Are You Ready?

Monday night (2-13) the wind was really howling.  The radio reported gusts of 50 kts and I believe it.  Every now and then the boat would just lay over and it sounded like a freight train was coming through.  Really something.  The wind was blowing out of the West and it took all the water in the creek with it.  We've been through this several times this Winter already but this was the best one so far.  The water receded all the way to the first slip on the dock, just two slips down from ours.  We were definitely sitting in the mud by the next morning because the wind was still blowing but the boat had stopped rocking.  All that wind had two direct effects on us.  It kept us awake all night with the noise and in the morning it made it really tough getting on and off the boat.  If you ever had a tree fort when you were a kid you can picture what we had to go through to get onto the dock.  Well, maybe I tend to exaggerate a bit but it was a climb none the less.

The weather report is calling for this Friday to have temperatures in the high 60's with 16 knot winds out of the SW.  Cheri suggested that we should go sailing.  I love that woman!  This is one of those heat waves I've been praying for.  Just a short blob of warm weather so we can go out on the Bay for a day, give us a taste of it to help us get through the rest of the Winter.  Everybody else has their boat on the hard and wrapped up in plastic so we'll probably have the entire Bay to ourselves.

This being our first time out since last October (yikes!) we're going to have to spend some time getting the boat ready to go.  We've been living aboard just like we were in a house and there's stuff that's been set down or hung up without a thought as to how it would behave heeled over at 20 degrees or crashing through 15 foot seas.  As if......

So, we've got a few projects to take care of, things to be nailed down or put away.  The aft head has become a walk-in closet / storage unit.  We've got all of Cheri's ankle length skirts and coats hanging in there.  There's also all the high priority appliances that won't fit anywhere else, such as the coffee maker, hot-air popcorn popper, crockpot and pressure cooker.  That list is in order of priority by the way.  If we can get this area under control then we still have to work on the forward stateroom.  In there we have our new home theater which isn't quite finished, meaning that it's not even close to being ready to go to sea.  I think we're gonna need some duct tape or something.

Aside from all the little stuff that needs to be stashed we have three or four major pieces that would create havoc if they started bouncing around the interior.  We brought in an ottoman to the Main Salon that's made a big difference in the comfort level out there and has also given us a great place to store Cheri's sewing machine.  By itself it probably weighs 20 or 30 pounds, not exactly a lightweight.  With the sewing machine and a few other things jammed inside I'm sure it weighs more than fifty pounds.  I plan to add two footman loops to the base of the starboard side settee and we'll strap it snugly up against that using 2" webbed strapping.  Our cool-man 37" flat screen also needs to be secured for sea.  Originally I was planning to make up some nice teak blocks with brass hold downs but for now I think I'll use the footman loops and web strapping here too, only 1" webbing for this one.  This'll probably become one of those projects that never gets completed because it got a "temporary" fix.  I guess that's OK as long as it looks good and does the job.  Another spot that needs securing is the 23" flat screen monitor for our Mac-mini at the Nav Station.  This is mounted on an arm that has tension adjustments on each joint so you could really lock it down if you wanted.  I just recently got it adjusted the way I like so it's easy to swing out of the way to get to the power panel behind it.  I had originally planned to use a hook and eye to secure the arm against the cabinet but now I'm thinking this would be a great spot for some more footman loops and webbed strapping.

OK, so aside from 300 pounds of small stuff scattered around the boat I think we have it all under control.  We have a regular routine of putting stuff in designated places each time we go out sailing.  I say "we" but it's really Cheri who has this all organized.  Anyway, during the sailing season we have it all down to a science and can be ready to go in about 20 minutes.  This time it'll take a bit longer so we're working on it ahead of time so we can get an early start.

Woohoooo!  We're gonna go sailing!

Ice Ice Baby

Living aboard La Vida Dulce has certainly been a learning experience.  The first part wasn't too bad because the weather was still nice and we had weekends of sailing to look forward to.  In my inexperienced mind I thought that the winter wasn't going to be all that different and even planned on some weekend sailing during those heat waves in January.  Uh-huh, dream on dude.  Life on board in the wintertime is a whole different game.  First and foremost, it's just too cold to go sailing.  There have been days when I thought to myself "we should be out there" but the reality is that my crew has no interest in getting frostbite and I haven't tried sailing solo yet.  To be completely honest, I'd probably get out there and be miserable.

