauled it was then decided that we'd have to loosen the backstays to make room for the hoist.  This also required laying down the wind generator and removing the SSB antenna connection.  With all that done the boat was finally hauled and placed in the long term storage area behind the marina.  This is a large lot with high chain link fencing surrounding it.  There is no power or water available so being able to work on the boat while in storage is pretty limited.  Bummer.

Our insurance company requires the boat to be strapped down to anchors driven deep into the ground as a precaution against storm surge.  When we told the owner of the marina this he laughed and said they hadn't had problems with storms in 35 years.  He asked if we were Canadian since apparently only Canadian insurance companies require the storm straps.  Uhm, no.  Not Canadian.  We were finally told the straps would be put on by the end of the month.  OK, great.  Just in time for the official start of hurricane season.  About a week into June, three weeks later, I went down to check things out.  No straps on our boat but a number of boats pulled after ours had been strapped down.  When I asked about this at the office I was told the marina had decided to strap all boats down and ours would be done within the next two weeks.  I checked back in two weeks and still nothing, was told another two weeks.  My insurance company is calling me twice a week asking for pictures of the boat to prove it's been strapped down.  I keep calling the marina and keep getting told two more weeks.  This went on for three months.  In August I got fed up and got very vocal with the poor gal running the office.  She handed me off to the owner who feigned surprise about my situation, giving me his "word" that the boat would be strapped down within two weeks.  Uhm, gee, I've heard that before.  To my complete surprise they finally came through.

During the past three months of frustration I had searched the internet to see if others had had problems with this marina and found a number of others who had similar experiences.  The folks who work there are all very nice but the place is very poorly run as a business.  Everything is very laid back and run down.  They offer the lowest prices for boat storage and I guess that's the big attraction because they have hundreds of boats on the hard.  But the few hundred dollars saved are lost in the frustration of dealing with these people.  The marina bills itself as a "do-it-yourself" yard which is just fine and would be very attractive to me, being a "do-it-yourself" kinda guy.  Where they fall down is in not doing what they say they're gonna do.  For me, a man's word is his bond.  Nuff said.

So,  we've been using our time ashore to get the house settled in.  We had no furniture or anything so we were really starting over.  That's been kinda fun.  Also did a lot of yard work since the house we bought was an eyesore from the street (two weeks ago we got "yard of the month"!).  We've also used the time to get some medical issues taken care of.  My right arm required several surgeries, all completed now, so I should be back to 100% in time for sailing this winter.

So now I'm using my time to get some of those projects finished up.  I didn't get my shop built in the garage before I had the surgery on my arm so now I'm working one-handed in the dining room.  Maybe mounting the bench vise on the dining room table wasn't such a great idea but I'm out of the heat and am now making some progress.

I started in on the watermaker.  This has been shelved for over a year now and we'll definitely need it when we go to the Bahamas this winter.  This project started out as a complete do-it-yourself system and I had it all planned out for parts and configuration.  Then someone donated an old Sea Recovery system with everything I needed including filters, pumps, hoses and tubing and the controller.  The system is 11 years old so parts of it need to be replaced but everything was in working condition when I got it.  The dealer in Annapolis came through with an owners/installation manual and a rebuild kit for the high pressure pump.  The membranes and housings were in bad shape so I tossed them after stripping off all the fittings and hardware.  Replacing these was the biggest expense for me now.  I decided to increase the fresh water output from 23 to 40 gph by using two 2.5" x 40" membranes (FilmTec SW30-2540, $170 each) and housings (HCTI PV-2540-SW, $395 each).  Most of the fittings on the old membranes were brass and I wanted to use stainless steel so I had to replace those too along with a new high pressure hose to join the two membranes in series.  I got all these parts from Discount Hydraulic Hose (click here) and McMaster Carr (click here).  The stainless fittings are pricey but I got everything I needed for about $200.  The high pressure hoses I got with the system are all in very good condition and have stainless swivel connecters.  All the low pressure tubing and plastic fittings for the product water are also in very good condition.  The braided 3/4" hose for the feedwater is looking kinda sad so I'll replace that but reuse the fittings and clamps.  There are several relays that I'll reuse if they still work but I'll probably back them up with replacements just in case.  The system also included several nice two and three-way valves that I'll clean up and reuse.

I've had the new membranes and housings since last February.  These don't come with any assembly instructions so I spent some time on the net.  Found this paper from FilmTec (click here) which was a help.  The end pieces for the membranes are anodized aluminum with three "O" rings at each end, two on the outside surface and one where the membrane nipple gets inserted.  The end that goes toward the high pressure pump also has a brine seal on the membrane.  The "O" rings need to be lubricated with silicone or glycerine or you'll never get them into the housings.  The membranes come packed in a sealed bag with hydrogenated water or some such thing to keep them moist and well preserved.  Rinse out the housing to clear any dust and particulate matter.  Mount one end piece on the intake side of the membrane and slide it into the housing from either end.  The end piece has to be tapped into place with a rubber mallet so only the flange extends past the end of the housing.  Two anodized aluminum half shells clamp over the end of the housing and hold the membrane firmly in place.  The other end piece is installed in a similar manner.

With the membrane housings put together I'll next assemble the fittings and connector hose.  I'm mounting everything to a short length of 1/2" plywood to hold it all in place as a sub-assembly.  The housings are held in place with some vibration damping clamps modified to work in this setting.  I got these from McMaster Carr (click here) but they're meant to be welded in place so the base needs to be modified so they can be screwed down to the plywood.  To fit the high pressure housings I had to get these sized for 2 3/4" pipe.

After I get the valves and fittings cleaned up I'll concentrate on the control panel.  For now, it feels good to back into this project.  I plan to break it down into sub-assemblies mounted to plywood so when the time comes for installation on the boat it should go fairly smoothly.  Originally I was going to mount everything in the chain locker and under the sole in the forward cabin.  Plan B now has the membranes, filters and control panel mounted in the aft head and the pumps mounted behind the cabinets in the Main Salon.

In addition to the watermaker I have several other projects to wrap up before we depart next winter.  It's going to take about three months to get full use of my arm back so I have some time to play.  Our original plan for circumnavigation is on hold for a while and in the mean time we'll be spending five to six months of the year in the Bahamas.  I guess that doesn't sound so bad.

Going with the flow in Jacksonville, FL.