Tag Archives: Boat repair and maintenance

The Chosen One

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Let it be written, let it be done! We are now legally the owners of S/V Andromeda, so she’s ours in all her glory! ‘Excited’ does not begin to describe how that feels. The emotions move along a taut wire strung between giddy and terrified, with all the stops in between. I can only say that I am glad someone ‘up there’ knew that I needed to be firmly on this side of the dreadful ‘menopause’ before making this happen because had we done this last year, my body would have simply exploded from the impact of all the emotional-ity.

Have you seen this view yet?

I hope of our readers will clear their in boxes because the blogging is going to be intense around here as we gear up to do the critical jobs on this vessel. As she sits now, she is engine-less. Just this morning Mike pulled the trigger on a 60 HP Beta Marine engine for our new baby. The order is placed. Tomorrow we travel back to Astoria to do a meet and greet with our new best friend, Shawn, the diesel mechanic. He comes well recommended so we’re looking forward to working with him. Shawn will do the professional hand-holding on the engine refit. It takes about 3 weeks for a new engine to arrive, so we have about that long to get this engine room ready to receive the new heart of this boat.

Let the work begin.

This engine room is really more of a ‘systems’ room for Andromeda and the engine refit is only the beginning of what needs to happen here. There are other things that need attending to right away, not the least of which is there is no working head on the boat. Well, that is, the heads work fine but the plumbing is going to need changing. The heads themselves were rebuilt this year and look like they are built like tanks.

Mike thinks this might be bronze. If so, we probably should just remove the paint and let the metal get pretty. Then we will have industrial art toilets.

For example, in the aft head there is about 63 feet of hose running from the head, into the engine room, and then back across the boat to the huge holding tank under the quarter berth. Yes, that is a lot of hose and we are not happy about that. Also, there is an additional vent in the hose that sprays water into the engine room whenever the head is flushed. Not. Good. Fortunately no one has used the head for a long time. It was cleaned out, and there it sits. Opening the lid to where the tank is stored shows a tank that looks brand new, and has absolutely no smell. The previous owner did not use the head in the boat because the really nice, clean rest room at the marina is conveniently located just at the top of the ramp where the boat is docked.

The forward head. I think that may be an exhaust fan above and to the left. I have no idea if it works or whether it is necessary.

The forward head is plumbed overboard so we will have to find Coast Guard requirements in terms of putting this head out of commission for awhile. We prefer to have a head that is plumbed overboard for the times we are at sea, but in the future we may end up adding an additional holding tank up front as well. That’s way down on the list of priorities at this point and that extra head makes a great storage room.

The offending hoses and the leaky vent on the right. Those are tape labels on the wires.

So you can see that the systems are going to need a thorough going-through and updating. It would be nice to think we could just rip all of this out and start over, but I fear it will need to be more piecemeal than that.  It’s going to be awhile before Andromeda leaves her dock. But by the time that happens, we will know her insides like we know those of Moonrise.

I’ve started a working list of tasks that will need doing and will create a new page where we can keep track of these accomplishments. Now that we own ‘The Chosen One’ we can do things like set dates. Everything begins to feel much more like an actual Plan and much less like simply a dream. I cannot wait to get her up and running and bring her to her home waters of Washington State. Here comes that giddiness again!

These are the things that must be done before we can move onto the boat, at least that I can think of right this minute. I know it’s a short list and will only get longer.  A page will be created where updates can be posted regularly. Let the money-throwing begin. (And with it that feeling of terror.)

1. Engine refit
2. Replumb aft head
3. Rebed deck hardware
4. Repair leaking aft hatch
5. Replace refrigeration
6. Insulate interior stowage spaces that still need it
7. Buy a gps/chartplotter

John Wanamaker of Emerald Lady turned us on to some yacht management software that he recommends in terms of keeping track of all the things we need to do. We will look into that and may use it.

Tomorrow we begin the real implementation of our Little Cunning Plan. Woo hoo!! And now, back to the giddiness!

 

 

 

 

All….Most….There….

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Ah, what a weekend! Today was sunny and very warm for us, 82 degrees.  It was one of those days that came together just like clockwork. After Mike’s hard work all week, he really needed a break and this was our only opportunity to get one before we leave for the long vacation. How is it that we need a break from preparing for our vacation? That just sounds weird, and yet it’s true.

Thursday I met Mike down at Moonrise to help him install the final piece of the autopilot. He drilled holes, I passed wires and retrieved tools, and before we knew it, he had completed the job. Next was the commissioning and sea trial of the unit.

Mich

Mike, puddling around. Isn’t she cute?

At the same time that Mike was working on the autopilot, I had been thinking about the dinghy situation. Several years ago Mike built our dinghy, Puddler, and she has been a great little boat. She has ridden the waves behind Moonrise on every trip. We like her. But she is, in a word, heavy. She was Mike’s first pass at building a plywood boat and he used,    um, plenty of fiberglass. You know how they say those fiberglass boats of the ’70s were ‘overbuilt’. Enough said.

Mike really wanted a tender that could be easily brought up on deck during rough passages and Puddler does not fit that bill. In addition, she needs some minor repairs that may turn into major repairs if we take her through rough water. And we just don’t have time to get to those right now.  Barkley Sound isn’t exactly the end of the earth, but it’s wild enough that one wants a dinghy that is easy to maneuver and stow.