Of course going sailing is pretty much a pipe-dream anyway because since mid December we've been iced in for all but two days.  OK, so I'm exaggerating, but not by much.  According to the National Weather Service for December and January we had 10 days with the high below 32 degrees (F) and 60 days with the low below 32.  I'm talking frozen creek here.  So sailing has been pretty much out of the question unless you have a boat with 1/2" steel plate in the bow.  Being iced in has been interesting in it's own way.  I started out being overly concerned about ice building up around the hull and would run the engine at 1500 rpm's in reverse for an hour or so twice a day.  This served to stir up the warmer water below the surface and break away the ice for a pretty good distance around the boat.  The dock lines held us in place at our slip and the water just flowed forward across the hull.  It worked great but it was noisy and used up precious fuel which now has to be carried in by hand.  I eventually stopped doing this and settled on using the boat hook to break up the ice about a foot or so out from the hull all the way around.  Even when the ice on the creek was 4" thick it stayed thin around the boat due to my boat hook and the natural motion of the boat.  We do have to keep an eye on it though.

OK, so ice is pretty much the main theme here (I would also like to mention that we've been making ice cubes in our freezer, one tray at a time, and it's been working out very nicely.  Just gotta have those Bloody Mary's!)  Since we've been iced in so much it's created a problem that we didn't foresee.  With our new handy-dandy gold plated ($$$ cha-ching) 60 gallon holding tank we can last about 2 weeks between pumping out.  I'm a pretty simple guy, don't mind making the trek up to the showers on most occasions.  Cheri on the other hand is a total "Princess" and demands the comforts of home.  I don't blame her at all here, in fact I think she deserves it.  Way back in the beginning I promised her this wouldn't be "camping" so we've made every effort to make life on board as comfortable as possible.  And why not?  It's our home, not a pup tent!

Herrington Harbour North makes a big deal about being "green".  They have tidal marshes and nature walks and recycling stations and lotsa rules about working on your boat in a "green" manner.  The owners are very active in "Save the Bay" kinda stuff.  The owners, by the way, are a father/son team, not some faceless corporation, and they operate things on a personal level.  They also preach customer service.

So here's the rub.  Since we've been iced in for most of the time this winter we hired a company, Safe Harbor Sanitation, to come to the boat and pump out our holding tank.  These guys were supposed to have some kind of agreement with HHN for this service.  Some companies provide this service using a boat and come right up to your slip and do the dirty deed.  These guys have a system mounted on a cart and they can come out onto the dock which is what's needed when the creek is frozen over.  So we called these guys and arranged to have them come out every two weeks and take care of things.  They came out at the end of December, once, and then we never saw them again.  Two and a half weeks went by and we called them a number of times, left messages, and never heard from them.  After three weeks we were feeling rather desperate and asked HHN to launch a boat to break the ice so we could get over to the pump-out station.  We explained our situation and they grudgingly helped us out.  While they were breaking the ice for us I walked out the dock to the pump-out station and found they had "winterized" the system and there was no way for us to get pumped out.  Uhm, we seem to be having a breakdown in communication here.  I talked to the folks at the office and they made phone calls and finally we got a hose hooked up and pumped out our tank.  The folks at the front office said they'd be happy to help us out next time as long as we gave them enough notice to get things set up.  OK, sounds good.  Great customer service.

Two weeks go by, it's time to pump out again.  Still no word from Safe Harbor so on Tuesday I call the office and ask to have arrangements made to pump out on Friday.  "No problem" they say.  Friday comes and the station is all set up but we're iced in.  The entire creek is iced in all the way out to the breakwater.  I walk over to the office and on the way there I run into the yard manager who is the dude in charge of all operations, including setting up the pump-out station and having the ice problem taken care of.  I asked him about getting the boat out to clear a path for us and he said no-way, it's too expensive.  He suggested we hire this company, Safe Harbor, to do it and I told him my sob-story.  No tears from this dude.  He said we should do like everyone else at the marina and use the facilities over by the pool.  Huh?  There's ten other boats at HHN who are live-aboards during the winter and supposedly we're the only ones asking for pump-out service.  The marina thinks all these people are using the "facilities".  Right.  I know the owners of two other boats and both of them are pumping their tanks into the harbor.  This is illegal by the way.  It's also pretty disgusting when you figure that one of them is also using a water maker.  Gag me with a spoon.  That's like putting your well right down the hill from your septic tank.  So I ask the guy what happened to customer service and what about the extra $100/ month we pay to be live-aboards..  He says that covers the extra toilet paper we use.  Wow, what a deal!  I walked up to the office and asked for some pump out tokens and they made sure I understood that we were the only ones using this system.  Grrr.  They really need to think about what they're doing here.  We're trying to "do the right thing", the legal thing, and they're trying to make us feel bad about it.  So now we're starting to realize that live-aboards are just a pain in the ass to this marina.  Why let us stay here in the first place?

I returned to the boat and told Cheri we were gonna start looking for another marina.  I explained what happened and she picked up the phone and called the owners of the marina and relayed our story.  Half an hour later the ice was broken up and the "son" half of the father/son team was sitting on our boat discussing our problem and promising a solution.  Wow!  That's fast action!  This guy explained about their interest in the environment and how their goal was to be the "greenest" marina on the East coast and at the same time to be known everywhere for their customer service.  OK, that's great but the staff has a bit of re-training to go through.  He said he was going to reinforce the company goals at the next staff meeting.  I picture everybody getting chewed out after being told about some unnamed boat owner who's been having problems getting pumped out.  Hmmm, I wonder who that could be?  I'm pretty sure the staff will soon have a new nick-name for the owners of La Vida Dulce.  But maybe not.  Maybe this'll all turn out for the best.  Maybe HHN will truly become Super-Green and be the Shining Star of all marinas on the East Coast.  Maybe they'll even provide dock-side pump-out service in the winter.  And just maybe I'll wake up tomorrow morning and be twenty years younger.

So, yikes!  I've really gone on and on about this.  I started out to say how different life on-board is in the winter.  Ya don't go sailing after all.  You eat, sleep and work during the week and then on weekends you eat, sleep and work on the boat.  Plus you get to haul 25 gallons of fuel down from the parking lot every weekend.  And break ice away from the hull.  I'm sure there's more.  Maybe the biggest challenge is being cooped up inside because of the weather.  It's kinda like spending every weekend being locked up with your wife inside a walk-in closet.  It's only gonna be as good as you make it.  People keep saying that we're "Living The Dream".  I just hope that when I wake up we can go sailing.

Note:  This is an update from almost three years later.  As it turns out Herrington Harbour Marina is now considered one of the top marinas on the East coast.  It's the top "green" marina on the Chesapeake Bay.  Within a year the owner invested in a pump-out boat and completely rebuilt the pump-out system on the dock.  They provide year-round service at a fair rate, $20 per month.  So they did become "Super Green" and they did become a "Shining Star".  I'm sure it sounded like I was being sarcastic a few paragraphs back there but it was simply me being prophetic.  Unfortunately I did not wake up 20 years younger.

Finding Closure?

 OK, this morning (01-24-11) it was pretty chilly.  Inside the boat we've managed to keep it pretty comfortable, around 75 F.  It was 7 degrees F outside this morning.  Brrrr!  I'm pretty sure that's the coldest it's been so far this winter.  In fact, since Saturday it's been in the 20's and lower each day.  The creek froze over solid in two days with the water temperature at 32.4 degrees.  We're in the thick of Winter now.

On my walk to the gym it was so cold the decking on the dock had shrunk up and each step I took pushed the boards back down on the nails, giving off a loud "CRACK".  My first couple of steps had me thinking I was gonna go for a swim.  The things you think at 4am.

For the last two weekends Cheri and I have been working together on another project for the boat.  We're building an enclosure for the cockpit that will be similar to putting up storm windows on your screened-in porch.  We already have a Dodger/Bimini that stays in place year round (see the picture to the left).  It's made out of a canvass product called "Sunbrella" that holds up well to marine conditions and provides protection from the sun and rain.  The rear section is the Bimini and the front is the Dodger, which also has a windshield built into it.  Last Spring we had North Sails build us a screened in enclosure that ties into the Bimini and Dodger and this has made it possible to sit up in the cockpit in the Summer evenings when flies and mosquitoes would normally be forcing you down below at gunpoint.  The screens also act as a windbreak and we've used them several times to help make life bearable when we were underway in cooler weather.

Unfortunately, the screens don't keep out the cold.  We were going to have North Sails also build us a Winter enclosure that uses a clear 30 gauge vinyl called "Eisenglass".  This is the same stuff the windshield is made of but not as thick.  The guys at NS quoted us for this project and it was "out of scope" for our budget, especially after the Great Holding Tank Escapade (click here for more dirt on that). We re-prioritized our wish-list and moved on to other things, like the Espar heater (more info on that project).

In the meantime we invested in a Sailrite sewing machine so we could do some of our own canvas work and maybe even take on sail repairs some day.  This has opened up a whole new creative world for us.  The Sailrite machine is a real beast (check this out), very heavy duty, and can sew through stacks of tin cans if it needed to.  We probably won't be needing that but now there are new projects being added to the list such as winch covers, hatch covers, wind scoops for the hatches, etc, etc, etc.

We visited Sailrite in Annapolis to get some materials for our first project and the owner, Dan, introduced us to a very cool design for a cockpit enclosure.  The basic idea is to make panels of Eisenglass that will attach to our cockpit screens with a zipper across the top and snaps down the sides.  This is opposed to seperate panels requiring their own Sunbrella frames with zippers on three sides and snaps across the bottom.  Because it's a simpler design the cost for materials is considerably less, about $700 versus (approximately) $1.2 gazillion.  Instead of doing hatch covers we decided to make our cockpit enclosure for our first project.  Other than a complete Winter cover for the boat or making our own sails, this is probably the biggest canvass project we'll ever take on.  What were we thinking?