No, it was time to try something else so I turned to Craigslist. I had been looking every day this week and had found a few possibilities, but they were not anywhere close to home and I really wanted to find one that could be outfitted with a sail. So when I pulled up Craigslist last night and saw that the very first dinghy listed was an 8 foot Walker Bay with a set of really nice, adjustable oars with good looking stainless steel oarlocks, my heart started beating faster. The price was about 1/3 what that set would cost new, and it was in good condition. There is a place for a mast, a centerboard, and a rudder. The clincher was that it was sitting on the dock by the guy’s boat in Gig Harbor, right across the water from us. I emailed him. Could we sail across this morning and take a look? We could!

Hey, Moonrise! What's that up on deck? The dinghy can actually lay flat when we pull it forward a bit.

Hey, Moonrise! What’s that up on deck? The dinghy can actually lay flat when we pull it forward a bit.

So we got off the dock around 9:00 this morning and sailed over to Gig Harbor, bought the dinghy and oars, and then tied up at the dock at The Tides tavern for lunch, right behind a really cool Coast Guard boat. The Tides has great dockside service this time of year and is a very popular spot for local boaters. It’s so popular that you might not be able to leave when you want to if people raft up to you, but the show is free and the weather is fine, so who cares? I love those kind of days.

These Coast Guard boats are pretty cool, when their engines start. Unfortunately, this one didn't.

These Coast Guard boats are pretty cool, when their engines start. Unfortunately, this one didn’t. We were sorry for the Coasties. 

After lunch we spent time commissioning our newest crew member, Stella. She is going to be an awesome addition to the boat. We don’t know how we lived this long without her! For her first test, she took us directly to our favorite anchorage off Vashon Island where we dropped the hook for a few hours.  With this heat, and all the activity, we were both in need of a nap.

Mike with our new crew member, Stella. We love her already.

Mike with our new crew member, Stella. We love her already. 

The boat is pretty much ready to go now except for fuel and water. I still have some grocery shopping to do and we need to pack clothing and take my kayak down to the marina. But the end of preparations is in sight.  Four days and counting!

Gearing Up!

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June 23 is fast approaching. In case you are wondering why that day is important, aside from it being Mike’s birthday,  it’s the day by which if Moonrise doesn’t sell we will be sailing her back to her home port in Tacoma and getting her outfitted for an actual adventure. I’m holding my breath. In a recent post I threw down the proverbial gauntlet and challenged the Universe. Either sell our boat, or give us a good vacation this year. It’s just entirely possible we will get our vacation. So it’s hard to be sorry that the boat hasn’t sold yet. The vacation cannot come fast enough for me.

I want this. I want it now.

I want this. I want it now.

I remember the last time we headed up to Barkley Sound and how much planning we did for the trip. We bought a Spot Locator so family could keep track of us, only to realize when we failed to push the magic locator button at the end of the day, they got worried. Oy. That was a mistake. We dithered and bought things and laid on supplies like we were going to the far reaches of civilization. Imagine our dismay when we realized just how many boats there were up there in the wilds of Vancouver Island. And they actually have grocery stores there, too! Imagine that!

This time we are preparing in a different way. With all of our ‘stuff’ off of the boat, we have the opportunity to be choosy about what goes back onto her for the trip. Only things we know we will use will find their places below. Of course, that includes my hammock. I will need that desperately. And reading material of all kinds. I like to have a small library to choose from as the spirit moves me. Mike has bought another anchor off Craigslist to replace the one we lost last year in the ‘sailboat hard on the rocks‘ debacle, so that will go on the boat. This year we both have new cameras, one of them waterproof. And I have a fancy new Asus notebook computer with some fabulous navigation software that we’ll be reviewing. We can’t wait to try it out.

But that’s not the only new toy we’ll be having on this trip.

Looks like Mike had an early birthday this year! Is that a halo?

It may seem counter intuitive to some, but we bought an auto pilot for the boat. Yes, the boat will be for sale again when we get back, unless we find a buyer while we’re up there. But the way we look at it, if the boat doesn’t sell and we keep it awhile longer, we’ll enjoy having one. Going to Barkley Sound without one would still be fun, but it would mean taking turns being wheel slaves constantly as it’s likely there will be a lot of motoring time unless we get lucky. This will be a long trip and if we did something else for a vacation, that money would be spent anyhow. So we’ll get to use it for the trip, and as long as we have the boat. And it will make Moonrise that much more desirable to someone else in the future. See how happy Mike looks? That’s because we are going to learn so much about installing this thing and making it work and all that learning will benefit us the second time around.

While we’re waiting for next weekend, we’re busy reading some classic sailing books by Tristan Jones. I’ll be taking some of his books aboard for the trip. I’d never heard of him before, but noticed an entire shelf devoted to his considerable works at my local used book store. He tells a good yarn and did things most sane people wouldn’t even consider, such as taking his trimaran, S/V Outward Leg, across the rivers of Europe during the height of the cold war. Oh, and when he did this, he had only one leg, the other one being a wooden model allegedly carved for him by none other than Larry Pardey. I have not checked this out with Mr. Pardey, so I’ll just take Tristan’s word for it. His books are page turners and we found we couldn’t wait to see what kind of wild thing he did next. He must have been some kind of character. Pick up one of his books and see if you can read just one. By the time we come back, maybe I will have read them all.