OK, so it's not really that big of a deal.  The screen enclosure is broken up into seven panels so we can just do a little at a time and not feel so overwhelmed.  We started in the center of the three panels across the back. There's a couple of tricky features here.  The top has a curve to it and the zipper follows this curve.  The panels on either end also go around the rear corners of the cockpit.  Where the zipper attaches across the top of the screen we didn't have much material to work with so Cheri added a strip of Sunbrella here and the zipper attached to that.  Down each side of the Eisenglass we sewed in pull tabs for the snaps.  These were also made with Sunbrella and are simply strips about 1" x 5" folded in half so they're about 2.5" long.  These overlap the vinyl by about an inch and this provides some extra strength for the snaps.  The socket side of the snap is inserted through the tabs and the button side goes through the frame for the screen.  Check out this short video to see our cool-man snap installation tool in action(click here).  We spaced the snaps about 10" apart down each side.  For right now we're leaving the bottom of the Isenglass unattached.  It hangs down below the cockpit coaming and is a little difficult to get at.  If we really need the extra tension we can add snaps there too.

We're averaging about one panel per day.  We could probably do more if we were really dedicated or if we didn't have laundry to do and meals to make or if we were getting paid.  Maybe.  This is a good pace for us and it looks like we could finish up next weekend.  As of now we have all three panels across the back finished and the larger ones on each side.  We have just two more to go, the ones that are the most forward and attach to the Dodger.  The one on the Port side is used as the main entrance to the boat while we're at "Home Port" so after we finish the Eisenglass panels we're going to make an extra panel for here that will replace the screen and make access easier.  This will be made of Sunbrella with maybe a window in the middle of it.  It'll be hung like an entrance to a teepee so you just have to flip it out of the way to get through.  We'll use this during the Winter while we're tied up for the duration.  We don't have the final design fully worked out yet but the idea is to keep it simple and provide easy access.

When the weather warms up we'll take down the Eisenglass panels and store them flat in a zippered pocket made with Sunbrella.  That'll be kept in the aft cabin on a narrow shelf above the foot of the bunk.  Our aft cabin doesn't get much use so we're trying to design some changes that'll make better use of the space.  It's where Bella sleeps but she doesn't take up much space.  When we have guests staying overnight this will be their room so we need to keep it useful for that.  But we're thinking it would be really nice to set it up as a workspace where the bunk will convert to a settee and have a worktable and more storage.  We're working with a cabinet dude on some ideas and we'll share them with you when we figure out what we're doing.

The cockpit enclosure has been a great project.  It gives us something we can work on together.  We found that we can do that and we don't scream or fight or anything.  It's fun.  This has also given us something we needed for the boat at a pretty hefty savings (gazillions).  I'm hoping that the enclosure will give us more time out on the water in the Spring and Fall but it'll also make life aboard more comfortable at the dock.  We got a new fondue pot that'll be great to use in the cockpit now that it's closed in.  C'mon by and check it out.

Wrap It Up!

Lately we've had quite a few projects that have piled up, all requiring some finishing touches to bring them to conclusion.  I'm talking about things like the infamous Espar heater installation, the long-winded water pump repair, the peculiar power plug escapade, and, and, and..... it just goes on and on.

Last weekend (01-08-11) we picked up some brass eye screws to finish off the power plug thing (click here for the original story, about halfway down).  I wanted to have a way to prevent the plug from coming loose and causing an arc-flash condition again.  On the end that plugs into the boat we have a twist-lock plug with a locking ring that screws down and holds the plug tight in the receptacle.  On the dock end it just plugs in and hangs there with all the weight of the cord pulling down on it.  I'm not real sure why they don't have twist locks on both ends but I suspect it's kinda like car manufacturers and planned obsolescence.  Anyway, I installed an eye screw on each side of the plug, then wrapped a bungee strap around the power cord and stretched it up to each eye.  I'm pretty sure those power cords won't be moving much now.

The next thing we took on was the never-ending water pump repair (same link as before, just a little further down).  This started out with our Jabsco water pump suffering a cracked upper plate.  We ordered replacement parts for it and went without water for 3 days waiting for them to come in.  After repairing the pump it worked fine for a week before suffering a second outage, different part.  This time we decided to order a replacement pump and use the old one as a back-up after we repaired it.  When we ordered the new pump through West Marine they told us if we had any problem at all we could bring the pump back.  Good thing, considering it cost us $480.  When we installed the pump we found the water pressure to be woefully low.  It wouldn't even make it through the water filter at the galley sink.  On closer inspection we found that the old pump was a model 36800-1000 and the new pump is a 36800-0200.  The biggest difference between the two is that the -1000 runs between 20 - 40 psi and the -0200 runs between 10 - 20 psi.  I'm not real sure what application anyone would have on a boat for a 10 psi pump.  When I talked to the folks at West Marine they said no problem, just bring in the pump and we'll order the -1000.  A week later they called to tell me the -1000 was on a six month back order because Jabsco had dropped their supplier for the diaphragms and didn't have a new supplier in place yet.  What???  That's insane!  What a way to run a business.  By this time my replacement parts shoulda been in and I could just rebuild the old pump (again) and get on with life.  I called to find out where they were and found they hadn't been shipped yet because one piece was on back-order from Jabsco.  This is ridiculous.  I went on-line and searched for pumps running 20 to 40 psi.  Found one from Shur-Flo that runs 20 to 45 psi at 4 gpm.  Perfect.  Even better, West Marine has one on the shelf and it only cost $189.  Plus they offer a 5 year warranty for an extra $20 that covers it 100%.  If anything at all goes wrong they give me a new pump.  Uhm, gee.  Why am I wasting all this time with Jabsco?  We installed the new pump and lived happily ever after.  The top picture shows the original problem, cracked plate.  Bottom picture shows the old pump (Jabsco 36800-1000) on the right and the new pump (Shur-Flo 4901-0211) on the left.  I think the Shur-Flo looks like a little mechanical bull.  Kinda cute. 

Our next project was to finish up the Espar diesel heater installation.  We'd been running for about two weeks with the return air duct disconnected to verify that this was the source of our error codes indicating a restriction and overheating.  It was.  I had originally routed the return duct from the rear wall of the aft cabin into a tight turn, about 110 degrees, to port and straight into the heater.  Since I had about 15' of spare duct laying around I re-routed this line so it now runs straight back from the aft cabin, under the cockpit, makes a broad turn around the steering gear and heads forward again with another broad turn at the aft cabin bulkhead and finally connecting to the heater.  It's now been running for a week in this configuration with no error code.  I think I'll eventually build a short bulkhead in the port side cockpit locker and mount the heater so it's facing fore and aft.  This was my original plan and if done properly would really be the best setup.  For now, we've got a working system that'll get us through the winter.

After getting the return line set up I went through the entire system and insulated all the ductwork.  From the Main Salon forward we used the cool-man bubble pack with aluminum backing.  This stuff is really great, only 1/4" thick but very effective as long as the temperatures aren't too extreme.  The other end of the ductwork, the section going from the heater up to the Main Salon is where the temperatures are pretty extreme.  I'm not exaggerating!  In the hanging locker in the aft cabin we were concerned our clothes would spontaneously combust.  In the storage locker just aft of there, closer to the heater, we had two bottles of wine that we'd forgotten about.  When we found them two days after first firing up the heater the corks had pushed out about half way.  Those babies were gonna blow!  Way too warm in there!  Probably ruined the wine too which is a major bummer.  So for this section we first wrapped 3" fiberglass and then covered it with the bubble wrap stuff.  This has worked out great.  Our clothes stay warm but not toasty.  The wine has been moved to a better location.  While we were at it we also tied down all the wiring and fuel line so this project is pretty much complete.  For now anyway.

On board La Vida Dulce we've suffered a mutiny.  The crew has recently refused to man the rails when it's necessary to move the boat for pumping out the holding tank or topping off with fuel.  I threatened 40 lashes but she just giggled.  Whatsa man supposed to do?  So now we've contracted with a company to come down the dock and pump out our holding tank.  It's not too expensive and keeps the crew happy.  For fuel we went out and bought 5 five gallon Jerry cans (yellow ones for diesel, red ones are for gas).  In town there's a gas station that they'll knock off 20 cents/gallon if you tell them it's gonna be used for "off road" only.  I guess there's a road tax that they can leave off if it's used for boats.  So we're paying $3.12/gal there, versus $3.35 down the road or even $4.51 at a fuel dock.  Yikes!  That's quite a savings so now we're hauling 25 gallons at a time by hand.  We started off with a half tank of fuel so I don't really know what kind of consumption we're dealing with on the heater yet.  I think while the return air duct was off it was going full bore the whole time trying to heat 20 degree air and was really sucking down the diesel.     It seems to be running more in coast mode now so it should be using less fuel.


So we've finished some projects up.  That's a good thing too because my list just keeps getting longer.  We survived a mutiny  with very little bloodshed.  Life on board is pretty cozy with our new heater.  Best of all, as of this past Christmas we have exactly four years to go until we retire.  Our official date is 12-25-2014 but with sick leave and time off for good behavior we might be able to cruise outa here as early as June 2014.  Hey, look there!  Do ya see it?  That's the light at the end of the tunnel!  Woohooo!

Got Me Under Pressure

My last entry mentioned something about the water pump calling it quits.  Unbelievable!  I mean, that week was enough to instill mortal fear in the hearts of fabled heroes.  What more could go wrong?  I discovered it doesn't pay to ask that question.

Our pump parts were delivered promptly on Wednesday afternoon, 12/22.  Thursday morning was spent with my cousin Phil Ward and his family who were visiting from Costa Rica.  Phil works with Intel and is down there for two years teaching the locals how to make microchips from banana leaves.  OK, that's just a guess.  Anyway, we had a real nice visit over breakfast at the Double T Diner in Annapolis.  Sure was nice to see those guys.  After we got back to the boat I grabbed my pump parts and got to work.

The upper plate on the case had cracked all the way across in front of the piston support.  This created two problems.  Underneath the plate is the diaphragm and uneven pressure from the crack was creating a water leak.  The other problem was that the pump piston is mounted to this plate and it's motion was now way out of whack, wobbling all over the place and seriously reducing system pressure.  The replacement parts gave me a new plate and piston assembly.

The pump on our boat is located on the starboard side underneath the settee.  After removing pressure from the system I had to disconnect the two water lines from the pump.  The one coming from the tank had a continuous slow flow so I jammed it in behind the water manifold to hold it upright above tank level and stop the flow.  The other hose only drained out a small amount of water and wasn't a problem.  With the breaker turned off I removed the power connection for the motor.  Four screws hold down the pump and with those out I could work on it at the table in the Main Salon.

Disassembly was pretty straightforward, removing the belt and motor and then removing four screws holding down the plate.  When I pulled up the plate  I discovered the real cause of the problem.  The diaphragm is sandwiched between the broken plate on top and a valve plate underneath.  The valve plate has two screws holding all this together and one of the screws had snapped off.  These screws are the self tapping type and the replacement top plate comes with un-threaded holes. I would bet a hundred dollars that the screw was broken when it was installed and whoever put it in just closed it up and hoped for the best.  The reason I say this is because after I got it all back together Cheri took a shower and mentioned that the water pressure was better than it had ever been.  That pump hasn't put out good pressure since it was last assembled.  I hate Mickey Mouse repair jobs.  "Hey Pluto, that should be good enough to hold it for a while".  Grrrr.

It only took a few hours to repair the pump and I still had plenty of time to set up our new flat screen.  We got a Samsung 37" LED screen with a Polk Audio sound bar and wireless subwoofer.  We wanted to mount it on the wall at the end of our bunk in the forward stateroom.  The wall is 1" thick plywood with a teak veneer on both sides.  The screen only weighs 23 pounds so there shouldn't be any problem with support.  The wall mount is made by Sanus Visionmount and holds the screen very close to the wall, within 0.6".  The screen itself is only 1" thick so the whole setup is pretty unobtrusive.  I used #14 x 0.75" panhead screws to get plenty of grab.

The mount hangs the screen on a lip along the top of the bracket and then uses two clips at the bottom to hold it in place.  These clips pop in place with strings and springs and plastic brackets and I picture it all becoming a real problem at some time in the future.  If any of that broke it would be very difficult to remove the screen to repair it.  We need something better than that.  Incorporating the lip at the top of the bracket into my own design, I plan to add my own brackets at the bottom using teak blocks and mount two lever-clamps to hold the screen in place.  The blocks will be mounted at the sides and will prevent the screen from moving around.  That oughta do it!

I don't know if you can tell from the previous blog entries but life here on La Vida Dulce has been pretty hectic lately.  I'm not kidding!  It seems like every spare moment of our lives has been spent installing stuff or repairing something or doing this and that to make room for living aboard.  Enough!  Once we got the heater going and the power restored and the water pressure back we decided to take it easy for a while.  We spent our first Christmas aboard with just the two of us.  And Bella.  We sat around and watched movies, drank Bloody Mary's and downed some pretty good vino too.  We took Bella out for a really nice walk around the marina and just kinda hung out for a coupla days.  Man that felt good.  Now we're rejuvenated and ready to take on the next disaster.

Why do I keep saying these things?.  It's now 12/29, one week later.  I got home from work last night and Cheri was saying something about a wet spot on the carpet.  Bella, you bad dog!  When I took a closer look it wasn't Bella's fault after all.  Water had dripped out of the speaker that's built into the side of the starboard side settee.  Hmm, that seems odd.  That's the same place our newly repaired water pump is located but the speaker is like 2' above the pump.  I'm feeling a bit trepidatious at this point.  My logical conscious mind tells me that the pump is probably shooting water onto the back of the speaker.  My horror movie based, illogical subconscious mind pictures a two hundred gallon aquarium beneath that cushion.  As Cheri pulls up the cushion I'm tempted to grab her out of the way in case some shark comes leaping outa there.  When I look in the compartment I see some water here and there but nothing terrible.  No sharks either.  The obvious cause of the problem here is that the small plate on top of the diaphragm is broken in two and water squirts out around the shaft of the piston each time it moves.  OK.  No big deal.  It's not the same part (#6 in the exploded view) that I just replaced.  That would be just humiliating.  This is the small disk (part # 8), one of two, that sandwiches the diaphragm, probably to give it better shape when pumping.  My question is, how did this happen?  Probably was damaged when the upper plate broke and I just didn't notice it.  Or maybe I screwed up on the reassembly.  As I take the pump apart for the second time I look everything over carefully.  No other apparent damage.  The matching plate underneath the diaphragm is in good condition.  I rotate the pump through a full cycle to see if anything might come in contact with it but there's plenty of room.  I don't get it.

I also don't get to complete this repair right away.  The part I need is the only part that's not included in the kit I just bought.  That figures.  I go on-line and order a replacement (and a spare).  Delivery will be 01/03/2011.  Here we go again.  Cheri and I discuss our options and decide to call West Marine in the morning and get a replacement pump.  We'll still repair this one but keep it as a back-up for the next time this thing quits.  Having water on-board is a high priority.  With a back-up pump we can swap the bad one out in a few minutes and make the repair at our leisure.  OK, there, I've convinced myself.  That's what we're gonna do.

Winter Pics at Herrington Harbour North

It Happens in Three's

Last week (12/15) I took off Wednesday and Thursday from work because I needed more time to get the heater installed.  Up until then I had only been using the weekends to work on it and progress was pretty slow.  During the week I get up at 0400 to start my day and don't usually get home until 1900.  We then have dinner, relax for an hour and hit the sack by 2130.  With this kinda schedule nothing else gets done Monday through Thursday so weekends are reserved for everything else, including chores and projects.

So, Wednesday morning I wake up in the middle of the night for some unknown reason and realize that it's pretty cold in our room.  I take a look at the thermostat and it says it's 56 degrees and the system is on but no heat is coming out.  Not good.  I jump outa bed and tear apart the settee in the Main Salon to get to the reverse cycle system hidden underneath it.  When I pull open the panel to the compartment I find a block of ice where the heat exchanger is supposed to be.  This is what I feared would happen.  The water temperature had finally gotten down to that magic point where everything just freezes up.  I knew it could happen, just didn't expect it so soon.  It's been unusually cold this month, way below normal, and it's finally caught up with me.  I tried cleaning the water and air filters hoping that might help but it had no affect.  This system was beyond hope of operation for this season.

So now I have a real problem.  We have a couple of electric space heaters but there's no way they're gonna keep this boat livable.  I gotta get this diesel heater going right away.  Cheri took Bella over to the Perfect Pet Resort (check it out) to hang out in comfort for a few days while we worked in the cold.  Our dog gets better treatment than we give ourselves.  We gotta rethink that one.

The first thing I did was cut holes in the bulkheads for the return air duct.  I hadn't really planned this part out until now so I kept it easy and ran it to a high spot on the aft bulkhead of the aft cabin.  This will draw the air back through the boat and hopefully help to heat this section of the room at the same time.  It's also the easiest way to run the duct.  I had originally wanted to run it under the reefer in the galley because it would have helped to evenly distribute the heat to the other side of the boat.  This option would have required way too much effort and I just didn't have the time for that now.  Easy is good.  So I got the return duct hooked up and while I was in the cockpit locker I also ran the combustion supply and exhaust lines and wrapped the last with braided fiberglass mat as an insulator.  The exhaust line can get smokin' hot so it's a good idea to protect everything around it from melting down.  Once I got this done Cheri and I ran the fuel line.  The kit comes with a coil of copper tubing to be used for this but I found it to be about 10' short so we went out and bought a 50' roll.  Should be enough, eh?  We ran it under the cabin sole from the fuel tank, past the engine, out through the generator compartment under the cockpit and into the locker.  Here it connects to the fuel pump and then runs up to the heater.  The fuel pump needs to be mounted at an upward angle between 15 and 35 degrees to keep air pockets from forming which would kill the fuel pressure.  We used a special fitting at the top of the fuel tank and ran the riser tube down through that, cutting off the bottom at a 45 degree angle so it sits about 2" off the bottom.  That'll help to keep tank grunge out of the line.

With the fuel taken care of it was time to run the power and control lines.  The kit comes with a nice bundle of wire that's connected at one end to the heater through a pre-assembled multi-pin connector.  From there it branches off into three bundles; fuel pump, power and ground, and a 6 wire bundle to be connected to the thermostat/control.  All of these required adding connectors of one type or another.  The fuel pump and power went fine.  By the time I started in on the thermostat line it was 2000 (8pm) and I was getting pretty tired.  This line uses a six pin connector that requires adding pins to #18 wire and inserting them into a two piece connector.  Once the pins are in they have these little prongs that pop out on either side to hold it in place.  The first pin I put in went fine until the wire pulled out and I had to get the pin back out to redo it.  Couldn't get the pin out.  Drove me completely nuts.  Cheri tried and it drove her nuts too.  Just as we heard the boys coming down the dock with the straight jackets I chopped off the pins, cut off the connector from the control box, and soldered the connections to complete the circuits.  Enough is enough.  If I ever have to unplug this thing I'll add the proper connector then.

With this completed I hooked up the power and we fired it up for the first time.  We heard the heater wind up, sounding like a turbine engine.  Pretty neat!  We verified the fuel pump was running by the click, click, click sound it made.  We felt air coming outa the vent in the Main Salon but it never got warm.  After a few minutes the heater shut itself off and all was quiet.  We sat there for a minute or two, all bundled up in our winter coats and hats, long johns, two shirts, pants, doubled-up socks and gloves.  Hmmm.  I started it up again and it went through the same cycle, then quit.  I knew in my heart that it was just trying to pull fuel through the line and wouldn't run until it had pressure but here it was, 2330 (1130pm) and we had everything riding on this baby.  We both said a prayer and tried it again.  Success!  Two minutes before midnight we had heat, twenty hours after beginning this marathon.

The following day we woke up to a warm and cozy boat.  We decided to take some time off and finish the heater the following day.  I still needed to tidy up the wiring and secure all the ductwork so the job isn't quite finished yet.  Around noon we were headed out the companionway when I glanced over at the Nav Station and saw that the batteries weren't being charged.  Huh?  As I looked into it I found there was no voltage on our #1 shore line connection.  I went out to the cockpit and saw that the little indicator light on the power cable was lit, showing that voltage was present.  When I unplugged it I found the white neutral connection was fried on both the cable and the socket.  I then remembered having to reset the breaker yesterday morning while we were running the fuel line.  I think the boat had been rocking with the wind and the plug had worked itself loose causing the connection to arc.  Bummer.  I spent the rest of the afternoon and about $200 making this repair.  Grrrrr, what else could go wrong?

I had to ask, didn't I?  Somewhere in the midst of repairing the fried wiring the heater shut off.  ???  I turned it back on and it seemed to work OK.  It shut off once more later that evening and once again reset OK.  The next day we actually made it out to finish our Christmas shopping and while we were out I called Bryan at Annapolis Cruisair to ask about the heater shutting off.  He said the factory preset is for 10 hours on the heater but that it could be re-programmed for continuous running.  He sent us an e-mail with the code we needed to do this.  When we got back to the boat that evening it was 54 degrees inside.  Yikes!  I installed the new code and it's been working fine ever since.  That was just a glitch though, doesn't count as a real problem.

OK, so that does it, right?  Not quite.  That evening the water pressure pump started running on it's own, non-stop.  I pictured our freshly filled 250 gallon water tank being pumped into some unseen compartment and I began tearing the boat apart.  The first place I looked was the pump itself and found it shaking like crazy and spitting water all over the place.  I killed the breaker and the water leak stopped so the crises wasn't such a crises.  When I looked at the pump up close I found that the housing had cracked and the motor driven piston no longer had any support, making it wobble all over the place.  Every time it tried to pump, water would squirt out the cracked housing.  No big deal.  I can fix this.  The next day I went over to West Marine to find that they didn't carry the part I needed but could order one for me.  It would take three weeks for delivery.  Not good.  I couldn't see Cheri putting up with having to hike to the marina showers for the next three weeks.  The salesman told me I could replace the whole pump and they did have those in stock, only cost me $480 too.  No thanks.  I went home and searched on-line, found a supplier (Pump Agents.com) who had my part in stock and could have it to me by Wednesday, 3 days.  OK, that's do-able.  We'll have water pressure back in time for Christmas Eve.

Just so ya know life isn't all work and no play we went out last night (12/19) and bought ourselves a Christmas present.  It's a 37" LED flatscreen that's only 1"deep.  It's the widest screen we could fit on the boat and it's going at the foot of our bunk (we're gonna be able to watch movies in real comfort now!  I'll be guaranteed to fall asleep every time).  We also got a mount that's made to fit the screen right up against the wall which is perfect because I still hafta squeeze by to get into bed.  We also got a cool-man audio system for it.  The screen has four HDMI inputs so we'll be able to hook up the awesome movie system (click here and scroll to the bottom) my cousin Steve gave us as well as the Mac-mini (click here for more on that) and still have room for more.

As you can see, I'm now up to my ears in unfinished projects.  We got hit with a few problems (a few?) but managed to keep from crying.  We're warm and comfy and can smile when we look out the port and see people walking across Tracey's Creek.  Huh?  It's been so cold for the last month that the ice is now 4" thick all around us.  We got that heater going just in the nick of time.

Cheri and I send our wishes for a merry Christmas and that the new year brings you good health and plenty of joy.